Designs by Mr. Bentley for Six Poems by Mr. T. Gray

Name: Designs by Mr. Bentley for Six Poems by Mr. T. Gray
Brand: Thomas Gray
Price: 384.00 USD
Availability: InStock

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Designs by Mr. Bentley for Six Poems by Mr. T. Gray is one of the most beautiful books published in the 18th century. It is important not only because of the poems by Thomas Gray (1716–1771). Among them is the famous Elegy Written in Country Churchyard ( which into Polish, as An Elegy Written in a Village Cemetery translated by, among others, Stanisław Barańczak) and Ode on the Death of a Favorite Cat ) . Illustrations for Designs by Mr. Bentley for Six Poems by Mr. T. Gray created by Richard Bentley (1708–1782), an English writer and above all a friend of Gray. As well as another literary and social celebrity of the era – Horace Walpole. Bentley's illustrations engraved by Johann Sebastian Müller and Charles Grignion reveal the approaching change in aesthetic tastes, connected with the approaching classicism. On the one hand, the influence of French Rococo and Chinoiserie is clearly visible in them, but on the other hand, we can see references to Gothic, which was so vigorously revived in Great Britain at the end of the 18th century. This mix-up should not surprise us, especially since Bentley was friends with Johanna Heinrich, who came from Switzerland. Müntz (1727-1798) , on the one hand an artist who tried to transplant Rococo to British soil, and on the other hand he was a pioneer of the style that was referred to as "Gothic Revival". Muntz was employed by Horace Walpole as an engraver and painter at Strawberry Hill.