Peter Simpson graduated in History, Rutherford 1970 and after a lifetime in business has written his first book.
The Forgotten Fourdrinier
Paul is almost forgotten and artistically under-rated but was an accomplished copper engraver who founded the English Fourdrinier dynasty which produced the developers of the Fourdrinier Papermaking machine and the wife of Cardinal Newman.
He was connected to aristocrats and great projects of the age, including the development of Palladian neoclassical architecture, the Foundling’s Hospital and the Savannah colony in Georgia and renowned talents such as the sculptor Rysbrack, painter Hogarth, designer William Kent and composer George Frederick Handel. As well as the great and powerful we meet the eccentrics George Vertue, Horace Walpole, the Reverend Stephen Duck, Batty Langley, courtesan Teresia Constantia Phillips and the curious affair of Mary Toft who convinced half the nation that she had given birth to rabbits.
Further information and images of some of Paul’s work can be found at www.paulfourdrinier.com
The Life and times of Paul Fourdrinier, Huguenot Master Printmaker in London 1720-1758; published in January 2017 and available on Amazon and other online book outlets.