Lorenz Natter  1705 – 1763

Natter was born 21 March 1705 at Biberach in Suabia. He studied in Italy, and at Venice took up gem-engraving.  He worked in Rome and at Florence he was employed by Baron Philipp von Stosch.

In 1741 or earlier, Natter came to England to work as a medallist and gem-engraver, bringing with him from Italy a collection of antique gems and sulphur casts. He traveled throughout Europe working for royalty and nobility. He returned to England in or before 1754, and appears to have remained there till the summer of 1762. He became a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London in 1755, and of the Royal Society in 1757.  In the summer of 1762 Natter went to work in St. Petersburg, and died there of asthma, late in the autumn of 1763.

Natter’s talents as a gem-engraver were praised by Goethe, and Charles William King called him “one of the greatest of the modern practitioners of the art”. Writing in 1754, he said that he was always willing to receive commissions to copy ancient gems, but stated that he never sold copies as originals.

In Florence from 1732 to 1735 Natter engraved gems and medals for such personages as Gian Gastone de’ Medici, Cardinal Albani. and Charles Sackville, Earl of Middlesex. At this period Natter was attacked by Pierre-Jean Mariette in “Traité des pierres gravées” (1750), as a self-conscious forger.

Gems engraved by Natter were described by Erich Raspe in his Catalogue of the Tassie Collection.  In 1754 Natter published “A Treatise on the Ancient Method of Engraving on Precious Stones compared with the Modern”, London.

Natter also worked for the Dukes of Devonshire and Marlborough. For George Spencer, 4th Duke of Marlborough he drew up a catalogue of the Bessborough gems, which were incorporated with the Marlborough cabinet. This was published in 1761 as Catalogue des pierres gravées tant en relief qu’en creux de Mylord Comte de Bessborough, London, with plates.[1]