Author Archives: mercedes-c

Mid-August in Messina

Posted on August 15, 2012 by mercedes-c

Between 1782 and 1787, the French painter and printmaker Jean Hoüel (1735-1813) published a travel book entitled Le Voyage pittoresque des isles de Sicile, de Malte et de Lipari. Douce included one of the 264 plates that illustrated Hoüel’s work … Continue reading →

Posted in Aquatint, Festivals, Prints, Religion, Travel | Comments Off

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

Rural sports

Posted on July 27, 2012 by mercedes-c

On the same day the Olympic Games are officially starting in London, and in the spirit of Douce’s wonderfully mad notebooks of Coincidences (Bodleian), the first image that came to my attention when opening the folder of prints to catalogue … Continue reading →

Posted in Colour, Drawings, Everyday life, Festivals, Games, Prints, Satirical prints, Sports | Tagged Olympics | Comments Off

A festival book

Posted on July 25, 2012 by mercedes-c

Two weeks after my post on tournaments, I have come across a few more prints on this subject, kept in a different location. Among Douce’s ‘miscellaneous woodcuts’, there are five hand-coloured illustrations taken from Ordenliche Beschreybung der Fürstlichen Hochzeyt… (Augsburg, 1568) … Continue reading →

Posted in Antiquaries, Collections and Collectors, Colour, Festivals, Prints, Romances, Woodcuts | Comments Off

Satirical highlights

Posted on July 13, 2012 by mercedes-c

Douce’s satirical prints are being catalogued at the moment. With only one more folder to go, I have chosen the highlights below -they loosely relate to some topics of current interest: bad weather, economic recession, and major public celebrations involving … Continue reading →

Posted in Drawings, Everyday life, Prints, Satirical prints | Comments Off

Douce’s evening readings

Posted on July 4, 2012 by mercedes-c

In the evening of 26 September 1830, Douce was reading Walter Scott’s Ivanhoe. Scott was a friend of Douce: in 1804, he had sent him a copy of his edition of the medieval romance Sir Tristrem (now in the Bodleian). … Continue reading →

Posted in Antiquaries, Games, Literature, Prints, Romances | Comments Off

The spiritual Quixote

Posted on June 19, 2012 by mercedes-c

Among Douce’s satirical prints, there is a full set of caricatures of clerics after designs by George Moutard (or Murgatroyd) Woodward (1760?-1809). When Mary Dorothy George catalogued the five prints from the series in the collection of the British Museum, … Continue reading →

Posted in Literature, Prints, Religion, Satirical prints | Comments Off

Poetry and Astronomy

Posted on June 6, 2012 by mercedes-c

I missed the transit of Venus earlier this morning. Transit of Venus I thought that special equipment was required but, apparently, all you need is a piece of paper -or so Jim Naughtie said in the Today programme. He was … Continue reading →

Posted in Astronomy, Games, Natural history, Poetry, Prints, Science, Uncategorized | Comments Off

French Prints and Fans

Posted on May 30, 2012 by mercedes-c

My colleague Cath Casley has noticed a pretty fan in the Ashmolean’s collection which seems to relate to some of the prints in which Douce was interested -I am copying her message below: Found this fan within the collection of … Continue reading →

Posted in Broadsides, Everyday life, Festivals, Napoleon, Prints, Relics, Religion | Comments Off

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