William Biscombe Gardner Biography

William Biscombe Gardner (1847-1919) was a British painter and wood-engraver. Working in both watercolour and oils, he exhibited widely in London in the late 19th century at venues such as the Royal Academy and the Grosvenor Gallery. From 1896 he lived at Thirlestane Court.

He illustrated a number of books featuring the British landscape, notably Kent, Canterbury, and The Peak Country. He also drew scenes from the Welsh Elan Valley in the 1890s, before it was flooded to form the Elan Valley Reservoirs, which appeared in two books by Grant Allen.

However, it was as a superlative wood-engraver that he was mainly known in his lifetime. He "raised the art of wood-engraving to a very high pitch of excellence" remarked the Kent and Sussex Courier in 1916. His prints (sometimes large) were widely published in many British magazines of the day such as The Pall Mall Gazette, The Illustrated London News, The English Illustrated Magazine and The Magazine of Art. He was a firm advocate of traditional wood-engraving considering it to be the most versatile in comparison to the more conventional methods of engraving and etching, or more recent methods including "process illustration".