Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Hullmandel, Charles Joseph

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615788Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900, Volume 28 — Hullmandel, Charles Joseph1891William Cosmo Monkhouse

HULLMANDEL, CHARLES JOSEPH (1789–1850), lithographer, son of a German musician, was born in London in 1789. After travelling on the continent, and making many sketches and studies, he turned his attention to lithography, and in 1818 published at Somers Town `Twenty-four Views of Italy,' drawn and lithographed by himself. Lithography, invented in Germany in 1796, was then little employed or understood in England. In order to learn the processes employed by Engelmann, then or afterwards a partner in the Paris firm of Engelmann, Coindet, & Co., Hullmandel entered in 1821 into an arrangement with him which proved unsatisfactory, and terminated in 1826. In the meantime he published a translation of Raucourt's `Manual of Lithography,' and in 1824 prepared his `Art of Drawing on Stone, giving a full explanation of the various styles, &c.' His practice and study resulted in the discovery of a new mode of preparing the stones, and in 1827 he issued a pamphlet `On some important Improvements in Lithographic Printing,' with illustrations to prove that he could retouch the stones, a point in which his process had been inferior to others. This pamphlet contained letters from Faraday and J.D. Harding [q. v.], testifying respectively to the complete novelty of his process and its superior artistic results. It was followed by another, `On some further Improvements, &c.,' in 1829. In the `Foreign Review' for July 1829 he was attacked in an article on 'The History of Lithography,' written by Thomas Crofton Croker [q.v.], a partner of Engelmann, Coindet, &Co. He promptly replied in a pamphlet, in which he again asserted the originality of his process, and claimed to have contributed to the introduction of lithography into England, though backed by the exertions of Ward, Lane, and Harding. Among the many other artists who availed themselves of his processes for the reproduction of their drawings were Stanfield, David Roberts, Haghe, Nash, and Cattermole. With the last he was allied in the perfection of his invention of lithotint—the application of liquid ink to the stone with the brush. Among other improvements he made in the art of lithography were a graduated tint, the introduction of white in the high lights, and the use of the stump on the stone. He was employed on the illustrations for T. S. Boys's 'Picturesque Architecture in Paris,' Kent's 'Britannia Delineata,' and Pinelli's 'Roman Costumes.' He died in Great Marlborough Street, London, on 15 Nov. 1850.

[Redgrave's Dict. 1878; Bryan's Dict. (Graves); works mentioned in the text.]

C. M.