Charles Grignion (1721-1810) after Francis Wheatley (1747-1801), Love in a Village,1791. Etching and engraving. Proof before lettering. Graphic Arts Collection, recently discovered.

John Bell (1745-1831) commissioned a number of designs for his series Bell’s British Theatre to be engraved as frontispieces. The final print for Love in a Village has the title of the play, quotation and reference: ‘Will you accept of them for youself them / Act 1. Scene [obscured]; above the roundel, partly obscured ‘British Theatre’; below the image ‘Wheatly delin. / Grignion scu. / London Printed for I. Bell British Library Strand Jany. 6th. 1791.’.

“Concurrently with work for Boydell, [Francis] Wheatley was also engaged by John Bell, the publisher, to execute a number of vignettes for the charming little series of “Bell’s Theatre,” and five of these vignettes are by him . . . and the dates extend from 1791-1792. . . . sold for £20, and two small portraits of actresses for 33 guineas.”—William Roberts, F. Wheatley, R.A. His Life and Works (1910)

Love in a Village was a comic opera in three acts composed and arranged by Thomas Arne (1710-1778) with a libretto by Isaac Bickerstaffe (1733-1812), based on Charles Johnson’s 1729 play The Village Opera. It premiered at the Royal Opera, Covent Garden in London on December 8, 1762. The opera was revived numerous times, both during Arne’s lifetime and after, with multiple published versions and visualizations.

“In 1792 Bell’s English Theatre, an amalgam of parts of the Shakespeare and the British Theatre, was published in 14 volumes. After his first bankrupcy in 1793 much of his stock was acquired by James Barker who published the “acting” Shakespeare and sixty plays from the British Theatre in the following year. In 1795-96 Bell was involved in a law suit with George Cawthorn who was eventually awarded all future profits of the British Theatre and was allowed to use “The British Library” on his title pages; c. 1804, Cawthorn was succeeded by John Cawthorn (qq.v.). Bell was bankrupt again in 1797, but his fortunes revived and by his death at the age of 86 he owned a house in Fulham, carriages and horses, as well as a collection of works of art.”

Johann Zoffany (1733–1810), A Scene from “Love in a Village” by Isaac Bickerstaffe. Act 1, Scene 2, with Edward Shuter as Justice Woodcock, John Beard as Hawthorn, and John Dunstall as Hodge, 1767. Oil on canvas, Yale Center for British Art

What do these men have in common, besides the same hat?

They are part of a series of portraits of American revolutionary officers, published in Paris during the 1770s by partners Jacques Esnault (1739-1812, also written Esnauts) and Michel Rapilly (1740-1797?), whose shop was located at no. 259 rue Saint Jacques. Each portrait uses the same cartouche with a shield, cannon, and banner, some laterally reversed. Most of the prints held in the Graphic Arts Collection are before the complete caption, signature, or number at the top.

The portraits in the Graphic Arts Collection (both catalogued and recently found) include:

Israel Putnam (1718-1790), an American army general officer, popularly known as Old Put, who fought with distinction at the Battle of Bunker Hill during the American Revolutionary War.

Charles Lee (1732-1782), a general of the Continental Army during the American War of Independence. He also served earlier in the British Army during the Seven Years War.

Horatio Lloyd Gates (1727-1806), a retired British soldier who served as an American general during the Revolutionary War.

George Washington (1732-1799), an American general and the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797.

John Hancock (1737-1793) an American merchant and president of the Second Continental Congress.

John Sullivan (1740-1795), an Irish-American General in the Revolutionary War, a delegate in the Continental Congress, Governor of New Hampshire and a United States federal judge.

George Brydges Rodney (1718-1792), 1st Baron Rodney, KB, a British naval officer. He is best known for his commands in the American War of Independence

Robert Rogers (1731-1795), an American colonial frontiersman. Rogers served in the British army during both the French and Indian War and the American Revolution.

Esek Hopkins (1718-1802), the only Commander in Chief of the Continental Navy during the American Revolutionary War.

Benedict Arnold (1741-1801), an American military officer who served as a general during the American Revolutionary War, fighting for the American Continental Army before defecting to the British in 1780.

Several prints are complete with the signature of the printmaker “Dupin,” although it is not certain whether this refers to Jean Victor Dupin (born 1718) or Nicolas Dupin (died after 1789) also referred to as Dupin II.

