Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Cuitt, George (1779-1854)
CUITT, GEORGE, the younger (1779–1854), etcher, son of George Cuit or Cuitt, the elder [q. v.], was baptised 13 Oct. 1779 at Richmond, Yorkshire, and in the early part of his life shared his father's profession as a landscape-painter. His mind was turned to etching by a fine collection of Piranesi's etchings which his father had brought from Rome. He removed to Chester about 1804 as a drawing-master, and in 1810 and the following years published several series of etchings, including ‘Six Etchings of Saxon, Gothic, and other Old Buildings in Chester, Castles in North Wales, and Riveaux Abbey in Yorkshire;’ ‘Etchings of Ancient Buildings in the City of Chester, Castles in North Wales, and other Miscellaneous Subjects;’ ‘Etchings of Picturesque Cottages, Sheds, &c., in Cheshire;’ ‘A History of the City of Chester from its Foundation to the Present Time.’ At the age of forty, having realised an independence, he returned to Richmond and built himself a house at Masham close by, where he resided until his death. Here he published several more sets of etchings, including one of ‘Yorkshire Abbeys.’ In 1848 he sold the copyright of his etchings to Mr. Nattali, who collected them into one volume with letterpress, published under the title of ‘Wanderings and Pencillings amongst the Ruins of Olden Times.’ Cuitt died at Masham 15 July 1854, in his seventy-fifth year. His etchings are far from being mere copies of Piranesi's style, and have great vigour and depth of their own. A portrait of him was etched, apparently by himself.
[Redgrave's Dict. of English Artists; Gent. Mag. 1856, new ser. xlii. 311; Lowndes's Bibl. Man.]