Cousins, Samuel

Cousins, Samuel, engraver, was born 9th May 1801 at Exeter, and was apprenticed to S. W. Reynolds, the excellent mezzotinter, in many of whose plates he had a chief hand, while some fifty-five of the small mezzotints after Sir Joshua, which bear his master's name, were his work. About this period he also executed portraits in pencil. In 1826 he started on his own account as an engraver, and produced the 'Master Lambton' after Lawrence, a mezzotint which at once established his reputation. It was followed by a long series of admirable plates after Reynolds, Lawrence, Landseer, Leslie, Millais, Leighton, and other eminent painters. His 'Marie Antoinette in the Temple,' after E. M. Ward, he was accustomed to rank as one of his finest works. He was elected an Associate-engraver of the Royal Academy in 1835, and a Royal Academician Engraver in 1855, and he retired in 1880. To the Academy he presented a sum of £15,000 to found annuities for poor and deserving artists. He died 7th May 1887. His works were catalogued by Algernon Graves in 1880.