Augustin Heckel (1690–1770) was a painter, watch case engraver and draughtsman and also a flower painter in

watercolours Watercolor (American English) or watercolour (British English; see spelling differences), also ''aquarelle'' (; from Italian diminutive of Latin ''aqua'' "water"), is a painting method”Watercolor may be as old as art itself, going back to ...

and

gouache Gouache (; ), body color, or opaque watercolor is a water-medium paint consisting of natural pigment, water, a binding agent (usually gum arabic or dextrin), and sometimes additional inert material. Gouache is designed to be opaque. Gouache ...

. Heckel was born to a family of

goldsmith A goldsmith is a metalworker who specializes in working with gold and other precious metals. Nowadays they mainly specialize in jewelry-making but historically, goldsmiths have also made silverware, platters, goblets, decorative and servicea ...

s in

Augsburg Augsburg (; bar , Augschburg , links=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swabian_German , label=Swabian German, , ) is a city in Swabia, Bavaria, Germany, around west of Bavarian capital Munich. It is a university town and regional seat of the ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. His career was in England, where he came as a young man. He died on 20 August 1770 in

Richmond, Surrey Richmond is a town in south-west London,The London Government Act 1963 (c.33) (as amended) categorises the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames as an Outer London borough. Although it is on both sides of the River Thames, the Boundary Comm ...

(now in London), where he had retired in 1746.

Works

Heckel's ''A West View of Richmond etc. in Surrey from the Star and Garter on the Hill'', published in 1752 and now in the British

Government Art Collection The Government Art Collection (GAC) is the collection of artworks owned by the UK government and administered by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS). The GAC's artworks are used to decorate major government buildings in t ...

, was engraved by

Charles Grignion the Elder Charles Grignion the Elder (1721–1810) was a British engraver and draughtsman. Grignion was born in London to Huguenot refugees. He was a prolific historical engraver and book illustrator. He studied in London at Hubert-François Gravelot's sc ...

. He published two books of flower

etchings Etching is traditionally the process of using strong acid or mordant to cut into the unprotected parts of a metal surface to create a design in intaglio (incised) in the metal. In modern manufacturing, other chemicals may be used on other types ...

of his own designs, ''The Lady's drawing book'' in 1755, and ''The Florist'' in 1759. Cambridge's

Fitzwilliam Museum The Fitzwilliam Museum is the art and antiquities museum of the University of Cambridge. It is located on Trumpington Street opposite Fitzwilliam Street in central Cambridge. It was founded in 1816 under the will of Richard FitzWilliam, 7th Vis ...

has an album of his drawings.

The British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docume ...

holds two prints by

John June John June (fl. ''Floruit'' (; abbreviated fl. or occasionally flor.; from Latin for "they flourished") denotes a date or period during which a person was known to have been alive or active. In English, the unabbreviated word may also be used as ...

after Augustine Heckel: ''Harrowing the Ground'' and ''Laying the Ground smooth & even for the Rice, by a second Harrowing'', dating from about 1775.

The Victoria and Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (often abbreviated as the V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.27 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and nam ...

holds: Heckel's ''A New Book of Sheilds icusefull for all sorts of Artificers'', an

etching Etching is traditionally the process of using strong acid or mordant to cut into the unprotected parts of a metal surface to create a design in intaglio (incised) in the metal. In modern manufacturing, other chemicals may be used on other types ...

on paper dating from 1752; a gold box engraved by Heckel; a drawing of a design, dating from about 1740, described as being "for a

cartouche In Egyptian hieroglyphs, a cartouche is an oval with a line at one end tangent to it, indicating that the text enclosed is a royal name. The first examples of the cartouche are associated with pharaohs at the end of the Third Dynasty, but the f ...

with an acanthus leaf architechtonic frame surmounted by vases and supported by a

caryatid A caryatid ( or or ; grc, Καρυᾶτις, pl. ) is a sculpted female figure serving as an architectural support taking the place of a column or a pillar supporting an entablature on her head. The Greek term ''karyatides'' literally means "ma ...

in the form of a winged

putto A putto (; plural putti ) is a figure in a work of art depicted as a chubby male child, usually naked and sometimes winged. Originally limited to profane passions in symbolism,Dempsey, Charles. ''Inventing the Renaissance Putto''. University of ...

"; and a print from 1750–70, ''A Select Collection of the most beautiful Flowers, Drawn after Nature by A. Heckell; disposed in their proper Order in Baskets: Intended either for Ornament or the Improvement of Ladies in Drawing and Needlework''. Heckel's ''The Battle of Culloden'' (1746; reprinted 1797) is held by the National Galleries of Scotland. His colour engraving of ''The Countess of Suffolk's House'' (1749) is held at

Marble Hill House Marble Hill House is a Neo-Palladian villa, now Grade I listed, in Twickenham in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. It was built between 1724 and 1729 as the home of Henrietta Howard, Countess of Suffolk, who lived there until her ...

Twickenham Twickenham is a suburban district in London, England. It is situated on the River Thames southwest of Charing Cross. Historically part of Middlesex, it has formed part of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames since 1965, and the boroug ...

, London.

Bibliography

Richard Edgcumbe, ''The Art of the Gold Chaser in Eighteenth-century London'',

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...

, 2000, pp. 56–58.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Heckel, Augustin 1690 births 1770 deaths 18th-century German painters 18th-century German male artists Artists from Augsburg Draughtsmen German engravers German etchers German male painters German watercolourists Richmond, London