William Hole (or Holle) was a skilled English engraver who died in 1624 though the date of his birth is uncertain. Hole's work suggests French influence.

Career

His first dated plates belong to 1607, among them the title page for a London edition of the ''Breeches Bible''. For many books, Hole engraved a portrait of the author, such as

John Florio Giovanni Florio (1552–1625), known as John Florio, was an English linguist, poet, writer, translator, lexicographer, and royal language tutor at the Court of James I. He is recognised as the most important Renaissance humanist in England. ...

's 1611 Italian and English dictionary, George Chapman's 1616 translation of the ''

Iliad The ''Iliad'' (; grc, Ἰλιάς, Iliás, ; "a poem about Ilium") is one of two major ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest extant works of literature still widely read by modern audiences. As with the ''Ody ...

'', and

George Wither George Wither (11 June 1588 O.S. (21 June 1588 NS) – 2 May 1667 O.S. (12 May 1667 NS)) was a prolific English poet, pamphleteer, satirist and writer of hymns. Wither's long life spanned one of the most tumultuous periods in the history of En ...

's 1617 book of poems. Hole also made maps and travelogue material.

Music engraving

For the publication ''Parthenia, or The Maydenhead of the First Musicke that ever was Printed for the Virginalls'' (c.1612), he engraved keyboard music by three English composers, Dr John Bull, William Byrd and

Orlando Gibbons Orlando Gibbons ( bapt. 25 December 1583 – 5 June 1625) was an English composer and keyboard player who was one of the last masters of the English Virginalist School and English Madrigal School. The best known member of a musical fam ...

. This was the first time that intaglio copperplate engraving was used for English music scores,Parthenia. In Latham, A. (Ed.),

The Oxford Companion to Music ''The Oxford Companion to Music'' is a music reference book in the Book series, series of Oxford Companions produced by the Oxford University Press. It was originally conceived and written by Percy Scholes and published in 1938. Since then, it ...

: Oxford University Press. Retrieved 10 Jun. 2020, from https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780199579037.001.0001/acref-9780199579037-e-5002. although engraved music had been printed on the continent from the late 16th century. This development was particularly important for keyboard music, as

movable type Movable type (US English; moveable type in British English) is the system and technology of printing and typography that uses movable components to reproduce the elements of a document (usually individual alphanumeric characters or punctuation m ...

was not really suitable for printing keyboard music in standard musical notation.

Legacy

Some of Hole's work is in 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 docum ...

References

External links

Examples of William Hole's engravings
National Portrait Gallery Year of birth missing 1624 deaths English engravers Music engravers {{England-artist-stub