Media Information
 
 
 
Collection:
Folger Shakespeare Library Digital Image Collection
Source Creator:
Wright, John Massey, 1777-1866, artist, attributed name.
Source Title:
[Drawings for or after engravings designed by J.M. Wright] [graphic] / [John Wright].
Source Created or Published:
[late 18th century or 19th century]
Source Call Number:
ART Box W951 no.10 (size S)
Digital Image File Name:
35398
Digital Image Type:
FSL collection
Hamnet Bib ID:
255771
Hamnet Holdings ID:
337655
HAMNET CATALOG RECORD:
___
Creator (Hamnet):
Wright, John Massey, 1777-1866, artist,
Title (Hamnet):
[Drawings for or after engravings designed by J.M. Wright] [graphic] / [John Wright].
Date of Creation or Publ. (Hamnet):
[late 18th century or 19th century]
Physical Description (Hamnet):
12 drawings : watercolor, wash over pencil indications ; images 253 x 272 mm. or smaller.
Notes (Hamnet):
Artist: Attribution is drawn from the booksellers and the works' similarities to engravings designed by Wright. ART Box W951 no.3-5, though similar in design to an engraving after Wright, are also similar to an illustration of the same scene by Thomas Stothard. ART Box W951 no.2 was purchased as the work of George Cattermole but bears little resemblance to his work. Since its design is almost identical to an engraving after Wright the attribution here has been changed. ART Box W951 no.10 is labeled with the artist as J. Pastorini and may well have been done by his hand. It matches, however, the design of an engraving after Wright and was sold with a group of watercolors attributed to Wright and so has been included here.
Notes (Hamnet):
Collection title devised by cataloger.
Notes (Hamnet):
History: The drawing attributed to Pastorini is identical in design to an engraving which claims to be 'from an Original Drawing by J. Wright' published in London by Simpkin and Marshall. The imprint on the engraving does not give a date and cataloger was unable to locate a printed work which includes the engraving as illustration. Aside from the Pastorini there are two other watercolors of the same subject (Juliet and the Nurse), attributed to Wright, which are similar in design but not exact (ART Box W951 no.10-12 - for engraving see ART File S528rl no.77). The designs of ART Box W951 no.3-4 are similar to an engraving which bears the imprint London, Published by C. Tilt ... 1832 and notes its artist as 'Wright'. Again cataloger turned up no printed work including this illustration, which is for Twelfth night (see ART File S528t6 no.71 for engraving). Another watercolor design for Twelfth night, quite similar to the above, matches an engraving which bears the imprint London : Moon, Boys & Graves [n.d.], again no printed work found (ART Box W951 no.5 - for engraving see ART File S528t6 no.11, imprint varies). The six other watercolors which are noted here match engravings found in an edition of the works of Shakespeare, printed in London for Scott, Webster & Geary, 1836. (No.7 after being conserved, revealed the following note: 'no copyright in this drawing being already engraved / July 1827' on support verso.) Of the 40 plates in this edition 16 were designed by Wright. Six of those designs are represented here by original watercolors (ART Box W951 no.2 & 6-9 and ART Vol. d98 no.3,10, 10 being cataloged with Wright's Small rectangle series). FSL also has separate copies of the engravings, three of which bear the imprint London, Robert Jennings & William Chaplin, [n.d.]. The engravers of the plates are the same on these separate items as the ones noted in the published volumes (Heath and Bacon). Folger copy of the Shakespeare edition is PR 2752 1836d Sh.Col.
Notes (Hamnet):
