Category Archives: Medium

mediums

Füssli

He giveth snow like wool,
he scattereth the hoar frost like ashes.
He casteth forth his ice like morsels,
who can stand before his cold?
He sendeth out his word, and melteth them,
he causeth his wind to blow, and the waters flow. –Psalm 147

When Johann Jakob Scheuchzer needed 750 illustrations for his Physica sacra, a natural history-based commentary on the Bible, he entrusted the Swiss artist Johann Melchior Füssli (1677-1736) with the design of the central panels, and Johann Daniel Preissler (1666-1737) with the borders. The Graphic Arts Collection holds one of Füssli’s drawings in pen and ink, published in volume 3, for Psalm 147: 16-18.

Scheuchzer is said to have overseen the illustrations, based on his own cabinet of natural history specimens, although he died before the last of the four volumes were published.

Füssli/Preissler drawings were engraved over many years by a number of artisans including Johann August Corvinus (1683–1738); Jakob Andreas Fridrich the Elder (1684–1751); Georg Daniel Heümann (1691–1759); Johann Gottlieb Thelot (1708–1760); Georg Lichtensteger (1700–1781); and Catharina Sperlingen (18th century).

Johann Jakob Scheuchzer (1672-1733), Kupfer-Bibel, in welcher die Physica sacra, oder, geheiligte Natur-wissenschafft derer in Heil (Augspurg und Ulm: Gedruckt bey Christian Ulrich Wagner, 1731-1735). Rare Books (Ex) Oversize 5366.816q

Picturesque Bits from Old Edinburgh

Archibald Burns (1831-1880), Picturesque “bits” from Old Edinburgh (Edinburgh: Edmonston and Douglas, 1868). 15 albumen silver prints by Archibald Burns with descriptive and historical notes by Thomas Henderson. Graphic Arts Collection GAX 2014- in process

According to the National Library of Scotland, Archibald Burns was based in Edinburgh between 1858, when he is first recorded as a member of the Photographic Society of Scotland, and his death in the early 1880s. Burns made his living principally from selling stock-images of Edinburgh for the burgeoning tourist market. He also provided photographs to illustrate books of Edinburgh.

In 1871 Burns was commissioned by the Edinburgh Improvement Trust to document buildings in the area between the Cowgate and what is now Chambers Street. Beginning that year, he worked out of Rock House in Edinburgh, in the same building as Scottish photographer Thomas Annan (1829-1887). The comparisons are obvious.

Annan photographed Glasgow between 1868 and 1871, documenting the poor conditions of working class neighborhoods. The prints were published in several formats under the name Old Closes and Streets of Glasgow, as part of a commission from the City of Glasgow Improvements Trust.

“Thomas Annan retained his business premises in Glasgow while living at Rock House [Edinburgh] and with the railway it would have been convenient to travel between the two cities. It would not appear to have been competition from Burns that made Thomas Annan return to Glasgow.”

“It is more likely that the two men were friends and they did have a close business association as the Valuation roll for 1871-2 shows that Thomas Annan still held the lease for Rock House but Burns was the occupier. It is possible the two photographers were a mutual influence. In burns’ photographs for Picturesque bits form old Edinburgh, published in 1868, he included grim depictions of some of the more deprived areas of the Old Town. Annan would have known about these photographs as he embarked on his acclaimed images of the Glasgow Closes.” –Roddy Simpson, The Photography of Victorian Scotland (2012)

Deep Zoom

How do you look at an entire panorama? Even harder, how do you capture and reproduce a panorama, especially for teaching? Our Digital Initiatives Developer and Analyst, Jon Stroop, has come up with a new image viewer: Loris, used in conjunction with OpenSeadragon MPUDL’s new deep-zoom viewer. Now our digital photographers can capture and post the entire strip, allowing you and me to play with the images in a way not possible with the original. Try it!

