Category Archives: prints and drawings

prints and drawings

Stash House


Eric Avery and Susan Mackin Dolan, Stash House Folio, 2020. Linocuts on hand made paper in linen hinged folio cover. The interior house view is printed on paper made by Susan Mackin Dolan. The hinged folio cover to hold the interior prints is a molded paper linocut by Eric Avery. Copy 7 of 9. Graphic Arts Collection GAX 2021- in process **Note, some images will load slowly but we wanted you to have good resolution

Stash House is a paper/print collaborative artist book project about human trafficking along the border in South Texas, created by Eric Avery and Susan Mackin Dolan with students at the Southwest School of Art in the spring of 2020. Avery and Dolan have been artist friends and collaborators for 35 years.

Their subject matter came from a 2018 article in the Laredo Morning Times, describing a raid by the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) patrol on a “stash house” where 73 migrants were hiding, waiting to be moved further north. “Thinking about how 73 people could sleep in a small house,” wrote Avery, “triggered memories of my work with refugees in Somalia and Indonesia.” He was the medical director in a large refugee camp in Somalia in 1980 and a photograph he made of Vietnamese refugees in the cargo hold of Ship Sea Sweep became an inspiration for their 21st century project.

This is the abandoned house in San Ygnacio [below] that Avery used as a modeled his cover folio, made of cast paper and pieces of clothing (mostly socks) he found abandoned on the Rio Grande riverbank in Laredo. The silhouettes of fifty people sleeping on the floor of such a house were designed by Dolen and editiond in four sheets of double dipped kozo paper. Avery printed four linoleum blocks on the sheets so that when laid out, the assembled print will be a floor plan with walls, door openings, kitchen, bathroom and silhouettes of fifty people.

Here are the students in their class posing as sleeping migrants to work out the configuration of bodies [above] and [below] Avery’s photograph of Vietnamese refugees.

A master of her craft, Dolen described the unique paper making process used: “I started making paper for my prints 40 years ago, because I wanted it to be more integrated into the prints and couldn’t buy the type of paper I needed. I use Japanese kozo, gampi and local plant fibers, cooked and pounded to make the pulp. My sheet forming process is a modified Asian technique and uses contrasting fibers shaped by foam stencils to make images within the sheets of paper. This adds another layer of color and shape to the final printed image.”


In speaking about this project, Avery described “bearing witness” as the narrative function of art. “Living on the border I am a witness to what is happening to the migrants and human rights abuses. I didn’t want our work to contribute to the narrative that the border is out of control and that we need the Wall to control it. The migration of people across our southern border can be monitored by CBP and virtual technology. Building a wall to solve the problem is like building prison walls that we live inside.”

–Dialogue quoted here is from the artists’ conversation in Passage: An online magazine of visions and voices, 4 (October 2020) http://passagevision.com/issue4.html.

 

Read more:
http://www.susanmackindolan.com/

http://www.docart.com

https://www.ericaveryartist.com/human-rights-abuses.html

 

The 2018 raid on that stash house was, unfortunately, not a one-time occurrence but one of many. Here from January 28, 2021, is a raid on three houses involving 60 migrants. We are thrilled to have this important and timely project at Princeton University.

 

 

 

Selina Bracebridge’s Panoramic Sketch of Athens


 

These days, answering some reference questions can be easier done online with pictures than in multiple emails. Princeton is fortunate to have Selina Bracebridge’s Notes descriptive of a panoramic sketch of Athens, taken May, 1839,  including the text booklet and the zinc lithograph panorama. In addition, we hold the facsimile reprint “Sold for the benefit of the Protestant Chapel at Athens,” also with both the text and the panorama.

Selina Bracebridge (1803-1874), Notes descriptive of a panoramic sketch of Athens, taken May, 1839: sold in aid of the London Benevolent Repository (London: W.H. Dalton, 1839). Graphic Arts Collection Oversize 2007-0025Q. Spine title: Sketch of Athens ; “Sketched from nature and on zinc by Mrs. Bracebridge, May 1838”–Folded plate.

Selina Bracebridge (1803-1874), Notes descriptive of a panoramic sketch of Athens, May, 1836 : sold for the benefit of the fund for building a Protestant Chapel at Athens (Coventry: Henry Merridew, [1836]). Graphic Arts Collection Oversize 2007-0652Q. Cover label: “… Sold for the benefit of the Protestant Chapel at Athens. Reproduced from an early print by Mrs. Bracebridge. Sold in aid of St. Catherine’s British Embassy School, Athens.”

