South view of Bocardo or North Gate

Method Copper engraving with hand colouring
Artist Joseph Skelton after John Baptist Malchair
Published Published as the Act Directs Decr. 1, 1819, by J. Skelton St. Aldates Oxford.
Dimensions Image 170 x 217 mm, Sheet 214 x 276 mm
Notes A view of the North or 'Bocardo' Gate of Oxford, from Oxonia Antiqua Restaurata by Joseph Skelton. The Bocardo was a prison, located in the North Gate watch tower, supposedly deriving its name from a particularly difficult syllogism. Skelton began publishing parts of this work from 1818 but it was not completed until 1820 and only fully published three years later in 1823.

Joseph Skelton (1781 - 1850) was an English engraver of topographical and antiquarian subjects. He is best-known for his plates in 'Oxonia Antiqua Illustrata' (1823), 'Engraved Illustrations of Antiente Arms and Armour from the Collection at Goodrich Court from the Drawings, and with the Descriptions of Dr. Meyrick' (1830) (2 vols), and Girault's 'Les Beautes de la France' (1850). He settled in France in the latter part of his life and was elected FSA in 1844. His brother William Skelton was also an engraver.

John Baptist Malchair (1731 - 1812). English painter and printmaker of German birth. The son of a watchmaker, he moved to England c.1754 and taught music and drawing in London, Lewes and Bristol before settling in Oxford as a drawing-master and leader of the band at the city's Music Room. In 1763, he published 12 etchings of views near Oxford. Further sets of etchings followed in 1771 and 1772. His only Royal Academy exhibit was a watercolour landscape, shown in 1773 when he was listed as an honorary exhibitor. There is no evidence that he sold his work. Nearly 500 drawings by Malchair are in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford. These include unpretentious cottage subjects and panoramic views of the city (e.g. Oxford in Flood Time, from Shotover Hill, 1791) characterized by an atmospheric haziness achieved through blurred pencil lines and grey or pastel wash.

Condition: Sheet trimmed.
Framing mounted
Price £80.00
Stock ID 48107

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