A View from inside Brazen Nose College Quadrangle, Oxford

Coloured engraving . In the quadrangle of Brazen Nose College (now known as Brasenose College) stands a statue of ‘Samson Slaying a Philistine’. Beside it, a grass roller and scythe have been temporarily abandoned by the gardener, who leans on a spade and chats to an academic. A copy of Flemish sculptor Giambologna's group statue of ‘Samson Slaying a Philistine’ was purchased by Brasenose College in 1728 and transported to Oxford by barge. It remained in the quadrangle until 1881. In 1799 Turner accepted a modest fee of 10 guineas per drawing from the Oxford University Press in return for the prestigious commission to provide watercolours to be engraved as the headpieces of the annual ‘Oxford Almanack’ (published 1799–11). He provided ten works in total and this example was engraved for the ‘Almanack’ of 1805. The original watercolour by Turner, from which James Basire I engraved the image, was painted in 1803–04 and is now in the collection of the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford.

Collection

Government Art Collection

Inventory Number

3230339

Title

A View from inside Brazen Nose College Quadrangle, Oxford

Object Type

StillImage

Measurements

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