Grosvenor Prints

Mr. Turner in Print. In light of the incredible new big screen portrayal of Joseph Mallord William Turner, we take a look at the eccentric British painter's works in print. Timothy Spall as J.M.W. Turner in Mike Leigh's 'Mr. Turner'. Joseph Mallord William Turner was born at 21 Maiden Lane, Covent Garden, London. The son of William Turner (1745–1829), a barber and wig-maker, and his wife Mary, née Marshall (1739–1804). At home his father encouraged his artistic talent and showed off his drawings in his shop. In December 1789, after a term’s probation, Turner entered the Royal Academy Schools. Turner’s varied activities indicate wide interests as well as a need to fund his Academy education. The flourishing market for landscape and antiquarian topography, whether watercolours for exhibition and sale or reproduction in prints and books, provided his first real income.  Here are some examples of Turner's topographical work, both ske...

John Webber and Captain James Cook. A fantastic new display at the National Maritime Museum, ‘ The Art & Science of Exploration, 1768-80 ’, is ‘an exhibition of exceptional paintings, prints and drawings by specially commissioned artists on Captain Cook’s 18th-century voyages of discovery. These works influenced forever how the European public saw the Pacific’. James Cook. [Ref: 4577 ]   £140.00 Another featured artist in our new catalogue is John Webber (1751-93) who travelled with Captain Cook on his Third Voyage (1776-80)on board   HMS Resolution as the Official Artist of the expedition, even recording the explorer's death at the hand of Hawaiian natives. [Hawaii] An Inland View, in Atooi. [Ref: 34290 ]   £360.00 In 1776, Webber's work at an exhibition caught the eye of Daniel Solander, a botanist on Cook's first voyage. Solander knew that the Admiralty was still looking for a suitable expedition artist for Cook's f...

David Roberts and Egypt. As part of our latest catalogue, we have a selection of detailed lithograph ic prints of Egypt by the prolific Scottish painter David Roberts, which h e produced from sketches made during long tours of the region (1838–1840). The Entrance to the Citadel of Cairo. [Ref: 34909 ]   £750.00   In fact, it was J.M.W. Turner who managed to persuade Roberts to abandon scene painting and devote himself to becoming a full-time artist. Roberts set sail for Egypt on 31 August 1838. His tour included Egypt, Nubia , the Sinai , the Holy Land , Jordan and Lebanon . Throughout, he produced a vast collection of drawings and watercolour sketches. Grand Entrance to the Mosque of the Sultan Hassan. [Ref: 34906 ]   £750.00   On his return to Britain, Roberts worked with lithographer Lou...

Frequently called the English Rembrandt, Thomas Worlidge (1700 – 1766), in his own day, was an artist of considerable status and international renown, yet by the early twentieth century he had been pretty well forgotten.   However, a 1983 exhibition ‘Rembrandt in Eighteenth – Century England’ illuminated Worlidge as the subject of scholarly research, providing greater detail of his life and career, which had previously been neglected by other commentators. A more recent re-awakening of interest in Worlidge accompanies the growing popularity of Eighteenth – Century peintre – gravuers in general, and a return to critical favour of the genre. An unfinished self portrait. Ref: 32776 Born in Peterborough, Worlidge was the son of an eminent solicitor at law. At a young age, his mother had him instructed in drawing and apprenticed him to Genoese painter Allessandro Grimaldi, ‘famous for designing chandeliers and etching in gold or glass’. Grimaldi put Worlidge under the care of L...