Romantic Circles Gallery
Gallery Editors:
Theresa M. KelleyJacob Leveton
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 |
On this album page a wreath formed of cut-outs of flowers and leaves serves as a frame for a poem composed by the nineteenth-century playwright and humorist Douglas Jerrold and addressed to Annie... |
The image depicts a broad, flat plain, interrupted at its further end by a grey body of water. In the distance, a low mountain range looms in vague, dark contours against the sky, nearly touching the... 1792 |
1821 |
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 |
“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 Author: Ferguson, James 1764 |
Corinthian Tom has taken Corinthian Kate, her companion Sue, and his friends Jerry Hawthorn and Bob Logic to tour Carlton House; this print depicts them with an attendant in the Throne Room. On the... Author: Egan, Pierce 1 March 1821 |
c. Early 19th century |
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 |
1826 |
In this image, the French army attempts to cross the Alps during the Napoleonic Wars. Front and center in the image is an Asian man sitting on a boulder. Leading away from him are the caravans of... Delineator: Cruikshank, George Author: Combe, William 13 December 1814 |
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 painting exists in two states: the first portrays the actual, "unimproved" prospect from the house at Tatton Park, as it was when Repton first visited the Park, on 8 Nov. 1791; the second... 1794 |
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 |
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... Author: Caulfield, James 1820 |
Two cocks are fighting on the left side of the cockpit; one foot of each feeder is visible at opposite ends of the fighting table, (usually constructed as a large table enclosed by a raised rim of... Delineator: Hogarth, William 5 November 1759 |
Sir Joseph Banks’ journal entry depicts his and William Hooker’s arrival at Mount Helca’s main crater, Raud-Oldur. They stand in a green patch of vegetation to pitch their tents—one of the few areas... 1811 |
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 |
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 |
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 Author: Egan, Pierce 1 July 1821 |
View of Mottram depicts the village of Mottram in Cheshire. 16 July 1794 |
In this print, Corinthian Tom’s tailor, Mr. Primefit, has come to Corinthian House to fit Jerry Hawthorn for a new suit. Jerry stands in the center, his back to the viewer, while Mr. Primefit... Author: Egan, Pierce 31 August 1820 |
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... Author: Grellmann, Heinrich Moritz Gottlieb 1807 |
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 |
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 |
Engraver: Daniell, Thomas 1795 |
This image depicts a battle between the French and the Austrians. The Austrians are situated primarily on the left side of the bridge while the French are on the right. The Austrians are wearing... Delineator: Cruikshank, George Author: Combe, William 28 November 1814 |
This page of watercolor painting and cut paper work is found in an album compiled around 1822 and 1823 in honor of a certain Miss [Louisa?] Gilman. At the page’s center is a footed vase, classical... |
The engraving depicts an Aeolian harp (the topmost image); it also includes several scientific diagrams indicating how the harp might function. Author: Jones, William 1781 |
The image is set in what appears to be a schoolroom. The master holds a stick above his head, preparing to give "strokes" to the young boy he grips by the elbow. The boy, dressed in a long coat and... Author: Cobbin, Ingram 1829 |
These images depict the European landscape in 1832 as shaped by a Laacher See eruption. In the upper left corner, a farmer is plowing his field with the help of a mule. The village of Eich is... Delineator: Hibbert-Ware, Charlotte Author: Hibbert, Samuel 1832 |
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. Author: Adams, George 31 July 1789 |
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 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 |
1793 |
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 |
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 |
An undefined crowd that disappears into the foreground of the print batter Lady Archer and Lady Buckinghamshire, chained at the Pillory, with battered with eggs and mud. Both women don large feather... Delineator: Gillray, James 12 May 1796 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
1783 |
“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 |
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 |
In his A Dictionary of Arts, Manufactures, and Mines, Andrew Ure provides a lengthy explanation for the mechanical workings displayed in this simple line-drawing. He begins by describing its... Author: Ure, Andrew 1839 |
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 |
A bank of thick clouds hovers over the standing stones, with sunlight shining through to illuminate the center of the monument. A flock of sheep grazes in the foreground on the course grass, some... Engraver: Wallis, Robert 1829 |
1795 |
The engraving depicts the lower room of the “Old Ashmolean” building at the University of Oxford. Various natural specimens, including a giraffe and a dodo, are evident, as well as two groups of... Delineator: Delamotte, William Alfred 1 December 1834 |