Cheetham College and Library, Manchester.

James Parry 1805 (circa) - 1871

Summary

A view across the courtyard of Cheetham (sometimes written as Chetham or Chetham's) College, Manchester. The Medieval buildings which flank three sides of the court are long and low, with trefoil-arched windows in pairs and threes punctuating the stone walls here and there. The tiled roof is dotted with several chimneys and a wooden cupola. The courtyard is sparsely populated with four groups of figures. A pair of young men with a wheelbarrow form the nearest group. Centrally are four scholarly characters, two kneeling and two gesturing, as if they are perhaps playing a game together. The engraver has produced blocky cloud formations above the college buildings using ruled cross-hatching, and the turn of the path that circles the yard is not quite in tune with conventional perspective. However, the tree and distant section of the college buildings are full of attractive textures. James Parry was the son of Joseph Parry, sometimes known as 'the father of art in Manchester'.