Abraham Raimbach - Encyclopedia

GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES

ABRAHAM RAIMBACH (1776-1843), English line-engraver, a Swiss by descent, was born in London in 1776. Educated at Archbishop Tenison's Library School, he was an apprentice to J. Hall the engraver from 1789 to 1796. For nine years part of his working-time was devoted to the study of drawing in the Royal Academy and to executing occasional engravings for the booksellers, whilst his leisure hours were employed in painting portraits in miniature. Having formed an intimacy with Sir David Wilkie, Raimbach in 1812 began to engrave some of that master's best pictures. At his death, in 1843, he held a gold medal awarded to him for his "Village Politicians" at the Paris Exhibition of 1814. He was elected corresponding member of the Institute of France in 1835.