Study for a plate from The Task
c. 1800
Medium
Ink wash on paper
Dimensions
10.5 × 6 cm (4 3/16 × 2 3/8 in.)
Classification
ink or chalk wash
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
131565
Art Historical Context
Thomas Stothard’s *Study for a plate from Task*, created around 1800, offers a glimpse into the meticulous preparatory process of one of Britain’s leading Romantic-era illustrators. Stothard (1755–1834), renowned for his delicate, narrative scenes inspired by literature and history, frequently contributed to illustrated editions of poetry. This small-scale drawing served as a design study for an engraving plate in an edition of William Cowper’s 1785 poem *The Task*, a meditative work celebrating rural life, nature, and domestic tranquility. Such studies were essential in the era’s booming prin...
About the Artist
Thomas Stothard · 1755–1834
Thomas Stothard RA (1755–1834) was born on 17 August 1755 at the Black Horse Inn in London's Long Acre, the son of a prosperous publican originally from Stutton near Tadcaster. A delicate child, he was sent at age five to relatives in Yorkshire, attending schools in Acomb, Tadcaster, and later Ilford, Essex, where he honed his drawing skills by copying prints. Following his father's death in 1770,...