The Strid, near Bolton Priory
Coloured aquatintNovember 1811
- About the work
About the artist
Daniell Havell was an aquatint engraver of topographical views, military and genre subjects after his contemporaries. He was born in Berkshire, the son of painter Thomas Havell and may also have been the nephew of the engraver Robert Havell senior (1769-1832), with whom he collaborated on a number of plates.
Robert Havell senior, son of artist and publisher Daniel Havell, was born in Reading but moved to London as a child. After Robert launched his career, father and son collaborated on illustrations for Henry Salt’s ‘Twenty Four Views Taken in St. Helena’ (1809–10). However, the partnership was short-lived and Robert later established himself at premises in Fitzrovia. He married Lydia Miller Phillips and had a son, Robert junior. Robert junior and his father formed the firm of R. Havell & Son, working on numerous projects including ‘Birds of America’ for John James Audubon. The scale of this project led them to employ 50 additional staff and move to larger premises in Oxford Street. Robert senior died a year after the company expansion.
Thomas Christopher Hofland, landscape painter, was born in Worksop, Nottinghamshire. He was a pupil of landscape painter John Rathbone and later taught painting in Kew. In 1805 he moved to Derby and continued his teaching career, relocating again to Leeds in 1808. In 1810 he married Barbara Hoole, a writer of text books and children’s fiction. Hofland was never elected a Royal Academician and in reaction took a leading role in creating the Society of British Artists in 1823, where he showed at least 119 works. Hofland’s subjects are almost exclusively British and include views of the Lake District and country houses. In 1840 he travelled to Italy, staying near Rome and Naples. He died of stomach cancer at Leamington Spa.