Caroline Watson (1761?–1814) was an English

stipple engraver Stipple engraving is a technique used to create tone in an intaglio print by distributing a pattern of dots of various sizes and densities across the image. The pattern is created on the printing plate either in engraving by gouging out the dots ...

Life

The daughter of the Irish engraver

James Watson James Dewey Watson (born April 6, 1928) is an American molecular biologist, geneticist, and zoologist. In 1953, he co-authored with Francis Crick the academic paper proposing the double helix structure of the DNA molecule. Watson, Crick and ...

, she was born in London in 1760 or 1761, and studied under her father, who worked in mezzotint. She was known for her skilled worked in the stipple method, was particularly known for reproductions of miniatures, and was the only woman engraver to serve as an independent engraver in the British 18th century. She came to prominence as an engraver at about the same time as women began to make up a significant proportion print consumers. Her career began to wind down after 1810 due to ill health, and she died at

Pimlico Pimlico () is an area of Central London in the City of Westminster, built as a southern extension to neighbouring Belgravia. It is known for its garden squares and distinctive Regency architecture. Pimlico is demarcated to the north by London V ...

on 10 June 1814.

Works

Watson's plates were numerous. In 1784 she engraved a portrait of Prince William of Gloucester, after

Joshua Reynolds Sir Joshua Reynolds (16 July 1723 – 23 February 1792) was an English painter, specialising in portraits. John Russell said he was one of the major European painters of the 18th century. He promoted the "Grand Style" in painting which depend ...

, and in 1785 a pair of small plates of the Princesses Sophia and Mary, after John Hoppner, which she dedicated to Queen Charlotte. She was then appointed engraver to Queen. She engraved portraits of: *

Sir James Harris James Harris, 1st Earl of Malmesbury, GCB (21 April 1746 – 21 November 1820) was an English diplomat. Early life (1746 – 1768) Born at Salisbury, the son of James Harris, an MP and the author of ''Hermes'', and Elizabeth Clarke of Sandfor ...

, and the Hon. Mrs. Stanhope, both after

; *

Catherine II of Russia , en, Catherine Alexeievna Romanova, link=yes , house = , father = Christian August, Prince of Anhalt-Zerbst , mother = Joanna Elisabeth of Holstein-Gottorp , birth_date = , birth_name = Princess Sophie of Anhal ...

, after Alexander Roslin; and *

William Woollett William Woollett (15 August 173523 May 1785) was an English engraver operating in the 18th century. Life Woolett was born in Maidstone, of a family which came originally from the Netherlands. He was apprenticed to John Tinney, an engraver i ...

, after

Gilbert Stuart Gilbert Charles Stuart ( Stewart; December 3, 1755 – July 9, 1828) was an American painter from Rhode Island Colony who is widely considered one of America's foremost portraitists. His best-known work is an unfinished portrait of George Washi ...

; and *

Samuel Cooper Samuel or Sam Cooper may refer to: *Samuel Cooper (painter) (1609–1672), English miniature painter *Samuel Cooper (clergyman) (1725–1783), Congregationalist minister in Boston, Massachusetts * Samuel Cooper (surgeon) (1780–1848), English surge ...

's reputed portrait of

John Milton John Milton (9 December 1608 – 8 November 1674) was an English poet and intellectual. His 1667 epic poem '' Paradise Lost'', written in blank verse and including over ten chapters, was written in a time of immense religious flux and political ...

. Other works were: * ''The Marriage of St. Catherine'', after Correggio; * the plates to William Hayley's ''Life of Romney'', for which she replaced William Blake as primary engraver; * for John Boydell's ''Shakespeare'', the ''Death of Cardinal Beaufort'', after Reynolds, and a scene from '' The Tempest'', after Francis Wheatley. Watson also executed a set of aquatints of the ''Progress of Female Virtue and Female Dissipation'', from designs by Maria Cosway. She engraved several pictures belonging to the

Marquess of Bute Marquess of the County of Bute, shortened in general usage to Marquess of Bute, is a title in the Peerage of Great Britain. It was created in 1796 for John Stuart, 1st Marquess of Bute, John Stuart, 4th Earl of Bute. Family history John Stuart ...

Notes

;Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Watson, Caroline 1761 births 1814 deaths 18th-century engravers 18th-century English women artists Artists from London English engravers English people of Irish descent Women engravers