Romantic Circles Gallery
Gallery Editors:
Theresa M. KelleyJacob Leveton
 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 |
 An obese and rosy Lady Emma Hamilton in a white nightgown and nightcap sits up in her bed with arms and legs splayed outward, pushing the sea-foam green curtains of the canopy back. Her gaze is... Delineator: Gillray, James 6 February 1802 |
 “Plate XIX” features eight figures to accompany the text entitled “Of Optics.” Figure 1 illustrates the manner in which light travels through a multiplying glass to the eye. Figure 2 diagrams the... Delineator: Ferguson, James 1764 |
 Dorothy George describes this print:
A complicated piece of machinery fills the centre of a room in a fashionable establishment; an open door (r.) leads into a shop where, in the... 1828 |
 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... |
 “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... 1774 |
 Five "Arab scholars" attend to their lessons. All the boys wear loose white robes and colored turbans. The central figure sits cross-legged, his body turned to the right. He draws in the dirt with... 1806 |
 This image presents the same view as the first in the gallery, with some alterations (the over-slip attached to the illustration constituted by these two images has been lifted). We still have a view... Collaborator: Repton, John Adey 1 February 1816 |
 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 image portrays an icescape with distant mountains. The Arctic sun is low on the horizon, and smoke-like clouds extend in a widening mass from the far right of the image to the upper left corner... Delineator: Back, Sir George 1836 |
 1826 |
 1826 |
 A phrenologist lectures to a seated audience. The writing below the print identifies the phrenologist as James De Ville; however, M. George posits that the phrenologist is George Combe (George 606).... Delineator: Lump, J. September 1826 |
 This large map, measuring 71 x 98cm, details the topography of Rome and its environs, from Lacus Sabatinus [Lago di Bracciano] in the north to Norba in the south, and from Nerola in the east to the... September 1834 |
 1815 |
 In a small, dark, cave-like dwelling, a woman with a creased brow and elongated nose sits crouched with her knees to her chest. She wears a white bonnet and large cloak, and she smokes a slender clay... 1820 |
 In a room in Somerset House, a throng of people view the Exhibition. Well-dressed couples mingle and inspect paintings with catalogues in hand. The couple in the center stand with their backs to the... Delineator: Cruikshank, Isaac, Cruikshank, George 1 July 1821 |
 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... 1 May 1812 |
 1824 |
 Napoleon on his characteristic white horse is at the forefront of this image, which depicts the French army’s early attempt to cross the Alps. Other men, who are both on horseback and on foot,... 1828 |
 The top image, labeled "Fig. 1," is a spider's nest, while the image directly below it depicts the accompanying valve. The figure below the valve is a card of silk made from the spider's thread,... 1791 |
 The poem’s narrator gazes upon the ruins of Pompeii and imagines what took place on the date of the eruption. The narrator describes a crowded street that is instantly engulfed in a cloud of ash... 1848 |
 Delineator: Pugin, Augustus Charles, Rowlandson, Thomas 1808 |
 c. 1824-25 |
 View of Mottram depicts the village of Mottram in Cheshire. 16 July 1794 |
 Carefully annotated sketches such as this one, which served as a basis for explanations of how hot air balloons were filled, were included in books such as Tiberius Cavallo’s 1785 The History and... 1 January 1785 |
 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 |
 At least fourteen ships are engaged in battle. Dark smoke billows up from the surface of the water on the left horizon line, spreading to either side of the sky and obscuring the entire top of the... 1831 |
 In the left register of the picture plane are the two remaining towers of Hadleigh Castle. Between the decaying stone edifices, underbrush and foliage have over-grown the crumbling ruins. In the... |
 Pope Pius VII, decked in religious garb, stands at the forefront of this image. To his left is Napoleon who is depicted standing on a platform as he places a crown upon his head. To the pope’s right... Delineator: Cruikshank, George 13 December 1814 |
 This line engraving depicts Cox’s Perpetual Clock, item number 47 in the Cox’s Lottery catalogue and one of Cox’s “star exhibit[s]” (Greater London Council 62). Much of the description of Cox’s... c. 1774-1775 |
 Two men attempt to haul a boat (one other man inside) to shore in a storm. A variety of ships out to sea appear lashed by the wind and waves. To the right of the image there is a house on the shore... 1823 |
 John Auldjo, the artist himself, stands on the far right of the image, poking the lava with a cane and holding a cloth over his mouth. In the background, the eruption of Vesuvius’ small cone, Monte... 1845 |
 Cutting a nearly perfect diagonal across the picture plane from the top left corner, the ruins of the Temple of Peace, or Basilica of Maxentius, loom large on the canvas, casting a shadow on the... 1779 |
 A toddler, or Swedenborgian “angel,” extends a hand over a group of grotesque, gargoyle-like figures writhing in pain. The child is illumined, while the other figures are cast in shadow. c. 18th century |
 1778 |
 1824 |
 “Plate I” has six figures which illustrate experiments and problems on the nature of light. Figure 1 is a diagram of light reflecting off a polished surface. Figures 2 and 3 illustrate light... 1803 |
 Twelve portraits are given in this collection of figures: the second features a woman and two children, while the rest are individual portraits. The members of the dinner party, many portrayed... Editor: à Beckett, Gilbert Abbott 1845 |
 The art historian Pramod Chandra describes the subject of this image as follows:
A painter wearing a pince-nez and surrounded by vials of paint, brushes, and other tools is busy at work... 1800 |
 Sitting atop a chest inscribed “Bank of England,” a wrinkled and thin woman dressed in paper one- pound notes throws her hands back as Prime Minister William Pitt (the Younger) reaches into her... Delineator: Gillray, James 22 May 1797 |
 A Hindu woman, wearing a short-sleeved dress, walks away from the basket in which she has placed her baby. A scarf is draped over her head, and she holds one end in her left hand. Her right hand is... 1800 |
 Two canopied beds lie perpendicular to one another in a small room. A candle on the table between them illumines the room. A portly figure lies in the bed on the left and points toward the figure... 1765 |
 “Plate II” presents two figures, both of which refer to a sedan-chair style camera obscura in which a person can comfortably sit. Figure 7 is a view of the interior of this alternative camera obscura... 1803 |
 1787 |
 1802 |
 Similar to the central figure of A Hindoo Female, the subject of The Rajpootnee Bride is initially striking on account her size; the female body fills the space of the image. The... Engraver: Woodman, Richard 1835 |
 This image depicts an octave and variant systems of tuning, or "temperament." The octave is represented by the circumference of the circle. 1800 |
 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 |
 Writing in Airopaidia: Containing the Narrative of a Balloon Excursion (1786), Thomas Baldwin describes this view as "taken in a high Field, at the End of Sutton-Causeway," while... 5 January 1786 |
