Richard Gething () was an English

calligrapher Calligraphy () is a visual art related to writing. It is the design and execution of lettering with a pen, ink brush, or other writing instruments. Contemporary calligraphic practice can be defined as "the art of giving form to signs in an exp ...

Life

Gething was born in

Herefordshire Herefordshire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England, bordered by Shropshire to the north, Worcestershire to the east, Gloucestershire to the south-east, and the Welsh ...

. He was a scholar of

John Davies of Hereford John Davies of Hereford (c. 1565 – July 1618) was a writing-master and an Anglo-Welsh literature, Anglo-Welsh poet. He referred to himself as ''John Davies of Hereford'' (after the city where he was born) in order to distinguish himself from ...

, the famous writing-master of Hereford, and was thought to surpass his master in every branch of his art. Coming to London, he started in business at the ''Hand and Pen'' in

Fetter Lane Fetter Lane is a street in the ward of Farringdon Without in the City of London, England. It forms part of the A4 road (England), A4 road and runs between Fleet Street at its southern end and Holborn. History The street was originally called F ...

. In 1616 he published ''A Coppie Book of the Usuall Hands Written''. An enlarged edition, entitled ''Calligraphotechnica'', was published in 1619: it had twenty-six engraved

quarto Quarto (abbreviated Qto, 4to or 4º) is the format of a book or pamphlet produced from full sheets printed with eight pages of text, four to a side, then folded twice to produce four leaves. The leaves are then trimmed along the folds to produc ...

plates and a frontispiece portrait of Gething, and was dedicated to Sir

Francis Bacon Francis Bacon, 1st Viscount St Alban (; 22 January 1561 – 9 April 1626) was an English philosopher and statesman who served as Attorney General and Lord Chancellor of England under King James I. Bacon argued for the importance of nat ...

. In 1645 he published ''Chirographia'', consisting of thirty-seven plates engraved by John Goddard. In it Gething says "he has exactly traced and followed certain pieces, both in character and language, of the ablest calligraphotechnists and Italian masters that ever wrote, with certain pieces of cursory hands, not heretofore extant, newly come in use." Another edition of ''Chirographia'', probably published after his death, is entitled ''Gething Redivivus, or the Pen's Master-Piece. Being the last work of that eminent and accomplished master in this art, containing exemplars of all curious hands written'' (London, 1664). Prefixed is his portrait, engraved by J. Chantry.

William Massey William Ferguson Massey (26 March 1856 – 10 May 1925) was a politician who served as the 19th prime minister of New Zealand from May 1912 to May 1925. He was the founding leader of the Reform Party, New Zealand's second organised political ...

considered that "on account of his early productions from the rolling press, he may stand in comparison with

Bales Bales is the surname of: * Alison Bales (born 1985), American basketball player * Barry Bales (born 1969), American musician * Billy Bales (born 1929), British former motorcycle speedway racer * Burt Bales (1917–1989), American jazz pianist ...

, Davies, and Billingsley, those heads and fathers, as I may call them, of our English calligraphic tribe".

References

Attribution *

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gething, Richard 1580s births 1652 deaths 17th-century calligraphers People from Herefordshire 17th-century English artists