Greenwich Park and the Royal Observatory on Easter Monday, 1804

About this sheet

This is an original antique copper engraving, uncolored, lettered "Greenwich Park, with the Royal Observatory, on Easter Monday." A holiday crowd fills the open ground of the park. In the foreground men and women in Regency dress dance hand in hand in a ring, a boy crawls on the grass and couples embrace at the right. Behind them a dense crowd streams down the slope of the hill, figures run and tumble on the grass, and the Royal Observatory stands on the skyline at upper right. A large tree with boys climbing in its branches frames the scene at the left.

The title is engraved in script below the image. The artist's credit "Pugh delt" is at lower left and the engraver's credit "Pass sculpt." at lower right. The imprint above the image reads "Published April 20 1804 by Richard Phillips, 71 St Pauls Church Yard."

The plate comes from Modern London; Being the History and Present State of the British Metropolis, printed for Richard Phillips, No. 71, St. Paul's Church-Yard, by C. Mercier and Co., Northumberland-court, Strand, in 1804, and "illustrated with numerous copper plates." Many of its topographical views were drawn by Edward Pugh, a Welsh painter working in London, and engraved on copper by several London engravers, each of whom signed his own plate. The Easter holiday fair at Greenwich drew Londoners down the river in large numbers, and Pugh shows the park given over to games and dancing.

Full of small figures and incident, it rewards close viewing and works well in a group of London scenes.

Condition: Light wear to the top right and bottom left corners. Age toning; handling soiling along the edges and foxing with some brown staining in the margins. Printed image clean.

This is an original antique print, not a modern reproduction. This item is sold unframed. Any framed or interior images are shown for presentation and inspiration only, unless the listing explicitly states that the item is sold framed.