 


The British Museum describes Bracebridge as an amateur artist; pupil of Samuel Prout, who lived with her husband Charles Holte Bracebridge (q.v.) in Athens for several years during the 1830s; later traveled to Italy, Greece and Egypt with Florence Nightingale and joined her at Scutari during the Crimean War. They appear in the painting of 1857 by Jerry Barrett entitled, “The Mission of Mercy: Florence Nightingale receiving the Wounded at Scutari.”

Jerry Barrett, The Mission of Mercy: Florence Nightingale receiving the Wounded at Scutari, 1857. Oil on canvas. NPG 6202

Fourteen figures identified, from left to right: Sir William Linton (1801–1880); Sir Henry Knight Storks (1811–1874); Alexis Benoît Soyer (1810–1858); Miss Tebbutt (1810–1896); Robert Robinson (active 1857); Mary Clare (Georgina Moore) (1814–1874); William Cruickshank (died 1858); Charles Sillery; Jerry Barrett (1824–1906); Florence Nightingale (1820–1910); Eliza Roberts; Selina Bracebridge (c.1800–1874); Charles Bracebridge (1799–1872); and Lord William Paulet (1804–1893).

James Herbert Parsons’ design for Princeton College

James Herbert Parsons’ scrapbook, ca. 1900. Graphic Arts Collection. Gift of W. Allen Scheuch II, Class of 1976.

Thanks to the generous gift of W. Allen Scheuch II Class of 1976, the Graphic Arts Collection holds a scrapbook assembled by James Herbert Parsons (1831-1905), containing approximately 170 sketches and finished designs including heraldry, monograms, figures, birds, animals, and jewelry, some of which are miniatures. Most are watercolors but there are also drawings in pen-and-ink, charcoal, and pencil. The scrapbook, begun while the artist was still in England, was handed down to his youngest son Philip in 1905 and then, to Philip’s niece Mary Evelyn Parsons Austin in 1942.

The highlight of the collection is a design for Princeton College (or the College of New Jersey), including no less than three tigers. It is not known whether the campus ever adopted Parsons’ design for regular use. Although it is not dated, the design was made some time before 1896, when the school’s name was officially changed to Princeton University during its Sesquicentennial Celebration. More about the Princeton colors and shield here: https://princetoniana.princeton.edu/things-princeton/colors-shields

For many years the same brief biography for Parsons was listed in every source: “An artist, died in West New Brighton, Staten Island, N. Y., on December 25, 1905, at the age of seventy-four years. He was with Tiffany & Co. for twenty-three years, and obtained the Beaconsfield gold medal in 1880. He won medals for his employers at the Paris and Chicago expositions. One of his best works was the [1895] marriage certificate of the Duke of Marlborough and Miss Consuelo Vanderbilt.” — American Art Directory v.6

But this is only a small part of the story.

James Herbert Parsons was born in March 1831, London, England, to Peter and Mary Parsons. He was baptized on May 25 at St. Mary Abbots Church in Kensington, and as an adult rented a house on Edwardes Square, Kensington, never moving more than a few blocks from his extended family. James married Mary Flowers (born 1832) and together they had 5 daughters and 3 sons. He worked as a fine art engraver and by the age of 39, is listed as a draughtsman, which meant he was creating his own designs rather than engraving the designs of others.

In 1881, James emigrated to New York City, leaving his wife to care for their 8 children, all still living at home. Presumably he was offered a position with Tiffany & Company, which had stores in Paris and New York City but not London. The following year, Mary and (at least) her two youngest children sailed for New York and moved into James’ apartment at 416 West 68th Street off 9th Avenue, which was large enough to include an Irish maid. You might think they lived here so that he could walk to work but at that time Tiffany’s headquarters was located at 15 Union Square West, where it remained until 1906. The New York Times called the building the “palace of jewels.”

His position with Tiffany’s brought the Parsons family wealth and stability, even throughout the bank panic of 1893, when his design work won a medal for Tiffany & Co. at the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago.

The family eventually moved to Staten Island only a few years before James’ death Christmas Day at the age of 74, the cause listed on the death certificate as Typhoid, Pneumonia, Senility.

