"Celebrating the Millennium"

As the Millennium approaches many people will be celebrating the 2000th anniversary of the birth of Jesus Christ. Although The New Baxter Society is not a religious organisation, this is a good time for us to consider how religion in the 19^th century influenced George Baxter’s life and work.

Baxter’s religious connection falls into four main categories: 

1. Prints of an obvious religious nature such as "The Saviour Blessing the Bread" (CL 232) and "The Third Day He Rose Again (CL238) and Baxterotypes such as "The Crucifixion" (CL 243) and the Raphael prints (CL 247 – 253)

2. Missionary prints such as the "Reception of Rev. John Williams at Tanna" (CL82a) and the "Massacre of the Rev. J. Williams" (CL82b)

3. Prints not of a religious nature, but which were published by the Religious Tract Society. These include prints such as "Surrey Zoological Gardens" (CL297) and "Windsor Castle from The Long Walk" (CL282) which were used as illustrations for the Child’s Companion books, and "View in Madeira" (CL 345) and "Crucis Abbey" (CL 316) which were used in the Scriptural Pocket Books. Baxter’s relationship with The Religious Tract Society ended when Kronheim took over the contract.

4. Prints used for Sunday School Cards – particularly the Religious Events needlebox prints (CL139)

Using Courtney Lewis’ categorisation, the religious prints number 24 in total with 11 being in colour and 13 being Baxterotypes, whilst the Missionary prints total 33 and the prints published by The Religious Tract Society that were not of a religious subject total 15. This adds up to 72 prints with religious connections, which clearly is a considerable part of Baxter’s work.

Religious prints such as "The Saviour Blessing Bread" (CL 232), "The Descent from the Cross" (CL 236) and "The Third Day He Rose Again" (CL 238) have brilliant colouring and were obviously very popular at the time of issue. About 500,000 copies of "The Descent from The Cross" were issued and at least 700,000 copies of "The Holy Family" (CL 234) were sold. Some of these religious prints were probably produced for sale in Roman Catholic countries through events such as the French Exhibition of 1855. Recently, however, these prints of sacred subjects have not been popular and nowadays fetch very low prices in comparison to other Baxter prints.

Probably more important is the work that Baxter undertook for the Missionary Societies. Baxter worked for three missionary societies: The Baptist Missionary Society; the London Missionary Society; and The Wesleyan Missionary Society; recording many of the important early missionary enterprises of the Victorian age. The Missionary Societies of this time were very wealthy and active, financing expeditions to all parts of the world, and the exploits of the missionaries of this period led to great fame and hero-worship. Baxter’s Missionary work started in 1837 and lasted for a period of about ten years, and his work with the Missionary Societies and in particular his collaboration with John Snow, publisher of the London Missionary Society, influenced Baxter’s printing work.

In 1837 Baxter, in conjunction with Snow, produced "The Rev. John Williams" (CL71) which was Baxter’s first of many superb portraits in colour. Originally published as a book illustration in Missionary Enterprise, John Snow thought that there was sufficient interest and demand for this portrait to be issued on its own following the killing of Rev. Williams by the savages of the South Seas. Baxter was therefore commissioned to supply the portrait separate from the book and this sold at 1s 6d each. The following year, in 1838, Snow published "The Departure of the Camdem" (CL 80) which was the first print that Baxter had designed that was not a book illustration and was also Baxter’s first print on a mount. This step meant that Baxter was no longer tied to commissions from book publishers, but was able to publish independently and sell direct to the public.

During his missionary period Baxter also produced several very important large works such as "The Coronation of Queen Victoria (CL129) and "The Opening of Parliament" (CL 131), and it is recorded that Baxter once said "he never thought he should do anything larger than book illustration until the Missionary people suggested it". Once again, the religious connection seems to have had a very important impact upon Baxter’s work.

The very famous prints of Charles Chubb (CL 231) and his wife Maria (CL 231A) by George Baxter also owe their existence to Baxter’s religious links. This commission came about because one of the Chubb’s daughters was married to Dr Elijah Hoole, secretary to the Wesleyan Missionary Society, who knew Baxter through his work for the Society and recommended his services.

If Baxter was producing his colour prints today it is unlikely that he would have produced many religious subjects. Perhaps he would have turned to religious subjects to promote the Millennium, or perhaps he would have concentrated on popular images such as the Millennium Dome and Wheel.