#18th-century British art

[kecobe]

Modern Grace, or, The Operatical Finale to the Ballet of Alonzo e Caro James Gillray (British; 1756–1815) Hand-colored etching on wove paper, 1796 Yale University Library, The Lewis Walpole Library, Farmington, Connecticut

Publisher: Hannah Humphrey, New Bond Street, London

“Didelot dances on the stage between two women, both very lightly clad in quasi-classical costume, and wearing ‘cothurnes.’ He wears a feathered hat, tunic, and cloak, and looks towards Mme Parisot (right); she strikes an attitude with right leg raised and arms extended, and looks alluringly towards him, her right breast bare. Mme Rose (left), his wife, dances with more restraint, her sharp-featured profile turned austerely towards her husband. All wave their arms above their heads, and their attitudes are in fact graceful (though caricatured). Two plump ‘danseuses’ (left and right) whirl on one toe in the background. Behind Didelot is an irradiated sun, with features looking down disapprovingly at the dancer.” — British Museum online catalogue

[lionofchaeronea]

Barn Owls with Their Brood, William Tomkins, ca. 1775

[life-imitates-art-far-more]

Thomas Gainsborough (1727-1788) "Ignatius Sancho" (1768) Oil on canvas Located in the National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Canada Charles Ignatius Sancho (c. 1729 – 14 December 1780) was a British abolitionist, writer and composer.

Believed to have been born on a British slave ship in the Atlantic, Sancho was sold by the British slave traders into slavery in the Spanish Viceroyalty New Granada. After his parents died, Sancho's owner took the two-year-old orphan to Britain and gave him to three sisters living in Greenwich, where he remained for eighteen years. Unable to bear being a servant to them, Sancho ran away to the Montagu House in Blackheath, London where John Montagu, 2nd Duke of Montagu taught him how to read and encouraged Sancho's budding interest in literature. After spending some time as a butler in the household, Sancho left and started his own business as a shopkeeper, while also starting to write and publish various essays, plays and books.

Sancho quickly became involved in the nascent British abolitionist movement, which sought to outlaw both the slave trade and the institution of slavery itself, and he became one of its most devoted supporters. Sancho's status as a property-owner meant he was legally qualified to vote in a general election, a right he exercised in 1774 and 1780, becoming the second known British African to have voted in Britain after John London. Gaining fame in Britain as "the extraordinary Negro", Sancho became, to British abolitionists, a symbol of the humanity of Africans and the immorality of the slave trade and slavery. Sancho died in 1780. The Letters of the Late Ignatius Sancho, an African, edited and published two years after his death, are the first published letter collection by a writer of African descent

[eirene]

Felina with a Kitten, 1788 Sir Joshua Reynolds

[arthistoryanimalia]

Thomas Pitts I (British, fl. c.1744-1793)

Stirrup cup in the form of a fox's head, 1771

Silver w/ gilt remnants, 6 x 8 x 14 cm (2 3/8 x 3 1/8 x 5 1/2 in.)

Inscription: “Success to the Tettcots Hunt and to the death of the Next”

on display at Harvard Art Museums

additional views via https://harvardartmuseums.org/collections/object/339949?position=339949

[barbucomedie]

Basket-Hilted Sword from Scotland dated to the 18th Century on display at Inverness Museum and Art Gallery in Inverness, Scotland

Photographs taken by myself 2024

[beggars-opera]

The future King George III, age 9, reading in a blanket fort in 1747

[otrtbs]

don’t know if you’ve ever talked about it but that painting by joseph mallory william turner called ‘regulus’ and it’s the most blinding sun???

I HAVE ACTUALLY NEVER TALKED ABOUT IT BUT

turner was my undergrad arh teacher’s favorite guy. like that was his special guy and you’ll never guess his favorite painting ….. 🤭 or, i guess, one of his favorite paintings

but it literally is about being blinded by the sun and it goes crazyyyyyy

[artschoolglasses]

Lady in a Green Dress, Jeremiah Meyer, 1770s

From the Victoria & Albert Museum

[ltwilliammowett]

"Beat to quarters" by John R Christian (1954-)

[corvidae1917]

Hatsune Miku trend but make it 18th century Europe, lead foundation included! I love all the cultural Mikus so I wanted to draw some historical outfits for her :>

This is a weird amalgamation of the robe a la polonaise and robe a l’anglaise. I hope it’s not too inaccurate.

Also pls excuse the sketchiness of the whole drawing 🥲

[skitskatdacat63]

"Arrogant, ruthless, and by all reports (including his own) utterly charming."

(I don't know why I drew this but please take Revolutionary War British officer George, I think it suits him, okay!!!)

+ George Russell the type of guy to t-pose in front of rebels

+ the usual

Okay first of all, process, as always:

I drew this in one day hahaha....Actually really fun! I haven't finished anything in almost a month, and haven't painted for even longer, so I'm kinda dying at the fact that 18th century George Russell got me motivated 😭 Sometimes when painting, I realize I have free will and can actually just start painting over the lineart, and that's the best moment of every drawing process 🙏

Also I'm very proud of his face!!! I've said before, but art progression is such a weird thing. You'll keep repeating to your self "I'm no good at [insert art thing.]" And then randomly realized you can in fact do it. That's me with drawing real people's faces 😭 I'm just so shocked I got his face pretty good in one try!!!

Okay about the pose and quote. God its so fun to misappropriate quotes for my own evil deeds. Both of these are from this one officer from the Revolution: Banastre Tarleton. Idk, I randomly saw his painting in a history video, and it's stuck in my mind ever since. And then yesterday, bcs I spent a lot of time looking at George, I'm like "hey you know what he kinda reminds me of-" and thus we have this.

I just found that quote about him from some historian to be funny, so I put it as a caption, as I would with Napoleon. This won't be an AU by any means but. I think if George was in the Revolution, he'd be the most stereotypical, evil British villain in American media type guy ever. And Tarleton is kinda that guy tbh, to the point where him and others like Arnold Benedict are the poster boys of evil Revolution guys. He even has a mocking nickname! "Bloody Tarleton/Ban", very "Osama bin Russell," no? 😭

Some notable moments from Tarleton's campaign that I think fit George: Apparently killed a bunch of American soldiers after they surrendered, making sure everyone was dead(😭😭), threatened to burn an American general's house down to make him surrender and then took him hostage, went toe to toe with George Washington himself and Washington even taunted him and Tarleton got a shot in, has a helmet named after him(very slayful.)

[lionofchaeronea]

Twelve Months of Flowers: September (hand-colored engraving), Henry Fletcher, 1730

[life-imitates-art-far-more]

George Romney (1734-1802) "The Gower Family: The five youngest children of the 2nd Earl Gower" (c. 1776-1777) Oil on canvas Located in the Abbot Hall Art Gallery, Kendal, England

[eirene]

Penelope Unraveling Her Web, 1783–1784 Joseph Wright of Derby

[taf-art]

The Night of Enitharman's Joy (Hecate) (1795). William Blake.