Luigi Schiavonetti, Italian reproductive engraver and etcher, studied art for several years before being employed by an engraver named Testolini to execute imitations of Bartolozzi's works, which Testolini passed off as his own. In 1790, Testolini was invited by Bartolozzi to join him in England, and, it having been discovered that Schiavonetti, who accompanied him, had executed the plates in question, he was employed by Bartolozzi and became an eminent engraver in both the line and the stipple manner. Among his early works are four plates of subjects from the French Revolution; he engraved the first portrait of Napoleon seen in Britain. From 1805 to 1808, Schiavonetti was engaged in etching William Blake's designs for Blair's Grave, which, with a portrait of the artist engraved by Schiavonetti after Thomas Phillips, were published in 1808.
