Explore: John William Edy

(1760 - c.1830)

Painter and engraver John William Edy was probably born in Denmark, but arrived in England at a young age. In 1779 he entered the Royal Academy Schools as a painter. He later worked as an engraver on R. H. Colebrook's ‘Twelve Views of Places in the Kingdom of Mysor’ (1794), produced plates after marine views by Robert Cleverley and after sporting designs by John Nost Sartorius. In 1800, Edy travelled to the coast of Norway to make drawings for publisher John Boydell’s ‘Picturesque Scenery of Norway’ (1820). He exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1785, 1801 and 1802 and at the British Institution in 1807. In 1812 he was imprisoned for his debts at the King’s Bench Prison, Surrey. His estate and effects were distributed in the following year.