Gerard Vandergucht (or van der Gucht) (1696/97 – 18 March 1776) was an English engraver and

art dealer An art dealer is a person or company that buys and sells works of art, or acts as the intermediary between the buyers and sellers of art. An art dealer in contemporary art typically seeks out various artists to represent, and builds relationsh ...

. Vandergucht, was born in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, the elder son of the

Flemish Flemish (''Vlaams'') is a Low Franconian dialect cluster of the Dutch language. It is sometimes referred to as Flemish Dutch (), Belgian Dutch ( ), or Southern Dutch (). Flemish is native to Flanders, a historical region in northern Belgium; ...

engraver Michael Vandergucht. He was taught engraving by his father, as was his younger brother Jan Vandergucht (or John) (c.1699-c.1730). Gerard was also taught drawing by Louis Chéron, and studied at Godfrey Kneller's Great Queen Street Academy. He surpassed the restrained style of engraving favoured by his father, and became one of the leading engravers in London by adopting the French method of combining precise engraving with etched tones.Timothy Clayton, "Vandergucht, Gerard (1696/7–1776)", ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 200
accessed 10 May 2011
/ref> In 1719, he was commissioned by

James Thornhill Sir James Thornhill (25 July 1675 or 1676 – 4 May 1734) was an English painter of historical subjects working in the Italian baroque tradition. He was responsible for some large-scale schemes of murals, including the "Painted Hall" at the Ro ...

to engrave four designs for the

cupola In architecture, a cupola () is a relatively small, most often dome-like, tall structure on top of a building. Often used to provide a lookout or to admit light and air, it usually crowns a larger roof or dome. The word derives, via Italian, fro ...

of St Paul's Cathedral. He took over his father's house - the Golden Head in Queen Street, Bloomsbury - following his father's death in 1725. He married Mary Liney on 24 August 1725. They had over 30 children, including the painter and picture dealer

Benjamin Vandergucht Benjamin Vandergucht or Van der Gucht (1753–1794) was a picture-dealer, restorer and painter. Life He was the thirty-second child of Gerard Vandergucht the engraver, and one of twins. He studied drawing in St Martin's Lane Academy, and on th ...

. He became a leading publisher of engraved prints and book illustrations, and taught Robert White and Francis Patton. In 1735, he took a leading role in the artists' demands for

copyright A copyright is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the exclusive right to copy, distribute, adapt, display, and perform a creative work, usually for a limited time. The creative work may be in a literary, artistic, educatio ...

protection which led to an extension of the provisions established by

William Hogarth William Hogarth (; 10 November 1697 – 26 October 1764) was an English painter, engraver, pictorial satirist, social critic, editorial cartoonist and occasional writer on art. His work ranges from realistic portraiture to comic strip-like ...

in the Engraving Copyright Act. The 1735 act only protected original designs. Vandergucht and his supporters successfully lobbied to extend copyright protection to cover all prints.Rose, Mark. Technology and Copyright in 1735: The Engraver's Act. The Information Society, Volume 21, Number 1, January–March 2005. pp. 63–66. He concentrated on art dealing in the last 16 years of his life, selling prints, drawings, paintings and statues. He was a member of the

Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures, and Commerce The Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA), also known as the Royal Society of Arts, is a London-based organisation committed to finding practical solutions to social challenges. The RSA acronym is used m ...

. He moved to Vandyke's Head, Great Brook Street, in 1758, where he died in 1776.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vandergucht, Gerard English engravers 1690s births 1776 deaths 18th-century engravers English people of Flemish descent