{{Short description|English engraver (1735–1785)}} {{about||the American architect|William Lee Woollett}} {{Use dmy dates|date=February 2020}} [[File:William Woollett by Gilbert Stuart 1783.jpeg|thumb|upright|[[Portrait of William Woollett|1783 portrait]] of Woollett by [[Gilbert Stuart]]]]
'''William Woollett''' (15 August 1735{{snd}}23 May 1785) was an English engraver.
==Life== [[File:Benjamin West - William Woollett - The Battle at La Hogue.jpg|thumb|Woollett's 1781 engraving of [[Benjamin West]]'s 1778 painting ''[[The Battle of La Hogue]]'']]
Woollett was born on 15 August 1735 in [[Maidstone]], [[Kent]] to a family had originally emigrated to England from the [[Dutch Republic]].<ref name="EB1911">{{EB1911|inline=y|wstitle=Woollett, William|volume=28|page=817}}</ref> He was apprenticed to [[John Tinney]], an engraver in [[Fleet Street]], London, and studied in the [[St. Martin's Lane Academy|St Martin's Lane academy]]. His first important plate was from ''[[The Destruction of the Children of Niobe]]'' of [[Richard Wilson (painter)|Richard Wilson]], published by Boydell in 1761, which was followed in 1763 by a companion engraving from the "Phaethon" of the same painter. He engraved several [[Benjamin West]] paintings, including ''[[The Death of General Wolfe]]'' in 1776 and ''[[The Battle of La Hogue]]'' in 1781, the former of which is usually considered Woollett's masterpiece. In 1775 he was appointed engraver-in-ordinary to [[George III]]; and he was a member of the [[Society of Artists of Great Britain|Incorporated Society of Artists]], of which for several years he acted as secretary.<ref name="EB1911"/>
Woollett's plates combined engraving, etching, and dry-point and were considered highly esteemed examples of the English school of engraving. [[Louis Fagan]], in his ''Catalogue Raisonné of the Engraved Works of William Woollett'' (1885), enumerated 123 plates by Woollett.<ref name="EB1911"/> [[Thomas Hearne (artist)|Thomas Hearne]] became apprenticed to him in 1765, Woollett came to consider him the finest landscape engraver of his day; he stayed for six years. [[Benjamin Thomas Pouncy]] (B.T. Pouncy) (died 1799), was a pupil.<ref>{{Cite DNB|wstitle=Pouncy, Benjamin Thomas|volume=46|pages=231-232|first=Freeman Marius|last=O'Donoghue}}</ref> He died in London; his is one of the many graves in [[Old St. Pancras]] Churchyard.<ref>[https://www.british-history.ac.uk/old-new-london/vol5/pp324-340 'St Pancras'], in ''Old and New London: Volume 5'' (London, 1878), pp. 324–340. British History Online.</ref> He is not listed on the memorial to important lost graves erected in the 19th century.
==Memorials== A monument to his memory, by [[Thomas Banks (sculptor)|Thomas Banks]], stands in [[Westminster Abbey]].<ref>Dictionary of British Sculptors, 1660–1851, Rupert Gunnis</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
==Further reading==
*Fagan, Louis. ''[https://archive.org/details/acatalogueraiso00fagagoog A catalogue raisonné of the engraved works of William Woollett]'' (London, The Fine art society Ltd., 1885). *[https://archive.org/details/bryansdiction05brya Bryan's dictionary of painters and engravers, volume 5] (New York: Macmillan, 1903) p394. *Brendan Cassidy, 'William Woollett's Ring', ''Print Quarterly'', Vol.XXXV No.1 March 2018, pp70–71.
==External links== {{Commons category}} *[http://www.woolletthistory.co.uk/main/engraver.htm William Woollett and family] (woolletthistory.co.uk) *[http://www.gac.culture.gov.uk/search/Artist.asp?maker_id=115060 Engravings by Woolett] ([[Government Art Collection]]) *[http://www.artoftheprint.com/artistpages/woollett_william_frontispiecetotaylorsperspective.htm William Woollett & William Hogarth – Frontispiece to Taylor's Perspective] (Art of the Print) *[http://www.christies.com/LotFinder/lot_details.aspx?intObjectID=5049535 Phaeton] (engraving after Richard Wilson) *[http://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/person.php?LinkID=mp58004&role=art Works by Woolett] (National Portrait gallery, London) * {{cite book |last1=Hutchinson |first1=John |title=Men of Kent and Kentishmen |date=1892 |publisher=Cross & Jackman |location=Canterbury |page=145 |edition=Subscription |chapter=[[s:Men of Kent and Kentishmen/William Woollett|William Woollett]]}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Woollett, William}} [[Category:1735 births]] [[Category:1785 deaths]] [[Category:18th-century English engravers]] [[Category:People from Maidstone]] [[Category:Burials at St Pancras Old Church]]