Samuel Okey (

fl. ''Floruit'' ( ; usually abbreviated fl. or occasionally flor.; from Latin for 'flourished') denotes a date or period during which a person was known to have been alive or active. In English, the unabbreviated word may also be used as a noun indic ...

1765–1780), the younger, was a British

mezzotint Mezzotint is a monochrome printmaking process of the intaglio (printmaking), intaglio family. It was the first printing process that yielded half-tones without using line- or dot-based techniques like hatching, cross-hatching or stipple. Mezzo ...

engraver, in later life an emigrant to

British North America British North America comprised the colonial territories of the British Empire in North America from 1783 onwards. English colonisation of North America began in the 16th century in Newfoundland, then further south at Roanoke and Jamestown, ...

Life

Samuel Okey, eldest surviving son of Samuel Okey, a printseller in Fleet Street, London, and his wife Mary Atterbury, was born in the City of London on 21 February 1742. Nothing is known of his training as a mezzotint engraver, but those of his prints that are signed “Samuel Okey junior” were probably produced before the death of his father in 1768. As Samuel Okey junior, he obtained premiums in 1765 and 1767 from the

Society of Arts The Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce, commonly known as the Royal Society of Arts (RSA), is a learned society that champions innovation and progress across a multitude of sectors by fostering creativity, s ...

. In 1770 he engraved a print ''Sweets of Liberty'', after John Collett; this was published by him and Charles Reak, near Temple Bar, and it exhibits

Wilkite John Wilkes (17 October 1725 – 26 December 1797) was an English radical journalist and politician, as well as a magistrate, essayist and soldier. He was first elected a Member of Parliament in 1757. In the Middlesex election dispute, he f ...

sympathies. In 1773 the names Okey and Reak appear as joint publishers of an engraved portrait by Okey of the Baptist minister Thomas Hiscox after

Robert Feke Robert Feke () was an American portrait painter born in Oyster Bay, New York. According to art historian Richard Saunders, "Feke's impact on the development of Colonial painting was substantial, and his pictures set a new standard by which the ...

; and as "print sellers and stationers on the Parade",

Newport, Rhode Island Newport is a seaside city on Aquidneck Island in Rhode Island, United States. It is located in Narragansett Bay, approximately southeast of Providence, Rhode Island, Providence, south of Fall River, Massachusetts, south of Boston, and nort ...

. They published a portrait of Thomas Honyman there in 1774, and one of

Samuel Adams Samuel Adams (, 1722 – October 2, 1803) was an American statesman, Political philosophy, political philosopher, and a Founding Father of the United States. He was a politician in Province of Massachusetts Bay, colonial Massachusetts, a le ...

in 1775. It is uncertain whether Okey remained in America or returned to England.

Works

Okey's first premium was for a mezzotint engraving of ''Nancy Reynolds'', copied from that done by Charles Phillips, after a picture by

Sir Joshua Reynolds Sir Joshua Reynolds (16 July 1723 – 23 February 1792) was an English painter who specialised in portraits. The art critic John Russell (art critic), John Russell called him one of the major European painters of the 18th century, while Lucy P ...

. In 1767 he exhibited at the

Incorporated Society of Artists The Society of Artists of Great Britain was founded in London in May 1761 by an association of artists in order to provide a venue for the public exhibition of recent work by living artists, such as was having success in the long-established P ...

an engraving of ''An Old Man with a Scroll'' after Reynolds, and in 1768 ''A Mezzotinto after Mr. Cosway''. Among Okey's earlier works were: * Mrs. Anderson, after

Robert Edge Pine Robert Edge Pine (1730, London – November 18, 1788, Philadelphia) was an English people, English portrait and historical painter, born in London. He was the son of John Pine, the engraver and designer. Career He painted portraits, including of G ...

; * Lady Anne Dawson, after Reynolds; * Miss Gunning, and ''The Gunnings as Hibernian Sisters''; * Nelly O'Brien, after Reynolds; *

William Powell William Horatio Powell (July 29, 1892 – March 5, 1984) was an American actor, known primarily for his film career. Under contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, he was paired with Myrna Loy in 14 films, including the ''The Thin Man (film), Thin M ...

the actor, after Robert Pyle; * ''Miss Green and a Lamb'', after

Tilly Kettle Tilly Kettle (1735–1786) was a portrait painter and the first prominent English painter, English portrait painter to operate in Company rule in India, India. Life He was born in London, the son of a coach painter, in a family that had been m ...

; and * ''A Burgomaster'', after

Frans Hals Frans Hals the Elder (, ; ; – 26 August 1666) was a Dutch Golden Age painter. He lived and worked in Haarlem, a city in which the local authority of the day frowned on religious painting in places of worship but citizens liked to decorate thei ...

. A print by him, ''A Modern Courtezan'', was published in 1778, but may have been executed earlier.

Notes

Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Okey, Samuel British engravers 18th-century British artists