Thomas Uwins RA, The Town Clerk of Northampton Imploring the Assistance of Cowper's Muse

The Town Clerk of Northampton Imploring the Assistance of Cowper's Muse

Thomas Uwins RA (1782 - 1857)

RA Collection: Art

A small detailed scene showing the town clerk of Northampton, asking the poet Cowper for assistance. A print of the same scene is on p.173, dated March 1820. The scene illustrates a passage from one of Cowper's letters (no. 255).

This work comes from one of sixteen volumes of Royal Academy Annual Exhibition catalogues that were collected and extra-illustrated by the lawyer and antiquarian Edward Basil Jupp F.S.A. (1812 - 1877). The catalogues span the period from the first annual exhibition in 1769 up to 1875. Jupp added drawings, prints, letters and autographs by, or referring to, Academicians and other exhibitors at the Academy's annual exhibition.

E.B. Jupp was a solicitor who married Eliza Kay, daughter of the architect William Porden Kay. He was a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries and a clerk of the Carpenters' Company, of which he published a history. Jupp amassed a large collection of paintings by British and Dutch artists, drawings, prints, books and porcelain most of which was sold after his death, at Christie's in February 1878.

Many of the drawings in Jupp's Royal Academy extra-illustrated volumes were bought from art sales during the 1860s. He was also acquainted with a number of contemporary artists and several drawings in the later volumes (along with many of the letters and autographs) were sent from the artists themselves.

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Object details

Title
The Town Clerk of Northampton Imploring the Assistance of Cowper's Muse
Artist/designer
Thomas Uwins RA (1782 - 1857)
Object type
Drawing
Medium
Pen and ink and watercolour on cream wove paper
Dimensions

154 mm x 104 mm

Collection
Royal Academy of Arts
Object number
03/4992
Acquisition
Given by Leverhulme Trust 1936
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