Four watercolors depicting scenes from accounts published in periodicals of the early 1820s, including The Mirror of Literature, Amusement and Instruction (volume I, 1822-23), John Long's Voyages and Travels of an Indian Interpreter and Trader (1791). The Mirror (November 1822) and Knapp and Baldwin's Newgate Calendar (1824)., The first drawing, 'Sultan Mahamoud punishing a Ravisher', from Knapp and Baldwin's Newgate Calendar, 1824, shows the Sultan kneeling surrounded by four women and another man with a dagger in his handl, The second drawing 'Janvier About to Kill the Indian Who had Relieved His Hunger' illustrates the tale of Charles Janvier who with two other servants had been sent by their master, Mr. Fulton, to catch supplies of meat and fish. Saved from hunger by a passing native Canadian, Janvier kills and eats the stranger, a fate he later inflicts on one of his fellow servants, The third sketch, 'A Miser Distracted', is perhaps a depiction of Aesop's fable 'The Miser and his Gold', in which a miser concentrates all his wealth into one lump of gold which he buries before it is stolen from him. Here he is shown kneeling on the ground, arms extended in a gesture of surprise as a couple in the distance run towards a town in the distance, the man clasping a bag, and The fourth and final drawing shows a scene from 'Rescue of the Emperor Basilius Maredo', as he is snagged by a stag whilst hunting; he is saved by the sword of a servant who is subsequently sentenced to death for drawing his sword in the presence of the Emperor
Description:
In English., Title devised by cataloger, based on dealer's description., Artist is unidentified., Drawings on rectos of four leaves of wove paper which are sewn into a wrapper made from an18th-century sugar paper printed advertisement for William Henry Hall's New encylopaedia., and For further information, consult library staff.
Two women in neoclassical dress hold garlands and dance around a bust statue of Thomas Gray; trees and bushes are seen in the background
Description:
Title devised by curator., Signed by the artist in lower left corner., Date of production based on artist's death date., and Bound in as the frontispiece in an extra-illustrated copy of Thomas Gray's Poems.
A gentleman leads a young woman and her mother (or chaperone) to the door of a carriage, held open by the coach driver who wears a top hat and a peculiar grin. In the background is a house or inn with a partially drawn figure (in ink) watching or emerging from the door. On the verso, pencil sketches of two men in top hats, and a smaller figure lightly sketched with a top hat in black ink
Description:
Title devised by cataloger., Signed by the artist in lower left., Date from dealer's description., and On verso are later inscriptions in pencil.
Subject (Topic):
Young adults, Carriages & coaches, Coach drivers, and Dwellings
A set of playing cards, or transformation cards, drawn by an unidentified artist, showing caricatured figures; each vignette incorporates the formation of hearts or diamonds into the scene. Some of the cards are numbered or annotated on the backs while others show drafts of other sketches. The set contains only the red suits, cards numbered from one to ten in each, although some numbers are missing and there are multiples of some numbers. Illustrations are also duplicated while others appear not to have been finished. There are no cards with clubs and spades. A number of the cards center on Shakespearean themes, social history, and street scenes (such as courtroom drama, musicians performing, a man in the stocks and, in a few, card playing itself). Some of the scenes depicted on these cards show more ribald, drawing from Macbeth’s Weird Sisters, Twelfth Night, King John, and The Merry Wives of Windsor; several are annotated on the reverse with lines from the plays. Falstaff is featured on several cards. Many of the cards reflect the mores of the period and the contrast between ruling passions and rules of conduct. In one, two men cast judgment upon a pregnant woman; it is annotated on the reverse with a dialogue between a Constable and a Judge. In "Village School" a schoolteacher manages to simultaneously hold a book and pinch a child's ear (nine of hearts). Other subjects include a game of chess (five of diamonds); drinking and smoking in a pub (seven of diamonds); and "Bunbury’s Country Club" (six of diamonds) in which the artist has kept elements from the print (published circa 1788). On the ten of diamonds the artist depicts a game of whist (annotated on the reverse "Can you one?").
Description:
In English., Title devised by cataloger., Some cards annotated and numbered on the verso., and For further information, consult library staff.
Subject (Geographic):
Great Britain
Subject (Name):
Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616
Subject (Topic):
Playing cards, Card games, and Social life and customs
Volume 1, page 125. Catalogue of the classic contents of Strawberry Hill collected by Horace
Image Count:
1
Resource Type:
still image
Abstract:
View of a large Gothic-style building in the middle distance, framed by trees and with low bushes in front. A groundskeeper and two cows seen on the lawn in front of the structure; a small boat is moored to the shore of the body of water in the foreground
Description:
Title devised by curator., Signed in lower left corner with the artist Thomas H. Shepherd's initials., Date of production based on the inclusion in the same volume of other drawings by Shepherd that depict the temporary building for the Strawberry Hill Sale of 1842., and Bound in as page 125 in volume 1 of Thomas Mackinlay's extra-illustrated copy of A catalogue of the classic contents of Strawberry Hill collected by Horace Walpole.
Title devised by curator., Date based on artist's date of death., and This electronic record is derived from historic data and may not reflect our current information. Review and updating of records is ongoing.
"Interior of a kitchen showing servants at leisure: a stout woman dances with a black man in the centre accompanied by a man with a wooden leg who sits playing a violin on the left; watched by others on the right, a young woman standing on a chair and supported by a young man, while a seated man wearing a tricorn smiles and points at her and an elderly woman stands with her arms folded under her apron, a dog at her heels; two posters pasted on the wall behind, shelves, bellows and other kitchen implements in the background."--British Museum online catalogue, description of a print of the same design
Description:
Title from a copy published by Carington Bowles, July 17th, 1770., Unsigned; attributed to Francis Grose., and Date of production based on exhibition history; this drawing was exhibited at the Incorporated Society of Artists in 1767.
Subject (Topic):
Blacks, Interiors, Kitchens, Servants, Peg legs, Violins, Bellows, and Dogs
Volume 2, opposite page 153. Some account of London.
Image Count:
1
Resource Type:
still image
Description:
Title devised by curator., Unsigned; artist unidentified., Probably drawn after a print entitled "Polito's Royal Menagerie, Exeter 'Change, Strand", published in 1811 as plate 2 in volume 8 of Ackermann's The repository of arts, literature, fashions, &c.; see Yale Center for British Art call no.: L 212 (8vo)., and Mounted opposite page 153 in volume 2 of an extra-illustrated copy of: Pennant, T. Some account of London. London : Printed for R. Faulder, 1793.
Volume 1, page 127. Catalogue of the classic contents of Strawberry Hill collected by Horace
Image Count:
1
Resource Type:
still image
Abstract:
Interior view of the temporary wooden structure built for the Strawberry Hill Sale of 1842. Several dozen men in top hats and some women sit or stand around a long table on the left; the auctioneer George Robins sits on a platform on the right, holding a gavel
Description:
Title devised by curator., Signed by the artist in lower left corner of image., and Bound in as page 127 in volume 1 of Thomas Mackinlay's extra-illustrated copy of A catalogue of the classic contents of Strawberry Hill collected by Horace Walpole.
Subject (Name):
Robins, George Henry, 1777-1847, and Strawberry Hill (Twickenham, London, England)