A CATALOGUE of RECENT ACQUISITIONS. Spring 2023.

SPRING 2023

A CATALOGUE of RECENT ACQUISITIONS

All items are guaranteed to be genuine.

A full refund will be given for any item found not to be as described, provided it is returned undamaged within 14 days and any work returned must be sent by registered, prepaid, first class post (airmail overseas) and must be fully insured.

All items are in good condition unless otherwise stated. Sizes are given in millimetres.

Prices are nett and do not include postage. All orders will be sent by registered mail, by air to overseas customers unless instructed, at the customer’s expense. Any importation or customs charges will be the responsibility of the customer.

Payment must be made in British Pounds Sterling, either in person or bank transfer (all banking administration and transaction fees to be paid by the customer). We also accept Visa, Mastercard, Switch, and American Express.

The title of the goods does not pass to the purchaser until the amount has been paid in full.

For full Terms & Conditions please visit: https://www.sandersofoxford.com/terms-conditions/

Spring 2023

A Catalogue of Recent Acquisitions

From Friday 24th March 2023

Sanders of Oxford is pleased to present fifty of our most interesting recent acquisitions. Over the past few months we have been busy cataloguing a collection of fine and decorative prints spanning a diverse range of subjects, engravers, and prices.

All works are available to purchase and will be on display in the gallery.

CARICATURES & SATIRES

01. Shrine at St. Ann’s Hill

James Gillray

Etching and aquatint with original hand colouring Pubd. May 26th 1798 by H. Humphrey, St James Street Image 355 x 258 mm, 360 x 260 mm, Sheet 410 x 292 mm unmounted

A satirical attack on Whiggish motivation, issued during Charles James Fox’s secession from Parliament after the overwhelming support given to Prime Minister William Pitt in favour of war with France. The scene is set in Fox’s wife’s house on St Ann’s Hill. He crouches in devotion, hands joined in prayer, before an altar of French ‘idols.’

The altar cloth is decorated with a crossed daggers motif, and in place of the crucifix is a cockaded liberty cap above a skull and crossed bones, below which is the motto ‘Exit Homo’ - Man’s exit - a parody of ‘Ecce Homo.’ On either side of the phrygian cap are busts, to the left ‘Robert Speire’ - Robespierre, and to the right ‘Buona-parte ’

Above these, suspended from a bloodied and beribboned guillotine, are a pair of tablets made to resemble the Ten Commandments, but instead bearing the ‘Droit de l’Homme ’

The full list is inscribed as follows: ‘I. Right to Worship whom we please. II. Right to create & bow down to any thing we chuse to set up. III. Right to use in vain any Name we like. IV. Right to work Nine Days in the Week, & do what we please on the Tenth. V. Right to honor both Father & Mother, when we find it necessary. VI. Right to Kill. VII. Right to commit Adultery. VIII. Right to Plunder. IX. Right to bear what Witness we please. X. Right to covet our Neighbour’s House & all that is his.’

From a window to the left of the altar, a stream of heavenly light and cloud brings forth six cherubim, their winged faces representing Norfolk, Lansdowne, Bedford, Tierney, Lauderdale, and Nicholls.

BM Satires 9217

Condition: Time toning and acid staining to margins. Minor chips and tears to edges of sheet, without loss to plate, now repaired. Small puncture to inscription space.

[51788]

£1,500

Coalition_or_The Giants

Storming Heaven, _ with the Gods alarmed for their everlasting abodes

James Gillray

Etching with hand colouring

Js. Gillray inv. & fc. London, Pubd. May 1st, 1804 by H Humphrey 27 St. James’ Street

Image 440 x 330 mm, Sheet 455 x 335 mm unmounted

A caricature on the fall of the Addington Ministry, presented in classical style as a Gigantomachy, a conflict between the gods and giants. The ‘gods’ of the scene, Addington, St Vincent, Hawkesbury, and Tierney, are perched on a billowing cloud, protecting the arched masonry of the Treasury. Addington, haloed and carrying a quiver and lyre, is in character as Apollo, flanked by Hawkesbury as Minerva, and St Vincent as a vengeant Neptune, his cloak billowing, his gouty foot bandaged on a pillow, aiming his trident at his opponents. To the side, Tierney wears the winged cap of Mercury, accepting bags of cash from a group of apes led by Sheridan who climb a rope ladder to surreptitiously join the Gods. Jove’s thunderbolt can be seen at the very top, grasped in the Eagles claws, evidently referencing King George, Addington’s master.

Below, the assembled ‘giants’ represent the three factions of the Opposition that brought down the Ministry, Pittites, Foxites, and Windham’s ‘Third Party,’ perched on three rocky peaks. At centre, Pitt, emaciated and naked but for a sabre and cocked hat, prepares to fling a huge bundle of papers entitled ‘Knockdown Arguments’ at Addington. ‘Coup de Grace’ and ‘Death and Eternal Sleep’ wait at his top-booted feet. Dundas, his trusty lieutenant, stands behind him, clad in tartan and tam-o-shanter and brandishing a sabre menacingly at the gods. The diminutive Wilberforce stands by Pitt’s foot, directing an ineffectual stream of urine at Addington.

Despite Pitt’s zeal, his attempts are largely ineffectual, particularly when compared to the hairy and corpulent Fox, whose huge blunderbuss sends a spray of shot to pepper his opponents, leaving dents in Minerva’s owl shield and hitting Addington in the eye, despite the latter’s attempt to dampen Fox’s weapon with a puff from a large clyster pipe. Fox’s supporters, struggling under his weight, are Buckingham and Lord Grenville. Their supporters, massed ranks of spears and archers, carry a banner with the famous Constantinian ‘in hoc signo vinces’ motto, but featuring a set of scales in place of the Cross of Christ. On the banner’s speartip is a liberty cap.

On the final rocky peak, the sinuous nude figure of Windham holds aloft a shield featuring the shrieking face of the Medusa, while preparing to fling a long lance at Addington, from which lightning bolts issue to strike not only the gods, but also the apes attempting to buy their way into heaven.

The choice of a gigantomachy for the caricature, issued just a day after Addington’s fall, is unusual, as in all versions of the myth in both literature and art, the giants were famously destroyed by their attempt and the supremacy of the gods assured once more. Perhaps the plate had been prepared beforehand as a comment on the tenacity of Addington’s opponents, rather than as a representation of his actual ‘fall’, as the text below the title draws upon both Milton and Addington’s own speech of the 24th of April: ‘“They never complain’d of Fatigue, but like Giants refreshed, were ready to enter immediately upon the attack!” Vide Lord Chancellor’s Speech 24th April 1804. “Not to destroy! but root them out of Heaven” Milton ’

BM Satires 10240

Condition: Trimmed to platemark. Some fading to early hand colouring. Pressed vertical and horizontal folds. Old adhesive stains to top and bottom margins and to top corners of sheet. Top left corner of sheet chipped, now infilled with modern repair.

[51785]

£2,100

Theodore Lane and George Hunt

Etching and aquatint with original hand colouring

Drawn & Etched by Theodore Lane. Engd. by Geo. Hunt. London, Published by Thos. McLean, 26 Haymarket, 1827. Image 290 x 220 mm, Sheet 300 x 230 mm unmounted

In a leaky garret, a cold and miserable figure attempts to stay dry, using a rumpled umbrella to stave off the worst of a steady stream of water that drips through the rafters of his meagre room. The man, dressed in a torn nightshirt and red nightcap, through which pokes a tuft of his lank hair, looks up in dismay at the holes in his makeshift shelter.

He has wrapped himself in a blanket, with the toes of one fit poking through, and around him are arrayed a complement of vessels to catch the drips, including a frying pan, a shoe, and even a battered topper upended on a three legged stool. A bedraggled cat takes refuge under the stool, and the man has rigged up an ingenious cover for his candle using a broom handle and a saucepan.

The caricature is one of a pair with ‘A Frost,’ depicting a similar (or possibly the same) gentleman, being pulled out of a frozen pond following an ice-skating mishap and rejuvenated with a nip of gin.

BM Satires undescribed

Condition: Trimmed to platemark. Time toning and dirt staining to margins. Adhesive stains to verso from old album sheet.

[51783]

£175

03. A Thaw

04. The Frenchmen in Billinsgate

William

Davison

Copper engraving

Printed and Published by W. Davison, Alnwick. [c. 1812]

Image 150 x 220 mm, Sheet 190 x 265 mm unmounted

A satirical print lampooning French émigrés in Billingsgate. At centre, a man in the battered clothes of a former aristocrat raises his fists in combat with a bemused woman, perhaps one of the notorious fishwives of Billingsgate market. His hat tumbles off towards his concerned colleague, while a crayfish seller holds up one of her clawed crustaceans to the tear in the Frenchman’s trousers.

BM Satires undescribed

Condition: Trimmed within plate at top, as issued. Overall time toning and foxing. Punctures to bottom platemark. Small tears and creases to edges of sheet. Blank on verso. [51735]

£100

05. The Imperial Comet Sheding its Baneful Influence

William Elmes

Etching with early hand colouring

Elmes Sculpt. Septr. 25 1811 Pubd. by Thos. Tegg 111 Cheapside. Price one Shilling Coloured. Image 235 x 330 mm, Sheet 245 x 345 mm unmounted

A satirical look at the impact of the birth of Napoléon

François Joseph Charles Bonaparte, appointed King of Rome at his birth by his father, Emperor Napoleon I. The young King of Rome is shown at the centre of a spherical comet, naked but for a cocked hat and with the French Rooster perched on his fleshy backside. He shoves spoonfuls of flaming pap into his mouth from a bowl held before him, and the resulting blast from his rear, making up the tail of the comet, carries in it the many symbols of the papacy, including crucifixes, a bishop’s mitre, chalices, a crozier, a flaming firebrand, and an axe.

The comet is surrounded by other celestial bodies, including Jupiter, as an eagle and thunderbolts, the caduceus of Mercury, Ceres as a sickle and wheatsheaf, Mars as a sword and helmet, the pierced heart of Venus, the Moon waxing full, and finally the head of the ‘Georgian Star,’ who looks on in an attitude somewhere between bewilderment and disgust.

On a cloud nearby, a bear, representing Russia, has broken the chains which formerly tethered it by the nose, and reaches a clawed paw out towards the comet’s tail. Meanwhile back on Earth, John Bull looks at the comet through a long telescope, while across the channel, the Imperial Family do the same in France. The infant King can be seen in outline, apparelled identically to his father and held aloft by his mother, Marie Louise, to provide him with a better vantage of his comet.

BM Satires 11738

Condition: Trimmed to platemark, without loss to image. Repaired tear into inscription space at bottom right. Minor time toning to edges of sheet. Old adhesive marks and tape from album to verso.

[51753]

£675

06. The Wounded Lion

James Gillray

Etching with early hand colouring

Pubd. July 16th 1805 by H. Humphrey, 27 St James’s Street. Image 257 x 360 mm, Plate 260 x 360 mm, Sheet 265 x 362 mm unmounted

A satirical defence of Henry Dundas, 1st Viscount Melville, and a comment more broadly about the impact of factionalism on the Admiralty during a time when the nation was at war with France. Dundas, wearing a mournful expression, is presented as a lion, attacked and set upon from all sides.

