Faithorne, William

Faithorne, William (b London, ?c.1616; bur. London, 13 May 1691). English engraver. He fought as a Royalist in the Civil War and later spent some time in exile in France, where he worked with Nanteuil. In about 1650 he returned to London and he became the most distinguished of English 17th-century engravers, especially of portraits. He reproduced the work of painters (van Dyck, Dobson, Lely) as well as making engravings of his own drawings from the life, many published as frontispieces to books. He also drew sensitive portrait heads as independent works (John Aubrey, 1666, Ashmolean Mus., Oxford). In 1662 he published a translation of Bosse's Traité des manières de graver as The Art of Graving and Etching—the first manual on the subject in English. His son William (1656–1710) was also an engraver.