Romantic Circles Gallery
Gallery Editors:
Theresa M. KelleyJacob Leveton
 c. 1816-17 |
 “Plate 16” features nine figures which illustrate devices used to create optical illusions. Three of the colored figures depict different forms of magic lanterns and how they are operated in order to... 1775 |
 "Fig. 1" depicts a piece of coral shaped like a hand, while figure "2" features a glass tumbler that appears partially petrified. 1791 |
 1786 |
 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 |
 This image portrays an icescape with distant mountains. The Arctic sun is low on the horizon, and smoke-like clouds extend in a widening mass from the far right of the image to the upper left corner... Delineator: Back, Sir George 1836 |
 1815 |
 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 |
 The "rout" (or boisterous throng) mentioned in the title of this hand-coloured etching, stretches from the left- to the right-hand side of the page, filling the lower-half of the design. It is... June 1823 |
 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 |
 “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... 1774 |
 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 |
 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... 1820 |
 "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... 1772 |
 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 |
 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 |
 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 |
 The two remaining towers of Hadleigh Castle stand in the left register of the picture plane. A single scrawny tree grows between the decaying stone edifices. The surrounding hillside is completely... Engraver: Lucas, David 1830 |
 Two ships are portrayed in the center right of the image, a rowboat between them. The ship on the right is British, its flag displayed on the right side. It is more brightly colored and has more... 1783 |
 This work offers a view of the large group of Alutiiq Indians, carried by a fleet of canoes, who were encountered by Captain George Vancouver and his fleet at Port Dick, Alaska, on 16 May 1794. The... Delineator: Humphreys, H., Alexander, William 1798 |
 The two remaining towers of Hadleigh Castle stand in the left register of the picture plane. Underbrush and foliage have over-grown the crumbling ruins. In the lower left corner, a shepherd boy,... 1829 |
 Dr. Syntax visits the home of a Lord for dinner. Seated in large chairs around a large circular table are three other men, one of which is Sir John as the accompanying text names. They are all well... Delineator: Rowlandson, Thomas 1 May 1812 |
 c. 1779-80 |
 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 |
 1824 |
 At the corner of Little Maddox Street and New Bond Street, a smirking and red-cheeked Lord Sandwich approaches from behind and fondles a young barrow woman selling carrots. The woman’s body is... Delineator: Gillray, James 3 December 1796 |
 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 |
 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 |
 A view of the ruins of Tintern Abbey. Editor: Knight, Charles 1845 |
 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 |
 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 |
 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 |
 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 |
 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 |
 This plate offers seven profiles (or cross-sections) of fragments of the coast of north-west America, as if seen from a passing ship or small boat, which range from Cape Mendocino (the westernmost... Delineator: Skyes, J., Alexander, William 1798 |
 These scientific diagrams depict "vibrations in solid bodies," including rods and plates. 1830 |
 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 |
 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 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 |
 On a page located near the halfway point of an album that was kept between 1827 and 1841 by a Miss Catharine Eliza Lowe, several lines handwritten in black ink accompany a blue ribbon and a... |
 This engraving appears as a full-page plate accompanying R. S. Kirby’s description of Merlin’s biography and famous inventions and automata. It depicts an oval bust portrait of John Joseph Merlin... Delineator: Harding, George Perfect 3 July 1803 |
 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 |
 1824 |
 Lady Cecilia Johnstone is in profile, seated on a large golden chamber pot. Her brow is slightly furrowed and her gaze intensely focused. She rests her chin in her hand, her elbow propped upon her... Delineator: Gillray, James 19 September 1791 |
 A view of the ruins of Uxmal depicts the House of the Nuns (on the left) and the House of the Dwarf (on the right). The House of the Nuns is a short, wide, one-story building with a series of small... Delineator: Catherwood, Frederick 1841 |
 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 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 |
 This image uses scientific diagrams to depict sound waves and vibrational patterns. The specific phenomena depicted by the various figures and the import of these depictions are discussed at length... 1800 |
 The engraving depicts an Aeolian harp (the topmost image); it also includes several scientific diagrams indicating how the harp might function. 1781 |
