First published on the occasion of Paul Sandby (1731-1809): picturing Britain, a bicentenary exhibition, first shown at Nottingham Castle Museum and Art Gallery, 25 July-18 October, 2009.

How an ingenious printmaking technique became a cross-cultural phenomenon in Enlightenment Europe Driven by a growing interest in collecting and multiplying drawings, artists and amateurs in the eighteenth century sought a new technique capable of replicating the subtlety of ink, wash, and watercolor. They devised an innovative and versatile new medium—aquatint—which would spread in use across Europe within a few decades, its distinctive dark tones making possible a remarkable variety of ingenious imagery. In this illuminating book, Rena M. Hoisington traces how the aquatint technique flourished as a cross-cultural and cosmopolitan phenomenon that contributed to the rise of art publishing, connoisseurship, leisure travel, drawing instruction, and the popularity of neoclassicism. She offers new insights into sophisticated experiments by artists such as Francisco de Goya, Katharina Prestel, Paul Sandby, and Jean-Baptiste Le Prince. Marvelously illustrated with rare works from the National Gallery of Art’s collection of early aquatints, this engaging book provides a fresh look at how printmaking contributed to a vibrant exchange of information and ideas in Europe during the Enlightenment. Published in association with the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC Exhibition Schedule National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC October 24, 2021–February 21, 2022

The practice of keeping log diaries and journals has evolved through the centuries with the growing popularity of travel for personal enrichment. Five-hundred years ago, artists like Albrecht Durer and explorers like Jacques le Moyne and John White, recorded their journeys in sketchbooks and journals. Picturing exotic locations was part of topographical drawing and cartography. Knowing what a destination looked like helped travelers know they had arrived. The Sketchbook Traveler carries this concept to the next level, expanding the range of plein air enthusiasts by freeing them from cumbersome easels and wet canvases. It provides the novice an introduction to plein air methods, without burdening them with costly equipment. It provides educators with teaching tools and lesson plans, and professional artists with a way to refine their mobile practices. Through drawing, painting, and journal keeping, The Sketchbook Traveler guides readers toward more mindful engagement with the world around them, deepening knowledge and enriching their personal experience in ways that make every day an adventure.

The reputation of William Hogarth (1697-1764) rests largely on his pictorial stories, a series of engravings that he called "modern Moral Subjects," the most famous being the Harlot's and the Rake's Progress. In this catalog, David Bindman works backward from Hogarth's reputation today--where he is seen by some as a conservative populist and by others as a political radical--and examines his impact on various artists over the past three centuries. Bindman also sets Hogarth's prints firmly in their historical context, discussing the artist's public and the different influences on his work, from Roman satire to the politics of the day. The result is an engaging and insightful portrayal not only of William Hogarth, but also of the middle years of the eighteenth century. Art lovers will enjoy this book, but so too will anyone with an interest in the literature and history of the mid-eighteenth century. The reputation of William Hogarth (1697-1764) rests largely on his pictorial stories, a series of engravings that he called "modern Moral Subjects," the most famous being the Harlot's and the Rake's Progress. In this catalog, David Bindman works backward from Hogarth's reputation today--where he is seen by some as a conservative populist and by others as a political radical--and examines his impact on various artists over the past three centuries. Bindman also sets Hogarth's prints firmly in their historical context, discussing the artist's public and the different influences on his work, from Roman satire to the politics of the day. The result is an engaging and insightful portrayal not only of William Hogarth, but also of the middle years of the eighteenth century. Art lovers will enjoy this book, but so too will anyone with an interest in the literature and history of the mid-eighteenth century.

Curious Travellers: Writing the Welsh Tour, 1760-1820 provides the first extensive literary study of British tours of Wales in the Romantic period (c.1760-1820). It examines writers' responses to Welsh landscapes and communities at a time of drastic economic, environmental, and political change. Opening with an overview of Welsh tours up to the early 1700s, Mary-Ann Constantine shows how the intensely intertextual nature of the genre imbued particular sites and locations with meaning. She next draws upon a range of manuscript and published sources to trace a circular tour of the country, unpicking moments of cultural entanglement and revealing how travel-writing shaped understanding of Wales and Welshness within the wider British polity. Wales became a popular destination for visitors following the publication of Thomas Pennant's Tours in Wales in the late 1770s. Hundreds of travel-accounts from the period are extant, yet few (particularly those by women) have been studied in depth. Wales proves, in these narratives, as much a place of disturbance as a picturesque haven--a potent mixture of medieval past and industrial present, exposed down its west coast to the threat of invasion during the Napoleonic Wars. From castles to copper-mines, Constantine explores the full potential of tour writing as an idiosyncratic genre at the interface of literature and history, arguing for its vital importance to broader cultural and environmental studies.

Chapter 1. The 1740s: Scotland -- Chapter 2. The 1750s and 1760s: London and Windsor -- Chapter 3. The 1770s and 1780s: Wales, Warwick and Windsor and the Development of Aquatint -- Chapter 4. Place in the Print World: Collaboration and Copying