A Visual Investigation into Images of Land, Sea, Sky & Cloud:
History, Science and Travel Applied to a Contemporary Art Practice
Lambert Davis, BFA (illustration), Hons.
For the Award of: Doctor of Philosophy (Natural History Illustration) May 2015 Statement of Originality
The thesis contains no material which has been accepted for the award of any degree or diploma in any university or other tertiary institution and, to the best of my knowledge and belief, contains no material previously published or written by another person, except where due reference has been made in the text. I give consent to the final version of my thesis being made available worldwide when deposited in the University’s Digital Repository**, subject to the provisions of the Copyright Act 1968.
**Unless an Embargo has been approved for the determined period.
Signed
Lambert Davis 2015
Lambert Davis 2 Acknowledgements
Like all lengthy voyages a research project begins with inspiration, it progresses to establishing an intended destination, elements lacking in the preparation always become obvious soon after departure, and a prolonged and determined commitment is required. There are moments of sublime enjoyment but it is the overcoming of unforeseen challenges and the hard gained knowledge along the journey that makes ones safe arrival all the sweeter for the experience.
I would like to acknowledge the assistance and support I have received throughout my research journey beginning with my wife, Jodie Davis for encouraging me to undertake this project and then with her patience, style and grace keeping me grounded and moving forward. My sons Lachlan and Connor have provided balance in my life, allowing me the time and space to work as well as insisting on the necessity of occasional days at the beach, camping trips and journeys with my family.
Dr Anne Llewellyn and Dr Trevor Weekes supervised this research. I am grateful for the insight, guidance and consistent support they provided throughout this research. Their knowledge and professional dedication have been instrumental in my successful completion of this project. I would like to acknowledge my research colleagues in Natural History Illustration at the University of Newcastle. The interaction and support provided through the creative and intellectual environment we have shared in the course of our related endeavours has been extremely rewarding.
I most heartily thank Tony Mowbray, owner and skipper of Commitment, for providing assistance by generously sharing his time and wealth of sailing knowledge and experience. He showed enthusiasm for the idea of a voyage as part of my practice-based investigation and provided the perfect platform for my research during three voyages in his 60-foot schooner Commitment.
In conclusion I sincerely thank all those who assisted and supported my research efforts.
LAMBERT DAVIS 3
Table of Contents
Statement of Originality ...... 02
Acknowledgements ...... 03
Table of Contents ...... 04
Abstract ...... 07
Introduction ...... 09
i. Background ...... 11 ii. Chapter Summaries ...... 12
Chapter I : Aristotle to Endeavour, Part One . . . . . 22 A Brief Historical Overview of the Development of Art - Science Collaboration and its Relationship to Land and Seascape Images
i. The development of the philosophical theory stating that knowledge is based . . . . . 24 primarily from sensory experience.
ii. The development of Art/Science collaboration: the creation of precise, . . . . . 31 descriptive images to record and convey scientific knowledge
iii. Art/Science collaboration applied to the production of landscape images . . . . . 36
Chapter II: Aristotle to Endeavour, Part Two Documenting Travel : Artists in the Field During the Age of European . . . . . 40 Maritime Exploration
i. The Discovery of the Americas, 1492 . . . . . 42 ii. Sir Walter Raleigh's Voyages to the New World, 1584-1590 . . . . . 44 iii. Jacques Le Moyne de Morgues, 1533-1588 . . . . . 48 iv. Johan Maurits van Nassua-Siegen, 1604-1679 . . . . . 51
Lambert Davis 4 Chapter III: The Art of Captain Cook’s Voyages of Discovery . . . . . 56
i. The Voyage of H.M. Bark Endeavour, 1768-1771...... 58 ii. Natural History Illustrator, Sydney Parkinson, 1745-1771 . . . . . 60 iii. The Voyage of H.M.S Resolution and H.M.S. Adventure, 1771-1775 . . . . . 66 iv. Landscape Artist, William Hodges, 1744-1797 . . . . . 69 v. The Voyage of H.M.S. Resolution and H.M.S. Discovery, 1776-1780 . . . . . 76 vi. Expedition Artist, John Webber, 1751-1793 . . . . . 78
Chapter IV: John Constable, 1776-1837 . . . . . 82
i. Drawing Direct from Nature . . . . . 84 ii. Topographical Views and Commitment to Naturalism . . . . . 86 iii. Constable and Travel . . . . . 89 iv. Constable's Cloud Studies . . . . . 91 v. Art and Science . . . . . 93
Chapter V: J.M.W. Turner, 1775-1851 . . . . . 94
i. Drawing Direct from Nature . . . . . 96 ii. Topographical Views . . . . . 98 iii. Turner and Travel . . . . . 102 iv. Science and Art . . . . . 107
Chapter VI : Placing My Historically Informed Art . . . . . 110
Practice in a Contemporary Australian Context: A brief account of Australian landscape art followed by a description of my art practice
i. Early European Landscape Art in Australia . . . . . 111 ii. Australian Cultural Infrastructure and Classically Trained Artists . . . . . 113 iii. Impressionism in Australia . . . . . 114 iv. Contemporary Australian Landscape Art . . . . . 115 v. Description and Analysis of my Art Practice . . . . . 119
Lambert Davis 5 vi. Three Voyages Formed an Essential Component of the Research . . . . . 121 vii. Phase One - Field Studies . . . . . 123 viii. Phase Two - Experimental and Preliminary Sketches . . . . . 124 ix. Phase Three - Refined Studies . . . . . 126 x. Phase Four - Large Scale Exhibition Paintings . . . . . 127 xi. Final Exhibition of Selected Artworks . . . . . 128
Chapter VII : Travel Journal Entries and Reflection . . . . . 129
i. Whitsunday Islands Group - October 2012 . . . . . 129 ii. Lord Howe Island Voyage - November 2012 . . . . . 133 iii. Broughton Island Exhibition - February 2013 . . . . . 142 iv. Exploring the Fiords of Tierra del Fuego, Chile - April-May 2014 . . . . . 155
Chapter VIII : Critical Analysis of this Practice-Based . . . . . 180 Research Project
Bibliography . . . . . 184
Catalogue of Selected Work . . . . . 190 List of Images . . . . . 230
Lambert Davis 6 Abstract
My art practice combined with my life experience of coastal and marine environments forms the core of an academic investigation into the transitional development of painting styles in British land and seascape art from the late eighteenth to the mid- nineteenth centuries. While historically informed, this research is practice-based with a major component comprising a series of contemporary paintings of land, sea, sky and cloud. All the paintings I produced in relation to this investigation were created in the present timeframe and originated from field research conducted in local and distant coastal environments as well as during three sailing expeditions.
Throughout an artistic practise ranging from a career as a children’s book illustrator to recording periodic journeys in sketchbooks, my work has been inspired by a lifelong connection to the coastal landscape and marine environment. More recently, while undertaking this PhD in Natural History Illustration, I have gained insight into the challenge of balancing the traditional role of a natural history illustrator to accurately record ones chosen subject, a particular time and place in the case of landscape, with the expressive brushstroke and colour that perhaps better convey a sense of the emotional experience. While making art is often a solitary discipline I have not been alone in my efforts to reconcile these related but often conflicting intentions. British land and seascape art during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries produced some of the most historically significant examples of artists asserting a transformation from descriptive to expressive styles. This research investigates the modification in painting styles focusing on the artists accompanying the mariner James Cook (1728 – 1779) during his three famous voyages of discovery as well as the famous landscape painters John Constable (1776 – 1837) and Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775 – 1851). My art practice, conducted in a systematic and experimental way, informed by the experiences of these selected British artists provides a practice-based investigation of theories surrounding their work. This research has been undertaken with the intention of better
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LAMBERT DAVIS understanding my own art practice and providing knowledge for other artists conducting similar practice-based research. Furthermore, my intention has been to add knowledge to the field by providing personal insight for the broader community into an important period of British history encompassing art, science and exploration and the influence this period has on contemporary art practice.
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LAMBERT DAVIS
INTRODUCTION
Introduction
This Natural History Illustration research project comprises an exegesis and an exhibition of the author’s work. My investigation utilizes a practice-based approach as described by Peter Dallow, Adjunct Professor, Writing & Society Research Centre at University of Western Sydney, NSW. In an article titled Representing creativeness: practice-based approaches to research in creative arts, Dallow states that ‘practice-based research offers an intermediary intellectual space which facilitates the exchange of ideas between theory, analysis and practice’ (Dallow 2003, p. 64). My research considers images of land, sea, sky and cloud produced by a number of influential British artists from the late eighteenth to the mid-nineteenth centuries for its framework. During this period alliances were formed in which art serviced the aims of the scientific, commercial and military communities by conveying precise information through objective documentation of the subject. One of the most significant examples of this collaborative practice was the graphic arts programme conducted as part of James Cook’s three voyages of exploration between 1768 and 1780. As the period progressed the painting styles of a number of artists, John Constable for example, became more expressive, with dramatic brushstrokes, texture, and an increased focus on light and colour. Eventually a few artists, most notably Turner, experimented with the near abandonment of objective imagery altogether. Within the broader framework of the historical investigation this research focuses on the work of Cook’s artist’s as well as John Constable and JMW Turner who provided some of the most significant examples of changing styles. A brief historical overview of the development and transformation of European cultural and aesthetic environments provides information regarding how science and travel were established as key influential elements for artists. A number of art historians including Bernard Smith (1916-2011) and Barbara Maria Stafford (1941-) have offered theories concerning how art/science collaboration combined with travel documentation influenced a number of artists to make such immense changes in style during the later stages of the period. The significance of this investigation is that key elements identified by historians such as Smith and Stafford have been applied to my own art-practice
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INTRODUCTION
creating a practice-based investigation of theories with the ensuing art process discussed in the exegesis, providing personal insight into an important period of British art history. My field research was conducted in a number of coastal locations locally and further afield. However, having recognized that Cook’s journeys combined a number of key elements associated with art/science collaboration and travel documentation in a self-contained intensified environment, I determined that participation on a similar though much shorter sailing expedition to conduct field research would provide an essential component for my project. After corresponding with a number of research organizations and considering the large expense and time necessary to pursue any of the trips offered by commercial operators I instigated a low cost sailing expedition to Broughton Island, NSW. This expedition as well as voyages to Lord Howe Island, NSW and the fiords of Tierra del Fuego, Chile provided significant opportunities to experience cultural and physical environments similar to those of artists presented as examples in this research. The environments during the voyages were saturated with practical concerns relating to natural sciences such as geography, oceanography and meteorology. Furthermore, prolonged and intimate contact with the marine environment as well as associating with NHI colleagues pursuing research in subjects such as marine biology and botany during the Broughton Island expedition have assisted a practically informed discussion relating to established theories about how elements related to science and travel have influenced artists. Participation on these voyages provided me with essential field research that has contributed to a better understanding of the artistic journeys taken by the main artists in this investigation. Historians and scholars have previously written extensively on this subject. I believe that re-examining the influence of science and travel on an important period of British art history in this contemporary creative way provides personal insight for artists and the wider community. This research also provides useful examples for students conducting their own practice-based investigations and has clear potential for future research encompassing art/science-based sailing expeditions.
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INTRODUCTION
BACKGROUND
This investigation has resulted from a lifetime of experience comprising observation, contemplation and portrayal of the marine environment being incorporated with through academic research and a rigorous experimental approach to my art practice. I was born on the Hawaiian island of Oahu and moved to Southern California while still quite young. I developed a keen interest in observing and understanding the changing sea states and cloud formations while growing up surfing and fishing along the coast in San Diego, California and later while camping and sailing in Baja California, Mexico. My early investigations into the marine environment were undertaken to increase chances of success in my outdoors activities. These interactions ranged from conversations with other surfers, sailors and fisherman to collecting information from maps, guidebooks and weather reports. A developing intellectual curiosity led to undergraduate studies reflecting my ocean-orientated interests such as meteorology, navigation, marine biology and geography. My artistic skills benefitted from the theory and practical training I received while earning a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree from Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California. A natural inclination towards observing, recording and understanding the natural environment, while primarily associated with my coastal activities, has been thoroughly integrated with my art practice. The natural world is well represented in the body of work I created during my career as a professional illustrator. I have also produced sketches and paintings as a means of recording my extensive travels. The desire to be immersed in and actively interacting with the natural coastal environment has been a driving force in my life. While my ocean-based lifestyle has provided knowledge and experience that has certainly influenced my art practice it has often resulted in conflicting creative directions that I have separated into either personal or career significance. By this I mean that the time and effort required to understand cloud structure, for instance, delivered practical benefits for my surfing or sailing although how they contributed to an illustration project was less direct. This project is the opportunity to combine all these components in a symbiotic way.
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INTRODUCTION
CHAPTERS
The first two chapters of this document are a brief historical overview of the cultural and aesthetic environments encompassing the development of art/science collaboration and the age of European maritime exploration. While necessarily limited in scope the intention is to provide a fundamental understanding of the progression of events leading to the main period of interest. Ancient Greek scholars vigorously discussed philosophical concepts such as perception, truth and knowledge before discussions were re-ignited in the seventeenth century when major cultural changes were taking place throughout Europe leading to the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries when our principal artists lived and worked. There is an astounding amount of information concerning how philosophical thought as well as other elements associated with science and travel found within their changing environments influenced the principal artists covered in this investigation. The published letters and work of many of the artists, philosophers, scientists and explorers as well as their contemporaries have provided valuable insight for scholars into the period. In the last fifty years there has been an explosion of interest and scholarly research into art/science collaboration and travel documentation and how these disciplines both combined and separately influenced the development of landscape art.
I must acknowledge Australian art historian Bernard Smith for the valuable information found in Imagining the Pacific: In the Wake of the Cook Voyages (1992) regarding the origins of Cook’s graphic arts programme, its implementation during the voyages, and comments, brief as they were, on it’s lasting influence on British landscape artists. Smith’s work provided the initial spark that ignited my academic research and continued to provide guidance by leading to other useful sources throughout my investigation. Any academic research concerned with art history must benefit from the significant body of work produced by Austrian born Professor Sir Ernst Gombrich, O.M., C.B.E., F.B.A. (1909-2001). The highly decorated and well regarded art historian and critic E. H. Gombrich was instrumental in the expansion of research into the relationship between art and science. Gombrich’s theories and analysis regarding the
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INTRODUCTION
psychology of perception found in Art and Illusion: A study of the psychology of pictorial representation, have provided valuable insight into the artistic process. Passages found in Norm and Form; Studies in the art of the renaissance, provided valuable information concerning British landscape painting and Sir Joshua Reynolds (1723-1792), a founder and the first president of the British Royal Academy of Art and author of the influential Discourses.
Chapter one is titled From Aristotle to Endeavour, Part One: A Brief Overview of the Development of Art/Science Collaboration and its Relationship to Land and Seascape Images. It covers an historical journey beginning over two thousand years ago with the development of a philosophical theory stating that knowledge is based primarily on sensory experience. In this paper I investigate this theory, commonly attributed to the Greek philosopher Aristotle based on a passage discussing the human intellect in On the Soul. Beginning in the 17th century this theory served as a catalyst for the development of a new natural philosophy aimed at observing, recording and eventually understanding the natural world. Contributions made to the development of this new natural philosophy by English philosopher, statesman and scientist Sir Francis Bacon (1561- 1626) and philosopher, physician John Locke (1632-1704) are considered in this early chapter. The chapter continues with research into the development of the practice of conveying new knowledge with images and its eventual transformation into art/science collaboration, its role as an essential element in the development of a natural philosophy dedicated to the observation and recording of the natural world is researched. The growing interest by the emerging scientific as well as established commercial and military organizations such as the East India Company and the British Admiralty for objective images to convey visual knowledge of an expanding view of the natural world is investigated. I provide examples of the development of art/science collaboration assisted by optic technology and how it played an essential role in what were the emerging fields of biology and botany. The chapter concludes by considering how art/science collaboration was applied to geographical concerns through the production of topographical landscapes to convey precise knowledge of a particular place visually.
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INTRODUCTION
This research on the phenomenon of art/science collaboration was assisted by three publications with titles revealing of both the wide range and shared origins of art/ science collaboration: The Art of Describing, Dutch Art in the Seventeenth Century by Svetlana Alpers (1983), The Science of Describing, Natural History in Renaissance Europe by Brian W. Ogilvie (2006) and The Science of Art, Optical themes in western art from Brunelleschi to Seurat by Martin Kemp (1990).
Chapter two covers the development of programmes aimed at documenting travel visually during the European Age of Maritime exploration from the fifteenth to the eighteenth century. The discussion considers the adoption of the practice of including artists on the expeditions such as Jacques Le Moyne (1533-1588), generally believed to be the first professional artist to accompany an expedition to the New World. The chapter progresses to the cultural and aesthetic motives that shaped how the early voyages to North America were portrayed in Europe. This includes analysis of the view presented by scholars such as historian Kim Sloan that written descriptions by explorers provided objectively superior information than the modified images. The adaptation of materials and techniques used in the field by traveling artists is examined. Examples are presented of alliances formed between artists and a range of practitioners from related disciplines associated with observing and recording the natural world, such as astronomy and geography. The preparations undertaken and efforts to document Sir Walter Raleigh’s expeditions aimed at settling Virginia are investigated. Reflecting on apparent changing intentions of the traveling artists, images attributed to expedition artist on the Virginia expeditions, Englishman John White (c.1540-1593) are compared to earlier images by Le Moyne. Historian Kim Sloan provided essential information for this chapter in A New World: England’s first view of America (2007) as well as a series of essays edited by Sloan, Enlightenment: Discovering the World in the Eighteenth Century (2003). The previous chapter discussing the development of art/science collaboration and this chapter on early programmes aimed at visually documenting European maritime exploration are intended to provide insight into the developing art processes of traveling artists prior to those participating on Cook’s voyages and the accompanying graphic arts programme.
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INTRODUCTION
Chapter three examines the graphic arts programme aimed at documenting the three voyages of exploration led by renowned British mariner James Cook from 1768 to 1780. Instigated and sponsored by the Royal Society, undertaken in an alliance with the British Admiralty, the graphic-arts programme is considered by historians such as Smith to be the first time the value of art/science collaboration aimed at documenting voyages of exploration was fully realized and provided for. Traveling artists participating on the three voyages produced approximately three thousand images influenced by a range of subjects associated with the natural sciences such as botany and zoology as well as those serving the navigational and meteorological demands of the mariners (Smith, 1992). This chapter examines how the cultural and physical environments of the voyages influenced the intentions, perceptions and art processes of the three principal artists, Sydney Parkinson (c.1745-1771), William Hodges (1744-1797) and John Webber (1751-1776). Likewise it considers contemporary writing of the period regarding how the voyages and resulting images affected intellectual and aesthetic culture throughout Britain and Europe. Ideas and theories previously established by Bernard Smith in Imagining the Pacific (1992), provided substantial information for this chapter. Smith provided further information in collaboration with researcher Rodgier Joppien in The Art of Captain Cook’s Voyages, volumes one, two and three (1985-1988). These publications are a series of catalogues containing images produced by Cook’s artists with relevant comments by Smith and Joppien. Valuable descriptions of environmental conditions experienced by mariners, scientists and artists participating on the voyages were found in James Cook: The Journals, Prepared from the original manuscripts by J. C. Beaglehole for the Hakluyt Society, 1955-196, selected and edited by Philip Edwards (2003).
The chapter follows a chronological order beginning with the Voyage of H.M. Bark Endeavour, from 1768-1771. How the first voyage’s three artists, principal artist Sydney Parkinson (c.1745-1771), as well as Alexander Buchan (d.o.b. unknown-1769), and Herman Sporing (c.1733-1771) adapted to the challenging cultural and physical
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INTRODUCTION
environment aboard the Endeavour. Particularly of interest is how Parkinson adapted quickly after the death of Alexander Buchan, transferring the objective aims he practiced as a botanical illustrator to the production of coastal profiles and topographical landscape. This investigation proceeds by examining how Parkinson’s objective aims may have been compromised when undertaking a series of picturesque landscapes aimed at the established British market, the most familiar form of landscape painting being produced at that time. The final artist considered from the Endeavour voyage, Herman Sporing (1733-1771), was a former watchmaker engaged as secretary to the naturalist Joseph Banks. The origins of Sporing’s art process, in which he produced work that reflected a resolve for mechanical precision and it’s influence on Parkinson are examined.
Cook’s second voyage of exploration is considered next. A second ship, H.M.S. Adventure, accompanied Cook’s ship, H.M.S Resolution at the beginning of the voyage. The expedition departed in 1771 returning in 1775. A similar art/science-based programme to the first voyage was assembled to record the voyage and again included an assortment of mariners, astronomers, naturalists and artists. The principal artist on the second voyage, William Hodges (1744-1797) experimented with a number of techniques and produced a wide range of images. How the scientific setting and physical environment of the voyage influenced Hodges’ art practice is the focus of this section. His ink wash renderings of the Antarctic provide good examples of atmospheric observation and evidence of the influence of intimate and prolonged contact with the marine environment. He had received more classical training and was able to adapt to the objective demands of the voyage as well as eventually producing work for exhibition at the Royal Academy. This chapter investigates statements made by Smith concerning evidence Hodges worked in oils, developing a form of painting that combined the immediacy of an en plein air (a French expression meaning ‘in the open air’) approach with topographical and classical aims. Smith goes on to suggest that Hodges’ approach anticipated those of later artists such as John Constable (Smith 1992).
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INTRODUCTION
This chapter concludes with the third and final expedition led by Cook, again commanding the H.M.S. Resolution and this time accompanied by H.M.S. Discovery, 1776-1780. The work of the third expedition’s principal artist, John Webber (1751- 1776) is arguably the most polished however there is little to discuss in the way of improvisation involving new materials and experimental techniques such as those produced by Hodges. While the graphic arts programme provided valuable new visual information of the north pacific there was no official entourage of naturalists such as Banks and Solander on the first and the Forsters on the second voyages. An environmental influence of natural sciences was maintained however, by practical concerns of the mariners such as cartography, navigation, meteorology and astronomy. William Anderson served as surgeon on the Resolution, an amateur naturalist; he created an insightful journal before his death during the voyage. I examine statements by scholars including Smith suggesting that with a large portion of the graphic arts programme on the third voyage shaped to serve Cook’s interest in creating historical set pieces a degree of objectivity was lost. Webber worked at times with William Ellis (1751-1785), a young artist who enlisted as surgeon’s second mate on the Discovery before transferring to the Resolution. Ellis is known primarily from his work depicting birds however he and Webber made a number of topographical drawings of the same locations. How a collaborative working relationship between a sailing artist and artist/sailor may have benefited Webber’s portrayal of the oceanic and atmospheric conditions is investigated. His practice of exhibiting work in the Royal Academy and the creation and influence of ‘exotic’ historical set pieces on artists and the wider public is examined.
