Romantic Circles Gallery
Gallery Editors:
Theresa M. KelleyJacob Leveton
 These scientific diagrams depict "vibrations in solid bodies," including rods and plates. 1830 |
 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... c. 1820s |
 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 |
 A young, nude boy is depicted against a dark background in a bust medallion. Two cornucopias entwine above his head, spilling forth fruit and foliage as a border around the frame. Below is a smaller... 1807 |
 Goodrich Castle sits atop a massive hill, which is partially covered in trees (to the left of the ruins) and partially eroded (bare rock forms the base of the hill directly below the castle). To the... 1782 |
 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 |
 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 |
 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... 1 May 1812 |
 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 |
 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... 1839 |
 This image, like Cavallo’s image of the process for inflating hot air balloons, was a popular element of accounts of balloon in late eighteenth-century print culture. Its focus on the means by which... 14 January 1784 |
 In this view of parts of Cheshire and Lancashire, as if seen from the car of a balloon sailing far above them, the familiar has become strange. In contrast to more conventional prospects, we are... 5 January 1786 |
 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 |
 Fielding’s "view" of the castle occurs at sunset, and is taken from the banks of a river flowing in the lower register of the painting. A large tree seems to grasp the right riverbank with its... 1816 |
 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 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... 1847 |
 This line engraving depicts Cox’s Perpetual Clock, item number 47 in the Cox’s Lottery catalogue and one of Cox’s “star exhibit[s]” (Greater London Council 62). Much of the description of Cox’s... c. 1774-1775 |
 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 1798 |
 1815 |
 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 |
 A large, stone head rests between other large, carved stone pieces and a tree. A male figure, clad in slacks, a coat, and a wide-brimmed hat sits in profile next to the stone head, staring off the... Delineator: Catherwood, Frederick 1843 |
 1821 |
 1803 |
 c. 1810 |
 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 |
 Elizabeth Gunning sits astride a cannon in the front foreground of the print, the skirt of a golden dress flying toward her face and revealing her legs and undergarments, her arms thrown open and... Delineator: Gillray, James 5 March 1791 |
 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 |
 Two men attempt to haul a boat (one other man inside) to shore in a storm. A variety of ships out to sea appear lashed by the wind and waves. To the right of the image there is a house on the shore... 1823 |
 Engraver: Rooker, Edward, Rooker, Michael Angelo 1775 |
 A view of the ruins of Tintern Abbey. Editor: Knight, Charles 1845 |
 John Auldjo, the artist himself, stands on the far right of the image, poking the lava with a cane and holding a cloth over his mouth. In the background, the eruption of Vesuvius’ small cone, Monte... 1845 |
 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 |
 "Fig. 1" depicts a piece of coral shaped like a hand, while figure "2" features a glass tumbler that appears partially petrified. 1791 |
 c. Early 19th century |
 This large map, measuring 71 x 98cm, details the topography of Rome and its environs, from Lacus Sabatinus [Lago di Bracciano] in the north to Norba in the south, and from Nerola in the east to the... September 1834 |
 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 |
 1786 |
 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 |
 Engraver: Daniell, Thomas 1795 |
 Two dark figures stand near a canoe in the front right foreground. Far behind them is an empty town at the base of Mount Vesuvius. The volcano emits swirling grey smoke which covers the top three... 1823 |
 “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 |
 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 |
 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 |
 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 |
 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 |
 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 |
 "Fig. 1" depicts an earthen jar or vase. "Fig. 2" depicts the root of a plant named the "Scythian Lamb". 1791 |
 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 |
 The image shows a man sitting up in bed, lifting one hand, as if explaining something. Clothes are drawn in an elaborate fashion with a close attention to such details as buttons and wrinkles. The... 1818 |
 1824 |
