Michael Burghers (b. c.1647/8 – 1727) was a Dutch
illustrator and
artist of the 17th century, who spent most of his career in England. He was commissioned to create
maps, estate plans, and illustrations of
stately houses, by the English
aristocracy.
Biography
Michael Burghers was a Dutch
engraver, who settled in England on the taking of
Utrecht by
Louis XIV. He lived mostly at
Oxford, and on several of his plates he added Academiae Oxon. calcographus after his name.[1]
He was the author of a book, Ancient Mysteries Described, which was reprinted into the early 19th century.
He worked almost wholly with the
graver, in a stiff, tasteless style, without genius, or knowledge of the art of design. His drawing, when he attempted to draw the naked figure is wholly defective. He has, though, painfully preserved many ancient reliques, the originals of which are now lost.[2]
Strutt thought that Burghers' best plates were his copies after
Claude Mellan, and his topographical work, much of it for the antiquary
Thomas Hearne.[2]
From 1676 Burghers engraved the plates for the
Almanacks of the university. His most esteemed prints are his antiquities, ruins of abbeys, and other curiosities. He also engraved several portraits and plates for the classics.[1] They include:[4]
Book illustrations
Illustrations to
Dr. Plot's Natural History of Oxfordshire. Being an Essay towards the Natural History of England. 1677.[5]
Illustrations to Robert Plot's Natural History of Staffordshire. 1686.[5] (pictured)
Illustrations to Dr.
White Kennet's History of Ambroseden.
Illustrations to the fourth edition of
Milton's Paradise Lost, published by
Jacob Tonson. Burghers engraved eleven of the twelve plates; seven of them after drawings by J.B. de Medina; the drawings for the others may have been by
Henry Aldrich.[6]
Engravings of ichnographies in
Browne Willis's Survey of York, Durham, Carlisle, Chester, Man, Lichfield, Hereford, Worcester, Gloucester, and Bristol Cathedrals. 1727. The exception is Man.
^
abcStrutt, Joseph (1786). "Michael Burghers". A Biographical Dictionary Containing All the Engravers, From the Earliest Period of the Art of Engraving to the Present Day. Vol. 1. London: Robert Faulder. p. 161.
^Boorsch, Suzanne.
"The 1688 Paradise Lost and Dr. Aldrich"(PDF). Metropolitan Museum of Art. Retrieved 20 October 2013. The one plate not engraved by Burghers was by P.P. Bouche after Bernard Lens.
References
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the
public domain:
Bryan, Michael (1886).
"Burghers, Michael". In Graves, Robert Edmund (ed.). Bryan's Dictionary of Painters and Engravers (A–K). Vol. I (3rd ed.). London: George Bell & Sons.