Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Browne, John (1741-1801)
BROWNE, JOHN (1741–1801), engraver, was born at Finchfield, Essex, 26 April 1741. He was the posthumous son of the rector of Boston, Norfolk, and was educated at Norwich. In 1756 he was apprenticed to John Tinney, the engraver, who was also William Woollett's master. With Tinney he remained till 1761, and then placed himself under Woollett, many of whose plates were commenced by Browne. On leaving Woollett he engraved a series of plates after N. Poussin, P. P. Rubens, Claude Lorraine, and other eminent masters. Browne practised exclusively as an engraver of landscape, and attained to a high degree of excellence in that department. He was elected an associate engraver of the Royal Academy in 1770, and exhibited thirteen plates between 1767 and 1801. He died in West Lane, Walworth, 2 Oct. 1801. The following are some of his most important works, which are to be seen in our national collection of prints: 'The Watering Place,' after Rubens; 'The Forest,' after Sir George Beaumont; 'St. John the Baptist in the Wilderness,' after S. Rosa; 'A View of the Gate of the Emperor Akbar at Secundrii,' after Hodges; 'The Cascade,' after G. Poussin; and four plates from his own designs, 'Morning,' 'Evening,' 'After Sunset,' and 'Moonlight ;' also several large plates after Claude Lorraine.
[Redgrave's Dictionary of Artists, 1878.]