5 results found

 
 
BARTOLOZZI, Francesco & Samuel ALKEN after Francis Wheatley

Return from Shooting

London: Published by Colnaghi & Co., 1 January 1803. Colour printed stipple engraving with added hand colour. In good condition with the exception of being trimmed to the edge of the plate mark on the top and bottom margins. Skillfully mended tears in right and left margins. Image size (including text): 18 1/2 x 24 1/4 inches. Sheet size: 28 x 21 inches.

A wonderful hunting portrait of the Duke of Newcastle by the celebrated painter Francis Wheatley.

Wheatley was born and trained in London, and in 1769 was one of the first students admitted to the newly founded Royal Academy. Although he initially practiced as a landscape painter, by the mid-1770s he had become a popular painter of small-scale portraits and informal 'conversation-pieces'. From the 1780s onwards, Wheatley turned increasingly to sentimental domestic scenes that were perfectly attuned to the genteel sensibilities of the period. Today he is generally remembered for his 'Cries of London', which depicted street vendors such as milkmaids, and fruit sellers engaged in their trade on the street sides. This series was a great success, and inspired a myriad of different engravings and copies by celebrated artists such as Johan Zoffany and J. G. Huck.

Wheatley's pretty genre paintings of rural and domestic life were a great source of inspiration for contemporary engravers who reproduced his work with industrious vigor. The popularity of these engravings greatly enhanced Wheatley's reputation, and made him one of the most celebrated painters of his day. 'The Return from Shooting' appears to be one of Wheatley last known large group portraits, before he concentrated his artistic talents on decorative genre painting. Painted in 1788, the work is an accomplished portrait of the Duke of Newcastle and Colonel Litchfield just returned from a days hunt, and beautifully exhibits Wheatley's style of informal portraiture.

Cf. Mellon British Sporting and Animal Prints p.201; cf. Schwerdt III, p.34; Vesme & Calabi, Francesco Bartolozzi 2507; Webster, Francis Wheatley p. 100, p. 170 E80, state ii/ii

#5161$4,500.00
 
 
BARTOLOZZI, Francesco (1727-1815) & Peltro William TOMKINS, engravers. - THOMSON, James (1700-1748)

The Seasons, by... Thomson. Illustrated with engravings by ... Bartolozzi... and ... Tomkins ... from original pictures painted for the work by W. Hamilton

London: printed for P.W. Tomkins, 1797. Folio (18 x 14 7/8 inches). Half-title, 5 section titles, 5pp. subscribers' list. Stipple engraved emblematic frontispiece by Tomkins, 6 stipple engraved plates (2 by Bartolozzi, 4 by Tomkins), 4 vignette stipple engraved illustrations by Tomkins, 10 stipple-engraved head or tailpieces (4 by Bartolozzi, 6 by Tomkins), all after William Hamilton, engraved dedication leaf. Contemporary blue straight-grained morocco gilt, covers with wide decorative neo-classical border made up from fillets, a 'drawer-handle' roll and a swag and stylized flower head roll, spine in seven compartments with double raised bands, the bands highlighted by rules and roll tools, lettered in the second compartment, the seventh compartment with onlaid label tooled in gilt with two armorial crests (one of the Peters family, the other unidentified), the remaining compartments with repeat decoration of a centrally-placed tool of two birds perched on a bow with crossed arrows behind them, gilt turn-ins, marbled endpapers, edges with alternate bands of gilding and blue staining.

A de luxe edition of Thomson's hugely popular poem, with stipple-engravings from two of the greatest engravers of their time, and in a magnificent contemporary binding


Thomson's paean to the countryside and the simple country life is now seen as a precursor of the romantic movement in English poetry, as exemplified by Wordsworth and Coleridge. The present edition, published the year before the appearance of the Lyrical Ballads, is perhaps the most luxurious edition of The Seasons ever published.

Abbey Life 252; Brunet V, 836; Cohen/de Ricci p.992; Lowndes IV, p.2671

#20252$5,500.00
 
 
BARTOLOZZI, Francesco (1727-1815, engraver) - after J. CHAPMAN and LUTHERBURGH

[Pair of Prints] To the Right honorable William Pitt ... this Accurate Perspective View of the Outside [.... this Accurate Perspective View of Inside] of the Royal Exchange, in London, is ... Dedicated, by ... J. Chapman

London: published & sold by Mr. Chapman, "1788" [but 19th-century]. Copper engravings by Bartolozzi after Chapman & Lutherburgh. Expert restoration to margins. Sheet sizes: 18 3/4 x 23 inches and 19 x 23 3/8 inches.

