Kent Prints

9x7 cm

Belvidere House, Kent, the seat of Lord Eardley.
Drawn & Engraved by I Hassell.
London: Pub.1.Dec.^r 1816 by I.Hassell.

Aquatint in original hand colour by John Hassell published in a two volume work: Picturesque Rides and Walks, with Excursions by Water, Thirty miles round the Metropolis...London, John Hassell 1817-1818.

John Hassell (1767?-1825) was an English landscape painter, engraver, illustrator writer, publisher, drawing master, friend and biographer of fellow artist George Morland.
The work included 120 aquatint engravings. Aquatint is an etching process using powdered rosin to create tones on the copperplate which, when hand coloured with watercolour washes after printing, gave the effect of a watercolour painting. The small two volume work was expensive to produce and sales were limited, the work and surviving plates are scarce today.

Belvedere was demolished in 1957 to make way for a housing estate. The house is shown here when it was the residence of Sampson Eardley. 1st Baron Eardley, FRS (1744-1824), British banker and politician, born Sampson Gideon.

Fingermarking to lower margin.