"A coach entering Fonthill, passing under the arch, two men on horseback holding torches in front of the coach, a soldier standing by the arch; other coaches in front and a group of figures under a marquee to the right celebrating."--British Museum online catalogue
Description:
Title etched below image., Date of publication from that of the periodical for which the print was issued., Plate from: The gentleman's magazine. London : John Nichols, v. 71 (April 1801), "Gent. Mag. April 1801, pl. I, p. 289"--Upper right corner., and Sheet trimmed to plate mark on right and left edges.
A coffin is carried down the stairs of a gothic church by a procession of monks, lit by the light of the full moon and the flames of the torches that some of the monks carry. They walk toward an open crypt in the foreground. The light from the crypt illuminates the monument on the wall opposite (a knight in armor) as well as two monks kneeling at the opening of the crypt and a third monk holding a thurible. A man with a red cloak stands in the shadows on the left, looking down at the scene at the crypt. The image is intended to be backlit. The light sources in the image -- the moon, the glow shining out of the gothic crypt, and the torch-bearing friars -- are enhanced when the image is held up to a light
Description:
Title and approximate date of production from dealer's description., Unsigned; artist unidentified., Drawn in the style of the painter and etcher Franz Joseph Manskirch (1768-1840), who worked in London between 1793 and 1819., and On paper watermarked "J. Whatman Turkey Mill".
Subject (Topic):
Churches, Funeral processions, Incense, Monks, Moonlight, Pointed arches, and Torches