The lion’s chief antagonist is John Jervis, 1st Earl of St Vincent, who, crouching in ambush behind a tree, fires a colossal cannon or blunderbuss at Dundas, the shot issuing from a cloud of smoke titled ‘Reports’ and the scattershot labelled with the various methods used to impeach Dundas, ‘Malice, ’ ‘Disappointed Jacobins, ’ ‘Popular Clamour, ’ ‘Envy, ’ and ‘Invectives ’

The muzzle of the gun is a tankard carrying the label ‘ Whitbread’s Entire,’ and a stray shot, labelled ‘Condemnation without Trial’ has struck the ailing figure of Britannia in her breast. She slumps against a tree behind the lion, blood dripping from the wound. Dundas’ impeachment came about as a direct result of St Vincent’s attempts to stamp out corruption in his time as First Lord of the Admiralty.

Melville was cleared, though St Vincent’s actions earned the ire of Prime Minister William Pitt, and he was himself forced to resign in the year following the issuing of this satire, to be replaced as First Lord by Dundas, Pitt’s trusted lieutenant.

The Foxites, Pitt’s enemies, are also in evidence, with Fox (as a fox) biting the lion’s hindquarters, and a snake with the head of Grey hissing in the lion’s ear. A trio of rats wearing the wigs of lawyers, Jekyll, Erskine, and Adair, also run towards the conflict, while a dog, Kinnaird, bites the tail of Fox.

In the background, three donkeys, with the heads of Sidmouth, Addington, and Bragge, flee in fright, carrying with them their loads: ‘Physick for the Lion,’ which includes a clyster, an emetic, and a tin of Opening Pills, a sack of ‘Candied Whorehound,’ and finally two paniers worth of ‘Provisions for the Doctor’s Family’ and ‘ Trifles procured thro’ the Lion’s Generosity.’ A final insult is issued by a monkey with the face of William Wilberforce, a supporter of Addington, who reads a pamphlet entitled ‘Solution of Vital Xtianity’ while passing wind at the lion, issuing forth with the titles ‘Cant! Envy! Abuse!, Hypocrisy! Cruelty!’

Below the scene, a lengthy inscription reads: ‘”And now all the sculking herd of the forest, some out of Insolence, others in Revenge, some, in fine, upon one Pretence,” / “some upon another, fell upon him by Consent. _ but nothing went so near the Heart of him in his Distress, as to” / “find himself batter’d by the Heel of an Ass” _ Vide, Aesop’s Fables. ’

BM Satires 10421

Condition: Trimmed to platemark. Two repaired tears to inscription space. Small puncture above ‘Heart’ in inscription. Minor chips to edges of sheet. Old adhesive stains and album paper on verso.

[51754]

£975

PORTRAITS

07. [Joseph-Napoléon Bonaparte]

Charles-Simon Pradier after François Gérard Steel engraving

F. Gérard pinxit. C.S. Pradier Sculpt. 1813. Imprimee par Durand.

Image 570 x 410 mm, Plate 720 x 530 mm unmounted

A proof impression of this very large and impressive engraved portrait of Joseph-Napoléon Bonaparte as King of Spain, after the painting by François Gérard. Bonaparte is shown full length, standing slightly contrapposto before his throne. He wears a ceremonial sword on his waist, a brocaded surcoat, stockings, slippers, and ruff, and his long ermine and velvet gown features the lion and tower motif of Castile and Leon. In his right hand, he holds a glove and feathered hat while his bare left hand clutches a sceptre, which he rests on a side table holding his crown.

Gérard’s painting was completed in 1808 to celebrate Joseph’s elevation to the throne of Spain. The appointment was not a positive one, for either Joseph or Spain in general. Joseph was forced to give up his previous appointment as King of Naples, a role in which he was popular and held in high esteem, in favour of Napoleon’s brother in law, Joachim Murat. The people of Spain, offended by seeing the crown on the head of a Frenchman, particularly as the appointment came from a man who had been excommunicated, hated Joseph from the outset and revolted. Despite his best efforts to win over his new subjects, including abolition of the Inquisition, his rule was marred by persistent resistance, and following the fall of Napoleon in 1813, he abdicated and moved to the United States.

Joseph-Napoléon Bonaparte (1768-1844) was a French lawyer, diplomat, politician, and the older brother of Napoleon. Through Napoleon, he was appointed King of Naples in 1806, and then King of Spain from 1808 until 1813, at which time he became a private citizen, spending the rest of his life in the United States, London, and finally Florence.

Condition: Proof before title. Dirt staining and foxing to margins and to edges of plate. Repaired tears to edges of sheet and into plate, but without damage to image. Minor creases and surface abrasion.

[51803]

£500

08. The Prince Regent. William Ward after Thomas Phillips Mezzotint

Published May 2. 1816. by Messrs. Colnaghi & Co. Cockspur Street.

Image 670 x 530 mm, Plate 735 x 534 mm framed

A striking, large-scale, mezzotint of King George IV when Prince Regent on horseback, dressed in full hussar uniform. The original oil painting by Thomas Phillips RA is on loan from the Egremont Private Collection at Petworth House and Park, West Sussex. Title below image engraved in open letters.

Chaloner Smith 41 i/ii, Russell 41 i/ii, Francau-William Ward 130, Lennox-Boyd ii/iii

Condition: Excellent impression, light foxing to margins and inscriptions space, not affecting image. Framed in period style frame.

[17616]

£1,600

09. Soudiat Daula, Grand Visir du Mogol, et Mirza Mani son Fils (1774), Miniature de Neva Zilal, Musee du Louvre, Dessin inedit

Raphael Jacquemin Etching

Imp. Delâtre, Paris [c.1869]

Image 320 x 215 mm, Plate 335 x 250 mm, Sheet 445 x 315 mm unmounted

A characterful mid-ninteenth century French portrait of Shuja-ud-Daula, Grand Vizier of the Mughal Empire, and his son Mirza Asaf-ud-Daula, from the Iconographie ge éne érale et methodique du costume du IVe au XIXe sie ècle: collection grave ée a l’eau forte d’apre ès des documents authentiques et ine édits. The pair are shown three-quarter length, wearing brocaded jama and pagri. Shuja also wears a fur-lined farzi, and has a katar dagger tucked into his belt. In his left hand, he carries a talwar. The engraving purports to be derived from a miniature in the Louvre, painted just a year before Shujaud-Daula’s death.

Condition: Minor foxing and time toning to margins. Minor creasing and tears to edges of sheet, not affecting plate. Blank on verso.

10. Feht-Ali-Khan, Schah de Perse, 1807. D’ap le Portrait, Envoye a Napoleon 1st Raphael Jacquemin

Etching

Imp. Delâtre [Paris, c.1869]

Image 350 x 260 mm, Plate 370 x 280 mm, Sheet 450 x 315 mm unmounted

A characterful mid-ninteenth century French portrait of Fath-Ali Shah Qajar, second Shah of Qajar Persia, from the Iconographie ge éne érale et methodique du costume du IVe au XIXe sie ècle: collection grave ée a l’eau forte d’apre ès des documents authentiques et ine édits. The Shah is shown halflength, wearing a tall crown, an elaborately brocaded gown embellished with jewels and pearls, and carrying a sword and dagger. His official portraiture followed a familiar canon, emphasizing his narrow waist and long beard, the most distinctive aspects of his figure. His reign coincided with the Russo-Persian wars, which saw much of Persian territory in the Caucasus ceded to Russia. Following the refusal of aid from the British, the Shah sought the help of the French, sending a delegation to Napoleon. This lithograph is based on the portrait of the Shah presented to Napoleon by the Persian envoy. The result was the Treaty of Finkenstein, though Napoleon concluded a separate peace with Russia shortly after, leaving Persia without the support they had hoped for.

Condition: Minor foxing and time toning to margins. Minor creasing and tears to edges of sheet, not affecting plate. Blank on verso.

[51717] £75

11. Nicholas Saunderson, L.L.D. late Lucasian Proffessor of Mathematics in Cambridge

John Hinton after John Vanderbank Copper engraving

Engrav’d for ye Universal Magazine, for J. Hinton in Newgate Street [c.1750]

Image 175 x 105 mm, Plate 185 x 120 mm, Sheet 205 x 135 mm unmounted

A portrait of the English mathematician Nicholas Saunderson, engraved for the Universal Magazine. The engraving is a reversed copy of the painting by John Vanderbank. Saunderson is shown half length, directed slightly to the left, holding an armillary sphere between his hands. His eyes are closed, and he wears a dark coat, bands, and a long wig.

Nicholas Saunderson (1682

1739) was a English scientist and mathematician, and may have possibly been the earliest discoverer of Bayes Theorem. When Saunderson was about a year old, he contracted small pox, which caused him to lose not only his sight, but also his eyes. After a youth spent studying classical languages by ear, his prodigious skills were turned towards mathematics, and through the support of William Whiston and Samuel Dunn, he was elevated to the position of professor at Christ’s College, Cambridge, and eventually succeeded Whiston as Lucasian Chair of Mathematics.

O’Donoghue undescribed

Condition: Binders adhesive and holes to right platemark. Minor time toning to edges of sheet. Blank on verso. [51739]

£75

12. Abrahamus Hondius Pictor

John Smith after Abraham Hondius

Mezzotint

John Smith [n.d. c. 1689]

Image 220 x 188 mm, Plate 239 x 188 mm, Sheet 240 x 189 mm unmounted

A portrait of artist Abraham Hondius. Hondius is seen facing the viewer, a distant look on his face. He points to a sketch seen to the left with his left hand. The sketch shows a faint drawing of a classical female figure seen seated wearing a helmet and holding a paint palette and brushes.

Abraham Danielsz Hondius (c.1625 – 1691) was a Dutch artist and printmaker. Born in Rotterdam, Hondius is most known for his works of animals and hunting scenes. Hondius lived in London in later life where he painted views of the frozen Thames.

Chaloner Smith 132, Russell 132, O’Donoghue 1, LennoxBoyd i/iv

Ex. Col.: Reverend John Burleigh James.

Condition: Trimmed to plate mark and grangerised. Vertical crease to right sheet edge. Areas of rubbing to left sheet edge. Collector’s mark on verso (Lugt L.1425).

[51798]

£175

John Faber the Younger after Thomas Hudson

Mezzotint

Sold by J. Faber at ye Golden head ye South side of Bloomsbury Square. [n.d. c. 1731-33]

Image 312 x 241 mm, Sheet 352 x 245 mm unmounted

A portrait of the artist Samuel Scott. Scott is seen contrapposto, leaning on the back of a chair. He is looking directly at the viewer over his right shoulder, his arms are crossed and he holds a drawing depicting a ship. Scott wears a montero cap, frequently worn by artists in this period. To the right is a small table which has a painters palette and brushes.

Samuel Scott (1702 - 1772) was a British painter. Most known for his works of landscapes and seascapes, Scott was also a maritime artist painting ships and men-of-war.

Chaloner Smith 319 ii/ii, O’ Donoghue 1, Lennox-Boyd ii/ii

Condition: Some surface rubbing. Areas of thinning to top of sheet. Wear to corners and edges. Small repaired tear to left sheet edge.

[51804]

£250

13. Samuelis Scott

Benedictus Antonio van Assen

Stipple

Published Sept. 5 1794 by W. H. Appleton No.2 St. Margarets Church Yard Westminster

Image 84 x 70 mm, Sheet 121 x 82 mm

unmounted

A small stipple portrait of Master Appleton, a child musical prodigy. The print commemorates Appleton’s daily performances at the Warwickshire Apollo. Beneath the portrait and title is an illustration of a harp leaning on an open book of sheet music titled ‘Overture Handel’ Master Appleton is seen facing the viewer, looking over his right shoulder, his arm raised and hand pointing upward. Appleton was believed to be just 4 years old when this run of performances took place.

