John Bluck (early 19th century) after Frederick Mackenzie (1788 – 1854)
Astronomical Observatory, Oxford (1815)
Aquatint with original hand colouring
30 x 25 cm
Published by Rudolph Ackermann (1764 – 1834).
An engraving of the Astronomical Observatory in Oxford – that is, the Radcliffe Observatory, now a part of Green Templeton College. The observatory building commenced to designs by Henry Keene in 1772, and was completed in 1794 to the designs of James Wyatt, with a prominent octagonal tower based on the Tower of the Winds in Athens. Its tower is topped with a statue by John Bacon of Atlas holding up the World.
Frederick Mackenzie (1788 – 1854) was a British watercolourist and architectural draughtsman. He first exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1804, and contributed eleven drawings between that year and 1828. He contributed to the Society of Painters in Water Colours exhibitions from 1813, becoming an associate in 1822, and a full member the following year. From 30 November 1831 till his death he was treasurer to the society. In later life Mackenzie was no longer commissioned to illustrate books.
John Bluck was an aquatint engraver, mainly of topographical views, but also of marine and sporting subjects after his contemporaries. He produced plates for numerous publications.
Rudolph Ackermann was an Anglo-German bookseller, inventor, lithographer, publisher and businessman. In 1795 he established a print-shop and drawing-school at 96 Strand. Here Ackermann set up a lithographic press and began a trade in prints. He later began to manufacture colours and thick carton paper for landscape and miniature painters. Within three years the premises had become too small and he moved to 101 Strand, in his own words “four doors nearer to Somerset House”, the seat of the Royal Academy of Arts. Between 1797 and 1800 Ackermann rapidly developed his print and book publishing business, encompassing many different genres including topography, caricature, portraits, transparencies and decorative prints.
Condition: paper quite toned within platemark.
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