Specimens of Polyautography, Consisting of Impressions Taken from Original Drawings (Made on Stone) Purposely for This Work
"Specimens of Polyautography" contains the first lithographs published in Britain. The process was invented by Alois Senefelder, a Munich dramatist turned printer seeking an inexpensive means to reproduce texts and music. In 1796 he experimented with relief printing from stone blocks, then discovered in 1798 that marks made on limestone with greasy inks or crayons could be printed by purely chemical means. After the surface is treated with gum arabic and nitric acid, dusted with resin and talc, and finally moistened with water, oily printing ink will adhere to the applied marks but not the stone. Senefelder visited London in 1800 to obtain British patents for his revolutionary process, selling the latter rights on in 1801 to Johann Anton André, a printer of musical scores from Offenbach am Main. Johann's brother Philipp, who lived in London, was enlisted to set up a press and develop the method's artistic potential. Interested local artists were supplied with materials and Philipp teamed with James Heath to print and publish sets of twelve "polyautographs" in 1803. Two years later, G. J. Vollweiller arrived from Germany to take over the patent and London press, and expanded the core group to thirty-six prints issued 1806–7.
This portfolio contains examples from both publications–1803 and 1806–7–neither of which elicited a strong public response, leading Vollweiler to close the press and return to Offenbach.
This portfolio contains examples from both publications–1803 and 1806–7–neither of which elicited a strong public response, leading Vollweiler to close the press and return to Offenbach.
Artwork Details
- Title: Specimens of Polyautography, Consisting of Impressions Taken from Original Drawings (Made on Stone) Purposely for This Work
- Series/Portfolio: Specimens of Polyautography, first and second issues
- Publisher: 1803 set published by Philipp H. André (German, active London 1800–1805)
- Publisher: 1803 set published by James Heath (British, London 1757–1834 London)
- Publisher: 1806-7 set published by Georg Jacob Vollweiler (London) successor to M. André
- Artist: Robert Ker Porter (British, 1777–1842)
- Artist: William Henry Pyne (British, London 1770–1843 Middlesex)
- Artist: Richard Cooper II (British, Edinburgh, Scotland 1740–1822 Eltham, Kent)
- Artist: Richard Corbould (British, London 1757–1831 London)
- Artist: Henry Singleton (British, London 1766–1839 London)
- Artist: William Alfred Delamotte (British, 1775–1863)
- Artist: Henry Fuseli (Swiss, Zürich 1741–1825 London)
- Artist: William Havell (British, Reading 1782–1857 London)
- Artist: Raphael Lamar West (British, London 1769–1850 Bushey Heath)
- Artist: Thomas Hearne (British, Marshfield 1744–1817 London)
- Date: 1803–7
- Medium: Lithographs, on yellow-ocher or gray-brown aquatint mounts
- Dimensions: Each sheet approx.: 9 × 13 in. (22.9 × 33 cm)
- Classification: Portfolios
- Credit Line: Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1928
- Object Number: 28.15.1
- Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints
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