Items are labeled with the title of the Shakespeare play they illustrate either on the verso or on their backings (which have since been removed). Two of the items have brown ink labels and a brown ink signature on the verso of the backing in the same manner as the labeling for 'Illustrations to Shakespeare - group scenes' by Wright in the FSL collection (ART Box W951 no.5,7). ART Box W591 no.3,6 have drawings on their versos, no 3's being a sketch of the same subject as the recto watercolor and no.6's a small watercolor vignette with a penciled note 'Pericles' (?). Items vary greatly in size and shape. None of the items are signed though ART Box W951 no.3 may have had a penciled signature clipped from it.
Notes (Hamnet):
Provenance: ART Box W951 no.3-8 & 11,12 were formerly part of ART Inventory 289 (no.110,109,24,789,1 4,54,44,45), see entry under Wright for 'Masquerade' for provenance information. ART Box W951 no.10 was formerly part of ART Inventory 286 no.33, see entry under Wright for 'Comedy and tragedy' for provenance information. ART Vol. d98 no.3 is part of a bound volume, see entry under 'Atkinson, John Augustus. Scenes from King Henry V' for provenance information. ART Box W951 no.2 was purchased from Maggs Bros. as the work of George Cattermole in July of 1929 (Case 1936). ART Box W951 no.9 is accompanied by a note in French which gives a brief description of the artist and the item. It would seem that this note was written by the seller of the item. A case number, 1479, has been written on the verso but the item is not listed in that case and provenance remains untraced.
Notes (Hamnet):
Published work: Shakespeare, William. Works ... London : Scott, Webster & Geary, 1836.
Notes (Hamnet):
Subject: Illustrations represent the following Shakespearean scenes: Merchant of Venice - Act III, Sc. 2 (ART Vol d98 no.3) ; Othello - Act V, Sc.2 (ART Box W951 no.2 - There is a vignette drawing identical to this design in the Huntington Library's Turner extra-illustrated Shakespeare, see entry no. 95 under Wright in R. Wark's catalog) ; Twelfth night - Act III, Sc. 4 (no.3 finished watercolor with a brown wash of the same scene on the verso) & (no.4 rough study for the finished watercolor) and Act I, Sc. 5 (no.5) ; King John Act IV, Sc. 1 (no.6 - FSL has a large watercolor version of this same scene also by Wright ART Box W951 no.176) ; Two gentlemen of Verona - Act V, Sc.4 (no.7) ; Tempest - Act I, Sc. 2 (no.8,9, watercolor and brown wash) ; Romeo and Juliet - Act IV, Sc. 5 (no.10,11,12) ; All's well that ends well - Act II, Sc.5 (not counted in the item number here, cataloged under Wright as part of the small rectangle series - ART Vol d98 no.10).
Subject (Hamnet):
Book illustrations -- 18th century.
Subject (Hamnet):
Book illustrations -- 19th century.
Subject (Hamnet):
Drawings -- 18th century.
Subject (Hamnet):
Drawings -- 19th century.
Subject (Hamnet):
Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616 -- Characters, depicted.
Subject (Hamnet):
Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616. King John. Act 4. Scene 1, depicted.
Subject (Hamnet):
Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616. Merchant of Venice. Act 3. scene 2, depicted.
Subject (Hamnet):
Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616. Othello. Act 5. Scene 2, depicted.
Subject (Hamnet):
Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616. Romeo and Juliet. Act 4. Scene 5, depicted.
Subject (Hamnet):
Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616. Tempest. Act 1. Scene 2, depicted.
Subject (Hamnet):
Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616. Twelfth night. Act 1. Scene 5, depicted.
Subject (Hamnet):
Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616. Twelfth night. Act 3. Scene 4, depicted.
Subject (Hamnet):
Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616. Two gentlemen of Verona. Act 5. Scene 4, depicted.
Associated Name (Hamnet):
Cattermole, George, 1800-1868, possible artist.
Associated Name (Hamnet):
Pastorini, Joseph, 1773-1839, possible artist.
Associated Name (Hamnet):
Stothard, Thomas, 1755-1834, possible artist.
Call Number (Hamnet):
ART Box W951 no.10 (size S)

[Drawings for or after engravings designed by J.M. Wright] [graphic] / [John Wright].
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