Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Scriven, Edward
SCRIVEN, EDWARD (1775–1841), engraver, was born, according to his own account, at Alcester, Warwickshire, in 1775, but his name does not appear in the parish register of that place. He was a pupil of Robert Thew [q. v.], and became eminent as an engraver, chiefly of portraits, in the stipple and chalk manner. He worked mainly for the publishers of expensively illustrated books and serials, such as the ‘British Gallery of Portraits,’ 1809–17; ‘Ancient Marbles in the British Museum,’ 1814, &c.; Tresham and Ottley's ‘British Gallery,’ 1818; Lodge's ‘Portraits of Illustrious Persons,’ 1821–34; Dibdin's ‘Ædes Althorpianæ,’ 1822; Jerdan's ‘National Portrait Gallery,’ 1830–4; and Mrs. Jameson's ‘Beauties of the Court of Charles II,’ 1833. His few detached plates include ‘Telemachus and Mentor discovered by Calypso,’ after R. Westall, 1810; portrait of Rev. Richard Broomhead, after J. Allen, 1818; portrait of Thomas, lord Clifford of Chudleigh, after S. Cooper, 1819; ‘Miranda,’ after W. Hilton, 1828; and portrait of Dr. E. D. Clarke, after J. Opie, 1828. He also engraved a set of imitations of West's studies of heads for his picture of ‘Christ Rejected.’ Scriven worked with much taste and skill and extreme industry. He was a man of great active benevolence among the members of his own profession, and a zealous supporter of the Artists' Annuity Fund, in the establishment of which, in 1810, he took a leading part. He died on 23 Aug. 1841, leaving a widow and five children, and was buried in Kensal Green cemetery, where a stone was erected to his memory by the members of the Artists' Fund. A portrait of Scriven, painted by A. Morton, was engraved by B. P. Gibbon as an illustration to Pye's ‘Patronage of British Art.’
[Redgrave's Dict. of Artists; Pye's Patronage of British Art, 1845; information from the rector of Alcester.]
Dictionary of National Biography, Errata (1904), p.244
N.B.— f.e. stands for from end and l.l. for last line
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| 125 | ii | 3 f.e. | Scriven, Edward: for 1318 read 1818 |