Edward Scriven
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Edward Scriven (1775 – 23 August 1841) was an English engraver of portraits, in the stipple and chalk manner. Scriven was the pre-eminent engraver of his generation, with 210 portraits ascribed to him by the National Portrait Gallery.[1]
Scriven was born in 1775 at Alcester, Warwickshire, though his name does not appear in the parish register. He was for eight years a pupil of Northall (Northaw), Hertfordshire engraver Robert Thew. When Thew died in 1802, Scriven replaced him as Historical Engraver to the Prince of Wales. On the Prince of Wales' succession to the throne in 1820 as George IV Scriven was appointed Historical Engraver to the King.[1][2]
Early in his career he came to London to work on plates for the London publisher, John Boydell. Scriven became the eminent engraver of his generation, producing over 200 portrait engravings.[1]
He was considered to be a man of great active benevolence among the members of his profession and a leading proponent and founder of the Artists' Annuity Fund in 1810.[2][3]
He died on 23 August 1841 at his home at 46 Clarendon Square, Somers Town, London, leaving a widow and five children. He was buried in Kensal Green Cemetery, where a stone was erected to his memory by the members of the Artists' Fund.[2][3][4] The monument was designed and created by Charles Harriott Smith.[5]
Benjamin Phelps Gibbon and Robert William Sievier studied engraving under Scriven.
