Romantic Circles Gallery
Gallery Editors:
Theresa M. KelleyJacob Leveton
As noted by curator Andrew Stevens (Chazen Museum, University of Wisconsin), this “painting is a pastiche of second-hand Italianate architecture and geography imagery supplemented with the artist's... 1791 |
View of Mottram depicts the village of Mottram in Cheshire. 16 July 1794 |
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 |
A dandy has fainted and leans back in a chair with his limbs straight out, while three other dandies support him and a fourth closes a curtain. Beyond the curtain we can see a castrato opera singer... 11 1818 |
Light brown cliffs, partially cloaked in dark green plant life, take up most of the left half of the painting. Near the center of the piece two small boats work their way along the river, which... 1844 |
1802 |
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 |
“To the right, the keelmen and the dark, flat-bottomed keels that carried the coal from Northumberland and Durham down the River Tyne are silhouetted against the orange and white flames from the... 1835 |
In the saloon of Covent Garden Theatre, Tom and Jerry stand in the center surrounded by women in elegant evening dress, “gay Cyprians,” or courtesans (Egan 173). On the left sits a woman in a rigint-... Delineator: Cruikshank, George, Cruikshank, Isaac Author: Egan, Pierce 1 July 1821 |
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 |
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 |
c. 1790s |
This image, Plate 13 of Bell's illustrations, depicts the ear without the skin. The numbers and their labels are given below: 1830s |
The ruins of Goodrich Castle sit perched on a hill near the center of the piece. Three boats full of people, ostensibly tourists, row down the river which bends sharply to the left. The central hill... 1785 |
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 |
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 |
c. 1816-17 |
A jagged icy cliff on the left descends to a pool of water; beyond these immediate ice formations, a plain of ice or water extends to the far horizon, where more cliffs rise against building clouds.... Delineator: Back, Sir George 1828 |
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 |
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 |
Two groups of men drag rowboats over a rocky “reef,” which seems to be serving as a dam between one body of water (placid-looking) and another (which appears to be the sea). A strong curving line... Delineator: Back, Sir George 1828 |
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 |
This portrait depicts a young woman, in colorful costume, seated on the ground against a large rock by the sea. The large outcrop of rock is crowned with a variety of vegetation. Mountains can be... 1831 |
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 |
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 |
The illustration depicts a man sleeping in bed with his mouth open; he wears a nightcap, and only his face is visible above the covers. A miniature sultan, with a dark visage and an immense moustache... 1836 |
Five pyramids and a stone-block building stand on a flat landscape, varied only by some small bushes and a few large rocks. The sky occupies a great portion of the picture: the clouds breaking at top... Delineator: Norman, Benjamin Moore 1843 |
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 |
The artists of the Royal Academy sit in a semicircle, in two tiers, with sketch pads and pencils, facing a female model posing nude on a stage. Most of the men look at the model, while others draw or... 1811 |
The Spectator implied by this design "is supposed to be in the Car of the Balloon, suspended above the Center of the View." From this vantage point, he/she looks down on a vast "Amphitheatre... Author: Baldwin, Thomas 5 January 1786 |
A man sits while a woman examines his head. The right side of the image shows a mapped skull placed on a table. 1826 |
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... |
1826 |
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 |
The ruins of the Castle of Las Navas stand at the top of a hill that crests at the very center of the composition. This focal point is flanked on both the right and left registers with dense foliage... Author: Swinburne, Henry 1808 |
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 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 |
An obese and rosy Lady Emma Hamilton in a white nightgown and nightcap sits up in her bed with arms and legs splayed outward, pushing the sea-foam green curtains of the canopy back. Her gaze is... Delineator: Gillray, James 6 February 1802 |
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 |
In the left register of the picture plane are the two remaining towers of Hadleigh Castle. Between the decaying stone edifices, underbrush and foliage have over-grown the crumbling ruins. In the... |
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 |
1786 |
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 |
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 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 |
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 |
“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 |
1826 |
1783 |
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 |