James McArdell

Engraver James McArdell was born in Cow Lane, Dublin. Along with Richard Houston, Charles Spooner and others, he was a pupil of John Brooks and went to London with Brooks around 1746. He was the outstanding figure in the so-called ‘Dublin School’ of mezzotint engravers. By 1751 he had opened a print shop at the Golden Head in Covent Garden. He developed a virtuoso technique, and his mezzotint of 1752 after a Van Dyck painting made his reputation. He concentrated on portraits and was said to have been Reynolds’s favourite engraver, translating 38 portraits into print form. McArdell also engraved some 200 paintings by other artists including Gainsborough, Hogarth, Nathaniel Hone and Thomas Hudson. He also copied old master paintings by Correggio, Murillo, Rembrandt and Rubens. He published his own plates, many of which were bought after his early death by the London print dealer Robert Sayer.