6. The Engravers
Artists and Engravers for Robert
Jennings
The 94 plates for Moore´s History
were drawn and engraved by a large number of artisans (see Appendix I) although the name of Deeble stands out prominently and
it is little wonder his name is included in the complete title of the work.
Although Ian Mackenzie[1]
refers to him as “a line engraver of small bookplates including landscapes, and
topographical views after his contemporaries” it is clear he had some sort of
reputation and the title page reference The Drawings and Engravings executed
by, and under the direction of, William Deeble makes it clear he was in
charge of all illustrations. William Deeble (1791-1861) may even have been from
Devon, or more likely, Cornwall: of 217 Deebles registered in the 1881 census
99 lived in Cornwall and 15 in Devon (41 others in London).[2]
However, William Deeble is not accredited to any print as artist and only
engraved 18 of the views himself. Possibly he was chosen by Jennings to make
contact with the various other artists and engravers.
This seems to be the first (and only)
time that Deeble was asked to supervise a project of this nature. Views either
drawn, engraved or drawn and engraved by William Deeble can be found in a
number of illustrated books. The Royal Academy describes him as an architectural
engraver, artist and notes his (minor) participation in Modern Athens!,
a work on Edinburgh based on illustrations drawn by Thomas Hosmer Shepherd.[3]
A number of views of London and surroundings are seen by Deeble published by
Jones & Co., and probably come from a similar work.
Of the engravers, Henry Wallis stands out as the engraver of some 39 plates. Wallis (c.1805–1890), worked as an engraver for a number of years but attacks of paralysis forced him to seek another occupation early in life. He turned to picture-dealing, and eventually became the proprietor of the French Gallery in Pall Mall, London.[4] James Bingley executed 13 plates and was a friend of Schmollinger, the engraver of the maps of Devonshire and of Exeter (see 7 Maps and Mapmakers). The six other engravers produced only 24 plates between them: J Henshall executed nine, William Floyd, T Higham and Thomas H Shepherd engraved four each, A McClatchie engraved two and J Eke just one.
While nine engravers were at work, there were fourteen artists involved. Here the name of George Bryant Campion (1796-1870) stands out. Campion who drew 36 of the views was also a painter of landscapes and military subjects even teaching drawing at the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich. He later lived in Munich and is known for two popular sets of prints. Thomas Mann Baynes (10 views) was known as a watercolour artist as well as draughtsman and lithographer and worked with W H Bartlett on a series covering the Wye.
Another prominent artist was William
Henry Bartlett (1809-1854). He was born in London and was one of John Britton´s
apprentices (1822-29). He went on to become one of the best landscape
illustrators of the day. The names W H Bartlett (9 views) and T H Bartlett (the
two waterfall views: Lydford Waterfall and Kitt Steps) both appear, and they
were possibly related. Bartlett also executed 15 views for Fisher during this
time.
Known as a West Country draughtsman
and also lithographer, Thomas Hewitt Williams (9 views) wrote and illustrated
several books. He was in Devonport in 1801 but moved to Exeter before 1807
where he remained. He made a number of walking tours throughout Devon and
illustrated his own guide books.[5]
The DNB reports that he never
married and was always in a poor state both physically and financially.
He is probably known best in Devon for two books: A picturesque excursion in Devon written in two parts and possibly published privately in Exeter, 1802; and Picturesque Excursions in Devonshire and Cornwall, etc. 1804. The only other major artist was
R Brown (10 views) who also drew one of the maps (see Chapter 7, Maps and Mapmakers).
Robert Brandard (1805-1862) who only drew the
Bishop’s Palace in Paignton was from Birmingham but worked in London (one of
two or three brothers). He was registered in Islington about the time he
produced the one plate for Jennings as was Thomas Hosmer Shepherd (3), whose Bath
and Bristol, with the counties of Somerset and Gloucester was produced
jointly with John Britton. Henry Worsley was a local Plymouth artist and
engraver (6) who was also Drawing Master at Kings College before emigrating to
New Zealand[6].
Minor artists such as Arthur Glennie (3) who visited Italy and produced very
attractive watercolours; T H Clarke (1), J M Gandy (1), an accomplished artist
and architect[7]; W J
Lea (1); or S Condy (2) are not listed in any catalogue.
Artists and Engravers for
Henry Fisher
Devon
and Cornwall Illustrated was a superb piece of cooperation between
artists such as Thomas Allom and W H Bartlett who provided the original
drawings, John Britton and Edward Wedlake Brayley, who provided the text to
each illustration, together with the various steel engravers, printers and
publishers (see Appendix II). The
original covers to the monthly magazine gave credit to all four with “original drawings by Thomas Allom, and W H
Bartlett” and continued “with
descriptive accounts ... by J Britton, and E W Brayley Esqrs.”
The work was published in parts by H
Fisher, Son & Co with Devon and Cornwall published concurrently (although a
large portion of Devon was complete before the first section of Cornish text
appeared) between September 1829 and October 1832. This work, too, was to be
published on the first of every month with two leaves of views (two to a page,
i.e. 4 views) and two leaves of text as: Devonshire
& Cornwall Illustrated; … Forming part of … Fishers’ Grand National
Improvements, and Jones’ Great Britain Illustrated. The latter mention was
important as it crops up again, more significantly, in later issues of the
parts series.
