Thomas Milton (1743 – 27 February 1827) was a British engraver.

Biography

He was a son of John Milton (fl. 1770), the marine painter, and was descended from a brother of the poet

John Milton John Milton (9 December 1608 – 8 November 1674) was an English poet, polemicist, and civil servant. His 1667 epic poem ''Paradise Lost'' was written in blank verse and included 12 books, written in a time of immense religious flux and politic ...

. From the character of his plates it seems probable that Milton was a pupil of William Woollett, and he is said to have practised for some time in London, but nothing is known of the work of his early life. He was living in Dublin in 1783, but had returned to London by 1786. Milton was a governor of the short-lived Society of Engravers founded in 1803. He died at Bristol on 27 February 1827.

Works

In 1783 appeared the first number of his ''Views of Seats in Ireland'', a series of twenty-four plates from drawings by William Ashford, John James Barralet,

Francis Wheatley Francis Wheatley may refer to: *Francis Wheatley (painter) Francis Wheatley Royal Academy, RA (174728 June 1801) was an England, English portrait and Landscape art, landscape Painting, painter. Life and work Wheatley was born at Wild Court, Cov ...

, and others; this work, which made Milton's reputation, was completed in 1793. From then on he seems to have relied on commissions from publishers. Stephen Martin Leake

His other major plate was ''The Deluge'', engraved for Thomas Macklin's Bible from a picture by

Philip James de Loutherbourg Philip James de Loutherbourg, RA (born Philippe Jacques de Loutherbourg; 31 October 174011 March 1812) was a French-born British painter who became known for his large naval works, his elaborate set designs for London theatres, and his invent ...

. His work occurs also in

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 ...

's, George Kearsley's, and George Steevens's editions of Shakespeare, and William Young Ottley's ''Stafford Gallery'' 1818. In 1801 appeared ''Views in Egypt'', a series of coloured

aquatint Aquatint is an intaglio printmaking technique, a variant of etching that produces areas of tone rather than lines. For this reason it has mostly been used in conjunction with etching, to give both lines and shaded tone. It has also been used ...

s; the subtitle clarifies that it was from original drawings in owned by Sir Robert Ainslie, taken during his embassy to

Constantinople Constantinople (#Names of Constantinople, see other names) was a historical city located on the Bosporus that served as the capital of the Roman Empire, Roman, Byzantine Empire, Byzantine, Latin Empire, Latin, and Ottoman Empire, Ottoman empire ...

by Luigi Mayer, engraved by and under Milton. For ''

Rees's Cyclopædia Rees's ''Cyclopædia'', in full ''The Cyclopædia; or, Universal Dictionary of Arts, Sciences, and Literature'', was an important 19th-century British people, British encyclopaedia edited by Rev. Abraham Rees (1743–1825), a Presbyterian minis ...

'' he engraved well over 200 plates, mostly on natural history topics.

References

* ;Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Milton, Thomas 1743 births 1827 deaths 18th-century engravers 19th-century British engravers 18th-century English male artists 19th-century English male artists English engravers