Code: 10093
Dimensions:
“Cotswold Games”
Published by Caulfield & Herbert 1794
Etching on paper
17.3 cm x 12.1 cm
This rare engraving is a very accurate copy of an even rarer woodcut print which first appeared in a work entitled “Annalia Dubrensia. Upon the yeerely celebration of Mr Robert Dover's Olimpick Games upon Cotswold-Hills”, issued in 1636. The print depicts various events in the "Cotswold Games", founded in 1612 by Capt. Robert Dover (1575/82–1652). Dover is depicted at the bottom on the print on horseback, presiding over the games with a staff. By 1636 the events, which took place in the hills above Chipping Campden, were known as the "Cotswold Olimpicks/Olympiks" and are now recognised as an early manifestation of the modern Olympic revival movement.
This 1794 print was produced by James Caulfield (1764-1826) and Isaac Herbert (active 1793-1798) as an illustration for Caulfield's “Portraits, Memoirs, and Characters of remarkable Persons, from the Reign of Edward III to the Revolution” [London, 1794].
Provenance:
Private Collection, Oxfordshire, UK
