Robert Thew facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Robert Thew
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portrait by Gilbert Stuart
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| Born | 1758  |
| Died | 1802 (aged 43–44) |
| Occupation | Engraver |
Robert Thew (1758–1802) was a talented English engraver. An engraver is an artist who creates pictures by cutting designs into metal plates. These plates are then used to print images onto paper.
Contents
Early Life and Self-Taught Skills
Robert Thew was born in 1758 in a place called Patrington, which is in Yorkshire, England. His father owned an inn there. Robert didn't get much formal schooling when he was young.
For a while, he worked as a cooper, making barrels. But Robert was very clever and creative. He even invented his own special camera obscura. This was a device that could project an image of its surroundings onto a screen.
Learning to Engrave
Later, Robert decided to try engraving. Even though he never had a teacher, he became very good at it. This shows how much natural talent and hard work he had!
Moving to Hull and First Works
In 1783, Robert moved to Hull, a city in England. At first, he engraved simple things like shop-bills and cards for businesses.
His first important artwork was a portrait of a famous puppet-show man named Harry Rowe. In 1786, he also created and published two pictures of the new dock in Hull.
Working on Shakespeare's Plays
Robert's skills caught the eye of important people. He created a very good engraving of a woman's head after a painting by Gerard Dou. This led to him meeting John Boydell, a famous publisher.
Boydell was working on a huge collection of Shakespeare's plays. Robert Thew was hired to engrave twenty-two plates for this project. He used a style called "dot manner," which creates images using tiny dots instead of lines.
Famous Engravings
Some of his best works for Boydell included scenes after famous painters like Northcote, Westall, and Opie. One of his most well-known engravings from this collection shows Cardinal Wolsey entering Leicester Abbey.
Robert also created some excellent portraits of people. These included a portrait of Master Hare (after a painting by Reynolds) in 1790, and Sir Thomas Gresham (after a painting by Sir Anthony More) in 1792. He also engraved a portrait of Miss Turner, titled 'Reflections on Werter.'
Royal Appointment and Later Life
Because of his amazing talent, Robert Thew was given a special job. He became the historical engraver to the Prince of Wales. This was a very important position!
Robert Thew passed away in 1802, when he was about 43 or 44 years old. He was buried at All Saints church in Willian, Hertfordshire, on July 10, 1802.
