Print

Object Type
This print of 1742, a very early example of an illustration to a novel, was made by the French printmaker Hubert-François Gravelot (1699-1773) after a design by the painter and decorator Francis Hayman (1708-1776). Both etching and stipple techniques were employed. In etching, the design is marked out by drawing with an etching needle into a thin waxy layer - known as 'the ground' - coating a metal printing plate. The channels drawn into the wax expose the metal beneath. The waxed plate is then dipped in acid, which eats into the metal not protected by 'the ground', and so creates the grooves that hold the ink from which the image is to be printed. The stippled flicks and dots, also made with an etching needle, create an illusion of planes and contours. Prior to printing, the artist uses an engraving tool called a burin to add to the dots and enhance the effect.

Subject Depicted
Samuel Richardson's landmark novel Pamela tells the story of an artless servant girl's resistance to her master's predatory attempts to seduce her. Her virtue wins his affections, they fall in love and the story ends with their marriage. It was written in the form of a series of letters from the heroine to her parents and other correspondents. This illustration shows the young master taking and reading a letter that Pamela is in the very act of writing. One quill pen is in her hand, another is in the inkstand on the table behind. The interior is `above-stairs' rather than 'below-stairs', and Pamela describes it as 'my late lady's dressing-room'.

Pamela, with its psychological insights, and provocative story-line, caused heated debate when it first came out in 1740. It became a bestseller, and six editions were issued within eighteen months.