Edward Calvert (painter)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For other people with this name, see Edward Calvert.

Edward Calvert (1799 - 1883) was an English printmaker and painter.

He was born in Appledore in Devon and, after a spell in the Navy, studied art at Plymouth and the Royal Academy. His early visionary work was greatly inspired by William Blake, and he become a member of the Blake-influenced group known as The Ancients which met at Samuel Palmer's in Shoreham, Kent in the later 1820s and early 1830s. Amongst Calvert's finest works are exquisite miniature wood engravings which date from this early period. He also made etchings. In 1844 he visited Greece.

Much of his subsequent life was spent with his wife Mary, in Dalston and nearby Hackney, a short distance from London. His work from this later period (not considered his best) shows a Classical influence.

Edward Calvert and his wife are buried at Abney Park Cemetery, Stoke Newington, London; the headstone reads He was welcomed in Helicon.