Engravings from the Choicest Works of Sir Thomas Lawrence

When attempting to determine which portrait engraving after Chalon that Humphrys used as a reference when he was engraving his first Chalon vignette for Perkins, Bacon & Co., one question was the level of relationship between Humphrys and Cousins versus between Humphrys and Cousins.

The work Engravings from The Choicest Works of Sir Thomas Lawrence, P.R.A. [Lawrence1846] demonstrates a professional nexus between Cousins, Humphrys (here, Humphries) and Wagstaff over 1837 – 1844, so it is worthwhile to report the details.

As reported by the Royal Academy “The work was published serially from 1835. A publisher's advertisement carrying the date 1835 announces that 'A Part will appear at regular intervals of Three Months, containing Three Plates ...'” This advertisement seems to have been overly optimistic, since the publishing dates for the 50 plates span September 1 1835 to May 1 1846, or about 1.2 plates per 3 months on average.

Recall that Lawrence, President of the Royal Academy, requested circa 1826 that Cousins dedicate his time to engraving Lawrence’s portraits, but Cousins did not accept the offer [Whitman04]. We can speculate that some combination of the following occurred: 

·         For Engravings from The Choicest Works of Sir Thomas Lawrence, P.R.A. , Cousins remained Lawrence’s trusted choice of engraver, as he was selected for the first plate. Meanwhile, Lawrence, and latterly the publishers of the work (initially Hodgson, Boys and Graves), needed other engravers, and presumably Cousins recommended the names of alternative engravers

·         The engravers met each other informally along the way, perhaps as part of any checking of their prints at the publishing house, and/or at any celebrations for the publishing of each issue in the serial

·         There were review meetings for quality review, with some engravers “looking over the shoulder” of another engraver who had a plate in progress, and offering suggestions

·         The leading engravers of the day were familiar with each other via other means (from exhibits, competitive monitoring, and so forth).

Certainly we see that Cousins engraved five plates for this serial over 1835 – 1844, Wagstaff engraved four plates over 1837 – 1840, and Humphrys engraved two plates, in 1839 and June 1844. It seems reasonable to conclude that Humphrys was well aware of both Cousins and Wagstaff’s work when he came to engrave the Chalon portrait for Perkins, Bacon & Co. in circa 1846.

Sidebar: some online references hint that Humphrys was in the United States in 1844, but this table suggests that he was in London for some reasonable fraction of the first half of 1844.

The (partially completed) table below is compiled from a) the contents page in [Lawrence1846] labelled “List of the Works of Sir Thomas Lawrence P.R.A. Contained in this Volume” and b) footers below each of the prints of the portraits.

#	Names of the Plates	Engravers of the Plates	Inscribed Details on the Plates
1	Nature	Samuel Cousins ARA	London Published Sept 1 1835 by Hodgson Boys & Graves Printseller to the King 6 Pall Mall
2		J.E. Coombs
3		John Lucas
4	Lady Lyndhurst	Samuel Cousins ARA	London Published July 15 1836 by Hodgson & Graves Printseller to the King 6 Pall Mall
5		John Lucas
6	Master Hope	Samuel Cousins ARA	London Published April 10 1836 by Hodgson & Graves Printseller to the King 6 Pall Mall
7		G.H. Phillips	(George Henry Phillips)
8		William Giller
9		William Giller
10		G.H. Phillips
11	Countess of Blessington	Samuel Cousins ARA	London Published June 1 1837 by Hodgson & Graves Printseller to the King 6 Pall Mall
12	Lord Ashburton	C.E. Wagstaff	London Published Augt 1 1837 by Hodgson & Graves Printseller to the Queen Pall Mall
13		G.H. Phillips
14	Earl of Durham	C.E. Wagstaff	London Published June 1 1838 by Hodgson & Graves Printseller by Specxial Appointment to Her Majesty 6 Pall Mall
15		G.H. Phillips
16		G.H. Phillips
17		James Egan
18		G.H. Phillips
19		Edward McInnes
20	Marshall Blucher	C.E. Wagstaff	No additional inscription; preceding date in Nov 1 1839 and following date is Oct 1 1839
21	Master Locke	William Humphries	London Published Oct 1 1839 by Hodgson  & Graves Her Majesty's Printsellers Pall Mall
22	Cardinal Gonsalvi	C.E. Wagstaff	London Published April 11 1840 by Hodgson & Graves Her Majesty's Printsellers Pall Mall
23		S.W. Reynolds
24		G.H. Phillips
25		Edward McInnes
26		G.H. Phillips
27		P. Thomas
28		Edward McInnes
29		Edward McInnes
30		Edward McInnes
31		J.R. Jackson
32		Edward McInnes
33		Charles G. Lewis
34		J.R. Jackson
35		Edward McInnes
36		J.R. Jackson
37		Edward McInnes
38		J.R. Jackson
39	Sir Walter Scott Bart.	William Humphries	London Published June 1 1844 by H  Graves & Co. Printsellers to Her Majesty 6 Pall Mall
40		Edward McInnes
41	Countess of Grosvenor	Samuel Cousins ARA	London Published Feby 1 1844 by H  Graves & Co. Printsellers to the Queen 6 Pall Mall
42		Edward McInnes
43		W.O. Burgress
44		J. Porter
45		W.O. Burgress
46		J.R. Jackson
47		J.R. Jackson
48		J.R. Jackson
49		J.R. Jackson
50		William Giller