Description
James Ward was an English painter and engraver and one of the great animal artists of the Regency period in England. Prolific and successful, he frequently exhibited at the British Institution and Royal Academy, to which he was elected as a full member in 1811 and continued exhibiting until he was 86 years old. He began his career studying engraving and anatomy, and in 1794 was appointed Painter and Mezzotint Engraver to the Prince of Wales. From 1804, he concentrated on painting. From the 1820s, he was chiefly employed as a painter of horses, although he also depicted dogs and wild animals, typically placing them in dramatic landscapes rendered with vigorous brushwork and strong colors. In 1823-24 undertook a lithographed series of “Celebrated Horses,” that capture the beauty, power, strength, and personality of each horse, and are important early examples of art lithography – these prints come from that series. Ward also produced landscapes, genre and history paintings. His work influenced British artists as well as the French painters Delacroix and Géricault.
Charles Joseph Hullmandel was an English draftsman, lithographer and printer. He worked mainly in London, although he had trained in Paris as a painter and travelled extensively in Europe making topographical drawings. In 1817, on a visit to Munich, he was introduced to lithography by the pioneering lithographer Alois Senefelder. The following year he produced Twenty-four Views of Italy, a set of images he had drawn and lithographed. Dissatisfied with the way his work had been printed, Hullmandel set up his own lithographic press. The quality of work he published by himself and other artists such as Giovanni Belzoni helped popularize the topographical lithograph among British artists.
Pierre Simoneau ran a successful lithographic printing establishment in London from approximately 1815 to 1828. He then returned to his native Brussels and published many important lithographs, including prints after his son Gustave Adolphe Simonau (1811-1870), a prominent architectural and topographical artist.
Ackermann & Co. was a prominent British publisher and printseller. The firm was founded by Rudolph Ackermann (1764-1834), publishing as R. Ackermann from 1795 to 1829. Ackermann was born in Germany and came to England in the 1780s. He pioneered lithography in Britain (though frequently working with color-printed etchings and aquatints), and became a leading publisher of fine colorplate books, decorative prints and magazines, as well as sheet music of the Regency period. In 1797, Ackermann relocated the business premises to 101 Strand, which were known by 1798 as “The Repository of Arts,” also the title of a periodical with a large number of prints that he published from 1809 to 1828. As suggested by the full title of the publication, Ackermann’s Repository of the Arts, Literature, Commerce, Manufactures, Fashions and Politics, the subject matter of the Repository was wide ranging. Among the most influential and popular images in the series were studies of Regency decorative arts, interior design and fashion, as well as various city and country views. Ackermann was a major patron of British artists and designers, notably the famous caricaturist Thomas Rowlandson (1756-1827), whose works were featured in the famous set of London interiors and exteriors entitled Microcosm of London (R. Ackermann, London, 1808-10). Ackermann also manufactured and sold art supplies. In 1829, Rudolph transferred the business to three of his sons, who traded as Ackermann & Co. from 1829 to 1859. The business continued until the end of the 20th Century, last operating as Arthur Ackermann and Son (with offices in the 20th Century in London, Paris, Chicago and New York).
References:
“Charles Joseph Hullmandel.” The Grove Dictionary of Art. New York: Macmillan. 2000. Artnet.com. http://www.artnet.com/library/03/0393/T039379.asp (28 March 2002).
“Gustave Adolphe Simonau.” The Grove Dictionary of Art. New York: Macmillan. 2000. Artnet.com. http://www.artnet.com/library/09/0906/T090680.asp (16 April 2004).
“James Ward.” The Grove Dictionary of Art. New York: Macmillan. 2000. Artnet.com. http://www.artnet.com/library/09/0906/T090680.asp (16 April 2004).
Mackenzie, Ian. British Prints: Dictionary and Price Guide. Woodbridge, Suffolk, England: Antique Collectors Club, 1987. pp. 335-336 (Ward).
Maxted, Ian. “The London book trades 1775-1800: a preliminary checklist of members.” Exeter Working Papers in British Book Trade History. U.K.: Devon Library and Information Services. 24 January 2005. http://www.devon.gov.uk/etched?_IXP_=1&_IXR=111144 (4 May 2007).
Redgrave, Samuel. A Dictionary of Artists of the English School: Painters, Sculptors, Architects, Engravers and Ornamentists. London: Longmans, Green, and Col., 1874. pp. 435-436 (Ward).
“Rudolph Ackermann.” National Portrait Gallery. May 2007. http://www.npg.org.uk/live/search/person.asp?LinkID=mp06540 (4 May 2007).
