Costumes of the University of Oxford

Physical description

Hand-coloured aquatint etching of the costumes of the University of Oxford, depicting 15 men in five groups of three, and the different robes or gowns appropriate to their position, beginning with the Vice Chancellor and a Yeoman, followed by the gowns of the gentlemen and noblemen, the Doctors in Civil Law and Divinity, the Batchelors of Civil Law and the Arts, and finally the young scholars and the common robes of an entry level student. They all wear mortarboards and pose before a landscape of the city, with spires and domes rising above the trees in the background. Lettered with title, descriptive notes, and artist's names.

Place of Origin

Great Britain, UK (made)

Date

1822 (made)

Artist/maker

Baker, John (active in the first half of the 19th century., engraver)
Whittock, N. (after a drawing by, artist)

Materials and Techniques

Hand-coloured aquatint etching

Marks and inscriptions

Drawn by N. Whittock, High Street, Oxford. Engraved by J. Baker, 2, Leigh Street, Red Lion Sq., London.

Dimensions

Height: 25.2 cm, Width: 60.3 cm

Descriptive line

Hand-coloured aquatint etching of the costumes of the University of Oxford, by J.Baker after a drawing by N. Whittock. Great Britain, 1822.

Bibliographic References (Citation, Note/Abstract, NAL no)

Miller, Elizabeth. Hand Coloured British Prints. London: Published by Trustees of the Victoria and Albert Museum, 1987.
The full text of the entry is as follows:

"J. BAKER (Worked first half of the nineteenth century) after N. WHITTOCK
Costumes of the University of Oxford, 1822.
Lettered with title, descriptive notes and Drawn by N. Whittock, High Street, Oxford. Engraved by J. Baker, 2, Leigh Street, Red Lion Sq., London.
Etching and aquatint coloured by hand.
25.2 X 60.3cm
E.369-1943
Given by Mr Arthur Laws.

This print would have been intended to fulfill a somewhat mundane function as part advertisement (one can imagine it hanging in a tailors) and part souvenir. The colouring of academic outfits was significant and slight variations were of great importance to the status of the wearer. With prints such as this, in which the colouring conveys information that would be lost or obscured if the colouring was absent, we can more secure in assuming the colouring is contemporary. Other types of prints in which the hand-colouring conveyed essential information include botanical and zoological subjects and prints concerned with the decorative arts. the V&A possesses a copy of The Works of Architecture of Robert and James Adam, 1779-1779, partly hand-coloured, which aimed to show the colours the designer envisaged being used for his internal decorating schemes."
Victoria and Albert Museum, Department of Engraving, Illustration and Design and Department of Paintings, Accessions 1943, London: HMSO, 1956.
The full text of the record is as follows:

'BAKER, J. (worked first half of 16th century)

Costumes of the University of Oxford, 1822.
Lettered with title, descriptive notes and Drawn by N. Whittock High Street, Oxford. Engraved by J. Baker, 2, Leigh Street, Red Lion Sq., London..
Aquatint, coloured by hand.
E.369-1943

Given by Mr. Arthur Laws.'

Materials

Paper; Printing inks

Techniques

Etching; Aquatint

Subjects depicted

Men; Costume; Oxford; Scholars; University; Academic; Mortarboards

Categories

Prints; Clothing

Collection code

PDP