Here are some of the other treasures in the Parsons scrapbook:

 



–mice found in the garden of their new home on Staten Island 1891

 



 

Denkmal in Stereotypen = A Monument in Stereotype


Vincenz Pall von Pallhausen (1759-1817) and Joseph Bonaventura Progel (died 1851). Denkmal in Stereotypen, den Manen Gutenberg’s geweiht von von Vincenz von Pallhausen im Jahre 1805 und zur vierten Säcularfeier der Buchdruckerkunst mit lithographirten Federzeichnungen zu Johannis 1836 herausgegeben von Progel ([München]: [Franz], 1836, 1805

 

The Graphic Arts Collection now holds a unique copy of the first and only edition of A Monument in Stereotype: dedicated to Gutenberg’s men, commemorating the Gutenberg jubilee in 1836, edited and reprinted from the 1805 stereotypes under the direction of Joseph Progel.

“Joseph Progel was Registrar of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences in Munich from the late 1820s until the mid-1840s. He was also Registrar for the joint scientific collections of the Academy and of the University of Munich (General-Conservatorium der wissenschaftlichen Sammlungen des Staates). His son was the distinguished botanist August Progel.”–https://library.leeds.ac.uk/special-collections/collection/1306
–Georg Kaspar Nagler, Die Monogrammisten, 1871

 

The loose plates, collected inside the original paper wrapper, have additional color, compared to the copy in the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek: https://reader.digitale-sammlungen.de/de/fs1/object/display/bsb10057223_00015.html?zoom=0.45. On the right is a second, proof sheet from Princeton’s copy.


The volume at Princeton includes a second, perhaps rejected proof copy as well as 3 double-page sheets with still another variant of the illustrations, a sheet with a pencil drawing of one of the printed illustrations, and a design in gold for a title-page on a folded double-page sheet contained in blue wrappers with the illustrations in black only.

Here are a few more pages:

 

Overthrow of Christian Morality by the Disorders of Monasticism

Renversement de la Morale chretienne par les desordres du Monachisme. Enrichi de Figures. Premiere Partie. Overthrow of Christian morality by the disorders of Monasticism. Enriched with Figures. First part. [all published.] On les vend en Hollande, chez le Marchands Libraires & Imagers. Avec Privilege d’Innocent XI. Omstootinge der christelyke Zeden. Door de wan-schik ongeregeltheden der Moniken. Holland [Switzerland, n.p.], ca. 1780. Graphic Arts Collection GAX 2021- in process

Originally published in Amsterdam, perhaps as early as 1676 with the title Renversement de la morale Chretienne par les desordres du Monachisme = Omstootinge der Christelyke zeden. Door de wan-schik en ongeregeltheden der moniken, this series of engravings caricature Jesuits and other religious figures. A variant edition, seen here, published approximately 1780 was recently acquired by the Graphic Arts Collection.

The plates have been attributed to or copied from Cornelis Dusart (1660-1704), although the frontispiece in this volume is engraved after Romeyn de Hooghe (1645-1708). Readers were delighted with these portraits of monks drinking and carrying on, which led to their reissue in both general trade and secret pirated editions for more than 100 years. It should be noted that the nuns present equally bad behavior and are rightfully caricatured alongside the priests.

“The first twenty-five plates are prefaced by explanatory text in French and Dutch, the second twenty-five just by French verse. The second series is even more vicious than the first, depicting clerics with foxlike cunning, ready to cut a purse and appropriate money etc. They are listed under headings such as the Insatiable, the Cunning, the Seditious, the Idolator, the Superstitious, etc.”

Compare these plates with Dusart’s Les Héros de la ligue. Ou, La procession monacale. Conduitte par Louis XIV, pour la conversion des protestans de son royaume (The Heroes of the League: Or, The Monastic Procession. Led by Louis XIV for the Conversion of Protestants in his Kingdom) from 1691: https://graphicarts.princeton.edu/2015/04/15/les-heros-de-la-ligue/


l’abrégé du faux clergé romain = Summary of the false Roman clergy

 

Golden receipts against drunkenness. 1, Drink no longer water…

On February 13, 1929, an unidentified Princeton student noted the gift of a book to the university library with an article in the Daily Princetonian, “Parson Weems, First American Book Agent, Subject of Biography Presented to Library.”

“First American book agent, adventurer, early biographer of Washington ‘and fabricator of the cherry-tree myth, Parson Weems is the subject of ‘a set of privately issued books presented to the Library last week by Emily Ellworth Ford Skeel, who has completed the work commenced by her brother, Paul Leicester Ford. …Mason Locke Weems, known as the “Parson”, lived a colorful life during the early days of the republic. Having just completed his theological training he went, upon the close of the Revolutionary War, to England to be ordained. The Archbishop of Canterbury refused to “touch the rebel.” He journeyed from one bishop to another fruitlessly. Finally, upon the personal intervention of President Adams, , the Church of Denmark agreed to admit him to the ministry.”

