John Hassell was an English watercolour landscape painter, engraver, illustrator, writer, publisher and drawing-master. He wrote a biography of fellow artist George Morland

George Morland

George Morland was an English painter of animals and rustic scenes.-Life:Morland was born in London, the 3rd son of Henry Robert Morland , artist, engraver and picture restorer...

.

Hassell first appeared as an exhibitor at the Royal Academy

Royal Academy

The Royal Academy of Arts is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly, London. The Royal Academy of Arts has a unique position in being an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects whose purpose is to promote the creation, enjoyment and...

, in London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

, in 1789 with a 'View of Stonehenge on Salisbury Plain.' He drew many views of local scenery, which he engraved himself in aquatint

Aquatint

Aquatint is an intaglio printmaking technique, a variant of etching.Intaglio printmaking makes marks on the matrix that are capable of holding ink. The inked plate is passed through a printing press together with a sheet of paper, resulting in a transfer of the ink to the paper...

, most of them coloured. They were published in various topographical works. He had a large practice as a drawing-master, and published some books on water-colour painting and drawing. Hassell was a friend of George Morland

George Morland

George Morland was an English painter of animals and rustic scenes.-Life:Morland was born in London, the 3rd son of Henry Robert Morland , artist, engraver and picture restorer...

 and wrote his biography (published in 1800); he also engraved Morland's drawing of 'Conway Castle' in aquatint.

His son Edward Hassell (d. 1852) was also a watercolourist, and exhibited for a number of years at the Society of British Artists, of which he became a member in 1841, and was also secretary. He occasionally exhibited at the Royal Academy and British Institution

British Institution

The British Institution was a private 19th-century society in London formed to exhibit the works of living and dead artists; it was also known as the Pall Mall Picture Galleries or the British Gallery...

.

Published works

Hassell published the following works, all illustrated with engravings in aquatint by the artist himself:

• A Tour of the Isle of Wight (1790 - 2 vols).
• A Picturesque guide to Bath, Bristol Hot-Wells, the River Avon and the adjacent Country (1793). Co-authored with J C Ibbetson
  Julius Caesar Ibbetson
  Julius Caesar Ibbetson was a British 18th-century landscape and watercolour painter.-Early life and education:...
  
   & John Laporte
  John Laporte (artist)
  John Laporte was an English landscape painter and etcher, who worked in and around London, England.-Life and work:...
  
  (1761–1839).
• Views of Noblemen's and Gentlemen's Seats ... in the Counties adjoining London (1804).
• Beauties of Antiquity (1806).
• Memoirs of the life of the late George Morland (London: J. Cunee, 1806).
• The Speculum or Art of drawing in Water-colours (1809).
• Calcographia, or the Art of multiplying Drawings (1811)
• Aqua Pictura; illustrated by a Series of original Specimens from the Works of Messrs. Payne, Munn, Francis, and others (1813).
• Picturesque Rides and Walks, with Excursions bv Water, thirty miles round the British Metropolis (1818 - 2 vols.).
• Tour of the Grand Junction Canal (1819)
• Rides and Walks round London (1820 - 2 vols)
• The Camera; or Art of drawing in Water-colours (1823).
• 'Excursions of pleasure and sports on the Thames' (1823)
• 'Graphic delineation: a Practical Treatise on the Art of Etching' (1830).

External links

• John Hassell online (ArtCyclopedia)
• Works by John Hassell (Bridgemean Art Library)