Background
Benjamin Tanner was born in New York City on March 27, 1775.
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Benjamin Tanner
Edit ProfileEducation
Having early displayed a talent for drawing and designing, he was placed with Peter C. Verger, a French engraver in that city, to learn the art. Though he remained with Verger until he was of age, engravings signed by him as early as 1792 are known, and in 1795 he engraved six of the small folio plates that illustrate Paul Wright's The New and Complete Life of Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
Career
Upon the completion of his apprenticeship he set up for himself in his native city, but in 1799 he went to Philadelphia, where he lived for the rest of his life.
Between the years 1800 and 1805, however, his name does not appear in the directories of that city. In 1800 he engraved a portrait of Washington for Mason L. Weems's A History of the Life and Death, Virtues and Exploits of General George Washington (1800), which was published by John Bioren, Philadelphia.
In 1817 Tanner joined Francis Kearny and Cornelius Tiebout in banknote engraving under the firm name of Tanner, Kearny & Tiebout. By 1818 he had organized a second firm - Tanner, Vallance, Kearny & Company - which occupied the same premises and engaged in general engraving. Of this firm, which existed until 1824, Tanner's brother was a member.
About 1828 Tanner or his young brother - the credit is variously assigned - devised a check blank engraved in such a way as to prevent alteration without detection. In 1835 Tanner abandoned general engraving, and made the production of check and note blanks his business, printing his product under the trade name "stereograph. "
He retired in 1845 because of failing eyesight and carried on his business through an agency. Shortly afterward he was found to be suffering from an abcess of the brain. He went to Baltimore for treatment and died there at the house of his son on November 14, 1848.
Achievements
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His early engraved work which was in the line manner, was somewhat crude. Later he improved immeasurably, and engraved many fine plates in line and in stipple. Among his best plates were both portraits and historical subjects connected with the Revolution and the War of 1812, such as "Perry's Victory, " "Capture of the Macedonian, " and "Surrender of Cornwallis. " He engraved many designs by John James Barralet, including an imperial folio plate in stipple of "Apotheosis of Washington" (1802), and "America Guided by Wisdom. " His portraits were usually in stipple and his subject plates in line. In conjunction with William Satchwell Leney he engraved a royal folio portrait (1812) of Archbishop John Carroll of Baltimore. He also engraved maps and charts, among them one for a volume of maps supplementing John Marshall's The Life of George Washington, and plates for some annuals. Among the plates for the 1802-03 edition of W. F. Mavor's Historical Account of the Most Celebrated Voyages were many engraved by Tanner. In the exhibition of the works of American engravers in the New York Public Library in 1928, he was represented by several plates.
Connections
On September 6, 1806, he was married in Philadelphia to Mary Bioren, probably a daughter of the publisher (notice in Poulson's American Daily Advertiser, September 10, 1806).