Two of the panoramas from the Graphic Arts Collection have been transferred to this new site:

Robert Cruikshank (1789-1856), Going to a Fight. Illustra]ting the sporting world in all its variety of style and costume along the road from Hyde Park Corner to Moulsey Hurst, 1819. Aquatint and etching with hand coloring. Graphic Arts collection. GA 2005-01039; Permanent Link: http://arks.princeton.edu/ark:/88435/5m60qs654

and

Artist unidentified, Mister O’Squat: A Panorama, 1822. Hand colored etchings. London: Published by William Sams, Booksellers to his Royal Highness the Duke of York opposite the Palace, St. James Street, 1822). Box embossed: E.P. Sutton and Sangorski Sutcliff. Formerly attributed to Thomas Rowlandson (British, 1756-1827). Graphic Arts Collection. GA 2005.01039; Permanent Link: http://arks.princeton.edu/ark:/88435/1v53jx72k

detail

Thank you Jon. Just in time for Prof. Anne McCauley’s upcoming freshman seminar: Funny Pictures: Caricature and Modernity. FRS 157

Light Damage

When Princeton University Library received the wonderful donation of over two dozen paintings and drawings by Cleveland artist William Sommer (1867-1949), several staff members immediately fell in love. Various prints and watercolors were distributed to offices within the library, where they remained for almost thirty years.

The works were donated to Princeton University thanks to the Mildred Andrews Fund in honor of Dr. William Milliken, ’11, *33 (1889-1978). Arrangements were made between 1985 and 1986 by Sommer’s foremost collector Joseph M. Erdelac (died 2004), and Peter Putnam ‘42, *50 (1927-1987). Less than one year later Putnam was tragically hit and killed while riding his bicycle.

Happily, we have learned a great deal about the damage light can do to works on paper, watercolor in particular, and we have removed the originals from permanent display. Unhappily, for this particular watercolor by Sommer, it was not quite soon enough. A facsimile has been created to hang in its place, cleaning up the years of darkening caused by over-exposure to light. The original, on the left, will be housed in a cool, dark drawer to preserve what is left for future generation.

Sincere thanks to all the staff members who participated in this transfer and rehanging.
William Sommer (1867-1949), Profile of woman in purple dress, seated in green chair, reading a paper, 1936. Watercolor. Graphic Arts collection. Gift of the Mildred Andrews Fund in honor of Dr. William Milliken. Formerly owned by Rev. Dexter Chenny, given to him by William M. Milliken, acquired from William Sommer.

The Liberation of Greece

Attributed to Albert Anker (1831-1910), Greek battle plan, ca. 1900. Watercolor and pen. Graphic Arts Collection 2014- in process.

We believe Albert Anker painted this map to show the liberation of Greece, including the naval battle between the Athenian and the Peloponnese fleets. The sketch includes the handwritten description and index to the scene:

A Station de Phormios … la flotte athénienne = Phormios station … the Athenian fleet
B Flotte de Peloponnèse = Peloponnese fleet
C Flotte Athénienne marchand sur avant naupactus droits avant la bataille = Athenian merchant fleet advancing
D Peloponnèse avant la bataille dans la course simulé sur naupactus
C Fleet Athenian merchant on before Naupactus rights before the battle
D Peloponnese before the battle in the race simulated Naupactus

William Henry Jackson’s selfie

William Henry Jackson, getting into his own picture. See the left side of the mountain below.

William Henry Jackson (1843-1942), Tower of Babel. Garden of the Gods, [n.d. [1879-1897]. Albumen silver print. Graphic Arts Collection GA 2011.00107

Thanks to the invitation of Professor Ferdinand Vandiveer Hayden, photographer William Jackson traveled to the American west with the U.S. Geological and Geographical Survey expedition and from 1870 to 1878 made thousands of photographic negatives. In 1879, he settled in Denver and opened a studio to print and sell his images in a variety of formats, large and small. Most of his prints are generally dated between 1879 when he finished traveling and 1897 when he merged with the Detroit Photographic Company and stopped printing his own work.

The image above is no. 1007. “View of a sandstone rock formation identified as the Tower of Babel, the Garden of the Gods, Colorado Springs (El Paso County), Colorado”. The albumen print was contact printed from a mammoth glass plate negative.

William Henry Jackson (1843-1942), Mount of the Holy Cross, [1879-1897, negative 1874]. Albumen silver print. Graphic Arts Collection GA 2011.00106

Jackson’s dog also getting into the photograph. See bottom right corner below.

