Samuel Cousins

Samuel Cousins

Cousins, Samuel, R.A. (1801-1887)

Omeka record contributed by Ekaterina Koposova

December 24, 2016

May 9, 1801

Victoria Terrace, Exeter, England

May 7, 1887

In 1814-1884, Engraver

Born on May 9, 1801 in Victoria Terrace, Exeter, Samuel Cousins was educated at the Exeter episcopal school. His talent for drawing, particularly making portraits and copies of engravings, was displayed in the early school days. In 1812, his drawings (offered for sale at a local shop) caught the eye of Captain T. M. Bagnold, R. M, who recommended them to the attention of the Society of Arts in London. For his drawings, young Cousins received a silver palette award (1812) and a silver Isis medal (1813). The patronage of Sir Thomas Dyke Acland allowed the young Cousins to be sent to London. Thus began his artistic career. This time, his drawings had impressed one of the main engravers in England at the time, S. W. Reynolds, who took Cousins as his apprentice in 1814. By 1826 Cousins was working independently and had produced his first two prints.
Cousins’ successful career was closely connected to the popular artists of his time, whose paintings he reproduced in his prints. Especially well-known were his prints after two presidents of the Royal Academy: Sirs. Joshua Reynolds and Thomas Lawrence. In November 1835, less than a decade after establishing himself as an independent artist, Cousins was elected Associate Engraver of the Royal Academy. Also in the 1830s, Cousins began making prints after Edwin Henry Landseer, whose pictures of animals proved a very popular subject for reproduction and remained in demand for thirty years. In 1838, Cousins made prints after the Chalon portrait of Queen Victoria.
The 1850s marked a turning point in Cousins’ career. In 1854, he was commissioned to engrave Winterhalter’s portrait of Napoleon III. Cousins was reluctant to undertake the commission. The sovereign had to make a special request of him before he relented, making engravings after the portrait of the emperor and his wife. For his work, Cousins was awarded the Legion of Honor — the highest French order for military and civil merits — and a gold medal as a Graveur Étranger (Foreign Engraver). The following year, Cousins was advanced to the rank of Royal Academician. He was one of only two engravers to have been so honored.
The 1870 exhibition of the Old Masters at Burlington House revived the public’s interest in the art of Sir Joshua Reynolds and Cousins, who was supposed to retire in 1874, began producing prints after the great British master. Their great success stimulated the seventy-year-old artist to produce thirty-seven more plates in a relatively short time. Several of these prints would later be exhibited at the Royal Academy. In 1877, Thomas Agnew & Son held an exhibition of Cousins’ works. In 1884, three years before his death, Cousins retired from the RA and the same year he was photographed for Artists at Home.
Over his long life, Cousins had built himself a considerable fortune. He donated a substantial sum to the Royal Academy. His generosity also extended to his prized work, which he bestowed on various museums in his late years. Samuel Cousins died on May 7, 1887 at 24 Camden Square, London — the house where he had lived, unmarried and childless, with his affectionate sister Susan, since 1857. He was buried in Highgate cemetery.

Fagan, L. A. “Cousins, Samuel (1801–1887).” Rev. Donato Esposito. In Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, edited by H. C. G. Matthew and Brian Harrison. Oxford: OUP, 2004. Online ed., edited by David Cannadine, 2004.

Pycroft, George. Memoir of Samuel Cousins, RA. London, 1887. (published for private circulation by E. E. Leggatt)

Whitman, Alfred. Samuel Cousins. London: George Bell & Sons, 1904.