Location

Country: UK
City: London
Place: Government Art Collection

Nothing is known about the early life of the landscape engraver James Mason. He is first mentioned by engraver and antiquary George Vertue, working for the publisher Arthur Pond in 1744, when he was probably in his early twenties. Mason later established himself as a popular engraver, co-publishing some of his own works. He produced several engravings after paintings by landscape and scene painter George Lambert, the majority of which are dated between 1745 and 1761. Mason engraved considerably less after 1780. He died in 1805 at his home in Winchester Row, Paddington, and was buried nearby at St Mary’s Church. He referred to himself as engraver and shopkeeper in his will, which suggests that he also ran a print shop.
George Lambert, theatre scene and landscape painter, divided his career equally between the two professions. For most of his life he lived in Covent Garden. His early style of the 1720s is similar to that of John Wootton. However, his later classical landscapes earned him the accolade ‘the English Poussin’. Lambert painted the landscape backgrounds for William Hogarth’s paintings ‘The Pool of Bethesda’ and ‘The Good Samaritan’, made for St. Bartholomew’s Hospital (1736-37). In 1761 he was elected chairman of the newly founded Society of Artists of Great Britain. The Society received the Royal Seal on 26th January 1765 and just five days later Lambert died at his home in Covent Garden, leaving his possessions to his servant, Ann Terry.

Places

England, Dover Castle, Dover, Kent, English Channel

Subjects

horseback, topography, seascape/coastal scene, townscape/cityscape, horse, sea, cliff, boy, man, woman, road, path, house, castle, ship

Materials & Techniques

engraving, coloured engraving

Artist

James Mason (1710 - c.1780)
George Lambert (c.1700 - 1765)

Title

A View of the Castle and Town of Dover

Date

published 20 February 1762

Medium

Coloured engraving

Dimensions

height: 33.20 cm, width: 55.80 cm

Acquisition

Purchased from Frank T Sabin, October 1963

GAC number

6216