O’Donoghue undescribed

Condition: Small hole to right of title. Stain to upper left of image. Surface dirt to sheet.

[51795]

£75

After Thomas Trotter

Lithograph

Drawn on Stone from a Drawing taken from the life by T. Trotter. [c. 1810]

Image 69 x 50 mm, Sheet 140 x 97 mm

unmounted

A small bust portrait of Samuel Johnson. Johnson is seen in profile looking to the right. This portrait is after the published copper engraving which appeared in The Life of Samuel Johnson printed for George Kearsley, 1785.

Samuel Johnson (1709 – 1784), often referred to as Dr Johnson, was an English writer who made lasting contributions to English literature as a poet, essayist, moralist, literary critic, biographer, editor and lexicographer.

O’Donoghue undescribed

Condition: Printed on India Laid paper. Creasing to the corners. Sheet crudely cut.

[51796]

£50

14. Master Appleton.

15. Samuel Johnson, L.L.D.

16. Handel

Francesco Bartolozzi after Giovanni Battista Cipriani

Copper engraving and etching

Pubd. as the Act directs April 1st. 1784. Image 196 x 165 mm, Plate 267 x 218 mm, Sheet 354 x 290 mm unmounted

Inscription within image reads: From Harmony, From Heavenly Harmony, / This Universal Frame Began. Proof state before letters.

Portrait of the German composer George Frederick Handel (1685-1759) from ‘An account of the musical performances in commemoration of Handel’ (1784). Handel writes a musical score whilst a young angel places a crown of laurels over his head. A cherub flys above them, holding a banner with Handel’s name on it.

Calabi + De Vesme 831. ii/iv

Condition: Surface dirt to sheet. Creasing to sheet. [51742]

£200

MEZZOTINTS

17. [Vulture and Snake]

Samuel William Reynolds after James Northcote Mezzotint

London. Publish’d 5.th April 1799 by Jeffryes & C. o Ludgate Hill

Image 473 x 600 mm, Plate 480 x 605 mm unmounted

A fine first state impression of this striking mezzotint of a vulture attacking a snake, after James Northcote’s 1798 painting of the same title, now part of the University of Manchester collection at Tabley House, Cheshire. This largescale, imposing and impressive, mezzotint depicts a vulture with its wings spread and beak open, gripping a large snake with its right claw. The snake, on a rocky outcrop, is coiled with its tongue out and fangs on show. The dramatic scene is emphasised by stormy clouds in the background.

Whitman 422 i/ii, Lennox-Boyd i/ii

Ex.Col.: Hon. Christopher Lennox-Boyd

Condition: Good clean impression. Light rubbing to surface, predominantly to right hand side. Lennox-Boyd catalogue refrence in pencil in bottom margin.

[51809]

£2,000

18. This Representation of the unfortunate Loss of his Majesty’s Ship Stirling Castle, Robt Carkett Esq. Commander, after having been Dismasted in the Great Hurricane Octr. 6th 1780, in Lat. 28’20 N. Long 72’ W. was Wrecked near the Silver Keys, off the N.E end of Island Hispaniola, wherein all the Crew except six persons perished

Valentine Green after William Elliott Mezzotint with etching

Drawn by Lieut. Willm. Elliott. Engrav’d by V.Green Mezzotinto Engraver to his Majesty & to the Elector Palatine. Publish’d April 30th 1784 by Wm. Elliott, near the Chapel, Gosport

Image 275 x 398 mm, Plate 280 x 400 mm, Sheet 310 x 430 mm unmounted

One of a series of mezzotints dedicated to Sir Peter Parker, Vice Admiral of the White, showing Royal Navy vessels afflicted by the disastrous hurricane seasons of 1780 and 1781.

This particular example depicts the loss of HMS Stirling Castle, a third rate ship of the line, which was wrecked in the Great Hurricane of 1780 with the loss of almost all her crew, apart from a midshipman and four seamen who were rescued from the wreckage by the crew of the Massachusetts privateer Aurora.

The Stirling Castle is shown almost completely submerged in a turbulent sea, dark clouds gathered overhead. Below, the title and dedication are broken by the Arms of Parker.

Lennox-Boyd ii/iv

Condition: Strong dark impression. Minor creases and surface abrasion to plate. Repaired tear to bottom left margin, not affecting plate.

[28998]

£300

19. This representation of the distressed situation of his Majesty’s ship Ulysses, John Thomas Esq. Commander, when Dismasted in the Hurricane, August 1st 1781, and narrowly escaped being Wrecked on the South side of Jamaica

Valentine Green after William Elliott Mezzotint with etching

Drawn by Lieut. Willm. Elliott. Engrav’d by V. Green, Mezzotinto Engraver, to his Majesty & to the Elector Palatine. Published April 30th 1784 by Wm. Elliott, near the Chapel, Gosport.

Image 275 x 398 mm, Plate 280 x 400 mm, Sheet 310 x 430 mm unmounted

One of a series of mezzotints dedicated to Sir Peter Parker, Vice Admiral of the White, showing Royal Navy vessels afflicted by the disastrous hurricane seasons of 1780 and 1781.

This particular example depicts HMS Ulysses, a fifth rate frigate that was dismasted in a hurricane off Jamaica in 1781, but miraculously avoided being wrecked.

In the scene, the ship is tossed on a monumental wave while lightning splits the sky, illuminating her crew who can be seen waving in alarm from the aftcastle. Two of the masts have already been swept into the sea, with one hanging from the ship by its rigging. Below, the title and dedication are broken by the Arms of Parker.

Lennox-Boyd ii/iv

Condition: Strong dark impression. Minor creases and surface abrasion to plate. Puncture to bottom right margin, not affecting plate.

[28999]

£300

20. The Cyclops at their Forge John Murphy after Luca Giordano

Mezzotint

Luca Giordano Pinxit. John Murphy, Sculpsit. Published Jan. y 1.st 1788 by John & Josiah Boydell, No. 90, Cheapside London.

Image 500 x 352 mm, Plate 505 x 355 mm, Sheet 665 x 485 mm unmounted

An atmospheric mezzotint after the painting by Giordano, from the ‘Houghton Gallery’ series (1774-88), 162 prints after paintings in Robert Walpole’s collection sold in 1779 to Catherine the Great. The original painting is now in the collections of the Hermitage Museum.

The print’s title, ‘Cyclops at their Forge,’ is a somewhat loose interpretation of Giordano’s ‘ Vulcan’s Forge,’ so the identity of the central figures is obscure. Indeed, the representation of the cyclopes is also notable for its lack of emphasis on their most famous attribute, the singular eye. Giordano was likely less concerned with the details of mythological consistency than he was with the excellent opportunities the scene provides for chiaroscuro, musculature, and dynamic movement.

In the centre of the scene stands the anvil of the forge god, likely within the fiery depths of Mt Etna or a cavern on one of the Aeolian Islands. Two of the cyclopes heft their mallets, while a third, crouched in the foreground, removes ingots from a basket. A fourth figure, standing behind, is perhaps Vulcan himself, holding their project in a pair of tongs. Another pair of assistants toil in the background near a furnace.

Rubinstein ii. 66, Lennox-Boyd iii/iii

Condition: Foxing to margins. Minor time toning and abrasion to platemark. Waterstain to bottom right corner of sheet, not affecting plate. Small marginal tears.

[51712]

£500

21. The Musical Family Concert of Ladies James Watson after Philippe Mercier Mezzotint

Printed for Carington Bowles, Map & Printseller at No.69 St. Pauls Church Yard, London [n.d. c.1790]

Image 237 x 351 mm, Plate 256 x 353 mm, Sheet 266 x 366 mm unmounted

A mezzotint print after one of Philippe Mercier’s paintings of the five senses, in this case “The Sense of Hearing”. The print depicts a group of female musicians in fine period dress playing the Harpsicord, Flute, Violin, and Violoncello. In the original painting the scores on the harpsichord are marked “Hendel [sic] Operas” and “Geminiani’s Sonates.[sic]”, the continental composers George Frideric Handel and Francesco Geminiani, had both made their careers in London. The painting is now in the collection at Yale Centre for British Art.

Goodwin 196, Carrington Bowles (1784) 245, Carington Bowles (1790) 248, Lennox-Boyd iii/iii

Condition: Small repaired surface abrasion to elbow of violinist, small repaired puncture to top margin. Toning to margins from previous mount.

[51770]

£450

Stereotyping Slavery

The period in which the following prints were published is an interesting and important point in the history of slavery and black history. By the time the original paintings from which these mezzotints were taken were completed the slave trade had been abolished, but slaves across the world had not yet been freed.

In 1807 the Slave Trade Act was passed, however slaves in the British colonies were not freed until 1838, and only after slaveowners received compensation. These rare prints are precursors to the dehumanising and racist ‘ coon ’ prints of the late 1800s and early 1900s, portraying black people as lazy, chronically idle, and inarticulate.

Previous depictions, like these prints, described the black servant as ‘Sambo’, the sitters being portrayed as loyal and contented servants. The ‘Sambo’ imagery and racist stereotype was offered as a defence for slavery and segregation.

22. The Fair Penitent. William Giller after Henry James Pidding Mezzotint

[c. 1828]

Image 306 x 250 mm, Sheet 342 x 280 mm unmounted

A very rare mezzotint depicting a black servant in stocks. In the background a British countryside is seen, whilst a dog sniffs at the man’s shoe.

This picture was originally intended as a companion piece to ‘Massa Out. “Sambo Werry Dry.”’ (Stock No. 51756).

Ex. Col.: Hon. Christopher Lennox-Boyd. (Unrecorded in Lennox-Boyd database.)

Condition: Trimmed within plate mark, just below title. Some creasing to corners. Glue residue to verso edges and corners. Lennox-Boyd collector stamp on verso.

[51755]

£800

23. Massa Out. “Sambo Werry Dry.”

Henry James Pidding

Mezzotint

London, Published for the Artist. Decr. 8th 1828. by Pidding & Co. No.1. Cornhill.

Image 310 x 262 mm, Sheet 385 x 262 mm

unmounted

Text below image reads: From the Original Picture in the collection of the Right Honble. Lord Charles Townshend to whom by Permission this Plate is most respectfully dedicated by his Lordships obliged and very humble Servant, Henry Pidding.

A rare print showing a cheerful, and tipsy, black servant sat by a small side table pouring a large glass of wine. A key, next to a bottle opener and a cork, is labelled ‘cellar’, a dog watches on with its head tilted to one side.

This picture was originally intended as a companion piece to ‘The Fair Penitent’ (Stock No. 51755).

Lennox-Boyd ii/ii

Ex. Col.: Hon. Christopher Lennox-Boyd.

Condition: Trimmed to image on top and sides and laid to page. Foxing and toning to page. Lennox-Boyd collector stamp on verso.

[51756] £1,000

FINE PRINTS

24. [Samson rending the Lion]

Albrecht Dürer

Woodcut

c.1497-8 [after 1600 impression]

Image 386 x 278 mm, Sheet 522 x 348 mm unmounted

One of Dürer’s earliest large-scale woodcuts, depicting the Biblical hero Samson killing a lion with nothing but his bare hands. As the scene is untitled, early audiences frequently believed the scene to be a depiction of Hercules killing the Nemean lion, a feat that was also achieved solely by the hero’s strength. Dürer’s previous woodcut, enigmatically titled ‘Ercules,’ clearly shares parallels with his treatment of Samson, leading many to conclude that the two were intended as a pair, as Biblical and Classical representations of the same virtues.