This work, unlike Moore’s book,
covered both Devon and Cornwall. The Devon section has a title vignette and 94
steel engravings by William Taylor (4), William Le Petit (28), John Thomas (7),
John Smith (2), W H Bond (2), J C Bentley (6), Samuel Fisher (2) and Ebenezer
Challis (4) who are all listed in British
Prints as “line engravers of small bookplates usually of either landscapes,
topographical views, architectural views or historical subjects after their
contemporaries” and “flourishing in the mid 18th century”.[8]
Others such as Percy Heath (4), J R Davies (4), Thomas Dixon (3), J Lowry (2), Matthew
James Starling (6), J F Lambert (2), F J Havill (3), John James Hinchliff (2),
Alexander (“Old”) Carse (1), Tombleson (4), C Mottram (3), H Wallis (3) and William Miller (2) are not listed at all.
The Cornwall section has a title vignette and 44 other steel line engravings, all drawn by Thomas Allom and engraved by William Le Petit, John Thomas, Thomas Dixon, M J Starling, William Taylor, Samuel Fisher and Ebenezer Challis, who had all worked on Devon plates. There were five new engravers such as J Mucklow, B R Davies, W Miller, W S Wilkinson, and Rolph. The text ran to 48 pages. See Appendix VIII for a list of plates and artists for the Cornwall section.
Only five artists were employed by Henry Fisher for this work but just two of these produced 90 of the 94 Devon drawings. Thomas Allom not only drew 75 of the Devon views but also all 44 of the illustrations for the Cornish prints. He travelled extensively abroad producing many drawings for reproduction by steel engravers. At the time of his engagement with Fisher he had just left the Royal Academy school where his professor for perspective had been J M W Turner. Diana Brooks and James M’Kenzie-Hall believe it was the lure of travel that led him to work for Fisher and not develop a career as an architect.[9]
Thomas
Allom (1804-1872) was an architect, artist,
and topographical illustrator. A founding member of the Royal
Institute of British Architects (RIBA), he designed many buildings in
London, including a number of churches and designed workhouses in London, Calne
and Liverpool.
In 1832 he
published Westmorland, Cumberland, Durham and Northumberland
Illustrated from Original Drawings by Thomas Allom. This was another Parts
Issue published by Fisher and was advertised on many covers of Fisher´s Devon
and Cornwall as “The Fourth Series”: Devon and Cornwall forming the Third
Series. He is also known for other numerous topographical works, such as Constantinople
and the Scenery of the Seven Churches of Asia Minor, published in 1838,
and China Illustrated (1845). In 1834 Allom arrived in Istanbul,
Turkey, and produced hundreds of drawings during journeys
through Anatolia, Syria and Palestine. The results of this expedition
were published in the former work.[10]
Of the other 4 artists, William Henry
Bartlett stands out, not only because he drew 15 of the illustrations but
because he also contributed at least 9 drawings to Moore´s History. The
four remaining plates were drawn by George Wightwick (1), J Harwood (2) and by
A Salvin (1). Of these, Anthony Salvin, an English architect, had an association with Devon. He gained a reputation as an expert on medieval buildings and applied this expertise to his new buildings and his restorations. He restored castles and country houses, and built a number of new houses and churches. It is not surprising that it is a view of Mamhead Hall that found its way into this work. At the time of this one drawing for Fisher, Salvin was busy designing and building Mamhead House for Robert William Newman, an Exeter merchant, in 1827–1833. In 1827 the architect George Wightwick had worked with Baynes
(executed 10 drawings for Jennings) to produce a book on Rome featuring 20
views drawn on stone by T M Baynes. J Harwood was heavily involved in
another Fisher project at the time: Lancashire Illustrated: From Original
Drawings, by Messrs. Pynes, Austin, and Harwood.
Of the 21 engravers employed by Fisher, William
Alexander Le Petit was the most important, executing 28 views. Born in London
circa 1804, he lived and worked in Paris for several years, exhibiting at the
Paris Salon (four of a dozen children were born in Paris). Working in London
either side of these years, Le Petit was one of the most prolific engravers of
his day – producing steel engravings for all the major publishers and for most of
the major series of landscape engravings. He died at Hornsey, 1896 and is
buried at Camden.[11]
Others deserve special mention such
as Henry Wallis who was also an etcher and suffered two strokes before he became
a book dealer; Charles Mottram (1806-1876) is listed as major line and mixed
method engraver of biblical, sporting, historical, sentimental and animal
subjects who was responsible for many excellent Victorian engravings: Joseph
Clayton Bentley (a pupil of Robert Brandard who executed 1 plate for Jennings)
executed plates after Old Masters for The
Art Journal (born in Bradford 1809 he died in London 1851); and M J
Starling, one of a large family of engravers.
William Tombleson (1795-c.1846) is
probably most well-known for 69 illustrations he executed for Tombleson’s Views of the Rhine from Cologne
to Mainz. This was even published in 1832 by George Virtue in French. He
also produced a number of views for The
Thames and Medway. These views are notable for the decoration around the
plate borders.
Most of these engravers worked
together on other projects and for other publishers; hence, Charles Mottram and
W H Bartlett (Fig. 21) executed a number of views for Jones & Co.,
of London at the time they were working on Fisher´s volume. H Wallis executed 3
engravings for Fisher but is also represented in Moore´s History with 6
views.
Fig. 21. View Entrance
to Bristol by W Bartlett & C Mottram for Jones & Co.
Use the links here to go directly to desired pages:
[8] Mackenzie (1987/88).
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