William Faithorne

William Faithorne (c. 1616–1691) was an English engraver, draughtsman, and portraitist whose refined technique and elegant line made him one of the foremost printmakers of 17th-century England. Born in London, he trained under William Peake before working in the studio of John Payne, where he mastered the art of copperplate engraving. During the English Civil War, Faithorne sided with the Royalists and was captured at Basing House; after his release, he lived in exile in France, studying under the celebrated engraver Robert Nanteuil. Upon his return to London around 1650, he established himself as the leading portrait engraver of his generation.

Faithorne’s engravings are noted for their clarity, delicacy, and subtle gradation of tone, qualities that distinguish his portraits of figures such as Oliver Cromwell, Thomas Hobbes, and Charles II. He also engraved title pages, frontispieces, and devotional subjects after leading English and Continental artists. In 1662 he published The Art of Graveing and Etching, one of the earliest English treatises on printmaking. His son, William Faithorne the Younger, followed him as a portrait painter. Known for his integrity, craftsmanship, and artistic restraint, Faithorne helped establish a distinctively English tradition of engraving, bridging the expressive Baroque of the continent with the elegance and precision that came to define Restoration printmaking.