Category Archives: Prints & Drawings

The distrest poet

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A poet sits at a table, pen in hand, posed to write on the sheet of paper before him. On the floor is a discarded piece of paper. His hat and coat hang from a peg on the wall beside the chimney above which is a shelf of books and a picture of a Greek temple. The only other furnishings in the room are a broken chair, a folding bed tilted up against the wall, and a chamber pot.

 

  • Title: The distrest poet [graphic].
  • Publication: [Alnwick] : Printed and published by W. Davison, Alnwick, [between 1812 and 1817]

Catalog Record

812.00.00.92 Impression 2

Acquired August 2022

Happy Jerry

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Boatman on riverbank with bridge and buildings behind being greeted by sailor and city gent.
“A Thames waterman who thought himself betrayed by his wife and friend is reunited with both, who take his hands, the woman on the left in man’s dress, having looked for him throughout the world; on a wharf with oars propped against the walls of a house to left, a boat moored nearby and a bridge in the background.”–British Museum online catalogue, description of a later state.

 

  • Title: Happy Jerry [graphic].
  • Publication: [London] : Published 10th May 1793 by Robt. Sayer & Co., Fleet Street, London, [10 May 1793]

Catalog Record

793.05.10.01

Acquired November 2022

Columbus breaking the egg

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Christopher Columbus demonstrating how to make an egg stand on its end. The five observers look at the cracked egg, upright on the table, in amusement at the evidence of an inventive mind at work. Two other eggs intertwined with two eels lie on a plate in the center of the table. A dog peeps over the edge of the table in the foreground; the cutlery is pushed off to one side.

Catalog Record

812.00.00.112 Impression 3

Acquired August 2022

London sportsmen recharging

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Print shows one of two huntsmen negligently using a ramrod. A barnyard rooster hangs from his waist. His companion leans against a fence, voraciously gnawing a cold chicken, a bottle of ‘Porter’ in front of him. Near him lies a dead cat. The men are accompanied by two dogs.

 

  • Title: London sportsmen recharging [graphic].
  • Publication: [Alnwick] : Printed and published by W. Davison, Alnwick, [between 1812 and 1817]

Catalog Record

812.00.00.127

Acquired August 2022

Strive not Tragedy nor Comedy to engross a Garrick

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“Portrait of David Garrick after Reynolds (Mannings 700); standing three-quarter length between Comedy and Tragedy, smiling towards the latter, but allowing the former to tug him towards her; landscape behind.”–British Museum online catalogue.

  • Printmaker: Purcell, Richard, approximately 1736-approximately 1765, printmaker.
  • Title: Strive not Tragedy nor Comedy to engross a Garrick, who to your noblest characters does equal honour [graphic] / J. Reynolds pinxt. ; C. Corbutt fecit.
  • Publication: London : Printed for Robt. Sayer, map & printseller at the Golden Buck near Serjeants Inn, Fleet Street, [between 1762 and 1766]

Catalog Record

Portraits G41 no. 5+

Acquired April 2023

Master Bunbury

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“Portrait after Reynolds (Mannings 276); three-quarter length seated under a tree, facing front with hands resting on his thighs; published state before date altered from 1st to 12th November.”–British Museum online catalogue.

  • Printmaker: Haward, Francis, 1759-1797, printmaker, publisher.
  • Title: Master Bunbury [graphic] / painted by Sir Joshua Reynolds ; engraved by Francis Haward.
  • Edition: [State 3].
  • Publication: London : Publish’d Novr. 1st, 1781, by Fras. Haward, Lambeth Marsh near the Turnpike, [1 November 1781]

Catalog Record

Portraits B87a no. 1+

Acquired April 2023

Knives, scissars and razors to grind

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Two women stand before a knife grinder and his cart equipped with a grinding wheel, on the sidewalk before an open door and under a street lamp. The woman closest to the viewer hands him a pair of scissors while the other looks on. In the background on the right, a woman carrying a baby on her back walks away from the scene.

  • Printmaker: Vendramini, Giovanni, 1769-1839, printmaker.
  • Title: Knives, scissars and razors to grind [graphic] = Couteaux, ciseaux, rasoirs a repasser / painted by F. Wheatly R.A. ; engraved by G. Vendramini.
  • Publication: London : Pubd. as the act directs Jan. 1, 1795, by Colnaghi & Co., No. 132 Pall Mall, [1 January 1795]

Catalog Record

795.01.01.03+

Acquired April 2023

Drawing book of river and coastal landscapes

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Six engraved plates depicting river and coastal built up landscapes. Numbered C1-C6 and identified as ‘Book 3’ in the upper left hand corner of first plate. ‘Price 6d.’ in lower right margin of first plate.

  • Author: Schnebbelie, Jacob, 1760-1792, attributed name
  • Title: [Drawing book of river and coastal landscapes] [graphic]
  • Publication: [London] : Printed for Carington Bowles in St. Pauls Church Yard, London, [approximately 1770]

Catalog Record

724 770Sc

Acquired September 2022

Designs for Georgian playing cards

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Three playing cards, or transformation cards, drawn in pen and ink by an unidentified artist, showing caricatured figures using the shape of the pip, only hearts or diamonds (red watercolor) in this incomplete set. One of the cards (two hearts) features two gentlemen meeting. The other two cards (three of diamonds) feature a lady with a fan and two gentleman in one card; the other incomplete, has a lady with a fan and only one gentleman.

 

  • Title: [Designs for Georgian playing cards] [art original].
  • Production: [England], [between 1800 and 1820?]

Catalog Record

Drawings Un58 no. 96

Acquired August 2022

Returned from the ball

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“Young woman dressed in her ballgown half-reclines on a settee in her bedroom while her elderly maid yawns with tiredness.”–British Museum online catalogue.

  • Printmaker: Heath, William, 1795-1840, printmaker.
  • Title: Returned from the ball [graphic] / [figure of Paul Pry holding a candle].
  • Publication: [London] : Pub. by T. McLean, 26 Haymarket, [approximately 1829]

Catalog Record

829.00.00.118+

Acquired May 2023