Eighteenth-Century Engravings and Visual History in Britain

203 Pages·2023·37.751 MB·English

by  Isabelle Baudino

Eighteenth-Century Engravings
and Visual History in Britain
Extending the scholarly discussion of visual history, this book examines eighteenth-
century engraved book illustrations in order to outline the genealogy of the modern
visualisation of the past in Britain.
This study is based on a body of more than a hundred engraved historical plates
designed in the second half of the eighteenth century in Britain and published in
more than a dozen pictorial histories. Focusing on these previously unstudied engrav-
ings, this work contributes to the study of eighteenth-century visual culture and is
informed by current interdisciplinary approaches at the intersection of visual and
book studies. Eighteenth-Century Engravings and Visual History in Britain is about
the urge to envision the past and about the establishment of the new relationship
between visual media, visuality, and history in eighteenth- century Britain.
The book will be of interest to scholars working in art history, British history, book
studies, and visual culture.
Isabelle Baudino is Senior Lecturer at the École normale supérieure de Lyon, France.
British Art: Histories and Interpretations since 1700
Series Editors:
Pamela Fletcher, Bowdoin College
Andrew Stephenson, University of East London
This series exists to publish new and rigorous scholarship of the highest quality on
British art after 1700.
The British School of Sculpture, c.1760–1832
Edited by Jason Edwards and Sarah Burnage
Visual Culture in the Northern British Archipelago
Imagining Islands
Edited by Ysanne Holt, David Martin-Jones, and Owain Jones
Artangel and Financing British Art
Adapting to Social and Economic Change
Charlotte Gould
Victorian Artists’ Autograph Replicas
Auras, Aesthetics, Patronage and the Art Market
Edited by Julie F. Codell
British Art and the Environment
Changes, Challenges and Responses Since the Industrial Revolution
Edited by Charlotte Gould and Sophie Mesplède
Illustration in Fin-de-Siècle Transatlantic Romance Fiction
Kate Holterhoff
Eighteenth-Century Engravings and Visual History in Britain
Isabelle Baudino
For more information about this series, please visit: www.routledge.com/British-Art-
Histories-and-Interpretations-since-1700/book-series/ASHSER4020
Eighteenth-Century Engravings
and Visual History in Britain
Isabelle Baudino
Designed cover image: Reproduced by kind permission of the Syndics of
Cambridge University Library
First published 2023
by Routledge
605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158
and by Routledge
4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2023 Isabelle Baudino
The right of Isabelle Baudino to be identified as author of this work has
been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright,
Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or
utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now
known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in
any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing
from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or
registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation
without intent to infringe.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Baudino, Isabelle, author.
Title: Engravings and visual history in eighteenth-century Britain /
Isabelle Baudino.
Description: New York, NY: Routledge, 2023. | Includes bibliographical
references and index. |
Identifiers: LCCN 2022042152 (print) | LCCN 2022042153 (ebook) | ISBN
9781032153643 (hardback) | ISBN 9781032162416 (paperback) | ISBN
9781003245445 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Prints, British--18th century--Themes, motives. | History
in art. | Illustration of books--Great Britain--18th century. | Art and
society--Great Britain--History--18th century.
Classification: LCC NE628.2 .B38 2023 (print) | LCC NE628.2 (ebook) | DDC
769.94109/033--dc23/eng/20220922
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022042152
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022042153
ISBN: 9781032153643 (hbk)
ISBN: 9781032162416 (pbk)
ISBN: 9781003245445 (ebk)
DOI: 10.4324/9781003245445
Typeset in Sabon
by KnowledgeWorks Global Ltd.
