Images(2)

Seized up In The Rigging

Engraver W Read (1818 - 1837)

Artist Thomas Rowlandson (1756 - 1827)

Author John Mitford (English, 1782 - 1831)

Date1818

Object number00027551

NameEngraving

MediumInk on paper

DimensionsImage: 107 x 181 mm
Overall: 125 x 195 mm, 0.002 kg
Sheet: 125 x 195 mm

ClassificationsArt

Credit LineANMM Collection

Terms

DescriptionThis illustration was engraved by W Read (active 1818-1837) after an original design by British caricaturist and artist Thomas Rowlandson (1756-1827). It is one of sixteen illustrations that Rowlandson was commissioned to design for a book by John Mitford (1782 - 1831) entitled 'The Adventures of Johnny Newcome in the Navy; a poem in four cantos'; published for the first time in 1818. The engraving appears to date from the original edition.HistoryThis illustration was engraved by W Read (active 1818-1837) after an original design by British caricaturist and artist Thomas Rowlandson (1756-1827). Rowlandson was known to enlist the services of a professional engraver when it came to the aquatinting stage of the engraving process. This engraving is one of sixteen illustrations that Rowlandson was commissioned to design for John Mitford's 1818 book 'The Adventures of Johnny Newcome in the Navy; a poem in four cantos'. In at least one edition of this work Mitford is known to have used the pseudonym 'Alfred Burton.'SignificanceThis engraving is both significant and useful in helping to document the work of one of the most renowned artists/caricaturists of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries - Thomas Rowlandson. It also provides a unique insight into the nature and content of the fictitious nautical and maritime literiture of this period; particularly that of former sailor and author John Mitford.