print;
book-illustration
- Museum number
- 1862,0712.270
- Description
-
Pheasant and garden urn; a cock pheasant standing to left with an urn full of foliage on a plinth behind, surrounded by bushes; illustration to Jackson's 'Essay on the Invention of Engraving and Printing in Chiaro Oscuro' (1754).
Chiaroscuro woodcut printed from seven blocks
- Production date
- 1754 (circa)
- Dimensions
-
Height: 240 millimetres
-
Width: 170 millimetres
- Curator's comments
- Jackson's pamphlet was issued in 1754 with eight plates. It is an attempt to stir up interest in his flagging project to print wallpaper, for which he established a workshop shortly after his return to Britain in 1745. In fact he had sent sample papers to Robert Dunbar in London from Venice, in late 1737 or early 1738, but Dunbar died before the two could come to terms. The first notices of Jackson's wallpapers appeared in the 'Gentleman's Magazine' of February 1752. Meanwhile, he continued to try to attract sponsors for full editions of his earlier chiaroscuros. The enterprise was short-lived; it collapsed after his main distributor, Robert Dunbar junior, went out of business in 1754, leaving a backlog of papers.
Jackson hoped to draw the taste away from the current fashion for chinoiserie, but unfortunately pre-empted the turn of the tide in fashion. He proposed to use his method for papers featuring 'Colours softening into one another, with Harmony and Repose, and true Imitations of Nature in Drawing and Design' rather than the 'gay glaring Colours in broad Patches' and 'Houses in the Air ... [and] thorough Confusion of all the Elements' characteristic of 'gaudy and unmeaning Papers'.
The 'Essay' publicises Jackson's technique of printing in chiaroscuro, emphasising his ability to produce 'ten positive Tints .... whereas Hugo di Carpi new but four; all which Tints can be taken off by four Impressions only' and advertising his use of oil-based colours which 'will never fly off', 'no Water or Damp can have the least Effect upon it, the whole Body of the Paper being impregnated with the Oil which is used in the fixing the colours'. He printed using a cylinder-press, of which no further details are known, beyond the fact that when an old man, he showed a drawing of it to Thomas Bewick. He contrasts his technique with Le Blon's method of colour printing from three primary colour mezzotint plates, which he criticises as being unsuitable for printing any considerable run and for constistency in the colours.
The title page is lettered: 'An Essay on the Invention of Engraving and Printing in Chiaro Oscuro, as practised by Albert Durer, Hugo di Carpi, &c. and the application of making paper hangings of taste, duration, and elegance, by Mr. Jackson, of Battersea. Illustrated with prints in proper colours. / Ceux qui sont capable d'inventer sont rares: ceux qui n'inventent point sont en plus grand nombre, et par consequent les plus forts. / Pascal. / London: Printed for A. Millar, in the Strand; S. Baker, in York-Street, Covent-Garden; J. Whiston and B. White; and L. Davis, in Fleet-Street. / MDCCLIV. / (Price Two Shillings and Six-pence.)'; with a small vignette of an eagle and branches. The text covers eight pages, with foliate headpiece, tail-piece and initial.
- Location
- Not on display
- Associated titles
Associated Title: Essay on the Invention of Engraving and Printing in Chiaro Oscuro
- Acquisition date
- 1862
- Department
- Prints and Drawings
- Registration number
- 1862,0712.270