John Hassell was born in 1767. He exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1789 and his first book was published when he was 23 years old, in 1790. This included Stonehenge and a tour of the Isle of Wight. In the 1790s he worked largely as a book illustrator; there are many pictures of the Bath and Bristol area from this period. John Hassell also produced illustrations for the leading publishers of teaching books for artists and wrote a life of George Morland, the artist.
His ‘Views of Gentleman’s Seats Adjacent to London’ (1804-1805), consisted of pictures and descriptions of houses in Surrey and the other Home Counties. In 1806 his second topographical book, Beauties of Rural Splendour, and Aqua Pictura (1813), established him as leader in the field of topographical illustration. Further books such as ‘Picturesque Rides and Walks within Thirty Miles of the British Metropolis’ (1817-1818) and ‘Excursions of Pleasure’ (1823) show Hassell’s deep interest in Surrey.
Hassell’s work was popular with gentlemen who collected drawings and watercolours to extra-illustrate their copies of Owen Manning and William Brays ‘History and Antiquities of the County of Surrey’, 3 vols (1804-1814).
His son, Edward, was also a topographical artist and continued with similar drawings in a different technique until 1832. Edward’s style can easily be distinguished from that of his father as he was more interested in the interior of churches and in more modern buildings than his father. He died in 1852.
For further information relating to John and Edward Hassell, together with an analysis of their artistic style, the materials they used and a list of the work they produced, see ‘A Catalogue of Pictures of Surrey and Elsewhere by John Hassell (1767-1825) and his son Edward (1811-1852)’ by J C Batley and G P Moss, Surrey Archaeological Collections, vol 75 (1984).
References: Surrey History Centre https://www.exploringsurreyspast.org.uk/themes/people/artists/john_hassell/