The student continued writing about individual books Weems self-published. “Tiring of [the ministry], he undertook to sell books for Mathew Carey, a Philadelphia publisher. …He saw a market for something besides the holy book, however and filled; it with moral pamphlets of his own composition. One was “The Drunkard’s Looking Glass, reflecting him in sundry very interesting attitudes.” He would enter the taverns illustrating ‘the “attitudes” which he described as follows: “First, when he has only a drop in his eye, second, when he is only half shaved, third, when he is getting a little on the staggers or so, and fourth and fifth and so on ’til he is quite capsized or snug under the table with the dogs and can stick on the floor without holding on.”

Originally written, printed, and published by Weems, the best-selling book continued to appear after his death, privately printed by his wife Mrs. Frances Ewell Weems. Princeton’s 1918 edition was the first to include illustrations, one engraving for the frontispiece “possibly engraved by William Charles,” along with 13 wood engravings attributed to William Mason. Often called the first wood engraver in Philadelphia, Mason is listed as a drawing master at 27 Sansom Street in an 1834 Philadelphia directory and in 1838 another directory listed W.S. Mason at 45 Chestnut.

Mason Locke Weems (1759-1825), The Drunkard’s Looking Glass Reflecting a Faithful Likeness of the Drunkard, in sundry very interesting attitudes, with lively representations of the many strange capers which he cuts at different stages of his disease … Sixth edition, greatly improved ([Philadelphia?]: printed for the author, 1818). Graphic Arts Collection Sinclair Hamilton 1019

Mason Locke Weems, his works and ways. In three volumes. [I] A bibliography left unfinished by Paul Leicester Ford. [II-III. Letters 1784-1825] Edited by Emily Ellsworth Ford Skeel (New York, 1929). Rare Books Z8962 .S62. Colophon of vol. III: This work originated with Paul Leicester Ford, was edited by Mrs. Roswell Skeel junior, and printed by Richmond Mayo-Smith, all of one family.

Reverend Mason L. Weems was rector of Pohick Church for a while, when Washington was a parishioner. He was possessed of considerable talent, but was better adapted for “a man of the world” than a clergyman. Wit and humor he used freely, and no man could easier be “all things to all men” than Mr. Weems. His eccentricities and singular conduct finally lowered his dignity as a clergyman, and gave rise to many false rumors respecting his character. He was a man of great benevolence, a trait which he exercised to the extent of his means. A large and increasing family compelled him to abandon preaching for a livelihood, and he became a book agent for Mathew Carey. In that business he was very successful, selling in one year over three thousand copies of a high-priced Bible. He always preached when invited, during his travels; and in his vocation he was instrumental in doing much good, for he circulated books of the highest moral character.”—Benson J. Lossing, Pictorial Field Book of the Revolution (1850)

North American sylva and the lost garden of New Jersey

J[ules?] Renard after a drawing by Adèle Riché (1791-1878), Chamærops palmetto (Cabbage Tree), for François André Michaux (1770-1855), The North American sylva; or, A description of the forest trees of the United States, Canada, and Nova Scotia, considered particularly with respect to their use in the arts, and their introduction into commerce: to which is added a description of the most useful of the European trees … (Philadelphia: Rice, Ritter, 1865). Rare Books 8772.642.11 v.3

 

[left] Rembrandt Peale, Portrait of François André Michaux, 1809-10. Oil on canvas. American Philosophical Society. Gift of family of Dr. Joseph Carson, 19 March 1880. 58.P.38

 

Andre Michaux (1746-1803) was sent to the United States in 1785 to find and collect woods suitable for building and plants good for eating, which could be grown in France. Traveling with his teenage son François André Michaux (1770-1855) and gardener Pierre Paul Saunier, he established two gardens in the United States to facilitate the accumulation of seeds and plants for shipment to France.

One of these 18th-century gardens was in New Jersey, across the Hudson River from New York City in Bergen County and the other in Charleston, South Carolina. When Michaux and his son returned to France, Saunier was left in New Jersey to manage the garden (with no English and little money). According to a study by William J. Robbins and Mary Christine Howson: “Today the site of Michaux’s New Jersey Garden is divided between the Hoboken Cemetery, warehouses, railroad tracks, and marshlands along the Cromakill Creek. … Nothing marks the spot and no one in the neighborhood realizes that this bit of land once was of special significance to France, as well as the United States of America, and a matter of concern to some of the outstanding figures of the day.…”–“André Michaux’s New Jersey Garden and Pierre Paul Saunier, Journeyman Gardener,” Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 102, no. 4 (Aug. 27, 1958).

