(b Sussex, 1739; d London, 24 March 1816). English gem-engraver and medallist. He first came to notice as the main prizewinner of the London Society of Arts' premiums for intaglio-engraving between 1762 and 1766. He was a pupil of Edward Burch and briefly studied drawing at the St Martin's Lane Academy (1766), but, inspired by the 3rd Duke of Richmond's gallery of casts, he soon pursued an original line, concentrating on engraving in intaglio copies of ancient sculptures (see fig.). He exhibited (1765-74) with the Society of Artists, of which he became a fellow and briefly a director; in the last two years he sent his submissions from Rome, where he had gone to study the monuments of antiquity in the original. There he created remarkable gems after ancient reliefs and statues, many of them only recently excavated or in private, princely collections. At first he worked for patrons at home, principally for George Spencer, 4th Duke of Marlborough; for the Rev. Francis Henry Egerton, later 8th Earl of Bridgwater, he engraved Priam at the Feet of Achilles (sard, 1784; Belton House, Lincs, NT). In time he became recognized as the only rival to Giovanni Pichler, then considered the foremost engraver in Rome. For Roman princes, as well as English and foreign visitors on the Grand Tour, he engraved not only ancient subjects (e.g. Marcus Aurelius, sard, ?1783; London, BM) but also skilful portraits, modelled from life (e.g. Sir Charles Bingham, Earl of Lucan and his wife, Lady Lucan, both sard, c. 1780; ex-Spencer priv. col., see Seidmann). For Louisa, Countess of Albany, he cut a portrait of Dante (exh. RA 1783; paste copy, Montpellier, Bib. Ville) as a present for Count Alfieri, and for Sir Richard Worsley he engraved a Pericles, a Niobe and the Death of General Wolfe, a bold excursion into modern history (exh. RA 1783; Brocklesby Park). His portrait of Pope Pius VI (cornelian; untraced) was in the Vatican Cabinet until 1798. These works of his maturity, some as large as 30 mm, exhibit bold, uncluttered lines and planes in heads and busts and bring out fully the beauty of Marchant's preferred sardonyx or sard (e.g. Achilles, sard, 1772-88; London, BM); while figure groups, such as the General Wolfe and Bacchus and a Bacchante (sard, 1772-83; London, BM, see GEM-ENGRAVING, fig. 16; unsigned version, St Petersburg, Hermitage), are distinguished by the delicate modelling of his often attenuated figures and a brilliantly handled recession of planes.
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