Lewis married a daughter of Mr. Pinto, a well-known violinist.
[Pasquin's Artists of Ireland; Redgrave's Dict. of Artists; Graves's Dict. of Artists, 1760–1880; Gent. Mag. 1795, lxv. 704; Catalogues of the Royal Academy and Soc. of Artists.]
LEWIS, CHARLES (1786–1836), bookbinder, born in London in 1786, was fourth son of Johann Ludwig, a political refugee from Hanover, and brother of Frederick Christian Lewis [q. v.] and of George Robert Lewis [q. v.] In 1800 he was apprenticed by his own desire to the eminent bookbinder H. Walther. After he had spent five years in the forwarding department, Walther refused his request to enter the finishing shop. Lewis thereupon laboured at the fine work after the day was over until two or three o'clock in the morning. On leaving Walther he entered as a journeyman several other shops, finally commencing business on his own account in Scotland Yard. He subsequently removed to more commodious premises in Denmark Court, and latterly to Duke Street, St. James's. With C. Kalthoeber he was largely employed by William Beckford on the Fonthill library. T. F. Dibdin was a great admirer of his work and of his ‘good nature and civility,’ and recommended him to Heber and Lord Spencer. Unremitting attention to business predisposed him to apoplexy, of which he died on 8 Jan. 1836. He was succeeded by his eldest son.
Lewis's bindings are characterised by elegant and classic taste. According to Dibdin ‘he united the taste of Roger Payne [q. v.] with a freedom of forwarding and squareness of finish very peculiar to himself.’ He excelled in the mechanical parts of his craft, and ‘his books appear to move on silken hinges.’ He was also very successful in book restoration. His chief colours were buff or subdued orange for russia bindings, and French grey for morocco. Francis Bedford lived with Lewis for some time, and carried on later Lewis's tradition and style as opposed to the more ornate school of Rivière. Lewis's head is engraved in Dibdin's ‘Bibliographical Decameron.’
[Gent. Mag. 1836 pt. ii. pp. 439, 450; Bookbinder, ii. 171, iii. 187; Cundall on Bookbindings, p. 106; Dibdin's Decameron, ii. 521 sq.; Cat. of Exhibition of Bookbindings at Burlington Fine Arts Club (1891); Quaritch's Facsimiles from Examples of Bookbinding, p. 35.]
LEWIS, CHARLES GEORGE (1808–1880), engraver, second son of Frederick Christian Lewis (1779–1856) [q. v.], and brother of John Frederick Lewis (1805–1876) [q. v.], was born at Enfield, Middlesex, on 13 June 1808. He was instructed in drawing and engraving entirely by his father, and acquired great facility in etching and in combining the different manners of line, stipple, and mezzotint engraving, but he sometimes made use of line or mezzotint alone. Many of his best-known plates are after the works of Sir Edwin Landseer. The earliest of these was ‘Hafed,’ published in 1837, and followed by ‘Hawking in the Olden Time’ in 1842, ‘The Hawk,’ ‘The Peregrine Falcon,’ and ‘Breeze’ in 1843, ‘Islay, Macaw, and Love Birds’ in 1844, ‘The Cat's Paw’ in 1846, ‘The Otter Hunt’ in 1847, ‘Hunters at Grass’ and ‘Shoeing’ in 1848, ‘The Woodcutter’ in 1849, ‘The Random Shot’ and ‘A Cover Hack’ in 1851, ‘A Grand Hart’ in 1853, ‘Baying the Stag’ and ‘The Poacher’ in 1873, ‘Deer in Woburn Park’ in 1877, and ‘Collie Dogs,’ engraved for the Bristol Art Union. Besides these are several smaller plates after works of Landseer, most of which had previously been engraved by Thomas Landseer [q. v.] and others. Among them are the ‘Twa Dogs,’ ‘Jack in Office,’ ‘Crossing the Bridge,’ ‘The Rescue,’ ‘Suspense,’ ‘Sleeping Bloodhound,’ ‘Return from Hawking,’ ‘A Distinguished Member of the Humane Society,’ ‘Protection: Hen and Chickens’ (from the ‘Highland Drovers’), ‘Otter and Salmon,’ ‘The Sanctuary’ (two plates), ‘The Challenge,’ ‘Not caught yet’ (two plates), ‘Shoeing’ (two smaller plates), ‘Retriever and Woodcock,’ ‘Spaniel and Pheasant,’ ‘The Deer Stalker's Return,’ ‘Lion’ (a Newfoundland dog), and ‘A Drive of Deer—Glen Orchay.’ His etchings after Landseer commenced with ‘To-ho!’ published in 1830, and included the set of eight plates of ‘The Mothers.’ Lewis engraved also some plates after Rosa Bonheur: ‘Bouricairos crossing the Pyrenees,’ 1859; ‘The Highland Shepherd’ and ‘Huntsman taking Hounds to Cover,’ 1861; ‘A Scottish Raid,’ 1862; ‘The Horse Fair,’ 1863; ‘A Family of Deer crossing the Summit of the Long Rocks, Forest of Fontainebleau,’ 1867; ‘Shetland Ponies,’ 1870; ‘The Lime Cart’ and ‘Changing Pastures,’ 1872; ‘Denizens of the Highlands,’ 1873; and ‘Morning in the Highlands.’ His works after other painters include ‘Interior of a Highland Cottage,’ after J. F. Lewis, R.A.; ‘Robinson Crusoe reading the Bible to his Man Friday’ and ‘Asking a Blessing,’ after A. Fraser; ‘The Village Festival’ and ‘The Card Players,’ after Sir David Wilkie, R.A.; ‘The Bay of Spezzia,’ ‘Sea-shore,’ and ‘Sunset,’ after R. P. Bonnington; ‘The Highland Larder,’ after F. Tayler; ‘The Waterloo Heroes,’ after J. P. Knight, R.A.; ‘The Melton Breakfast,’ after
