Havell family

The Havell family of Reading, Berkshire, England included a number of notable engravers, etchers and painters, as well as writers, publishers, educators, and musicians. In particular, members of this family were foremost practitioners of aquatint; and had a long association with Indian art and culture.

The family first came to notice through the brothers Luke Havell (drawing master, d. 1812?) and Robert Havell the Elder (engraver and publisher, 1760-1832); along with their nephew Daniel Havell (engraver, d. 1826?).

Robert Havell, Sr.

Robert Havell, Sr. 1760-1832 was the proprietor of a printing and engraving shop, with an ancillary business in natural history artifacts, in the Marylebone district of London, in the early decades of the nineteenth century. Havell's enterprise, known from 1818 to 1825 as Havell and Son, was well-established when John James Audubon approached him in 1827 to engrave a portfolio of 240 drawings he had brought with him from America. Recognizing that without the help of another expert engraver he would not be able to take on a work of this magnitude Robert Havell, Sr., contacted his son, Robert Havell, Jr., who had quarreled with his father and left London in an attempt to launch an independent artistic career. Robert Havell, Jr. consented to reestablish the partnership with his father and agreed to engrave the plates of Audubon's drawings, with Robert, Sr., supervising their printing and coloring. The collaboration between father and son continued in this way until Robert Havell, Sr.'s retirement in 1828.

Robert Havell, Jr.

Robert Havell, Jr. 1793-1878 was the principal engraver of Audubon's "Birds of America", perhaps the most significant natural history publication of all time. His aquatint engraving of all but the first ten plates of John James Audubon's "Birds of America" is now recognized as a significant artistic achievement in its own right and an essential component of the success of "Birds of America". He and Audubon became close friends and associates during their lengthy collaboration. In 1839 Havell went to America at the invitation of Audubon, first residing in Brooklyn. He settled in Ossining on the Hudson River and later moved to Tarrytown, New York, living there from 1857 to his death in 1878. Although Havell continued to work in aquatint and engraving (primarily city panoramas), he devoted most of his attention to painting the countryside of the Hudson River valley. He traveled frequently in a homemade horse-drawn trailer, sketching and taking notes and translating his sketches into larger oils. Robert Havell, Jr., is considered a member of the Hudson River School of American painters.

Luke Havell

The following list of Luke Havell's descendants is incomplete; covering only those referenced in published sources.

* Luke Havell: drawing master and painter. Born Reading; married Charlotte Phillips 1778; died 1812? Reading.
** William Havell: landscape painter in watercolours and oils; frequently exhibited at the Royal Academy; traveled and painted in China, India, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), and Italy. Born 1782 Reading; died 1857 Kensington.
** Edmund Havell: drawing master and painter; exhibited at the Royal Academy. Born 1785 Reading; married Maria Binfield; died 1864.
*** Edmund Havell junior: genre and portrait painter, and lithographer; frequently exhibited at the Royal Academy. Born 1819 Reading; died 1899 London.
**** Alfred Charles Havell: painter of horses and figurative subjects; exhibited at the Royal Academy. Born 1855 Chelsea; married Mary Marpole Lewis 1878; died 1928.
*** Susannah Maria Havell: musician and music teacher, working with her aunt the minor composer Hannah Rampton Binfield. Born 1822 Reading.
*** Charles Richard(s) Havell: landscape painter, exhibited at the Royal Academy. Born 1828 Reading; married Charlotte Amelia Lord (granddaughter of Thomas Lord) 1855; died 1892 Caversham.
**** Ernest Binfield Havell: art writer and educator, especially in Indian art; superintendent of Government Art Schools at Madras (now Chennai) and Calcutta (now Kolkata). Born 1861 Reading.
**** Herbert Lord Havell: classicist and writer; his posthumously published "Republican Rome" (1914) is still in print. Born 1863 Reading; died 1913 Oxford.
** Charles Havell: painter and drawing master at the Reading School. Born 1792 Reading; married Thirza Cheverton 1824.
** Henry Havell: heraldic painter; "decorator to the King" (according to Bryan). Born 1796 Reading; married Elizabeth Sims 1821; emigrated to the United States 1829.
** George Havell: painter; traveled and painted in India. Born 1799 Reading; married Mary Ann Hale 1825; died 1839? India.
** Frederick James Havell: steel engraver in line and mezzotint. Born 1801 Reading.

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