Color: Color; Size: 4 1/4w x 3 1/2h; Type of Image: Landscape; Medium: Engraving; Lithograph
Type:
Landscape
Engraving
Lithographs
Place:
Great Britain
England
Avon River (Leicestershire-Gloucestershire, England)
Bath (England)
Date:
1878
Category:
Historic Images of the Smithsonian
Notes:
See Neg. # 2005-33524 for another view of Bath.
Summary:
This is a close-up view of the City of Bath from a hilltop in 1768. People are on the hill and the River Avon can be seen on the right. James Smithson's mother, Elizabeth Hungerford Keate Macie, was from the nearby town of Weston and Mrs. Macie in 1761 enjoyed the freedom of widowhood and the elaborate social life of Bath. Bath was the favorite playground in England for the upper class. It is suspected that this is where she met and had an affair with Sir Hugh Smithson. The affair led to the birth c. 1765 of James Smithson, founding donor of the Smithsonian Institution.
Contained within:
Smithsonian Institution Archives, Record Unit 7000, Box 5, Folder 6