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Lot Essay
Samuel Dixon's first 'Sett of curious Foreign Bird Pieces' was prepared in 1749 and advertised in Faulkner's Dublin Journal on 4 April that year. Sets of twelve portrait depictions of single birds were probably first offered for sale in the summer of 1750, in black and gilt-japanned frames. The subject matter derived from George Edward's Natural History of Uncommon Birds, published 1743-51 and the descriptions were also drawn directly from Edwards' works.
The present lot, however, includes two compositions which were included in Dixon's second and more ambitious set of bird pictures - Foreign and Domestick Birds. They differed from the 1750 set in size and in the complexity of their compositions, some featuring as many as three birds, insects, flowers, fruit, shells and corals. Faulkner's Dublin Journal reported on 21 August 1753 that 'Mr Dixon of Capel-street, is designing a most curious large set of Pictures', but it was not until 9 September 1755 that they were finished and ready for distribution to subscribers. Whereas the earlier set had carried a single dedication, each of the twelve in the second set carried an individual dedication, honouring prominent members of the Irish nobility. Sadly now lacking to this pair of pictures, dedications to the Countess of Cork (the canary) and the Duchess of Hamilton (the butcher-bird) would once have been included.
Many of the 1755 works corresponded closely to George Edwards' Natural History of Uncommon Birds, but others such as the canary would have been more likely encountered as imported caged birds. At the same time Dixon advertised completion of this set he announced his intention to travel abroad and thus sell off his stock (excepting the newest work), with auction notices published in January 1756. After an absence of two years Dixon returned, setting up a linen printing works at Leixlip, Co. Kildare. It appears that this was the last large set of pictures he produced. Examples from this set are illustrated in Ada K. Longfield, 'Samuel Dixons's embossed pictures of Flowers and Birds', Quarterly Bulletin of the Irish Georgian Society, vol. XVIII, no. 4, 1975, pp. 28-30, figs. 10-12.
William Boswell (1810-77) was apprenticed to William Freeman in 1824 and was admitted as a Norwich freeman in 1831. He founded a frame making, picture dealing and picture restoration business which lasted into the mid-20th century in one form or another. He took over the business of John Thirtle on Magdalen Street, Norwich at the latter's death in 1839, as is evident from his trade label, which adorns the reverse of the frame of the canary. The business remained on those premises until 1869.
The present lot, however, includes two compositions which were included in Dixon's second and more ambitious set of bird pictures - Foreign and Domestick Birds. They differed from the 1750 set in size and in the complexity of their compositions, some featuring as many as three birds, insects, flowers, fruit, shells and corals. Faulkner's Dublin Journal reported on 21 August 1753 that 'Mr Dixon of Capel-street, is designing a most curious large set of Pictures', but it was not until 9 September 1755 that they were finished and ready for distribution to subscribers. Whereas the earlier set had carried a single dedication, each of the twelve in the second set carried an individual dedication, honouring prominent members of the Irish nobility. Sadly now lacking to this pair of pictures, dedications to the Countess of Cork (the canary) and the Duchess of Hamilton (the butcher-bird) would once have been included.
Many of the 1755 works corresponded closely to George Edwards' Natural History of Uncommon Birds, but others such as the canary would have been more likely encountered as imported caged birds. At the same time Dixon advertised completion of this set he announced his intention to travel abroad and thus sell off his stock (excepting the newest work), with auction notices published in January 1756. After an absence of two years Dixon returned, setting up a linen printing works at Leixlip, Co. Kildare. It appears that this was the last large set of pictures he produced. Examples from this set are illustrated in Ada K. Longfield, 'Samuel Dixons's embossed pictures of Flowers and Birds', Quarterly Bulletin of the Irish Georgian Society, vol. XVIII, no. 4, 1975, pp. 28-30, figs. 10-12.
William Boswell (1810-77) was apprenticed to William Freeman in 1824 and was admitted as a Norwich freeman in 1831. He founded a frame making, picture dealing and picture restoration business which lasted into the mid-20th century in one form or another. He took over the business of John Thirtle on Magdalen Street, Norwich at the latter's death in 1839, as is evident from his trade label, which adorns the reverse of the frame of the canary. The business remained on those premises until 1869.