Romantic Circles Gallery
Gallery Editors:
Theresa M. KelleyJacob Leveton
 This plate from George Adams II’s An Essay on Vision illustrates his camera obscura model of vision, as well as several optical experiments proposed in the book. The figures are described... Delineator: Milne, T. 31 July 1789 |
 1770 |
 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 |
 In the immediate foreground of the picture plane is a herd of sheep. The sheep are reclining on the ground in manner that suggests that they have either been struck dead or are sleeping. Only several... Engraver: Wallis, Robert 1829 |
 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 |
 "Fig. 1" depicts an earthen jar or vase. "Fig. 2" depicts the root of a plant named the "Scythian Lamb". 1791 |
 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 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 |
 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 |
 Cliffs, presumably near New Weir (spelled “New Wear” in the title), stretch upward, taking up most of the left half of the print. In the foreground, at the foot of the cliffs, is a small house. A... Delineator: Cooper, Robert Bransby 1830 |
 An antiquarian holds up his spectacles in his right hand to examine an object that resembles an Egyptian mummy. He stoops and holds a cane in his left hand, a tri-corner hat under his arm. He is... 1789 |
 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 |
 Abraham kneels on a flat plain before three winged angels who stand conversing among themselves. Some hills and trees stand in the distance, and the sky is furrowed with thick, wavy lines that... 1782 |
 Various ships are visible in the distance, and one ship in full sail sits directly beyond the coastal waters. Three poles emerge from the sea in the left foreground, indicating the shoreline; the... 1823 |
 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... 1836 |
 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... 1834 |
 "Fig. 1," the image on the right, depicts a petrified ("incrustated") skull. "Fig. 2" depicts a sword, also petrified. Delineator: Rymsdyk, Jan van 1791 |
 A view of the ruins of Tintern Abbey. Editor: Knight, Charles 1845 |
 View of Mottram depicts the village of Mottram in Cheshire. 16 July 1794 |
 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... |
 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 |
 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 |
 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 |
 1821 |
 A man and two children stand in the doorway of a small wooden structure. Hovering over the structure are three beings with fin-like wings on their backs. The furthest flying figure (in the background... 1783 |
 The four-stepped, low-rising Pyramid of Cholula, covered in sparse vegetation, stands in a flat valley, surrounded by distant mountains. A stairway leads up from the base of the pyramid to the small... Delineator: Humboldt, Alexander von 1816 |
 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 |
 The subjects are Napoleon Bonaparte and Josephine at their wedding ceremony. Josephine is wearing a white wedding gown with a scarlet red train while Napoleon dons the blue jacket and white pants he... Delineator: Cruikshank, George 28 October 1814 |
 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 1828 |
 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 depicts the Governor's House at Uxmal: it is a single-story, stone-brick building, lightly covered in vegetation and elevated upon a stone-brick platform. A variety of Mexican flora... Delineator: Norman, Benjamin Moore 1843 |
 A woman travels through a landscape with two children: an infant held to her back in a shawl, and a young child who stands beside her and holds the hem of her cloak. The woman has long hair and a... 1807 |
 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 |
 The scene of this print is a butcher’s establishment, understood as the shop and residence of the Marrowfat family. In the center of the scene, the butcher’s daughter sits by the fire playing a lute... c. 18th century |
 Engraver: Lucas, David c. 1832-34 |
 “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 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 |
 The image portrays a sea dark with swells—no whitecaps—interrupted by large, sharp-edged, wildly-shaped icebergs that have been carved out at their bases by the incessant motion of the waves. Two... Delineator: Back, Sir George 1828 |
 In the catalogue Indian Miniature Painting, Chandra describes Portrait of a Lady: “The lady wears a pink skirt and a white robe. She is sensitively drawn, the linear rhythms,... 1800 |
 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... 1847 |
 Delineator: Pugin, Augustus Charles, Rowlandson, Thomas 1808 |
 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... |
 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 |
 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... 1826 |
 This image, Plate 18 of Bell's illustrations, depicts the semicircular canals of the ear. Bell further describes the image: "The cochlea is named by its similitude to the shell of a snail. It is the... 1830s |
 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 |
 This image depicts a death's-head moth on a white background, with wings outstretched. 1831 |
 1824 |
 Three men face each other, with the central figure looking toward the viewer. Each man is distinguished by his exaggerated expression, unusual head shape, and the phrenological map that has been... Delineator: Cruikshank, George 1 August 1826 |
 1815 |
