James Thomson (1788-1850)
Thomson, a noted line and stipple engraver of portraits, was born at Mitford, Northumberland, the son of a clergyman.
His early flair for drawing resulted in an apprenticeship in London. As Redgrave relates, ‘…embarking at [North] Shields for the Metropolis, he was nine weeks at sea, and supposed to have been lost. He disliked his master and the style of his art, and after assisting him at the close of his apprenticeship for two years, set up for himself…He engraved…many of the plates for [Edmund] Lodge’s Portraits, the Townley Marbles and other works.’
Thomson was, subsequent to his initial apprenticeship, a pupil of Anthony Cardon (1772-1813).
Collections
British Museum, London
Metropolitan Museum, New York
National Portrait Gallery, London
Royal Academy, London
Victoria and Albert Museum, London
Literature
Hall, M (2005), The Artists of Northumbria, Art Dictionaries
Mackenzie, I (1988), British Prints, Antique Collectors’ Club
Redgrave, S (1970 reprint), A Dictionary of Artists of the English School, Kingsmead Reprints
Williamson, G C Ed. (1904), Bryan’s Dictionary of Painters and Engravers, George Bell and Sons
Thomson, a noted line and stipple engraver of portraits, was born at Mitford, Northumberland, the son of a clergyman.
His early flair for drawing resulted in an apprenticeship in London. As Redgrave relates, ‘…embarking at [North] Shields for the Metropolis, he was nine weeks at sea, and supposed to have been lost. He disliked his master and the style of his art, and after assisting him at the close of his apprenticeship for two years, set up for himself…He engraved…many of the plates for [Edmund] Lodge’s Portraits, the Townley Marbles and other works.’
Thomson was, subsequent to his initial apprenticeship, a pupil of Anthony Cardon (1772-1813).
Collections
British Museum, London
Metropolitan Museum, New York
National Portrait Gallery, London
Royal Academy, London
Victoria and Albert Museum, London
Literature
Hall, M (2005), The Artists of Northumbria, Art Dictionaries
Mackenzie, I (1988), British Prints, Antique Collectors’ Club
Redgrave, S (1970 reprint), A Dictionary of Artists of the English School, Kingsmead Reprints
Williamson, G C Ed. (1904), Bryan’s Dictionary of Painters and Engravers, George Bell and Sons
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