I consider Cook’s graphic arts programme regarding the prolonged and intimate contact with the marine environment and the influence of an extended association with mariners exhibiting a range practical concerns related to observing and recording the natural world. The contrasting aesthetic demands that affected Hodges and Webber when making images for the Admiralty, the Royal Society and the Royal Academy are investigated. An examination of Smith’s comments suggesting the enduring influence of art-science collaboration and travel concludes the chapter.
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INTRODUCTION
Chapter four reflects on the creative development of esteemed British artist John Constable (1776-1837). A brief profile of his life is included to provide a context for the development of Constable’s art practice. The focus of this chapter however, is the search for continuing evidence of the influence of key elements associated with travel and art/science collaboration comparable to those experienced by Cook’s artists. Valuable information for this chapter was sourced from a number of biographies about Constable. These include recent publications such as John Constable: A Kingdom of his Own by Anthony Bailey (2006) as well as earlier work including Memoirs of the Life of John Constable (1843) by fellow artist and contemporary of Constable, C. R. Leslie.
This chapter begins by considering literary evidence, which supports the view that during Constable’s rural upbringing and involvement in his family’s agriculture based enterprises he developed an early awareness of weather and a life long connection to the surrounding countryside. He began conducting field studies in the local area near his family property and continued developing the practice throughout his career. My research looks at Constable’s early topographical landscape images and his entry into the Royal Academy Schools. These events provide examples of the complex challenges Constable faced while trying to balance the precise descriptive aims of topographical landscape with the demand for idealized images favoured within the Royal Academy. Constable’s correspondence regarding his intention to develop a more naturalistic style based on the direct observation of nature is discussed (Bailey 2006). Comments made in public lectures delivered by Constable declaring an enduring relationship between science and art are likewise investigated. Recent academic comment regarding Constable’s cloud studies and painting in oils in the open air, (en plein air) provide the final points for consideration in this chapter.
Chapter five investigates the highly acclaimed British artist, J.M.W. Turner. A host of scholars have written extensively on the complex and diverse nature of the artist’s development. My research for this chapter been has assisted by a range of sources including eighteenth-century art critic, John Ruskin and more recent scholarship by
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INTRODUCTION
John Gage, Andrew Wilton and Barry Venning. Consideration of Turner is limited by the scope of this investigation. Furthermore, my intention is to focus on key points of his work relating to my research by searching for evidence of any continuing influence of key elements associated with art/science collaboration and travel discussed in previous chapters. Did the graphic arts programme conducted by Cook’s artists, essentially the pinnacle of an art practice informed by the key elements of science and travel, influence Turner’s art practice? Conversely, was Tuner’s work a complete departure from the work of Cook’s artists, shaped more by the classic idealism exhibited by Renaissance artists and promoted within the established art hierarchy of the Royal Academy? My investigation covers his early development of both topographical landscape and direct observation field sketching. Turner continued both practices throughout his life. My research considers literary and visual evidence of the artist’s strong ambition and belief in his creative powers including his early entry and lifelong involvement in the Royal Academy. This chapter considers Turner’s contribution to the most prestigious avenue of entry into the academy exhibitions for landscape, the genre of historical narrative. I investigate Turner’s tenure as Professor of perspective at the Royal Academy with an emphasis on his interest in scientific theories of light and colour. A number of artists, both British and European reported to have influenced Turner are examined. These include Sir Joshua Reynolds (1723-1792), a founder and first President of the Royal Academy, landscape artists, Richard Wilson (1713-1782) and John Robert Cozens (1752-1797) and Claude Lorrain (c.1600-1682). This chapter investigates how Turner’s involvement in the sublime landscape genre, may have benefited from the British and European cultural effects of the influential writing of John Ruskin and Edmund Burke. The chapter on Turner concludes by searching for any remaining evidence of the objective influence of science and travel documentation during his later years when he practiced an expressive approach of conveying landscape as light, colour and motion.
Chapter Six is a discussion of the aims, significance and methodology of my art practice. I begin by stating clearly that my art practice, although informed by an investigation into earlier landscape art, is not an attempt at historical re-creation but is a contemporary art practice, created in a modern context with an awareness of
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INTRODUCTION
contemporary landscape art. I restate my intention to provide personal insight for artists and the wider public into an important period of British Art History by reflecting on my art practice, conducted in an experimental and systematic way, informed by critical analysis of relevant literature and images. Rather than relying solely on the tradition of scholarly discussion, I propose that the significance of my research is through my art practice in providing a practical investigation of theories by Smith, Stafford and others stating that key elements related to science and travel influenced artists to make substantial changes to their painting styles. This chapter also contains a brief historical survey of the development of landscape painting in Australia. This necessarily incomplete survey provides examples of contemporary landscape art with the intention of bridging the gap between my initial research and a range of current art practices.
The chapter continues with a brief description and explanation of the methodology developed for my four-phase art practice. A catalogue containing images of selected artworks and a detailed description of my art process including sizes, materials and techniques is included in the appendices. My art practice was informed directly by my research, and designed as an experimental and systematic process in order to investigate relevant theories. These theories concern the influence of key elements associated with science and travel on a number of artists presented earlier as historically significant examples in this paper. A number of theories examined previously in this paper, sourced from historians including Smith, Stafford, Alpers and Sloane have identified key influential elements that range from techniques, materials and environments experienced by the artists, to ‘art in the field’, ‘the precise depiction of weather’, and ‘intimate and prolonged contact with the marine environment’. I reflect on how these elements have in turn informed my art practice before proceeding to the methodology applied when undertaking the three sailing expeditions.
Chapter Seven highlights an essential field research component of my art practice: While actively participating as crewmember, I applied my practice-based research, visually recording land, sea, sky and cloud images during three sailing expeditions.
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INTRODUCTION
This chapter begins by outlining some of the limitations of my early field research when conducting local land-based sketching excursions. I then present the main justification for participation on the sailing expeditions as being that they were the most viable option for experiencing environments crowded with ‘key influential elements’ similar to those found in the significant examples provided by Cook’s three voyages. I consider the challenges and limitations experienced before, during and after each of the expeditions. I include journal entries, one written during an early excursion as well as during each of the three voyages. Passages reflecting on particular influential elements are integrated throughout the journal entries using examples from my journeys. This chapter contains journal entries and reflection limited to four examples featuring; an early field research excursion on an island in the Whitsunday Group, North Queensland, the 400 nautical mile ocean passage to Lord Howe Island, the Broughton Island expedition, and the voyage through the fiords of Tierra del Fuego, Chile.
Chapter Eight contains the conclusion to my research project including a final summary and critical analysis of the written document, the art practice and implications for future research.
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CHAPTER I : ARISTOTLE TO ENDEAVOUR, PART ONE
CHAPTER I
ARISTOTLE TO ENDEAVOUR, PART I
A brief historical overview of art - science collaboration and its relationship to land and seascape images
This investigation focuses on the transformation of painting styles exhibited by a select group of British artists. It must be recognised however, that a range of cultural and aesthetic environments, not just from inside Britain but also from throughout Europe influenced their work. It follows that the span of this period of British art history is immense and while making every effort to maintain a concise and direct route, the challenge to present a comprehensive picture of the development of art-science collaboration and its application to landscape art is necessarily limited by the scope of this research. This chapter therefore, is a brief historical overview that begins by highlighting some of the major individuals and events that influenced the development of a philosophical theory stating that knowledge is gained primarily from sensory experience. Secondly, how a relationship developed between artists and emerging scientific disciplines leading to widespread art/science collaboration. Finally, how art/science collaboration was applied to landscape art. This and the following chapter set the foundation for a much broader investigation into land, sea, sky, and cloud images.
Efforts to gain a more thorough understanding of the fundamental structure of the natural world, presumably ongoing since the dawn of humankind, were renewed with systematic vigour during a period from the sixteenth to the eighteenth centuries with assistance from a philosophical theory asserting knowledge is gained primarily through sensory experience (Sloane, 2003). Prominent intellectuals such as Francis Bacon (1561-1626), John Locke (1632-1704) and David Hume (1711-1776) made contributions promoting this theory, branded as empiricism, (Empiria, Greek for experience) which challenged the ancient Greek view of natural philosophy as a rationalist contemplation of absolute and atemporal truths regarding nature (Stafford,
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CHAPTER I : ARISTOTLE TO ENDEAVOUR, PART ONE
1984). The development of a new ‘Natural Philosophy’ continued into the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries initiating an increased demand for objective images that could be used to describe, record, measure and to provide visual knowledge for a rapidly changing and expanding view delivered by the systematic observation of the natural world. An environment of art/science collaboration was eventually established to serve the visual requirements of emerging scientific, as well as commercial and military communities. This development helped create an environment that eventually encouraged a limited number of European, but mainly British artists to pursue extreme modifications to their painting styles over a relatively short period of time from the late eighteenth to mid-nineteenth centuries.
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THE DEVELOPMENT OF A PHILOSOPHICAL THEORY STATING THAT
KNOWLEDGE IS BASED PRIMARILY ON SENSORY EXPERIENCE
The origins of the challenge during the seventeenth century, to determine the source of knowledge by empiricism rather than the ancient Greek tradition of rational thought advanced by Plato and Aristotle was indeed Aristotle himself. The Greek philosopher Aristotle (384-322BC) first proposed a theory of knowledge based on experience over two thousand years ago. Aristotle wrote an extensive treatise on the nature of living things. In On the Soul (De Anima in Latin) Book III, Chapter 4 discussing human intellect, Aristotle stated:
What it thinks must be in it just as characters may be said to be on a writing tablet on which as yet nothing actually is written: this is exactly what happens with the mind (http://classics/mit/Aristotle/soul.3.iii,html).
The ancient Greeks including Aristotle are credited with establishing the tradition of natural history. Aristotle clearly demonstrated a belief that the way to understand the natural world was through observation, describing and classifying. Aristotle’s History of Animals, Generation of Animals and Parts of Animals focusing mainly on the animals of his Mediterranean world are commonly acknowledged as among the first inquiries [historia] into nature that relied on collecting empirical data as the primary means of explaining the natural world. Aristotle is credited with some of the earliest evidence of a collaborative and Peripatetic research program in natural history (Ogilvie, 2006). In Natural History a thirty-seven-volume compilation of natural history information composed by Pliny the Elder four hundred years after Aristotle’s death, the later philosopher credits Aristotle with an extensive natural history research programme that defies belief:
‘King Alexander the Great being fired with a desire to know the natures of animals and having delegated the pursuit of this study to Aristotle as a man of supreme eminence in every branch of science, orders were given to some thousands of persons throughout the whole of Asia and Greece, all those who made their living by hunting, fowling, and fishing and those who were in charge of warrens, herds, apiaries, fishponds and aviaries,
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to obey his instructions, so that he might not fail to be informed about any creature born anywhere. His enquiries addressed to those persons resulted in the composition of his famous works on zoology, in nearly fifty volumes’ (Pliny the Elder, Natural history, 8.17.44).
Ogilvie has pointed out that the story of ‘thousands of persons throughout the whole of Asia and Greece’ (Pliny the Elder, Natural History, 8.17.44) assisting Aristotle is highly implausible, having been clearly refuted by French researcher Maurice Manquat in his work Aristotle Naturaliste (1932). Further more, it is much more likely that Aristotle conducted a small-scale research programme, possibly assisted by students gathered under his direction at the Lyceum, interrogating people with practical knowledge of fishing, farming and hunting and returned travellers from distant outposts. Pliny the Elder’s story serves more as legend than accurate evidence. However, given Aristotle’s extensive treatises investigating the natural history of a number of animals found in the Mediterranean and beyond, it is plausible that Aristotle conducted one of the earliest, although less substantial, collaborative research programmes into natural history. Aristotle’s efforts in natural history, known collectively as De Animalbus, and his successor Theophrastus’s History of Plants, had been collaborative endeavours that served as inspiration for the collective programmes conducted by later natural historians during the Renaissance (Ogilvie, 2006).
Aristotle’s proposed theory of knowledge based on experience and his De Animalbus comprised of a small part of an extensive and diverse body of work. Aristotle’s theory and his anticpatio naturae, clearly established an empirical approach to knowledge, however the majority of his work was overwhelmingly focused on contemplation and rhetoric, favouring the inquiry of causes to satisfy the mind rather than those ‘as will direct him and give him light to new experiences and inventions’ (http: plato, Stanford, edu (Bacon III [1887], 323)
Between Theophrastus and thirteenth century German philosopher, theologian Albertus Magnus (c.1200-1280) there was only modest interest exhibited by European
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philosophers in the systematic investigation of living things. The emerging discipline was left to the physicians (Ogilvie, 2006).
The Empiric (from Empiria, Greek for experience) School of Medicine, established in the 3rd century BC, applied Aristotle’s theory in a practical sense. The school’s doctrine focused on experience, basing medical treatments on observation and experiment rather than relying only on treatments prescribed in ancient medical texts. The recognition of the benefits of the practical application of sense-based knowledge helped sustain the debate regarding the merit of Aristotle’s theory and encouraged further investigation.
Pedanius Dioscordes (c.40-90AD), a physician, herbalist and botanist, continued the tradition of peripatetic natural history investigation while serving as medic in Roman Emperor Nero’s military campaigns. Traveling to distant reaches of the Roman territories, Dioscordes compiled large amounts of information on plants that became the pinnacle of ancient descriptive botany. De Materia medica. While Dioscordes’s descriptive aims had empirical origins, they were clearly practical rather than scholarly. Scholars, including Ogilvie, have accused Dioscordes of being indifferent as to whether plant observations and descriptions he used were his own or from other sources (Ogilvie, 2006).
The most famous and influential of the philosopher-scientists during the Islamic golden age (750-1258C.E), Avicenna (980-1037) continued the philosophical investigation into the origins of knowledge. Re-interpreting Hellenistic learning, Aristotle in particular, Avicenna proposed that ‘the human intellect at birth is rather like a tabula rasa (blank tablet), a pure potentiality that is actualized through education and comes to know’ and that knowledge is gained through ‘empirical familiarity with objects in this world from which one abstracts universal concepts’. During the European middle ages Avicenna and his Islamic colleagues maintained the epistemological discussion and the body of Hellenistic learning before its eventual return to Europe (Flannery, www.britannica.com).
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After the turbulent decline of the Roman Empire and throughout the European middle ages, the influence of religion became more powerful. An oppressive religious environment that based all knowledge on innate or inborn sources rather than experience, restricted any study of what we now regard as science. The intellectuals who maintained the legacy of Aristotle were obstructed by the Church’s doctrine. Research into the natural world met with mystical or religious explanations and practitioners were treated with suspicion and risked being accused of serious offences, including the outrageous charge of ‘necromancy’ (Huxley, 2003, p. 71).
While religious and state authorities maintained an oppressive intellectual environment that limited philosophical discussions on the source of knowledge, technological improvements such as the printing press eventually encouraged intellectuals to renew their scholarly investigations. The European development of mechanical movable type printing by Johannes Gutenberg in 1430 sparked an era of mass communication and exchange of ideas. This re-ignited the debate regarding theories of knowledge and lead to the establishment of a new Natural Philosophy of science based on empirical knowledge. Printing presses in operation in Western Europe had produced over twenty million volumes by the year 1500. These new books triggered profound transformations in the thought processes and working environments of secular and religious scholars, the foremost readers of the time. With presses spreading throughout Europe, output raised to an estimated 150 to 160 million copies during the 16th century. The increased ease of presenting and distributing information and ideas led to increased literacy rates of the general population. The book gave rise to new habits of thought, not only in the traditional territory of the learned and the elite, but far beyond, in the intellectual life of the masses. The printing press revolutionized the way people comprehended and described their world, igniting a new era of scientific observation and thought that challenged the previous era where only ancient and innate sources of knowledge were considered valid (Febvre, 1976).
During the 17th century Britain experienced incredible political and religious turmoil resulting in civil war and the protestant reformation. The instability was re-kindled
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during the glorious Revolution of the 18th century. These ongoing religious conflicts between Protestants, Anglicans and Catholics as well as those between Crown and Parliament, created an environment that encouraged scholars such as Francis Bacon, and John Locke to give a free rein to their intellectual curiosity in the search for knowledge (Uzgalis, 2012).
This liminal environment was further enhanced by the increased cultural discourse between English philosophers, scientists and artists with intellectuals from other regions throughout Europe. The growing distribution of published material as well as the movement of travellers and political refugees did much to enliven the debate regarding theories of knowledge as well as encouraging the need for reformation and the necessity of tolerance (Uzgalis, 2012).
Francis Bacon (1561-1626) was a major influential figure during the 17th century. He was an active participant in the tumultuous secular and religious politics of his time and strongly believed that a new era was impending. Bacon criticised the ancient sciences as false and has generally been acknowledged as having initiated a plan for scientific reform that introduced a new science and the early modern era. He conceived a science that based knowledge primarily on observation and he was an early advocate for the idea of cooperative scientific research. He published a number of influential philosophical essays that displayed a sense of reformation. Bacon’s comments on academic institutions and the politics of scientific ideas were a clear demand for a new productive natural science, which he outlined in his first philosophical work, ‘The Advancement of Learning’, published in 1605. Divided into two books, the first promoted the significance of learning in every area of life. The second book was longer and more important. It was a review of the existing state of human knowledge. Bacon identified deficiencies and suggested comprehensive ways of improvement. Primarily he advocated replacing an ancient contemplative science, interested in words rather than labours, with a dynamic and effective science that would empower humankind, enabling it to improve its conditions (Peltonen, 1996). Bacon proposed the concept of a new productive natural science as a discovery of unknown truths. Bacon recognized that a reform of
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learning also necessitated a reform of cultural institutions and universities. He combined natural and civil philosophy when he proposed a new science based on observation, with a democratic and collaborative character that embraced new technology (Rossi, 1996). In his utopian fable the New Atlantis (1623), Bacon provided a model for his vision of a state supported scientific organisation that would eventually come to fruition with the founding of the Royal Society of London in 1662 (Sargent, 1996). The introduction of a Baconian Theory of Knowledge and Philosophy of Science accelerated the careful observation of Nature and initiated sweeping changes in British political, philosophical and scientific fields.
All ideas come from sensation or reflection. Let us then suppose the mind to be, as we say, white paper, void of all characters, without any ideas:— How comes it to be furnished? Whence comes it by that vast store which the busy and boundless fancy of man has painted on it with an almost endless variety? Whence has it all the materials of reason and knowledge? To this I answer, in one word, from EXPERIENCE. In that all our knowledge is founded; and from that it ultimately derives itself (Locke, 1689, Bk.2, Chp.1, 2).
The above quote is from Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1689), by English Philosopher John Locke (1632-1704). He was one of the most influential advocates of Empiricism; his Essay Concerning Human Understanding was a detailed project investigating the sources and nature of human knowledge. In his Essay Concerning Human Understanding, he promoted a philosophical theory of knowledge based primarily on sensory perception, suggesting that the mind at birth was a sort of ‘empty cabinet’ (Book 1, Chp.2, 15), filled later through experience. Locke also used the analogy of a ‘white paper’, in the passage quoted above, or as Muslim physician-scientist Avicenna had done previously, ‘tabula rasa’ [Arabic for ‘Blank Tablet’], both clearly re- interpreting the ancient writings of Greek philosopher Aristotle.
Describing Locke simply as an Empiricist is perhaps misleading, while he rejected the notion of innate ideas and promoted the theory that knowledge is derived primarily from sensory experience he also recognised the practical importance of reasoning of first
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principles arrived at from sense perception, as a means of establishing second or more complex principles (Uzgalis, 2014).
In 1652 at the age of twenty while attending Oxford University, Locke first encountered a group of intellectuals interested in questioning the established systems of thought and learning. Education at Oxford followed a traditional scholastic program that was still medieval. Lectures concerning classical Greek subjects such as logic and metaphysics were conducted in Latin. However there was more at Oxford than ancient Greek philosophy. A group dedicated to studying nature rather than the traditional scholastic program was continuing the development of a new experimental philosophy. Formed around John Wilkins (1614-1672), the Warden of Oxford’s Wadham College, the aims of this group were characterized by ‘Bacon’s interest in careful experimentation and the systematic collection of facts from which generalizations could be made’ (Uzgalis, 2014, 1.1). While studying medicine, Locke was introduced to the experimental philosophy being practiced by Wilkins’ group. Informal meetings of these virtuosi to discuss the ‘new philosophy promoting knowledge of the natural world through observation and experiment’ (royalsociety.org) formed the origins of what was to become the Royal Society of London.
The founding in November 1660 of the Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge accelerated the advancement of Empirical science and a growing awareness of the scientific value of objective visual imagery. Bacon’s vision of a civil responsibility to assist science was realized at the Royal Society. As well as encouraging the production, distribution and discussion of natural knowledge, the Royal Society was eventually able to attract wealthy patrons who sponsored larger and more ambitious research projects. Locke had earlier advanced ‘the use of drawing for the collection and transmission of information’ (Smith, 1992, p. 26). The Royal Society went on to play a significant role, by recognizing that images could convey knowledge visually, in creating the opportunity and circumstances that encouraged traveling artists such as Parkinson, Hodges and Webber to produce images now believed to have exhibited some of the earliest modifications to painting styles I am investigating.
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THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE ART/SCIENCE COLLABORATION:
PRECISE DESCRIPTIVE IMAGES CREATED TO RECORD AND
CONVEY SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE
The Vienna Dioscorides, an early sixth-century copy of Dioscorides’s De Materia Medica, has provided the some of the earliest examples of art used to convey scientific knowledge. Originally created to assist Greek physicians, beginning in the sixth-century the illustrated herbals contained images that exhibited clearly objective artistic intentions, if perhaps naïve by later and more precise standards, which were produced to help identify plants of medicinal value. The practice of drawing plants for medical texts was continued for centuries as a combination of copying from existing texts and progressively adding newly observed information. By the end of the 14th century the practice of drawing from direct observation became more evident with the increased precision of botanical illustrations, some depicting detailed organic relationships between the different parts of plants.
During the late fourteenth century Northern Italian artists of the Lombard School commenced the practice of drawing plants and animals from nature for use as preparatory studies when producing public commissions of finished decorative or religious narratives. The sensitivity and precision exhibited in the work of early Italian Renaissance artists such as Michelino da Besozza (c.1370-c.1455), Giovannino de’ Grassi (c.1350-c.1398), and Pisanello (c.1395-c.1455), known professionally as Antonio di Puccio Pisano, reveal a deep interest in understanding and recording the natural world. Italian Renaissance master Leonardo Da Vinci (1452-1519) combined art and natural philosophy, producing thousands of journal pages that displayed continual observations of the natural world around him. However, besides a few examples and the exceptional genius of Leonardo, the established aesthetic hierarchy in Europe, South of the Alps, based on the ideal, with its emphasis on religious and historical narrative continued to inhibit the development of objective art/science collaboration (Smith, 1992).
