Part of the new town from the north west

Category

Library Item

Item no

18637

Title

Part of the new town from the north west

Description

Edinburgh is viewed from fields outside the town in which children play. A small girl wearing a bonnet pulls a kite along the ground behind her, and two boys sit on the grass. There is a small dog with them. The buildings of Edinburgh New Town and a Church steeple are viewed in the distance. Further away the tall tenements of the old town are depicted indistinctly. Behind the town the hill of Arthur's Seat and monuments on Calton Hill are visible.

Artist / maker

Shepherd, Thomas Hosmer

Engraver

Barber, T

Date

1829

Size

9.8 x 15.3 cm

Type

Engraving

Location

Edinburgh and Scottish Collection

This image comes from 'Modern Athens', a book of engravings based on drawings by Thomas Shepherd published in 1829. In the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries Edinburgh was growing rapidly. The popular neoclassical architectural style of the time was inspired by the ancient Greeks and Romans, and Edinburgh was nicknamed 'Athens of the North'. Shepherd's engravings celebrate the beauty of Edinburgh and show many notable buildings and streets both within the city, and further afield.

Edinburgh's New Town, which lies to the north of the Old Town, was designed by James Craig. Craig was the winner of a design competition held in 1766 which invited contestants to submit plans for the city's northward expansion. This expansion had become necessary due to terrible overcrowding in the Old Town. Based on a regular geometric scheme around the three streets of Princes Street, George Street and Queen Street the New Town continued to be developed until 1830. It has now been classed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

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Related subjects

Animals > Mammals > Dogs

Homes > Residential buildings > Houses

Homes > Residential buildings > Tenements

Landscape > Land > Hills

People > Adults > Men

People > Adults > Women

Places > Edinburgh areas > New Town

Places > Scotland > Edinburgh

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