François Vivares ( Saint-Jean-du-Bruel 11 July 1709 – 28 November 1780

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

) was a French landscape-engraver, active in England.

Life

He was born in France at Saint-Jean-du-Bruel, near

Montpellier Montpellier (; ) is a city in southern France near the Mediterranean Sea. One of the largest urban centres in the region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitania, Montpellier is the prefecture of the Departments of France, department of ...

, on 11 July 1709, and brought up in

Geneva Geneva ( , ; ) ; ; . is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland and the most populous in French-speaking Romandy. Situated in the southwest of the country, where the Rhône exits Lake Geneva, it is the ca ...

. At the age of 18 he moved permanently to London. He took on Peter Paul Benazech as apprentice in 1746. Vivares exhibited engravings with the

Incorporated Society of Artists The Society of Artists of Great Britain was founded in London in May 1761 by an association of artists in order to provide a venue for the public exhibition of recent work by living artists, such as was having success in the long-established P ...

in 1766 and 1768. During the last thirty years of his life he resided in Great Newport Street, central London, where he kept a print-shop. There he died on 28 November 1780, and was buried in Paddington churchyard. He was three times married, and had 31 children. His son Thomas Vivares also worked as an engraver.

Works

His plates number about 160, and were largely published by

John Boydell John Boydell ( ; – 12 December 1804) was an English publisher noted for his reproductions of engravings. He helped alter the trade imbalance between Britain and France in engravings and initiated an English tradition in the art form. A former ...

. Many were from the old masters: Claude, Gaspar Poussin, Il Bolognese, Vanderneer, and Cuyp; but a large proportion of them are views of English scenery after

Thomas Gainsborough Thomas Gainsborough (; 14 May 1727 (baptised) – 2 August 1788) was an English portrait and landscape painter, draughtsman, and printmaker. Along with his rival Sir Joshua Reynolds, he is considered one of the most important British artists o ...

, Wootton, Thomas Smith of Derby, the Smiths of Chichester, and others. Claude's ''Enchanted Castle'' he left unfinished at his death, and it was completed by William Woollett. There is a portrait of Vivares, engraved by himself and James Caldwell.

References

Notes

;Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Vivares, Francois 1709 births 1780 deaths People from Aveyron 18th-century French engravers French emigrants to the Kingdom of Great Britain British engravers Engravers from the Republic of Geneva 18th-century artists from the Republic of Geneva