John Pierre Simon, Lithograph, “Angels” from “Paradise Lost”, 1794 Publishing Date

Born in London, it is believed Jean Pierre Simon studied stippling techniques under Francesco Bartolozzi. Early in his career he engraved plates for Worlidge’s, Antique Gems. By 1790 Jean Pierre Simon had established himself as one of England’s finest stipple engravers and was commissioned to create engravings after such contemporary artists as Gainsborough, Reynolds, Fuseli and Wheatley. Jean Pierre Simon’s abilities to capture strong tonal values and contrasts placed his art in great demand and John Boydell frequently commissioned him to produce engravings for both his ‘Shakespeare’ and ‘Milton’ sets.

“The Poetical Works of John Milton” was published in three parts in 1794, 1795 and 1797. Sparing no expense, Boydell commissioned George Romney to design a portrait plate and Richard Westall to design images illustrating each part of Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained as well as the more famous individual poems. The engravers included Richard Earlom, Thomas Kirk, J. P. Simon, Benjamin Smith, M. Haughton, Dutterau and John Ogborne.

The Milton prints were constructed almost solely in the stipple technique. Stippling reached its golden age in late eighteenth century England. The technique was promoted and taught by Francesco Bartolozzi (Venice, 1727 – London, 1815). Briefly, stippling was a tonal method where the image was created not with solid lines but with a multitude of dots or flicks. Under a master’s hand, stippling magnificently captured tonal values by contrasting areas of light and shade. Unfortunately it was most laborious and quickly became extinct with advances in aquatint engraving in the early nineteenth century. Yet to this day some of the most subtle and sensual engravings in the history of British art belong to the stipple engravers of the late eighteenth century.