Samuel Hieronymus Grimm

Samuel Hieronymus Grimm (January 18, 1733 – April 14, 1794) was an 18th-century Swiss landscape artist who worked in oils (until 1764), watercolours, and pen and ink media.

Grimm specialised in documenting historical scenes and events; he also illustrated books such as Gilbert White's The Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne.

Grimm was born in Burgdorf, in Switzerland, and studied under Johann Ludwig Aberli in Bern. 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". He was adopted as a travelling companion of the Rev. Sir Richard Kaye who became Rector of Kirkby in Ashfield in 1765 - his role was to record "anything curious". In 1775 Grimm was known to be in Derbyshire and Staffordshire, and by 1778 was working in London.

Grimm died in in London on 14 April 1794, and left his money to a niece in Switzerland. He was buried at St Paul's church in Covent Garden in a service taken by Kaye, who had become the Dean of Lincoln.

Grimm's speciality was visually documenting historical relics in the kind of detail that might otherwise have gone unreported. For example, the British Library credits him with documenting the only surviving scene of the coronation of Edward VI. Another example of a unique artistic recording is the 1790 ink-wash drawing he produced of the chapel at Calcot Manor in Gloucestershire, long since ruined, and a drawing of Samuel Pegge's church which was later rebuilt after a fire. He also made a number of drawings of the body of Little Saint Hugh of Lincoln when his coffin was opened.

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