William Harvey was an English engraver and designer.

Born at Newcastle upon Tyne

Newcastle upon Tyne

Newcastle upon Tyne is a city and metropolitan borough of Tyne and Wear, in North East England. Historically a part of Northumberland, it is situated on the north bank of the River Tyne...

, Harvey was the son of a bath-keeper. At the age of 14, he was apprenticed to Thomas Bewick

Thomas Bewick

Thomas Bewick was an English wood engraver and ornithologist.- Early life and apprenticeship :Bewick was born at Cherryburn House in the village of Mickley, in the parish of Ovingham, Northumberland, England, near Newcastle upon Tyne on 12 August 1753...

, and became one of his favorite pupils. Bewick describes him as one "who both as an engraver & designer, stands preeminent" at his day (Memoir, p. 200). He engraved many blocks for Bewick's Aesop's Fables (1818).

Harvey moved to London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

 in 1817, studying drawing with Benjamin Haydon

Benjamin Haydon

Benjamin Robert Haydon was an English historical painter and writer.-Biography:Haydon was born in Plymouth. His mother was the daughter of the Rev. Benjamin Cobley, rector of Dodbrooke, near Kingsbridge, Devon. Her brother, General Sir Thomas Cobley, was renowned for his part in the siege of Ismail...

, and anatomy with Charles Bell

Charles Bell

Sir Charles Bell was a Scottish surgeon, anatomist, neurologist and philosophical theologian.His three older brothers included John Bell , also a noted surgeon and writer; and the advocate George Joseph Bell .-Life:...

. In 1821, he engraved for Haydon on wood, in imitation of copper-plate, the large block of the Assassination of L. S. Dentatus. This was probably the then most ambitious block which had been cut in England.

Harvey switched to design, after the death of John Thurston

John Thurston (artist)

John Thurston was an English wood engraver and illustrator. He began his artistic career as a copper plate engraver, working for James Heath. Then he took up book illustration, and soon totally devoted himself to it. Most of his illustrations were engraved on block, not plate...

, the then leading wood designer in London. One of his earliest works is his illustrations for Alexander Henderson

Alexander Henderson (physician)

Alexander Henderson was a Scottish physician and author. Born in Aberdeenshire, he was educated at Edinburgh University, where he graduated as a doctor of medicine in 1803. He went to London and was admitted a licentiate of the Royal College of Physicians in 1808...

's History of Ancient and Modern Wines in 1824.

His masterpieces are his illustrations to Northcote's Fables (1823-33) and to E. W. Lane

Edward William Lane

Edward William Lane was a British Orientalist, translator and lexicographer....

's The Arabian Nights' Entertainments (1838-1840).

External links

• Harvey's illustrations to Arabian Nights at Arabian Nights Books
• Assassination of L. S. Dentatus at Art of the Print
• William Harvey at Wood Engraving, an Art Lost and Found: Engravers and Illustrators