Copies of the Pictures of all the best Painters of the Italian, French and Flemish 

 Schools, the fine sculptur'd Vases of the Ancients which are now remaining; in 

 short, every Bird that flies, every Figure that moves upon the Surface of the Earth 

 from the Insect to the human; and every Vegetable that springs from the Ground, 

 whatever is of Art or Nature, may be introduced into this Design of fitting up 

 and furnishing Rooms, with all the Truth of Drawing, Light, and Shadow, and 

 great Perfection of Colouring. 



This vast gallery of art and nature was to be printed in "Colours softening into 

 each other, with Harmony and Repose . . . ." 



Even if we feel that Jackson was building up his project to attract attention, 

 or that he was intoxicated by die idea of creating art on such a grand scale, there 

 is still something wrong in his conceiving it in terms of wallpaper. What is certain 

 is that Jackson was desperately anxious to create color prints. In the absence of art 

 patrons, wallpaper was his only excuse for continuing as an artist. As a business 

 venture it was absurd, even tragic. There is good reason to believe that Jackson 

 lacked capital and rented the quarters for his business: his name does not appear in 

 the Poor Rate Book of that period in the Borough of Battersea. 



From a certain standpoint, this excursion by Jackson into wallpapers featuring 

 Roman ruins and classical antiquity appeared to come at an appropriate time. 

 Marco Ricci's paintings as well as die somewhat later work of Pannini and Zuc- 

 carelli, and Guardi's early ruin pieces, were already known. Ricci had visited Eng- 

 land from 1 710 to 1 71 6. Zuccarelli had come twice, once in 1742 and again in 175 1 

 to stay until 1773, becoming a foundation member of the Royal Academy; his 

 classical landscapes with their glib charm had a comparadvely good reception. But 

 the strongest influence was undoubtedly that of Piranesi, whose powerful etchings 

 brought to life as never before the ravaged stones of Imperial Rome and the 

 Campagna. Their effect was widespread and electrifying, although it was not 

 until the 1760's that they developed their full force as an influence on English archi- 

 tecture and furniuire design, and came to supersede the Palladian style brought to 

 England by Inigo Jones at the beginning of the 17th century. 



Jackson was too early; public taste was not yet ready for picturesque land- 

 scape or andque forms in wallpaper. But the style became dominant in the latter 

 1 8th century, particularly in England and France, and was also exported to Amer- 

 ica. While it is difficult to estimate die degree of Jackson's influence in this develop- 



46 



