Blanchisseuse des Indes Occidentales

description below

Three West Indian washer women sit or stand in or near a stream. The one on land balances a basket of clean wash on her head and has a baby strapped to her back.

  • Printmaker: Ruotte, Louis Charles, 1754-1806, printmaker.
  • Title: Blanchisseuse des Indes Occidentales [graphic] = The West India washer-woman / A. Brunias pinx. ; L. Ruotte direxit.
  • Edition: [State with monogram dividing dedication.].
  • Publication: A Paris : Chez Depeuille, rue St. Denis, la boutique attenant St. Jacques l’Hopital, No. 416 et au Palais Royal, au Pavillon près le bassin, [approximately 1770?]

Catalog Record

770.00.00.190.01

Acquired February 2024

Refreshment at St. James’s

description below

Elegant and affluent customers enjoy ices in a grand room in London’s fashionable St. James’s. The female server behind the counter is elegantly dressed and looks with ease out of the window. A finely dressed gentleman leans against the counter at right, spooning ice cream into his mouth from a glass he holds in his left hand; his hat, gloves, and stick are carefully arranged on a chair next him. Two women are seated at the left side of the counter, one holding an ice cream glass and spoon. A classical fireplace on the right has additional glasses arranged upon it. A great craze in 18th-century Britain, amongst the wealthy, was ice cream. Establishments such as The Pineapple on Berkeley Square (close by St James’s), owned by Domenico Negri, offered “All Sorts of Ice, Fruits & Creams” (see the elaborate trade card in the British Museum). This print was intended as a companion piece to “Refreshment at St. Giles’s” which, in contrast, shows two women and a man being served gin by a female proprietor from a makeshift and run-down bar.

  • Printmaker: Stubbs, George Townly, -1815?, printmaker.
  • Title: Refreshment at St. James’s [graphic] / Chas. Ansell delt. ; Geo. Townly Stubbs sculpt.
  • Publication: [London] : [G.T. Stubbs], [approximately June 1789]

Catalog Record

789.06.00.01+

Acquired September 2023

The late and much lamented Princess Charlotte

side profile of woman from the waist up, wearing a floral crown

  • Title: The late and much lamented Princess Charlotte of Saxe Coburg [graphic] : who departed this life Novr. 6th, 1817.
  • Publication: London : Published Novr. 20th, 1817, by R. Miller, Old Fish Stt, [20 November 1817]

Catalog Record

File 56 C47 817L

Acquired July 2023

Her Royal Highness the Princess of Wales

description below

“Portrait of Caroline of Brunswick as Princess of Wales, after Beechey, almost half-length in an oval, head in three-quarter profile to left, wearing a high-necked collar and chains at her neck, her hair tied up in a sash, plumes and a crown below, with a glory surrounding; published for ‘La Belle Assemblée’.”–British Museum online catalogue.

  • Printmaker: Scriven, Edward, 1775-1841, printmaker.
  • Title: Her Royal Highness the Princess of Wales [graphic] / Sr. W. Beechey pinx. ; Scriven sculp.
  • Publication: [London] : Printed as the act directs for John Bell, March 28, 1806, Southampton Street, Strand, exclusively for his publication of La Belle Assemblée, [28 March 1806]

Catalog Record

File 53 C47 806Sc

Acquired July 2023

The royal rose

hand-drawn yellow rose

rose with the head of Princess Charlotte as the center, the stigma.

  • Printmaker: Tomkins, Peltro William, 1759-1840, printmaker, publisher, dedicator.
  • Title: The royal rose [graphic] / from the life by Henning, designed & engraved by P.W. Tomkins, engraver to Her Majesty.
  • Edition: Proof.
  • Publication: London : Published Decr. 16, 1817, by P.W. Tomkins, 53, New Bond Street, [16 December 1817]

Catalog Record

817.12.16.01+ Impression 2

Acquired July 2023

Conjugal affection

description below

“A wealthy middle class family gathered in a room, the father standing in the centre, leaning on the back of a chair which his youngest child stands upon, embracing him, a son standing beside pointing to an open book and the mother sitting at left, gazing to right while another daughter beside plays with a kitten, a bird in a cage on table beside; at right an older son looks out anxiously at the ships on river beyond, his coat over his arm..”–British Museum online catalogue.