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Fuelled by progressive thinkers such as Bacon and the development of new optic technologies, the seventeenth-century saw acceleration in the use of descriptive images as a means of conveying knowledge of the natural world. In Northern Europe, the cultural and aesthetic environment was less constrained, Dutch art in particular proliferated with precise descriptive images of their world, independent of the ancient texts that formed the basis of history painting. The development of art/science collaboration benefited from the prolonged cultural intercourse between Philosophers, Scientists and Artists from the Netherlands and Britain during the seventeenth century. The writing of Constantijn Huygens (1595-1687), one of the most important Dutch seventeenth-century intellectuals, provides valuable insight into this cultural intercourse. Huygens was a classically trained seventeenth-century humanist: a writer, a poet, owner of a substantial library, committed to ancient language and knowledge. In his writing Huygens acknowledges art as a conveyor of traditional values, devoting a considerable portion of the Autobiography to Northern artists, he praises Peter Paul Rubens (1577- 1640), and was an early champion of Rembrandt van Rijn (1606-1669). However, it is his interest in descriptive images of common subject matter such as landscape, clouds, animals and plants that concerns this research. Huygens was heavily influenced by Bacon’s ‘New Natural Philosophy’ and in his Autobiography, promoted the idea that images were integral to the recording of new knowledge. Huygens had met the English philosopher Francis Bacon on an early trip to England and held him in the highest regard. He had also met Cornelius Drebbel (1577-1633) while in England and was equally impressed with the Dutch experimenter and his optic devices. His role as an entertainer in royal society clouds his reputation but shouldn’t take away from his outstanding achievements with regard to the development of new optical technology. Drebbel was instrumental in developing, refining, introducing and promoting new technologies in Britain including the camera obscura. In her 1983 study of seventeenth century Dutch art titled The Art of Describing, historian Svetlana Alpers comments on an account given by Huygens in his Autobiography when he looks through Drebbel’s microscope and sees a new world come into focus:
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Huygens looks into a lens and calls for a picture. In calling for a fine artist to record what he sees in a microscope lens, Huygens assumes that picturing serves a descriptive function. It is not tied to the received and hallowed knowledge but to new sights of a very individual kind (Alpers, 1983, p. 7).
For centuries optic technology in the form of crystal and then glass lenses had been in use, including for the examination of the natural world. However, the technological advancement of optics during the sixteenth century greatly improved the capacity to investigate the natural world and led to an increase in art/science collaboration. While the question of who exactly invented the microscope is open to speculation, it can be stated with a reasonable degree of certainty that the location was somewhere in the Netherlands around the year 1590. Historian Alpers claims the Dutchman Antonie van Leeuwenhoek (1632-1723), was the first European to study the microscopic world and is generally considered the ‘father of microbiology’. Using the finely detailed drawings of insects by Jaques de Gheyn II, as an example, Huygens proposed a relationship between artists using the microscope to create new knowledge captured from an image in a lens (Alpers, 1983). The microscope, like the telescope, introduced a new world to scientists. Given the established tradition of precise descriptive picture making in the Netherlands it was inevitable that Dutch artists would endeavour to record as accurately as possible the new discoveries.
Attentive looking, transcribed by the hand - what might be called the observational craft - led to the recording of the multitude of things that make up the visible world. In the seventeenth century this was celebrated as giving basic access to knowledge and understanding of the world (Alpers, 1983, p. 72).
Emerging as the preeminent scientific organization of its day in Britain, the Royal Society demonstrated its progressive intentions and the value it placed on art/science collaboration assisted by new optic technology when it chose Robert Hooke’s Micrographia (1665) to be its first major publication.
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ROBERT HOOKE, 1635-1703: DIAGRAM OF A LOUSE, MICROGRAPHIA, 1667. ENGRAVING, 65.5 X 113.3 CM., VIEWED 18 FEBRUARY 2015 http://wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/10/louse_diagram%2c_ Micrographia%2cRobert_Hooke%2c_1667.jpg
Micrographia became the first scientific bestseller. The precise objective illustrations of insects that accompanied the text inspired an increased awareness of microscopy and encouraged the appreciation of empirically based art, not just by scientists and the cultural elite but by the general public as well (Alpers, 1983). While public appeal is not, strictly speaking, the focus of this study, the cultural and aesthetic environment in which the art is being produced, plays a major part in art history theory as mentioned previously. The success of Micrographia is evidence of the widespread and growing influence of art/science collaboration, raising its merits and increasing pressure on the classic aesthetic hierarchy.
Late in the sixteenth century, the practical tradition of surveying and cartography by northern European craftsman began to include the production of topographical town views. Craftsman already interested in creating precise objective images with a topographical approach to landscape were quick to apply the developing optic technologies to landscape art. Many practicing a number of related skills such as surveying, drafting, cartography and painting while making no distinction between
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decorative and informative images (Alpers, 1983). In this way the science of map making and the art of picture making entered into collaboration.
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ART/SCIENCE COLLABORATION APPLIED TO THE PRODUCTION
OF LANDSCAPE IMAGES
By the 17th century different genres of landscape art were being developed throughout Europe. However, this section of research focuses on the development of British landscape art in association with art/science collaboration. This association is evident in the development of a landscape discipline, evolved from decorative beginnings, that aspires to achieve the practical value of recording and conveying accurate objective information. Geography, the recording of geographic information, was applied visually and developed as the discipline of cartography. One of the earliest examples was Geographia, a collection of maps of the entire Roman Empire compiled by Greco- Egyptian astronomer, mathematician and geographer, Ptolemy (c.100-c.170)). In Geographia, Ptolemy makes the distinction between the measuring aims of geography (concerned with the whole world) with the descriptive aims of chorography (concerned with particular places). The combining and intermingling of the two disciplines, the art of the landscape and the science of cartography, was further developed through a Northern approach to image making aimed at informing rather than invention. The painting by Seventeenth century Dutch master Jan Vermeer (1632-1675), The Art of Painting, contains an image of a map that has been precisely identified and is an excellent example of Dutch cartographic history. The map combines a traditional map of the Netherlands framed on both sides by topographical views of major cities with a section of explanatory texts running along the bottom. Topographical city views were well established by this time in graphic mediums such as Rembrandt’s etching, View of Amsterdam 1640, Vermeer’s View of Delft exhibited a transformation into oil paint and the spread of the popular genre into a higher aesthetic realm (Alpers, 1983).
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WENCESLAUS HOLLAR, 1607-1677: HULL, DATE UNKNOWN. ENGRAVING, 27 X 31CM., VIEWED 19 FEBRUARY 2015. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/file:Wenceslaus_Hollar_-_Hull.jpg
Born in Prague, Wenceslaus ‘Wenzel’ Hollar (1607-1677) is credited with introducing to Britain the Northern tradition of mapping that combined the development of illustrated maps and topographical views. In 1633, while in Cologne, he began working as a topographical artist for Thomas Howard, 21st Earl of Arundel, and the British Ambassador to the Imperial Court. Hollar travelled with the Earl and in 1636 recorded trips to Vienna and Prague before returning with him to Britain in 1637. Under the Earl’s patronage, Hollar gained favour at court, eventually creating nearly three thousand plates for a number of books that aimed at providing accurate information concerning the cities and towns he travelled to. As his skills were increasingly recognized he was eventually sent by Charles II to Tangiers to draw the town and forts. Wenzel Hollar’s images were recognised at the highest political and military levels for
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their practical value with respect to military, trade and water control and advanced the concept of art/science collaboration applied to a geographical illustration enterprise (Smith, 1992).
The affect of art/science collaboration on the development of British landscape art accelerated towards the end of the 17th century. The mathematical School of Christ’s Hospital established a drawing school in 1693 where boys being trained for the navy learned basic survey skills and forms of topographic description. British military academies at Woolrich, Marlow, Sandhurst and Addiscombe also established drawing schools. Topographical landscape and coastal profiles became an established practice, fulfilling Military and Naval requirements for precise knowledge of lands and coastlines both near and distant (Smith, 1992).
THOMAS SANDBY, 1721-1798: WINDSOR CASTLE FROM THE GOSWELLS, DRAWN IN A CAMERA [ OBSCURA], 1770. PENCIL AND WATERCOLOUR, 12.5 X 58.2 CM., DRAWINGS GALLERY, WINDSOR CASTLE, ROYAL COLLECTION TRUST/©HER MAJESTY QUEEN ELIZABETH II 2015 VIEWED 18 FEBRUARY 2015 http://royalcollection.org.uk/collection/914602/windsor-castle-from-the-goswells
The importance of topography to military and civil interests eventually influenced artists and collectors as well as the aesthetic hierarchy of the Royal Academy. Brothers Thomas (1721-1798), and Paul Sandby (1731-1809), both having been trained at the Tower of London, served as a military draftsman in Scotland after the Jacobite rebellion in 1745. Thomas and Paul Sandby were among the 28 original members of The Royal Academy, nominated as founders by George III in 1768. Paul later became Chief Drawing Master of the Royal Military Academy at Woolrich while Thomas served as Professor of Perspective, conducting annual lectures from 1770 until the year of his death (Smith, 1992). Both brothers produced and exhibited scenic views throughout
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their careers demonstrating a growing market for the scenic landscape genre and participating in the aesthetic hierarchy of the Royal Academy.
PAUL SANDBY, 1731-1809: CONWAY CASTLE, 1789. WATERCOLOUR ON CREAM, MODERATELY TEXTURED PAPER, 47.9 X 64.5 CM., YALE CENTER FOR BRITISH ART, PAUL MELLON COLLECTION, VIEWED 18 FEBRUARY 2015, http://commons.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Paul_Sandby_-_Conway_castle_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg
Topographical landscape artists embraced new optic technology, furthermore the importance of conveying information accurately demanded a thorough understanding of perspective techniques. The mathematical science of perspective theory, developed during the early renaissance, and used to give the illusion of depth in classical narratives was rigorously applied to topographical landscape. Topographical landscape artists incorporated perspective techniques into their work, but artistic intentions were aimed at informing rather than invention as in classical applications.
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CHAPTER II
ARISTOTLE TO ENDEAVOUR, PART II
Documenting Travel: Artists in the Field During the Age of European Maritime Exploration
A period of European maritime exploration that occurred from the 15th to the 18th centuries is commonly known as the ‘Age of Discovery’. This chapter focuses on some of the key examples highlighting the development of programmes during this period aimed at documenting travel, providing a brief overview of the transformation in the cultural, artistic and intellectual environments in Europe and Britain. My intention is to continue establishing the foundation begun in the previous chapter, preparing the reader for the following chapter covering the most significant and prolific example of a collaborative scientific - graphic arts programme aimed at documenting voyages of exploration, those of Captain James Cook (1768-1780). Empirically based art–science collaboration was an essential component aimed at assisting a natural philosophy dedicated to investigating and recording the natural world through the widespread practice of accurate description and collection of natural objects, were in development throughout this period. These developing scientific disciplines, including botany, biology and zoology were adapted alongside previous practices of value to navigation such as cartography, meteorology, and astronomy as a means of recording many of the voyages. The recognition of the value of visual knowledge and the associated development of optic technology as well as technological advances leading to the improvement of the surveying, map-making and navigation techniques encouraged the voyages, and in turn was enthusiastically applied to the practice of creating art in the field to record new discoveries. The scope of this subject is broad and complex and although limited by space, this chapter is intended to provide a progressive array of examples revealing the developing practice of creating accurate images to assist the documentation of travel throughout the European age of maritime exploration. This practice eventually led to the graphic-arts programme conducted on Cook’s three voyages. It has been strongly argued by scholars including Smith, that Cook’s traveling
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artists, influenced by challenging physical and cultural environments far from Europe instigated changes to a range of art practices both in the field and studio, that eventually effected the development of land and seascape imagery during the late 18th and 19th centuries (Smith 1992).
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THE DISCOVERY OF THE AMERICAS, 1492
The discovery of the Americas by Europeans in the 15th century initiated a concerted effort by a range of powerful entities, both state and private to lay claim to as much territory and wealth as possible. Efforts to document early voyages of exploration were encouraged, although intellectual curiosity of the natural world and the emergence of objective visual description were subservient to the commercial, political and ideological demands of the expeditions sponsors, the courts of Portugal, Spain and England, and the great maritime trading companies, such as the English Virginia Company and the Dutch East India Company (Smith 1992, Bucher 1981). Documentary records were made with the intention of providing useful information, such as those regarding navigation and exploitable resources, that would encourage investment in future ventures aimed at trade or settlement (Quinn 1983). Beginning with the voyage of Christopher Columbus in 1492, flora and fauna, including native inhabitants, were collected as a way of proving claims of discovery, encouraging future settlement, as well as servicing a market for fashionable ‘curiosities’ for royal patrons and other court elite (Bucher 1981). The first pictures of the new world were rudimentary woodcuts made in Europe using a collection of explorer’s accounts, objects, and captured Native Americans brought back, as well a earlier images. For example, the description of America in Mumster’s Cosmographie (1554) was illustrated with old woodcuts previously used more than a century earlier for illustrating Mandeville’s voyage (Bucher 1981). Explorers had recorded observations in their journals for some time. Historian Smith suggests it is generally accepted that the images that resulted from early expeditions are regarded as being less accurate than written accounts (Smith 1992). However, Bucher has provided a number of examples of accounts being reinterpreted to suit different religious or political beliefs (Bucher 1981). Made less than one hundred years after the Nuremburg Chronicle (1493) portrayed the world beyond Europe, peopled with hideous monsters, early images depicting America were subjected to severe ideological and aesthetic transformations in order to portray the exotic ‘other’ as unappealing compared to the supposed superior European classical ideal values of beauty being propagated by the religious and political elite (Smith 1992).
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One of the earliest examples of employing artists in the field to record voyages of exploration is the programme instigated by Philip II of Spain (1527-1598). The voyage of Francisco Hernandez to Mexico (1571-1576) is the earliest known example of an expedition to the New World that included a purposely-designed scientific programme that included visual description. Hernandez was directed by the Council of the Indies to include a group of observers and artists to make the first official survey of Spain’s new colony in Mexico (Sloan 2007). Collection and observation during the expedition led to the fifteen volumes compiled by Hernandez containing descriptions and illustrations of plants and animals. Hernandez’s great collection of drawings was stored in the King’s antechamber of the Escorial. Unfortunately all the drawings, along with images inspired by the drawings that decorated the walls, were destroyed by fire in 1671. Smith has suggested that nearly all of the field studies from early expeditions, possibly made with more objective intentions, have been discarded by the artist, the engraver or otherwise destroyed and are now lost and with very few exceptions, only second and third hand paintings, woodcuts and engravings remain (Smith 1992).
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SIR WALTER RALEIGH’S VOYAGES TO THE NEW WORLD, 1584-1590
During the sixteenth century, the few pictures resulting from early voyages that circulated, corrupted to serve European cultural ideology as stated previously, sparked widespread interest by influential patrons who encouraged the development of a more objective art practice associated with voyages of discovery.
A skilful painter is also to be carried with you, which the Spaniards used commonly in all their discoveries to bring descriptions of all beasts, birds, fishes, townes, &c.’ from the manuscript ‘Inducements to the Liking of the Voyage intended towards Virginia in 40. and 42. Degrees’, 1584 (cited in Sloan 2007, p. 45)
The above quote by Richard Hakluyt the elder (1553-1616), writer, geographer and courtier of Queen Elizabeth I (1533- 1603), was included as part of a list of required craftsman in a manuscript promoting the settlement of Virginia. Preparing reports to persuade the Queen and potential investors, Hakluyt played an essential part in an English attempt, instigated by the famous privateer Sir Walter Raleigh (c.1554-1618), to establish a settlement in North America. The attempted Roanoke settlement ended in disaster but the extensive preparations made by Raleigh and his supporters, as JOHN WHITE, C.1545-C.1593: The manner of their well as the art programme conducted by fishing and A Cannow, 1585. WATERCOLOUR
John White (c.1540-1593), are of OVER BLACK LEAD, TOUCHED WITH BODYCOLOUR significant interest. Sir Walter Raleigh [GOUACHE] AND GOLD, 35.3 X 23.5 CM. BRITISH assembled a group comprising some of MUSEUM, LONDON, VIEWED 24 FEBRUARY 2015, http://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/ Queen Elizabeth’s most talented
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gentleman courtiers and merchants to help plan the venture. Richard Hakluyt compiled accounts of earlier voyages, John Dee (1527-1608) provided maps and the latest instruments, and the Queen’s principle secretary Francis Walsingham (1532-1590) encouraged political support. Mathematician and astronomer Thomas Harriot (1560- 1621), was housed by Raleigh in Durham House on the banks of the Thames, where he gathered books, charts and useful information regarding previous voyages. He also instructed Raleigh’s captains in navigation and shipbuilding. These and the other men formed a co-operative relationship that combined art and developing scientific disciplines in a way that appears to have contributed to the development of a more objective description of the New World.
JOHN WHITE, C.1545-C.1593: Loggerhead Turtle, 1585. WATERCOLOUR AND BODYCOLOUR
[ GOUACHE] OVER BLACK LEAD HEIGHTENED WITH WHITE, 18.7 X 26 CM., BRITISH MUSEUM,
LONDON, VIEWED 24 FEBRUARY 2015, http://www.nps.gov/media/photo/ gallery.htm?tagID=1851#
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In a letter to Richard Hakluyt written late in his life, John White stated that he had made five voyages to Virginia during the 1580s in association with Sir Walter Raleigh’s efforts to establish a colony in the New World. John White, a well-educated, well- connected gentleman-companion and investor participated initially on the first voyage. At a point that is unclear historically, he had demonstrated a talent for ‘limning’, or sketching in watercolour. Limners had evolved from the manuscript illuminators, as opposed to the guilds of painters and strainers who generally were of lower skills and training. Limning then, was an appropriate activity for a gentleman courtier with the accessibility to gold and silver, to pigments from apothecaries, as well as the simplicity of the tools and precision of marks made (Sloan 2007). White participated on four more of Sir Walter Raleigh’s sailing expeditions to what was then known as Virginia although it seems likely many of the images he made in the field were from the 1585 expedition under the command of Sir Richard Grenville (1542-1591) (Sloan 2007). White’s role as gentleman and artist were signs of the changing social and artistic environment of the period.
A gentleman not under the normal constraints of a profession but who had sufficient leisure to practice his ‘arte’ was in a position to respond to what was required at the time with whatever tools and abilities he had at hand, and improvisations and inventions were a natural outcome (Sloan 2007, p. 29).
Thomas Cavendish, who sailed as one of the captains on the second expedition had previously made notes on what was needed for the expedition. He had listed a good geographer accompanied by an excellent painter. White’s images of maps suggest he collaborated with Thomas Harriot regarding geographical concerns on a number of the occasions during the expeditions. Harriot had been an essential part of Raleigh’s ‘private academy’ at Durham House during preparations for the initial voyage. Harriot’s surviving papers have made it clear that he focused his studies on navigation. The images made by White can be grouped into categories that correspond roughly to those of later expedition artists: portraits, flora, fauna, scenes and maps. It seems clear that the
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resulting 75 watercolour paintings credited to John White documenting the expedition were made in an attempt to fill the role of artist as proscribed by both Hakluyt as well as Cavendish. In 1582-3 similar instructions for an expedition to be undertaken by Humphrey Gilbert increased the detail regarding tasks to be preformed by specialist ‘observers’ and included a list of required equipment for surveying and cartography. There was a strong objective aim to many of the images White produced during the expeditions. When published in Theodore de Bry’s first volume of Great Voyages (1590), together with the written account adapted from Thomas Harriot’s A Brief and true report of the new found land of Virginia (1588), White’s pictures reproduced as engravings contributed to the visual knowledge of the New World although heavily burdened by the weight of commercial, political and religious intentions. Engraver and publisher, Theodore de Bry (1528-1598) a religious exile originally from Liège presented Europe with its first information regarding the New World using technologically advanced copperplate etching for its illustrations. Between 1590 and 1634, using accounts from English, French and Spanish expeditions, thirty volumes of folios both large and small containing several hundred illustrations were published by the de Bry family (Bucher, 1981). While political and religious pressure inhibited objective description in published images the emerging movement to record the natural world was transforming the role of observer and recorder. The practice of describing the natural world was in transformation from Renaissance humanist methods into a new empirical approach. The drawings and methods used by White are of interest to this research. Also significant are the preparations for the trip and resulting collaborative effort that recognized the range of objective images required to give a full and proper account of the expeditions. The techniques employed by White as well as his participation on a project with an extreme collaborative nature involving a range of related disciplines were examples of changing cultural and physical environments for traveling observer/artists.
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JACQUES LE MOYNE DE MORGUES, 1533-1588
In 1564 Jacques Le Moyne de Morgues, most likely the first professional artist to be included on an expedition to the New World, accompanied the second French attempt to establish a Huguenot settlement in Florida. Le Moyne spent eighteen months in Florida. While there he performed the task of mapping coasts, rivers and harbours as well as making images of people and things of interest (Smith, 1992). Le Moyne originated from Dieppe and most likely was trained there in manuscript illumination. Dieppe had a long history of this traditional decorative book illustration and it still prospered while Le Moyne trained there. However, Dieppe was also well regarded as a leading European centre for cartography. Le Moyne’s experience combined the decorative craft of manuscript illumination with the objective intent of cartography, reflecting the changing cultural environment. Le Moyne was one of only two men who managed to escape with their lives when the Spanish attacked the French fort. He returned to Europe 1566 and eventually arrived in England as a religious refugee in 1581 where his paintings and written account of the expedition attracted the interest of Hakluyt, Raleigh and de Bry (Sloan, 2007). It is generally accepted that Le Moyne created a large number of field sketches during the expedition and a limited number of finished paintings most likely done after returning to France. Theodore de Bry (1528- 1598) acquired these images and documents after Le Moyne’s death and used them to produce an account of the French expedition that was published in the second volume of Great Voyages in 1591 (Sloan, 2007). None of Le Moyne’s field drawings or finished work survives with the exception of a refined watercolour on vellum that was clearly aimed at supporting French claims to Florida.
