William Lodge was an English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 engraver and printmaker of the Baroque

Baroque

The Baroque is a period and the style that used exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted detail to produce drama, tension, exuberance, and grandeur in sculpture, painting, literature, dance, and music...

 period, born in Yorkshire

Yorkshire

Yorkshire is a historic county of northern England and the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its great size in comparison to other English counties, functions have been increasingly undertaken over time by its subdivisions, which have also been subject to periodic reform...

.

His father was a merchant, and he inherited a degree of financial independence. Lodge was educated first at Leeds, then at Jesus College

Jesus College, Cambridge

Jesus College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England.The College was founded in 1496 on the site of a Benedictine nunnery by John Alcock, then Bishop of Ely...

 in Cambridge

Cambridge

The city of Cambridge is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies in East Anglia about north of London. Cambridge is at the heart of the high-technology centre known as Silicon Fen – a play on Silicon Valley and the fens surrounding the...

, then studied law at Lincoln's Inn

Lincoln's Inn

The Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn is one of four Inns of Court in London to which barristers of England and Wales belong and where they are called to the Bar. The other three are Middle Temple, Inner Temple and Gray's Inn. Although Lincoln's Inn is able to trace its official records beyond...

. He however mostly appears to have been employed in drawing and engraving. He was a friend of the fellow engraver, Francis Place

Francis Place

Francis Place was an English social reformer.-Early career and influence:Born in the debtor's prison which his father oversaw near Drury Lane, Place was schooled for ten years before being apprenticed to a leather-breeches maker. At eighteen he was an independent journeyman, and in 1790 was...

, and enjoyed an informal salon of intellectuals at York

York

York is a walled city, situated at the confluence of the Rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. The city has a rich heritage and has provided the backdrop to major political events throughout much of its two millennia of existence...

. These included Dr. Martin Lister

Martin Lister

Martin Lister FRS was an English naturalist and physician.-Life:Lister was born at Radcliffe, near Buckingham, the son of Sir Martin Lister MP for Brackley in the Long Parliament and his wife Susan Temple daughter of Sir Alexander Temple. Lister was connected to a number of well known individuals...

, Ralph Thoresby

Ralph Thoresby

Ralph Thoresby , born in Leeds and is widely credited with being the first historian of that city. He was besides a merchant, non-conformist, fellow of the Royal Society, diarist, author, common-councilman in the Corporation of Leeds, and museum keeper.-Upbringing:Ralph Thoresby was the son of John...

, and Henry Gyles

Henry Gyles

Henry Gyles or Giles , was an English glass painter based in YorkHe was the fifth child of E[dmund?] Gyles, and resided in Micklegate, York. To him is due the revival of the art of pictorial glass painting, which had become quite extinct in England. His earliest dated window is the large west...

 the glass painter.

Lodge is known best for his engravings. First, when he accompanied Thomas Belasyse, Earl of Fanconbery, on his embassy to Venice

Venice

Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...

; he became acquainted with a picture book, Viaggio Pittoresco , by Giacomo Barri

Giacomo Barri

Giacomo Barri was an Italian painter and printmaker of the Baroque period. He was born in Venice. He etched some plates from his own designs, and in 1671 published a book entitled Viaggio pittoresco d'Italia, with summary vedute of the towns and paintings of great masters from diverse cities of...

). The chapters were introduced by a vedute of a city or town of Italy, and followed by a series of engravings of famous paintings in that locus. Lodge had the book republished, copying images. It was entitled ‘’The Painter's Voyage of Italy, in which all the famous paintings of the most eminent Masters are particularised, as they are preserved in the several cities of Italy.’’

He also engraved scientific papers for Martin Lister

Martin Lister

Martin Lister FRS was an English naturalist and physician.-Life:Lister was born at Radcliffe, near Buckingham, the son of Sir Martin Lister MP for Brackley in the Long Parliament and his wife Susan Temple daughter of Sir Alexander Temple. Lister was connected to a number of well known individuals...

. He is known to have engraved a portrait of Oliver Cromwell

Oliver Cromwell

Oliver Cromwell was an English military and political leader who overthrew the English monarchy and temporarily turned England into a republican Commonwealth, and served as Lord Protector of England, Scotland, and Ireland....

. He was an avid draughtsman of landscapes throughout England, Wales, and Ireland.