Edmund Havell (fl. 1814-1853) (after)
R. Havell & Son, 3 Chapel Street, Tottenham Court Road (engraver)
View of Reading School & Playground
E. Havell, Friar Street, Reading: October 1816
Hand-colored aquatint
14.5 x 22 inches, image
17.5 x 23.75 inches, overall
$475
View of Reading School & Playground
Edmund Havell, 1816
Edmund Havell, 1816
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This scene shows the school as well as numerous students reading and playing. The caption along the bottom reads "Dedicated by Permission to the Reverend R. Valpy, D.D. F.A.S. and the Gentlemen of Reading School by their very humble and respectful Servant Edmund Havell." The school's motto is shown as "Virginibus Sedes Fuit Hæc Monialibus Ædes Hospitium Henricus Musis Donavit Amicus." The Reading School is still in existence.
Edmund Havell was an artist based in Reading, England, where he also ran a circulating library between 1818 and 1830. His son, also named Edmund Havell, became a successful portrait painter, known for his portrait of Elizabeth Barrett Browning, among others. Their relationship to the family of Robert Havell (the engravers of this print) is not clear.
Robert Havell Sr. (1769-1832) was a painter, engraver and publisher. He taught the trade to his son Robert Havell Jr. (1793-1878) and set up business with him in London. They were involved in the production of John James Audubon's Birds of America -- the younger Havell engraved 425 of the plates and the elder printed and colored some of the double-elephant folio sheets in 1827 to 1828, after which Havell took on those tasks himself, establishing himself as a master of aquatint. In 1839, the younger Havell went to the United States at the invitation of Audubon and established himself as a landscape painter of the Hudson River school, also producing aquatints after his paintings.
Condition: Generally very good with the usual overall toning, light wear and minor soiling. Later professionally laid on Japanese paper for support, restoring few marginal tears.
Reference:
"Havell." The Grove Dictionary of Art. New York: Macmillan. 2000. Artnet.com. http://www.artnet.com/library/03/0369/T036953.asp and http://www.artnet.com/library/03/0369/T036956.asp (31 March 2003).