Contents
List of illustrations vi
Acknowledgements ix
Introduction 1
1 Picturing history 18
2 Reinventing the past 53
3 The historical genre 96
4 Visual history as a new language 139
Appendix 171
Select bibliography 176
Index 187
List of illustrations
0.1 Samuel Wale, Elizabeth I and the Earl of Essex, drawing
in pen and ink 5
1.1 George Vertue, William II surnam’d Rufus, c. 1736, engraving 22
1.2 Samuel Wale, William Rufus Slain by Sr. William Tyrrel, illustration
made for John Lockman’s New History of England (1747). 26
1.3 Samuel Wale, Charles II Concealed in the Oak, illustration
originally designed for Thomas Mortimer’s New History of
England (1764–1766), here its reversed reissue in William Augustus
Russel’s New and Authentic History of England (1777) 29
1.4 Isaac Fuller, King Charles II and Colonel William Carlos (Careless)
in the Royal Oak, c. 1660, oil on canvas, 212.7 × 315.6 cm 30
1.5 Samuel Wale, The Stationers Almanack, 1752 33
1.6 Simon-François Ravenet (after Nicholas Blakey), The Landing of
Julius Caesar, c. 1751, etching and engraving 37
1.7 Samuel Wale, The Landing of William the Conqueror, originally
designed for Thomas Mortimer’s New History of England
(1764–1766); here its reversed reissue in William Augustus Russel’s
New and Authentic History of England (1777) 40
1.8 Samuel Wale, St. Austin preaching to K. Ethelbert & Q. Bertha in
the Isle of Thanet, illustration made for Thomas Mortimer’s New
History of England (1764–1766) 43
2.1 Samuel Wale, The Act of Union presented to Queen Anne, by the
Duke of Queensberry & Dover originally designed for William H.
Mountague’s New and Universal History of England (1771–1772),
here its reissue in William Augustus Russel’s New and Authentic
History of England (1777) 59
2.2 Jean Raoux, King Charles Taking Leave of his Children, c. 1721,
oil on canvas, 63.5 × 76.2 cm, private collection 60
2.3 Samuel Wale, King Henry 5th names the Battle of Agincourt,
illustration made for Thomas Mortimer’s New History of England
(1764–1766) 64
2.4 Samuel Wale, Guy Fawkes Seiz’d by order of Sr. Tho.s Knevet,
illustration made for William H. Mountague’s New and Universal
History of England, reissued in Temple Sydney’s New and
Complete History of England (1773) 66
List of illustrations vii
2.5 Samuel Wale, Charles I Beheaded, illustration made for John
Lockman’s New History of England (1747) 68
2.6 Samuel Wale, Death of Lady Jane Grey and L. Dudley, illustration
made for John Lockman’s New History of England (1747) 69
2.7 Samuel Wale, Death of Lady Jane Gray, illustration made for
William Henry Mountague’s New and Universal History of
England (1771–1772) 70
2.8 Samuel Wale, The Black Prince waiting on ye King of France his
Prisoner, illustration made for Thomas Mortimer’s New History of
England (1764–1766) 84
2.9 Samuel Wale, Lady Elizabeth Grey at the Feet of Edward IV
imploring a maintenance for herself and her Children, originally
designed for Thomas Mortimer’s New History of England (1764–
1766), here its reversed reissue in William Augustus Russel’s New
and Authentic History of England (1777) 88
3.1 Andrea Casali, The Assassination of Edward the Martyr, c.1760,
oil on canvas, 254 × 208 cm, Burton Constable Hall, Yorkshire 103
3.2 Samuel Wale, Edward the Martyr Stabb’d by Order of his Mother
in Law, illustration made for John Lockman’s New History
of England (1747) 104
3.3 Samuel Wale, King Edward Stab’d at the Gate of Corfe by Order of
his Mother, illustration made for Thomas Mortimer’s New History
of England (1764–1766) 105
3.4 Samuel Wale, Oliver Cromwell Dissolves the Parliament,
illustration made for Thomas Mortimer’s New History of England
(1764–1766) 111
3.5 Benjamin West, Cromwell Dissolving the Long Parliament, 1782, oil
on canvas, 153 × 214.6 cm, Montclair Art Museum, New Jersey, USA 112
3.6 Anker Smith (after Edward Francis Burney), The Landing of Julius
Caesar, illustration made for Robert Bowyer’s edition of David
Hume’s History of England (1793) 118
3.7 Samuel Wale, Landing of Julius Caesar, illustration made for
William Henry Mountague’s New and Universal History of
England (1771–1772) 119
3.8 John Opie, Lady Elizabeth Woodville Pleading for her Children
before Edward IV, 1798, oil on canvas, 249 × 198 cm 120
3.9 James Fittler (after Henry Tresham), Edward IV Declaring his
Attachment to Lady Elizabeth Gray, illustration made for Robert
Bowyer’s edition of David Hume’s History of England (1795) 121
3.10 William Wynne Ryland (after Angelica Kauffmann), Elizabeth
Woodville, later Queen, the Widow of Sir John Grey imploring
King Edward IV to restore her Husband’s Lands, coloured engraving 123