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JACQUES LE MOYNE DE MORGUES, 1533-1588: Athore shows Laudonnière the marker column set up by Bibault, AFTER 1566. WATERCOLOUR AND BODYCOLOUR [ GOUACHE] WITH TOUCHES OF GOLD ON VELLUM, 18 X 26 CM., NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY, NEW YORK, VIEWED 12 MARCH 2015. http://historymuseum.ca/virtual-museum-of-new-france/colonies-and-empires/
Created some time after 1566, Athore shows Laudonnière the marker column set up by Ribault, shows Timucua Chief Athore showing the garland-draped column to Laudonnière while a group of Indians worship it. Historians including Smith and Paul Hulton have analysed Le Moyne’s refined work on vellum and de Bry’s engraving of it, identifying elements that seem to be based on European prototypes. Le Moyne’s explanatory note containing more objective descriptions of the useful offerings surrounding the monument, many not found in de Bry’s engraved or Le Moyne’s refined images appears closer to his original field research. In the process of turning Le Moyne’s field sketches and notes into finished engravings with notes edited by de Bry for publication they were corrupted by the cultural pressure focused on the European desire for land and wealth.
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The publishing programme conducted by the Theodore de Bry and successive members of his family after his death, provided the earliest comprehensive account of expeditions to North America. While the engraved images in de Bry’s Great Voyages are now seen as decorative propaganda rather than as objective records of the expeditions, they provided substantial valuable information. For over forty year numerous volumes of the Great Voyages were distributed widely throughout Europe, read by educated people intrigued by the voyages and the emerging classes of merchants and artisans (Bucher, 1981). De Bry’s published accounts of a number of European expeditions to settle the New World, including Raleigh’s and Laudonnière’s, increased interest and support for similar endeavours in the future as well as sparking humanist and scientific discussion.
In 1609 the Dutch gained their liberation from the Hapsburg rulers of Spain allowing for the development of a more secular society. This has generally been credited as the beginning of a period known as the Dutch Golden Age. During the seventeenth century the Dutch progressed to become the dominant sea power, establishing the Dutch East India Company (VMO) and the Dutch West Indian Company, a trade monopoly with Japan, and a world leader in cartography and map making. The Dutch were quick to utilize and develop a variety of techniques for recording visual information of distant lands. Over the forty years (1590-1634) the de Bry’s Great Voyages was being published there were a number of accounts sourced from the logs of Dutch navigators including Various Dutch Navigations (vol.11, 1619). Bucher’s earlier statement that after 1602 the Great Voyages consisted mainly of accounts of Dutch expeditions contrasts with Smith’s suggestion that the Dutch maritime companies had quickly realized the commercial value of their information and had kept a close guard on it (Bucher, 1983, Smith, 1992).
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JOHAN MAURITS VAN NASSUA-SIEGEN, 1604-1679
Any policy of secrecy conducted by Dutch maritime companies was thoroughly challenged by the extensive graphic arts programme directed by Johan Maurits van Nassua-Siegen. Appointed Governor of the Dutch colony in North-eastern Brazil by the Dutch West India Company (1637-44). The artists and scientists involved in the collection and recording of information associated with Maurits’ Governorship were trained in a range of overlapping descriptive disciplines at which the Dutch excelled including natural philosophy, mapping, draughtsmanship and painting (Alpers 1983). Historian Svetlana Alpers proclaims in The Art of Describing: Dutch Art in the Seventeenth Century (1983), that major elements of Dutch art of the period, as part of a shared northern tradition, were intent on describing and contrasted the narrative approach seen in Italian art. Variations to these approaches certainly appeared but in general, Dutch artists were more focused on portraying the actual world they lived in rather than narrating an invented view of history invoked from ancient and sacred texts as practiced in Italy and countries to the south (Alpers, 1983). Among the men assembled by Maurits was the physician Willem Pies (1611-1678). The results of his botanical investigations were a substantial contribution to seventeenth century tropical medicine. The astronomer, cartographer and naturalist George Markgraf (1610-1643) created maps and collaborated with Pies investigating the natural history of the area. In 1648 Maurits published their research as Historia naturalis Brasiliae, illustrated by woodcuts created from field sketches made by two artists included in his descriptive alliance. The topographical landscape artist Frans Post (1612-1680), and Albert Eckhout (1610-1664), trained as a natural history artist. During the expedition Post created Sao Francisco river and Fort Maurits, (1639), a Brazilian landscape painted naturalistically in oils, that combined elements of commercial interest such as the fort and ship with a foreground filled with local flora and fauna. Eckhout united the sensitivity of naturalism with precise objective intent creating images of Brazilian people, plants and animals. The two artists produced examples of Dutch art from the new world that combined northern European artistic aesthetics and the emerging scientific approach to the descriptive concerns of documenting expeditions. The high number and variety of drawings, including people, plants, animals and maps of the
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country produced by Maurits’ alliance was unprecedented until the time of Cook’s voyages (Alpers, 1983). It was Maurits’ awareness of the value of combining field drawings with scientific description, the creation of a systematic art/science collaboration that anticipated the work of Joseph Banks on James Cook’s first voyage of discovery (Smith 1992).
The practical value of the images aimed at the growth of trade, and the expansion of territory had been recognised by private and state enterprises since shortly after the discovery of the Americas. By the late seventeenth century commercial, military as well as scientific communities were benefiting from increasingly accurate descriptive images used to convey knowledge of the natural world. The establishment of the Royal Society in 1660 and the proliferation of scientific travel accounts confirmed the growing status of science and enhanced an associated development of visual arts aimed at supporting the delivery of a systematic account of the natural world.
Gradually more men with an enlightened knowledge of art and science such as Maurits were involved in expeditions to explore or settle the new world. These men made serious efforts to document what they observed, not just to justify the enterprise for powerful maritime companies, but also increasingly to satisfy a sincere and collective intellectual curiosity regarding the natural world. Likewise, there was a gradual increase in traveling artists who could provide images that were reproduced in illustrated accounts of natural history inquiry such as the two-volume account the Natural History of Jamaica (1707,1725), by physician and naturalist Sir Hans Sloane (1660-1753). Before serving as the personal physician to the Governor of Jamaica from 1787 until 1789, Sloan had developed an interest in collecting botanical specimens during his youth and while studying medicine in London and France. During the voyage and throughout the fifteen months in Jamaica Sloan kept a journal of his observations of natural phenomena, flora and fauna. He accumulated and documented an extensive collection while traveling around the island, particularly plants which were dried and pressed. Sloan like Maurits before him, recognized the need for recording data in the field and employed a local artist, the Reverend Garret Moore, to travel with him and
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illustrate the collected flora and fauna before they deteriorated in the tropical heat. Once back in England the Natural History of Jamaica was richly illustrated with engravings by Micheal van der Gucht using Moore’s field drawings and drawings of collected material by Everhardus Kickus (Rice 2008, pp. 14-21). Assisted by an emerging field of traveling natural history artists, Hans Sloan personified the Royal Society’s ethos of the study of nature through careful observation, recording and interpretation. He had been elected a fellow to the Royal Society in 1685 before his voyage to Jamaica, and served as Secretary from 1693 to 1713. Based mainly on his enhanced reputation resulting from the publication of the Natural History of Jamaica, Sloan was elected President in 1725.
In an 1665 edition of its regularly published Philosophical Transactions, the Royal Society advocated for mariners on extended voyages to record their observations, including the production of accurate visual information as part of a larger effort to create natural knowledge. In their Directions for Seamen, bound for Far Voyages, the Society called for navigators to create topographical images, including coastal profiles and landscapes, as well as traditional surveys, maps and charts as an aid to navigation, a way of recording newly discovered lands and of service to science (Smith 1992).
The circumnavigation (1740-1744) by George Anson (1697-1762) resulted in a large number of accurate visual records, most attributed to his second lieutenant Percy Brett (1709-1781), as well as the publication of an account of his voyage. Compiled from Anson’s journal by the ship’s chaplain, Richard Walter (1716-1795), Voyage around the World first published in 1748, contained forty-two engraved images after Brett’s drawings. It was the most popular book covering maritime expeditions of the period and considered a masterpiece of descriptive travel observations that combined with the visual records of the voyage by Percy, possibly for the first time, successfully achieved the Royal Society’s instructions to navigators.
An accelerated period of British maritime exploration followed the end of the Seven Years War with France in 1763. Inspired by a new confidence in the practical value of
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science and improving technologies related to ship building and navigation, large collaborative ventures combining state and private organizations sponsored voyages of exploration that travelled further afield and exhibited a higher degree of scientific investigation.
A circumnavigation (1764-1766) in the Dolphin by John Byron was followed soon after his return by another circumnavigation. During the second voyage the Dolphin was under the command of Samuel Wallis (1728-1795), with Philip Carteret (1733-1796) in the Swallow serving as consort. The two ships were separated with Wallis eventually being the first European navigator to discover Tahiti. The Dolphin retuned to England in 1768 and delivered news of Tahiti’s existence and geographical coordinates just before the departure of Cook’s first voyage.
The French were also conducting an expedition at this time led by, Louis-Antoine Bougainville (1729-1811). The famous French Admiral and explorer had previously been sent to London as secretary to the French Embassy in 1755, published a scientific paper and been elected a member of the Royal Society. With his two ships, La Boudeuse and Ľ Étoile, Bougainville completed the first circumnavigation with a professional geographer and naturalist recording the voyage. During the voyage the engineer, cartographer, Charles Routier de Romainville (b.1742) drew a number of maps and some ‘charming pen sketches’, many of which have been lost (Dunmore 2007 p. 158). Bougainville’s journal from the circumnavigation, Voyage autour du monde, (A Voyage Around the World) contained observations by the naturalist Philibert Commerson as well as the astronomer Pierre-Antoine Véron. It was translated and published in 1772 by Johann Reinhold Forster, the principle naturalist on Cook’s second voyage.
Increasingly, artist travellers were applying the practical benefits of empirical theory in the employment of programmes of systematic observation in the field, aimed at precise, objective description. Voyages of exploration had provided valuable geographical knowledge and more recent expeditions, such as Bougainville’s with his naturalist, had led to the advancement of knowledge of the natural world. The Royal Society had been
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making plans for an ambitious voyage for the first time primarily with scientific intentions, to the Pacific to observe the transit of Venus in 1769. The observations, made by astronomers at different locations around the globe, were necessary for determining the distance from the earth to the sun. The Royal Society was dependent on the Royal Navy to provide transport for its observers. The Admiralty’s choice was James Cook (1728- 1779), a thirty-nine year old master in the Navy, a supreme navigator who had recently carried out an extensive survey programme in Newfoundland. The combining of the Royal Society’s scientific concerns and Cook’s brilliant navigation, surveying, and chart-making would lead to three voyages and the most extensive body of scientific and visual knowledge of the era.
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CHAPTER III
THE ART OF CAPTAIN COOK’S VOYAGES OF DISCOVERY
The main emphasis of this investigation into images of land, sea, sky and cloud is the examination of theories proposed by a group of researchers including Bernard Smith, Barbara Maria Stafford, Svetlana Alpers and Kim Sloan. A number of these theories have claimed there were artistic consequences resulting from a number of influential elements associated with art-science collaboration and the production of images aimed at precise objective documentation of travel. These elements included: direct observation field sketching or ‘art in the field’, topographic landscape and coastal profile, new and portable materials as well as, artist, mariner and scientist working together systematically to produce objective information. This research has been conducted using an extensive body of relevant literature suggesting that the above elements as well as others discussed in preceding chapters, and still others yet to be discussed, all contributed to a transformation of British painting styles during the late eighteenth to mid-nineteenth centuries.
During the three voyages of exploration under the command of James Cook between 1768 and 1780, an alliance of artists, naturalists and officers collaborated to conduct a science-based graphics art programme producing a collection of nearly three thousand original images of plants, animals, people and places, little or completely unknown outside Europe. The voyages and graphic arts programme represents a significant example of Enlightenment development: Bacon’s demand for public support and collaboration as essential for the development of a science for acquiring natural knowledge and of practical value for the growth of trade and industry (Rossi, 1996, p.32), Locke’s empirical philosophy and the advocacy for art to be used in conveying precise visual knowledge (Smith, 1992, p.26). The Royal Society had promoted the value of precise visual information since its establishment in 1660, a value developed by earlier individuals and organizations, including state and private companies
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involved in voyages of exploration. Cook’s voyages provided significant examples of environments saturated with many key influential elements mentioned previously as well as others, in a changing cultural, intellectual and physically condensed setting of his sailing vessels. In the environments provided by Cook’s voyages, saturated with these elements, influences were magnified initiating a transformative effect on the art practices of Cook’s artists, and as a result of the importance and popularity of the voyages, the work of future artists.
The success of the voyages, and the eventual realisation of widespread cultural, material and aesthetic transformations relied from the beginning on the appropriate design and robust build of the vessels chosen for the voyages. All four vessels used during Cook’s voyages were built in the Yorkshire port of Whitby. They were designed as merchant colliers, robustly built and flat bottomed for beaching while loading and unloading cargo. Their shallow drafts allowed for the coastal, inshore sailing necessary for the intended exploring and survey work. The four vessels varied in length from 90ft to 130ft and displaced between 462 and 299 tons. While nowhere near the fastest vessels available to the Royal Navy, they were able to carry the necessary provisions and contained enough space for the mariners, artists and scientists, and for storing the extensive equipment for the planned lengthy expeditions.
The images created by the artists who accompanied James Cook on his three voyages of discovery are extraordinary. Surrounded by specialists in natural history, botany, astronomy, meteorology and navigation, Cook’s artist’s lived and worked in what must have been a challenging and inspiring environment shaped by the latest technology and driven by Enlightenment philosophy and the aims of empirical science.
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THE VOYAGE OF H.M. BARK ENDEAVOUR, 1768-1771
On the twenty sixth of August 1768 H.M. Bark Endeavour departed Plymouth, England commanded by James Cook, at that time, still a lieutenant in the Royal Navy. Cook had come to the notice of the Royal Society and the Royal Navy because of his excellent work surveying and charting in Newfoundland during and after the Seven Years War.
The primary aim of the voyage is defined by the following paragraph, which was included in the memorial made by the Royal Society to King George III requesting funding for the voyage:
That the passage of the planet Venus over the disc of the Sun, which will happen on the 3rd of June in the year 1769, is a phenomenon that must, if the same be accurately observed in proper places, contribute greatly to the improvement of Astronomy, on which Navigation so much depends (cited in Hough 1994, p. 44).
The secondary more extensive and secret aim stated was to explore the South Pacific Ocean searching for the speculated Great Southern Continent, Terra Australis Incognita, and if found to take possession. Failing that, Cook was to proceed to New Zealand, thoroughly survey and chart the islands and if possible take possession. News of the impending voyage had sparked genuine and widespread interest throughout the scientific community and the voyage was portrayed as principally scientific in design. But it was science that had its origins in Baconian philosophy, aimed at achieving practical results for humanity. The charting of as much geography as possible, to increase knowledge of coastlines and sailing routes that could increase trade, the collection and recording of flora and fauna that could be of future use were considerations intertwined with the Royal Society’s aims. There was a clear desire for results that could increase the wealth and territory of the state and private backers of the expedition in a very similar sense to the early expeditions to New England instigated Sir Walter Raleigh in the sixteenth century.
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Included among the 94 people aboard the Endeavour was astronomer Charles Green, to make the significantly important observation of the transit of Venus. The Royal Society’s scientific entourage was lead by Joseph Banks (1743-1820), recently returned from a scientific expedition to Newfoundland and Labrador. Banks was young, wealthy, well connected and he recognized the value of ‘this more scientific voyaging’ and ‘he possessed the means, the enthusiasm and the drive to extend by ‘field’ work systematic knowledge in natural history in a manner analogous to Cook’s systematic approach to navigation and cartography.’ (Smith 1992, p. 42) Accompanying Banks was Swedish botanist, Daniel Carl Solander (1745-71) a former pupil of Carl Linneaus (1707-1778), famous as the developer of the taxonomic system for describing plants and animals. Herman Diedrich Spöring (1733-1771) was employed on the voyage as Bank’s secretary, also working in that capacity for Solander. Sporing had trained as a watchmaker in his native Sweden, worked in London for eleven years as a watchmaker before being employed as Solander’s personal clerk until embarking on the voyage. Cook also found Sporing’s skills with instruments of value and put him to work maintaining and repairing navigation instruments when required during the voyage (Joppien 1985). There were two artists chosen to be included as part of Banks’ entourage on the voyage.
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NATURAL HISTORY ILLUSTRATOR, SYDNEY PARKINSON, 1745-1771
Sydney Parkinson (1745-1771) was a young Scottish natural history illustrator who had exhibited with the Free Society of Artists in 1765 and 1766, before being employed in 1767 by Joseph Banks to produce illustrations of the birds and insects collected by the naturalist on his recent expedition to Newfoundland and Labrador. He continuously worked in this capacity for Banks until embarking on the Endeavour voyage as natural history illustrator (Joppien 1985). Little is known regarding the life of the second artist previous to the voyage. Alexander Buchan (d.o.b. unknown-1769) had reportedly been employed to record the appearance of people and places encountered during the voyage. The images he created of coastal views were competent enough, but he displayed limited technical ability when attempting scenes containing humans and it has been suggested that he had received little or no formal training. However Buchan reportedly did receive some training from Cook or his officers and produced 32 coastal profiles and assorted drawings before he suffered a fatal epileptic fit and died relatively early in the voyage, only three days after the Endeavour had arrived in Tahiti. SYDNEY PARKINSON, 1745-1771: Gardenia Florida
[Gardenia Taitensis], 1769, WATERCOLOUR ON PAPER, Parkinson created a vast number of 47 X 28 CM., NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM, LONDON, VIEWED 14 FEBRUARY 2015. finished and unfinished paintings and http;//www.nhm.ac.uk/nature-online/artnatureimaging /collections/endeavour-botanical/detail.dsml?IMAGNO sketches before his unfortunate death =004015&index=adv&detailtype=more
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at sea, reportedly from fever and dysentery shortly after the ship’s two-month stay at Batavia towards the end of the voyage. Although having no formal art training he reportedly produced nearly one thousand images of plants and 377 of fauna in addition to studies of people and coastal views (Joppien 1983). Parkinson’s finished botanical work, such as his illustration of Gardenia-Taitensis shows a high degree of sensitivity and style. They also demonstrate a clear example of the acute observation and accurate description demanded by Bank’s natural history-based graphic arts programme.
SYDNEY PARKINSON, 1745-1771: A view of the North side of the entrance into Poverty Bay & Morai Island in New Zealand, 1. Young Nick’s Head. 2. Morai Island. View of Anotherside of the entrance
into Said bay. HAND COLOURED ENGRAVING, 22.7 X 18.4 CM., S. PARKINSON DEL R.B. GODFREY
SC. PLATE XIV [LONDON]. PARKINSON, SYDNEY: A Journal of a voyage to the South Seas, in his Majesty’s ship ‘Endeavour’. Faithfully transcribed from papers of the late Sydney Parkinson. London;
PRINTED BY CHARLES DILLY IN THE POULTRY, AND JAMES PHILLIPS, IN THE GEORGE-YARD,
1784., REF; PUBL-0037-14 ALEXANDER TURNBULL LIBRARY, WELLINGTON, NEW ZEALAND,
VIEWED 4 MARCH 2015, http://natlib,govt.nz/records/22725530
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While sailing near coastlines or at anchor Cook’s artists were required to produce coastal profiles and views, duties usually undertaken by the junior officers aboard a Navy vessel. Cook was conducting an ambitious programme of charting and survey directly related to the documentary concerns of the Royal Society, he had the practical outlook of a Naval Commander and was quick to utilize the artistic skills at his disposal.
Parkinson produced a number of coastal views while the expedition was in Polynesia including Vessels of the Island of Otaha, 1769. While focused on recording the people, places and vessels, Parkinson also made serious efforts to portray the weather: tropical storm clouds, rays of sun, and the effects of wind and rain. Parkinson’s materials and technique were not sufficient to visually portray what he saw with the empirical clarity of a botanical illustrator, but the following extended note about light and colour he wrote in his sketchbook clearly reveals his intention to observe and record the tropical light, colour and weather accurately (Joppien 1985). The following passage was written while the Endeavour sailed through the Tuamotus and was previously cited in Joppien and Smith’s The Art of the Voyages of Captain Cook, volume one (1985). Parkinson wrote:
‘the water within the Reefs . . . seagreen . . . brownish towards the edge of the Reefs and Breakers white . . . this striped & streakt wt a dark colour of a purple cast occasion’d by the intervention of clouds between the sun and water. In a calm where there is a swell the water . . . appears undulated with large & pale shades & at other times it is quite smooth streakt here & there with dark colour occasion’d by what sailors call cats-paws on the water. when there is wind coming or rain it appears very black upon the water & when nigh it is full of Poppling waves witch spread themselves in streaks on the smooth water, the sky in general very uniform often times blue mottled with clouds. In a storm the sea is dark blueish black here & there a Paler blue, the tops of the billows white with a number white streaks all near the surface of the water’ (cited in Joppien 1985, p. 30).
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While the above extended note made by Parkinson shows how the empirical demands for accurate observation as practiced by the botanical illustrator were being adapted with the portrayal of light, atmosphere and colour in mind, the use of the sailor’s phrase ‘cats-paw’ points to the possibility that as well as the prolonged contact with the marine environment the constant interaction with mariners also enhanced Parkinson’s perception.
SYDNEY PARKINSON, 1745-1771: Vessels of the Island of Otaha, [Tahaa], 1769. WASH ON PAPER, 29.8 X 47.7 CM., REF; ADD. (MS.223921F.17) BRITISH LIBRARY, LONDON, VIEWED 18 SEPTEMBER 2012, http://www.captcook-ne-co-uk/ccne/exhibits/18994/index.htm
Historians Smith and Joppien have suggested that it is likely that Parkinson was aware, and perhaps influenced by the work of landscape artist Paul Sandby, ‘a key figure in British art in the shift towards naturalism’ (Smith 1992, p. 30, Joppien, 1985, p. 75). Parkinson may have adopted the picturesque technique having been familiar with the form through the work of Paul Sandby and a number of other landscape artists active in Edinburg in the 1760’s. Parkinson adapted to the genre quickly, combining objective information documenting the land or seascape with an awareness of perspective techniques and picturesque composition. The picturesque
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genre presented the opportunity for topographical and aesthetic, objective and subjective concerns to be combined. Parkinson had exhibited botanical illustrations previously; this combined with the similarities of some of his landscapes with those of the Sandbys may point to his intentions of expanding his repertoire into the established market for a particular landscape genre.
After the death of Buchan early in the voyage, Herman Spöring began to make drawings of coastal profiles, views and artifacts. Spöring produced a number of very mechanical and precise drawings, using only pencil and when possible straight edges. Spöring adapted his talent for the detailed precision of watchmaking to documenting the voyage in and analytical style as accurately as possible (Joppien 1985).
