Simon Whistler

Simon Whistler (10 September 1940 – 18 April 2005) was a British glass engraver and violinist.

Biography Early life and education Simon Whistler was born on 10 September 1940 in Barnstaple, Devon. He came from a highly artistic family. He was the son of poet and glass engraver Sir Laurence Whistler and actress Jill Furse, nephew of war artist Rex Whistler, and he was related to the poets Sir Henry Newbolt and Sir Joshua Reynolds. When he was 4, Whistler's mother died. Whistler began learning engraving under his father and first engraved a violin on a mug at the age of 10. He was educated at Magdalen College School, Oxford where he was a chorister and later attended the Royal Academy of Music.

Career In 1962, he first began exhibiting engraved glass at Royal Festival Hall. His work would be exhibited with his father and others at venues including Kettle's Yard, Corning Museum of Glass and the Ashmolean Museum. He created works that blended music and engraving such as his 1965 Lark Ascending work inspired by Ralph Vaughan Williams. He also frequently engraved landscapes, inspired by artists such as John Sell Cotman and J. M. W. Turner.

Personal life He married Australian musician Jennifer Helsham in 1971 and they divorced in 1994. In 1997, he married violinist Margaret Faultless.

Bibiliography On A Glass Lightly (2004)