Simon François Ravenet

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Vinegar by Simon François Ravenet, Bibliothèque nationale de France, 1761
Ravenet's name on the Burdett Coutts Memorial, Old St Pancras Churchyard, London (midway, some letters missing)

Simon François Ravenet (1706 – c. 4 April 1774) was a French engraver. In Britain he is usually termed Simon Francis Ravenet. He was one of William Hogarth's assistants.[1]

Biography

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He was born in Paris,[1] where he studied engraving under Jacques-Philippe Le Bas before moving to London in 1750, where he founded a school of line engraving[2] and is credited with the revival of engraving in England.[3] He died in London. Some of his work remains on display at the National Portrait Gallery[4] as well as at the Cleveland Museum of Art.[5]

His pupils included the engravers John Hall and William Wynne Ryland. His son, Simon Ravenet, was also an engraver, active in the Parma Academy of Fine Arts.

He is known to have engraved a portrait of Joshua Reynolds but primarily committed the works of other artists into engraved form.

Ravenet was buried in Old St. Pancras Churchyard on 6 April 1774.[6] His name is now listed on the Burdett-Coutts Memorial, listing the graves of eminent persons lost over the years.

References

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  1. ^ a b Cochrane, John George (1841). "The Foreign quarterly review [ed. By J.G. Cochrane]".
  2. ^ "Ravenet, Simon François" . Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.
  3. ^ Salaman, Malcolm Charles (1907). The Olde Engravers of England in Their Relation to Contemporary Life and Art. Caseell and Company, limited. p. 181.
  4. ^ "Simon François Ravenet (1706-1774)". National Portrait Gallery. Retrieved 4 April 2008.
  5. ^ "Simon François Ravenet (French, 1706-1774)". The Cleveland Museum of Art. Retrieved 21 February 2017.
  6. ^ The Environs of London: Pancras (1795)
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