Of the vast amount of drawings created by Parkinson, Buchan and Spöring, nearly 200 were drawings of coastal views, of land, sea and sky. Along with the enlightening environment provided by the naturalist Joseph Banks and Carl Solander, as well as Cook and his sailors, the artists were constantly surrounded, with all their activities influenced, if not dictated, by the weather. Parkinson’s position aboard the Endeavour provided the perfect environment for his art to be saturated for three years in a relentless shower of scientific inquiry and ever-changing natural phenomena.
While Parkinson’s coastal views and notes provide examples of early attempts at the portrayal of weather, an interest in light colour and atmospheric phenomena, as well as a reconciliation of descriptive and expressive aims, they were not reproduced in large numbers and seem to have had no measurable influence on future artists. His images featuring marae were the most widely reproduced and of most interest to Europeans looking for ways to categorise Polynesian society and draw parallels to ancient European cultures. Clearly the environment of art/science collaboration and voyaging influenced Parkinson during the Endeavour expedition. His environment was filled with creating art in the field, improvising and experimenting with new techniques, systematically observing and documenting a new world. Sydney Parkinson’s art practice was undergoing an expansive and transformative process and
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it is regrettable that after the ship’s two-month stay at Batavia towards the end of the voyage, Parkinson died and was buried at sea on the 26th of January 1771, only two days after the death of Spöring (Joppien 1983).
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THE VOYAGE OF H.M.S. RESOLUTION AND H.M.S. ADVENTURE,
1771-1775
The body of scientific knowledge and visual records produced by Cook, his officers, scientists and artists during the first voyage was unprecedented. The exceptional value of the new information was quickly recognised by the Royal Society and the Admiralty. In light of the success of Cook’s first voyage, and British concerns regarding ongoing Spanish claims to the Pacific and news of the recent French circumnavigation led by Bougainville combining science and exploration, dictated that a second voyage was a certainty.
On the thirteenth of July 1772, Cook departed Plymouth on the second voyage, this time aboard the Resolution. After considering the near destruction of Cook’s ship the Endeavour on Australia’s great barrier reef during the first expedition, the Admiralty had decided to provide a second ship, the Adventure to accompany the Resolution. Both ships were similar to the Endeavour, having been built in the same Whitby yard and again provided the stable and robust platform for a condensed environment of art/science collaboration and travel.
The second voyage had much the same aim as the first, furthering British imperial ambitions combined with scientific investigation. The official aim, stated in the order James Cook received from the Admiralty on 30 June 1772 shortly before sailing from Plymouth, was to resume the search for the great southern continent, Terra Australis Incognita. The expedition was a series of voyages to the Antarctic searching for the southern continent between exploring in the tropics during the winters. Cook also made three trips to New Zealand to replenish provisions and rest his crew (Edwards 2003).
Encouraged by his previous success Banks had made extremely ambitious plans for an entourage of thirteen that included scientists, artists, assistants, even musicians for the second voyage. The addition of a large structure to the top deck of the Resolution to provide the necessary accommodation for Banks and his large entourage made her
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dangerously unstable and the Admiralty ordered it removed. A quarrel resulted and Banks resigned from the expedition. The Admiralty was able to organize a group of a less ambitious size that still maintained the strong scientific intentions of the expedition. The replacement group again included naturalists as well as artists and astronomers. Johann Reinhold Forster (1729-1798) was selected by the Admiralty to replace Banks as chief naturalist. Forster, German of Scottish ancestry, was reportedly the most well-read and widely published naturalist to sail with Cook. A more recent portrayal of Forster’s personality and intellectual contributions found in The Tactless Philosopher, 1976 by Michael Hoare goes some way to resurrecting him from the earlier harsh and superficial assessment of him made by the famous Cook historian J. C. Beaglehole. Forster and his son Georg (1754-1794) had arrived in London in October 1766 fresh from an expedition through Russia. In the three years he was in Britain before departing with Cook he became well known and highly regarded in British intellectual circles. He associated with Banks and Solander, becoming a member of the Royal Society. He translated into English and published a number of books concerning natural history and voyages of exploration and gained the respect and support of important naturalists including Thomas Pennant (1726-1798) and Carl Linnaeus (Hoare 2004). Although Forster had recently completed a translation of Bougainville’s journal from his circumnavigation, Voyage around the World (1771- french/1772-english) wasn’t published until after Cook’s second expedition had departed. Scholars Smith, Joppien and Hoare, have suggested that given the depth of useful information contained in the account of Bougainville’s recent voyage, it is highly probable Forster made a copy available to Captain Cook. Johann’s seventeen- year-old son Georg Forster was engaged as assistant naturalist and scientific draughtsman. Georg collaborated with his father on a higher intellectual level than his young age might suggest, by the age of ten he was familiar with the work of Linnaeus and regularly assisted his father making scientific and geographical observations. (Sloan 2004)
The Admiralty’s practical scientific concerns of acquiring navigation related information was well established and always of supreme importance. The extensive
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charting, survey work, coastal views and astronomical investigation conducted on the first voyage were continued on the second voyage. The Director of the Royal Observatory Greenwich, Astronomer Royal, Nevil Maskelyne (1732-1811) selected two of Britain’s best astronomers for the voyage. The two astronomers were sponsored by the Board of Longitude, a government body founded in 1714 to encourage innovation aimed at developing techniques for determining longitude at sea. Both men had observed the 1796 transit of Venus. William Wales, who served in the Resolution, had made his observation at Hudson Bay and the Adventure’s William Bayly at the North Cape. As well as making astronomical observations the two astronomers were also ordered and monitor the experimental timepieces provided by the Board including a copy of John Harrison’s famous ‘H4’ 1759 prototype (Edwards 2003). Recognising the importance of their observations, the Board of Longitude published their co-authored Astronomical Observations in 1777.
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LANDSCAPE ARTIST, WILLIAM HODGES, 1744-1797
The Admiralty order received by Cook gave detailed instructions for the ensuing voyage and included the following information regarding the employment of landscape artist William Hodges. The passage detailing Hodges’ appointment and it’s importance has been discussed frequently by past researchers and bears repeating:
Whereas we have engaged Mr. William Hodges, a Landskip Painter to proceed in His Majesty’s Sloop under your Command on her present intended Voyage in order to make Drawings and paintings as may be proper to give a more perfect idea thereof than may be formed from written descriptions only; You are hereby required and directed to receive the said Mr. William Hodges on board giving him all proper accommodation and assistance, victualling him as the Ship’s Company and taking care that he does diligently employ himself in making Drawings or Paintings of such Places as you may touch at that may be worthy of notice in the course of your Voyage as also of such other Objects and things as may fall within the Compass of his Abilities (cited in Bonehill 2004, p. 76).
In contrast to the limited materials and techniques exhibited by Parkinson, Buchan and Sporing on the first voyage, William Hodges arrived with a larger assortment of materials, techniques and awareness of classical European landscape style. He had received training from Richard Wilson (1714-1782), Britain’s leading landscape painter of the time and, like the Sandby brothers mentioned in the previous chapter, a founder-member of the Royal Academy in 1768. Hodges had become Wilson’s apprentice in 1758, shortly his master had retuned from a seven-year sojourn to Italy (Smith 1992). Employed by the Admiralty as a landscape artist, Hodges recorded a wide range of locations and conditions from islands of ice in the Antarctic to the lushness of the tropics. Hodges also produced work of plants and people in line with the Forster’s natural history investigations. Hodges spent three years on the Resolution, in constant and close contact with the marine environment, the mariners and the expedition’s scientific community. The Resolution carried, besides Cook, Wales and the Forsters, most of the scientific equipment. Previous research by Smith, Joppien, Bonehill and others has all pointed to the abundance of journal entries as
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evidence of a strong collaborative relationship between William Hodges, Cook, the Forsters, the astronomer Wales and the young Midshipman. It has been further argued that Cook, the Forsters and Wales suggested specific sites and subjects for Hodges. Hodges was creating artwork servicing a range of scientific interests and it is entirely plausible that they would influence his art practice. The scope of locations and subjects he was required to record forced him adapt his classical training, improvising and experimenting with a range of materials and techniques. On the Endeavour voyage Sydney Parkinson had focused on the natural history programme led by Banks, adapting to document geographical concerns when required. It has been suggested that having trained as a landscape artist, Hodges’ artistic approach was more closely aligned with the observational concerns of the mariners, astronomers and naturalists investigating meteorological, geographical and oceanographic phenomena (Bonehill 2004). Creating coastal profiles was an established maritime tradition and Cook made use of Hodges’ skills. Through this practice of direct observation Hodges was able to adapt his classical training to the demand for accuracy of nautical draughtsmanship. Hodges also produced a number of coastal views. Supported by an account of the voyage by the young Midshipman John Elliot, Smith maintains that Hodges worked from the great aft cabin of the Resolution, with its large windows providing a panoramic view. Drawing the passing coastline as the Resolution sailed by, first in pencil before adding a number of washes in either watercolour or ink (Smith 1992). The same account describes regular interaction with Hodges providing artistic training for Elliot and two other Midshipmen, Joseph Gilbert and Issac Smith who were required to produce coastal profiles and views as part of their duties. It has suggested that a number of works were created in collaboration with Hodges assisting the young officers by applying washes over their topographical pencil drawings (Bonehill 2004). Hodges shared the need for well-developed powers of observation with the sailors and scientists. It was this environment that influenced the further development of Hodges’ atmospheric awareness and his attention to light and colour. Hodges developed a technique of laying three or four washes over a pencil drawing that addressed objective topographic concerns while highlighting a major element of Antarctic exploration, the weather. A number of his views of the Antarctic brilliantly
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exhibit this awareness combined with the immediacy and economy of effort required of the field sketch.
WILLIAM HODGES, 1744-1798: Ice Islands with the Resolution and the Adventure, 1773. WASH AND WATERCOLOUR, 38 X 54 CM., REF; (PXD11F.28), MITCHELL LIBRARY, STATE LIBRARY OF NEW SOUTH WALES, SYDNEY, VIEWED 12 MARCH 2015, http://www.sl.nsw.gov.au/discover_collections/history_nation/voyages/discovery/resolution/index
When he first embarked on the Resolution, Hodges already possessed an awareness of light and colour and a range of techniques learned from his master, Richard Wilson. Hodges had brought with him more sophisticated materials and knowledge then Cook’s previous artists, including for painting in oils. In Imaging the Pacific: In the wake of the Cook Voyages, 1992, in a section covering the work of Hodges, art historian Bernard Smith stated that Hodges ‘succeeded on the second voyage in raising a documentary, informal art to a high level of artistic achievement’ (Smith 1992, p. 69). Hodges experimented with a technique of painting with oils in the open air (en plein air) most likely learned from Wilson after he had encountered the technique during his travels in Italy. Early in the voyage Hodges had been making sketches of the ports visited by the Resolution at Funchal, Madeira and Porto da Praia, Cape Verde Islands,
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which were later developed into oil paintings. At the Cape of Good Hope, in what was then a common security policy, authorities had prohibited Hodges from sketching views of the port or its fortifications. Smith has suggested that it was there that Hodges improvised a hybrid en plein air technique, working not in the open air but from the Resolution’s great cabin, creating View of the Cape of Good Hope, taken on the spot, from on board the Resolution, 1772 (Smith, 1992). This painting has sparked interest from Smith and other scholars, not just as an example of Hodges’ use of oils when serving the strategic aims of topographical views, but his attention to the accurate portrayal of weather as confirmed by a contemporary journal entry by the astronomer Wales (Smith 1985, Bonehill 2004).
WILLIAM HODGES, 1744-1798: A View of the Cape of Good Hope, Taken on the Spot, from on Board the ‘Resolution’, 1772. OIL ON CANVAS, 96.5 X 125.7 CM., NATIONAL MARITIME MUSEUM, GREENWICH, LONDON, VIEWED 12 MARCH 2015, http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/13258.html
Hodges resumed painting in oils once the expedition reached New Zealand after three months of sailing in the high southern latitudes. He painted in the great cabin
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of the Resolution, using sketches he had made during excursions. An account in Cook’s journal made during their stay in New Zealand describes an excursion to investigate a waterfall in a cove further up Dusky Bay, accompanied by Hodges with the resulting sketch being made into an oil painting once back on the Resolution (Cook 2003). The drawing and oil sketch were later used as reference for a number of paintings after Hodges returned to London. These paintings and another that portrays an encounter by the Resolution with a waterspout, View of Cape Stephens in Cook’s Straight with Waterspout, 1776, combined accurate portrayal of natural phenomena while documenting the voyage with romantic, even sublime sensibilities that scholars have suggested anticipated the work of Turner (Smith 1992, Joppien 1985).
WILLIAM HODGES, 1744-1798: A View of Cape Stephens in Cook’s Straits with Waterspout, 1776. OIL ON CANVAS, 137.2 X 193.1 CM., NATIONAL MARITIME MUSEUM, GREENWICH, LONDON, VIEWED 12 MARCH 2015, http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/13384.html
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After Cook’s expedition had reached Tahiti late in August, and while exploring through the Society Islands, William Hodges produced a series of small oil paintings that exhibited the freshness of the immediate response of a field sketch combined with the awareness of atmospheric conditions and the intense light and colours of the tropics. Hodges was clearly addressing the topographical concerns he had been employed to record. However, in A View of Point Venus and Matavai Bay, looking east, August 1773, Hodges focused his attention on accurately portraying the intense light of a tropical sunrise and atmospheric conditions in front of him. Looking into the bright sunlight, Point Venus and One Tree Hill were recorded still in deep shadow, Hodges has included a band of cumulus clouds just above the horizon covering the rising sun with the pink sky streaked by cirrus clouds, with misty vapours rising from the still cool slopes of the landscape. Scholars have declared that Hodges made three, possibly four more painting in the Society Islands using his hybrid plein-air technique from the Resolution’s great cabin. Discovering the process that led to a number of later oil paintings of the Society Islands has been more problematic for scholars. Smith has identified the difficulty in sketching in oils from land with the threat of theft, the detail of canoes and buildings and a number of the same subject suggest that some were most likely done from field sketches as preparatory studies for eventual large- scale paintings, others were identified as having been done once Hodges had returned to London (Smith 1992). Hodges’ supplies necessary for painting in oils seem to have been depleted by the time the Resolution departed the Marquesas. He continued to engage in the portrayal of weather, sketching scenes in pen and indian ink wash for the remaining fifteen months of the voyage. Scholars, featuring Smith and Joppien prominently, have stated that Hodges had developed his art practice under the influence of the observational scientific disciplines practiced by his fellow travellers including Cook, Wales and the Foresters (Smith 1992). Hodges made a number of studies of the same image during and after the voyage, including those of the Tahitian fleet of war canoes, a practice of refinement and enlargement indicating he had ambitions for making the large-scale exhibition paintings aimed at academic acceptance in the Royal Academy. In his search for acceptable images he embraced the historical and exotic elements of the voyage, and eventually exhibited nine large-
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scale paintings depicting the voyage in the Royal Academy. It has been suggested that the art practice of William Hodges anticipated J.M.W. Turner’s later use of observed dynamic natural phenomena to portray overwhelming experience and emotion as well John Constable’s commitment to naturalism (Smith 1992, Joppien 1985). It appears clear that all three artists were aiming to achieve a fusion of the immediate response to nature of a field sketch with the noble or grand gesture required for academic recognition, as stated by the first President of the Royal Academy, Joshua Reynolds in his famous Discourses.
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THE VOYAGE OF H.M.S RESOLUTION AND H.M.S. DISCOVERY, 1776-1780
The third voyage led by James Cook, again with the goal of scientific exploration, departed less then a year after the completion of the previous expedition. Cook, in command of the Resolution departed from Plymouth on 12 July 1776, with a second ship, the Discovery following soon after. The expedition had for its objective, the search for a navigable northern route between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, the fabled North West Passage. The Royal Society had initially proposed the third voyage but did not provide a contingent of ‘scientific gentlemen’ as it had on the two previous expeditions. It has been suggested that the Admiralty was disturbed by the disruption to the second voyage by Bank’s late withdrawal as well as the clash between Cook and the Forsters over the rights to publish the official history of the voyage and had become cautious towards the idea of independent scientists being included on Naval expeditions (Edwards 2003, Smith 1992). The scientific inquiry was to be undertaken by men affiliated with the Admiralty. The board of Longitude again sent William Bayly as astronomer. William Anderson (1750-78) had served as assistant surgeon on the second voyage. He accompanied Cook on the third voyage, this time as surgeon. Compared to Banks, Solander or the Forsters, he was an amateur although well- informed naturalist and he wrote and collected a substantial amount of material before his death from consumption while the Resolution was in the Bering Sea. David Samwell (1751-1798), who served as surgeon’s mate on the Resolution, was also an amateur naturalist and created an extensive journal of his observations during the voyage. William Ellis (1756-1785), the surgeon’s second mate on the Discovery, also served as an assistant draughtsman during the expedition. Working in pencil and watercolour, Ellis produced a number of drawings of animals. Of the 150 drawings of animals eventually purchased by Joseph Banks, over 90 were of birds. Ellis also made a number of drawings of topographical views, some in collaboration or copying the previous work of John Webber (1751-1793), the expedition’s professional artist (Joppien 1988). Biographical information regarding Ellis is limited and provided no evidence he had received formal art training prior to the voyage. He did work closely with Webber, showing reasonable skills and improvement during the voyage, a
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number of his drawings are ambitious and of certain historical value however, this section will focus on the principal artist of the third voyage, John Webber.
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EXPEDITION ARTIST, JOHN WEBBER, 1751-1793
After viewing John Webber’s work exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1776, the assistant naturalist on the first voyage, Carl Solander introduced him to the Admiralty, which offered him the position of expedition artist. Webber is considered to have received the most extensive training of any of Cook’s artists. Limited space in this exegesis allows only a short and incomplete description of his training. His father was a sculptor. He was apprenticed to leading Swiss landscape artist Johann Ludwig Aberli (1723-86) in 1767 staying three years before leaving Bern for the Academie Royale in Paris. Webber continued his studies with Jean-Georges Willie (1715- 1809), engraver and a leading authority on art. Webber had accumulated enough training and experience so that when he returned to London in 1775 and was admitted as a student at the Royal Academy he was well positioned for selection by Solander. By the third expedition James Cook was the most famous navigator in Europe and he was well aware he was making history. Cook was determined to better manage written and visual documentation of the third voyage after John Hawkesworth (1715-1773) had infuriated him by taking liberties with his journal that he considered falsifications while publishing the account of the first voyage, as well as the squabble over publishing rights with the Forsters. Webber produced a range of images of animals aimed at documenting the natural history of the places visited during the voyage, most likely working in collaboration with Anderson and Samwell, the surgeon/naturalists on the Resolution (Joppien 1988). However, with the exception of one well-rendered image of a Kergeulen cabbage the detailed recording of plants was limited to the foregrounds of his landscapes. John Webber worked with a limited range of materials, relying on pencil, pen and washes of india ink and watercolours. The main focus of John Webber’s art practice was the people and places encountered during the voyage. Weather, geology and oceanic conditions received Webber’s attention and the topographical views he produced are a credit to his skills and diligence. Although John Webber reportedly had received the highest level of classical training of any of Cook’s artists, he produced little in the way of experimental colour studies or free brushwork such as Hodges. Webber’s work, with it’s descriptive approach aimed at recording noteworthy occasions was closely synchronised with
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Cook’s journal, recording the same scenes, events and individuals described by Cook although subject matter was often arranged to convey the ‘general spirit’ (Smith 1992, p. 204) rather than actual events. Dominated by collaboration with Cook, with publication of an account of the voyage a certainty, Webber’s body of work is aimed both at the visual documentation of the natural world and narrating Cook’s journal. One particular element of Webber’s work that illustrates the importance of creating a visual narrative of the voyage is his historical set pieces.
Webber illustrated a ‘historical ceremony’ for the first time in An Interview between Captain Cook and the Natives, recording the meeting of cultures in Tasmania late in January 1777. Webber’s unfinished drawing is a composition of two separate groups, one of the voyagers, the other the native inhabitants with Cook and one native meeting peacefully in the centre of the clearing. Webber continued to visually record interaction between Cook and indigenous peoples throughout the voyage. Although his images were aimed at portraying the encounters in a positive light for later publication, the arrangement of his compositions and elongated figures clearly informed by his classical training, he maintained his objective intentions, rendering the topography, inhabitants and their habitations, boats and artefacts in a clearly delineated style.
Historians Joppien and Smith have identified a number of issues in Webber’s illustration of Cook greeting a group of Maoris in Captain Cook in Ship Cove, Queen Charlotte Sound, 1777. The incident did not correspond with any written account; many of the natives had actually met Cook previously and were cautious after a group of eight sailors from the Adventure, Cook’s consort on the previous voyage, had been attacked and killed by the Maori. The historians also point out that Cook was in the process of shaking hands, rather then the traditional Maori greeting of nose rubbing, this as well as the large size of the image testifies that Webber was trying to convey a historical event in a manner clearly aimed at persuading a European audience of the voyager’s peaceful intentions (Joppien 1988, Smith 1992).
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JOHN WEBBER, 1755-1793: Captain Cook in Ship Cove, Queen Charlotte Sound, New Zealand, 1777. PEN, WASH AND WATERCOLOUR, 60.7 X 98.5 CM., NATIONAL MARITIME MUSEUM, GREENWICH, LONDON, VIEWED 12 MARCH 2015, http://prints.rmg.co.uk/art/503193/captain -cook-in-ship-cove-queen-charlotte-sound
Webber did provide a great deal of accurate information, both ethnographical and topographical. He was a skilled landscape artist and included a clear use of atmospheric haze to provide the illusion of depth. Webber produced a large and varied body of work displaying a wide range of abilities, however in his idealized historical set pieces he combined the scientific and political concerns of the voyage but restrained any artistic ambitions he may have had to experiment like Hodges.
‘None of the three professional artists, Parkinson, Hodges and Webber, who travelled with Cook was trained for the enormous task that confronted them. To have found and enlisted the versatility that the portrayal of the Pacific and its peoples required would have been impossible. Eighteenth-century art students were trained to fulfil special requirements: to draw plants and animals for natural historians; to draw maps and charts and topographic views for the army and the navy; or higher up the social ladder, to paint landscapes and portraits or even history paintings of memorable deeds from scripture or the classics for Royal Academy audiences. But no one was trained to do all these things’ (Smith 1992, p.193).
