[Philadelphia Inquirer art supplements]
Title
[Philadelphia Inquirer art supplements]
Description
Series of art supplements depicting genre, historical and allegorical scenes, landscapes, portraiture, and character studies. Includes "Aurora" showing a white female fairy figure smelling a flower; "The Pilot" portrait of an older white man sea captain smoking a pipe; "The Partners" showing a white girl and boy with a broom and shovel; "Tambourine Girl"; "Playmates" depicting a white girl holding a cat; "Deep Sea Fisherman"; "Night of the Ball" depicting an exterior view of a palatial estate in the snow with an inset showing a young white woman in evening attire; "One of the Four Hundred" showing a white boy costumed as a vagabond; "By the Sea" showing an older African American seaman, attired in a grey top hat, a white collared shirt, a blue and gold bowtie, red suspenders, a yellow jacket with a flower boutonniere, brown pants, and boots, smoking a pipe; an older white man reading "Fairy Tales" to a white girl; "Sheik of the Desert" a bust-length portrait of an Arab man; "A Lively Scrimmage" during a football game; a dog inspecting "Five O'Clock Tea"; a white clergyman having "A Disappointing Luncheon"; a view "Off the Belgium Coast near Ostend"; "Spring" and fall landscapes; "Does You Mother Know You're Out" depicting a white girl with a newly hatched chick; "Napoleon and the Old Guard"; "Wellington and His Soldiers"; a white man and woman couple on "A Honeymoon at Niagara"; and a white lady portrayed fancifully "Among the Roses.", Title supplied by cataloger., Various artists, including M. Duboy, C.L. Van Vredenburgh, Charles P. Gruppe, A. I. Keller, and W. Merritt Post., Various printers, including Forbes Lithograph Manufacturing Company; Leopold Gast & Brother; Julius Bien & Co.; Donaldson Bros.; Ketterlinus; and J. Ottmann., Two of prints designed to stand as display cards., Originally part of Specimens Album [P.9349]., Gift of Margaret Robinson, 1991., Description revised 2022., Access points revised 2022., Cataloging funded by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (PW-506-19-10), 2010-2012.
Date
[ca. 1894-1898]
Location
Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Specimens Album Loose Prints Collection - Philadelphia Inquirer [P.9349.282, 287, 295, 310, 313, 323-325, 330-331, 413, 424, 432, 434, 440, 457, 463-464, 466, & 469]
Engravings by William Humphrys
Title
Engravings by William Humphrys
Description
Scrapbook of print specimens and proofs engraved by Philadelphia and London engraver William Humphrys. Contents include postage stamp proofs, book and periodical illustrations, tile pages, portrait prints, advertisements, and cut outs of banknote and certificate vignettes. Majority of graphics depict allegorical imagery or illustrations of genre, religious, sentimental, and literary scenes, some from the plays of Shakespeare. Illustrations include scenes of courtship; female friendship; children with animals; a ghoulish-looking woman with a torch; a European man smoking a hookah; Jesus Christ; Adam & Eve; and imagery from Edmund Spencer's "Faery Queen", John Milton's "Palemon's Story," and John Gay's "Thursday: or The Spell." Allegorical works depict the figures of Columbia, Minerva, Mercury, Neptune, Bounty, Agriculture, Commerce, Justice, Hope, and Apollo, as well as scenes with the American eagle; caducei for the "Liverpool Apothecaries Company"; citizens fighting a fire; cherubs charting a globe; Native Americans; a family; sailing ships; and symbols of farming, trade, and industry. Vignettes also show a portrait of Benjamin Franklin; Pocahontas saving John Smith; and a female warrior slaying a man of royalty captioned "Sic Semper Tyranus.", Portrait prints, some probably from the British periodical "Fraser's Magazine for Town and Country," depict Israel Putnam; George Washington; Gustavus Adolphus; Mrs. Sloman, of Covent Garden Theatre in the Character of Baltimore; Thomas Carlyle; William Dunlop; Letitia Elizabeth Landon; D. M. Moir; and Henry Purcell. Scrapbook also contains an 1844 banknote specimen of "La Provincia de Buenos Aires" illustrated with vignettes of ostriches; ca. 1845 postage stamp proof depicting Queen Victoria after the Chalon portrait; a full-length portait of an unidentified man, possibly Humphrys; and an advertisement for the Philadelphia artist Joshua Shaw showing a man leading his horse down a bucolic path, as well as engravings after his work of a landscape and an advertisement for Cohen's Lottery Exchange Office, Baltimore., Title from stamp on spine., Morocco binding., Various American and British artists, including W. Chatfield, John Opie, Joshua Shaw, Robert Smirke, C. R. Leslie, Charles L. Eastlake, W. E. West, George Smithard, Carlo Dola, A.E. Chalon, J. Wood, J. Stephanoff, Pastorini, Alfred Croquis (i.e., Daniel Maclise), A. F. Tireggi, John James Barralet, J. Banks, J. M. Wright, Thomas Stothard, P. Williams, Camille Roqueplan, and R. Westall., Various American and British printers and publishers, including H. S. Singleton, J. P. Davis, and James Fraser., Manuscript letter by Humphry completed January 10, 1865 to Anna Holloway pasted on opening page to scrapbook. Letter details his ill health, which in spite of, he still appreciates "the brightness of the sun, the greeness of the earth, and the beauty of extreme nature.", Some scrapbook pages contain manuscript notes identifying the genre of the specimen., Cataloging funded by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (PW-506-19-10), 2010-2012., Lib. Company. Annual report, 1967, p. 55., William Humphrys (1795-1865), born in Dublin, immigrated to the United States early in his life and studied engraving under George Murray in Philadelphia. He worked as an engraver in the city circa 1815-1823 producing book illustrations, advertisements, and banknote and certificate vignettes. He also served as secretary for the Association of American Artists. Relocating to England, he produced similar work before returning to the United States in 1843. In 1845, he moved to Dublin to engrave "The Reading Magdalene" for the Royal Irish Art Union before returning to England where he worked as an engraver for the firm Perkin, Bacon, and Co. During this employ, he was noted for his re-engraving of the head of Queen Victoria for the 1 d postage stamp. Humphrys retired from engraving in his later years and worked as an accountant for the printing firm Novello & Co. He died at the Novellos' Genoa villa on January 21, 1865.
Creator
Humphrys, William, 1795-1865
Date
[ca. 1817-ca. 1845]
Location
Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department albums - Humphrys [7607.F]