Select a Link

Caus, Isaac de (active 1623-55) Son or nephew of the garden designer and architect, Salomon de Caus (1576-1626), Isaac probably came to England in 1611 and was later to act as an assistant to Inigo Jones. His publications comprise a set of etchings of the gardens of Wilton House, for which he was responsible, and a book on waterworks published in 1644.

Cecill, Thomas (fl. 1626-40) Printmaker active in London in the years before the Civil War. He was responsible for a large number of engraved title-pages as well as some fine portraits and the popular print, ‘A New Year’s Guift for Shrews’. Cecill clearly owed much to the de Passe brothers, while he is stylistically similar to John Payne.

Clein, Francis (?1582-1658) ‘One of the most significant artists working in England in the first half of the 17th century (Griffiths, Print in Stuart Britain, p. 118). Clein was born at Rostock on the Baltic and worked for Christian IV of Denmark before coming to England in 1623, where he was patronised first by James I and then by Charles I. Clein’s most significant activity was as designer of the tapestries produced at Mortlake, and he also executed decorations for various country houses, including Ham House. When the Civil War forced Charles I to discontinue his subsidy to the Mortlake factory, Clein instead turned to printmaking, and most of his designs date from between 1645 and his death, including various sets of prints with mythological subjects and illustrations for John Ogilby’s Fables of Aesop Paraphrased (1651) and his editions of Virgil and Homer.

Cockson, Thomas (active c. 1591-1636) Cockson was the most prolific producer of portrait prints in Tudor England, whose activity continued well into the 17th century. Among his most notable works were equestrian portraits of the Earls of Cumberland, Devonshire, Essex and Nottingham, and he also contributed to Baziliωlogia (1618). In addition, he was responsible for various engraved title-pages and other book illustrations and for the single sheet print, The Revells of Christendome (1609).

Collins, Jacob (fl. 1675-1713) A little-known etcher and engraver, who usually signed himself 'I. Collins', he has been identified on one mount as Jacob Collins for reasons that are not clear. Collins made an interesting series of prints of comic actors, and collaborated with Nicholas Yeates and William Sherwin.

Cross, Thomas (fl. 1644-82 or later) The engraver of many title-pages and book illustrations, Cross also produced portraits, mainly for booksellers, and he appears to have published prints. He was a specialist in the engraving of shorthand, of which he invented a system of his own, and he also engraved plates of scripts, including those for Josiah Ricraft’s Peculiar Characters of the Oriental Languages (?1645). The fact that the title page to William Evats’ translation of Grotius’ Of the Rights of Peace and War (London, Ralph Smith, 1682) is signed ‘T. Cross Senior Sculpsit.’ suggests that there was another printmaker of the same name, perhaps his son.