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As Smith and others have pointed out, the cultural, physical and most importantly, artistic demands placed on Cook’s artists were extraordinary and unprecedented. That they adapted their art practices so well and produced such a varied and extensive body of work is incredible! Both Hodges and Webber exhibited work in the Royal Academy and most of Cook’s artist’s provided images that illustrated numerous and widespread publications depicting the voyages. The resulting artwork and published accounts of Cook’s voyages had a profound affect on European culture. My research continues by investigating two significant examples of British landscape artists who embraced many of the same influential elements associated with art/science collaboration and travel present during Cook’s voyages.
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CHAPTER IV
JOHN CONSTABLE, 1776 – 1837
JOHN CONSTABLE, 1776-1837: Harwich Lighthouse, 1820 RA. OIL ON CANVAS, 32.7 X 50.2 CM., REF;
(N01276), TATE GALLERY, LONDON, VIEWED 19 MARCH 2012, http://www.tate.org.uk/art?artworks/constable-harwich-lighthouse-n01276
John Constable is one of the most highly regarded British landscape painters, well- known for recording a fast changing British countryside threatened by developing industry and commerce. He struggled for success in his professional career, embracing a naturalistic approach based on direct observation that in his lifetime was considered revolutionary (Parkinson 1998). Others have written extensively on Constable. This chapter is limited to a brief review of his life and work, searching for evidence of influential elements associated with art-science collaboration and travel such as those encountered by Cook’s artists.
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John Constable’s father was a successful grain merchant, farming ninety-three acres in the Stour Valley. He had an interest in a mill as well as owning barges and ships used for transporting grain and coal (Bailey 2006). Constable’s rural upbringing shaped his art practice, the village of East Bergholt, Suffolk where he lived, and the surrounding countryside were well represented in the sketches, studies and painting he produced during his career. It has been reported that Constable expressed in his art, a deep personal attachment to the surrounding countryside of the Stour Valley that was developed on a number of levels. His landscape subjects portrayed historical, agricultural and natural history-based details he found significant (Rosenthal 1987). These included an awareness of the weather developed while growing up in the Stour Valley and later during a time spent working in the family milling business. A time many researchers, beginning with Constable’s first biographer C.R. Leslie, have declared was an important and persistent factor in the artist’s development (Leslie 1980, 2nd ed.).
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DRAWING DIRECT FROM NATURE
Constable began drawing and painting directly from nature around his home village of East Bergholt, presumably receiving instruction and encouragement while accompanying local Suffolk amateur artist, John Dunthorne (1770-1844) on outings sketching the local landscapes. John Constable continued sketching out of doors, developing a number of techniques and establishing drawing and painting from nature as the foundation of his art practice. The Victoria and Albert Museum, London, holds the most extensive collection of Constable’s work found anywhere in the world. Most of the work was the contents of the artist’s studio; the artist’s last surviving child, Isabel, bequeathed the remaining Constable family artworks to the museum in 1888. The museum’s collection contains nearly four hundred paintings and drawings, in pen and pencil, watercolour and oil. Describing the collection and the insight into Constable’s art practice it provides, researcher Ronald Parkinson relates:
In the galleries and the Print Room of the V&A, it is possible to follow Constable’s way of working from the merest pencil indication made in a small sketchbook, through the elaborated pen and ink, wash, or watercolour study, to one of the many famous oil sketches and eventually to reach the finished painting, shown in its original gilt frame as it would have been seen on the walls of the R.A. nearly 200 years ago (Parkinson 1998, p.14).
Constable maintained his friendship with Dunthorne long after he had travelled to London at the age of twenty-two and began his formal studies at the Royal Academy Schools. He continued to spend many of his summers sketching in the countryside around East Bergholt. Small sketchbook entries in the V&A include early compositional studies and drawings of buildings but also many studies of plants, animals and human figures that demonstrate his comprehensive interest in the natural world (Parkinson 1998).
Constable began to expand his artistic horizons after being introduced to Sir George Beaumont (1753-1827), reportedly in 1795 when the collector and amateur painter had
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been staying in nearby Dedham. Reportedly after viewing a small painting owned by Beaumont, Landscape with Hagar and the Angel, 1646, by the French landscape Master Claude Lorrain (1600-1682), Constable began his familiarization with the classical landscape tradition. The following year he began to make contacts in the London art world. While visiting his uncle, Thomas Allen, Constable met the professional artist and engraver; John Thomas Smith who had published a series of topographical views in 1791 and was then planning another. This encounter is believed to have encouraged Constable to begin drawing topographical views, a practice he maintained throughout his career.
In February 1799, Constable gained permission from his father to enrol as probationer at the Royal Academy (Parkinson 1998). Constable came under the guidance of the Royal Academician Joseph Farrington (1747-1821), having presented a letter of introduction written by a family friend. Joseph Farrington provided an artistic link with Richard Wilson, one of the original founder-member of the Royal Society and among the most highly regarded British landscape artists of the period. Farrington also provided a clear link to the descriptive aims of art/science collaboration and travel practiced during Cook’s voyages. Farrington had been a pupil of Wilson’s at the same time as the landscape artist on Cook’s second voyage William Hodges. Together they had learned by studying the Masters such as Claude Lorrain and Nicolas Poussin (1593-1665), but more of interest to this study, Wilson had emphasised the importance of direct observation and the accurate depiction of places (Parkinson 1998).
The financial assistance John Constable received from his father provided the security that gave him the facility to pursue his personal artistic vision. Unlike his contemporary Turner, he was never compelled to work for engravers or picture makers or to undertake any of a host of other menial creative tasks most other young professional artists found necessary to make ends meet (Parkinson 1998).
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JOHN CONSTABLE, 1776-1837: View of Southampton showing the Town Quay and the Anchorage from the Platform, 1816. PENCIL, 11 X 18 CM., SOUTHAMPTON ART GALLERY, SOUTHAMPTON, VIEWED 12 MARCH 2015, http://www.southampton.gov.uk/libraries/museums/art-gallery.aspx
TOPOGRAPHICAL VIEWS AND COMMITMENT TO NATURALISM
Constable exhibited a well-developed ability in his topographical views. His influential mentor in the R.A., Farrington had worked principally as a topographical draughtsman, one of the most popular landscape genres of the period. Constable returned periodically to East Bergholt to be near his family and sketch in the familiar and much loved surrounding area throughout his life. He continued to develop his topographical views and in 1802 Constable was offered the position of drawing master at the Royal Military College at Marlow. Reportedly Constable turned down the post after Farrington, Sir George Beaumont and Benjamin West, the President of the Royal Academy advised him that the position teaching topographical landscape offered security but seriously threatened his chances of achieving distinction in the Royal Academy (Bailey 2006). Constable continued to make topographical view throughout his career including the above View of Southampton in 1816. However, turning down the post at the Royal Military College has been recounted in nearly every account of Constable’s life and
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appears to be one of the events during this period that influenced Constable into committing himself to pursuing the uncertain path of naturalism in his landscape painting. In rejecting teaching the precise objectivity of topography as an inferior career path, Constable must have recognized the challenge his landscape art posed to the art hierarchy of the Royal Academy. Outlined by Sir Joshua Reynolds in one of his famous Discourses:
The value and rank of every art is in proportion to the mental labour employed in it, or the pleasure produced by it. As this principle is observed or neglected, our profession becomes either a liberal art or a mechanical trade. In the hands of one man it makes the highest pretensions, as it is addressed to the noblest facilities, In those of another it is reduced to a mere matter of ornament… (Reynolds, 4th Discourse 1771).
As Rosenthal has pointed out, Reynolds had also written in his seventh Discourse that ‘the natural appetite or taste of the human mind is for Truth’, aspired for by ‘the good and virtuous man alone’ (cited in Rosenthal 1987, p. 36). Constable was convinced of the importance of direct observation of nature as the source for attaining the naturalism in his painting that could reach these highest of moral attributes. He outlined his plans in an idealistic letter written to his close friend Dunthorne, that suggests a link between drawing directly from nature and empirical theory. He declared ‘however one’s mind may be elevated, and kept up to what is excellent, by the work of the Great Masters – still Nature is the fountain’s head, the source from whence all originally must spring –‘ (cited in Leslie 1980, 2nd ed. p. 15). The letter to Dunthorne illustrates the artistic intentions Constable would pursue relentlessly for the rest of his career. Written in 1802 shortly after the R.A. summer exhibition and a visit to Sir George Beaumont’s where he viewed his collection of work by past masters, first quoted by Leslie, it also included the following now famous lines:
‘I am returned with a deep conviction of the truth of Sir Joshua Reynolds’ observation that ‘there is no easy way of becoming a painter’. It can only be obtained by long contemplation and incessant labour in the executive part…For these past two weeks I have been running after pictures and seeking the truth at second hand…I shall shortly
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return to Bergholt where I shall make some laborious studies from nature – and I shall endeavour to get a pure and unaffected representation of the scenes that may employ me with respect to colour particularly…There is room enough for a natural painture’ (cited in Leslie 1980, 2nd ed. p. 15).
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CONSTABLE AND TRAVEL
Constable travelled extensively although not as far afield as his contemporary Turner. He made a two-month tour of the Lake District in 1806. Parkinson has suggested the area was seen as the equivalent of a classical Arcadia and a substitute for the Grand Tour of Europe, with traveling abroad too dangerous during the Napoleonic wars. He developed a fondness and made many sketching tours in places outside of Suffolk such as Salisbury where his close friend John Fisher and his family lived as well as around Hampstead, where he made his family home. He also travelled and sketched in locations in the Southwest and on the South coast with many images included as his subjects (Parkinson 1998). Constable made one exceptional trip in April of 1803, in what is likely to have been an effort to expand his artistic repertoire and increase the range of weather experienced. He sailed from London to Deal on the East Indiaman, Coutts. His biographer Leslie records that Constable made 130 marine sketches during the voyage and during a short excursion walking from Gravesend to Chatham, where the British fleet was moored. There he made three views of the man-of-war Victory. The Victory sketches were then used as studies for the history painting, His Majesty’s Ship Victory in the Battle of Trafalgar, between two French Ships of the Line, exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1805. During the voyage his subjects included sketches of the ship’s rigging, similar to the earlier interest he had shown for depicting farm implements, and many studies of the coastal weather, which he discussed in a letter to his friend Dunthorne (Parkinson 1998, p.18). Constable provided evidence of his growing fascination with weather, writing: ‘I saw all sorts of weather. Some of the most delightful, and some as melancholy. But such is the enviable state of a painter that he finds delight in every dress nature can possibly assume’ (cited in Leslie 1980 2nd ed. p.16). However, his intentions regarding the voyage remain unclear, and his forays into sailing voyages and maritime-historical subjects were short lived.
Constable continued to develop his art by recording the English countryside he knew best; the village churches, cottages and farmhouses, the rivers and locks, and people working at their rural vocations. On a trip to Salisbury in 1811 he met and befriended John Fisher, the nephew of Bishop of Salisbury. The cathedral and surrounding
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countryside provided the subject matter and inspiration for some of his most important work. One painting that represents the mature development of Constable’s naturalistic approach to landscape is: Salisbury Cathedral from the Meadows, 1831 RA.
JOHN CONSTABLE, 1776-1837: Salisbury Cathedral from the Meadows, 1831 RA. OIL ON CANVAS, 151.8 X 189.9 CM., TATE GALLERY, LONDON, VIEWED 12 MARCH 2015, http://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/the-sublime/anne-lyles-sublime-nature-john-constable
After his marriage and a tour to the seaside during his honeymoon in 1816, Constable expanded the range of his subject matter, reportedly assisted by the deepening emotional experience of marriage, developing a number of paintings of cloud-filled seascapes at Weymouth and Brighton. Scholars including Anne Lyles and Graham Reynolds, have also suggested the skies above Hampstead Heath challenged Constable to undertake his most serious study of atmospheric phenomena.
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CONSTABLE’S CLOUD STUDIES
JOHN CONSTABLE, 1776-1837: Cloud Study, 1822 OIL ON PAPER ON BOARD, 47.6 X 57.5 CM.,
REF; (N06065), TATE GALLERY, LONDON, VIEWED 12 MARCH 2015, http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/constable-cloud-study-n06065
In the 1820’s working in oils on paper laid on canvas or small boards, Constable produced a vast number of en-plein-air field sketches of clouds, a practice he referred to as ‘skying’. Scholars such as Anne Lyles have identified Constable’s cloud studies as an attempt to develop a narrative element that could be used to raise the aesthetic status of his exhibition paintings (Lyles 2004). In an often-cited letter to his friend Fisher dated 23 October 1821, Constable declared: ‘I have done a good deal of skying, for I am determined to conquer all difficulties, and that among the rest.’ He goes on to say: ‘That landscape painter who does not make skies a very material part of his composition, neglects to avail himself of one of his greatest aids.’ He then adds that the sky is the ‘key
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note, the standard of scale, and the chief organ of sentiment’ (cited in Leslie 1980, 2nd ed. p. 85). Constable made approximately one hundred cloud studies in 1821 and 1822.
While he had often included annotations on his en plein air studies he had made prior to 1821, the information on his cloud studies was more extensive, mentioning the time of day and wind direction as well as preceding and ensuing weather conditions. Scholars have speculated that Constable’s accurate depiction of different cloud types and his method of gathering detailed information appeared akin to scientific fieldwork and was inspired by Luke Howard’s Climate of London published in two volumes in 1818 and 1820. There is evidence Constable was interested in natural history. He was introduced to Gilbert White’s book of observations, Natural History of Seabourne, first published in 1789, by his friend Fisher early in 1820 (Bailey 2006). Climate of London contained a Latin terminology for skies that may have interested Constable, however, Lyles points out that there is no evidence the artist was familiar with the book. He did own and extensively annotated a copy of Thomas Foster’s Researches about Atmospheric Phaenomena, 1813, which contained Howard’s cloud nomenclature, although it is unclear when he acquired it (Lyles 2004). Constable, as has been mentioned, made considerable and detailed annotations describing clouds, but he did not use the Latin nomenclature with perhaps one exception. He did use the term ‘messengers’ (Reynolds 2004, p.20) when describing the low fast moving clouds that preceded a storm, even mentioning that the term was used by wind-millers and sailors. This may suggest that his knowledge of weather, part of his widespread interest in the natural world, was enlarged through his association with men whose well-developed powers of observation were a practical concern. Cook’s artist’s had developed their skills in portraying atmospheric phenomena in a similar way.
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ART AND SCIENCE
Historians including Vaughn have noted that Constable made considerable effort to maintain the image of country gentleman in the metropolis. In a sense Constable’s journey followed an Enlightenment path well travelled by many of the amateur gentleman naturalists that preceded him. Vaughn states that the artist was ‘a wide reader of the literature, science and philosophy of his day, he aligned his art with the work of those thinkers and investigators who saw in an understanding of natural phenomena a deeper perception of divine order and creation’ (Vaughn 2002, p. 10). The relationship between observation-based science and art was a well-established part of contemporary European culture when late in life John Constable delivered a lecture at the Royal Institution in June 1836. His biographer and friend, C.R. Leslie collected many of his notes and recorded Constable stating:
Painting is a science and should be pursued as an inquiry into the laws of nature. Why, then, may not a painting be considered as a branch of natural philosophy, of which pictures are but experiments? (cited in Leslie 1980, 2nd ed. pp. 331, 332).
Constable eventually was voted into the Royal Academy in 1829, becoming a Royal Academician at the age of 52. He exhibited and sold works in France through a Parisian art dealer gaining a measure of both financial and critical achievement. John Constable is acknowledged as one of Britain’s greatest and most influential landscape painters. Constable advanced the value of naturalism in British landscape painting considerably. He employed some of the same techniques used by Cook’s artists, particularly Hodges. Of most interest to this investigation is; a heightened awareness of atmospheric phenomena, his cloud studies are especially noteworthy, direct observation field sketches, a plein-air technique, painting Boat-building near Flatford Mill, 1815, ‘entirely in the open air.’ (Gadney 1976, p. 43), and the introduction of a more expressive painting technique from his field sketches into his finished work.
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CHAPTER V
JOSEPH MALLORD WILLIAM TURNER, 1775 –1851
JOSEPH MALLORD WILLIAM TURNER, 1775-1851: The Fighting ‘Temeraire’, Tugged to her Last Berth to be Broken up, 1838, 1839. OIL ON CANVAS; 91 X 122 CM., NATIONAL GALLERY, LONDON, VIEWED MARCH 2015, http://nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/joseph-mallord-william-turner-the-fighting-temeraire
J.M.W. Turner is widely considered to be one of the most significant British artists of all time (Graham-Dixon 1996). Over one hundred and fifty years after his death, major exhibitions of his work continue to be held and well attended around the world. The extraordinary quantity of work Turner produced and the complex and diverse nature of the artist’s development has been and continues to be the subject of countless in-depth studies. My intention is to limit my focus to key points relating to my research. What evidence remains of the influence of elements associated with science and travel covered in previous chapters? Did the graphic arts programme conducted by Cook’s artists, essentially the pinnacle of an art practice saturated by a host of elements related to
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science and travel, influence Turner’s art practice or was it a complete departure from the work of Cook’s artists, influenced more by the Royal Academy’s aesthetic hierarchy based on the art of the Italian Renaissance?
Turner was born in Covent Garden in 1775, a district in London on the Eastern fringes of the West End. An area once fashionable but at the time of Turner’s birth more famous for it’s taverns, brothels and gambling dens. The son of a barber, Turner did not benefit from a privileged cultural background or the formal education it provided. While his earliest education was rudimentary he has been credited with an inquisitive and powerful mind and through voracious reading he gained considerable knowledge on a wide range of subjects. Turner’s early development was typical of many children of the working class in late eighteenth-century England learning many new skills at work (Venning 2003). Before reaching his teens Turner was working at colouring engravings for a friend of his uncle’s during a year spent living with his relatives in Brentford, a country town on the upper Thames, following the death of his younger sister in 1786. Brentford had a lasting effect on Turner. He began the practice of sketching there and returned throughout his life for sketching tours in the surrounding countryside, eventually building a house at nearby Twickenham.
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DRAWING DIRECT FROM NATURE
The drawings and sketches included in the Turner Bequest at the National Gallery comprise practically the whole of the great landscape painter’s work done direct from nature… It shows clearly upon what basis of immediately presentative elements the airy splendour of turner’s richly imaginative art was built (Finberg 1968 p. 1).
Drawing from nature formed the foundation of Turner’s art. The trustee’s of the National Gallery of London commissioned Alexander J. Finberg, a thirty-nine year old art critic and illustrator to undertake a complete cataloguing of the gift Turner bequeathed to the Nation at the time of his death fifty-four years earlier. The substantial body of work found by Finberg comprises 30,000 works according to the National Gallery. Most are unfinished drawings or preparatory studies including about 19,000 watercolours and 285 oils. 280 of Turner’s bound sketchbooks covering his teen years to his seventies document his relentless practice of field research. Lawrence Gowing points out in the introduction to the 1968 edition of Finberg’s Turner’s Sketches & Drawings that Finberg was originally writing in the early twentieth century and made a clear distinction between sketches and finished art that reflected the art culture of his time Today the division appears less clear between field sketch, experimental and preparatory studies and final artwork (Gowing 1968). The Turner Bequest provides substantial evidence of the essential role field research played in Turner’s artistic methods.
Turner may have begun making art in the country but it was in London that he gained an awareness of his fast changing world and did much to determine the course of his artistic journey. Growing up surrounded by the hustle and bustle of commerce, the warehouses and shops and especially, the wharves and moorings crowded with ships and sea craft which John Ruskin (1819-1900), future champion of Turner and renowned English writer on art and architecture, so poetically described as ‘that mysterious forest below London Bridge’ may have been ‘mysterious’ and romantic as described by Ruskin as well as being an environment that demanded the development of practical skills to survive. The wealth and demand for consumer goods associated with London created
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opportunities for artists. As a young man Turner reportedly engaged in a range of art forms including making copies of paintings, creating scenery for theatre and giving drawing lessons. Venning has suggested that this early period of employment in a range of creative pursuits helped to develop his versatility (Venning 2003). It is clear that the unrelenting ambition, versatility and self-belief Turner demonstrated early served him well throughout his career.
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TOPOGRAPHICAL VIEWS
JOSEPH MALLORD WILLIAM TURNER, 1775-1851: Christ Church, Oxford, from near Carfax, C.1796, WATERCOLOUR OVER PENCIL WITH PEN AND INK; 25 X 33.1 CM., REF; (TW0882), NATIONAL GALLERY OF CANADA, OTTAWA, VIEWED 13 MARCH 2015, http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/turner-christ-church-oxford-from-near-carfax-tw0882
Turner’s early biographers have suggested several architects as providing early training and work for the young artist. His spell working as a draughtsman for Thomas Hardwick (1752-1829) beginning sometime around 1788 is considered the first important example. After ending his employment with Harwick in 1789 he continued his training while working for the architectural draughtsman Thomas Malton (1748- 1804). Turner used sketches made during a visit to relatives in Oxfordshire to demonstrate his rapidly developing topographical skills. Created with pencil and watercolour with outlines in pen and ink, Radley Hall from the South East, 1789 utilised the popular landscape sub-genre of country-house portraits in a conventional style similar to his teacher’s work. Turner was accepted that same year as a probationary
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student at the Royal Academy Schools at the age of fourteen. In 1790 he produced another topographical work, which became his first painting to be selected and exhibited at the annual Royal Academy exhibition. Displaying a more complex composition and refined rendering technique, The Archbishop’s Palace at Lambeth was a vast improvement over Radley Hall and demonstrated Turner’s rapid progress. Turner developed his watercolour technique in the traditional way, by copying the work of other artists. He began by using widely available monochrome prints, which provided the opportunity to develop compositional abilities. However for a young artist’s knowledge of colour and technique to progress, he needed to see quality work at first hand. At the home of Dr Thomas Munro he gained access to an assortment of English watercolours by well-regarded artists including Paul Sandby and John Robert Cozens (1752-1797). Turner admired the work of Cozens in particular because it offered an expanded approach to topographical landscape more focused on the use of light and attention to atmospheric phenomena. While copying the work of established artists helped Turner to strengthen his abilities, scholars including Venning have suggested that it was the familiarity with their approaches that may have encouraged Turner to seek his own alternative methods (Venning 2003). He had continued working as a topographical draughtsman while studying at the Royal Academy and in 1791 made the first of his annual summer sketching tours traveling to the West Country. Following tours to South Wales in 1792 and the Welsh Borders in 1793, five of Turner’s watercolour drawings were included in the 1794 Royal Academy exhibition helping to establish him as a brilliant young topographical draughtsman (Finberg 1968).
