The Protection

Method Stipple
Artist Joseph Strutt after Thomas Stothard
Published London Published November 25 1789 by J.Thane, Rupert Street, Hay Market
Dimensions Image 160 x 200 mm, Plate 204 x 215 mm, Sheet 285 x 320 mm
Notes Inscription reads: As Christiana &c were passing through the dreadful Valley, Mercy looking back saw a frightful Fiend coming towards them, which Greatheart made a stand to receive, but it came no further. See Bunyan's Pilgrim p.2.

An illustration from "The Pilgrim's Progress from This World to That Which Is to Come" by John Bunyan. Bunyan's allegorical story of the journey from worldly life to heavenly life was a major inspiration for a number of Romantic artists and poets, chief amongst these being William Blake and his followers, The Ancients.

In the Second Part of Bunyan's work, Christiana, the wife of Christian, follows her husband's journey accompanied by her children and her neighbour, Mercy, robed all in white. They are assisted on their journey by Greatheart, armed and armoured in the same garb as Christian. To the right of the image, the Fiend is just visible in the darkness, advancing on the valiant Greatheart.

Thomas Stothard (17th August 1755 - 27th April 1834) was an English painter, illustrator, and engraver, best known for his illustrations to poetic work. He is particularly noted for his illustrations to the poems of Ossian, purported to be the author of an epic cycle published by James Macpherson and commonly hailed as a progenitor of the British Romantic movement.

Joseph Strutt (1749-1802) Joseph Strutt, engraver, artist, antiquary and author, was born at Chelmsford in 1749. In 1770 he became a student of the Royal Academy, and in the following year secured both the gold and silver medals, the former for oil painting and the latter "for the best Academy figure." He wrote the "Regal and Ecclesiastical Antiquities of England," followed by other works on the manners and customs of the English people, that on their "Sports and Pastimes" the chief.
Framing unmounted
Price £150.00
Stock ID 11695

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