Aquatint/Etching
Maker & role
Joseph Farington (b.1747, d.1821), Artist; J.C. Stadler (active 1817-1820), Engraver; John Boydell (b.1719, d.1804), Publisher
Production date
1793
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Object detail
Title
Windsor and Eton
Production place
Collection
Measurements
0 - Whole, H: 22 x W: 32.5cm (H: 220 x W: 325mm); 0 - Whole, H: 38.3 x W: 48.6cm (H: 383 x W: 486mm)
Production notes
After Joseph Farington. This is print 38 in volume 1 of Boydell’s ‘An history of the river Thames’.
The later (c. 1960s) black and gilt timber frame (not part of this accession) has the label of ‘George Pullman & Sons, Ltd. / Fine Art printers / and Publishers. / Picture Frame Makers / 24-27 Thayer Street, Manchester Square [London] W.1’
The later (c. 1960s) black and gilt timber frame (not part of this accession) has the label of ‘George Pullman & Sons, Ltd. / Fine Art printers / and Publishers. / Picture Frame Makers / 24-27 Thayer Street, Manchester Square [London] W.1’
Subject Place
Signature & marks
Printed beneath image; 'J. Farrington R. Adel / Pub. June 1 1793 by J & J Boydell Shakfpeare 'WINDSOR and EATON [sic] / Gallery Pall Mall & No. 90 Cheapfide / J.C. Stadler fculp'.
Credit line
Gift, through the Australian Government’s Cultural Gifts Program, 2006
Caroline Simpson Collection, Vaucluse House Collection, Museums of History New South Wales
Caroline Simpson Collection, Vaucluse House Collection, Museums of History New South Wales
Caption
Windsor and Eton, printed 1793
Description
Hand-coloured aquatint of the landscape surrounding the town of Windsor, dominated by Windsor Castle, and nearby Eton. The river Thames winds through the middle ground. Two figures, of a gentleman and lady in late Georgian dress, stand on a shaded hillside admiring the view. The gentleman, in frock coat, breeches and tricorn, points with his cane towards the castle. The gentle curves of the river and park-like landscape recall the picturesque landscapes of the mid century, and grazing animals complete the calm bucolic scene. Printed beneath image; 'J. Farrington R. Adel / Pub. June 1 1793 by J & J Boydell Shakfpeare 'WINDSOR and EATON [sic] / Gallery Pall Mall & No. 90 Cheapfide / J.C. Stadler fculp'.
This aquatint print is plate 40 in volume one from the two-volume ‘An History of the River Thames’ published by John Boydell in 1794-6, included as in volume1. "…Although not the first colored aquatint book, [An History…] was the first major one, and it was to set an example for the type of illustration that was to enjoy widespread popularity in England for some forty years" (Bruntjen, 183-84).
The print belongs to a great ‘explosion’ of topographical publishing in the closing decades of the 18th and opening decades of the 19th century, that both drew on and fuelled the Romantic and Picturesque Movements. The writings of William Gilpin, Uvedale Price and Richard Payne Knight proposed a reappraisal of the way landscape was viewed based on the compositions of landscape painters and encouraged public and patriotic recognition of the history and natural beauty of Britain. The poet William Wordsworth in works such as ‘Lines Written a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey …1798’ proposed looking to nature and the evidence of human history for moral messages, informed by an earlier concept of the sublime - the power of God evident in creation overwhelming the viewer. Tourism throughout Britain had grown during the 18th century and increased during the 1790s – 1810s when continental travel was constrained during the wars with Revolutionary and Napoleonic France. Wordsworth was one of these tourists.
Folios produced by entrepreneurial publishers such as Boydell and Ackermann were intended for ‘drawing room’ consumption. Prints from these folios were framed separately, with many surviving in early 19th century frames. Topographical art was an important genre in early Australia with John Eyre’s views of the east and western sides of Sydney Cove (1809) and Robert Burford’s Panorama of Sydney (based on drawings by Augustus Earle,1827) as important examples.
This aquatint print is plate 40 in volume one from the two-volume ‘An History of the River Thames’ published by John Boydell in 1794-6, included as in volume1. "…Although not the first colored aquatint book, [An History…] was the first major one, and it was to set an example for the type of illustration that was to enjoy widespread popularity in England for some forty years" (Bruntjen, 183-84).
The print belongs to a great ‘explosion’ of topographical publishing in the closing decades of the 18th and opening decades of the 19th century, that both drew on and fuelled the Romantic and Picturesque Movements. The writings of William Gilpin, Uvedale Price and Richard Payne Knight proposed a reappraisal of the way landscape was viewed based on the compositions of landscape painters and encouraged public and patriotic recognition of the history and natural beauty of Britain. The poet William Wordsworth in works such as ‘Lines Written a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey …1798’ proposed looking to nature and the evidence of human history for moral messages, informed by an earlier concept of the sublime - the power of God evident in creation overwhelming the viewer. Tourism throughout Britain had grown during the 18th century and increased during the 1790s – 1810s when continental travel was constrained during the wars with Revolutionary and Napoleonic France. Wordsworth was one of these tourists.
Folios produced by entrepreneurial publishers such as Boydell and Ackermann were intended for ‘drawing room’ consumption. Prints from these folios were framed separately, with many surviving in early 19th century frames. Topographical art was an important genre in early Australia with John Eyre’s views of the east and western sides of Sydney Cove (1809) and Robert Burford’s Panorama of Sydney (based on drawings by Augustus Earle,1827) as important examples.
Accession number
V2007/3-4
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