Thomas H. Shepherd

Thomas Hosmer Shepherd (* 1792, † 1864) was best known for his detailed lay faithful representation of buildings, often with lively street scenes, people, horses and carriages were a British watercolor painter, he carried out against payment. He worked in London and later in Edinburgh, Bath and Bristol. His drawings were a template for numerous steel engravings, which are also illustrated books.

Shepherd worked mainly for Frederick Crace (1799-1859), an interior designer and commissioner for sewers. Originally it was the buildings hold that were soon to be demolished. He drew but then also the new buildings.

Shepherds images provide today the researchers clues to the construction, architecture and history of the 19th century. Today, many of these Drawings part of the Crace collection at the British Museum, but also by a single work that shows the reading room: The sixth Reading Room of The British Museum.

The private collection of Frederick Crace (1799-1859) came to the British Museum by his son John Gregory Crace in 1878. The collection consists of approximately 1200 manuscript and printed maps and views of London from 1560 until 1860. This collection is one of the most versatile and most important collections of London, ever assembled, and has two parts:

- The cards are in the British Library Map Library,

- The views of the city with the drawings by Thomas Hosmer Shepherd are in the British Museum, Department of Prints and Drawings.

His son Frederick Napoleon Shepherd (1819-1878) was also a painter.

George Sidney Shepherd (1784-1862) seems to have been Thomas 's brother and also painted.

Bibliography (detail)

• Metropolitan improvements: London in the nineteenth century, co-author: James Elmes, London: Jones & Co., 1827
• London and its Environs in the Nineteenth Century, 1829
• Bath and Bristol, 1829-30
• London Interiors, 1841
• Online books in Google