Description:
Illustrations of the process of linen production in Ireland; Plate XI: interior lit from three windows on the right, where men are working: one measuring linen which is slung over a pulley, two others clipping lengths and rolling the cloth, another inspecting a length of cloth in front of the window to right, a fifth sealing rolls on a table behind him and two others to left, one lifting a long lever, releasing a press in which a roll, Lettered below the image with the title, incorporated into a dedication from Hincks to Lord Viscount Kingsborough, "TO THE RIGHT HONBLE. LORD VISCOUNT KINGSBOROUGH, This PLATE representing a Perspective View of a Lapping Room, with the Measuring, Crisping, or Folding the Cloth in Lengths, Picking the Laps or Lengths, Tying in the Clips, acting by the Mechanic Power of the Laver to press the Cloth round & firm, and Sealing it preparatory to its going to the Linen Hall. Is most humbly INSCRIBED by his LORDSHIPS' obedient humble Servant, Wm Hincks." around a crest with the motto 'Spes Tuatissima Coelis', a key, "1 Measuring 2 Crisping 3 Picking the Laps 4 Tying in the Clips 5 Sealing" and 'Plate XI. / Wm. Hincks delin et sculp / London, Publish'd as the Act directs by R. Pollard, Spafields June 20, 1791." Condition: upper right hand corner has a crease or fold mark.
Label Text:
In 1783, William Hincks published a set of 12 engraved plates depicting the Irish linen industry. Hincks originally trained as a portrait artist, and may have turned to drawing and engraving prints as a way to earn additional money or have more popular appeal. Influenced in part by earlier, 18th-century visual and textual depictions of art and science like Diderot and D’Alembert’s Encyclopedie (1751-1777), Hincks’ depictions of the Irish linen trade were made on the eve of that industry’s transition to larger-scale manufacturing. The plates were republished in 1791. Three from that second printing (VII, IX, and XI) are exhibited here.
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