Category Archives: Popular prints

We are five

Posted on March 6, 2013 by mercedes-c

I have just started cataloguing Douce’s prints of fools -the engraving below belongs to the popular type depicting a group of foolish figures that numbers one fewer than the title, so that the viewer makes up the total: On the … Continue reading →

Posted in Antiquaries, Collections and Collectors, Engravings, Fools, Networks, Paintings, Popular prints, Prints, Satirical prints | Comments Off on We are five

A peep at the balloon

Posted on February 3, 2013 by mercedes-c

On Saturday, 7 July 1810, the Oxford-born chemist James Sadler (1753-1828) took part in the celebrations of the installation of the new Chancellor of the University by ascending in a balloon from Merton fields with his fourteen-year-old son, Windham. The … Continue reading →

Posted in Aerostation, Everyday life, London, Popular prints, Prints, Satirical prints, Science, Uncategorized, Woodcuts | Comments Off on A peep at the balloon

The limping messenger

Posted on November 5, 2012 by mercedes-c

Douce’s illustrations from almanacs date from about the last quarter of the eighteenth century to the early 1830s. As is often the case with the part of his collection that remains arranged by subject, the images are taken out of … Continue reading →

Posted in Almanacs, Drawings, Everyday life, Popular prints, Wood-engravings, Woodcuts | Comments Off on The limping messenger

Spot the prawns

Posted on September 28, 2012 by mercedes-c

Like the print of Moses mentioned in my previous post, this woodcut of the Madonna del Gamberone from Douce’s collection was probably destined to be pinned to the walls of somebody’s home: The original painting is kept in a chapel … Continue reading →

Posted in Colour, Pilgrimage, Popular prints, Prints, Religion, Woodcuts | Comments Off on Spot the prawns

Sea-monsters and spinning sows

Posted on August 25, 2012 by mercedes-c

Douce collected a remarkable number of woodcuts published by the Antwerp-based book-seller Joannes Norbertus Vinck. They are mostly popular prints, often coloured (a bit coarsely) in yellow and red. My favourite is this bespectacled spinning sow: Although the theme of … Continue reading →

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Spanish rebus

Posted on August 7, 2012 by mercedes-c

Douce’s collection contains a remarkable amount of Spanish prints. Apart from works by well-known artists such as Goya and Ribera, it is possible to find many rare devotional images and popular prints produced in Spain between the sixteenth and the … Continue reading →

Posted in Music, Popular prints, Prints, Rebus, Religion | Comments Off on Spanish rebus

The Prodigal Son Sifted

Posted on May 22, 2012 by mercedes-c

Despite their various nationalities and the different periods in which they lived, the authors of the satirical prints collected by Douce seemed to share their belief that ‘things ain’t what they used to be’. When seen together, however, the prints … Continue reading →

Posted in Broadsides, Popular prints, Prints, Satirical prints | Comments Off on The Prodigal Son Sifted