James Basire
(1730-1802), EngraverSitter in 1 portrait
Artist associated with 85 portraits
Basire was apprenticed to engraver Richard William Seale and afterwards travelled to Italy with the artist and engraver Roger Dalton. By the 1760s he had established a successful engraving practice. In 1755 Basire was appointed engraver to the Society of Antiquaries and after that time documentary or pictorial antiquarian engraving formed the majority of his work. Basire is best remembered for his 1770 engraving of the historical painting The Field of the Cloth of Gold (c.1550-80) that depicts the festivities following the meeting of Henry VIII with the French King Francis I in 1520. This was the largest engraving ever made and took Basire over two years to complete.
Thomas Howard, 14th Earl of Arundel
by James Basire, after Sir Peter Paul Rubens
line engraving, published 1763 (1629)
NPG D19370
by James Basire, by and after Benjamin Wilson
engraved copper plate, 1770
NPG D42350
by James Basire, after Joseph Samuel Webster
line engraving, published 1804
NPG D16917
by James Basire, after Joseph Samuel Webster
line engraving, published 1804
NPG D16919
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