Album of Views in England and Wales, 1775-1777 (aquatints); 1780 (stipple portrait)

Inscription

in gold-tooled letters on brown leather spine: WINDSOR C. / ETON / WARWICK C. / N&S WALES / SANDBY; on typewritten note pasted on free endpaper: Aquatints / Jean Baptiste Le Prince of France invented the principle of Aquatint, his earliest plates dating from 1768. The Hon. Charles Greville bought the secret from him, and passed it on to PAUL SANDBY, an original member of the Royal Academy. / Le Prince used a 'dust ground', but Sandy discovered the spirit-ground process. In 1775 he published the first English Aquatints, - a series of "Twelve Views in Aquatinta from Drawings in South Wales." / Method. 'dust-ground.' Finely powdered resin is scattered evenly over the copper-plate. The ground is fixed by heating the plate just enough to melt the resin. 'Spirit-ground' (Sandby's method) Copper-plate covered with a solution of resin and spirits of wine. As the spirit evaporates it leaves a film of resin to dry on the plate, the resin contracts, and in doing so splits up into minute grains around which the surface metal become exposed. When the plate is submitted to the action of acid, the mordant is unable to attack the copper under the tiny hills of resin, but will be free to act on the minute spaces of exposed metal around them. After the outline of the picture is transferred, the forms and shadows are produced by a succession of careful bitings by the acid, the use of the stopping-out varnish being very important. / These two volumes of Sandby's earliest aquatints are very valuable, and were presented by Sir Mayson Beeton from his collection to Dorothy Grenside.

Marks and Labels

on front pastedown: bookplates of Sir Mayson M Beeton and John Waldie; label inside front cover: Fine Arts No. 672 [number written in pen and brown ink]

Provenance

John Waldie (1781-1862). Sir Mayson M. (Moss) Beeton (1865-1947)

Exhibition History

2006

The Artist's Vision: Romantic Traditions in Great Britain, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 2006 - 2007

2008

Medieval to Modern: Recent Acquisitions of Drawings, Prints, and Illustrated Books, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 2008, no. 134 b.

2021

Aquatint: From Its Origins to Goya, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 2021 - 2022.

Bibliography

1835

Nagler, G.K. Neues allgemeines Kunstler-Lexikon, oder Nachrichten von dem Leben und den Werken der Maler, Bildhauer, Baumeister, Kupferstecher, Formschneider, Lithographen, Zeichner, Medailleure, Elfenbeinarbeiter, etc.. 22 vols. Munich: E.A. Fleischmann.

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