Romantic Circles Gallery
Gallery Editors:
Theresa M. KelleyJacob Leveton
Elizabeth Gunning sits astride a cannon in the front foreground of the print, the skirt of a golden dress flying toward her face and revealing her legs and undergarments, her arms thrown open and... Delineator: Gillray, James 5 March 1791 |
A viscountess sits between a portrait of a peasant woman breastfeeding a baby, the frame of which reads “Maternal Love,\" and a window revealing a carriage waiting outside, its attendant holding its... Delineator: Gillray, James 15 February 1796 |
In this view of parts of Cheshire and Lancashire, as if seen from the car of a balloon sailing far above them, the familiar has become strange. In contrast to more conventional prospects, we are... Author: Baldwin, Thomas 5 January 1786 |
The titular 9th, 10th, and 11th windows of the North Aisle of Westminster Abbey form the background of the print. In the foreground, a variety of people walk around and look at the monuments along... Delineator: White, John Author: Combe, William 11 October 1812 |
In his A Dictionary of Arts, Manufactures, and Mines, Andrew Ure provides a lengthy explanation for the mechanical workings displayed in this simple line-drawing. He begins by describing its... Author: Ure, Andrew 1839 |
The image shows a young man in profile, lying with his eyes closed, knees slightly bent, on a bed with its curtain pushed to one side. In front, next to the bed, a book lies open, face-down, on the... Author: Mahony, Francis 1836 |
Dr. Syntax visits the home of a Lord for dinner. Seated in large chairs around a large circular table are three other men, one of which is Sir John as the accompanying text names. They are all well... Delineator: Rowlandson, Thomas Author: Combe, William 1 May 1812 |
A young man, seated with a long rifle on a rock, wears a dark jacket and light trousers. A horn is strung around his neck and a brimmed hat lies at his side. He is addressed by a woman with a large... Author: Grellmann, Heinrich Moritz Gottlieb 1807 |
A young, nude boy is depicted against a dark background in a bust medallion. Two cornucopias entwine above his head, spilling forth fruit and foliage as a border around the frame. Below is a smaller... Author: Wilson, G.H. 1807 |
The work depicts a “building designed in imitation of the ruins of a church or chapel…intended to be placed, as those houses generally are, by the side of a piece of still water…or built by the side... Author: Papworth, John Buonarotti |
c. 1816-17 |
These scientific diagrams depict "vibrations in solid bodies," including rods and plates. Author: Herschel, John Frederick William 1830 |
This image portrays three ships and a row boat, presumably transporting the pilot to the central frigate. The ocean is rough with small waves, and the sails of the ships billow with wind. Both the... 1797 |
This scene illustrates an important episode from the Hindu epic Ramayana. In this epic tale, Rama and Sita, who lean against the red-cushioned throne, return to the capital city after... 1750 |
On this album page, a hand-colored engraving images three kinds of flowering plants. Miniscule numbers are placed beside each of three, with the numbers keyed to the plants’ names and their... |
This painting exists in two states: the first portrays the actual, "unimproved" prospect from the house at Tatton Park, as it was when Repton first visited the Park, on 8 Nov. 1791; the second... 1794 |
This print is taken from the final plate of the pamphlet, and depicts in eleven figures the proposed mechanism of the chess player. The figures do not represent a chronological progression, but... Author: Bradford, Gamaliel 1826 |
c. 1790s |
“Plate III” features four illustrations of rational recreations involving optics and illusions. Figure 1 illustrates the refraction of light through water in a vessel. Figure 2 diagrams alterations... Author: Hooper, William 1774 |
This print depicts Dr. Syntax with his hostess, the beautiful bluestocking, Mrs. Omicron. She sits half reclined on a couch in a pose suggesting the famous portraits of Madame Recamier. Syntax reads... Author: Combe, William 1 November 1820 |
Delineator: Gillray, James 1788 |
Engraver: Rooker, Edward, Rooker, Michael Angelo 1775 |
Two cocks are fighting on the left side of the cockpit; one foot of each feeder is visible at opposite ends of the fighting table, (usually constructed as a large table enclosed by a raised rim of... Delineator: Hogarth, William 5 November 1759 |
“Plate 16” features nine figures which illustrate devices used to create optical illusions. Three of the colored figures depict different forms of magic lanterns and how they are operated in order to... Author: Guyot, Edme-Gilles 1775 |
The Chronometer and Planetarium System plate is accompanied by an explanatory key on the preceding two pages of the text. Most of the bottom of the print is taken up by Fig. 5, a rectangular... 1791 |
