Items18The creator’s order
  1. 1Albrecht DürerAlbrecht DürerBorn 21 May 1471Albrecht Dürer trained first as a goldsmith in his father's Nuremberg workshop, then from 1486 was apprenticed to the painter Michael Wolgemut, whose studio produced woodcuts for illustrated books such as the Nuremberg Chronicle. The goldsmith's precise handling of the burin and the workshop's…0i
  2. 2MichelangeloMichelangeloMichelangelo was apprenticed at 13, in 1488, to the Florentine painter Domenico Ghirlandaio, whose workshop specialised in large frescoes, before moving to the Medici sculpture garden. He always called himself a sculptor and resisted painting the Sistine Chapel ceiling, but it was the fresco…0i
  3. 3Benjamin FranklinBenjamin FranklinBenjamin Franklin was apprenticed at 12 to his older brother James, a Boston printer, and secretly wrote anonymous essays for his brother's newspaper before running away to Philadelphia in 1723. Printing gave him a trade, a business publishing the Pennsylvania Gazette and Poor Richard's Almanack,…0i
  4. 4James BrindleyJames BrindleyJames Brindley, with little formal schooling, was apprenticed to a millwright near Macclesfield in 1733 and became known for repairing and improving mill machinery. The Duke of Bridgewater hired him to build the Bridgewater Canal, opened in 1761, which helped start Britain's canal age. Barely able…0i
  5. 5Josiah WedgwoodJosiah WedgwoodJosiah Wedgwood was apprenticed to his elder brother Thomas, a Staffordshire potter, in 1744, but childhood smallpox left him with a damaged knee that made working the potter's wheel difficult. Partly as a result he concentrated on glazes, clay bodies and process, running thousands of recorded…0i
  6. 6Paul ReverePaul RevereBorn 1 Jan 1735Paul Revere learnt silversmithing as an apprentice in his father's Boston workshop and took it over at 19. His engraving skill produced the famous 1770 print of the Boston Massacre, based on Henry Pelham's design, a piece of revolutionary propaganda. After the war he used his metalworking knowledge…0i
  7. 7Thomas TelfordThomas TelfordBorn 9 Aug 1757Thomas Telford, a shepherd's son from Dumfriesshire, was apprenticed to a stonemason at 14 and worked as a mason in Edinburgh and London before becoming a surveyor and engineer. His understanding of stone shows in the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct and the Menai Suspension Bridge, as well as hundreds of…0i
  8. 8Michael FaradayMichael FaradayBorn 22 Sept 1791Michael Faraday, a blacksmith's son with little schooling, was apprenticed at 14 to the London bookbinder George Riebau, and read the science books he bound, including an encyclopaedia article on electricity. He attended Humphry Davy's lectures, bound his notes and sent them to Davy, who hired him…0i
  9. 9Isambard Kingdom BrunelIsambard Kingdom BrunelBorn 9 Apr 1806Isambard Kingdom Brunel was sent by his engineer father Marc to study in France, where he was apprenticed to the master clock and instrument maker Abraham-Louis Breguet. That training in precision mechanics preceded his work on the Thames Tunnel under his father and then the Great Western Railway,…0i
  10. 10Joseph PaxtonJoseph PaxtonBorn 3 Aug 1803Joseph Paxton, a farmer's son, trained as a gardener and was working at the Horticultural Society's garden in Chiswick when the Duke of Devonshire made him head gardener at Chatsworth at 23. Building glasshouses there, including one for the giant Amazon water lily whose ribbed leaves inspired his…0i