Thomas Bewick (August 1753 - November 8, 1828) was an English wood engraver and ornithologist. Note: as an adjective (stressed on the second syllable instead of the first), august means honorable. ... 1753 was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... November 8 is the 312th day of the year (313th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 53 days remaining. ... 1828 was a leap year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... Royal motto: Dieu et mon droit (French: God and my right) Englands location within the UK Official language English de facto Capital London de facto Largest city London Area  - Total Ranked 1st UK 130,395 km² Population  - Total (2001)  - Density Ranked 1st UK 49,138,831 377/km² Religion... Wood engraving is, simply, the art of engraving, using the medium of wood. ... Engraving is the practice of incising a design onto a hard, flat surface, by cutting grooves into it. ... Ornithology (from the Greek ornitha = chicken and logos = word/science) is the branch of biology concerned with the scientific study of birds. ...

Bewick was born at Cherryburn in Northumberland, near Newcastle-upon-Tyne. For other places with this name, see Northumberland Northumberland is a county in England, on the border with Scotland. ... Newcastle upon Tyne, often called just Newcastle, is a city in the county of Tyne and Wear in North East England. ...

His father rented a small colliery at Mickleybank, and sent his son to school at Mickley. Thomas was a poor scholar, but showed, at a very early age, a talent for drawing. He had no lessons in art. At the age of fourteen he was apprenticed to Ralph Beilby, an engraver in Newcastle. In his office Bewick engraved a series of diagrams on wood, for Dr Hutton, illustrating a treatise on mensuration. He seems thereafter to have devoted himself entirely to engraving on wood, and in 1775 he received a premium from the Society for the Encouragement of Arts and Manufactures for a wood engraving of the "Huntsman and the Old Hound." In 1776 he became a partner in Beilby's firm. Wyoming coal mine Coal mining is the mining of coal. ... Measurement is the determination of the size or magnitude of something. ... 1775 was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... Wood engraving is, simply, the art of engraving, using the medium of wood. ... This article is about the year 1776. ...

His Select Fables (1784), had engravings which were far superior to any that had yet been done. The Quadrupeds appeared in 1790, and Bewick's great achievement, that with which his name is inseparably associated, the British Birds, was published from 1797-1804. Bewick was helped by his intimate knowledge of the habits of animals acquired during his constant excursions into the country. Other works for which he became well known included the engravings for Oliver Goldsmith's Traveller and Deserted Village, for Thomas Parnell's Hermit, for William Somervile's Chase and for the collection of Fables of Aesop and Others. Bewick had numerous pupils, several of whom gained distinction as engravers. These included his son and later partner, Robert Elliott. 1784 was a leap year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... 1790 was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ... 1797 was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... 1804 was a leap year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... Oliver Goldsmith Oliver Goldsmith (November 10, 1730(?) – April 4, 1774) was an Irish writer and physician known for his novel The Vicar of Wakefield (1766), his pastoral poem The Deserted Village (1770) (written in memory of his brother), and his plays The Good-naturd Man (1768) and She Stoops... Thomas Parnell (1679-1718) was a poet, born in Dublin and educated at Trinity College. ... William Somervile or Somerville (September 2, 1675 - July 19, 1742) was an English poet. ... Aesop, as depicted in the Nuremberg Chronicle. ...

Bewick's art is considered the pinnacle of its medium. This is likely due to his methods; Bewick, unlike his predecessors, would carve in harder woods, against the grain, using fine tools normally favored by metal engravers. This proved to be far superior, and has been the dominant method used since.

His autobiography, Memoirs of Thomas Bewick, by Himself, appeared in 1862. Shortly after Bewick's death, he was commemorated by the naming of a species of swan: Bewick's Swan. 1862 was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... Genera Cygnus Coscoroba Swans are large water birds of the family Anatidae, which also includes geese and ducks. ... Binomial name Cygnus columbianus (Ord, 1815) The Tundra Swan (Cygnus columbianus) is a small Northern Hemisphere swan. ...

External Links

The Bewick Society homepage (http://www.bewicksociety.org/) The society is dedicated to promoting "an interest in the life and work of Thomas Bewick and related subjects, especially with regard to wood-engraving."

References

• This article incorporates text from the public domain 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica.