John
Bewick (1760-1795) was Thomas Bewick's younger brother
and his first apprentice, serving from 1777 until 1782.
It is difficult to identify workshop engravings from his
apprentice years as definitely his. He went to London in
1786, making a career as a wood engraver and book illustrator,
being perhaps the first person to make a living entirely
at this occupation. He contributed to at least sixty titles
in this short career. The four examples of his work shown
here are:
(top
left) A tail-piece vignette drawn by John but cut by
Thomas, for Somervile's The Chase (1791).
(top right) 'The Sparrow's Nest' from The Looking-Glass
for the Mind, 1792, drawn and engraved by John.
(bottom left) For The Chase, drawn on the
wood by John, cut by Thomas, 1796.
(bottom right) For Chevy Chase, 1791, drawn
and cut by John.
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Robert
Elliot Bewick (1788-1849) was Thomas Bewick's only son
and served his apprenticeworkhip from 1804 to 1810. In 1812
he was made a partner in the business, which he carried
on after his father's death until his own. He was a skilled
performer on the Northumbrian small pipes (bagpipes). The
four engravings here shown are:
(top
left) a tailpiece for the unpublished History of
British Fishes, no date.
(top right) Etching on copper for a bookplate for
John Anderson, surgeon, of Newcastle, 1810.
(bottom left) Copperplate etching of a drawing by
Thomas Bewick for Alexander Kinloch, a local dancing master,
c.1812. The musician on the right could be Robert Bewick.
(bottom right) This engraving of the Black-throated
Green Warbler was first published in Julia Boyd's Bewick
Gleanings, 1886.
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Luke
Clennell (1781-1840) started in the workshop on his
sixteenth birthday in 1797, completing in 1804. He stayed
a few months, then moved to London, where he had some notable successes
until 1817, when he broke down mentally, never recovering.
He was one of the most accomplished of all the apprenticework.
A characteristic of his style is the sweeping, large-leaved
foliage in the foreground of many of his vignettes.
Several of the tailpieces in British Birds, II are
his:
(top
left) 'Shooting the bird' is on p. 82.
(top right) 'The angler' is on p.97.
(bottom left) 'Geese carried to market' is on p.286.
(bottom
right) 'A Tired Sportsman' is on p.202.
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Robert
Johnson (1771-1796) seems to have started in the workshop
in 1784, though he was technically too young to be apprenticed.
It seems he did not like wood-engraving, much preferring
drawing and copper-engraving. His mother had been a servant
at Cherryburn in her younger days. His health was problematic,
which led to him being sent out to draw in the open air.
Bewick prized his drawings and would give him a rough sketch
to work up to a coloured drawing, which would then be cut
by Bewick himself or by another apprentice. He completed
his apprenticeship in August, 1794 and died just over a
year later in Scotland. It is appropriate to show the drawings
here rather than the wood-engravings cut from them. The
originals are in the collections of the British Museum.
(top
left) 'The Snowman'
(top right) 'Two old soldiers'
(bottom left) 'Skating on a frozen river'
(bottom right) 'The Cow's tail' or 'Saving the toll'
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