Above selection from: Charles Hardenburg Winfield, History of the county of Hudson, New Jersey: from its earliest settlement to the present time (1874)

François André Michaux later returned on a commission by the French government to explore the forests of the United States, Canada, and Nova Scotia. By 1810 he completed the North American Sylva, first published in twenty-four parts, issued in pairs from July 1810 to March 1813, before being collected into three volumes. An English edition of the Sylva was originally planned in six half-volumes, but a seventh was added to help accommodate the extra plates and the corresponding text.
Read more: An Oak Spring sylva: a selection of rare books on trees in the Oak Spring Garden Library / described by Sandra Raphael (Upperville, Va.: Oak Spring Garden Library, 1989). Graphic Arts SD391 .R36q

The books are prized today for the color stipple engravings produced by a team of artists, including Bessin, Gabriel, Renard, Cally, Boquet, Dubreuil, J.N.Joly after botanical illustrations by Pancrace Bessa (1772–1846), Pierre-Joseph Redouté (1759–1840), Henri-Joseph Redouté (1766–1852), and Adèle Riché (1791-1878). Later additions published by Thomas Nuttal are illustrated with lithographic plates.

Although New Jersey’s garden has disappeared, the Michaux State Forest near Gettysburg, Pennsylvania remains.

 

 

The Commissioners [of the 1778 Carlisle Peace Commission]

The bales and barrels are inscribed “Tobacco for Germany; Rice for France; Tobacco for France; Tobacco for Holland; America 1778; Indico for Spain; Indico for the Mediterranean Ports; and V.R. (Monogram).”

 

The Commissioners, April 1, 1778. London: Published by M. Darly, 39 Strand. Hand colored engraving. Graphic Arts Collection GAX 2021- in process.

From 1766 to 1778, Mary and Matthew Darly had a printshop at 39 Strand, on the corner of Buckingham Street, London. This was only one of 17 locations the British Museum has now identified with shops owned by one or both the Darlys. In the past, many prints listed as M. Darly were simply attributed to Matthew or Matthias (ca. 1720–1780), although Mary (flourished 1760–1781) clearly had her own shops, prints, and publications, as with the Graphic Arts Collection’s copy of Mary Darly’s A Book of Caricaturas: on 59 Copper-Plates, with ye principles of designing in that droll & pleasing manner, by M. Darly, with sundry ancient & modern examples & several well known caricaturas (Cornhill: Printed for John Bowles, [1762?]). GAX 2005-2501N.

A wonderful biography of Matthew can be found at https://www-oxforddnb-com.ezproxy.princeton.edu/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-7161. It is unfortunate that the best the DNB can do for Mary Darly is “see Matthew.” Although we continue to argue about attribution–which items should be credited specifically to Mary–at the very least this print should be considered sold by Mary Darly.

The sheet offers a humorous look at the five commissioners nominated to negotiate peace with the American colonies: Admiral Lord Richard Howe, General Sir William Howe, Lord Frederick Carlisle, Lord Auckland (William Eden), and Commodore George Johnstone, known as Governor Johnstone. They kneel facing a personification of America, holding a liberty cap.

The dialogue bubbles read:
“We have block’d up your ports, obstructed your trade, with the hope of starving ye, & contrary to the Law of Nations compelld your sons to war against their Bretheren.”
“We have ravaged your Lands, burnt your Towns, and caus’d your captive Heroes to perish, by Cold, pestilence & famine.”
“We have profaned your places of Divine worship, derided your virtue and piety, and scoff’d at that spirit which has brought us thus on our knees before ye.”
“We have Ravish’d, Scalp’d, and murder’d your People, even from Tender infancy to decrepid age, altho Supplicating for Mercy.”
“For all which material services, we the Commissioners from the most pious & best of sovereigns, doubt not your cordial duty & affection towards us, or willingness to submit yourselves again to receive the same, whenever we have power to bestow it on ye.”


Carlisle, Auckland, and Johnstone sailed for Philadelphia on April 21, 1778, twenty days after this satirical print was published indicating that the Darlys were predicting the failure of the commission, not simply reporting it.

Only five years later, the Continental Congress left Philadelphia and convened in Princeton at Nassau Hall. Here is a bit of local history from the period: https://paw.princeton.edu/article/continental-congress-nassau-hall

Mr Hitchins measuring the field of Austerlitz for a surtout of blue cloth

Attributed to John Thomas James (1786-1828), Mr Hitchins measuring the field of Austerlitz for a surtout of blue cloth, no date [ca.1805]. Pen and ink drawing. Gift of Dickson Q. Brown, Class of 1895. Graphic Arts Collection GA 2007.00059.

