James Walker (engraver)

[1] Although an eminent mezzotint engraver in England, Walker emigrated to Russia in 1784, remaining there for nearly twenty years.

He was invited to St. Petersburg by Empress Catherine II, who appointed him Engraver to Her Imperial Majesty, on a salary of 1,000 roubles a year.

Walker's appointment as court engraver was renewed by the Emperor Alexander I, and he was a member of the Imperial Academy of Arts at St. Petersburg.

[1] Walker lost 24 of his plates in a shipwreck off Great Yarmouth, when he returned to England in 1802.

[1] A number of Walker's mezzotints were published for the first time in 1819, and one, The Triumph of Cupid, after Parmigianino, in 1822.