Clerk, John

About the artist

Name

Clerk, John

Biography

The etcher and engraver John Clerk was born in Penicuik in 1728. He was never a professional artist, and so developed his etching and engraving skills alongside a career first as a draper, and then as Secretary to the Commissioners on the Annexed estates in Scotland. He was a friend of Robert Adam the architect and married his sister, Susannah Adam, in 1753. He had a strong interest in naval warfare. His work, Essay on Naval Tactics was published in 1782. Clerk produced a large number of etchings and engravings of Edinburgh and the surrounding area. He also provided illustrations for James Hutton's seminal The Theory of the Earth (1788). He died in Edinburgh in 1812. A set of his engravings were published by the Bannatyne Club after his death.

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