John Pine ( 1690 - 1756)

Pine was an English engraver and cartographer notable who flourished during the British Enlightenment.

He was a close friend of William Hogarth, who painted Pine several times; once, in his 1749 engraving The Gate of Calais, depicting him as a fat friar. Both men served as governors of the Foundling Hospital, and both were Freemasons, Pine was a member of the Lodge that met at the Horn Tavern in Westminster and joined with other Lodges to form the Grand Lodge in 1717. Pine engraved a numerous items for the Lodge. In 1731, Pine worked with James Oglethorpe and the Trustees for the Establishment of the Colony of Georgia in America on the first conceptual map of the colony, illustrating many of its design principles. In 1735, Pine successfully collaborated with Hogarth and George Vertue in obtaining passage of a law enacted by Parliament securing copyrights for artists. This law granted specifically to him copyright on some works not otherwise original enough to receive copyright under it. in 1739 he published his most famous work; The Tapestry Hangings of the House of Lords: representing the several engagements between the English and Spanish fleets. In 1743 Pine became Engraver of His Majesty’s Signet and Seals..

In 1755 he was among those who attempted to form a royal academy for the arts, but he did not live to see it established. Pine collaborated with surveyor John Rocque on the first detailed map of London, published in 1746.