William Blake, painter and poet (page 61)

Wilson Lowry FRS (24 January 1762 – 23 June 1824) was an English engraver.

Life

He was born at

Whitehaven Whitehaven is a town and port on the English north west coast and near to the Lake District National Park in Cumbria, England. Historically in Cumberland, it lies by road south-west of Carlisle and to the north of Barrow-in-Furness. It is th ...

Cumberland Cumberland ( ) is a historic county in the far North West England. It covers part of the Lake District as well as the north Pennines and Solway Firth coast. Cumberland had an administrative function from the 12th century until 1974. From 19 ...

, the son of Strickland Lowry, a portrait painter. The family settled in

Worcester Worcester may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Worcester, England, a city and the county town of Worcestershire in England ** Worcester (UK Parliament constituency), an area represented by a Member of Parliament * Worcester Park, London, Engla ...

, and Wilson Lowry, as a boy, left home to work as a house painter in London and

Arundel Arundel ( ) is a market town and civil parish in the Arun District of the South Downs, West Sussex, England. The much-conserved town has a medieval castle and Roman Catholic cathedral. Arundel has a museum and comes second behind much large ...

Sussex Sussex (), from the Old English (), is a historic county in South East England that was formerly an independent medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the English ...

. On returning home is received some instruction in engraving from a local craftsman. He went to London at the age of 18 with an introduction to the print seller

John Boydell John Boydell (; 19 January 1720 (New Style) – 12 December 1804) was a British publisher noted for his reproductions of engravings. He helped alter the trade imbalance between Britain and France in engravings and initiated a British tradition i ...

, who gave him work and introduced him to

William Blizard Sir William Blizard FRS FRSE PRCS FSA (1 March 1743 – 27 August 1835) was an English surgeon. Life He was born in Barn Elms, Surrey, the fourth child of auctioneer William Blizard. After an apprenticeship to a surgeon and apothecary in Mortl ...

, the

surgeon In modern medicine, a surgeon is a medical professional who performs surgery. Although there are different traditions in different times and places, a modern surgeon usually is also a licensed physician or received the same medical training as ...

. Blizard encouraged Lowry to become a surgeon and for four years he undertook training, but abandoned it. Lowry studied under John Browne, the landscape engraver and also received training at the

Royal Academy The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly in London. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its pur ...

. Lowry developed a number of special instruments to assist his work: about 1790 he devised a ruling machine; in 1801 a device for generating elliptical curves; in 1806 another for making perspective drawings. Lowry was the first engraver to use diamond points and to discover the composition of a corrosive fluid for biting the lines into steel plates. Lowry specialised in making engraving of architectural and mechanical topics, and excelled in perspective views of machinery. His work appears in Tilloch's ''

Philosophical Magazine The ''Philosophical Magazine'' is one of the oldest scientific journals published in English. It was established by Alexander Tilloch in 1798;John Burnett"Tilloch, Alexander (1759–1825)" Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford Univer ...

'', and the ''

Journal of the Society of Arts 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 ...

'', Wilkins's ''Magna Graecia'' (1807), and ''Vitruvius'' (1812), Peter Nicholson's ''Principles of Architecture'' (1795–98), and ''Architectural Dictionary'' (1819), George Crabb's ''Technological Dictionary'' (1823), and the ''

Encyclopædia Metropolitana ''The Encyclopædia Metropolitana'' was an encyclopedic work published in London, from 1817 to 1845, by part publication. In all it came to quarto, 30 vols., having been issued in 59 parts (22,426 pages, 565 plates). Origins Initially the proje ...

''. Lowry's most famous work in this field was undoubtedly the work he did for ''

Rees's Cyclopædia Rees's ''Cyclopædia'', in full ''The Cyclopædia; or, Universal Dictionary of Arts, Sciences, and Literature'' was an important 19th-century British encyclopaedia edited by Rev. Abraham Rees (1743–1825), a Presbyterian minister and scholar w ...

'' between 1802 and 1819, including contributing articles, but did work for other encyclopaedias including ''

Pantologia ''Pantologia'' is an English encyclopedia, published in 12 volumes, 8vo in 1813, with 370 plates (some coloured). Its full title page was ''A New Cyclopedia, comprehending a complete series of Essays, Treatises and Systems, alphabetically arrange ...

'' and the '' British Encyclopedia, or Dictionary of Arts and Sciences''. Lowry was a founder member of the

Geological Society The Geological Society of London, known commonly as the Geological Society, is a learned society based in the United Kingdom. It is the oldest national geological society in the world and the largest in Europe with more than 12,000 Fellows. Fe ...

and was elected a Fellow of the

Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...

in 1812. He died at his residence, Great Titchfield Street, London.

Family

He married firstly a Miss Porter: they had two daughters, one of whom,

Matilda Matilda or Mathilda may refer to: Animals * Matilda (chicken) (1990–2006), World's Oldest Living Chicken record holder * Matilda (horse) (1824–1846), British Thoroughbred racehorse * Matilda, a dog of the professional wrestling tag-team The ...

, (who became Mrs Hemming) was a portrait painter. He married secondly mineralogist Rebecca (1761–1848), daughter of Abraham Delvalle, of a

Sephardic Jewish Sephardic (or Sephardi) Jews (, ; lad, Djudíos Sefardíes), also ''Sepharadim'' , Modern Hebrew: ''Sfaradim'', Tiberian: Səp̄āraddîm, also , ''Ye'hude Sepharad'', lit. "The Jews of Spain", es, Judíos sefardíes (or ), pt, Judeus sefar ...

family of "small but prosperous" snuff and tobacco merchants settled in England and which had gained British citizenship, and sister of Abigail Delvalle, mother of the economist

David Ricardo David Ricardo (18 April 1772 – 11 September 1823) was a British Political economy, political economist. He was one of the most influential of the Classical economics, classical economists along with Thomas Robert Malthus, Thomas Malthus, Ad ...

.Anglo-Jewish Portraits- A Biographical Catalogue of Engraved Anglo-Jewish and Colonial Portraits from the Earliest Times to the Accession of Queen Victoria, Alfred Rubens, Jewish Museum, London, 1935, p. 69 They had a son

Joseph Wilson Lowry Joseph Wilson Lowry (1803–1879) was an English engraver. He was the son of Wilson Lowry and his second wife Rebecca Delvalle and was born on 7 October 1803. His mother's sister, Abigail, was mother of the economist David Ricardo.David Ricardo, ...

and a daughter Delvalle Lowry, who married John Varley the landscape painter.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lowry, Wilson 1762 births 1824 deaths People from Whitehaven English engravers English portrait painters Fellows of the Royal Society