William Henry Jackson (1843-1942), Navajo Church. Near Fort Wingate, A.T., [1879-1897]. Albumen silver print. Graphic Arts Collection GA 2011.00108

This is no. 1063 in Jackson’s sales catalogue, “A view of Navajo Church, a sandstone rock formation near Fort Wingate on the Navajo Indian Reservation in the Arizona Territory (New Mexico)”. We are fortunate to have a rare print of this view, which has not been cropped or printed with a vignette to remove the dog in the lower corner. (Note, the photograph is not over-exposed as this reproduction seems, just my own poor re-photographing.)

How d’ye like me? A droll mezzotint

Unidentified Artist, How d’ye like me, 1772. Mezzotints. Gift of Dickson Q. Brown, Class of 1895. Graphic Arts Collection GA 2011.01193

“The mezzotint droll [was] generally sold for a shilling plain, two shillings coloured. Drolls were usually non-political, exploiting amusing social situations, such as the pretensions of the city nouveau riche, rather than topical events.”

“The market for comic mezzotints, based on plates which often remained in print for decades, was dominated by relatively few firms, such as that of Carington Bowles, whose shop front is shown in a number of prints….”

“Many of these prints were engraved on copper plates measuring fourteen by ten inches and could if required be easily fitted into frames of a standard size.” – David S. Alexander, Richard Newton and English Caricature in the 1790s (Manchester University Press, 1998)

[left] After Samuel Hieronymus Grimm (baptized 1733, died 1794), Welladay! Is this my son Tom!, 1773. Mezzotint. Graphic Arts Collection GA 2011.00628

[right] After Samuel Hieronymus Grimm (baptized 1733, died 1794), Be not amaz’d Dear Mother – It is indeed your Daughter Anne, 1774. Mezzotint. Graphic Arts Collection GA 2011.00627

This pair of droll mezzotints were both published by Carington Bowles, from his shop at St Paul’s Church Yard. The droll prints were all made the same size, so they could fit in the same frame. See his shop window below.

John Raphael Smith (1751-1812), Spectators at a Print-Shop in St.Paul’s Church Yard, 1774.
Mezzotint. (c) British Museum

Novak’s campus linocut

How do you transform this watercolor into an ink print? The artist Louis Novak solved the problem by carving a series of linoleum blocks and printing them successively onto a single sheet to make the Princeton Print Club’s 1943 membership print. Can you match the colors to the blocks?

Louis L. Novak (1903-1988), Joline-Campbell Hall from Blair Court, 1943. Linocut. Graphic Arts Collection GA 2007.02141

Anne Marguerite Hyde de Neuville

Anne Marguerite Hyde de Neuville (ca. 1749-1849), Church at Princeton, New Jersey with Girardin and Mary, 1813. Watercolor on paper. Graphic Arts Collection GA 047 Princetoniana. Acquired with funds contributed by the Friends of the Princeton University Library and by Bernard Kilgore, formerly Elder of the First Presbyterian Church of Princeton.

Inscribed “Mercredi 27 8 bre 1813 Princeton’s Church Giradin and Meriy” [Wednesday 27 October 1813 Princeton’s Church with Girardin and Mary]

To continue reading about this watercolor by the Baroness Hyde de Neuville, see the Princeton University Library Chronicle, 29, no.2 (winter 1968): http://libweb5.princeton.edu/visual_materials/pulc/pulc_v_29_n_2.pdf

See also: Jadviga M. Da Costa Nunes, Baroness Hyde de Neuville: Sketches of America, 1807-1822 ([New Brunswick, N.J.]: Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum, Rutgers, State University of New Jersey; New York: New-York Historical Society, 1984). Marquand Library (SA) ND1950.H9 A4 1984

Professor Alfred Krauth

The German photographer Alfred Krauth (1878-1956) only taught for one year at the Höheren Graphischen in Vienna but maintained the title of professor throughout his career. When World War I was over, Krauth returned to Frankfurt am Main and joined with Carl Neithold to establish a photography company, specializing in stereo cameras, viewers, and images. Around 1924, Krauth traveled to the United States to attract customers for their business.

One of the companies Krauth contacted was the Textile Machine Works in Reading Pennsylvania, founded by the German industrialists Ferdinand Thun (1866-1949) and Henry Janssen (born 1866). They manufactured women’s stockings and other products with knitting machines of their own design.

Krauth personally photographed the entire factory, including the workers and the machinery, three years before Charles Sheeler did the same at the Ford Motor Company’s Rouge plant. A small collection of these images recently turned up in our graphic arts collection. Here are a few samples.