High life below stairs

description below

“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.

 

  • Artist: Grose, Francis, 1731?-1791, artist.
  • Title: [High life below stairs] [art original].
  • Production: [England], [not after 1767]

Catalog Record

Drawings G877 no. 1 Box D205

Acquired October 2022

The Wykeham or Winchester Tower. North west view

description below

View of Winchester Tower, Windsor Castle, from the north west; the Norman Gate in the background on the left; trees below the tower in the foreground.

  • Printmaker: Kernot, J. H., printmaker.
  • Title: The Wykeham or Winchester Tower. North west view [graphic] : part of the repairs, alterations and improvements of Windsor Castle, in the reigns of King George IV, King William IV, and Queen Victoria / Mich. Gandy, del. ; Sir Jeffry Wyatville, architect ; engraved by J.H. Kernot.
  • Edition: [Proof].
  • Publication: [London] : [John Weale], [1841]

Catalog record

Topos B513 no. 1+

Acquired August 2022

Grotto of Neptune

description below

Interior view of Neptune’s Grotto, the stalactite cave near Alghero on Sardinia that was discovered by fisherman in the eighteenth century and became a popular tourist site.

  • Printmaker: Whitby, Mary Anne Theresa, 1783-1850, printmaker, artist.
  • Title: Grotto of Neptune [graphic] / M.A.T.W., litho., Newlands, 1829.
  • Publication: [Hampshire, England] : [privately printed], [1829]

Catalog Record

829.00.00.116

Acquired September 2022

The sixth day of the trial of the late Queen Caroline

description below

“The interior of the House of Lords, crowded with nobles in the benches and galleries on either side, attending the trial of Queen Caroline for adultery with Pergami, her Italian secretary; George IV stands, hands on hips, in the left gallery, the editors of the Times and Courier lean over the front bench below it, Robert Gifford, attorney general, stands in front of them holding a finger to his chin thoughtfully while Spinetti interprets for a witness, Majocchi, at the bar, behind which Tyrwhitt, Long and Castlereagh, sit sifting papers to the left of the Queen’s solicitor and Denman, who takes a paper from Henry Brougham, the Queen sits to the right in front of the bar, Earl Grey stands in the right aisle, pointing with his right arm towards the witness, and the artist is shown standing with a folio under his arm on the far right.”–British Museum online catalogue.

  • Printmaker: Hayter, George, Sir, 1792-1871, printmaker, artist.
  • Title: The sixth day of the trial of the late Queen Caroline in the House of Lords, August the twenty third, 1820 [graphic] / GHayter invt., pinxit, et incidit, 1823.
  • Publication: [London] : [publisher not identified], [1823]

Catalog Record

Drawer 823.00.00.28+

Acquired May 2022

Collection of lithographs…relating to Charles Herbert Simpson

description below

A group of lithographs, handbills and broadsides relating to Christopher Herbert Simpson at Vauxhall Gardens, one of the leading venues for public entertainment in London for two centuries. The collection covers the latter half of his career, and his legacy after his death in 1835.

Title: Collection of lithographs and printed ephemera relating to Charles Herbert Simpson, 1831-1842

Catalog Record

File 53 Si613 830

Acquired July 2022

A cavalry battle

description below

“Cavalry in battle; a mounted soldier shooting a man off his horse in foreground, a fallen horse and rider at his feet; battle raging in background, a tower to the right, and in distance on left a bridge.”–British Museum online catalogue

  • Printmaker: Smith, Charles Hamilton, printmaker.
  • Title: [A cavalry battle] [graphic] / C.H.S.
  • Publication: [London] : Printed from stone by D. Redman, [between 1810 and 1818]

Catalog Record

810.00.00.84

Acquired April 2022

The Matthew-orama for 1827, or, Cockney gleanings

description below

Mathews in sixteen of the impersonations in his yearly entertainment.

