Collection Summary
Harry Ransom Center, The University of Texas at Austin
Harrison, Thomas Erat,
1853-1917
Thomas Erat Harrison Art
Collection
1880
15 items (1 oversize box)
Thecollection consists of cartoonsfor
a set of twelve realized stained glass windows at Betteshanger House, Kent, United
Kingdom. The drawings are based on verse from Edmund Spenser’s The Faerie Queene, and depict the twelve months of the
year and associated zodiac symbols and iconography.
English
Art Collection AR-00351
Acquisition:
Gift of Norman Farmer, 2016 (16-12-008-G)
Access:
Open for research. Please note that a minimum of 24 hours notice is required to pull
art materials to the Ransom Center's Reading and Viewing Room. Some materials may be
restricted from viewing. To make an appointment or to reserve art materials, please
contact the Center's staff at art@hrc.utexas.edu.
Processed by:
Jill Morena, 2017
Biographical Sketch
Thomas Erat Harrison, born, 1853, was a British sculptor, painter, and engraver. He
exhibited in London from 1875, mainly at the Royal Academy. Harrison died in
1917.
Sources:
"Harrison, Thomas Erat (British sculptor, painter, and engraver,
1853-1917)."
Union List of Artist Names
Online. The J. Paul Getty Trust, accessed February 2, 2017,
http://www.getty.edu/vow/ULANFullDisplay?find=harrison%2C+thomas+erat&role=&nation=&page=1&subjectid=500015263.
"HARRISON, Thomas Erat."
Benezit Dictionary
of Artists. Oxford Art Online. Oxford University Press, accessed March
8, 2017, http://www.oxfordartonline.com/subscriber/article/benezit/B00084085.
Scope and Contents
The collection consists of twelve cartoons, designed and illustrated by Thomas Erat
Harrison, for a set of realized stained glass windows. The windows were commissioned
by Walter Henry James (1846-1923), second Baron of Northbourne, for his estate,
Betteshanger House, in Kent, England. The set, which depicts each month of the year
and associated zodiac iconography, is accompanied by glassine sheets of verse,
excerpted from Edmund Spencer’s
The Faerie Queene
(1590-1596), written inside a scroll-like cartouche in black ink. There is no
accompanying sheet of verse for the month of May. Also present are studies for two
decorative cartouches designed to frame the drawings for each month, and a single
study designed to frame the excerpted verse.
There are two engravings created as frontispieces for
The
Poetical Works of Edmund Spenser, Vol. I (1819) edited by John Aikin, in
the James F. Drake, Inc. Art Collection. Several editions of The Faerie Queene are present in The Carl H. Pforzheimer Library.
Index Terms
People
Harrison, Thomas Erat,
1853-1917.
Spenser, Edmund, 1552?-1599.
Subjects
Astrology--Pictorial
works--1880-1890.
Harvesting time--Pictorial
works--1880-1890.
Harrison, Thomas Erat,
1853-1917
Seasons--Pictorial
works--1880-1890.
Spenser, Edmund, 1552?-1599. Faerie
queene--Pictorial works--1880-1890.
Zodiac--Pictorial
works--1880-1890.
Document Types
Cartoons (working
drawings).
Item List
Harrison, T.E., Box 1
2016.4.1
January (Aquarius).
1880.
Watercolor, gouache, graphite, pen and ink on paper and glassine, 47 x 34.3 cm.
Harrison, T.E., Box 1
2016.4.2
February (Pisces).
1880.
Watercolor, gouache, graphite, pen and ink on paper and glassine, 47 x 34.9 cm.
Harrison, T.E., Box 1
2016.4.3
March (Aries).
1880.
Watercolor, gouache, graphite, pen and ink on paper and glassine, 47 x 34.9 cm.
Harrison, T.E., Box 1
2016.4.4
April (Taurus).
1880.
Watercolor, gouache, graphite, pen and ink on paper and glassine, 47.3 x 34.3 cm.
Harrison, T.E., Box 1
2016.4.5
May (Gemini).
1880.
Watercolor, gouache, graphite, pen and ink on paper and glassine, 47.6 x 34.3 cm.
Harrison, T.E., Box 1
2016.4.6
June (Cancer).
1880.
Watercolor, gouache, graphite, pen and ink on paper and glassine, 47.6 x 35.6 cm.
Harrison, T.E., Box 1
2016.4.7
July (Leo).
1880.
Watercolor, gouache, graphite, pen and ink on paper and glassine, 47.6 x 37.5 cm.
Harrison, T.E., Box 1
2016.4.8
August (Virgo).
1880.
Watercolor, gouache, graphite, pen and ink on paper and glassine, 47 x 34.9 cm.
Harrison, T.E., Box 1
2016.4.9
September (Libra).
1880.
Watercolor, gouache, graphite, pen and ink on paper and glassine, 47.6 x 35.6 cm.
Harrison, T.E., Box 1
2016.4.10
October (Scorpio).
1880.
Watercolor, gouache, graphite, pen and ink on paper and glassine, 47.6 x 37.5 cm.
Harrison, T.E., Box 1
2016.4.11
November (Sagittarius).
1880.
Watercolor, gouache, graphite, pen and ink on paper and glassine, 47 x 35.6 cm.
Harrison, T.E., Box 1
2016.4.12
December (Capricorn).
1880.
Watercolor, gouache, graphite, pen and ink on paper and glassine, 47 x 34.9 cm.
Harrison, T.E., Box 1
2016.4.13
Cartouche study for February, April, June, July, September, and
November.
1880.
Watercolor, gouache, graphite, pen and ink on paper,
49.5 x 38.7 cm.
Harrison, T.E., Box 1
2016.4.14
Cartouche study for verse.
1880.
Watercolor, gouache, graphite, pen and ink on paper,
63.5 x 38.1 cm.
Harrison, T.E., Box 1
2016.4.15
Cartouche study for January, March, May, August, October, and
December.
1880.
Watercolor, gouache, graphite, pen and ink on paper,
49.5 x 38.7 cm.