A Memoir Of Thomas Uwins, R.A. Keeper Of The Royal Galleries And The National Gallery Librarian Of The Royal Academy Etc. Etc. Etc. By Mrs. Uwins. With Letters To His Brothers During Seven Years Spent In Italy And Correspondence With The Late Sir Thomas Lawrence, Sir Charles L. Eastlake, A.E. Chalon, R.A. And Other Distinguished Persons. In Two Volumes. Vol. I. (II.)
Vol. I: vi, [ii], 396 p. - Vol. II: [vi], 354, [2] p.
Contents
Vol. I: [Half t., t.p.] - Preface - Errata [slip] - Contents Of The First Volume - Introductory Memoir And List Of Exhibited Works. - Vol. II: [Half-t., t.p.] - Contents Of The Second Volume - Letters ... (continued) - Correspondence ... [Publishers' advertisement].
Responsibility Note
The printer is named on the half-title versos: 'London Printed By Spottiswoode And Co. New-Street Square'.
References
J. Phillips, Thomas Uwins R.A. [exhibition catalogue] (1989).
Summary Note
Mrs Uwins was married to Thomas Uwins for the last seven years of his life only. Her husband's career is traced from his studies at the Royal Academy Schools (1798), through his early years as a watercolour-painter and illustrator in London and Edinburgh, his years in Italy (1824-31) and his subsequent career in Britain, where he became Keeper of the Queen's Pictures (1845) and Keeper of the National Gallery (1847). Uwins was elected a member of the Royal Academy in 1838, and served as the Academy's Librarian from 1844 to 1855. He was a popular painter; and also an admirer of early Renaissance painters such as Giotto and Cimabue, whose works he regarded as 'sufficient to inoculate any country with good taste, provided they were fairly published and circulated' (v.I., p.181).
Reproductions
A reprint in one volume was published in 1978.
Provenance
The half-title of Volume I is inscribed in ink, 'To the Library of the Royal Academy from the Author.' It was presented some time 'from July, 1859, to the close of 1860' (Annual Report From The Council Of The Royal Academy; 1861).
Binding Note
19th-century red papered boards, upper and lower covers decorated in blind; spines lettered 'Memoir Of T. Uwins R.A. Vol. I. (II.)'.