Architecture

DateCa. 1750

Retailed by John Boydell

Retailed by Frances Bull

Retailed by William Herbert

OriginEngland, London

MediumBlack and white line engraving and etching with period color

DimensionsOH: 10 1/4" x OW: 14 1/4"; plate: H: 9 1/4" x W: 13 3/8"

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1959-430,1

DescriptionLower margin reads: "ARCHITECTURE./ Printed & sold by W. Herbert on London Bridge, F. Bull on Ludgate Hill, & J. Boydel in Cheapside."Label TextThis print is one in a set of five prints depicting allegorical representations of the arts and sciences including: Architecture, Astronomy, Painting, Poetry, and Sculpture. This print, representing architecture, features fashionable men and women interacting near a building site. In the foreground a gentleman holds an architectural plan and explains some principle of architecture to the couple. A scaffolding appears to the center right, and in the immediate foreground right are two workers with ladders and tools at work. To the left is an elaborate fountain with sculpture.

This copy appears in Margaretta M. Lovell, "Art in a Season of Revolution: Painters, Artisans, and Patrons in Early America" (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2005), Figure 26, P. 67.ProvenanceBefore 1959, the Old Print Shop (New York, NY); 1959-present, purchased by the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation (Williamsburg, VA).