A famous pair of engravings of the second Royal Exchange by Bartolozzi, one of the greatest engravers of his age. The first image is of the exterior on Cornhill, the second of the interior.

There have been three Royal Exchanges, each of which in their heyday were at the heart of what the City of London does best: commerce. The first, based on the Antwerp Bourse was built at the expense of Sir Thomas Gresham in 1565 (the Grasshopper on the top of the present Exchange recalls Gresham's family crest). The site was provided by the Corporation of the City of London and the Mercer's Company. Roughly triangular, it is formed by the converging streets of Cornhill and Threadneedle Street. The present image is of the second exchange. Built on the same site after the Great Fire of London, designed by Edward Jerman and opened in 1669. This too was destroyed by fire on 10 th January 1838. The present exchange, still at the heart of the City of London, built to a design by Sir William Tite was opened in 1845.

Heywood's lines about the first Exchange are equally apt for the second: "Not in my life; yet I have been in Venice, In the Rialto there, called Saint Mark's; 'Tis but a bauble, if compared to this. The nearest, that which most resembles this, Is the great Burse in Antwerp, yet no comparable Either in height or wildeness, the fair cellarage, Or goodly shops above. Oh my Lord Mayor, This Gresham hath much graced your city, London; His fame will long outlive him." (Thomas Heywood If You Know Not Me, You Know Nobody part 2).

Remarkably, the printing plates for both these images still exist and re-strikes are available. The present examples are the "real thing" and not modern reprints.

#19913$4,000.00
 
 
BARTOLOZZI, Francesco after J. RUSSELL

His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales

London: Published by John Jeffryes, Ludgate Hill, June 15, 1795. Stipple engraving. In excellent condition. Image size: 19 7/16 x 13 1/8 inches. Plate mark: 22 1/2 x 1 7/8 inches. Sheet size: 23 3/8 x 16 7/16 inches.

This portrait of George IV, is one of the most celebrated eighteenth century archery prints.

The latter half of the eighteenth century witnessed the emergence of numerous clubs and societies which the English gentry were keen to join. The Society of Royal Kentish Bowmen, under the patronage of the Prince of Wales, later King George IV, is a perfect example of this burgeoning 18th century trend for exclusive sporting clubs. The Prince of Wales insisted that every member of the Society should wear a 'dandyish' uniform comprising of a grass green coat with a white waistcoat and breeches. In Russell's charming portrait, the Prince Regent is shown in the Bowman's uniform, in the background are the other members of the society participating in a shooting match. Russell's portrait not only identifies the Princes as an avid archer, but cleverly connects his person with the exclusive archery society. At the time of production this work was extremely popular both for its flattering depiction of the Regent, and for the publicity garnered by the Bowmen. This is a lovely impression from the collection of F. W. Hope (1797-1862).

Vesme & Calabi, Francesco Bartolozzi 820, iv/iv; O'Donoghue, Catalogue of Engraved British Portraits... in the British Museum 50

#8161$1,600.00
 
 
BARTOLOZZI, Francesco after Richard COSWAY

Vincent Lunardi, Esq

London: Published by John Bell, the British Library, Oct. 5, 1784. Stipple engraving. Printed in sepia ink. A nice impression in good condition with the exception of light soiling in the corners, and scattered traces of foxing. Trimmed within the platemark on the lower margin. Image size: 4 3/4 x 4 inches. Sheet size: 11 x 7 ¾ inches.

A lovely delicate print by Bartolozzi of Vincent Lunardi the famous balloonist.

Vincent Lunardi was the first person to successfully attempt aerial travel in the English atmosphere. After many setbacks and a heated riot, Lunardi finally launched his balloon in London and set back down in Ware, marking the first aeriel ascent in England. Lunardi's flight made England stir with excitement and a vast array of citizens, from farmer to gentleman, journeyed to London to see his ascent. Lunardi made two other flights in his balloon to Edinburgh and Glasgow and published an account of his aeriel adventures. Lunardi is considered one of the pioneers of ballooning, his ascent having been made less than a year after the first flight in a 'Montgolfière' by Pilâtre de Rozier, and only a few days after the ascent by John Tytler. In a testimony to his fame, a bonnet, once the height of fashion in the North, was named after the aeronaut. (DNB)

Vesme & Calabi, Francesco Bartolozzi 865, iii/iv; O'Donoghue, Catalogue of Engraved British Portraits... in the British Museum 1

#4822$450.00
 
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