“C” is for Coram, Thomas (circa 1757-1811)

“C” is for Coram, Thomas (circa 1757-1811). Engraver, painter. Born in England, Coram emigrated to Charleston in 1769. He was largely a self-taught artist. By1778, he advertised his skill as an engraver and was designing money for South Carolina as early as 1779. Few examples of his engravings survive, but his own book plate, a seal for the Charleston Library Society, and several bills of credit created for the state of South Carolina evidence his skill. In 1784 Coram advertised the opening of a drawing school and one of his most noted pupils was the South Carolina artist Charles Fraser. The first known professional artist in the South to explore the art of landscape for purely aesthetic purposes, Thomas Corum derived his initial style and approach by studying and copying picturesque English books and engravings.