Toledo

Toledo 

William Ellis after Henry Swinburne, 1806 

Copper engraving 

Henry Swinburne (1743-1803) was born in Bristol into a Catholic recusant family and educated in Yorkshire, Paris, Bordeaux and Turin. He settled in Hamsterley, Durham, when the death of his brother left him with independent means. He travelled through Spain with fellow Catholic Sir Thomas Gascoigne in 1775 and 1776, gained access to the highest echelons of society and government, including the Bourbon King Charles III and Queen Maria Amalia, the Prince of Asturias, Prime Minister Grimaldi and the British ambassador, Lord Grantham, and wrote up his impressions in the form of letters. 

This plate shows a distant view of Toledo, engraved by William Ellis (1747–1810) after a drawing by Swinburne. The Alcázar fortress—the quadrangular building with four imposing towers located high up on the hill—is seen from the Tagus river valley below. In the distance on the right is the Alcántara bridge, which is of Roman origin and was rebuilt under Muslim rule. Swinburne describes Toledo as ‘something like Durham, or Richmond in Yorkshire, but not equal to either in beauty…exceedingly ill built’. The streets are ‘so steep, that no stranger in his sober senses would venture up or down them in a carriage’. The lack of woodland in the surrounding countryside was commented on by several visitors and is starkly represented here.  

 Swinburne first published his writings in 1779 under the title Travels through Spain, in the Years 1775 and 1776. In which several Monuments of Roman and Moorish Architecture are illustrated by accurate Drawings taken on the Spot, (London, 1779), with 19 plates and a folding map. 

Title: Toledo. 

Author/Artist: William Ellis (1747-1810, engraver) after Henry Swinburne (1743-1803). 

Technique and Material: Copper engraving. 

Dimensions: 330 x 480 mm.  

Published: Plate [8] from Henry Swinburne, Picturesque tour through Spain. Second edition. London: T. Bensley for John Stockdale, 1810.  

Date: 1810. 

Marks and Inscriptions: lower edge, left: ‘H. Swinburne del[ineavit]’; centre: title as above /  (referring to prior publication as a separate sheet) ‘London. Published. July.1.1808. by John Scott. 442 Strand’.; right: ‘W. Ellis sculp[sit]’. 

Institution: Barry Ife Collection.