William Say (1768–1834) was a British mezzotinter, born in Lakenham, Norfolk."''Three Maries''" at LACMA
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Life

The son of William Say, a

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the Nort ...

land-steward, he was born at Lakenham, near

Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. Norwich is by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. As the seat of the Episcopal see, See of ...

. Left an orphan when five years old, he was brought up by his maternal aunt. At about the age of twenty he came to London, and obtained instruction from James Ward, who was then practising

mezzotint Mezzotint is a monochrome printmaking process of the '' 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. Mezzotint achieves tona ...

engraving. 2ndDukeOfGloucester1826

In 1807 Say was appointed engraver to the

Duke of Gloucester Duke of Gloucester () is a British royal title (after Gloucester), often conferred on one of the sons of the reigning monarch. The first four creations were in the Peerage of England and the last in the Peerage of the United Kingdom; the curre ...

. He died at his residence in

Weymouth Street Weymouth Street lies in the Marylebone district of the City of Westminster and connects Marylebone High Street with Great Portland Street. The area was developed in the late 18th century by Henrietta Cavendish Holles and her husband Edward H ...

, London, on 24 August 1834; his stock of plates and prints was sold the following July.

Works

Say became a popular engraver, working entirely in mezzotint. Between 1801 and 1834 he executed 335 plates, a large proportion of which were portraits of contemporary celebrities, from pictures by

William Beechey Sir William Beechey (12 December 175328 January 1839) was an English portraitist during the golden age of British painting. Early life Beechey was born at Burford, Oxfordshire, on 12 December 1753, the son of William Beechey, a solicitor, a ...

John Hoppner John Hoppner (4 April 175823 January 1810) was an English portrait painter, much influenced by Reynolds, who achieved fame as a brilliant colourist. Early life Hoppner was born in Whitechapel, London, the son of German parents – his moth ...

Thomas Lawrence Sir Thomas Lawrence (13 April 1769 – 7 January 1830) was an English portrait painter and the fourth president of the Royal Academy. A child prodigy, he was born in Bristol and began drawing in Devizes, where his father was an innkeeper at t ...

James Northcote James Northcote (22 October 1746, in Plymouth – 13 July 1831, in London) was a British painter. Life and work Northcote was born in Plymouth, and was apprenticed to his father, Samuel Northcote, a watchmaker. In his spare time, he drew and ...

, Joshua Reynolds, and others. Say's subject-plates include

Correggio Antonio Allegri da Correggio (August 1489 – 5 March 1534), usually known as just Correggio (, also , , ), was the foremost painter of the Parma school of the High Italian Renaissance, who was responsible for some of the most vigorous and sens ...

's ''Holy Family with St. Catherine'', Murillo's ''Spanish peasant boys'',

Raphael Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino, better known as Raphael (; or ; March 28 or April 6, 1483April 6, 1520), was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. His work is admired for its clarity of form, ease of composition, and visual ...

's ''Madonna di San Sisto'', and William Hilton's ''Raising of Lazarus'', He engraved one of Reynolds's two groups of members of the

Dilettanti Society The Society of Dilettanti (founded 1734) is a British society of noblemen and scholars that sponsors the study of ancient Greek and Roman art, and the creation of new work in the style. History Though the exact date is unknown, the Society is b ...

, and compositions by Henry Thomson,

Henry Fradelle Henri Jean-Baptiste Victoire Fradelle (1778–1865) was a Franco-English Victorian painter and portraitist, specializing in literary, historical, and religious subjects. For more than a hundred years, he was confused with his son, Henry Joseph ...

Alfred Edward Chalon Alfred Edward Chalon (15 February 1780 – 3 October 1860) was a Swiss-born British portraitist. He lived in London where he was noticed by Queen Victoria. Biography Alfred Chalon was born in Geneva from a father who soon was hired as profes ...

, and others. Say was one of the engravers employed by

J. M. W. Turner Joseph Mallord William Turner (23 April 177519 December 1851), known in his time as William Turner, was an English Romantic painter, printmaker and watercolourist. He is known for his expressive colouring, imaginative landscapes and turbulen ...

on his ''

Liber Studiorum ''Liber Studiorum'' () is a collection of prints by J. M. W. Turner. The collected works included seventy-one prints that he worked on and printed from 1807 to 1819. For the production of the prints, Turner created the etchings for the prints, w ...

'', for which he executed eleven of the published and two of the unpublished plates. He also engraved two of the plates in Turner's ''River Scenery of England''. These, with a view of

Lincoln Cathedral Lincoln Cathedral, Lincoln Minster, or the Cathedral Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Lincoln and sometimes St Mary's Cathedral, in Lincoln, England, is a Grade I listed cathedral and is the seat of the Anglican Bishop of Lincoln. Constructio ...

after Frederick Mackenzie, were his main work in landscape. In 1820 Say scraped a small portrait of Queen Caroline after

Arthur William Devis Arthur William Devis (10 August 1762 – 11 February 1822) was an English painter of history paintings and portraits. He painted portraits and historical subjects, sixty-five of which he exhibited (1779–1821) at the Royal Academy. Among his mo ...

, the first attempt made in mezzotint on steel. Twelve hundred impressions were taken from the plate.

Family

By his wife, Eleanor Francis, Say had one son

Frederick Richard Say Frederick Richard Say (30 November 1804 – 30 March 1868) was a notable society portrait painter in London between 1830 and 1860, undertaking commissions for portraits of figures such as Earl Grey, Sir Robert Peel, the Duke of Wellington ...

, and three daughters. Of these the eldest, Mary Anne, became the wife of

John Buonarotti Papworth John Buonarotti Papworth (24 January 1775 – 16 June 1847) was a British architect, artist and a founder member of the Royal Institute of British Architects. He adopted the middle name "Buonarotti" in around 1815. As well as being active in ...

, and the youngest, Leonora, married

William Adams Nicholson William Adams Nicholson (1803–1853) was an English architect who worked in Lincoln and was a founding member of the Royal Institute of British Architects. Life Born on 8 August 1803 at Southwell, Nottinghamshire, he was the son of James Nich ...

. An almost complete set of Say's works, in various states, was presented to the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docume ...

by his son in 1852.

References

* ;Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Say, William 1768 births 1834 deaths British printmakers