It would not be Pierre Dupin “the Elder” (ca.1690-ca.1751), father of Jean-Victor, as several online sources list. Nicolas is the better attribution but cannot be confirmed.

This is the only print in our collection with text engraved in the cartouche.

“Some of the first exotic animals to enter France and England in the early 1700s,” writes Geri Walton, “were the chimpanzee and the rhino. They would later be upstaged by the zebra, with one of the striped beasts arriving in England in 1762. It was a wedding gift from Sir Thomas Adams and given to Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, who had married George III a few months earlier in 1761.”

The zebra became a shorthand for royal greed and stupidity, appearing in multiple satirical prints of the time.

Thanks to the generous donation of Bruce Willsie, ‘86, the Graphic Arts Collection now holds on deposit this 1768 broadside The Times, which was a sequel to the broadside The Times, or 1768. It does not appear to have any connection to William Hogarth’s The Times, from September 7, 1762, although the comparison would make an interesting article.

Here is a copy of plate one from the British Museum.

The Times, or 1768. British Museum 1868,0808.4412.

They note “Lettered with the title, captions, twenty-four lines of verse in four columns giving the explanation to a numerical key ‘Behold corruption openly profest … Sweet Liberty return, and lasting Peace.’ and ‘To the Memory of William Allen Barbarously Murderd in St. Georges Fields/ Publish’d June 8, 1768 as the act directs, price 6d’.”

Our new broadside features William Allen rising from the dead in the center of the print, while Lord Bute rides a zebra with the head of George III on the right.  The verses below are written in the form of a rebus, substituting controversial words for pictures. Dorothy George writes for the British Museum:

“A broadside satirising Lord Bute, blaming him for the murder of William Allen; with an etching showing a landscape with two columns inscribed with the names of politicians, between the columns at the top centre a medallion of Oliver Cromwell, the left side of the image shows good influences, including a seated figure of Britannia and the Earl Temple accompanied by the British Lion, above them Fama blowing a trumpet and holding a laurel wreath, on the right side, dedicated to the bad influences, Lord Bute riding a zebra which has the head of King George III, near the zebra various animals, in the centre of the image the ghost of Allen rising from a grave; with engraved title, inscriptions, speech-bubbles, and verses in form of a rebus. (n.p.: [1768])”

William Allen was an innocent spectator killed by soldiers of the Scots Guard during the riots in St George’s Fields on 10 May 1768. The anonymous artist of the two quickly produced etchings are taking Lord Temple’s side, blaming Lord Bute, and his close connection with King George III, for the murder.

Can you make out the sentences?

James Tissot (1836-1902), The Thames, ca. 1876. Drypoint and etching, from the portfolio Ten Etchings. Graphic Arts Collection GAX 2019- in process

James Tissot (1836-1902), On the Thames (or How Happy I Could Be with Either), ca. 1876. Oil on canvas. Hepworth Wakefield Art Gallery.

Thanks to the generous gift of William and Sally Rhoads, the Graphic Arts Collection is the new owner of Ten Etchings. First series (London (17 Grove End Road, St John’s Wood): J.J. Tissot, 1876). This rare portfolio of drypoints, 1876-1877, each with the artist’s red monogram stamp (L. 1545) on various laid papers, was published by James Tissot (1836-1902) in a total edition of 50 (of which 25 were for subscribers and 25 for sale).

Mr. Rhoads notes “The portfolio was purchased in the 1920s or 30s by my grandfather, Wm. S. Bertolet, M.D., and then owned for 50 years by my mother, Mary B. Rhoads, who was a long-time member of the Friends of the Princeton University Library. She would be delighted that they will reside in Firestone.”

In the early 1870s, James Tissot left Paris and settled in St. John’s Wood, outside London, at 17 Grove End Road (around the corner from Abbey Road and later, Abbey Road Studio). One day, he happened to meet Kathleen “Kate” Newton (née Kelly; 1854–1882), an unwed mother of two, who had also moved to St. John’s Wood where her married sister had a home. Tissot and Newton met, fell in love, and for the next six years, lived together, unmarried, in what the artist called “domestic bliss,” until Newton died of tuberculosis in 1882.

