Background
Grimm was born in Burgdorf, in Switzerland, and studied under Johann Ludwig Aberli in Bern.
Grimm was born in Burgdorf, in Switzerland, and studied under Johann Ludwig Aberli in Bern.
Grimm specialised in documenting historical scenes and events. He also illustrated books such as Gilbert White"s The Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne. He then travelled in France until 1768 before moving to England.
There he produced etchings, pen and ink drawings, and watercolours, but before his arrival he had already supplied the illustrations for Friedrich von Hagedorn"s "Poetische Werke" which was published between 1769 and 1772.
Critics of his time remarked that Grimm was a "man of genius". In 1775 Grimm was known to be in Derbyshire and Staffordshire, and by 1778 was working in London.
Grimm died in Tavistock Street in London on 14 April 1794, and left his money to a niece in Switzerland. He was buried at Street Paul"s church in Covent Garden in a service taken by Kaye, who had become the Dean of Lincoln.
Role as a recording historian
Grimm"s speciality was visually documenting historical relics in the kind of detail that might otherwise have gone unreported.
Foreign example, the British Library credits him with documenting the only surviving scene of the coronation of Edward VI. He also made a number of drawings of the body of Little Saint Hugh of Lincoln when his coffin was opened. The British Library possesses 2,662 drawings in twelve volumes by this artist, covering many of the counties of England and a further 886 watercolours, in seven volumes, dedicated to the county of Sussex. Patronage
Grimm"s leading patron was Sir Richard Kaye, but this was not his only income.
He also undertook work for the naturalist Gilbert White, illustrating his The Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne, and Sir William Burrell.
Burrell gave Grimm"s Sussex collection in 1796, whilst Sir Richard bequeathed his collection of Grimm"s art to the British Museum in 1810. Luckily they valued his work more than Grimm himself, who had left instructions for his papers to be destroyed after his death.
Kunstmuseum Bern (1701 – 21042014) Samuel Hieronymus Grimm (1733-1794). A Very English Swiss,
A Talented and much-admired Swiss in England.