Turner began work as a topographical draughtsman and remained committed to topographical work, maintaining the traditional concern for objectivity, producing views in watercolours of mountain vistas, harbours, buildings and towns, for the well- established and lucrative market, providing a significant income throughout his career (Venning 2003). Members of high social and cultural classes were among the customers for Turner’s early topographical watercolours, but its wide commercial appeal and mediocre practitioners compromised the status of the medium in the Academy. Turner’s topographical skills had already been highly developed by 1799 when, at a
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similar age to Cook’s main artists when they embarked on their voyages, he was offered the position of topographical draughtsman on Lord Elgin’s expedition to Greece and Turkey. When negotiations regarding salary broke down Turner resigned (Venning 2003).
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THE ROYAL ACADEMY
In November 1798 Turner had missed out on selection as an Associate of the Royal Academy. He was aware of the potential for career advancement and artistic development participation in the Academy offered and this may have influenced his decision to forego the expedition as well as anticipating the change of direction undertaken in his art practice. Turner was both gifted and ambitious, embracing the aesthetic environment of the Royal Academy. An environment shaped by the guiding force of founder-member and the first president, Sir Joshua Reynolds in his Discourses. It soon became clear that Turner ‘aspired to create work of the loftiest cultural aspirations’ (Rosenthal 2013 p. 61). He was inspired by Reynolds’s Discourses demanding that art be ‘addressed to the noblest faculties’, praising the works of classical antiquity and past Masters of the High Renaissance, most notably Raphael (1483-1520) and Michelangelo (1475-1564). Turner was aware of the low regard held by the Academy for ordinary topographic views, explained in a widely quoted lecture by the Professor of Painting Henry Fuseli in 1801. He derided ‘that kind of landscape which is entirely occupied with the tame delineation of a given spot’ and promoted the more elevated forms of landscape, identifying the work produced by Titian, Claude, Salvator Rosa, Nicolas Poussin, and Richard Wilson (Rosenthal, 2013). Historian Andrew Wilton has drawn attention to Turner’s notebook annotations from his first visit to France in 1802. Turner was perceptive of the physical properties of the paintings he viewed as well as the ‘aesthetic and emotional power’ with particular interest shown to images portraying ‘the grandeur of the natural world’ (Wilton 1996, p. 16). Turner embraced the influence of past masters, producing ambitious paintings portraying scenes representing Biblical and Greek narratives. Turner continued to exhibit works that incorporated the ‘historical landscape’ genre in the Royal Academy and to explore ways to reconcile the landscape of ideas with the topographic aim to record.
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TURNER AND TRAVEL
Sketching tours were an essential component of Turner’s art practice. He made periodic tours throughout Britain between 1795 and 1815, with a short hiatus in1802 in conjunction with the Peace of Amiens when he made his first trip to the continent. His early sketching tours established both a method and many of the key subjects that would exemplify Turner’s work. He travelled on sketching tours each summer, filling his small sketchbooks, drawing directly from nature for nearly his entire life. Turner took advantage of the improvements in transportation methods including the introduction of steam power in 1820 to become one of the most widely travelled artists of his time. The training Turner received at the Royal Academy was based on the art of the High Renaissance and a period of study in Italy was considered necessary to achieve professional credibility. Turner focused much of his attention on Italy during his tour of 1819-1820, traveling through France and Switzerland on the outward and return legs of his journey. During the six months of his journey he reportedly filled nineteen sketchbooks with drawings and notes documenting his experience. His sketchbooks from this excursion contain mostly sketches in pencil, scholars suggesting he followed a demanding schedule with little time for working in colour. However, during stays in cities such as Venice, Rome and Naples he developed a number of sketches into more refined watercolour studies, most likely in the evenings in his lodgings (Venning 2003). The annual journeys he made during the next twenty years covered a large section of the European continent and included major cultural centres in France and Italy and less familiar places, for example creating dynamic images of mountainous scenery of the Swiss Alps. Turner developed many of his sketches into finished watercolours and a number of series of engraved views making a substantial contribution to the travel genre (Warrell 2013). Earlier tours to Northern England, North Wales and Scotland had already provided inspiration for paintings that addressed the aesthetic concept of the ‘sublime’. The idea was promoted by a number of mid-nineteenth century writers, most widely encountered in the book by the philosopher Edmund Burke (1729-1797), A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origins of Our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful (1756). Burke considered the ‘sublime’ to be ‘productive of the strongest emotion which the mind is capable of feeling’ (Burke 1958, p. 39) and linked it to the contemplation of the
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turmoil and wildness prevailing in the natural world. Using his first hand experiences to convey the scale, atmospheric phenomena, and suggest geological history, Turner engaged in the ‘sublime’ as a form of expression, aspiring to match the emotional and intellectual effect of historical landscape (Moorby 2013). Turner produced work using a wide range of techniques during his travels. But all his work originated from his sketchbooks. Ian Warrell, in his essay included in the exhibition catalogue for the Turner from the Tate exhibition held at the national gallery in 2013, writes:
The majority of his sketchbooks are filled with quickly observed pencil outlines of scenes Turner saw on his travels…Whereas most artists decided on scenes they would develop by selecting and structuring a composition while actually in front of the motif, Turner’s work in the field was more rudimentary and exploratory. What he valued above all was the experience and discipline of looking. He was concerned primarily with the direct experience of a setting, knowing that he would be able to bring together the significant details from his notes (Warrell 2013, p. 160).
Warrell goes on to point out that Turner’s travel sketches transformed throughout his life, from the precision of topographical drawings reflecting his early training, progressing throughout the 1800’s to more economical and expressive drawing styles. However, Turner’s field sketching technique remained firmly linked to careful observation (Warrell 2013).
As mentioned previously, Turner embraced the environment of the Royal Academy and aspired to greatness, adapting his art to meet its aesthetic demands. However, in the privacy of his studio and the supportive and comfortable environments provided by a few of his most generous patrons, Turner gave free reign to experimentation and improvisation in his art practice. Scholars have noted that Turner experimented extensively with both watercolour and oils. He consistently utilized a wide range of paints, mediums and techniques for applying them. It has been suggested he sampled every new product available from the fast developing pre-industrial manufacturers of his era (Townsend 2013).
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Turner’s decision to stay at Farnley Hall, Yorkshire, the home of Walter Fawkes (1769- 1825) on his summer tour in 1808, is considered a crucial development in his life. Turner continued to spend time with Fawkes and his family nearly every year, establishing an intimate connection with the area and leading to a close personnel bond between artist and patron that lasted until Fawkes death in 1825. Venning reports that Fawkes purchased six oils and around 250 watercolours from Turner (Venning 2013). Nurtured by Fawkes, Turner was able to develop his art unhindered by rigid academic expectations, additionally creating many preliminary sketches and studies leading to what are considered some of his finest works in watercolour including Scarborough Town and Castle; Morning, Boys Catching Crabs, 1811 RA (Messenger 2013). Turner also felt comfortable enough to create what could be considered examples of the natural history based origins of his art practice in the 20 watercolour paintings of birds he contributed for Fawkes’s Ornithological Collection (1815-20) (Venning 2003).
In 1827 the distinguished architect John Nash provided Turner with a special painting room in his neo-gothic house known as East Cowes Castle. The artist thrived in the supportive environment, making several sketches of the castle and the now famous East Cowes sailing regatta, then in its second year. Turner experimented combining both subjects, merging a topographical image of his patron’s home in the distance, with the sailing regatta that is reminiscent of Dutch seascapes. In East Cowes Castle, the seat of J. Nah, Esq.: the Regatta beating to Windward R.A. 1828, Turner created a composition depicting his patron’s castle on a distant cliff bathed in bright sunlight. He focused most of his attention on the regatta surrounded by the natural phenomena of sea, sky and cloud.
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JOSEPH MALLORD WILLIAM TURNER, 1775-1851: East Cowes Castle, the Seat of J. Nash, Esq.; the Regatta beating to Windward, 1828 R.A. OIL ON CANVAS; 90.2 X 120.7 CM., REF; (TW1073), INDIANAPOLIS MUSEUM OF ART, INDIANAPOLIS, VIEWED MARCH 2015, http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/turner-east-cowes’castle-the-seat-of-j-nash-esq-the-regatta-beating-to- windward-1073
Turner also flourished under the patronage of George O’Brien Wyndham, third Earl of Egremont (1751-1837), staying at Petworth House, Sussex for the first time in 1809. Egremont was wealthy and unconventional, providing an open house that supported a number of artists. Turner documented the relaxed and supportive atmosphere at Petworth House in a series of experimental watercolours on blue paper that also included pen, ink, gouache and scraping out. He also explored visual perception and perspective theory when undertaking a commission for four large oil paintings to decorate a room in Petworth House. Researchers have singled out Petworth Park: Tillington Church in the Distance, c.1828, as of special interest. It is considered either a full sized sketch or a rejected first attempt. Painted in a long horizontal format, it portrays Petworth Park: a band of trees with the church in the distance, Egremont’s
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dogs and a herd of deer with their long cast shadows radiating out from the setting sun, towards the viewer. Turner utilizes a dynamic perspective approach with the shadows and by combining the curving horizontal lines of a wide-angle view and vibrant low light source suggesting ‘the infinite vastness of space, rather than the enclosed, Euclidian, box-like quality’ (Kemp 1990, p. 159). Turner had most likely received his first tuition in perspective theory, ‘the science of art’ (Kemp 1990, p. 157) while working as a topographical draughtsman for Thomas Malton early in his career. Turner later was appointed Professor of Perspective at the Royal Academy in 1807. Scholars including Kemp assert that Turner was familiar with, and consulted a wide range of perspective books when preparing for his lectures (Kemp 1990).
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SCIENCE AND ART
JOSEPH MALLORD TURNER, 1771-1851: Petworth Park: Tillington Church in the Distance, C.1828, OIL ON CANVAS, 60 X 145.7 CM., REF; (TW0559), TATE GALLERY, LONDON, VIEWED 12 MARCH 2015, http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/turner-petwoth-park-tillington-church-in-the-distance-0559
While Turner provided basic instruction in geometrical perspective and acknowledged its importance, he also expanded his lectures to related subjects such as the effects of reflection and refraction. Turner also made attempts to articulate his understanding of scientific theories of colour during his lectures. Kemp casts doubt on Turner ever having developed a fully coherent scientific colour theory but never the less, suggests the likelihood of said theories influencing his art (Kemp 1990). Turner was practical in his analysis of the value of scientific theory in relation to his art. While he acknowledged the importance of geometric perspective and colour theory, he insisted on the supremacy of the artist’s visual knowledge gained from experience. Turner’s willingness to stretch the rules of perspective in Petworth Park reflects his approach of not allowing restrictive rules and science to limit his art. However, scholars have noted that Turner displayed a longstanding fascination with the way science disclosed the astounding energy in the natural world. In his investigation of light, for Turner a ‘dynamic force’ (Kemp 1990, p. 159), scientific theory heightened its emotive effectiveness.
In his biography on Turner, in the chapter on the theory of colour, Lindsay detailed the artist’s ‘interest in every aspect of light and colour, practical, scientific, (and) theoretical’ (Lindsay 1966, p. 120). Lindsay wrote:
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He (Turner) had himself developed his art out of the notion of light and colour as the vital aspects of a scene, not merely a mode whereby form became visible; on the realization of a dialectical interplay between dark and light, warm and cold masses; on a sense of the universe composed of vortices, fields of force (Lindsay 1966, p. 120).
Critics have suggested that in Turner’s late work ‘light and colour eventually appear to become confounded in his mind’ (Golding 1996, p. 170). An account of a meeting between the artist and Francis Palgrave, a poet and anthropologist, provides evidence to the contrary. Palgrave reportedly met Turner a few months before his death and later wrote that he appeared as sharp and intellectually engaged as ever (Venning 2003). Turner had started merging light, colour and atmospheric phenomena for dramatic affect early in his career. Beginning with his seascapes such as The Shipwreck, 1805, inspired by the work of seventeenth century Dutch marine painters, he progressively expanded the technique applying it to historical narrative as in Snowstorm – Hannibal and his Army crossing the Alps, exhibited in the Royal Academy in 1812. An extended series of seascapes during the 1830’s and 1840’s inspired by the tradition of Dutch seascapes culminated with Snowstorm – Steam Boat off a Harbour’s Mouth making Signals in Shallow Water, and going by the Lead. The Author was in this Storm on the night the Ariel left Harwich, R.A. 1842. Although Turner maintained a traditionally subdued palette, he created a violent vortex of colour and light to convey a sense of the atmospheric turmoil of the storm. His extravagantly long title included precise details of the scene including the telling information that ‘The Author was in this Storm’, a clear indication of his documentary intensions and the origins of his art practice. As researcher Michael Lloyd relates: ‘We are inside the Vortex. In this, the grandest of visionary statements, it is the legacy of the topographer that produces an epic manifestation of the Sublime’ (Lloyd 1996, p.187).
Scholars have questioned the reliability of a number of Turner’s on-the-spot titles. Lloyd singles out The Fighting Temeraire, tugged to her Last Berth to be broken up, 1838 R.A. 1939, pointing out that the ship would have been a bare hulk, stripped of its spars. Not the fully rigged ship just returned from the famous Battle of Trafalgar painted by
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Turner. Through his vast knowledge of the natural world, Turner utilizes light, colour and atmospheric phenomena enabling his imaginative intervention to convey experience and idea.
Exhibiting at the Royal Academy from 1790 until 1850, Turner’s early descriptive and topographical work was praised and when reproduced as engravings reached a widespread audience, his later work displaying more brushstroke and vibrant colour with subject matter becoming increasingly obscure was often scorned by critics and the public. Turner’s sketching tours, his mastery of perspective and topographical landscape are obvious examples of the enduring influence of art/science collaboration and travel so prevalent in the work of Cook’s artist’s as are his investigations into the science of art.
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CHAPTER VI
PLACING MY HISTORICALLY INFORMED ART PRACTICE IN
A CONTEMPORARY AUSTRALIAN CONTEXT:
A brief account of Australian landscape art followed by a description of my art practice
Different art styles come into existence only after certain social pre-conditions have been fulfilled and these conditions differ for various categories of art; those demanding a small degree of social complexity arriving first, those requiring the existence of class stratifications coming later, and those demanding a form of state or national support coming later still (Smith 1979, p. 113).
This brief account of Australian landscape painting focuses on the influence of key influential elements discussed previously with the intention of assisting the reader to place my art practice in a contemporary Australian context. Others have previously written extensively about the history of Australian landscape painting. Bernard Smith focused on the complex social and aesthetic changes in his two volumes on Australian Art (1945, 1971) and cross-cultural experiences were outlined by a host of historians included in The Cambridge Companion to Australian Art (2011). I recognise that Indigenous Australian artists have been practicing in this land for 50,000 years and applaud the creation of an inclusive cross-cultural interpretation of Australian art history, however my investigation, substantially broad in scope already, deals with changes in British landscape painting styles beginning in the late eighteenth century. Ron Radford’s Ocean to Outback: Australian landscape painting 1850 -1950 provides a good overview of one hundred years of Australian landscape development but begins seventy years late for my investigation. I begin my discussion of Australian landscape art therefore with Sydney Parkinson in 1770 and will likewise limit my examples to a selection of artists pursuing descriptive landscape imagery.
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EARLY EUROPEAN LANDSCAPE ART IN AUSTRALIA
The quote at the beginning of this chapter is from the revised edition of art historian Bernard Smith’s Place, Taste and Tradition; A study of Australian Art since 1788, (1979), in the same passage Smith outlines the early progression of Australian art by identifying a series of ‘schools’ beginning with topographic draughtsmanship followed by colonial portraiture, romantic landscape, realistic genre graphic artists and finally those influenced by the academies. He also points out that while it took nearly one hundred years to develop the necessary ‘social pre-conditions’ in Australia, all of the above mentioned ‘tendencies’ were prevalent in late 18th century British art. Considering the close ties between the new colony and Britain it is understandable that the development of Australia landscape painting followed British and European traditions. The time lag in the development of an art market and infrastructure is also understandable. Until Tasmanian-born and locally trained W.C. Piguenit (1836-1914), all early landscape artists would have arrived possessing some awareness of contemporary art practices and styles of their British and Continental European homelands.
Topographical landscape and coastal profiles produced by artists such as Sydney Parkinson and John Webber on early voyages of exploration with Cook and later William Westall with Flinders, resulted in the earliest western images of Australian landscape. The descriptive aims of art as information continued to be the dominant force in the development of Australian landscape art during the early nineteenth century. Augustus Earle (1793-1838) and Conrad Martens (1801-1878) both served as expedition artists on HMS Beagle with the famous naturalist Charles Darwin (1809- 1882). British-born Earle was in Australia for less than three years having previously trained and exhibited at the British Royal Academy while both Constable and Turner were practicing. He adapted quickly to life in Australia, recognised opportunity where he found it and exhibited contemporary British landscape practices related to travel, for example while in Sydney in 1826 he acquired a lithographic press and published Views of Australia (Smith 1966). His prints and scenic oil paintings utilized the ‘picturesque’ style that was embraced by traveling artists to combine information with sentiment. Two years earlier Joseph Lycett’s (c.1774-c.1825) Views of Australia and Van Dieman’s
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Land, had been published in London, it comprised a series of topographic views that combined the publisher’s demand for accurate descriptive portrayals of Australian country estates with an established ‘romantic sensibility’ (Smith 1979 p. 41) for the picturesque.
British-born Thomas Baines (1820-1875) maintained the tradition of art/science collaboration and travel, producing the first western images of inland Australia as expedition artist to the 1855-56 North Australian Expedition. Early in the nineteenth century artists began arriving in the new colonies, some as convicts, and began producing natural history illustration of the local flora and fauna as well as the landscape. Painting in the first half of the nineteenth century, however, was dominated by natural history illustration and portraiture. In the 1830’s with the arrival of professional landscape painters, British born Conrad Martens in New South Wales and John Glover in Tasmania, public appetite for landscape began to develop until the mid century when it became the dominant genre, maintaining it’s predominance for the next one hundred years. Most of the artists, including Conrad Martens worked predominantly in watercolour, the most portable and readily available materials, recording the settlements and surrounding landscapes. Martens went on to develop his work in oils demonstrating not just his ambition to challenge himself artistically but also the growing availability of more refined art materials and a developing market for more sophisticated artwork. Aimed at the growing domestic market, and painted in oils by Martens in 1850, View of Sydney Harbour showing Sydney Cove, with its foreground of local flora, topographical panorama of Sydney in the distance and portrayal of local atmospheric conditions, demonstrates an intention to record the environment accurately and exhibits the artist’s history as an expedition artist as well as a close kinship to the expedition landscapes produced by Cook’s artists and their artistic predecessors.
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AUSTRALIAN CULTURAL INFRASTRUCTURE AND
CLASSICALLY TRAINED ARTISTS
As the colonies expanded and continued to develop throughout the second half of the century, classically trained professional artists continued to arrive from Britain and began arriving from Europe. Austrian-born Eugene von Guérard (1811-1901), Russian-born Nicholas Chevalier (1828-1902) and Swiss-born Louis Buvelot (1814- 1888) were among the foremost artists undertaking the practice of producing images of country estates for their wealthy patrons followed by many British landscape artists, including Constable and Turner. Historian Bernard Smith used the term ‘homestead portraits’ for when this form of landscape was adopted by colonial artists in Australia, many progressing to painting images of the surrounding countryside near the coastal settlements and pastoral properties further afield.
The arrival of artists from Britain and Europe coincided with the growing wealth and cultural infrastructure of the young colony. The development of state and national libraries and museums, beginning in 1842-43 with the Lady Franklin Museum in Tasmania, followed over the next twenty years by museums being established throughout the colony. All the new museums relied on British advisers, high-ranking officials in the Royal Academy and National Gallery among them, to guide their purchases for their collections maintaining the close cultural relationship with Victorian Britain. Historian Allison Inglis has pointed out that the vast majority of artwork came from Britain and continental Europe. When the National Gallery of South Australia received the generous Elder Bequest they allotted £10,000 for European pictures with only £250 per annum over the next ten years for works by Australian artists providing they met suitable academic criteria.
Eugene von Guérard arrived in Victoria in 1852 having previously travelled and trained in Italy. After his attempts at goldmining failed he succeeded as an artist, producing meticulously rendered landscapes. Historians have speculated that von Guérard was heavily influenced by the environmental theories of contemporary scientist Alexander Humbolt (1769-1859) as well as possibly utilizing photographs. Considering that
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Humbolt was the leading geographer, naturalist and explorer of the age, he advocated that everything should be measured and recorded with the finest instruments and techniques available and finally, that accurately collected data was the basis of all scientific knowledge, the claims regarding von Guérard are in the least plausible.
Nicholas Chevalier arrived in Victoria late in 1854 having trained in lithography. He established his practice based on an accurate portrayal of atmospheric conditions and effects of natural lighting. As Radford asserts, Chevalier followed in the northern European tradition of Romanticism and precision similar to von Guérard. Chevalier specialized in painting scenes of dramatic seascapes and mountain ranges in Australia as well as New Zealand.
IMPRESSIONISM IN AUSTRALIA
Louis Buvelot (1814-1888) arrived in Melbourne in 1856 and produced landscapes of the surrounding countryside for the rest of his life. In contrast from earlier colonial work, Buvelot’s landscapes show a more naturalistic portrayal of the Australian bush that is very reminiscent of Constable’s style. His work was recognised both in Europe and by later Australian landscape artists, Arthur Streeton (1867-1943) in particular. In the late nineteenth century Buvelot’s looser and more expressive brushstrokes and use of more familiar scenes heralded an approach to landscape that Bernard Smith has described as ‘the transition from the brown low-toned colonial painting, derived directly from European sources, to the high-toned landscapes of the Heidelberg school (Smith, 1979 p. 119) A school of landscape painting developed that has been identified as a local adaptation of the Impressionism in Europe that ‘brought painting to the extremes of naturalism by a scientific approach to colour with an emphasis on open-air painting’ (Smith 1979, p. 112), as well as being an attempt by Australian artists to distance themselves from the aesthetic categories of English academic tradition. Arthur Streeton, Frederick McCubbin (1855-1917), Charles Conder (1868-1909), Walter Withers (1854-1943) and Tom Roberts (1856-1931) were a group of young artists who admired Buvelot. More than one hundred years after Wilson had introduced the en plein air
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practice to British artists after he had travelled to Europe, Roberts likewise returned to Australia from Europe in 1885 having studied the latest examples of French outdoor landscape painting and is credited with introducing the practice to his colleagues. This group of painters began establishing small camps in the area surrounding Melbourne, including Heidelberg to pursue painting en plein air and became known as the Heidelberg School. Smith credits Roberts and Streeton with achieving the first ‘valid artistic solutions of the difficulties presented by the (Australian) landscape’ (Smith 1979 p. 40). Max Meldrum (1875-1955) developed a thesis that proposed a focus on tonal painting. Hans Heysen (1877-1968) developed a practice with an emphasis on scenic mountain vistas and gum trees with precise descriptive detail in the northern European romantic tradition.
