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Up for sale "English Engraver" William Sharp Hand Signed 2X4 Card.
ES-9278
William Sharp (29 January 1749 – 25 July 1824), was
an English
engraver
and artist. Sharp
was the son of a reputable gunsmith who lived at Haydon's Yard, Minories
in central London.
He was apprenticed to the bright-cut engraver and genealogist,
Barak
Longmate (1738–93), and after marriage, to a Frenchwoman, set
himself up as a writing engraver in Bartholomew Lane (off Threadneedle Street). His first notable work
was an engraving of "Hector", an old lion at the Tower of
London. Around 1782, he sold the shop and moved to Vauxhall,
intending to specialise in the higher branches (i.e. engraving for printing) of
the engraver's art. Among his earlier plates are some illustrations, after Stothard,
for the Novelists' Magazine. He also completed the plate of Benjamin West's
"Landing of Charles II" which William
Woollett had left unfinished at the time of his death, engraved some
of the illustrations by artists who travelled with Captain Cook
on his famous voyages, and J. H. Benwell's "Children in the
Wood".He finally settled at Chiswick
where he remained for the rest of his life. He engraved the "Doctors
Disputing on the Immaculateness of the Virgin" and "Ecce Homo"
(after Guido Reni);
"King Lear in the Storm" and "The Witch of Endor (after
Benjaimin West); "The sortie from Gibralter" (after John Trumbull);
the portrait of John Hunter and "The Holy Family
(after Joshua Reynolds); "St Cecilia" (after
Domenichino) and "Virgin and Child"
(after Dolci). Sharp's style of engraving was
original, the half-tints rich and full. He became an honorary member of the Imperial Academy in Vienna
and the Royal Academy in Munich. Sharp's portrait was painted by George Francis Joseph (1764–1846) and
engraved by Sharp himself, and a 3/4-length portrait was painted by James Lonsdale (illustrated). James Thomson (1788–1850) engraved another
portrait. Sharp died at Chiswick
on 25 July 1824, and was buried in the parish churchyard there.