DOI chapter:
Chapter X
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.62095#0126
Eighteenth-Century Colour-Prints 97
this print is taken is of pathetic interest, as having been the one on which Sir Joshua
Reynolds was engaged when he had the first warning of his failure of sight. In his pocket-
book of the year 1789, in which Lady Beauchamp’s name appears as a sitter, against
“Monday, 13th July,” is written: “Sitting prevented by my eyes beginning to be
obscured.”
Isabella Anne Ingram Shepherd was the daughter and co-heir of Charles Ingram,
ninth and last Viscount Irvine. She married in 1776 Francis Viscount Beauchamp, after-
wards second Marquis of Flertford, who died in 1822. Wraxall tells us that Lord
Beauchamp occupied a position of eminence in the ranks of the Opposition, and that
whenever he addressed the House he spoke, if not with eloquence, at least with knowledge
of his subject. This writer describes his person as being “ elegantly formed, above the
ordinary height,” and his manners as “ noble and ingratiating.” Isabella Shepherd was
his second wife, his first having been the daughter of Lord Windsor.
Lady Beauchamp was one of the beauties of the day, and as late as 1782, when she
had passed her first youth, she was still described as being “ possessed of extraordinary
charms.” In 1818, even when nearly sixty years of age, it appears that she was
capable of inspiring passion. It was at this age, anyway, that she inspired the Regent
with some feeling that eventually led to his separating himself entirely from Mrs.
Fitzherbert. Whether her influence depended more on her intellectual endowments than
on her corporeal qualities is a doubt that Wraxall raises, but contemporary opinion, as
gathered from other sources, does not leave the matter in dispute.
There are at least three known states of this print. The first state has the artists’
names, the Beauchamp arms, and the title. In this state the face and neck are sometimes
printed in colours ; in the second state the title and dedication is in open letters ; the
third state is wholly printed in colours. There is a fine impression of each state in the
collection of Her Majesty at Windsor.
ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE WORK OF LUIGI SCHIAVONETTI
Schiavonetti (Luigi), 1765-1840.—Luigi and his twin brother Niccolo Schiavonetti
were born in Italy in 1765. They came to London in 1780, and Niccolo died at
Brompton in 1810. Benjamin West attended his funeral, and Dodd describes him as “of
superlative talent as a delineator of the human figure,” and speaks again of “ the exquisite
tenderness and facility of his touch.” His brother is, however, the subject under
consideration. It was not as a stipple-engraver that Luigi Schiavonetti first rose in the
public esteem, but as an etcher, and secondly as a line-engraver ; in which manner he
illustrated Blair’s Grave, after designs by Blake, with a portrait of Robert Blair as a
frontispiece. He also engraved two large and four small plates for Boydell’s edition of
Shakespeare. Among them was “ Robin Goodfellow,” after Sir Joshua Reynolds. “ A
Nest of Cupids,” after Aspinall, is a well-known stipple-engraving, very charming in its
early states, but very disappointing in its modern re-issues, of which there are many
constantly to be met with. The plate is still in existence, and still being printed, in a re-
worked, re-bitten, much deteriorated condition. Amongst the earlier portraits by
Schiavonetti, other than those illustrated, are to be found “ Caroline, Princess of Wales,”
o
this print is taken is of pathetic interest, as having been the one on which Sir Joshua
Reynolds was engaged when he had the first warning of his failure of sight. In his pocket-
book of the year 1789, in which Lady Beauchamp’s name appears as a sitter, against
“Monday, 13th July,” is written: “Sitting prevented by my eyes beginning to be
obscured.”
Isabella Anne Ingram Shepherd was the daughter and co-heir of Charles Ingram,
ninth and last Viscount Irvine. She married in 1776 Francis Viscount Beauchamp, after-
wards second Marquis of Flertford, who died in 1822. Wraxall tells us that Lord
Beauchamp occupied a position of eminence in the ranks of the Opposition, and that
whenever he addressed the House he spoke, if not with eloquence, at least with knowledge
of his subject. This writer describes his person as being “ elegantly formed, above the
ordinary height,” and his manners as “ noble and ingratiating.” Isabella Shepherd was
his second wife, his first having been the daughter of Lord Windsor.
Lady Beauchamp was one of the beauties of the day, and as late as 1782, when she
had passed her first youth, she was still described as being “ possessed of extraordinary
charms.” In 1818, even when nearly sixty years of age, it appears that she was
capable of inspiring passion. It was at this age, anyway, that she inspired the Regent
with some feeling that eventually led to his separating himself entirely from Mrs.
Fitzherbert. Whether her influence depended more on her intellectual endowments than
on her corporeal qualities is a doubt that Wraxall raises, but contemporary opinion, as
gathered from other sources, does not leave the matter in dispute.
There are at least three known states of this print. The first state has the artists’
names, the Beauchamp arms, and the title. In this state the face and neck are sometimes
printed in colours ; in the second state the title and dedication is in open letters ; the
third state is wholly printed in colours. There is a fine impression of each state in the
collection of Her Majesty at Windsor.
ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE WORK OF LUIGI SCHIAVONETTI
Schiavonetti (Luigi), 1765-1840.—Luigi and his twin brother Niccolo Schiavonetti
were born in Italy in 1765. They came to London in 1780, and Niccolo died at
Brompton in 1810. Benjamin West attended his funeral, and Dodd describes him as “of
superlative talent as a delineator of the human figure,” and speaks again of “ the exquisite
tenderness and facility of his touch.” His brother is, however, the subject under
consideration. It was not as a stipple-engraver that Luigi Schiavonetti first rose in the
public esteem, but as an etcher, and secondly as a line-engraver ; in which manner he
illustrated Blair’s Grave, after designs by Blake, with a portrait of Robert Blair as a
frontispiece. He also engraved two large and four small plates for Boydell’s edition of
Shakespeare. Among them was “ Robin Goodfellow,” after Sir Joshua Reynolds. “ A
Nest of Cupids,” after Aspinall, is a well-known stipple-engraving, very charming in its
early states, but very disappointing in its modern re-issues, of which there are many
constantly to be met with. The plate is still in existence, and still being printed, in a re-
worked, re-bitten, much deteriorated condition. Amongst the earlier portraits by
Schiavonetti, other than those illustrated, are to be found “ Caroline, Princess of Wales,”
o