1788-1839 - Michaels Street (Brompton)
Engraver Giovanni Vendramini was born in 1769 at Roncade, near Bassano, then under Venetian rule. He studied architecture with Antonio Gaidon, but preferred engraving which he practised in the studio of Antonio Suntach. In 1788, Vendramini was invited to London by Luigi Schiavonetti, who also descended from Bassano, to study stipple-engraving with Francesco Bartolozzi. Vendramini succeeded to his the latter’s workshop at North End, Fulham, when Bartolozzi left for Lisbon in 1802.
Among his most renowned works are the five plates he engraved for the set of thirteen Cries of London, after Francis Wheatley, between 1793 and 1797. Published by Colnaghi & Co., this series was supervised by Schiavonetti. Vendramini subsequently took over Schiavonetti’s engraving business at no. 12 Michaels Street, Brompton. Such was his success that he was invited to St Petersburg and later to Moscow, where he worked for Tsar Alexander I. After his return to Britain he concentrated on producing large stipple plates of Italian old masters. Of contemporary interest was his set of sixteen portraits of European leaders who visited London in 1814/5, which he published at Brompton Row. Vendramini died at his house at no. 91 Quadrant, Regent Street, in February 1839.
