Author Archives: mercedes-c

The progress and vicissitudes of an emigrant

Posted on July 29, 2013 by mercedes-c

Douce collected a large number of prints by the radical satirist Charles Jameson Grant (active 1830-52). His lithograph Emigration: the progress and vicissitudes of an emigrant (1833) is, as Elizabeth Jane Errington explains in her book Emigrant Worlds, a ‘satirical … Continue reading →

Posted in Lithography, Prints, Radicals, Satirical prints | Comments Off on The progress and vicissitudes of an emigrant

A comic dance

Posted on June 17, 2013 by mercedes-c

One of the highlights in the career of the actor and pantomimist Joseph Grimaldi (1778-1837) was his performance in Harlequin and Mother Goose, or, The Golden Egg. The DNB notices how ‘fashionable and influential people, including Byron and Lord Eldon, … Continue reading →

Posted in Clowns, Colour, Entertainment, Fools, London, Music, Portraits, Prints, Theatre | Comments Off on A comic dance

A contemporary printmaker

Posted on May 29, 2013 by mercedes-c

Douce befriended some of the most celebrated artists of his time and his collections were widely used by them. When Grayson Perry visited the Ashmolean Print Room a few weeks ago, it was great fun to select some of Douce’s … Continue reading →

Posted in Collections and Collectors, Engravings, Everyday life, Fools, History of printmaking, Museums, Prints, Satirical prints | Comments Off on A contemporary printmaker

A print by Cosway

Posted on May 21, 2013 by mercedes-c

Douce was a friend and executor of the painter Richard Cosway (1742-1821). Many works by him and by his wife Maria can be found among Douce’s prints and drawings -this nymph carrying Cupid on her shoulders is a good example: … Continue reading →

Posted in Antiquaries, Antiquities, Aquatint, Collections and Collectors, Engravings, History of printmaking, Paintings, Prints | Comments Off on A print by Cosway

Douce’s dream

Posted on May 8, 2013 by mercedes-c

In a previous post, I referred to Douce’s accounts of his dreams in his Book of Coincidences. In an undated entry probably written in 1817, Douce explained: I had a strange dream about eating a cross-bow as a broiled fish. … Continue reading →

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Amateur drawings

Posted on April 28, 2013 by mercedes-c

Among Douce’s drawings in the Ashmolean there are many by amateurs like Francis Cohen (1788-1861). In 1823, Cohen changed his name to Palgrave and married one of Dawson Turner’s daughters, Elizabeth. Douce and Cohen became close friends and they met … Continue reading →

Posted in Antiquaries, Collections and Collectors, Drawings, Engravings, Networks, Physicians, Prints, Travel | Comments Off on Amateur drawings

Interior design

Posted on April 8, 2013 by mercedes-c

The drawing below was made by Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres, an artist renown, among many other things, for getting his props right: Like other history painters working in the early decades of the nineteenth century, Ingres would have appreciated Douce’s … Continue reading →

Posted in Antiquaries, Drawings, Everyday life, Fashion, Furniture, Networks, Paintings, Romanticism | Comments Off on Interior design

Grinding fools

Posted on March 23, 2013 by mercedes-c

Many of Douce’s prints of fools are emblems from Dutch and German books, like the etching below: The scene is set in a watermill, where an elegantly dressed man is startled at the sight of batches of little fools being … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Emblems, Fools, Prints, Satirical prints, Uncategorized | Comments Off on Grinding fools

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

The Juggernaut Debt

Posted on February 22, 2013 by mercedes-c

In 1832, The Ballot published a series of “Sketches in Church and State”. The proofs for the anonymous wood-engravings can be found among the satirical prints that the British Museum purchased from the estate of Douce’s friend Edward Hawkins. As … Continue reading →

Posted in Collections and Collectors, Networks, Prints, Religion, Satirical prints, Tax, Uncategorized, Wood-engravings | Tagged , | Comments Off on The Juggernaut Debt