Gallo'^ says that some of Jackson's blocks found their way to the printing 

 house of the Remondini and were used to strike off new impressions, after which 

 they became the property of the Typografia Pozzato in Bassano. This might ex- 

 plain some of the inferior examples of the Venetian set which could hardly have 

 come from the presses of Jackson or Pasquali. 



England Again: The Wallpaper Venture 



JACKSON was married in Venice — whether to an Italian we do not know — and 

 when he left the city in 1745 to return to England he took a family along. He 

 mentions "an impoverish'd Family" in the Essay, but beyond this we know noth- 

 ing of his personal life. 



As soon as he arrived in England he was invited to work in a calico establish- 

 ment, where he remained about six years. But making drawings to be printed on 

 cloth failed to give him the scope he required. At the back of his mind was the 

 passion to work with woodblocks in color. This led him to take a bold and hazard- 

 ous step — to leave his position and attempt, obviously with little capital, the manu- 

 facture of wallpaper, not to please an established taste but to educate the public to 

 a new type of product. 



Wallpaper had come into popular use in England in the late 17th century, 

 having been obtained from China by the East India Company. These hand- 

 painted wall hangings, imported at great cost and in small quantities, were corre- 

 spondingly expensive. The subjects were gay and fanciful — birds, fans, Chinese 

 kiosks, pagodas, and flowers. Highly desired because they offered an escape from 

 the heavy grandeur of the Baroque style, they were subsequently imitated by 

 assembly-line methods. They fitted naturally into the developing rocaille style 

 (corrupted into Rococo outside of France), and it is not surprising that they were 

 also produced extensively in Paris. In England these imitations, which formed a 

 substitute for expensive velvet and damask hangings, completely dominated the 

 wallpaper field. 



"'Gallo, 1941, pp. 23-23. Jackson's blocks arc not listed in the Remondini catalog of 1817. 



40 



