(1675 - 1755)
Mezzotint engraver John Simon was born to a Huguenot family in Normandy. He trained as a line engraver in Paris, before moving to England and working as a mezzotinter. In c.1708-09 he obtained several commissioned from Godfrey Kneller, which help to boast his reputation. He also attended the Academy for Artists in Great Queen Street, established by Kneller in 1711. Simon was a prolific engraver and produced prints after works by painters Michael Dahl, Philip Mercier and Enoch Seeman, among others. His works include six plates illustrating 24 ‘Poets and Philosophers of England’ (c.1727), as well as religious and decorative subjects. Simon retired in 1742 and died in 1751. His stock of plates were sold ten years after his death.