This image depicts a death's-head moth on a white background, with wings outstretched. 1831 |
1815 |
A black man in a sailor’s uniform leans on a crutch and cane in a nondescript environment. In his left hand he holds a brimmed hat, while atop his head sits an elaborate model ship affixed to a... Author: Smith, John Thomas 1817 |
This image depicts a battle between the French and the Austrians. The Austrians are situated primarily on the left side of the bridge while the French are on the right. The Austrians are wearing... Delineator: Cruikshank, George Author: Combe, William 28 November 1814 |
The first image ("Fig. 1") depicts a Taylor-bird's nest, while the second image ("Fig. 2") depicts a wasp's nest. 1791 |
The image depicts a hairless head, with numbers mapped upon the exposed skin and face, indicating the location of the organs. The corresponding text identifies which characteristic or faculty is... Author: Fowler, Orson Squire 1847 |
The image shows a man sitting up in bed, lifting one hand, as if explaining something. Clothes are drawn in an elaborate fashion with a close attention to such details as buttons and wrinkles. The... 1818 |
"Plate II" features seven illustrations to accompany Priestley’s text, including: a parabolic or burning mirror; a diagram of a convex lens used for magnification; a diagram of how light passes... Author: Priestley, Joseph 1772 |
Doctor Syntax and the bookseller occupy the center of the piece. Syntax gestures demonstratively at his travel journal while the bookseller looks upward. To the left, the bookseller’s wife is seated... Author: Combe, William 1 May 1812 |
Dorothy George describes this print as follows:
A good-looking young woman, looking down and to the r., holds by two strings a jointed puppet (a pantin, a toy for ladies in vogue in the... Delineator: Cruikshank, Isaac 9 December 1818 |
The image depicts a stone cenotaph, erected in a garden. Papworth’s skill in drawing is conveyed by his close attention to detail. The trees are depicted in different shades, and some appear to be in... Author: Papworth, John Buonarotti c. March 1822 |
This plate offers seven profiles (or cross-sections) of fragments of the coast of north-west America, as if seen from a passing ship or small boat, which range from Cape Mendocino (the westernmost... Delineator: Skyes, J., Alexander, William 1798 |
The engraving depicts the exterior of the “Old Ashmolean” building at the University of Oxford. We see it at a slight distance, with a good view of the street on which it is stationed. Three figures... Delineator: MacKenzie, Frederick 1 December 1834 |
"A light-filled cleft in the clouds divides the image in two; its impact is made the greater by the blue-grey mass to its left. This is the true subject of the study, one of the 'large climbing... 1822 |
A woman in a black cloak with a young bonneted girl behind her stands in a covered, open-air market filled with baskets of fruits and fresh goods. The woman grips a large basket of grapes and looks... 1835 |
This image depicts the ruins of Hadleigh Castle, near Leigh-on-Sea, Essex. The two remaining towers of the castle stand in the left register of the picture place, a scrawny tree between them. In the... Engraver: Lucas, David 1832 |
1812 |
The ruins of Goodrich Castle sit perched on a hill near the center of the piece. Three boats full of people, ostensibly tourists, row down the river which bends sharply to the left. The central hill... 1785 |
A man, imprisoned, sits in the corner of a cell next to a barred window through which two figures stare. The captive wears a large brimmed hat, long curled wig, and cravat, which date the sitter to... Author: Caulfield, James 1819 |
This political caricature depicts Queen Caroline as a puppet of her lover Bartolomeo Pergami (aka Bergami). Dorothy George describes the print as follows: Bergami, mustachioed, whiskered... 17 February 1821 |
This work offers a view of the large group of Alutiiq Indians, carried by a fleet of canoes, who were encountered by Captain George Vancouver and his fleet at Port Dick, Alaska, on 16 May 1794. The... Delineator: Humphreys, H., Alexander, William Author: Vancouver, George 1798 |
1824 |
This image provides multiple illustrations of skulls and famous busts, providing measurements for each by which organ size can be determined. Note especially the famous political figures, as well as... Author: Fowler, Orson Squire 1847 |
A man, apparently one of the “Esquimaux,” stands in the right quarter of the frame with a club on his shoulder, looking directly at the artist/viewer. He is on a beach. Against the foggy sky in the... Delineator: Back, Sir George 1828 |
This image depicts a confrontation between an American and a British ship, each displaying their national flag. The flag of the British ship, on the left, is upside down. Both ships have tattered... 1831 |