Romantic Circles Gallery
Gallery Editors:
Theresa M. KelleyJacob Leveton
Across the upper half of this album page a map has been created in black ink and brown wash. Identified at the top of the page as a “Map of Matrimony,” it charts the imaginary terrain... |
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 Author: Combe, William 13 December 1814 |
During the latter part of their honeymoon in 1837-38, Hannah Palmer and her husband Samuel, also a painter and a follower of William Blake, spent much time sketching at Pompeii. For this view, she... 1838 |
Engraver: Daniell, Thomas 1795 |
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 |
c. Early 19th century |
At the forefront of the image is a horse-drawn buggy carrying a cannon, which is stuck in the snow. Two horses appear to have been pulling the buggy; however, one of them has fallen over. The other... Delineator: Cruikshank, George Author: Ireland, William Henry 1828 |
Two men on the far right of the frame stand near a campfire and tent on the banks of Hoarfrost River. The closer man stands with his back to the viewer, next to a basket and what appears to be a... Delineator: Back, Sir George 1836 |
The woman depicted is named, like the image, by her work: “the fruit seller.” The fruit seller stands in the foreground, leaning against the pole of a stand, her breasts exposed and her head lowered... Engraver: Woodman, Richard 1835 |
"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 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 |
A native “Hindoo” woman is portrayed carrying three pots of water on her head as she descends down to the river. The viewer is presented with a voyeuristic gaze of her backside; the implied motion of... Engraver: Taylor, William Dean 1836 |
Napoleon stands to Josephine’s right as she sits on a bench in the garden at their chateau, Malmaison. Napoleon is wearing his military uniform and hat. Josephine is wearing a white dress with a red... Delineator: Cruikshank, George Author: Ireland, William Henry 26 November 1824 |
The pyramid at El Tajín is shown in three-quarter view. It is a step-pyramid with six levels and a staircase leading from the ground to the top platform. The sky is blank over a completely flat... 1804 |
This picture shows Henry Kirke White as a boy, reading from a book held in the lap of an older woman. A cat sits near their feet. There are three other children to the woman's right, two of whom are... 1818 |
1826 |
1826 |
Figures 1 and 2 depict two small hummingbirds, each of which appear to be either plummeting from a height or flying at a downward angle. The large bird below them, figure 4, is a Bird of Paradise,... 1791 |
The image shows a man lying on a bed, his hands folded in a gesture of prayer. He faces the upper left corner of the picture, where two angels descend towards him on a stream of light. In front of... Author: Drelincourt, Charles 1816 |
This print portrays Lord Byron as the quintessential Romantic poet. He sits in three-quarter view, his face turned in profile to the left and resting on his right hand in the archetypal thinking pose... Engraver: Longacre, James Barton 1841 |
Napoleon is singularly depicted in this image. He is standing on a platform in front of his throne carrying a scepter. He is wearing a blue robe with a purple, fur-trimmed cape. Upon his head is a... Delineator: Cruikshank, George Author: Ireland, William Henry 1828 |
A girl is sitting on a large grave in a cemetery, looking down. Behind her a large tree is depicted, a few tombstones, and a church. From beyond a fence bordering one side of the churchyard, a woman... Author: Sigourney, Lydia Howard Huntley 1834 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
360.—Richmond Castle, from the River Swale, placed in the bottom left corner of page eighty nine, depicts the castle as seen from the banks of the Swale river. A bridge extends from the... Editor: Knight, Charles c. Early 19th century |
In the corner of a room, five men examine the paintings hung on the two visible walls. On the right, a coarse figure identified at Mr. Mortimer, an art dealer and restorer, spits on one of the... 16 November 1807 |
This image depicts a naval battle between two ships. Each ship flies its colors in three flags prominently displayed, although one of the American flags appears to have only stripes. Cannon smoke... 1831 |
1824 |
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... Author: Repton, Humphry Collaborator: Repton, John Adey 1 February 1816 |
The top image—labeled "Page 13" below and "1" at its top right corner—depicts a bee on a sunflower; the second, labeled "2" and "Page 32," depicts a lesson given concerning a beehive, and the third,... 1830 |
In a large green exhibition hall, a crowd gathers to attend the auction. Men and women sit on benches in the middle of the room: most face the auctioneer standing in the rostrum, though some converse... Delineator: Pugin, Augustus Charles, Rowlandson, Thomas 1808 |
Engraver: Daniell, Thomas 1795 |
“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 |
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 |
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... Author: Cox, James c. 1774-1775 |
Delineator: Gillray, James 1788 |
“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 |
Gilded pages of Grellmann's Dissertaion on the Gipseys (London, 1807). 1807 |
These five figures explicate the construction of a device which, using catoptrical mirrors, project optical illusions. Figures 1 and 2 portray the device itself, while Figures 3 through 5 explain the... Author: Guyot, Edme-Gilles 1775 |
The illustration in the bottom left corner of this image, Imitation and Approbation, features a caped man standing behind a table on a stage. In his hands he holds a skull marked by a... Delineator: Cruikshank, George 1 August 1826 |
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 |
1819 |
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... Author: Cruikshank, George Editor: à Beckett, Gilbert Abbott 1845 |
c. Early 19th century |
1770 |
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 |
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 image depicts an icescape in fog. The immediate foreground features a prominent rock jutting out of the ground to the left, next to what appears to be a large vertebra. The center portion of the... Delineator: Back, Sir George 1836 |
c. 1800-01 |