Weymouth Bay, with Cattle in the Foreground, Dorset

Grimm was originally from Switzerland, and studied there under J. L. Alberli. He moved to Paris in 1765 and thence on to London in 1768, where he contributed to the first exhibition at the Royal Academy. In 1776 he was employed by Gilbert White to illustrate his Natural History at Selborne: he also executed caricatures and illustrations to Shakespeare. Like other artists of his generation in search of the picturesque, he made regular sketching tours of the British Isles.