Writing Masters of London
Print
ca. 1732 (engraved), 1732 (published)
ca. 1732 (engraved), 1732 (published)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
Cutting from an engraving by George Bickham I (c.1684-1769) titled 'Writing Masters of London' depicting a portrait of Robert More II (1671-1727?). The full engraving features six head and shoulders portraits including More in ovals arranged in a calligraphic border with flanking angels, crossed pens and a crown of laurels. The other sitters are Charles Snell (1667-1733), George Shelley (1666?- 1736?) Ralph Snow (1670-1744), Thomas Ollyffe (fl.1685-c.1725), and John Clark (1683-1736). Probably the frontispiece to George Bickham’s The penman’s companion, 1732.
Object details
| Category | |
| Object type | |
| Title | Writing Masters of London (generic title) |
| Materials and techniques | Engraving on paper |
| Brief description | Portrait of Robert More II (1671-1727?); cutting from engraving by George Bickham I (ca.1684-1769), 'Writing Masters of London'. Probably the frontispiece to George Bickham's 'The penman's companion', 1732, London. |
| Physical description | Cutting from an engraving by George Bickham I (c.1684-1769) titled 'Writing Masters of London' depicting a portrait of Robert More II (1671-1727?). The full engraving features six head and shoulders portraits including More in ovals arranged in a calligraphic border with flanking angels, crossed pens and a crown of laurels. The other sitters are Charles Snell (1667-1733), George Shelley (1666?- 1736?) Ralph Snow (1670-1744), Thomas Ollyffe (fl.1685-c.1725), and John Clark (1683-1736). Probably the frontispiece to George Bickham’s The penman’s companion, 1732. |
| Dimensions |
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| Credit line | Bequeathed by Sir Ambrose Heal |
| Object history | The group of portraits to which this portrait belongs appears to have formed the upper part of an engraved ‘Poem on Writing’ published by Henry Overton, which is listed in a sheet of letterpress dated 1739 in a copy of Charles Snell’s The Art of Writing, in the Victoria and Albert Museum Library. A later impression published by R. Sayer is in the British Museum. However, Martin Breslauer of Museum Street, London, in Catalogue No.70, March 1950, describes the only recorded copy of Bickham’s The penman’s companion, 1732, with this group of portraits as frontispiece. |
| Subjects depicted | |
| Associated objects | |
| Bibliographic reference | Victoria and Albert Museum Department of Prints and Drawings and Department of Paintings Accessions 1965 pub. HMSO 1966 |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | E.883-1965 |
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| Record created | June 30, 2009 |
| Record URL |
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