In the traditional story, Samson travelled to the cities of Philistia in order to seek a bride. While on route and in the wilderness he was attacked by a lion, but due to his great strength rent the creature’s jaws apart, killing it. In Dürer’s woodcut, Samson, dressed in robe, sandals, and with his famous unshaven locks tied up with a headband, straddles the writhing beast, his strong hands gripping the lion’s muzzle.

The lion’s eyes, robbed of their savagery, look up in a manner that is cowed and almost pleading, while Samson, rather than looking at his quarry, stares off into the middle distance, as if the violence to come brings him no pleasure, despite being the product of his God-given gifts. To the left of the scene, a large weed is clearly a nettle, the painful sting of which can be avoided only by crushing the leaves with a strong grip. The background of the scene, vaguely intended to represent the cities of the Philistines, features a castle on a rocky cliff, a collection of fortified towers on a wide bay or lake, a woodland, and a range of mountains.

Hollstein 107, Meder 107, g (of g).

Condition: Printed on laid paper. Minor foxing to sheet. Light waterstaining to top half of left margin, into block. Dirt build-up to sheet, particularly to edges. Pressed horizontal crease to sheet. Chips, creases, and folds to margins. Small puncture to top margin, not affecting image. [51793]

£2,000

Albrecht Dürer

Woodcut

c.1497-9 [after 1600 impression]

Image 390 x 280 mm, Sheet 525 x 345 mm unmounted

One of Dürer’s earliest large-scale woodcuts, concentrating on the events immediately preceding the martyrdom of St Catherine of Alexandria. The saint was a very popular figure of veneration in Nuremberg in Dürer’s day, having risen in prominence as one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers during the Black Death, and considered second only to the Virgin Mary as a symbol of feminine piety and purity.

In most hagiographies, the Saint was thought to have been martyred by the Emperor Maxentius at the beginning of the fourth century. The daughter of the governor of Alexandria, she was said to have converted to Christianity in her early teens and at the outbreak of Maxentius’ persecutions, she upbraided the emperor, causing him to demand that she defend her beliefs before a council of fifty of his best philosophers.

The strength of her argument, combined with her religious conviction, astonished her listeners, many of whom converted and were subsequently put to death. The Emperor changed tactics, offering marriage, but upon hearing her refusal, sentenced Catherine to death on a spiked breaking wheel. The young woman was not cowed, and instead reached out a hand towards the wheel, shattering it. Maxentius, refusing to accept the clearly divine intervention in his plans, had her beheaded.

Catherine’s story is apocryphal, and many commentators have pointed to the similarities between her life and fate and those of the Alexandrine neoplatonist philosopher Hypatia, who was murdered by a Christian mob allegedly encouraged by the rhetoric of Bishop Cyril, the Patriarch of Alexandria. The involvement of Maxentius in Catherine’s martyrdom also provides a spiritual justification for the loss of both his empire and his life at the Battle of the Milvian Bridge, at the hands of Constantine fighting under the banner of Christ.

In Dürer’s composition, the Saint crouches in prayer before the broken wheel, while her executioner draws a long sword in readiness. The rest of the scene is occupied by a representation of one of the medieval traditions from Catherine’s life, in which a shower of holy fire rained down upon the assembled crowd, killing many of the pagans but leaving Catherine unharmed.

The fire surrounding the Saint and the wheel may be a conflation of the martyr stories of Catherine of Siena, who, while praying, was caught in a kitchen fire but emerged unharmed, or may simply be an illustration of the utter destruction of the instrument of torture at the touch of one so gentle and pure.

Hollstein 236, Meder 236, g (of g) (however this impression printed on thin laid paper not the thick, felt-like paper after 1700 as called for by Meder) Condition: Printed on laid paper. Dirt build-up to sheet, particularly to edges. Pressed horizontal crease to sheet. Chips, creases, and folds to margins.

[51794]

£2,000

26. [Ornamental Capital ‘P’]

Giovanni Battista Piranesi Etching

Piranesi F. [Rome, Bouchard, c.1756]

Image and Plate 85 x 105 mm mounted

An ornamental capital of the letter P from Le Antichità Romane, from the description of the Baths of Caracalla. The letter stands before a vignette of architectural fragments and foliage.

The Antichità Romane (’Roman Antiquities’) was Piranesi’s largest, and in many ways most ambitious, series of etchings, comprising 250 plates published in 4 volumes. Unlike the Vedute di Roma, the Antichità Romane is chiefly interested in small details, though the views of principal monuments in this work are no less aesthetically pleasing than the Vedute. Piranesi’s agenda as an architect, namely the revival and emulation of classical Roman models, is immediately apparent in his meticulous recording of Rome’s architectural and archaeological heritage. As a result, the Antichità Romane became a critical resource for antiquarians and academics.

Piranesi’s detailed explanations of Roman feats of engineering challenged the emergent argument for the superiority of Classical Greek models in art and architecture.

Wilton-Ely 284, F149

Condition: Sheet trimmed close to plate, without loss. [51716]

£150

27. A Sua Eccellenza il Signor Conte di Lincoln amatore delle belle

arti

Giovanni Battista Piranesi Etching

In atto d’Ossequio il Cavalier Gio. Batta Piranesi D.D.D. Cavalier Piranesi del. e inc. [Firmin-Didot, Paris, 1836]

Image 520 x 355 mm, Plate 535 x 390 mm, Sheet 625 x 475 mm unmounted

Plate 98 of Vasi, candelabri, cippi, sarcofagi, tripodi, lucerne, ed ornamenti antichi disegnati ed incisi dal Cav. Gio. Batt. Piranesi, depicting a large ornamental boar’s head rhyton, reportedly found in a tomb on the Via Appia. The rhyton sits atop a fluted column base, which is in turn supported by a frieze of griffins and a funerary inscription bearing a dedication to Urbanus and Fabia (Urbanus Aug. N. Vern. et Fabia Successa). The plate is dedicated to the Earl of Lincoln, most likely Henry Pelham-Clinton, 2nd Duke of Newcastleunder Lyne.

The full descriptive text at the bottom of the plate reads: ‘Monumento antico ritrovato fra le ruine di un Sepolcro sulla Via Appia vicino a Capo di Bove nella vigna Cenci. Questo monumento a adornato ne’suoi quattro lari d’intagli e figuri di ottima maniera, e per la sua forma bizzarra si rende particolare fra tutti li sogetti di questo genere. Sembra che questo dovesse essere stato eretto per riporvi le ceneri de’servi, e famigliari di qualche Imperatore, e cio si rileva dalli nomi dell’iscrizione Urbanus, et Fabia, Vern..., cioe figli di servo nati in casa del Padrone, le ceneri de’quali furono ritrovate nel sito dove e posta l’iscrizione. Si vede fra le altre antichita dell’Autore. ’

The Vasi, candelabri, cippi, sarcofagi, tripodi, lucerne, ed ornamenti antichi disegnati ed incisi dal Cav. Gio. Batt. Piranesi was published in two volumes in 1778, and collected together a range of single plates that Piranesi had issued over the preceding decade. As the title suggests, the work was a collection of detailed drawings of vases, funeral monuments, and various ornaments, intended as much as a seller’s catalogue as an exercise in antiquarian illustration. Piranesi’s collaborations with notable dealers of antiquities like Gavin Hamilton and Thomas Jenkyns meant that his skills as a restorator, decorator, and dealer in his own right were in high demand. Many of the antiquities featured in the Vasi, Candelabri, cippi... made their way into the collections of British grand tourists, as the dedications on the plates suggest.

Wilton-Ely 993, F706, C604

Condition: Central horizontal fold, as issued. Minor foxing and time toning. Bird-and-house watermark (Robinson No.87).

[51752]

£650

28. [6 Plates from Études de Chevaux]

Johann Adam Bartsch after Georg Philippe Rugendas Etching

[A Nuremberg, chez J.F. Frauenholz & Co. 1802]

Images ~145 x 205 mm, Plates ~160 x 215 mm, Sheets 205 x 275 mm unmounted

Six studies of horses, engraved by the celebrated print historian and engraver Adam Bartsch after sketches and paintings by Rugendas, from his ‘Etudes de Chevaux. Dessinées par George Philippe Rugendas, le Pére & gravées à l’Eaux-forte par Adam Bartsch. ’ The horses, all saddled, are shown in pairs in various attitudes but all standing at rest. The first plate of the series is an unlettered proof, with a blank inscription space below.

Condition: Strong clean impressions with full margins. Minor time toning and chips to edges of sheets, not affecting plates. Blank on verso. Marginal notes in pencil to bottom margin of first plate.

[51740]

£1,000

29. [Quivi Trovammo]

John Ruskin after Joseph Mallord William Turner Etching

[c.1860]

Image 135 x 195 mm, Plate 210 x 290 mm, Sheet 300 x 440 mm unmounted

A proof impression of Ruskin’s etching of the dragon Ladon, from Turner’s painting of ‘The Goddess of Discord choosing the Apple of Contention in the Garden of the Hesperides.’ The etching shows the dragon, a creature that appears more elemental than animal, crouched on a rocky precipice, surrounded by flame and cloud. Its crocodilian snout gives it a primordial quality reminiscent of early fossil illustrations.

The final impression, titled ‘Quivi Trovammo’ after the line in Dante’s Inferno, was included by Ruskin in the fifth volume of his landmark ‘Modern Painters ’ Ruskin’s etching is a reversed close-up of the famous dragon, that looms on a mountain top in the distance of Turner’s painting. Ruskin was captivated by Turner’s dragon, considering it the perfect expression of the Gothic, and praising it in his commentary with his opinion that ‘among all the wonderful things that Turner did in his day, I think this nearly the most wonderful ’

By contrast he was displeased with his own etching, complaining that its scale diminished the power of the original. Ruskin’s title, drawn from the final scene of the sixth canto of the Inferno (Quivi Trovammo Pluto il gran nemico), equates the Dragon with Plutus, the guardian of the fourth circle of Hell and embodiment of avarice.

Condition: Proof before letters. Foxing to plate. Minor time toning, chips, and tears to edges of sheet, not affecting plate. Pastedown ‘No.528’ in bottom left corner of sheet.

[51743] £450

30. The Early Ploughman, or, The Morning Spread upon the Mountains

Samuel Palmer

Etching

1861 (1868 impression)

Image 135 x 198 mm, Sheet 168 x 252 mm unmounted

An atmospheric rural scene showing a ploughman and three oxen driving a plough through the field at the break of day. A row of cypress trees is seen to the right, with a female figure seen standing at the field edge with a pot on their head and a basket in their hand. In the background a dramatic hill and landscape can be seen with the remains of a tower on the hilltop to the left. Published in Philip Gilbert Hamerton’s 1868 ‘Etching and Etchers’.

Alexander 9 iv/viii, Lister 9 v/ix

Condition: Light toning to sheet.

[51780]

£2,000

31. Life School Royal Academy

Charles West Cope

Etching

1865 (1868 impression)

Image 155 x 250 mm, Plate 200 x 280 mm, Sheet 255 x 302 mm unmounted

Initialled, dated and titled by artist in plate. A scene showing the interior of the life school at the Royal Academy. Artists are sat beside their easels in a curved line, a nude male model is to the left drawing a sword, on a low plinth draped in a cloth. A row of lamps hanging from the ceiling lights the scene. Published in Philip Gilbert Hamerton’s 1868 ‘Etching and Etchers’.

