Old Tree, a Castle in the Distance on the Right
"Specimens of Polyautography" contains the first lithographs published in Britain. The process was invented by Alois Senefelder, a Munich dramatist turned printer seeking an inexpensive means to reproduce texts and music. In 1796 he experimented with relief printing from stone blocks, then discovered in 1798 that marks made on limestone with greasy inks or crayons could be printed by purely chemical means. After the surface is treated with gum arabic and nitric acid, dusted with resin and talc, and finally moistened with water, oily printing ink will adhere to the applied marks but not the stone. Senefelder visited London in 1800 to obtain British patents for his revolutionary process, selling the latter rights on in 1801 to Johann Anton André, a printer of musical scores from Offenbach am Main. Johann's brother Philipp, who lived on in London, was enlisted to set up a press and develop the method's artistic potential. Interested local artists were supplied with materials and Philipp teamed with James Heath to print and publish sets of twelve "polyautographs" in 1803. Two years later, G. J. Vollweiller arrived from Germany to take over the patent and press, and expanded the core group of lithographs to thirty-six in 1806–7. Herne's "Old Tree" is dated 1803 in the stone, but not published until 1806.
Artwork Details
- Title: Old Tree, a Castle in the Distance on the Right
- Series/Portfolio: Specimens of Polyautography, second (?) issue
- Artist: Thomas Hearne (British, Marshfield 1744–1817 London)
- Publisher: Georg Jacob Vollweiler (London) successor to M. André
- Date: 1803–6
- Medium: Pen lithograph on beige aquatint mount
- Dimensions: sheet: 11 5/8 x 8 9/16 in. (29.5 x 21.8 cm)
- Classification: Prints
- Credit Line: Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1928
- Object Number: 28.15.1(19)
- Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints
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Multiple artists/makers
1803–7
Multiple artists/makers
January 1, 1778
Thomas Hearne
Georg Jacob Vollweiler
1803–6
Mary Cassatt
Monsieur LeRoy
1890–91
Goya (Francisco de Goya y Lucientes)
by 1818 (possibly 1814–18)
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