Samuel Alken I (1756 - 1815)

Samuel Alken I

Samuel Alken the Elder was a British painter, printmaker and illustrator.

Samuel Alken studied at the Royal Academy School in London. In 1779 he published A New Book of Ornaments Designed and Engraved by Samuel Alken, and later established himself as one of the most distinguished engravers in the new technique of aquatint. Alken produced magnificent compositions of the British countryside, including moonlit night scenes. His works include engravings by George Morland, Richard Wilson, Thomas Rowlandson, and Francis Wheatley. In 1796 his plates of sixteen views of the lakes of Cumberland and Westmorland, after drawings by John Ames and John Smith, were published, and in 1798 a set of aquatint views of North Wales after drawings by the Rev. Brian Broughton.

His sons, Samuel Alken the Younger (1784-1824), Henry Thomas Alken (1785-1851) and Samuel Henry Alken (1810-1894) also became artists.