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(1) George Michael Moser
(b Schaffhausen, 1706; d London, 1783). Engraver, chaser, designer, teacher and Swiss medallist. He trained in Geneva as a coppersmith and later as a chaser and engraver. He is thought to have arrived in London in 1726 but is not recorded until his marriage to Mary Guynier in 1729/30. He is best known for the elaborately chased and enamelled gold boxes and watch-cases that he produced in London; some extant examples (Gilbert Col., on loan to Los Angeles, CA, Co. Mus. A.) are signed. Some of his designs for watch-cases also survive (London, V&A). His work, carried out in the continental manner, is often highly sculptural, and he is said to have been influential in spreading the Rococo style in England. Four unmarked caryatid silver candlesticks (1740–45; see ENGLAND, fig. 78) on the theme of Apollo’s pursuit of Daphne are based on a drawing signed by Moser (all London, V&A) and are rare examples of the execution of a fully Rococo English silver design. Moser was one of the founder-members of the Royal Academy, London, and became its first Keeper in 1768. He is also known to have taught, alongside the French engraver Gravelot, at the St Martin’s Lane Academy, London (of which he was manager and treasurer), and acted as drawing master to the British royal family. He influenced a number of his contemporaries, for example Augustin Heckel (c. 1690–1770), George Daniel Gaab ( fl 1744–84) and Peter Glazier ( fl 1748–52). At his funeral he was described by Sir Joshua Reynolds as the ‘Father of the present race of Artists’.
Part of the Moser (i) family
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