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Letter from the ambassador of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies
Direct letter to Chur
Postal Horn
Letter to the rectors of the Council of Ten
Letter from the ambassador of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies
Letter franked with Penny Black
The real guide for travelers
Letter from the ambassador of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies
Health Association of Health of Bergamo
Four in Hand
Writing set
US postal balance
IBM rotating heads for electronic typewriter
Olivetti personal computer
Conquered Jerusalem
Letter from the ambassador of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies
Direct letter to Chur
Postal Horn
Letter to the rectors of the Council of Ten
Letter from the ambassador of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies
Letter franked with Penny Black
The real guide for travelers
Letter from the ambassador of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies
Health Association of Health of Bergamo
Four in Hand
Writing set
US postal balance
IBM rotating heads for electronic typewriter
Olivetti personal computer
Conquered Jerusalem

Four in Hand

Henry Alken

Displayed in:

Museum of Tasso and Postal History

Museum of Tasso and Postal History

Via Cornello, 22, Camerata Cornello

Closed now: open at 10:00

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The image you see is a postal-themed engraving, preserved in the museum, published in 1842 in the book The Life of a sportsman by Charles James Apperley (also known as Nimrod). The drawings are by the English painter and engraver Henry Thomas Alken (1785 - 1851) known for his sporting illustrations dedicated mainly to horses and hunting. "Four in Hand" or shot four, shows a stagecoach pulled by four horses, in which it is curious to note that the passengers also traveled outside the carriage. This was possible thanks to the modifications and modernizations that passenger transport had at the beginning of the nineteenth century. Technical innovations made it possible to increase the weight carried and increase the speed of the vehicle. Moreover, thanks to the introduction of the brakes on the rear wheels, a figure of our fairytale imagination was born: the coachman. The coachman drove the horses from above, as you can see in the image, and replaced the figure of the postillion who drove the stagecoach sitting directly on one of the draft horses. The literature is full of anecdotes about stagecoach travel, such as that of the English romantic writer Leigh Hunt. The writer describes the journey by postal coach as democratic: "a stimulus to the development of a good liberal spirit, since the passengers are so variously mixed with it, so occasionally paired [...] so eager to spend together and with delight a certain period of time [...] that it is difficult for them not to get used to talking, or perhaps thinking kindly about their neighbors ".
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Details

Title: Four in Hand

Author: Henry Alken

Date: mid 19th century

Technique:

Displayed in: Museum of Tasso and Postal History

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