Trade Card for R. Rose, Engraver 1800 - 1900

This is a trade card for R. Rose, engraver, made anonymously, with etching and engraving. We can understand the public role of art by seeing how it was used to market businesses. In this case, the politics of imagery would pertain to the way an engraver creates a brand. The design, with its ornamental flourishes, reflects the fashion for elaborate Rococo designs in the late 18th century in England. This card would have been distributed to potential clients as a sample of Rose’s skills. The address, 37 Warwick Street, places Rose in the fashionable St. James's area of London, suggesting he catered to an elite clientele. As art historians, we are interested in the social conditions that shape artistic production. Trade cards are valuable documents as they allow us to reconstruct networks of commerce, taste, and visual culture in past societies. By studying such artifacts, we gain a better understanding of how art was embedded in the everyday lives of people in the past.