Condition: Good impression. Vertical centrefold as issued. [51769]

£425

Sir Hubert von Herkomer

Etching

1881

Image 188 x 110 mm, Sheet 196 x 117 mm unmounted

A very rare hand printed private view invitation to an exhibition of new works by Hurbert Herkomer, monograph and dated within the image, featuring an etched portrait of a sailor above the invitation text that reads: Hubert Herkomer solicits the honour of a visit from Mr Morelon & Friends, [manuscript] to a private view of his pictures

“Missing” &

“The Gloom of Idwal”, & other pictures, etchings & engravings

At the Gelleries of Messr Goupil & Co, 25 Bedford. St March 30th & following Three Days-

The image of the sailor derives from one of the background figures in the exhibited painting “Missing”, which was later Herkomer’s entry to the Royal Academy summer exhibition of 1881. The large scale painting referred to the missing ship Atalanta, which was bound for Portsmouth from Bermuda on 7th November, 1879, but disappeared. Herkomer destroyed the painting in 1895, but a reduced watercolour copy by Herman Herkomer is held in the Yale Center for British Art.

The other featured painting in the exhibition was “The Gloom of Idwal” a romantic Welsh landscape, which is described in A.L. Baldry’s “Hubert von Herkomer R.A. A Study and a Biography”; “Another expedition to Wales occupied the spring of 1880. The same picturesque spot, in the neighbourhood of Lake Idwal, that he had visited before, was chosen, and accompanied by his father, who had returned from Germany, he spent some ten weeks encamped amid the most romantic surroundings. During this period he painted the impressive landscape “The Gloom of Idwal,” which appeared, with the Ruskin portrait, at the Grosvenor Gallery 1881.”

Condition: Light toning and dirt build-up to sheet. Small stain to left of monograph, light crease to top of sheet. Glue and paper residue on verso.

[51765]

£200

33. The Mill

Émile-Jean Sulpis after Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones Etching

Copyright 1899 by Messrs. Arthur Tooth and Sons Publishers, 5 & 6 Haymarket, London, 41, Boulevard des Capucines, Paris 299, Fifth Avenue New York & Messrs. Stiefbold & Co. Berlin. Printed by Messrs. A. Salmon & Ardail, A. Porcabeuf succr. Paris Image 240 x 527 mm, Sheet 324 x 632 mm unmounted

Signed in pencil by the engraver. One of 25 Presentation Proofs not on vellum.

An etching of Burne-Jones’ Renaissance inspired ‘The Mill’. The scene shows three female figures dancing hand in hand on a river bank. A fourth, more androgynous figure, standing beneath a loggia, plays a lute. In the distance, nude figures can be seen bathing by the stream. Speaking of ‘The Mill’, Burne-Jones admitted that he made deliberate reference to Botticelli’s ‘Primavera’ with his dancing figures, and Piero’s ‘Baptism of Christ’ with the male bathers.

A town is seen in the background consisting of architecture that appears to combine features of the Renaissance and Middle Ages with those of a more contemporary nature. Housed within the buildings are three mills. ‘The Mill’ was inspired by ‘The Allegory of Good and Bad Government’, a mural painted by Italian Renaissance artist Ambrogio Lorenzetti between 1338 and 1340 but as with many works produced by Burne-Jones, and more broadly speaking, those produced by artists associated with the Aesthetic Movement, ‘The Mill’ lacks any distinct narrative. Instead, an overt emphasis is placed on beauty, and engaging with the senses.

Burne-Jones was commissioned to produce this painting by Constantine Alexander Ionides, a patron and collector. Burne-Jones modelled the three dancing figures on Maria Zambaco, his mistress, Marie Spartali Stillman, a prominent Pre-Raphaelite artist, and Aglaia Coronio. The three women were cousins and relatives of Ionides, and were known among friends as the ‘Three Graces’.

The painting from which this etching was taken is now in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum.

Printsellers’ Association (1912), Edition declared on October 30, 1899, 250 Artist’s Proofs on vellum at 10 guineas and 25 Presentation Proofs, only state, and the plate was to be destroyed. Hartnoll 14.

Condition: Good impression. Professionally laid to archival tissue. Some staining to margins. [51757]

£3,000

GENERAL INTEREST

I. Rosa Damascena flore pleno II. Trifolium Acetosum flore albo III. Trifolium Acetosum flore flavo [Damask Rose]

Basilius Besler

Copper engraving with hand colouring [Nuremberg, 1613]

Image and plate 475 x 400 mm unmounted

Plate 94 from the ‘Spring Plants of the Sixth, Seventh, Eighth and Ninth Categories’ part of Besler’s landmark ‘Hortus Eystettensis’ The plate shows a damask rose, and two varieties of wood sorrel.

Inscription on verso: “Sextus Ordo Collectarum Plantarum Vernalium.”

Condition: Minor time toning to edges of sheet. Old adhesive stains to edges of sheet, not affecting plate. Small inclusion in paper of bottom margin. Manuscript pagination ‘95’ in top right corner of sheet. Latin text on verso. [51713]

£1,800

34.

35. The Persian Cyclamen

Willliam Elmes after Abraham Pether Aquatint with original hand colouring Pether Pinxt. Elmes sculpt. London, Published for Dr. Thornton, 1804.

Image 460 x 345 mm, Plate 500 x 405 mm unmounted

A large aquatint illustration of the Persian Cyclamen, cultivars from which became the common florist’s cyclamen, from Robert Thornton’s famous ‘Temple of Flora’ .

Temple of Flora iii/iii

Condition: Time toning and acid burns to edges of sheet. Repaired tear to left margin, just into plate. ‘E&P 1804’ watermark.

[51714]

£950

Woodcut illustrations of comets, from Aldrovandi’s Monstrorum Historia

The Monstrorum Historia is undoubtedly the most famous of Aldrovandus’ works, and the seminal text of the history of natural monstrosities and medical aberrations. The illustrations of early editions mostly focussed on medical irregularities, with a particular focus on birth defects and the physical results of disease or injury.

The most successful publication, a posthumous edition printed in Bologna by Nicolo Tebaldino in 1642, expanded Aldrovandus’ work to include over 300 woodcut illustrations focussing on the full range of monsters, mythical creatures, and medical oddities.

Figures of classical and near eastern mythology, such as chimaeras and zoomorphic Egyptian deities, appeared alongside conjoined twins, hermaphroditic figures, and the mythical humanoid creatures which in the Medieval mind dwelled in unexplored regions and the dark corners of the world.

In so doing, the work became an amalgam of comparative physiology, medicine, natural history, mythography, antiquarianism, ethnography, and occult theology.

36. II. Nouem Cometarum differentiae

Aldrovandi, Ulisse Woodcut

[Bononiae. Typis Nicolai Tebaldini MDCXLII. Superiorum permissu.]

Image 240 x 165 mm, Sheet 352 x 245 mm unmounted

A set of nine illustrations of different forms of comet, from the 1642 edition of Aldrovandus’ seminal treatise on medical oddities and natural irregularities, the Monstrorum Historia The types are described by their appearance, including shield, hairy, horned, bearded, dart, sword, sun, equine, and torchshaped.

Condition: Strong, clean impression. Minor time toning to edges of sheet. Minor offsetting from verso text. Latin text on verso.

[51736]

£175

37. III. Aliae Cometarum differentiae Aldrovandi, Ulisse

Woodcut

[Bononiae. Typis Nicolai Tebaldini MDCXLII. Superiorum permissu.]

Image 245 x 115 mm, Sheet 352 x 245 mm unmounted

A set of six illustrations of different forms of comet, from the 1642 edition of Aldrovandus’ seminal treatise on medical oddities and natural irregularities, the Monstrorum Historia

Condition: Strong, clean impression. Minor time toning to edges of sheet. Minor offsetting from verso text. Latin text on verso.

[51737]

£175

38. IIII. Cometarum naturae saturniae duo differentiae Ulisse Aldrovandi

Woodcut

[Bononiae. Typis Nicolai Tebaldini MDCXLII. Superiorum permissu.]

Image 255 x 140 mm, Sheet 350 x 245 mm unmounted

A pair of illustrations of comets, from the 1642 edition of Aldrovandus’ seminal treatise on medical oddities and natural irregularities, the Monstrorum Historia

Condition: Strong, clean impression. Minor time toning to edges of sheet. Minor offsetting from verso text. Latin text on verso.

[51738]

£120

Four plates of reptiles from Albertus Seba’s Treasury of Nature

Locupletissimi Rerum Naturalium

Thesauri Accurata Descriptio et Iconibus

Artificiosissimis Expressio, Per Universam

Physices Historiam was based on Seba’s extensive collections of exotic specimens of birds, reptiles, shells, butterflies, insects, mammals, and some fake specimens such as a seven headed hydra - no doubt to attract attention to the collection.

Locupletissimi Rerum Naturalium Thesauri contains 449 plates over four volumes with plates engraved by Pierre Tanji, Adolf Van der Laan, F. de Bakker, A. van Buysen, de la Croix, J. Folkema, W. Jongman, F. Morellon, K.D. Ptter, J. Punt and J. van der Speyk.

The plates are artistically arranged either showing groups of related specimens or unrelated specimens of plants and animals placed in aesthetic juxtaposition.

39. Tab. XCVIII [Fig 1. Green Iguana, Fig. 2 Common Tegu]

Albertus Seba

Copper engraving

[J. Wetsten, William Smith, Jansson-Waesberg et al., Amsterdam: 1734-1769]

Image 400 x 500 mm, Plate 430 x 555 mm, Sheet 528 x 677 mm unmounted

A double page engraving of a green iguana and common tegu from Albert Seba’s Locupletissimi Rerum Naturalium Thesauri Accurata Descriptio et Iconibus Artificiosissimis Expressio, Per Universam Physices Historiam.

[51746]

£350

40.

Albertus Seba

Copper engraving

[J. Wetsten, William Smith, Jansson-Waesberg et al., Amsterdam: 1734-1769]

Image 417 x 517 mm, Plate 425 x 547 mm, Sheet 475 x 596 mm unmounted

A double page engraving of snakes and reptiles from Albert Seba’s Locupletissimi Rerum Naturalium Thesauri Accurata Descriptio et Iconibus Artificiosissimis Expressio, Per Universam Physices Historiam.

[51748]

£350

Tab. LXXVI

41. Tab.CIX [Snakes and Lizards]

Albertus Seba

Copper engraving

[J. Wetsten, William Smith, Jansson-Waesberg et al., Amsterdam: 1734-1769]

Image 380 x 535 mm, Plate 428 x 545 mm, Sheet 530 x 680 mm unmounted

A double page engraving of snakes and reptiles from Albert Seba’s Locupletissimi Rerum Naturalium Thesauri Accurata Descriptio et Iconibus Artificiosissimis Expressio, Per Universam Physices Historiam.

[51749]

£250

42. Tab. C. [Basilisk, Squamata, Snakes]

Albertus Seba

Copper engraving

[J. Wetsten, William Smith, Jansson-Waesberg et al., Amsterdam: 1734-1769]

Image 395 x 520 mm, Plate 430 x 550 mm, Sheet 500 x 630 mm unmounted

A double page engraving of a snake, a basilisk, and squamata from Albert Seba’s Locupletissimi Rerum Naturalium Thesauri Accurata Descriptio et Iconibus Artificiosissimis Expressio, Per Universam Physices Historiam.

[51750]

£350

43. [Artists tools]

anonymous

Copper engraving

[Paris : Jombert, 1740]

Image 117x 83 mm, Plate 127 x 84 mm, Sheet 280 x 206 mm unmounted

A engraving of an artists tools, for drawing and painting, labelled in French “Porte crayon”, “Canif a eguiser le Crayon”, “Pinceau”, “Godet pour les Couleurs vû en dessus”, “Buëtte aux Couleurs”. The print was the first illustration in Charles-Antoine Jombert’s drawing book “Nouvelle méthode pour apprendre à dessiner sans mâitre ...”

