Thomas Bewick, born at Cherryburn, a house in the village of Mickley, Northumberland, was a renowned engraver and natural history author. He apprenticed with the glass-engraver Ralph Beilby in Newcastle upon Tyne in 1767 and became a partner in the business soon after. He is credited with popularising graphic art by employing the technical innovation in printing of using metal-engraving tools to cut hard boxwood across the grain (xylography). The result is high quality illustration with superb minute detail at a low price. He illustrated, wrote and published his own books and is especially known for A General History of Quadrupeds (1790), A History of British Birds (1797-1804) and various editions of Aesop’s Fables. This portrait is after the 1815 version by James Ramsay that is in The Natural History Society of Northumbria Great North Museum: Hancock.

Text from National Trust

Object description
Type: Easel painting
Location: South Shields Museum & Art Gallery, Tyne & Wear
Material: Oil on canvas
Artist: after James Ramsay 1786 – 1854)
Date: circa 1820

Image Details
Date: 28 September 2023
Camera body: iPhone Xs
Lens: Telephoto Camera 52mm ƒ/2.4
Focal Length: 52mm
Aperture: ƒ/2.4
Shutter Speed: 1/35s
ISO: 640
Licensing: Image of a National Trust asset. This image cannot be licensed.