The Heron by Peter Mazell after Peter Paillou

Peter Mazell was an Irish painter and engraver, working in London between c. 1761 and 1797. He is known for his fine engravings of

natural history Natural history is a domain of inquiry involving organisms, including animals, fungi, and plants, in their natural environment, leaning more towards observational than experimental methods of study. A person who studies natural history is cal ...

subjects, especially those illustrating books by John Walcott and the Welsh naturalist

Thomas Pennant Thomas Pennant (16 December 1798) was a Welsh natural history, naturalist, traveller, writer and antiquarian. He was born and lived his whole life at his family estate, Downing Hall, near Whitford, Flintshire, in Wales. As a naturalist he had ...

. He created almost 600 engravings in his career. He also exhibited paintings of landscapes and flowers. He exhibited at the Society of Artists and at the Royal Academy.

Life and work

Eagle Tavern and Coffee House - Crace XVII

Mazell is believed to have been the son of Pierre Mazell (d. 2 March 1787) and Catherine Rocque (d. 7 September 1788),

Huguenot The Huguenots ( , ; ) are a Religious denomination, religious group of French people, French Protestants who held to the Reformed (Calvinist) tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, ...

s living in

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

. He lived in central London, with addresses in Tottenham Court Road (1769), Paddington (1770–80), Portland Street (1783), Gerrard Street (1790), Covent Garden (1791) and St. Pancras (1797). In 1761 he exhibited a landscape painting at the Society of Artists in London, and worked in London for the rest of his career. Most of his subsequent exhibits between then and 1791 were prints of his

engravings Engraving is the practice of incising a design on a hard, usually flat surface by cutting grooves into it with a burin. The result may be a decorated object in itself, as when silver, gold, steel, or glass are engraved, or may provide an inta ...

on copperplate; these included views of country scenery such as ''The Upper Lake of Killarney'', 1770 as well as numerous views of London and other cities. His landscape and natural history engravings are considered extremely crisp and neat. However, not everybody liked his work; the Dutch provincial governor Joan Gideon Loten complained of the "bungling engraver Mazell" for his work on two engravings of what was then called the " Ceylon Tailorbird", and referring to the plate of another bird, the

red-faced malkoha The red-faced malkoha (''Phaenicophaeus pyrrhocephalus'') is a member of the cuckoo order of birds, the Cuculiformes. This malkoha species is endemic to Sri Lanka Description This is a large species at 46 cm with a long graduated tail. I ...

, "made so dirty by the pityable engraver Mazell". Mazell often worked on

illustrations for books by

, using paintings of birds by

Peter Paillou Peter Paillou (c.1720 – c.1790) was a British artist best known for his paintings of birds, many of which were used as book illustrations. Life and career Little is known of his early life but it is believed that he came to Britain from Fr ...

in ''The British Zoology'' (1766), ''History of Quadrupeds'' (1781) and ''Arctic Zoology'' (1784–1785). He also illustrated some of Pennant's travel books including ''Tour of Wales'', 1778. As well as works by Pennant, Mazell illustrated books by

John Boydell John Boydell ( ; – 12 December 1804) was an English publisher noted for his reproductions of engravings. He helped alter the trade imbalance between Britain and France in engravings and initiated an English tradition in the art form. A former ...

in 1763; Charles Cordiner's ''Remarkable Ruins and Romantic Prospects of North Britain'' in 1792; and Captain

James Cook Captain (Royal Navy), Captain James Cook (7 November 1728 – 14 February 1779) was a British Royal Navy officer, explorer, and cartographer famous for his three voyages of exploration to the Pacific and Southern Oceans, conducted between 176 ...

's ''Voyages''. At least occasionally, he continued to paint as well as to make engravings: he exhibited two flower paintings at the 1797 exhibition of the

Royal Academy of Arts The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House in Piccadilly London, England. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its ...

Mazell's engravings are of paintings by many artists including Charles Cordiner; Moses Griffiths; John Webber; Rowland Omer; Philip Thicknesse; the natural history artist

Desmoulins Lucie-Simplice-Camille-Benoît Desmoulins (; 2 March 17605 April 1794) was a French journalist, politician and a prominent figure of the French Revolution. He is best known for playing an instrumental role in the events that led to the Stormin ...

; Samuel Rawle; Richard Holland; William Miller; Jonathan Fisher; Thomas Snagg; James "Athenian" Stuart; Christian Georg Schütz;

Paul Sandby Paul Sandby (1731 – 7 November 1809) was an English map-maker turned Landscape art, landscape painter in watercolours, who, along with his older brother Thomas Sandby, Thomas, became one of the founding members of the Royal Academy in 17 ...

; John Watts; the equestrian painter

George Stubbs George Stubbs (25 August 1724 – 10 July 1806) was an English painter, best known for his paintings of horses. Self-trained, Stubbs learnt his skills independently from other great artists of the 18th century such as Joshua Reynolds and Thoma ...

Awards and achievements

Mazell became a Fellow of the Society of Artists in 1772, and Vice-President of the same Society in 1790.

Works in national collections

National Portrait Gallery

British Museum
(70 prints)
National Trust

Victoria and Albert Museum

National Maritime Museum, Greenwich

National Gallery of Australia
(35 prints)

References

External links

Bibliotheca Britannica (Rev. Charles Cordiner)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mazell, Peter Natural history illustrators Irish engravers British bird artists