The Art of Preparing and Making the Materials used in Writing [School piece or Penmanship sheet]

Calligrapher Inscribed text by Joshua Brookes British

1786

Not on view

This print is decorated at the top and sides with small scenes that show men working in a paper mill, making pounce, black ink, sealing wax and examining quills. Moral verses at center were added in pen and ink by Joshua Brookes, a student at Mr. Trubey's Academy, Red Lion Court, Bermondsey Street, London (see 26.28.802 for another sheet signed by Brookes in 1783).
The work comes from a genre known as writing sheets, writing blanks, penmanship exercises, letter sheets or school pieces, published in Britain ca. 1660 to 1860 and used by students to demonstrate their handwriting abilities.

Artwork Details

Overview

Signatures, Inscriptions, and Markings

Provenance

Exhibition History

Title: The Art of Preparing and Making the Materials used in Writing [School piece or Penmanship sheet]
Publisher: Carington Bowles I (British, 1724–1793)
Calligrapher: Inscribed text by Joshua Brookes (British, active 1783–86)
Date: 1786
Medium: Etching and engraving, with pen and ink
Dimensions: Plate: 17 1/8 × 13 7/8 in. (43.5 × 35.2 cm)
Sheet: 18 7/16 × 14 3/4 in. (46.8 × 37.4 cm)
Classification: Prints
Credit Line: Gift of Bella C. Landauer, 1926
Object Number: 26.28.801
Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

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