Lucas, Fielding, William Kneass (engraver), William Strickland (illustrator and engraver), William Gorgan (author), William Cox (author), and J. William Alston (author)The Art of Colouring and Painting Landscapes in Water Colours accompanied with Ten Engravings Selected from the Best Masters on Those Subjects by an Amateur. Baltimore: Fielding Lucas Jr., No. 138 Market Street. Printed by Joseph Robinson 1815
4to (241 x 146 mm). 76 pp., 48 ff., 11 total plates, 7 of which hand-colored, including a hand-colored engraved additional title with vignette, 10 aquatints numbered I-X printed from 8 plates, 6 of which hand-colored aquatint engravings, 4 uncolored aquatint engravings, 3 of those are heightened with white tint. Period green and orange boards, printed orange paper label with decorative border; skillfully rebacked preserving original spine.
Plates include:Engraved Title and Vignette.1. Pencils, Diagrams, Tints, &c.2. Outline of Landscape3. First tints, in preparation4. Preparation5. Coloured Landscape6. Preparation for Sunset7. Sunset subject8. Moonlight subject9. Snow subject10. Fire subject
A first edition of this early drawing instruction book which Reese called "the first American example of a popular genre."
With the additional hand-colored engraved title and all ten aquatint plates, including six hand-colored and three hand-tinted. "The cultivation of the arts, unquestionably holds a very distinguished place among our enjoyments; and, as it tends to enlarge and exalt the mind, is justly considered an essential part of education in Europe, though hitherto in this country, it has been a matter of secondary consideration" (Introduction). Though the author of this, the pioneering work of American art pedagogy is unknown, it has been attributed variously to William Grogan by Shaw and Shoemaker; to William Cox by James A. Foster of the Maryland Historical Society; and to J. W. Alston in the Bernard Halliday catalog, likely due to a similar British Museum catalog entry. Reese states the innovative publisher and promoter Fielding Lucas himself might have written the text; he certainly was the force behind the project. As Reese relates, "Lucas was perhaps the most successful American publisher of 1810-1830, following the path of Benjamin Franklin and Isaiah Thomas in building a distribution network for his books throughout the United States." More importantly, Lucas was "one of the first to experiment with color illustration in books outside of the large works issued by subscription. Lucas clearly saw that the addition of color could be an effective marketing tool for publishers" (Reese). This was Lucas's first published book with color illustrations. Using color illustrations in books in the nineteenth century was expensive and labor-intensive. After creating the aquatint plate, it would be printed in black and white, and colored by hand with watercolors. Publishers drastically limited their market when they used color, as the price of the book was far higher than a title with only black and white illustrations. However, with this initial book's success, many such color-illustrated books published by Lucas followed, including 1820's The Art of Drawing Landscapes Being Plain and Easy Instructions and 1827's Lucas's Progressive Drawing Book, which focused on American scenery. The Art of Colouring's ten didactic plates instruct readers on how to outline and shade a landscape, and then how to color increasingly complex scenes, ending with one of a burning ship at sea in the dark of night. The plates were drawn by William Strickland the architect who studied with Benjamin Latrobe, and later became a leading exponent of the Greek Revival in America.
REFERENCE:Bennett, A Practical Guide to American Nineteenth Century Color Plate Books p.69; Dreppred, American Drawing Books; Halliday, catalog no.177 (nos. 61, 155); Koke, "John Hill, Master of Aquatint, 1770-1850," New-York Historical Society Quarterly, vol.43, no.1, January 1959, note 39, p.84; OCLC 9813364; Reese, Stamped with a National Character 7; Reese; America Pictured to the Life 79; Shaw and Shoemaker, American Bibliography, 33885, 34826; Weitenkampf, "Early American Landscape Prints," The Art Quarterly, vol. 8, 1945, p.63
Lucas, Fielding, William Kneass (engraver), William Strickland (illustrator and engraver), William Gorgan (author), William Cox (author), and J. William Alston (author)The Art of Colouring and Painting Landscapes in Water Colours accompanied with Ten Engravings Selected from the Best Masters on Those Subjects by an Amateur. Baltimore: Fielding Lucas Jr., No. 138 Market Street. Printed by Joseph Robinson 1815
4to (241 x 146 mm). 76 pp., 48 ff., 11 total plates, 7 of which hand-colored, including a hand-colored engraved additional title with vignette, 10 aquatints numbered I-X printed from 8 plates, 6 of which hand-colored aquatint engravings, 4 uncolored aquatint engravings, 3 of those are heightened with white tint. Period green and orange boards, printed orange paper label with decorative border; skillfully rebacked preserving original spine.
Plates include:Engraved Title and Vignette.1. Pencils, Diagrams, Tints, &c.2. Outline of Landscape3. First tints, in preparation4. Preparation5. Coloured Landscape6. Preparation for Sunset7. Sunset subject8. Moonlight subject9. Snow subject10. Fire subject
A first edition of this early drawing instruction book which Reese called "the first American example of a popular genre."
With the additional hand-colored engraved title and all ten aquatint plates, including six hand-colored and three hand-tinted. "The cultivation of the arts, unquestionably holds a very distinguished place among our enjoyments; and, as it tends to enlarge and exalt the mind, is justly considered an essential part of education in Europe, though hitherto in this country, it has been a matter of secondary consideration" (Introduction). Though the author of this, the pioneering work of American art pedagogy is unknown, it has been attributed variously to William Grogan by Shaw and Shoemaker; to William Cox by James A. Foster of the Maryland Historical Society; and to J. W. Alston in the Bernard Halliday catalog, likely due to a similar British Museum catalog entry. Reese states the innovative publisher and promoter Fielding Lucas himself might have written the text; he certainly was the force behind the project. As Reese relates, "Lucas was perhaps the most successful American publisher of 1810-1830, following the path of Benjamin Franklin and Isaiah Thomas in building a distribution network for his books throughout the United States." More importantly, Lucas was "one of the first to experiment with color illustration in books outside of the large works issued by subscription. Lucas clearly saw that the addition of color could be an effective marketing tool for publishers" (Reese). This was Lucas's first published book with color illustrations. Using color illustrations in books in the nineteenth century was expensive and labor-intensive. After creating the aquatint plate, it would be printed in black and white, and colored by hand with watercolors. Publishers drastically limited their market when they used color, as the price of the book was far higher than a title with only black and white illustrations. However, with this initial book's success, many such color-illustrated books published by Lucas followed, including 1820's The Art of Drawing Landscapes Being Plain and Easy Instructions and 1827's Lucas's Progressive Drawing Book, which focused on American scenery. The Art of Colouring's ten didactic plates instruct readers on how to outline and shade a landscape, and then how to color increasingly complex scenes, ending with one of a burning ship at sea in the dark of night. The plates were drawn by William Strickland the architect who studied with Benjamin Latrobe, and later became a leading exponent of the Greek Revival in America.
REFERENCE:Bennett, A Practical Guide to American Nineteenth Century Color Plate Books p.69; Dreppred, American Drawing Books; Halliday, catalog no.177 (nos. 61, 155); Koke, "John Hill, Master of Aquatint, 1770-1850," New-York Historical Society Quarterly, vol.43, no.1, January 1959, note 39, p.84; OCLC 9813364; Reese, Stamped with a National Character 7; Reese; America Pictured to the Life 79; Shaw and Shoemaker, American Bibliography, 33885, 34826; Weitenkampf, "Early American Landscape Prints," The Art Quarterly, vol. 8, 1945, p.63
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