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George Robertson, 1778
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Six Views in the Island of Jamaica
George Robertson, 1778
[ROBERTSON, George (1747-1788), artist. Six Views in the Island of Jamaica. London: John Boydell, March, 1778.]
Entirely hand-colored set of some of the earliest views of the Caribbean published as a large folio series. These engravings illustrate the sugar plantations of the slaver William Beckford of Somerly (1744-1799), a cousin of the famous collector. When Beckford moved to Jamaica to supervise his inherited estates there, he brought along the landscape artist George Robertson. Robertson's depictions portray the plantations as lush pastoral scenes, removing any evidence of the brutality of life of enslaved workers. In terms of large-format views of the Caribbean, these were preceded only by the Scenographia Americana and some of the works surrounding the capture of Havana in the French and Indian War. See Sugar and the Visual Imagination in the Atlantic World, circa 1600-1860, John Carter Brown Library Online Exhibition.
Six hand-colored engravings, approx. 435 x 575mm, sheet size, engraved by Daniel Lerpinière (a few neat repairs, pressed). Modern half calf and marbled boards, gilt-lettered cover label.
George Robertson, 1778
[ROBERTSON, George (1747-1788), artist. Six Views in the Island of Jamaica. London: John Boydell, March, 1778.]
Entirely hand-colored set of some of the earliest views of the Caribbean published as a large folio series. These engravings illustrate the sugar plantations of the slaver William Beckford of Somerly (1744-1799), a cousin of the famous collector. When Beckford moved to Jamaica to supervise his inherited estates there, he brought along the landscape artist George Robertson. Robertson's depictions portray the plantations as lush pastoral scenes, removing any evidence of the brutality of life of enslaved workers. In terms of large-format views of the Caribbean, these were preceded only by the Scenographia Americana and some of the works surrounding the capture of Havana in the French and Indian War. See Sugar and the Visual Imagination in the Atlantic World, circa 1600-1860, John Carter Brown Library Online Exhibition.
Six hand-colored engravings, approx. 435 x 575mm, sheet size, engraved by Daniel Lerpinière (a few neat repairs, pressed). Modern half calf and marbled boards, gilt-lettered cover label.
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Christina Geiger
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