Condition: Toning in margins from previous mount. [51784]

£75

44. A Man Magnified (as if view’d with a MicroscopicEye,) 60 Times in Length and Breadth [Anonymous]

Copper engraving [1758]

Image 167 x 105 mm, Plate 195 x 118 mm, Sheet 205 x 124 mm unmounted

A fascinating, and almost comical depiction of a man as if viewed through a microscope. The scene shows a man stood next to a fictional church spire, a scale of 400 Feet is at the right of the image. Accurately sized figures are seen at his feet, with the street stretching out behind him. The image was used to illustrate what the scale would be to view a whole person through a microscope, as objects are rarely seen in their entirety through this method. Comes with accompanying text explaining the scene.

Condition: Toning and creasing to sheet edges. [51744]

£75

TOPOGRAPHY

45. Edynburgum

Matthäus Merian

Copper engraving with hand colouring [Frankfurt-am-Main, 1646]

Image 198 x 350 mm, Plate 202 x 354 mm, Sheet 320 x 400 mm unmounted

An impressive seventeenth century view of Edinburgh from the south, ornamented in hand colour, from Merian’s Theatrum Europaeum. Edinburgh Castle features prominently at the far left of the scene, with the buildings of the old town sprawled in its shadow. To the right, the Royal Palace of Holyrood can be seen. The Firth of Forth stretches across the background of the scene, with numerous ships at anchor near Leith. In the foreground, two figures on horseback gallop towards the city walls.

Condition: Vertical folds as issued. Minor surface marks and creases. Minor time toning and creasing to margins, not affecting plate. Small ink stain to left margin. [51807]

£475

[Anonymous]

Copper engraving

[London, Printed and Sold by John Bowles, Print and Map Seller over against Stocks Market 1724]

Image 143 x 210 mm, Sheet 170 x 214 mm unmounted

An aerial perspective view of the Charterhouse, London from John Bowles’ Several Prospects of the most noted Publick Buildings, in and about the City of London. The print titles parts of the complex of buildings and land including The Bowling Green, The Kitchen Garden, and Part of the Square. Beneath the image is a brief history of the Charter House.

Condition: Trimmed and laid to album page. [51808]

£80

[Anonymous]

Copper engraving

[London, Printed and Sold by John Bowles, Print and Map Seller over against Stocks Market 1724]

Image 147 x 217 mm, Sheet 172 x 218 mm unmounted

A view of the quadrangle at the Royal Exchange, London from John Bowles’ Several Prospects of the most noted Publick Buildings, in and about the City of London. The print shows the quad from the south entrance, the north and south entrances titles on the print. The statue of Charles II is seen at the centre of the scene. Beneath the image is a brief history of The Royal Exchange.

Condition: Trimmed and laid to album page. [51811]

£80

48. Palazzo et Giardino e Villa in Tivoli, fatto dalla fel.ce mem.a del. em.mo et r.mo Hippolito Estense Card.le De Ferrara.

After Étienne Dupérac

Copper engraving c. 1680

Image 146 x 225 mm, Plate 161 x 230 mm, Sheet 171 x 234 mm unmounted

A view of the Villa d’Este in Tivoli, near Rome, Italy. A fine example of Renaissance architecture and Italian Renaissance garden design, Villa d’Este and the gardens is seen intricately laid out with a detailed numbered key below it. The view appears to be based upon earlier plans of the Villa d’Este by Étienne Dupérac and Giovanni Maggi.

Condition: Toning and foxing to the sheet. Trimmed just outside plate mark. [51797]

£100

46. The Charter House

47. The Inside of The Royal Exchange.

49. The Siege of Rhode Island, taken from Mr. Brindley’s House on the 25th of August, 1778. [Anonymous]

Copper engraving [1779]

Image 130 x 216 mm, Image 159 x 228 mm, Sheet 210 x 246 mm unmounted

A scene showing the Siege of Rhode Island in 1778 from The Gentleman’s Magazine and Historical Chronicle. Comes with accompanying text describing the events leading up to, and the battle itself.

The Battle of Rhode Island, August 29, 1778, also known as the Battle of Quaker Hill and the Siege of Newport was an important battle within the American Revolutionary War (1775-1783). The battle is noteworthy as one of the first within the war to see the combined American-French forces, following France’s entry into the war as an ally of America.

The battle was also notable for the participation of the 1st Rhode Island Regiment, which consisted of American Indians, African Americans, and White colonists. American forces, under the command of Major General John Sullivan, had been besieging the British forces in Newport, on Aquidneck Island.

When they finally abandoned their siege and were withdrawing to the northern part of the island the British forces, led by Sir Robert Pigot, then reconvened, supported by recently arrived Royal Navy ships, and attacked the retreating Americans. The battle ended inconclusively, but the American forces withdrew to the mainland and left Newport, and Aquidneck Island, in the hands of the British.

Condition: Vertical folds as issued. Red ink staining to sheet edges from original fore-edge painting. Light toning and foxing to sheet. [51751]

£200

50. Tercia etas mundi, Folium XXXIIII [Corinth]

Michael Wolgemut

Woodcut [Anton Koberger, Nuremberg, 1493]

Image 145 x 228 mm, Sheet 400 x 278 mm unmounted

A fantastical, but visually engaging, late fifteenth century view of the Greek city of Corinth, from the celebrated Nuremberg Chronicle. The illustration, depicting a walled city on a hillside, shows churches, towers, and medieval houses, though the scene is clearly central European rather than Greek, with the high-roofed and turreted central tower even emblazoned with the double-headed eagle standard of the Holy Roman Empire. The block from which the scene was printed was one of a number of stock illustrations of European cities prepared by Wolgemut’s workshop, repeated in the publication with the titles simply changed for each usage.

The Latin text above provides a brief history of the city, as well as seven portraits, three showing Assyrian kings (Ascades, Amynthas, and Bellothus) and the remaining four representing founding kings of the Greek cities: Aptheros of Crete, Erichthonius of Athens, and the brothers Phoenix and Cadmus, the latter of whom founded Thebes. On the verso, the narrative moves to ancient Italy, with portraits of Carmentis, daughter of Evander, and Italus, founder of a city on the Tiber that occupied the same site Rome would later occupy. The final two figures are Rechab, son of Moses’ friend Jethro, and Salmon, a ancestor of Jesse and David. Another larger stock illustration at the bottom of the sheet shows the city of Tiberias in the Holy Land.

The Liber Chronicarum, usually referred to in English as the Nuremberg Chronicle or in German as the Schedelsche Weltchronik, is, after the Gutenberg Bible, likely the most famous of all early printed books. A colossal chronicle of biblical history, the text covered the seven ages of the world, from Creation to the contemporary world of fifteenth century Europe, and the coming of the Last Judgement. The text, written in Latin by Hartmann Schedel and translated by Georg Alt for the German edition, was mostly a composite of earlier biblical, scientific, philosophical, and historical works.

What set the Chronicle apart from its contemporaries was less the quality of its text than its illustrations, which were carved in their hundreds by the workshop of Michael Wolgemut. The illustrations for some of these blocks may have been executed by the young Albrecht Durer, who was apprenticed to Wolgemut at the time. Estimates suggest that up to 1500 copies in Latin may have been printed, as well as between 700 and 1000 German copies by the publishing house of Anton Koberger. In an attempt to prevent piracy, the blocks were kept under lock and key, and returned to the patrons of the work following printing.

Condition: Excellent clean impression on full sheet. Latin letterpress text. Central horizontal creases. Binders creases and chips to left margin.

[51799]

£400

Artists, Printmakers, & Publishers BIOGRAPHIES

Ulisse Aldrovandi (1522-1605), often known simply as Aldrovandus, was a Italian humanist, naturalist, and author, often hailed as the father of modern natural history. A professor of philosophy, logic, and natural history at the University of Bologna, Aldrovandus championed the creation and development of the Orto Botanico di Bologna, one of the oldest botanic gardens in the world. Having studied widely in the humanities, law, philosophy, medicine, logic, zoology, botany, and geology, Aldrovandus was one of the most important scholars in Europe at the end of the sixteenth century. Indeed, Aldrovandus is widely considered to have been the first to use the term ‘geology’ for this branch of science. His treatises covered many aspects of natural history, and his own collections, housed in a cabinet of curiosities bequeathed to the Senate of Bologna, formed the basis of his monumental Theatrum, an illustrated work of natural history covering more than 7000 specimens demonstrating the diversity of life.

Benedictus Antonio van Assen (c. 1767 - 1817) was a Dutch artist and engraver. Born in the Netherlands, Assen is most known for his engravings and his work as a miniaturist.

Francesco Bartolozzi (1727-1815) was an Italian engraver. The son of a goldsmith, Bartolozzi studied painting in Florence, trained as an engraver in Venice and began his career in Rome. In 1763 Richard Dalton, art dealer and librarian to George III, met him and invited him to London, promising him a post as engraver to the king. Bartolozzi moved to London the following year, and remained for thirty-five years. He executed numerous engravings for the King. He also made many engravings of paintings by Italian masters and by his friend, the painter Giovanni Cipriani. In 1768 Bartolozzi was the only engraver to become a founder member of the Royal Academy of Arts. He moved to Lisbon in 1802 as director of the National Academy.

Johann Adam Bernhard Ritter von Bartsch (1757-1821) was an Austrian engraver, etcher, and academic best known for his pioneering print catalogue Le Peintre Graveur, rather than for his artistic works, though he was an accomplished etcher who produced plates on various different subjects. After studying engraving, he was appointed head curator of the Viennese Royal Court Library, eventually laying the foundations for the establishment of the Albertina. His catalogue of old master prints is still the basis for modern print history, and continues to be updated, now in English, as The Illustrated Bartsch.

Basilius Besler (1561 – 1629) was a respected Nuremberg apothecary and botanist, best known for his monumental ‘Hortus Eystettensis’. He was curator of the garden of Johann Konrad von Gemmingen, prince bishop of Eichstätt in Bavaria. The bishop commissioned Besler to compile a codex of the plants growing in his garden, a task which Besler took sixteen years to complete, Johann Konrad dying shortly before the work was published. Whereas previous botanical art had placed an emphasis only on medical or culinary herbs, often crudely executed, Besler’s ‘Hortus Eystettensis’ depicted 1084 species including garden flowers, herbs and vegetables and exotic plants such as castor-oil and arum lilies. These were modern in concept and produced near life size in great detail. The work generally reflected the four seasons, showing first the flowering and then the fruiting stages. “Winter” was sparsely represented with a mere 7 plates. “Spring” was a season of abundance with 134 plates illustrating 454 plants and “Summer” in full swing showed 505 plants on 184 plates. “Autumn” closed off the work with 42 plates and 98 species. First published in 1613, two versions were produced, cheap black and white for use as a reference book, and a luxury version without text, printed on quality paper and lavishly hand-coloured. The work was published twice more in Nuremberg in 1640 and 1713. The plates were eventually destroyed by the Royal Mint of Munich in 1817.

The printer and publisher Carington Bowles (1724 - 1793) was the son of the printer John Bowles, to whom he was apprenticed in 1741. In 1752 until c.1762, they became a partnership known as John Bowles & Son, at the Black Horse, Cornhill, London. Carington left the partnership in order to take over the business of his uncle, Thomas Bowles II in St Paul’s Churchyard. When Carington died in 1793 the business passed to his son (Henry) Carington Bowles.