*Definition of surtout: a man’s long close-fitting overcoat.

This drawing might be a comment on Napoleon winning the battle of Austerlitz in 1805, which is depicted as gentlemen fitting the battlefield for the standard Napoleonic blue coat. The men, Hitchins, Heber, and Davenport mentioned in the text are wearing red coats and Edward Hitchins Major is one of the Oxford volunteers. Britain had declared war on France in 1803 and was fighting on the loosing side. The Battle of Austerlitz, December 2, 1805, was one of the most important battles of the Napoleonic Wars. In what is widely regarded as the greatest victory achieved by Napoleon, the Grande Armée of France defeated a larger Russian and Austrian army led by Emperor Alexander I and Holy Roman Emperor Francis II.

As noted in Uniforms of the Napoleonic Wars 1805–1815: “The ‘Napoleonic’ coat was called habit à la française, it was dark blue with white lapels for line infantry. The white lapels were treated with pipe clay, which made them really white. In 1793 the dark blue coats were officially introduced in the infantry. It had long tail that was shortened before 1806. (The weather ‘softened’ the color of the dark blue and dust, blood and mud made it sometimes unrecognizable.) The dark blue became greyish blue etc.”

 

 

The artist is believed to be John Thomas James (1786–1828), later the Bishop of Calcutta. According to the DNB, he was

“educated at Rugby School until he was twelve years old, when, by the interest of the earl of Dartmouth, he was placed on the foundation of the Charterhouse. In 1803 he gained the first prize medal given by the Society for the Encouragement of Arts and Sciences for a drawing of Winchester Cathedral. He left the Charterhouse in May 1804, when he was chosen to deliver the annual oration, and entered Christ Church, Oxford.

After the death of his father on 23 September 1804, he was granted the dean’s studentship by Dr Cyril Jackson. He graduated BA on 9 March 1808, and MA on 24 October 1810. James continued to reside at Oxford, first as a private tutor and afterwards as student and tutor of Christ Church, until 1813, when he toured northern Europe with Sir James Riddell. After his return he published, in 1816, a Journal of a Tour in Germany, Sweden, Russia, and Poland, during 1813 and 1814. Subsequent editions, in two volumes, appeared in 1817 and 1819.

…In 1826 he began the publication of a series of Views in Russia, Sweden, Poland, and Germany. These were engraved on stone by himself, and coloured so as to represent originals. Five numbers of these appeared during 1826 and 1827.”

Edward Francis Finden, after Joseph Slater, John Thomas James, 1826 or after. Stiple engraving. NPG D20603

 

 

Mrs. Hamilton’s lithograph of Bonaparte’s monkey

Mrs. Hamilton (1800s) after Stephen Taylor (active 1817-1849), Bonaparte’s Monkey, February 18, ca. 1830. Lithograph. Graphic Arts Collection GA 2005.00490.


The text reads:

“The above is a faithful portrait of a monkey belonging to Bonaparte during his residence at Longwood House, St. Helena. After Bonaparte’s death it was purchased by Captain Thompson, of the Abundance, and given by him, on his return to Spithead, to Mr. Stephen Taylor, the artist, then residing at Winchester. The monkey was very mischievous, and upon one occasion, made his way into a dressing closet, broke a glass, opened the dressing case, and was viewing himself in the looking glass, when discovered by Mr. Taylor, who made a sketch at the time, from which he afterwards painted a fine picture, and from which this print is taken. The monkey died after being in Mr. Taylor’s possession two years, and was buried in his garden at Winchester.”

Getty’s ULAN database lists Stephen Taylor as a British painter, active 1817-1849, who specialized in dogs, portraits, and dead game. This is certainly the Taylor connected with this lithograph. He painted several canvases transferred to lithographs by an artist named Hamilton, sold at the shop of William Soffe on the Strand in London. The superscript letters that precede the name Hamilton have been read as M.R.G. Hamilton and as Mrs Hamilton, the latter being the best guess.

Stamped at the bottom of this sheet “Published Feb J. 18 by W. Soffe. 288 Strand Corner of Southampton St.” The shop sold animal prints and other popular images. There is no information to back up the story that Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821) had a monkey, or that the painter Taylor purchased him from Captain Thompson. On the other hand, there’s no reason not to believe the story either.