Engraving of “Raffaelle and the Fornarina” by Augustus Wall Callcott (1779-1844)

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(After) Raffaelle and the Fornarina

Sir Augustus Wall Callcott (1779-1844)

Engraved by J. and G. P. Nicholls

Painting exhibited in 1837; engraving for the Art Union, 1843

Engraving: 610 x 410 mm; 780 mm (H); 560 mm (W), as given by the National Trust, which holds a copy in its collections.

Printed "Exclusively for the members of the Art Union of London," from the painting owned by Sir George Philips: "A young man sits beside a young woman who is shown in profile plucking petals from a rose. The man holds a paintbrush and sketch pad on his knee. Printed with an inset arched top" (National Trust). [Commentary continues below. Mouse over the text for links.]

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The Art-Journal explains that Callcott "very rarely attempted figure subjects, strictly so called," but considers this to be "his most important work of this character" (11). It is also an example of Callcott as a genre painter: he painted a number of historical scenes, scenes from Shakespeare, etc. David Blayney Brown gives a good deal of space to this work in his account of Callcott, saying that the composition was several years in the making; showed a number of influences; and existed in two versions. One, which had the figures on two separate canvases, was painted for the Duke of Norfolk, and the other, "apparently a single canvas with life-size figures," was painted for Sir George Phillips. Brown finds it "an important example of that historicism in the arts which occurs often in English and continental paintings of its period, and is clearly related to the art-historical interests he shared with his wife and friends" (90). In particular, he feels that it owed much to Callcott's exposure to German art on his travels: to works by Franz Pforr and Overbeck, for example (91).

There were clearly at least two sources of engravings, as well as two versions of the original. Lumb Stocks (1812-1892) is given as the engraver in Brown (where it is shown on p. 90), whereas the names below the Art-Journal engraving are quite clearly those of G(eorge) P(ike) abd J(ohn) Nicholls, also well-known engravers. It is fortunate that we have these engravings, because the paintings themelves have not been traced.

Link to Related Material

Unwilling Moderns: The Nazarene Painters of the Nineteenth Century

Bibliography

"British Artists, Their Style and Character, with Engraved Illustrations XI: Sir Augustus Wall Callcott." Art-Journal 1856. Internet Archive. From a copy in the Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University. Web. 14 April 2023.

Brown, David Blayney. Augustus Wall Callcott. London: Tate Gallery, 1981.

Raphael and the Fornarina (after Sir Augustus Wall Callcott). National Trust Collection, Calke Abbey, Derbyshire. Wen. 14 April 2023.

Created 14 April 2023