South East View of the Cathedral Church of Lichfield

Location

Country: Peru
City: Lima
Place: British Embassy

This early 19th-century aquatint depicts the impressive Cathedral Church in Lichfield, described by writer and businessman Daniel Defoe in the 1720s as ‘one of the finest and most beautiful [cathedrals] in England’.

‘South East View of the Cathedral Church of Lichfield’, an aquatint after a design by artist and architect John Buckler, was published by Buckler in 1808. From 1799 to 1814 Buckler produced a series of views of English cathedrals and churches.

John Buckler was born on the Isle of Wight. In 1785 he became a steward of Magdalen College, Oxford. For seven years he was also apprenticed to architect and surveyor Charles Thomas Cracklow. In about 1801 he became Bailiff and Collector of Rents for Magdalen College in Freemason’s Court and Southwark. His post with Magdalen allowed him spare time, which he spent working on his own architectural perspective drawings. He exhibited at the Royal Academy from 1796 to 1849. In 1799, Buckler published an engraving of one of his drawings of Lincoln Cathedral. For the next five years he made a series of views of English cathedrals and churches. By the end of his career, he had produced some 13,000 architectural perspective drawings.

Places

England, Lichfield, Lichfield Cathedral, Staffordshire

Subjects

topography, man, woman, coat of arms, house, church, cathedral, church windows, spire

Materials & Techniques

aquatint, coloured aquatint

Artist

John Buckler (1770 - 1851)
Joseph Jeakes ( - 1829)

Title

South East View of the Cathedral Church of Lichfield

Date

published September 1808

Medium

Coloured aquatint

Acquisition

Purchased from Christie's, 20 February 1958

Provenance

Christie's 20/2/1958 (1)

GAC number

4556