3.11 Samuel Wale, Edward 5th and his Brother Smother’d, illustration
made for John Lockman’s New History of England (1747) 126
3.12 Samuel Wale, The Prince of Wales and the Duke of York, sons
of Edward IVth Murdered in the Tower, originally designed
for William Henry Mountague’s New and Universal History of
viii List of illustrations
England (1771–1772), here its reversed reissue in William Augustus
Russel’s A New and Authentic History of England (1777) 127
3.13 James Northcote, The Princes in the Tower, 1786, oil on canvas,
180.3 × 137.2 cm, private collection 129
3.14 James Parker (after Thomas Stothard), Murder of Edward V and
the Duke of York, illustration made for Robert Bowyer’s edition of
David Hume’s History of England (1795) 131
3.15 William Hamilton, King Edgar’s First Interview with Queen Elfrida
(Ælfthryth), 1774, oil on canvas, 134.6 × 182.9 cm 134
4.1 The Illustrated London News for the week ending Saturday, July 8,
1843 (front page) 144
4.2 William Linnell (after Edward Armitage), Caesar’s First Invasion
of Britain, The Prize Cartoons, 1847, lithograph on paper 145
4.3 James Thomas Linnell (after John Callcott Horsley, St Augustine
Preaching to Ethelbert and Bertha, The Prize Cartoons, 1847,
lithograph on paper 146
4.4 George Lillie Craik and Charles Mac Farlane, Pictorial History
of England, A History of the People as well as a History of the
Kingdom, 4 vols. (London: Knight, 1838–1841) and The Murder
of Edward V and the Duke of York in the Tower (vol 2, 1839, 125) 153
4.5 Charles Knight, The Popular History of England, An Illustrated
History (vol 1, 1856, 157) 155
4.6 James, William Edmund Doyle, Edward IV and Lady Elizabeth
Grey from A Chronicle of England B.C 55–A.D 1485 (1863),
colour lithograph, private collection. 158
4.7 Cromwell Dissolving the Rump Parliament, Wills cigarette card 160
Acknowledgements
This book has been (too) many years in the making. Over that long period of time
and its myriad of memorable events, I wish to acknowledge here the formidable help
and support which I received from many more people than these few pages allow me
to mention.
I wish to express my gratitude to the institutions that have simply given me the
means to carry out this research: the ENS de Lyon where I have spent most of my
academic career and which gave me a sabbatical in 2015–2016. This full year of
research was spent in the ideal environment of the University of Cambridge, where I
was warmly welcomed at Magdalene College as visiting fellow. As this sabbatical was
drawing to a close, I felt honoured to be granted a generous mid-career fellowship
from the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art in London as well as a visit-
ing fellowship from the Lewis Walpole Library in Farmington which allowed me to
extend my period of research by nearly a year. I also wish to thank my research unit,
the IHRIM, and its director Marina Mestre Zaragozá, for their unflinching support.
Crucial as it has been, institutional support would not have been so life-changing
without the many individuals who took an interest in my project. First among them
was art historian Duncan Robinson CBE, former Master of Magdalene College to
whom I am greatly indebted. His recent death is a source of sorrow to all who knew
him. To historian James Raven for his unwavering encouragement throughout the
project and beyond. I would also like to thank John Munns and Jane Hughes, in
particular, for their kind help. My time and work at Cambridge would not have been
so memorable without the friendly presence of Louise Foxcroft and Lydia Hamlett. I
am also indebted to Brian Allen, who welcomed me at the Paul Mellon Centre when
I was a PhD student, for continuing to share his expert advice on eighteenth-century
art so generously. To Mark Hallett, Martin Postle, and Jessica Feather for welcom-
ing me to the Paul Mellon Centre during my fellowship, and to Robin Simon for
accepting to publish my first article on Samuel Wale. Across the Atlantic, becoming
a member of the fantastic community of the Lewis Walpole Library fellows has been
a real privilege, and I wish to express special thanks to Nicole Bouché, Sue Walker,
and Cynthia Roman.
As all researchers, I feel that my debt to curators and librarians is beyond meas-
ures. Over the days, weeks and months I have spent searching for texts and images in
the most amazing rooms at the British Library, the National Art Library, the Royal
Academy Library, at Cambridge University Library, the Old Library at Magdalene
College Cambridge, Trinity College Library Cambridge, the Paul Mellon Centre
Library, the Royal Society of Arts Library, the Museum of London, Lambeth Palace