John Emes

"Teapot, " Leopard's Head, London during the reign King George III, by John Emes

c. 1818

John Emes was a British engraver and watercolor painter. Emes was born on December 30, 1762, to William Emes, a landscape gardener from Mackworth near Derby. He is best known for his engraving of the picture by James Jeffreys, The Destruction of the Spanish Batteries before Gibraltar. The etching for this is dated 1786 and it was published in October 1789 by Emes and Elizabeth Woollett, the widow of William Woollett. Emes was also a watercolor painter and executed tinted drawings of views in the Lake District and elsewhere, some of which he exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1790 and 1791. There are three watercolor drawings by Emes in the Print Room at the British Museum. One of them is a large drawing representing The Meeting of the Royal Society of British Archers in Gwersyllt Park, Denbighshire, the figures in this are drawn by Robert Smirke RA and it was afterward engraved in aquatint by Cornelis Apostool. A set of sixteen views of the lakes in Cumberland and Westmorland, drawn by John Smith and John Emes, were engraved in aquatint by Samuel Alken and these were incorporated into Thomas West's, Guide to the Lakes. Emes also engraved some views of Dorsetshire. His collection of prints was sold on March 22, 1810, after his death.