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Francis Kearney, who signs the plate of Henry McMurtrie and Hector Coffin, was born in 1780. He was a pupil of Peter R. Maverick, who received two hundred and fifty dollars for instructing him for three years. The advantage was all with Maverick. Soon after the opening of the century, he was engaged with Anderson, the younger Maverick, Boyd, and others, in engraving plates for a quarto Bible published by Mr. Collins, of New York.
In 1810 he removed to Philadelphia, as that city was far ahead of New York in the publishing of books, etc. He was in that city for over twenty years. His greatest work is the engraving of Leonardo da Vinci’s picture of the “Last Supper.”
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Peter Rushton Maverick was born in England, April 11, 1755, and came to America about 1774. He was originally a silversmith, and came of a family whose members were for several generations well known as engravers, and who made the art their occupation. He was an energetic worker, getting most of his practical knowledge by his own endeavors. He was the teacher of William Dunlap and of Francis Kearney, as well as of his own son, who ultimately became a more proficient engraver than his father, and, who after instructing A. B. Durand for five years, took him into partnership.
Peter R. Maverick died in New York, about 1807, and his son Peter whose partnership with Durand resulted disastrously, died in 1831.
As a designer and engraver of book-plates, Maverick was the most prolific of all the early engravers. It is presumed that all the plates signed either P. R. Maverick, or simply Maverick, were by the same hand, as a large collection of
