alkensam

http://www.artnet.com/library/00/0018/T001854.asp
(1) Samuel Alken
(b London, 22 Oct 1756; bur London, 9 Nov 1815). Engraver. He entered the Royal Academy Schools, London, as a sculptor in 1772. In 1779 he published A New Book of Ornaments Designed and Etched by Samuel Alken, afterwards establishing himself as one of the most competent engravers in the new technique of aquatint. His varied output of singly issued prints after designs by other artists from 1784 to 1793 includes such satirical works as An Italian Family (1785; see George, no. 9670) and A French Family (1792; see George, no. 9686), both after Thomas Rowlandson. His many sporting prints include the sensitive print of the racehorse Soldier after George Garrard (1793). From c. 1788 he was much in demand reproducing topographical watercolours as illustrations for travel books. There are some sporting paintings signed S. Alken, but they may be the work of his eldest son, Samuel.

http://www.artnet.com/library/00/0018/T001856.asp
(2) Henry (Thomas) Alken
(b London, 12 Oct 1785; d London, 7 April 1851). Painter and engraver, son of (1) Samuel Alken. He worked in London and the provinces and was prolific in a variety of media while unadventurous in his range of subject-matter. Early instruction by the miniature painter J. T. Beaumont (1774�1851) helped to give a certain graphic precision�lacking in most of the work of his many relatives�to his often flippant and always anecdotal early paintings, etchings and watercolours of hunting, coaching, racing and other animal subjects. He was also employed by sporting periodicals as an illustrator and provided plates for the National Sports of Great Britain (London, 1821), strengthening the market for his work in sporting circles, in particular the notorious clique of wealthy and reckless huntsmen who gathered at Melton Mowbray, Leics. Characteristic of his prints is the set of six humorous engravings How to Qualify for a Meltonian, which was published in 1819. After c. 1820 his artistic competence declined, rendering his later works barely distinguishable from those of his son Samuel Henry Alken and firmly reminiscent of those of his father.