  • Printmaker: Thew, Robert, 1758-1802, printmaker.
  • Title: Conjugal affection [graphic] : from the original picture presented to the city by Aldn. Boydell / painted by Robt. Smirke R.A. ; engraved by Robt. Thew, Hist. Engraver to H.R.H the Prince of Wales.
  • Publication: [London] : Pub. Sept. 29, 1799, by J. & J. Boydell, No. 90 Cheapside, and at the Shakspeare Gallery, Pall Mall, London, [29 September 1799]

Catalog Record

799.09.29.01++

Acquired April 2023

Scarcity in India

description below

“Two sailors are bargaining with a scantily clad Indian girl with a basket of fruit. Although pineapples were luxury goods at this time, the mirror, and in particular the watch offered by the seaman on the left represent a disproportionately high price for the fruit. The girl’s hairstyle resembles a pineapple reinforcing the point that she is the object of their attention rather than her wares. The two men are dressed in their shore-going clothes with buckled shoes and silk stockings. They wear baggy cotton trousers and short jackets. The sleeve of the left-hand sailor has a mariner’s cuff outlined in white piping and his wool jacket has metal buttons, which are probably made of brass. He wears a straw hat and his hair is done in a pigtail or queue. Both men have large silk neckerchiefs probably originating in India. Sailor’s dress was much the same in the merchant service and the navy. There was no uniform for the lower ranks at this time.”–Collections online, National Maritime Museum, Greenwich

  • Printmaker: Knight, Charles, 1743-1827?, printmaker.
  • Title: Scarcity in India [graphic] / painted by H. Singleton ; engraved by C. Knight.
  • Publication: [London] : Published Jan. 1st, 1794, by C. Knight at Wm. Bonds, No. 98 Charlotte Street, Rathbone Place, London, [1 January 1794]

Catalog Record

794.01.01.11++

Acquired April 2023

British plenty

description below

“A sailor on shore, holding a bottle, with a well-dressed young prostitute on each arm, the one on his [left] arm carries a cauliflower while the other holds up her dress; a boat moored against the quay in the [left] foreground, ships at sea and a fortification in the [left] background.”–British Museum online catalogue

  • Printmaker: Bartolozzi, Francesco, 1727-1815, printmaker.
  • Title: British plenty [graphic] / painted by H. Singleton ; engraved by Bartolotti [that is, Bartolozzi].
  • Publication: [London] : [publisher not identified], [approximately 1794]

Catalog Record

794.00.00.74++

Acquired April 2023

The fruits of early industry & oeconemy

description below

“A family in a wealthy interior; an elderly man at centre, seated at a table, a glass in his left hand, holding out his right to receive coins from a younger man standing to left with his right hand on a book and a quill in his mouth; on the table, another glass, writing materials, coins and notes; to right, a woman …, supporting, and holding up a bunch of grapes for, a young child standing on a chair; looking on from behind the chair, a boy and, at right, a black servant holding a bowl of fruit, his left hand on the chair; in front of the table, a young girl lying on the carpet with a spaniel; a shipping wharf seen through an open window to left.”–British Museum online catalogue, description of another print engraved after the same painting

  • Printmaker: Darcis, Louis, -1801, printmaker.
  • Title: The fruits of early industry & oeconemy [sic] [graphic] / G. Morland pinxt. ; Darcis sculpt.
  • Publication: London : [publisher not identified], publishd. March 25, 1800.

Catalog Record

Drawer 800.03.25.07

Acquired April 2023

The effects of youthful extravagance & idleness

description below

“Poverty-stricken family in bare, attic interior; man seated at left beside table, skinny dog beside him, looking away from woman, standing in centre mending garment, watched by boy lying on floor and resting on stool at right, looking up from his reading; young woman sitting dejectedly with bellows beside fireplace, at right.”–British Museum online catalogue, description of another print engraved after the same painting.

  • Printmaker: Darcis, Louis, -1801, printmaker.
  • Title: The effects of youthful extravagance & idleness [graphic] / G. Morland pinxt. ; Darcis sculpt.
  • Publication: London : [publisher not identified], publishd. March 25, 1800.

Catalog Record

Drawer 800.03.25.08

Acquired April 2023