  • Printmaker: Jones, Thomas Howell, active 1823-1848, printmaker.
  • Title: The Matthew-orama for 1827, or, Cockney gleanings, ain’t that a good un now? [graphic] / drawn & etched by Thos. Jones.
  • Publication: [London] : Pubd. March 26, 1827, by G. Humphrey, 27 St. Jamess St., London, [26 March 1827]

Catalog Record

827.03.26.01++ Impression 2

Acquired April 2022

Arise, and take the young child

description below

“The Holy Family resting during the Flight into Egypt; St Joseph standing beside the donkey, drawing his cloak around him, the Virgin laying the infant Jesus on a rock, holding the edge of His garment in right hand, gesturing with the other, two cherubs standing together and watching to left.”–British Museum online catalogue.

  • Printmaker: Walker, James, approximately 1748-approximately 1822, printmaker, publisher.
  • Title: Vostavʺ poimi otrocha i materʹ ego, i bi︠e︡zhi vo Egipetʺ [graphic] = Arise, and take the young child, and his mother, and flee into Egypt / painted by Murillo ; Jas. Walker Engrr. to her I.M. and memr. of the Impl. Acady. of Arts St. Petersburg fecit.
    Воставъ поими отроча и матерь его, и бѣжи во Египетъ [graphic] = Arise, and take the young child, and his mother, and flee into Egypt / painted by Murillo ; Jas. Walker Engrr. to her I.M. and memr. of the Impl. Acady. of Arts St. Petersburg fecit.
  • Publication: [London] : Publish’d Jany. 1, 1792, as the act directs by Jas. Walker; St. Petersburg : W. Hodges, Queen Street, May Fair and R. Blamire, Strand, London, [1 January 1792]

Catalog Record

792.01.01.01++

Acquired April 2022

A tenth rejected, or, The dandyfied coxcomb in a bandbox

description below

“A farmyard scene, with a corner of the house on the left. A grossly fat and carbuncled parson on a quest for tithes encounters the farmer’s wife, who runs towards him proffering an open bandbox, with a dangling lid inscribed 10th. A miniature hussar, very dandified in shako and pelisse, stands in it, superciliously inspecting the parson through an eye-glass. The woman, who is plump and well-dressed, wearing apron and bonnet, says: Seeing your Reverence comeing for your Tithes, I have brought you a Tenth. The parson, who holds a large book, Tithe list, and has a chicken in his capacious pocket, answers with a scowl and gesture of refusal: Take it back! take it back! good Woman; I never tithe Monkeys. The little hussar says: Eh! eh! what does that there fellow say? An amused yokel with a pitchfork leans over a gate (left). A cock crows on a dunghill, an ass brays. Corn-sheaves stand in a distant field.”–British Museum online catalogue.

  • Printmaker: Williams, Charles, active 1797-1830, printmaker.
  • Title: tenth rejected, or, The dandyfied coxcomb in a bandbox [graphic].
  • Publication: [London] : Pubd. 10th April 1824 by John Fairburn, Broadway, Ludgate Hill, [10 April 1824]

Catalog Record

824.04.10.01+

Acquired January 2022

The combat

description below

Satire on the conflict between artists campaigning for a public academy and those who were opposed. William Hogarth (A), shown as the leader of the latter group, rides a peacock. He is followed by (B) probably intended for the journalist Bonnell Thornton, dressed as Mercury, holding a paper lettered “Sr by G[o]d they laugh at us”, and (C) Thomas Burgess, a young artist “who etch’d the Club of Artists” [BM Satires 3278]; (D) consists of a group of young followers sheltering behind the peacock’s tail. Opposite them stands another group, a “New Club”, led by (E) the “Chairman” holding a gavel, probably Francis Hayman, and (F) an older man holding a candle described as a “comic Poet study’d Painter and Chapman”. Behind them stand (G), “a Swiss Operator”, (H) “a great Projector”, (I) “Toast Master General” and others only partly visible; those at the back of this group have peacock feathers in their hats. On the ground between the groups sits (T) “a late Author & Publisher of Scandal”. To the right, a child (U) holding a lantern has climbed a tree in search of “Impartiality”. Above flies Fame (W) “inspiring the Heros”. A zodiacal arc on the left includes a pair of clasped hands (a symbol for mutual trust) lettered “Unknown”.”–British Museum online catalogue.

  • Printmaker: Burgess, Thomas, approximately 1730-1791, printmaker.
  • Title: The combat [graphic].
  • Publication: [London] : [publisher not identified], [1754?]

Catalog Record

754.00.00.03

Acquired April 2022