JAMES MOORE, High Culture and Tall Chimneys: Art Institutions and Urban Society in Lancashire, 1780–1914

Abstract

The little figures in Callot’s prints were an obvious example to follow for staffage. The Paris based Austrian Franz Edmund Weirotter (1733–1771) was much admired and collected in the late eighteenth century and his feathery trees had a considerable influence on Cuitt’s etchings. Piranesi’s appeal lay in his magnificent treatment of ruined buildings of antiquity. However, the nomenclature ‘the English Piranesi’, applied both to Cuitt and to John Sell Cotman, could mislead. Cuitt also admired the etchings of the Florentine Stefano della Bella (1610–1664) for similar qualities to those of Callot, and some of his lively prints were included in the 1821 sale. Having published 39 etchings whilst living in Chester, after his return to Yorkshire Cuitt published 35 plates between 1821 and 1838, mainly of celebrated local abbeys, but also of picturesque landscape scenery. In 1847 he sold his copper plates together with their copyright to a London publisher and bookseller, Michael Angelo Nattali, who then in 1848 published 73 of them in Wanderings and Pencillings Amongst Ruins of the Olden Times in a volume of which the handsomeness was justified by the artist’s high reputation. Twelve guineas, however, was a high price for purchasers. Ian Dunn provides a lengthy note on this publication. Nattali, born in Bermondsey, based on The Strand, was not one of the leading printsellers and publishers of the day. Cuitt’s closest contact in London in the print trade was Colnaghi & Co.