John Bowles (c.1701-1779) was a British printmaker and publisher, and a member of the prolific and numerous Bowles family of printmakers. The second son of Thomas Bowles I, he established a publishing house in his own name following the passing of the family business to his older brother Thomas Bowles II after their father’s death. In 1752, his son Carington joined the business, which traded under the name John Bowles & Son until 1764, when Carington took over the running of the original Bowles publishing house from his uncle, Thomas Bowles II. John Bowles specialised in mezzotint, especially portraits, though he also produced numerous topographical series and genre scenes.

Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones, 1st Bt (1833-1898) was a painter and designer closely associated with the later phase of the Pre-Raphaelite movement. Burne-Jones met William Morris as an undergraduate of Exeter college, Oxford, whilst studying for a degree in theology. The pair went on to work very closely together on numerous decorative arts projects including stained glass windows, tapestries and illustrations. Originally intending to become a church minister, BurneJones never finished his degree, choosing instead to pursue an artistic career under the influence of Dante Gabriel Rossetti. Rossetti heavily inspired his early work, but by the 1860’s his idiosyncratic style was beginning to develop. His mature work, however different in total effect, is rich in conscious echoes of Botticelli, Mantegna and other Italian masters of the Quattrocento. Thusly, Burne Jones’ later paintings of classical and medieval subjects are some of the most iconic of the Pre-Raphaelite movement. He was at the height of his popularity during the 1880’s, though his reputation began to decline with the onset of the Impressionists. He was created a baronet in 1894, when he formally hyphenated his name.

Giovanni Battista Cipriani (1727-1785) was an Italian painter, and the first exponent of Neoclassicism in England. He played an important part in directing eighteenth-century English artistic taste. His first lessons were given to him by a Florentine of English descent, Ignatius Hugford, and then under Anton Domenico Gabbiani. He was in Rome from 1750–1753, where he became acquainted with Sir William Chambers, the architect, and Joseph Wilton, the sculptor, whom he accompanied to England in August 1755.

Charles West Cope (1811 - 1890) was an English artist and etcher. Born in Leeds Cope is most known for his history and genre scenes, with him notably painting several frescos in the House of Lords in London. Cope was a founding member of the artist’ society ‘The Etching Club’ which included members such as Samuel Palmer, William Holman Hunt and Richard Redgrave. The club published several books of their etchings including illustrating Sonnets by Shakespeare and works by John Milton.

William Davison (1781-1858), born in Alnwick, was an apothecary, chemist, and druggist, and a copper-plate and letterpress printer in later life. During 1807 and 1808 he published a number of illustrated chapbooks and volumes of poetry under the title of Davison & Catnach with his partner and mentor James Catnach (1792-1841). In 1814 he established a small foundry on his premises at Bondgate Street for the production of metal stereotypes. During his lifetime Davison is known to have produced forty two individual copperplate engraved caricatures.

August Delâtre (1822-1907) was a French engraver, illustrator, and publisher, and founder of l’Imprimerie Delâtre, which was continued by his son Eugène Alfred Delâtre (1864-1938).

Étienne Dupérac or du Pérac (c.1525–1604) was a French architect, painter, engraver, and garden designer. He is most well known for his topographical studies of Rome and its ruins in the late sixteenth century. Dupérac was born in Bordeaux or Paris and arrived in Rome in 1550, where he became a skilled designer and engraver. He published a bird’s-eye view of Ancient Rome with buildings reconstructed (’Urbis Romae Sciographia’, 1574) and one of modern Rome (’Descriptio’, 1577) alongside a book of forty engravings of Roman monuments and antiquities (’Rome’, 1575).

Albrecht Dürer (1471 - 1528) was a celebrated German polymath. Though primarily a painter, printmaker and graphic artist, he was also a writer, mathematician and theoretician. Born in Nuremberg, Dürer was apprenticed to the painter Michel Wolgemut whose workshop produced woodcut illustrations for major books and publications. He travelled widely between the years of 1492 and 1494, and is known to have visited Martin Schongauer, the leading German painter and engraver at the time, at his studio in Colmar. In 1495, Dürer set up his own workshop in his native Nuremberg, and, by the beginning of the sixteenthcentury, had already published three of his most famous series’ of woodcuts: The Apocalypse, The Large Passion, and The Life of the Virgin. Nuremberg was something of a hub for Humanism at this time, and Dürer was privy to the teachings of Philipp Melanchthon, Willibald Pirkheimer and Desiderius Erasmus. The latter went so far as to call Dürer ‘the Apelles of black lines’, a reference to the most famous ancient Greek artist. Though Dürer’s approach to Protestantism was not as staunch as that of his fraternity, his artwork was just as revolutionary. For their technical virtuosity, intellectual scope, and psychological depth, Dürer’s works were unmatched by earlier printed work, and, arguably, have yet to be equalled.

William Elliott (fl.1781-1791) was a British painter and draughtsman who was famed for his military and naval subjects. He was gazetted to the rank of lieutenant in 1781, and exhibited at the Royal Academy between the years of 1784 and 1789. At these exhibitions, Elliott frequently depicted naval action scenes set in Canada and Jamaica.

William Elmes (fl.1798-1820) was a British engraver, known principally for caricatures, though he also produced aquatints, particularly of naval scenes.

John Faber the Younger (c.1695 - 1756), was the son of the portrait miniaturist and mezzotinter John Faber. Born in Amsterdam, Faber moved to England around 1698 and learned drawing and mezzotint engraving from his father; attending the academy in St. Martin’s Lane. He soon became the leading mezzotint engraver of his day, engraving two series after Godfrey Kneller - twelve Hampton Court Beauties (1727) and forty-seven portraits of members of the Kit-Cat Club (1735). He also completed forty-two mezzotints after portraits of Thomas Hudson, fifteen after Allan Ramsay, and several after Philip Mercier’s paintings.

François Pascal Simon, Baron Gérard (1770-1837) was a French painter born in Rome. At the age of twelve Gérard obtained admission into the Pension du Roi in Paris. From the Pension he passed to the studio of the sculptor Augustin Pajou followed by that of the history painter Nicolas-Guy Brenet, whom he quit almost immediately to place himself under Jacques-Louis David. In 1794 he obtained the first prize in a competition, the subject of which was The Tenth of August, that is, the storming of the Tuileries Palace. By 1808 as many as eight, and in 1810 no less than fourteen, portraits by him, were exhibited at the Salon, and these figures afford only an indication of the enormous numbers which he executed yearly. All the leading figures of the Empire and of the Bourbon Restoration, all the most celebrated men and women of Europe, sat to Gérard. This extraordinary vogue was due partly to the charm of his manner and conversation, for his salon was as much frequented as his studio. Madame de Staël, George Canning, Talleyrand, and the Duke of Wellington all bore witness to the attraction of his society.

William Giller (c.1805 - c.1868) was a British artist and engraver. Giller was most known for his mezzotint and stipple engravings of sporting subjects and portraits. He exhibited at the RA from 1855.

James Gillray (c.1756-1815), was a British caricaturist and printmaker famous for his etched political and social satires. Born in Chelsea, Gillray studied letter-engraving, and was later admitted to the Royal Academy where he was influenced by the work of Hogarth. His caricature L’Assemblée Nationale (1804) gained huge notoriety when the Prince of Wales paid a large sum of money to have it suppressed and its plate destroyed. Gillray lived with his publisher and printseller Miss (often called Mrs) Humphrey during the entire period of his fame. Twopenny Whist, a depiction of four individuals playing cards, is widely believed to feature Miss Humphrey as an ageing lady with eyeglasses and a bonnet. One of Gillray’s later prints, Very Slippy-Weather, shows Miss Humphrey’s shop in St. James’s Street in the background. In the shop window a number of Gillray’s previously published prints, such as Tiddy-Doll the Great French Gingerbread Maker [...] a satire on Napoleon’s king-making proclivities, are shown in the shop window. His last work Interior of a Barber’s Shop in Assize Time, from a design by Bunbury, was published in 1811. While he was engaged on it he became mad, although he had occasional intervals of sanity. Gillray died on 1 June 1815, and was buried in St James’s churchyard, Piccadilly.

Luca Giordano (1634-1705) was an Italian painter, etcher, and designer. A pupil of Ribera, his career took him from his native Naples to Rome, Florence, Venice, and eventually Spain, where he became Court Painter to Charles II. His fluid style and the speed with which he painted was immortalized in his various nicknames, most notable of which was Il Fulmine (The Thunderbolt).

Valentine Green (1739-1813) was a British mezzotinter, Associate Royal Academician, and publisher, often in association with his son Rupert. In 1773 he was appointed mezzotint engraver to George III and in 1774 he became a member of the Royal Academy. In 1775, he was appointed mezzotint engraver to Karl Theodor, Elector Palatine, and in 1789, he worked on the engraving and publishing of pictures in the Düsseldorf Gallery. Green was one of the first engravers to show how admirably mezzotint could be applied to the translation of pictorial compositions as well as portraits. His engravings are distinguished by exceptional richness, subtlety of tone, and a deft handling of light and shade.

Sir Hubert von Herkomer CVO (1849 - 1914) was a German painter, etcher and mezzotint engraver. Although a successful portraitist, he is best known for earlier works such as ‘Hard Times’ (1885), that took an unflinching look at the living and working conditions of the impoverished. Born in Bavaria, Herkomer lived in Ohio, in the United States before moving to Southampton, England in 1857. Showing a talent for drawing and sculpture from an early age, Herkomer began his training at the Southampton School of Art before entering the South Kensington Schools in 1866. He first exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1869, was elected an associate in 1879 and an academician in 1890. In 1883, Herkomer founded the Herkomer School, at Bushey, which he directed without payment until retirement in 1904. He was also a member of the Royal Watercolour Society and Slade professor at Oxford, between 1885 and 1894. Herkomer also enjoyed experimenting with filmmaking. He established a studio in his home where he filmed and directed seven historical dramas. In 1896 he was knighted by Queen Victoria, in 1899 awarded ‘Pour le Mérite’ by Kaiser Wilhelm II, and in 1907 received the honorary degree of DCL at Oxford.

John Hinton (fl.1747-1779) was an English engraver, printer, and publisher, best known as the general editor and publisher of the Universal Magazine and its various supplements. The Universal Magazine of Knowledge and Pleasure was published in London by Hinton, and later William Bent, on a monthly basis between 1747 and 1814. It collected together entries and numerous illustrations on a diverse range of topics, including history, geography, mathematics, philosophy, poetry, gardening, natural history, medicine, and biography.

Thomas Hudson (1701-1779) was a British portrait painter and collector of Old Master drawings. Born in Devon, he was a pupil of Richardson, whose daughter he married in 1725. He was active in the West Country and London between 1730 and 1740. His draperies were frequently painted by Joseph Van Aken, who also worked for Ramsay and Pickering. Reynolds was his apprentice between 1740 and 1743. He also taught Wright of Derby and Mortimer. He visited France and the Netherlands in 1748, and visited Italy briefly with Roubiliac in 1752. He exhibited with the Society of Artists in 1761 and 1766.

George Hunt (fl. 1820-1845) was a printmaker and publisher. He was an aquatint specialist who worked for others as well as publishing himself or in partnership.

Raphael Jacquemin (1821-1881) was a French etcher and engraver.

Charles-Antoine Jombert (1712-1784) was a French bookseller, book and print publisher, and collector. He was the author of a number of catalogues of prints, including those of Steffano della Bella, Charles-Nicolas Cochin, and Sebastien Leclerc.