During this period, most of Tissot’s paintings and prints feature Newton, her children, and their quiet family life. Some scenes included Kate’s sister but the views of two young women unsupervised with an adult man scandalizing the London public.

Between 1876 and 1877, Tissot assembled and published a selection of prints in a portfolio titled simply Ten Etchings. Six of these prints, including The Thames at the top of this post, were reproductions of his paintings and two are based on drawings he made while part of the Paris Commune in 1871. The other two are unidentified portraits.
These figures are thought to represent Tissot and Newton.

Portrait 1876 James Tissot 1836-1902 Purchased 1927 http://www.tate.org.uk/art/work/N04271

“…In addition to the editors, François Bonneville (Nicolas’ cousin) was hired to engrave portraits of revolutionaries for the “Chronique du mois.” Each issue featured on its frontispiece one of Bonneville’s portraits, usually depicting a leading Girondin. The first seven issues included portraits of Condorcet (January), Fauchet (February), Mercier (March), Auger (April), Garran-Coulon (May), Paine (June), and Brissot (July).

François Bonneville became one of the best known portrait engravers of his day, and his works were sold individually at the Imrprimerie du Cercle Social. At the same time, his engravings helped to spread the fame of the Griondin leaders, whom he often portrayed in a neoclassical style that emphasized their likeness to the ancient heroes of Greek democracy.” –Gary Kates, The Cercle Social, the Girondins, and the French Revolution (Princeton University Press, 1985, jstor: 2014)

La Chronique du mois: ou, les cahiers patriotiques, [The Chronicle of the Month] was founded by Jean-Antoine-Nicolas de Caritat Condorcet (marquis de), Étienne Clavière, Jean-Antoine-Nicolas de Caritat marquis de Condorcet, Louis-Sébastien Mercier, Nicolas de Bonneville, abbé Athanase Auger, and John Oswald. They called their imprint the Printing Press of the Social Circle. Working together with these men from his studio on Rue Saint-Jacques, François Bonneville designed, engraved, and published the portraits with each man wearing his official uniform, including a hat with enormous plumes and a velvet coat.

The Graphic Arts Collection has only two of the portraits, seen here. To appreciate the entire grand costume, see Bonneville’s full figure image from the Musée Carnavalet: http://parismuseescollections.paris.fr/fr/musee-carnavalet/oeuvres/sieyes-membre-du-directoire-executif-en-grand-costume

François Bonneville (active 1793-1802), Merlin, membre du Directoire exécutif, 1797. Etching, pointillé, Graphic Arts Collection 2019- in process

François Bonneville (active 1793-1802), Em[m]anuel Joseph Sieyes, membre du Directoire Exécutif. Né à Fréjus le 3 may 1748, 1797. Etching, pointillé, Graphic Arts Collection 2019- in process

Read more M.E.T. Hamy, “Note sur diverses gravures de Bonneville, répresentant des Nègres (1794-1803) in Anthropologie (1900): 42-46.

In 1797, Pierre Didot (1761-1753), the most esteemed printer of his day, commissioned a series of illustrations for Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels, from the French artist Louis-Joseph Lefèvre (1756-1830).  Abbé Pierre François Guyot Desfontaines’ French translation was used and the designs engraved by Louis-Joseph Masquelier (1741-1811).

Didot’s brother, Firmin Didot cut the type and the book was bound by René Simier, Relieur du Roi, in four small volumes, each representing one of Gulliver’s trips. The book was printed in two issues, one for Didot himself and the one acquired by Princeton for Pierre-François Bleuet jeune, in an edition of 100.

Although there is no English language edition recorded from Didot’s press with the Lefèvre illustrations, one might have been planned since several sheets of proofs with the captions in English have been found in the Graphic Arts Collection. Note special trouble was taken to add the date, 1797, at the center of each caption.

These should not be confused with the 1797 English language edition published by Charles Cooke, which has very different plates by W. Hawkins (active 1797-1803) after Richard Corbould (1757-1831) [seen at the far bottom].

Jonathan Swift (1667-1745), Voyage de Gulliver [translated by Pierre-François Guyot Desfontaines] (Paris: De la I’mprimerie de P. Didot L’Ainé, 1797). Graphic Arts Collection GAX 2019- in process. English language proof on the right.

Charles Cooke edition with plates by W. Hawkins (active 1797-1803) after Richard Corbould (1757-1831).