Charles Hamilton Smith, The Grand Conventional Festival of the Britons, 1815
Hand coloured aquatint, 41.5 x 67 cm. Society of Antiquaries of London. Photo © Society of Antiquaries of London/John Hammond
Samuel Meyrick (1783-1848) and Charles Smith produced the first substantial costume book to attempt to depict the dress and customs of the ancient Britons, Costume of the Original Inhabitants of the British Islands.
They were the first to use archaeological evidence to help create visual images of an imagined prehistoric past. By referring to learned journals such as Archaeologia and depicting genuine artefacts and monuments, they made their images appear in a historical context, making them seem more authentic.
This reconstruction of Stonehenge provides the setting for an imaginary festival of Ancient Britons. The subject was derived from William Stukeley’s interpretation of the site as a temple for Druidic ceremonies with Old Testament origins. The image of the serpent and the procession of the Ark of the Covenant come from Stukeley, the costumes from medieval sources.
The publication was an expensive one using hand-coloured aquatints by a leading British engraver, Robert Havell. However, Meyrick and Smith were able to appeal to a new audience with antiquarian interests, who accepted images of prehistoric landscapes as a feature of contemporary Romantic art.
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This text is abridged from the exhibition catalogue Making History: Antiquaries in Britain, 1707-2007 (introduction by David Starkey), available from the RA Shop.
