Romantic Circles Gallery
Gallery Editors:
Theresa M. KelleyJacob Leveton
A great amount of snow covers the ground in this image. Many soldiers are partially or completely buried by it, and one soldier sits atop a horse whose legs are also buried. Each soldier wears an... Delineator: Cruikshank, George Author: Combe, William 23 January 1815 |
The river bends to the right, wrapping around bushes and a tree in the right foreground. To the left, more shrubbery and trees border a ruined house or manor. In the background, non-detailed, wooded... 1782 |
With church spires rising above it in the very center of the background, Bartholmew Fair is in full swing, crowded with people and chaos. Overflowing the square—with the hospital on one side, a... Delineator: Rowlandson, Thomas Author: Combe, William 1808 |
Engraver: Lucas, David c. 1832-34 |
The ruins of an elaborate entrance to the Palace at Madurai dominate the left register of the picture plane. Intricate stonework and molding decorates the inside of the edifice, while the outside is... Engraver: Daniell, William c. 1797-98 |
1803 |
Delineator: Pugin, Augustus Charles, Rowlandson, Thomas 1808 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
This image depicts a death's-head moth on a white background, with wings outstretched. 1831 |
This image, Plate 13 of Bell's illustrations, depicts the ear without the skin. The numbers and their labels are given below: 1830s |
Within the elaborate frame printed on one page of the E. Boyes album by the book’s manufacturer, someone has pasted in shiny blue foil so as to form a second frame. This surrounds an arrangement... |
Dr. Syntax falls backward off his rocky seat into the water. Though his hat has fallen into the water, he still clutches his pen and journal: he has evidently been sketching the moss-covered ruins of... Author: Combe, William 1 May 1812 |
This image corresponded to the scene depicted in “A Balloon Prospect from above the Clouds,” which was to be inserted on the facing page. The intention was that this print could be used to provide a... 5 January 1786 |
“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 |
A ship is tipped towards the viewer, almost completely submerged by a wave crashing over it. Only the main mast, part of a second mast, and a sliver of the deck rise above the tumultuous water. Men... Illustrator: Turner, Joseph Mallord William 1835 |
1826 |
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 |
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 |
The central image, figure 9, depicts one half of an Egyptian pebble, the interior of which seems to contain the image of a small, white face. This large, oblong pebble is encircled by other, much... 1791 |
“Plate XVII” features ten figures that accompany a section of the text discussing optical illusions and tricks. Figures 52 and 53 depict an illusion using decanters of water and a concave mirror.... Author: Hutton, Charles, Ozanam, Jacques 1803 |
In this drawing of a printing machine patented by “Messrs. Applegath and Cowper,” two men work at the press while one man operates a fly-wheel pulley system. The figure at the back of the machine... Author: Ure, Andrew 1839 |
"Fig. 1" depicts an earthen jar or vase. "Fig. 2" depicts the root of a plant named the "Scythian Lamb". 1791 |
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 |
The image shows a young man reading; he sits at a generously laid table, and a woman standing behind it pours water into a teapot. In front of the man, an open chest filled with loose pages draws the... Author: Mahony, Francis 1836 |
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 woman with loose hair in a flowing costume sits on a grassy ledge. In one hand she carries an empty palate and several paintbrushes; with the other she uses a brush to take pigment from the rainbow... 1780 |
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 |
Trees line the foreground of this image and follow a pavement to a house, The Briars, in the distance. The Briars sits at the middle of the image: it is a fair-sized house with two floors. In the... 1845 |
1787 |
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 |
A large stone stela, facing forward, depicts a Maya deity decorated with myriad visual embellishments, its fists clenched upon its chest. The background depicts the small clearing in which the stela... Delineator: Catherwood, Frederick 1841 |
A schematic drawing shows the two halves of Burford’s Description of a View of the Great Temple of Karnak and the Surrounding City of Thebes: the top half depicts the Karnak Temple as a... 1839 |
"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 |
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. 1779-80 |
1802 |
This panoramic vista of the Valley of Mexico depicts Mexico City in the background, lying low in the landscape and surrounded by short vegetation and plants. A small Spanish church stands in the... Delineator: Bullock, William 1825 |
"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 |
c. 1800-01 |
1821 |
Three men in white wigs with shawls over their heads gaze contemplatively at the moon from a bank of dark clouds. The moon is made up of two faces: the light side is smiling, while the dark side is... 1791 |
1778 |
A view of the ruins of Tintern Abbey. Editor: Knight, Charles 1845 |
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 |
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 |
1795 |
This illustration depicts a rough image of Earth, which is shown floating in black space that grows misty near the edges. Europe is white, while everything "east," as well as Australia, is colored a... 1839 |
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 |