Charles Thompson (1791–1843) was a British wood-engraver, who made a career in France.

Life

A younger brother of John Thompson, he was born in London. He was a pupil of John Bewick and Allen Robert Branston, and became a wood-engraver[1]

In 1816 Thompson found work in Paris, where he executed illustrations to many publications. His work was admired, and in 1824 he was awarded a gold medal. He introduced into France the English method of carving the end of the wood, instead of in the direction of the grain, and using the graver instead of the knife.[1] The atelier he opened in 1817 instructed numerous French students.[2]

Thompson died at Bourg-la-Reine, near Paris, on 19 May 1843, and his widow was granted a pension by the French government.[1]

Works

Thompson produced illustration's for Samuel Weller Singer's 1817 edition of Torquato Tasso, in Edward Fairfax's translation; and for Singer's Shakespeare (1826). In the 1820s he shared a place in Peckham with his brother John, but became a French resident. In Paris he worked for Léon Curmer.[3] He was involved in the 1835–6 edition of Molière.[4]

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 Lee, Sidney, ed. (1898). "Thompson, John (1785-1866)" . Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 56. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
  2. ↑ Charles Weiss (1 January 1991). 1834-1837. Presses Univ. Franche-Comté. p. 68 note 3. ISBN 978-2-251-60420-6.
  3. ↑ Rodney K. Engen (1985). Dictionary of Victorian Wood Engravers. Chadwyck-Healey. p. 259. ISBN 0859641392.
  4. ↑ Ulrich Finke (1972). French 19th Century Painting and Literature: with Special Reference to the Relevance of Literary Subject-matter to French Painting. Manchester University Press. p. 332. ISBN 978-0-7190-0413-1.

Attribution

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Lee, Sidney, ed. (1898). "Thompson, John (1785-1866)". Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 56. London: Smith, Elder & Co.

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