In essence, this publication is in the style of a coffee-table book of a series of paintings of Hadrian’s Wall made by a family from Newcastle-upon-Tyne in the mid-nineteenth century. A series of essays at the start are followed by sixty-seven plates, which are themselves accompanied by the original description of the painting, a comment by the author on the place depicted and sometimes additional paintings and engravings.

The short essays at the start of the volume put the work of the Richardson family into the context of the time. John Collingwood Bruce and John Clayton are titans of antiquarian interest in Hadrian’s Wall: Collingwood Bruce wrote about it and, in 1949, established the Pilgrimage of Hadrian’s Wall (now a decennial event); Clayton purchased and excavated parts of the structure. The Richardson family were, until this publication, largely forgotten contributors to this mid-nineteenth century flurry of activity, recording the frontier in a critical stage in its history, with only occasional mentions in more recent literature (such as Wilmott 2001).

The bulk of the paintings are by Henry Burdon Richardson with others by his older half-brother, Thomas Miles Richardson junior, and his younger brother, Charles Richardson. Their father, Thomas Miles Richardson, was a landscape painter and teacher; one of whose pupils, John Storey, created many of the engravings of the Wall used at the time. Henry and Charles accompanied Collingwood Bruce on his Wall expedition of 1848 and many paintings were created that year. Their cousin, George Bouchier Richardson, was printer to the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle and he printed Collingwood Bruce’s first two editions of The Roman Wall, which contained some of the Richardson paintings.

The background essays are brief yet provide useful context, with the bulk of the volume devoted to the paintings themselves. Many of the paintings have quite a realistic feel to them and some are clearly recognisable today, although others depict landscapes utterly transformed by nineteenth-century urban and industrial development, or nearby farms that were moved (by Clayton) later that century. Some of the paintings are a little faded: this is explained by the author as the result of their being hung on the walls of Collingwood Bruce’s house. Indeed, there is a sepia feel to many of the illustrations. The different styles of the three painters are readily apparent in the images, with one or two almost presenting a photographic-style quality. Breeze does not critique the images – it is assumed that they are an accurate depiction of the time. As landscape images, most are devoid of humans (although livestock are often depicted), but every once in a while there is a wonderful depiction reminding us of the era: a Victorian gentleman in a stovepipe hat near Great Chesters (pl 54), a workman excavating rubbish with a pickaxe at Housesteads (pl 33). Paintings of Birdoswald depict the farmhouse (now part of the English Heritage property) before its distinctive tower was added.

A useful map completes the volume, depicting the location of all the paintings so that the reader can go straight to a particular location or site if they so choose. Indeed, the archaeologist, Wall scholar and antiquarian researcher will find much of interest in these paintings. Art historians may be disappointed in the lack of detailed critique of the images, but the author leaves that to the reader, preferring to supply information about the site or view being depicted and commentary on excavations and work of the time. The volume brings to wider consciousness the important contribution of this family to nineteenth-century studies of Hadrian’s Wall.