This week we look at a painting - View of Part of the High Street of High Wycombe in 1772 - by William Hannan. 

Although this painting is not itself unusual, what accompanies it is perhaps unique for the 18th century. 

This is a commentary on who and what is depicted, which appears to be contemporary with the painting.

This scene, painted 245 years ago, shows the grandeur of the Georgian High Street of High Wycombe along with many people who are wearing the clothes of the time. 

It also shows the many inns as well as the main mode of transport, horses and carriages. William Hannan considered this street to be the longest, broadest and grandest in the county.

A colour copy of the painting can be found in Wycombe Museum in Priory Avenue. You can locate it on the first floor by Disraeli’s chair. This may be a true copy of the original.

In the commentary most characters in the picture are not only named but there are some interesting biographical details for most of them too. 

And that was quite exceptional for the time. According to Sileas Wood of the British Library there “was something of a vogue for providing keys and biographies for people in pictures in the early 1800s but for 1772 that was quite unusual.”

Soon after this painting of the High Street was completed an engraving of the scene was made. 

It was common for popular paintings to be reproduced as engravings, which were more affordable and meant that the image could be hung in many drawing rooms. (An engraving was made by scraping the painting’s design into a metal printing plate which was then inked).

This engraving, carried out by S T Sparrow, was published by John How, Bookseller, High Wycombe in November 1772. 

There is a copy of this in the British Library which measures 57cm by 38cm,this allows all the characters to be seen more clearly.

Various forms of the painting can also be located on the website Sharing Wycombe’s Old Photos (SWOP) http://swop.org.uk/ Just put ‘1772’ into box on the left-hand side.

Willie Reid, who many readers will know from the very popular historical walks around Wycombe which he leads, and myself have been researching the painting and the characters shown therein. 

The results of this research will be featured in future articles.

The whereabouts of the original painting is a mystery. 

- Can anyone help us locate it? If you have any information please contact Mike Dewey on 01494 755070 or email him deweymiked@aol.com.