Theodore Lane (fl. 1800-1828) was a British painter and caricaturist. He was the son of a draughtsman and apprenticed to miniature painter John Barrow. Theodore first worked as a water colourist, but from the 1820’s onwards became know for designing satires, often working with Geroge Humphrey. He still painted, and even exhibited some humorous oil paintings at the Royal Academy. He died young, after mistakenly falling through a skylight.

Philippe Mercier (c.1689-1760) was a French painter and engraver, who lived and worked principally in London. The son of a Huguenot tapestry worker, Mercier was born in Berlin, where he studied painting at the Akademie der Wissenschaften, and later under Antoine Pesne. He travelled to Italy and France before settling in London in 1716. Painter to Frederick Prince of Wales (1729-36), Mercier mainly specialised in portraits, but in later years he made pictures in the manner of Watteau for engraving. His wife Dorothy ran a print shop in London, and his son Philip Mercier Jnr. also became a printmaker.

Matthäus Merian the Elder (22 September 1593 - 19 June 1650) was a Swiss engraver born in Basel. Beginning his career in Zürich where he learned the art of copperplate engraving, Merian went on to study and work in various cities throughout France. In 1615, Merian returned to Basel. His return to Basel, however, was short lived, moving to Frankfurt the following year to work for the publisher Johann Theodor de Bry. Merian later married de Bry’s daughter. He was also the father of Maria Sibylla Merian, one of the greatest natural history artists of the late 17th and early 18th centuries.

John Murphy (c.1756-1820) was an Anglo-Irish mezzotint engraver, best known as the engraver of one of the mezzotints after Stubbs’ Tigress, as well as Northcote’s Tyger, though he also produced numerous portraits and large subject plates. He resided and worked in collaboration with George Keating, and in 1785 is recorded as having taken on James Daniell as an apprentice.

James Northcote (1746-1831) was a history and portrait painter, Northcote was assistant to Sir Joshua Reynolds, 1771-5, and later his biographer. He was known for his dignified portraits in the Reynolds tradition, but also produced grandiose history paintings, many for Boydell’s Shakespeare Gallery.

Samuel Palmer (1805 – 1881) was a visionary artist and contemporary of William Blake. A key figure in British Romanticism he was also a prolific writer as well as a watercolourist, etcher and printmaker. Palmer is best known for his early works executed at Shoreham where he lived between 1826 to 1835. Introduced to William Blake by John Linnel (whose daughter he would later marry) Palmer and artists George Richmond and Edward Calvert formed a group named The Ancients who were characterised by their admiration for the work of William Blake and their attraction to archaism in art. Like many great artists, it was not until after death that the works of Samuel Palmer were rediscovered and finally afforded the attention they deserved. Although his watercolours were popular in England at the time, Palmer struggled financially throughout his life time and had to divert much of his attentions to teaching to support himself and his wife, Hannah Linnel. After his death in 1881, Samuel Palmer was largely forgotten, his surviving son, Alfred Herbert Palmer, even went as far as to burn a large portion of his fathers work in 1901, stating that: “Knowing that no one would be able to make head or tail of what I burnt; I wished to save it from a more humiliating fate”.

In 1926 Martin Hardie curated a show at the Victoria and Albert Museum entitled Drawings, Etchings and Woodcuts made by Samuel Palmer and other Disciples of William Blake This kick-started the revival of interest in Palmer’s work which subsequent retrospective exhibitions and publications have continuously reinforced throughout the rest of the 20th century. The Shoreham work in particular has had a notable influence on several important 20th century artists such as Frederick Landseer Griggs, Robin Tanner, Graham Sutherland, Paul Drury and Eric Ravilious.

Abraham Pether (1756-1812) was a British painter who, together with artists like Wright of Derby, de Loutherbourg and Turner made the atmospheric effects of moonlight a fashionable pictorial convention during the late eighteenth and nineteenth century. The inspiration for this come from Dutch seventeenth-century painters such as Aert van der Neer.

Thomas Phillips (1770-1845) was a prolific and fashionable British history and portrait painter. In his lifetime he completed over 700 portraits. He studied at the Royal Academy Schools, finishing in 1791 and briefly working for Benjamin West. He exhibited at the RA between 1792 and 1846 and succeeded Fuseli as professor of painting there.

Henry James Pidding (1797 - 1864) was a British artist and engraver. Born in London, Pidding was most known for his humorous paintings depicting domestic life. He exhibited at the Royal Academy and the British Institution.

Giovanni Battista (also Giambattista) Piranesi (1720

1778) was an Italian artist famous for his etchings of Rome and of fictitious and atmospheric “prisons” (the Carceri d’Invenzione). He was a major Italian printmaker, architect and antiquarian. The son of a Venetian master builder, he studied architecture and stage design, through which he became familiar with Illusionism. During the 1740’s, when Rome was emerging as the centre of Neoclassicism, Piranesi began his lifelong obsession with the city’s architecture. He was taught to etch by Giuseppe Vasi and this became the medium for which he was best known.

Charles-Simon Pradier (1786-1847) was a Swiss French engraver, who was active in Paris and Brazil.

Samuel William Reynolds (1773-1835) was a British mezzotinter and oil painter. He studied at the Royal Academy of arts and was tutored by the leading mezzotint engravers John Raphael Smith and Charles Howard Hodges. He produced his first mezzotint in 1794, a portrait of George, Prince of Wales, and exhibited at the Royal Academy from 1797 until 1827. He achieved success in both Britain and France, exhibiting at the Paris Salons from 1810 and later appointed drawing-master to the royal princesses and then of engraver to King George III. He taught the engravers David Lucas and Samuel Cousins.

Georg Philippe Rugendas (1666-1742) was a German painter and engraver, chiefly remembered for his military and conflict paintings. Born in Augsburg, he studied in Vienna, Venice, and Rome, before returning to Augsburg where, in 1703, he famously positioned himself in the middle of a siege of the city in order to sketch the conflict.

John Ruskin (1819-1900) was an English art collector, art and social critic, and watercolourist. Between 1870 and 1878 he was Slade Professor of Art at Oxford University. In 1871 he established the Ruskin School of Drawing and Fine Art. Ruskin is best known as one of the earliest supporters and defenders of the Pre-Raphaelite Movement. He was a major patron of both Rossetti and Millais. Influenced by the watercolour collection of his father, particularly the works of JMW Turner, Ruskin’s own work was concerned with landscape and natural phenomena.

Albertus Seba (1665–1736) moved to Amsterdam as an apprentice. In around 1700 he opened a pharmacy near the port, a strategic move, as it enabled him to ask sailors and ship surgeons to bring him exotic plants and animal products that he could use in his drug preparations. At around the same time, Seba also started to collect snakes, birds, insects, shells and lizards in his house. In early 1716 he sold his entire collection to Peter the Great, where it was later used to form the core of the Kunstkammer, the first Russian public museum. In October 1728 Seba became a Fellow of the Royal Society and some years later, in 1734, published a four-volume thesaurus of animal specimens with engraved illustrations based on his further amassed collections. Several years after his death his second collection went on auction in Amsterdam. A number of objects were purchased by the Petersburg Academy of Sciences.

John Smith (1652-1743) was an early British mezzotinter. He was born at Daventry, Northamptonshire, about 1652. He was apprenticed to a painter named Tillet in London, and studied mezzotint engraving under Isaac Beckett and Jan van der Vaardt. He became the favourite engraver of Sir Godfrey Kneller, whose paintings he extensively reproduced, and in whose house he is said to have lived for some time. He produced some 500 plates, 300 of which are portraits. On giving up business he retired to Northamptonshire, where he died on 17 January 1742 at the age of ninety. He was buried in the churchyard of St Peter’s, Northampton, where there was a tablet to his memory and that of his wife Sarah, who died in 1717.

Émile-Jean Sulpis (1856 - 1942) was a French artist, engraver and designer. Born in Paris, Sulpis’ father was the architectural engraver, Jean-Joseph Sulpis. Sulpis taught at the École Estienne and he first exhibited at the salon in 1880. Sulpis is most known for his interpretations and engravings after works by Renaissance artists including Michelangelo and Mantegna.

Thomas Tegg (1776-1845) was a British bookseller, printseller, and publisher, trading most notably from a printworks and shop in Cheapside. His best remembered series are Tegg’s Carricatures, the Caricature Magazine, the London Encyclopaedia, and the immensely popular Whole Life of Nelson.

Thomas Trotter (1756-1803) was a British printmaker and publisher, active in London.

Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775 - 1851) was a painter and draughtsman who became one of the most celebrated artists Britain would ever produce. He was born near Covent Garden, London, and entered the Royal Academy Schools in December of 1789. The Academy, conscious of his prodigious talent, encouraged and supported Turner. He was elected as an Associate of the RA in 1799, and became a full Academician in 1802. His early oil painting flitted between Netherlandish works in the manner of Cuyp, Ruisdael and Van de Velde, classical landscapes like those of Claude and Richard Wilson, and, upon returning from his Parisian visit in 1802, grand historical compositions like those of Poussin and Titian. The development of his idiosyncratic style, commonly held to have been around 1803, led to critical condemnation. His preoccupation with light and colour produced abstract, near vorticistic works, which predated Impressionism, but were hugely controversial in the conformist context of late Georgian and early Victorian England. Whilst some critics accused Turner of extravagance and exaggeration, John Ruskin virulently thwarted these claims in Modern Painters, and championed the artist’s fidelity to nature. Ruskin became the main advocate of a new generation of Turner admirers, usually professional, middle class, or newly wealthy, who embraced his work for its modernity. An enormously prolific artist, Turner bequeathed over three hundred oils and close to twenty thousand drawings and prints to the nation. His style produced many imitators, but no rivals.

John Vanderbank (1694-1739) was a British painter and draughtsman. The son of John Vanderbank a Soho tapestryweaver, Vanderbank studied under Sir Godfrey Kneller at James Thornhill’s art academy in Great Queen Street from 1711 until 1720, when he joined with Louis Chéron to found his own academy in St Martin’s Lane. Vanderbank enjoyed a high reputation for a short while during the reign of King George I, but died relatively young due to an extravagant lifestyle.

William Ward (1762-1826) was a British engraver, particularly known for subject mezzotints and decorative stipples, but later in his career predominantly as a portrait engraver. He was apprenticed to the mezzotinter John Raphael Smith, though following Smith’s death, worked for various publishers, as well as in partnership with his brother James, also an engraver and painter, as Messrs. Wards & Co. He was connected by marriage with the painter George Morland twice over, with Morland marrying Ward’s sister Anne a month before Ward’s own wedding to Morland’s sister Maria.

James Watson (c.1740-1790) was born in Ireland. As a young man he moved to London, where he studied mezzotint engraving. He became one of the leading mezzotint engravers of the day. His work included fifty-six plates after the paintings of Joshua Reynolds. The majority of Watson’s work was produced for Sayer, Boydell and other printsellers but he published some plates himself. Watson exhibited at the Society of Artists from 1762 to 1775, during which time he was regarded as a master in his field.

Michael Wolgemut (1434-1519) was a German painter, printmaker, and sculptor, whose significant achievements are now largely overshadowed by his much more lauded pupil, Albrecht Durer. His most memorable contribution to the arts is his involvement in the production of the woodcut illustrations for the Nuremberg Chronicle, one of the most important incunabula. Wolgemut’s studio, including the young Durer, produced almost two thousand illustrations for this work, and Wolgemut is rightly credited as one of the key figures in securing the primacy of German woodcut printing in the late fifteenth century.