Once the drawing and the engraving had been made, the colour process began. The engravings might be printed in two colours, perhaps brown for the foreground and blue for the sky and distance, the remaining colour would be applied by hand. Bundles of sheets to be coloured would be distributed to workers who would do the work in their own homes. Often the work was done by children, but sometimes whole families would work together at home by candlelight.Handcolouring can save money when printing large plates although people like Ackermann stressed the high cost of hand finishing. He used poorly paid French refugees and later hand coloured plate producers used children and stencils.

 Aquatints of Royal Residences click here

Rainbow effect on the Thames by David COX,

InfoBorn: 29th April 1783 - Died: Friday 7th June 1859 David Cox, the son of a whitesmith, was born in a small rural cottage near the parish church of St. Martin, Birmingham. His Mother, being an amiable woman, who believed her son to be too fragile to continue the work of his father, apprenticed David to a brooch and locket painter. He adorned these small items of jewellery with miniature designs. But he didn't continue for long in this field. He later gained employment as a colour grinder for scene painters of the Birmingham Theatre which was under the management of Macready the elder.

He moved to London in 1803, where he was first employed as a scene painter at the Astley's Theatre. This was merely a temporary post that he held until he moved into private life. He made a slender income by teaching drawing, mainly at schools. He also made sketches which he sold through Mr. Palser of Westminster road (later at the Strand). He received only a few shillings for these sketches (which in 1859 were worth at least an equal amount in pounds), and although they were inexpensive, they still sold slowly.

His first visit to Wales was in 1805 and he continued to visit this, his favoured sketching ground, almost every year until 1856, (3 years before he died). Some of the illustrations produced on these excursions were included in Roscoe's "North Wales" - c.1834. Cox moved to Hereford in 1815 (Probably because of the surrounding scenery), and returned to London in 1827. He retired to Harbourne Heath (near Birmingham), in 1844 where he remained until he died. David Cox was a distinguished landscapist, and the final survivor of the worthy fraternity of landscapists (including Girton, Prout, Turner, and others). He was the originator of a school of landscape painting which was purely English but fresh to England itself when he founded it. In the fifty years of Cox's life that he produced such work, his sketches were valued at approx. £100,000 in 1859, however, he received only a small percentage of that figure (approx. £15,000 to £20,000)

Engraver Richard REEVE (b 1780; d c. 1835). English aquatint-engraver. He was apprenticed to the line engraver John Paas ( fl c. 1770-after 1805) on 15 March 1795 and enrolled in the Royal Academy Schools on 3 February 1801. He was soon established as one of the leading aquatint-engravers, at first publishing most of his prints himself. His main early work was ten sets, each of four prints, of sporting subjects after Dean Wolstenholme (1757-1837) which he published between 1806 and 1814. After about 1815 he worked for other publishers, both on singly issued sporting prints and on illustrated books, notably for David Cox's Treatise of Landscape Painting (London, 1813-14) and William Henry Pyne's The History of the Royal Residences (London, 1816-19). He appears to have stopped engraving about 1820. His son Richard Gilson Reeve (1803-89) began to sign plates from about 1826, at first as ëReeve Junr' but thereafter as ëR. G. Reeve', and most authorities have failed to distinguish between their work. The younger man worked on illustrated books such as William Westall's and S. Owen's (?1769-1857) A Picturesque Tour of the River Thames (London, 1828). Richard Gilson Reeve's brother, Augustus William Reeve (1807-c. 1880), also worked in aquatint.

A Heath Wind Effect

InfoBorn: 29th April 1783 - Died: Friday 7th June 1859 David Cox, the son of a whitesmith, was born in a small rural cottage near the parish church of St. Martin, Birmingham. His Mother, being an amiable woman, who believed her son to be too fragile to continue the work of his father, apprenticed David to a brooch and locket painter. He adorned these small items of jewellery with miniature designs. But he didn't continue for long in this field. He later gained employment as a colour grinder for scene painters of the Birmingham Theatre which was under the management of Macready the elder.

He moved to London in 1803, where he was first employed as a scene painter at the Astley's Theatre. This was merely a temporary post that he held until he moved into private life. He made a slender income by teaching drawing, mainly at schools. He also made sketches which he sold through Mr. Palser of Westminster road (later at the Strand). He received only a few shillings for these sketches (which in 1859 were worth at least an equal amount in pounds), and although they were inexpensive, they still sold slowly.

