{{Short description|English artist (1756–1815)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=October 2019}} {{Infobox artist | name = Samuel Alken | image = | birth_date = 22 October 1756 | birth_place = London, UK | death_date = 9 November 1815 (aged 59) | death_place = London, UK | training = Royal Academy Schools | known_for=aquatint }} '''Samuel Alken Sr.''' (22 October 1756 in London – 9 November 1815 in London) was an English artist,<ref>''The Grove Dictionary of Art'' David Alexander on Samuel Alken at [http://www.artnet.com/library/00/0018/T001854.asp artnet.com]</ref> a leading exponent of the newly developed technique of aquatint.
==History== Samuel Alken entered the Royal Academy Schools, London, as a sculptor in 1772. He published ''A New Book of Ornaments Designed and Etched by Samuel Alken'' in 1779, and later established himself as one of the most competent engravers in the new technique of aquatint.
His works included plates after George Morland, Richard Wilson, Thomas Rowlandson and Francis Wheatley.<ref name=dnb>{{cite DNB|wstitle=Alken, Samuel}}</ref> His plates for ''Sixteen views of the lakes in Cumberland and Westmorland'' after drawings John Emes and John Smith <ref>{{cite journal|title=List Of New Publications, And New Editions|journal=The Register of the Times, or: Political Museum|date=1795|volume=6|page=67|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NME_AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA7}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Sixteen views of the lakes in Cumberland and Westmorland|url=http://collections.britishart.yale.edu/vufind/Record/2034876|publisher=Yale Center For British Art|accessdate=29 August 2015}}</ref> were published in 1796,<ref name=dnb/> and a set of aquatint views of North Wales after drawings by the Rev. Brian Broughton<ref>{{cite web|title=Conway Castle, Carnarvonshire / Six Picturesque Views in North Wales|url=https://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=3227856&partId=1|publisher=British Museum|accessdate=29 August 2015}}</ref> in 1798.<ref name=dnb/>
==Relatives== The Alken family claims several well-known artists.<ref>''The Grove Dictionary of Art'' on Alken at [http://www.artnet.com/library/00/0018/T001852.asp artnet.com]</ref>
==See also== *Henry Thomas Alken
==Bibliography== *S. T. Prideaux: ''Aquatint Engraving'' (London, 1909, rev. 1968) *M. D. George: ''A Catalogue of Political and Personal Satires'', London, B.M. cat., vii (London, 1942)
==References== {{DNB Poster|Alken, Samuel|Samuel Alken}} {{Reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Alken, Samuel}} Category:1756 births Category:1815 deaths Category:19th-century British printmakers Category:Painters from London Category:British painters of animals Category:English animal artists Category:18th-century English painters Category:English male painters Category:19th-century English painters Category:19th-century English male artists Category:18th-century English male artists