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Lot Essay
Stone's picture was shown at the Royal Academy in 1858. It depicted Hooker in the Rhododendron Region of the Himalaya mountains: 'Two officers of his Nepaulese Guard are in attendance, and their Ghoorka Sepoys are seated round a fire in the distance. The scene represents a view taken on the skirts of a pine-forest, at 9000 feet elevation; Kinchin Junga, the loftiest mountain in the world, elevation 28,178 feet, is seen in the distance. The trunk of a tree on the right is covered with Rhododendron Dalhousice, and other epiphytes.' (Extract from the RA catalogue, 1852).
The mezzotint was announced in a Prospectus [nd] by Lovell Reeve of Henrietta Street, Covent Garden 'MR REEVE begs to announce that a large handsome engraving of the above Picture, in his possession, has been executed in mezzotint at the suggestion of the friends of Dr. Hooker, at a cost of two hundred guineas for 100 Proof Impressions, of which 60 have been subscribed for at the cost price of £2. 2s. each, and that he will be happy to receive the names of Subscribers for the remainder. The favour of an early application is requested.'
Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker (1817-1911) journeyed to the central and eastern Himalaya during 1847-49, visiting Sikkim -- a small state bordered by Tibet, Nepal, Bhutan and British India -- with Dr Archibald Campbell, British government agent, in 1848. 'Altogether Hooker collected about 7000 species in India and Nepal and on his return to England managed to secure another government grant while he classified and named them. The first publication was Rhododendrons of the Sikkim-Himalaya (1849-51), edited by his father and illustrated by Walter Hood Fitch, whose fine drawings enriched many of both the Hookers' publications. Hooker's and Campbell's travels added twenty-five new rhododendrons to the fifty already known and the spectacular new species they introduced into Britain helped created a rhododendron craze among British gardeners. Hooker's journey also produced his Himalayan Journals (1854), which were dedicated to Darwin (one of the 60 subscribers listed by Lovell on his Prospectus for the mezzotint).
The mezzotint was announced in a Prospectus [nd] by Lovell Reeve of Henrietta Street, Covent Garden 'MR REEVE begs to announce that a large handsome engraving of the above Picture, in his possession, has been executed in mezzotint at the suggestion of the friends of Dr. Hooker, at a cost of two hundred guineas for 100 Proof Impressions, of which 60 have been subscribed for at the cost price of £2. 2s. each, and that he will be happy to receive the names of Subscribers for the remainder. The favour of an early application is requested.'
Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker (1817-1911) journeyed to the central and eastern Himalaya during 1847-49, visiting Sikkim -- a small state bordered by Tibet, Nepal, Bhutan and British India -- with Dr Archibald Campbell, British government agent, in 1848. 'Altogether Hooker collected about 7000 species in India and Nepal and on his return to England managed to secure another government grant while he classified and named them. The first publication was Rhododendrons of the Sikkim-Himalaya (1849-51), edited by his father and illustrated by Walter Hood Fitch, whose fine drawings enriched many of both the Hookers' publications. Hooker's and Campbell's travels added twenty-five new rhododendrons to the fifty already known and the spectacular new species they introduced into Britain helped created a rhododendron craze among British gardeners. Hooker's journey also produced his Himalayan Journals (1854), which were dedicated to Darwin (one of the 60 subscribers listed by Lovell on his Prospectus for the mezzotint).