His first visit to Wales was in 1805 and he continued to visit this, his favoured sketching ground, almost every year until 1856, (3 years before he died). Some of the illustrations produced on these excursions were included in Roscoe's "North Wales" - c.1834. Cox moved to Hereford in 1815 (Probably because of the surrounding scenery), and returned to London in 1827. He retired to Harbourne Heath (near Birmingham), in 1844 where he remained until he died. David Cox was a distinguished landscapist, and the final survivor of the worthy fraternity of landscapists (including Girton, Prout, Turner, and others). He was the originator of a school of landscape painting which was purely English but fresh to England itself when he founded it. In the fifty years of Cox's life that he produced such work, his sketches were valued at approx. £100,000 in 1859, however, he received only a small percentage of that figure (approx. £15,000 to £20,000)

Engraver Richard REEVE (b 1780; d c. 1835). English aquatint-engraver. He was apprenticed to the line engraver John Paas ( fl c. 1770-after 1805) on 15 March 1795 and enrolled in the Royal Academy Schools on 3 February 1801. He was soon established as one of the leading aquatint-engravers, at first publishing most of his prints himself. His main early work was ten sets, each of four prints, of sporting subjects after Dean Wolstenholme (1757-1837) which he published between 1806 and 1814. After about 1815 he worked for other publishers, both on singly issued sporting prints and on illustrated books, notably for David Cox's Treatise of Landscape Painting (London, 1813-14) and William Henry Pyne's The History of the Royal Residences (London, 1816-19). He appears to have stopped engraving about 1820. His son Richard Gilson Reeve (1803-89) began to sign plates from about 1826, at first as ëReeve Junr' but thereafter as ëR. G. Reeve', and most authorities have failed to distinguish between their work. The younger man worked on illustrated books such as William Westall's and S. Owen's (?1769-1857) A Picturesque Tour of the River Thames (London, 1828). Richard Gilson Reeve's brother, Augustus William Reeve (1807-c. 1880), also worked in aquatint.

Moonlight, View on the Thames near Chertsey

Info Born: 29th April 1783 - Died: Friday 7th June 1859 David Cox, the son of a whitesmith, was born in a small rural cottage near the parish church of St. Martin, Birmingham. His Mother, being an amiable woman, who believed her son to be too fragile to continue the work of his father, apprenticed David to a brooch and locket painter. He adorned these small items of jewellery with miniature designs. But he didn't continue for long in this field. He later gained employment as a colour grinder for scene painters of the Birmingham Theatre which was under the management of Macready the elder.

He moved to London in 1803, where he was first employed as a scene painter at the Astley's Theatre. This was merely a temporary post that he held until he moved into private life. He made a slender income by teaching drawing, mainly at schools. He also made sketches which he sold through Mr. Palser of Westminster road (later at the Strand). He received only a few shillings for these sketches (which in 1859 were worth at least an equal amount in pounds), and although they were inexpensive, they still sold slowly.

His first visit to Wales was in 1805 and he continued to visit this, his favoured sketching ground, almost every year until 1856, (3 years before he died). Some of the illustrations produced on these excursions were included in Roscoe's "North Wales" - c.1834. Cox moved to Hereford in 1815 (Probably because of the surrounding scenery), and returned to London in 1827. He retired to Harbourne Heath (near Birmingham), in 1844 where he remained until he died. David Cox was a distinguished landscapist, and the final survivor of the worthy fraternity of landscapists (including Girton, Prout, Turner, and others). He was the originator of a school of landscape painting which was purely English but fresh to England itself when he founded it. In the fifty years of Cox's life that he produced such work, his sketches were valued at approx. £100,000 in 1859, however, he received only a small percentage of that figure (approx. £15,000 to £20,000)

Engraver Richard REEVE (b 1780; d c. 1835). English aquatint-engraver. He was apprenticed to the line engraver John Paas ( fl c. 1770-after 1805) on 15 March 1795 and enrolled in the Royal Academy Schools on 3 February 1801. He was soon established as one of the leading aquatint-engravers, at first publishing most of his prints himself. His main early work was ten sets, each of four prints, of sporting subjects after Dean Wolstenholme (1757-1837) which he published between 1806 and 1814. After about 1815 he worked for other publishers, both on singly issued sporting prints and on illustrated books, notably for David Cox's Treatise of Landscape Painting (London, 1813-14) and William Henry Pyne's The History of the Royal Residences (London, 1816-19). He appears to have stopped engraving about 1820. His son Richard Gilson Reeve (1803-89) began to sign plates from about 1826, at first as ëReeve Junr' but thereafter as ëR. G. Reeve', and most authorities have failed to distinguish between their work. The younger man worked on illustrated books such as William Westall's and S. Owen's (?1769-1857) A Picturesque Tour of the River Thames (London, 1828). Richard Gilson Reeve's brother, Augustus William Reeve (1807-c. 1880), also worked in aquatint.

 Aquatints of Royal Residences click here

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