Romantic Circles Gallery
Gallery Editors:
Theresa M. KelleyJacob Leveton
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 |
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 |
Here, on one of the four engraved and hand-colored pages interspersed among the blank pages of the Floral Album, the engraver has pictured a wreath of flowers formed from pink roses, blue... |
The two remaining towers of Hadleigh Castle stand in the left register of the picture plane. Underbrush and foliage have over-grown the crumbling ruins. In the lower left corner, a shepherd boy,... 1829 |
Engraver: Daniell, Thomas 1795 |
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 |
At the piano, a young wife in a drooping bonnet plays the piano and sings with a wide open mouth. She rolls her eyes back, as if to ascertain whether her husband is listening, or perhaps to ensure... Delineator: Gillray, James 25 September 1805 |
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,... Author: Ireland, William Henry 1828 |
In this etching, a young woman and man who are courting make music together. The woman plays a harp and leans over to read the music from the music book that the young man is holding. They both... 1805 |
c. 1779-80 |
This image, Plate 17 of Bell's illustrations, depicts the three small bones of the ear. Bell describes it as such:
The natural size of these bones is shown in Fig. 1 Plate 17, (the... c. 1830s |
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 |
"Fig. 1," the image on the right, depicts a petrified ("incrustated") skull. "Fig. 2" depicts a sword, also petrified. Delineator: Rymsdyk, Jan van 1791 |
The frame is vertically oriented and presents the viewer with an elevated perspective. A cliff on the left shadows the river, which moves down the left third of the image. Three men are pushing a... Delineator: Back, Sir George 1836 |
“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 |
The Grand West Entrance to Jedburgh Abbey is at the perfect center of the composition. The sequence of intricately carved arches framing the comparatively small, rectangular door creates a tunneling... 19 September 1846 |
A view of the ruins of Uxmal depicts the House of the Nuns (on the left) and the House of the Dwarf (on the right). The House of the Nuns is a short, wide, one-story building with a series of small... Delineator: Catherwood, Frederick 1841 |
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 |
The art historian Pramod Chandra describes this miniature as follows:
[T]he man, seated on a chair, listens to a group of musicians squatting on a striped blue carpet. He is attended by... 1870 |
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 |
A beehive sits atop a thick board, with wild-looking plants growing on either side. Grass grows around the hive's board. Seven bees hover around the top of the hive, with another at the hive's center... Author: Graham, Douglas c. 1820s |
"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 |
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 |
c. Early 19th century |
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 |
The subject, Chepstow Castle, dominates most of the print, sitting across the water from the viewer. It is in a state of ruin: ivy climbs up the towers, and the tops of the rightmost towers are... Delineator: Cooper, Robert Bransby Author: Bloomfield, Robert 1813 |
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 |
“Plate No. 32 Optics” features thirty-four color illustrations which refer to a range of scientific diagrams and to popular knowledge on the general topic of optics. This variety of illustrations... Delineator: Emslie, John 10 December 1850 |
This image comes from a text called, Illustrations of Natural Philosophy, which depicts the many properties of air. The central images feature a rendering of all of the highest mountain ranges... 10 December 1850 |
Delineator: Pugin, Augustus Charles, Rowlandson, Thomas 1808 |
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 image depicts a momument, inscribed with an epitaph, in two parts: the topmost figure appears to be the top of a momument, while the figure below it may be the base. The upper part is decorated... 1834 |
The façade of a brick structure—with a sidewall jutting out to form a kind of corner—and a tree with a serpentine trunk take up the right half of the oval-shaped image. Light shining through the... Author: Gilpin, William 1800 |
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 |
c. 1810 |
This scene is depicted from the low perspective of a river. In the right foreground, two trees extend their branches over the river. A structure with arched openings sits on the opposite bank; this... Author: Gilpin, William 1800 |
The frame is split between a rocky shore bordering an icy sea and an expanse of gray sky, with clouds scudding low on the horizon. Five people sit around a pot on an outcropping of rock to the far... Delineator: Back, Sir George 1836 |
c. 1791-94 |
A man in a long cape and cloth cap holds a cane in his right hand and a large letter “B” in his left as he walks. He has a beard and moustache, and a rimmed black hat hangs from his neck. Author: Smith, John Thomas 1817 |
In the center of the image, a nude male figure sits on the edge of a bed, one leg resting on the floor. He looks up at a female figure who stands between his legs undressing, untying the strings of... Delineator: Calvert, Edward 1831 |
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... Author: Cavallo, Tiberius 1 January 1785 |
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 |
In the center background, a man-made structure—appearing, though distant, to be composed of walls and towers—crests an imposing promontory. To the right of this bluff a high, wooded hill rises to the... Delineator: Gilpin, William Author: Gilpin, William 1798 |
At the center of this page an unknown artist has painted in watercolor two pink roses growing from a single stem--one almost in full bloom, the other just beginning to bud—and entwined it... |
View of Mottram depicts the village of Mottram in Cheshire. 16 July 1794 |
Engraver: Rooker, Edward, Rooker, Michael Angelo 1775 |
1821 |
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... |
Dr. Syntax sits on the right-hand side of the back row in the pit, alongside a critic and a wit (Combe 223). He and his fellow theater-goers face the unfolding drama on the stage: two men battle over... Delineator: Rowlandson, Thomas Author: Combe, William 1 May 1812 |