Brading
c. 1794
Medium
Color aquatint on paper
Dimensions
Image: 12.5 × 20.5 cm (4 15/16 × 8 1/8 in.); Plate: 16.5 × 22.5 cm (6 1/2 × 8 7/8 in.); Sheet: 21 × 26.8 cm (8 5/16 × 10 9/16 in.)
Classification
aquatint
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
127963
Art Historical Context
Created around 1794 British printmaker Piercy Roberts,Brading* exemplifies the color aquatint technique that flourished in late-eighteenth-century Britain. Measuring just 12.5 by 20.5 centimeters, the print captures a tranquil view of Brading on the Isle of Wight, rendered with soft tonal washes that mimic the appearance of watercolor. Roberts worked during a period when aquatint artists to reproduce atmospheric landscapes for a growing middle-class audience eager for affordable art. atint, developed in the 1760s and 1770s, uses a resin dust ground to create subtle gradations of tone rather t...