The development of Australian cultural infrastructure assisted and designed after British and European models as well as improvement in opportunities for artists to travel internationally has cemented an intimate and continued interchange with Australian artists adapting European and more recently American and Asian trends to suite Australia’s unique landscape.
CONTEMPORARY AUSTRALIAN LANDSCAPE ART
The tradition of en plien air, introduced to British landscape art by Richard Wilson in the 1700’s was well represented in the National Gallery of Australia’s 2007 exhibition, Ocean to Outback: Australian landscape painting 1850-1950 that included the majority of foremost landscape painters of ‘the great century of Australian landscape art’ (Radford 2007, p. 7). Painting with oils in the field is still widely practiced by many contemporary Australian landscape artists including Euan Macleod. A group of younger artists, Guy Maestri, Luke Scriberras and Ben Quilty are ‘among Australia’s most notable thirty something artists and have two Archibald prizes between them, have banded together for years for road trips that carry on the tradition (en plein air)…’ (Adam Fulton, Sydney Morning Herald)
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Euan Macleod incorporates en plein air in his art practice and he has travelled extensively including Australian’s coasts and inland deserts, New Zealand and a trip to Antarctica. While he is successful in capturing an impression of the different locations he visits, the speed and looseness of his method lends itself to the expression of mood, a portrayal of the consciousness and the experience of the individual.
Similarly Chris Langois (b.1969) is admired for his moody and obscure landscapes. Originally quoted in a 2002 exhibition review by Phil Brown and most recently by Simon Gregg, Lanqois states that he is ‘not really concerned at all with identifying or representing particular places.’ His intention is ‘to create the sense of being within a vast space’ (cited in Gregg 2013, p. 98). He includes photography as a major element of his field research but has maintained his links with the en plein air tradition. I was able to view a number of his en plein air sketches and large scale paintings at his recent retrospective exhibition at Lake Macquarie City Art Gallery, New South Wales.
The majority of contemporary Australian landscape art I surveyed displayed no obvious attachment by the artists to the early tradition of art/science collaboration. Many landscape artists avoid the strict geographic concerns of objective description, perhaps considering it now the realm of photography, perhaps hearing Sir Joshua Reynolds’ distant echo calling for a more ‘noble’ form of landscape with the expression of personal experience now seemingly filling the role. I did find examples of artists and critics discussing landscape painting using theoretical themes related to natural science such as colour and tone as well as more complex concepts like time and space (Gregg 2013).
The portrayal of atmospheric phenomena in contemporary Australian landscape art is widespread. Constable’s practice of meteorological inquiry was used as a historical example of combining informal scientific investigation with expressive intent. One of the best examples of a contemporary landscape artist embracing a similar art/science tradition is the work of English born John Wolseley (1938-).
I see myself as a hybrid mix of artist and scientist; one who tries to relate the minutiae of the natural world – leaf, feather and beetle wing – to the abstract dimensions of the earth’s
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dynamic systems. Using techniques of watercolour, collage’ frottage, nature printing and other methods of direct physical or kinetic contact I am finding ways of collaborating with the actual plants, birds, trees, rocks, and earth of a particular place. – I like to think that the large works on paper on which I assemble these different drawing methods represent a kind of inventory or document about the state of the earth (Wolseley 2014).
Having settled in Australia in 1976, Wolseley creates large dynamic works on paper using a range of expressive drawing methods that convey his keen interest in the natural world with a particular focus on the migration of birds and the seismic shifts of the earth’s tectonic plates. He has been described as ‘a modern version of the 19th century gentleman naturalist and obsessive watercolourist’ spending nearly half of each year conducting field research, sometimes in extremely remote locations (Grishin 2010).
Travel and direct observation field research have remained essential elements of the artistic process in most instances. From the beginning adverse field conditions have been challenging traveling artists, such as White, Parkinson, Hodges, Webber as well as Turner. In 1987 Latvian born Australian artist Jan Senbergs (1939-), along with Bea Maddock (1934-) and John Caldwell (1942), was invited by the Australian Antarctic Division to visit Antarctica on the resupply ship Icebird. Commenting on his field study methodology he states; ‘it wasn’t all that much different from any other field drawing. Certainly the actual drawing time was shorter – you couldn’t spend an hour sitting on the side of a hill drawing because it was simply to cold- But then a lot of my other sketches, when I’ve been out in situ, are all quick sketches and notes anyway – it’s a series of glimpses, a compilation of photographs, notes and all those kinds of things.’ John Caldwell’s comments on field studies echo my own experiences while in Tierra del Fuego. He states; ‘working without gloves was only possible for short periods. Often it wasn’t just the cold, but as part of a group with various interests I couldn’t stay in a particular place – I had to move on when the rest did’ (cited in Boyer 1988, p. 75)
A wide range of materials and techniques are used in the Australian landscape genre with oil and acrylic paint appearing to be the most widely used mediums, with texture and expressive brushstroke well represented. A number of artists are experimenting and
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developing techniques with less commonly used materials. Philip Wolfhagen for example, applies oil paint mixed with beeswax in broad expressive strokes using a palette knife. Predominantly a studio painter, he prepares his paints using a traditional renaissance era technique. Hand-ground pigment is mixed with cold pressed linseed oil and bees wax to create a slow drying medium that allows blending but becomes very durable once dry. Wolfhagen acknowledges past periods of art history including the 17th century enlightenment and the early romanticism of the late 18th century. He references Constable’s cloud studies in particular and reflects on an awareness of the natural world and sense of place associated with a rural upbringing in a similar sense to the former artist. Wolfhagen states:
I grew up in a relatively isolated valley in a family obsessed with the natural world, and although this included a passion for hunting, it did not seem at odds with our love for every living thing in our environment. As a child it was the arrival of the migratory birds in spring that made me feel connected to place, but it also made me wonder about the other places these birds had been since I last heard them in autumn? (Wofhagen 2013, p. 16)
The terms used when describing their work are clear signs that many of the key elements of natural science still influence the process of contemporary Australian landscape artists. Likewise, today’s artists continue to be described as engaging with past masters including Constable and Turner.
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DESCRIPTION AND ANALYSIS OF MY ART PRACTICE
Prior to the subsequent description and analysis of my field research and art practice, it is worth re-stating that while informed by historical research this investigation has been conducted as a practice-based Natural History Illustration research project. My systematic, experimental four-phase art practice was informed by my historical research and designed to roughly coincide with the creative practices of the artists presented as significant examples in this research. Drawing and painting techniques similar to ones used by those artists have been employed both in the field and the studio, however, my art practice is unequivocally contemporary.
There was an abundance of current writings and diagrams concerning art theory by the time Turner became the Royal Academy’s Professor of perspective in 1807. Turner was familiar with many and utilized them to produce his lectures. His most recent biographer Barry Venning, states that Turner recorded many of his thoughts on art at this time and goes on to point out that Turner ‘expressed a profound scepticism towards the theories of anybody who had no practical experience as a painter. In his (Turner’s) opinion a direct encounter with nature was worth far more than ‘all the splendid theory of art’ (Venning 2003, p. 41). This statement highlights a common thread throughout this investigation, bringing it full circle back to the beginning with Aristotle’s theory that knowledge is primarily based on sensory experience. Likewise the foundation of my art practice is firmly established by ‘a direct encounter with nature’ as field research. My intention has been to develop a systematic and experimental four-phase methodology for my art practice informed by key elements identified in the relevant historical research as a practice-based investigation of the associated theories. It is worth re- stating that my art practice has been informed by historical research. It has never been my intention to somehow attempt a historical recreation. Regardless of the fact that the time and expense necessary for such an endeavour are beyond the limits of this investigation, I already possessed a degree of cultural awareness that would have influenced my perception regardless of any historical recreation. My intention has been to consciously engage in the intellectual inquiry and physical interaction with the natural world in a similar manner to the artists covered in my research. In order to
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squarely place my art practice in the present I have included an account of a number of contemporary Australian landscape artists at the beginning of this section and while there are similarities as well as contrasting styles and aims, our art shares common origins. Recognizing that the historical period from the late eighteenth to mid- nineteenth centuries was one of rapidly developing technology and that artists of the period embraced technological advances in materials and optics I have also experimented with modern materials as well as utilizing the practical advantage offered by photography and other modern devices and techniques for recording, enlarging, transferring and storing images.
The focus of my art practice is images of land, sea, sky, and cloud. There is an emphasis on field research as the foundation and first phase and of my art practice, with two other phases of experimentation and refinement leading to the forth phase of final large-scale paintings. Over the course of my research project I have conducted extensive field research on journeys near my home in Newcastle, coastal New South Wales, further afield in Western Australia and Overseas. Field study techniques I developed in the early period of my candidature were refined and eventually employed to record images during three sailing expeditions. The subsequent sketches, photographs and digital video as well as memories of my experiences were then applied to the other phases of my art practice as an expanded and upgraded element of this research project.
I continued developing my methodology for making field studies throughout my research project. Adaptability has been identified as a key influential element. The early history of natural history based travel records including the sixteenth century travel journals and original illustrations made by as John White (1545-1598), who being classed as gentleman was free from the ridged constraints of a profession. As mentioned in an earlier chapter, he adapted an early watercolour colour technique called limning. Historian Kim Sloane states that White was able ‘to respond with whatever tools and abilities he had at hand, and improvisations and inventions were a natural outcome’ (Sloan 2007, p. 37). This early history of adaptation and experimentation continued and was embraced by Parkinson, Hodges, perhaps to a
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lesser extant with Webber but certainly Constable and Turner. Likewise, my intention has been to develop a similar system, or systems, informed by the relevant literature and practical in their application that achieve portability, versatility and ease of use in a variety of environments and weather situations. To increase my understanding as to how the production of descriptive images of land and seascape scenes from direct observation and prolonged research in the field may have influenced the main artists in my study, I have applied similar techniques and materials to my art practice to those they used, and searched for ways to experience key elements believed to have influenced them.
THREE VOYAGES FORMED AN ESSENTIAL COMPONENT OF MY RESEARCH.
Although previously mentioned in the introduction it is worth repeating that having recognized that Cook’s journeys combined a number of key elements associated with art/science collaboration and travel documentation in a self-contained intensified environment, I determined that participation on a similar sailing expedition to conduct field research would provide an essential component for my investigation. After corresponding with a number of research organizations and considering the large expense and time necessary to pursue any of the trips offered by commercial operators I instigated a low cost sailing expedition to Broughton Island, NSW. Prior to the Broughton island trip I was able to participate as crew on a voyage to Lord Howe Island in November 2012. I had developed a reasonable level of confidence with my sketching techniques before the voyage to Lord Howe Island and lessons learned during that trip were applied, as I continued experimenting with materials and modifying my field study techniques, prior to the Broughton Island expedition in January 2013 and throughout the rest of my research project. My final expedition to sail, again with Tony Mowbray aboard the 60 foot schooner Commitment, exploring the fiords of Tierra del Fuego provided the most challenging conditions encountered for undertaking field research during my candidature. The environments during the voyages were saturated with practical concerns relating to natural sciences such as geography, oceanography and meteorology. As well as the prolonged and intimate
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contact with the marine environment was the experience of associating with a group of my Natural History Illustration colleagues pursuing research in subjects such as marine biology and botany during the Broughton Island Expedition. More in-depth description and reflection concerning the three voyages is included in the following chapter comprising passages transcribed from my travel journals.
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PHASE ONE – FIELD STUDIES
Old Bar, NSW Watercolour on paper; 14 x 20 cm., APRIL 2012
The main criteria for my field studies were portability and ease of use. I used a range of small sketch books although the most commonly used technique for making field studies was to begin my sketches with a pencil drawing in a small watercolour sketchbook, 14 x 20 cm., then to quickly add some watercolour in the field. Watercolour pencil and/or sepia-ink pens were used occasionally but not with a great deal of success. Some sketches were done quickly while others were refined once back in my studio or on the yacht. I also used a second sketchbook with smooth unlined paper for making field notes and pencil or pen drawings. I usually recorded scenes I was sketching with my camera so I had the option of refining sketches further in the studio as well as building a library of photo reference that could be adapted for more refined work. I also keep my camera handy, and during later forays a GoPro compact digital video camera, for recording interesting scenes and weather phenomena when circumstances were unfavourable for making proper field studies.
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PHASE TWO – EXPERIMENTAL AND PRELIMINARY SKETCHES
Lake Macquarie, NSW ~ Midday Watercolour on paper; 18 x 26 cm., FEBRUARY 2012
My second phase consisted mainly of watercolour studies made on stretched watercolour paper on boards, informed by studies made on stretched paper by Constable and Turner. The boards were light, portable and durable and were often included with my equipment during field trips. Image dimensions were: 18 x 26 cm. I developed this phase as a means of further refining my watercolour technique both in the studio and the field. The boards were designed to be adaptable for use with other media and once gessoed also provided a suitable surface for en plein air studies, which were undertaken using water mixable oil paints. I met with little success using this technique. I found the process much to complicated and time consuming for field studies: first having to prepare a palette, the drying medium was sticky and made it hard to manipulate the paint, and the extra materials compromised the portability. I soon abandoned this methodology and resumed working in watercolour with the exception of two oil studies done aboard Commitment while in Tierra del Fuego. The challenging conditions in Tierra del Fuego
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limited the time I could spend making sketches out of doors. Along with some of my small sketches, I worked on the two oil studies in the main cabin, after making brief pencil sketches and taking photos on deck or during hikes ashore. I used the same technique in my studio in Newcastle, refining field sketches, developing preliminary studies using photos I had taken as reference, providing a transition between my field studies and more refined artwork.
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PHASE THREE – REFINED STUDIES
Redhead Beach, NSW ~ Shark Tower Acrylic on prepared paper; 22 x 35 cm., MAY 2012
The third phase was a series of refined studies intended as a transition between the second phase, preliminary and experimental watercolour and oil sketches, and the fourth phase of large-scale final paintings. My refined studies have been informed by the art practices of William Hodges, John Constable and J.M.W. Turner. They are similar in size and purpose to paintings traditionally termed ‘preliminary studies’ that were used as both finished ‘salon paintings’ and as preliminary studies for enlarging into exhibition paintings. I employed a combination of my field sketches, watercolour sketches and photographs for reference. The refined studies were created on gesso-primed watercolour paper mounted on timber boards. Image dimensions are 22 x 35 cm. All my phase three paintings were refined, focusing on accurately recording the topography, marine and atmospheric conditions experienced in the field while making aesthetic adjustments to design elements such as colour and compositions as I saw fit.
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PHASE FOUR – LARGE-SCALE EXHIBITION PAINTINGS
Lord Howe Island ~ Departure Oil on timber panel; 120 x 200 cm., MARCH 2015
The final phase of my art practice has been informed by the large landscape images created and hung in high profile exhibitions by the artists presented as significant examples in my research. Following a similar approach to those of Hodges, Webber, Constable and Turner, my large paintings are the culmination of a journey including research in the field, preliminary sketches and refined studies. I was investigating the technical challenges of creating large paintings, aspiring to combine the objective aims of documenting the landscape with the expressive portrayal of the sensory experience on a scale that potentially engages a large portion of the viewer’s field of vision. One preliminary image recording a particular location for each of the three expeditions has been selected and enlarged to create three large final paintings as the forth phase. These paintings are major component of the final exhibition. I have built three timber panels, 200 x 120 cm. Each timber panel has been coated with an acrylic undercoat before the surface to be painted was prepared with multiple coats of gesso. The first two paintings were created using water-mixable oil paint and the third was created using acrylic paint.
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FINAL EXHIBITION OF SELECTED ARTWORKS
An exhibition of selected artwork created during my investigation is scheduled for May- June 2015 in the University Museum at the University of Newcastle. My exhibition will comprise examples of the all four phases included in my art practice. Field sketches, preliminary and experimental sketches, refined studies including both developmental pre-expedition images as well as those recording the Lord Howe Island voyage, and the voyage through the fiords of Tierra del Fuego, Chile will be exhibited. The large final paintings recording the expeditions will take pride of place. All four phases of images documenting the Broughton Island Expedition will be included in the exhibition Broughton Island: the Art of Adventure, proceeding simultaneously at the Newcastle Regional Museum. The Broughton Island Expedition was instigated as part of this research.
My art practice has been the major component of a rigorous practice-based investigation informed by historical research into changes in British landscape painting styles from the late 18th to mid 19th centuries. My intention has been to focus on how the descriptive aims of the graphic arts program conducted by Cook’s artists relate to the transition of painting styles, including the expressive brushstroke and near abandonment of recognisable subject matter of my later artists, particularly J.M.W. Turner. By designing and conducting my art practice in a way that is comparable in its material practice and environmental stimuli to the experiences of the artists in my research, it provides sense-based knowledge in the empirical tradition. The final results of my art practice are part of an academic investigation and I have purposely maintained a descriptive focus in my art. I am fortunate to be living in Australia during the 21st century and participating in its rich cultural environment and maintaining the landscape painting tradition.
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CHAPTER VII
TRAVEL JOURNAL ENTRIES & REFLECTION
Selected entries transcribed from journals covering field research conducted during journeys to: Whitsunday Islands Group, Queensland, October 2012 Lord Howe Island, NSW, November 2012 Broughton Island, NSW, February 2013 Tierra del Fuego, Chile, April/May 2014
Whitsunday Islands Group, Queensland Watercolour on paper; 14 x 20 cm., OCTOBER 2012
WHITSUNDAY ISLANDS GROUP, QUEENSLAND ~ OCTOBER 2012
Today is the eleventh of October 2012. It is nearing mid-day and I’m walking on a manicured trail through the bush on a small tropical island in Queensland’s Whitsunday Islands Group not far from where the British expedition led by Captain Cook came to
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grief when his ship the Endeavour ran aground on a section of the Great Barrier Reef in June 1770. Cook’s artists, employed to document the voyage, used the time while the ship was careened for repairs to make a large portion of the field studies that depict Australia. My intention is to make a sketch documenting my experience that encompasses the elements of land, sea, sky and cloud surrounding me. I find an interesting view to sketch that has all the elements I’m searching for with the added, and considering the intense tropical heat, essential element of shade. I slide in under the solid canopy of a tree with low leaf filled branches. I quickly improvise a work site; shifting a palm trunk along the beach of broken coral and shell, already chain sawn into the perfect height so that when I stand the section on end it makes a comfortable seat. I take off my backpack, spread out my towel and place on it; my portable watercolour sketch kit, unroll my brushes from the paint stained rag they travel in and fill my water container. My water container is a recycled 900gr yogurt container but it is the perfect size, holding just the right amount of water for painting or when traveling in my backpack; my brushes rolled up in the paint rag, my small paint kit, pencils and eraser. I pick up my sketchbook and pencil and study the scene a little more, planning my drawing. I recognise that the shade on the beach and foliage from the tree create a natural frame for me and begin drawing it in. I lightly suggest the band of tropical cumulus clouds, promising rain as they hover motionless over an island across the channel. I’m sitting on the southern side of the island and should be in a fresh breeze but the regular trade wind has been replaced for now by a weak breeze out of the northwest as a front approaches from the south. I can see a few birds flying low over the water, gulls or terns perhaps but too far off to identify accurately. The heat is stifling but I carry on drawing, using the island with its clouds as another framing device on the left hand side of my drawing to partially balance tree and shade. I measure and mark the shore, bending the horizon line to fit in more information, my perception like the horizon line I’ve just drawn, perhaps warped by the heat. There are small crabs crawling slowly on a band of jumbled, darker exposed reef where the beach meets the water. Too small to be included in the drawing as are the sea birds gliding out over the channel and the bees hard at work on the flowers in the tree above me but I commit to memory that only a few creatures besides me are moving about in this heat. I concentrate and draw
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the reef before turning my attention to the distant islands spread out across the right side of the horizon. While I’m not overly concerned with pencil lines being visible later, I use a very light touch when drawing a second group of cumulus clouds that fade into the haze on the horizon. I make a few more adjustments to my drawing and prepare to add some colour. Before I begin painting I take photos of the scene in front of me capturing a number of the main elements for possible later use. I wet the top of my drawing and as usual I start with the sky and clouds and strike trouble almost immediately. With the heat and light from the beach reflecting towards me it must still be thirty degrees Celsius in the shade. I’m struggling to blend the blues in my sky and the edges around my clouds are drying too quickly. They look harsh and I’m disappointed. I consider abandoning the sketch but continue. I have better luck blending colours of the water. I work wet in wet: first a very light warm blue, then I blend a dark sky blue down from the horizon. Near shore I can see patches of sand and reef. The different colours are challenging; I use mainly turquoise but mix browns and blues to match the colours of the reef, where the water is shallow and the sand reflects the sunlight I paint lighter patches with a touch of yellow as well as a few strokes of purple suggesting the shadows. I turn my attention to the exposed reef; first trying to match the colour of the bright sunlit surfaces I cover the entire shape a sandy greenish brown, then build up layers of darker cooler earth tones to create the illusion of the three dimensional forms. I paint the distant islands using a blue that suggests the atmospheric haze. The island across the channel I paint first green then use a mixture of dark and light blues, greens and yellows to suggest form; very dark blues in the shadows and valleys, yellows on the ridges. I return to working on the clouds over the near island using blue-greens I mixed for the island for the colours reflected in the underside of the clouds. I use a similar selection of colours on the tree. I then work on the foreground: bands of sand and then lower a cool blue band of shade. I go back and using just the tip of my brush I add speckles of a few different colours to suggest the coral and shell texture. It is now past mid-day and after taking a few more photos decide that, although hindered by the challenging conditions, enough information has been recorded. While the image feels hurried, not as precise as I would have liked, the exercise of making the
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sketch, the immediate response, adds to the valuable information the image contains. I pack up my gear, put on my backpack and leave.
It is now some days later and I’m back in my studio in Dudley, NSW working. I have decided to refine my sketch from the island. My intention is to combine elements of my field sketch, my photos and my experience on the day in a more refined sketch. In the comfort of my studio I can take my time and refine the composition and experiment with my watercolour technique. I plug my camera into my laptop and compare my photos with my sketch. It is clear that the paint has dried too quickly in some areas of the sketch. I clearly remember making the sketch, the stillness and heat of that day, the characteristic smell of the tropics, a tree providing the necessary shade, filled with the humming of bees. A new drawing is composed in my mind making adjustments to the field sketch. I make the new drawing on watercolour paper stretched and stapled to a board it is roughly twice the size of my field sketch. I first lower and flatten the horizon to lessen the fisheye lens effect in the field sketch. I then reduce the size of the cross channel island, increase the size of the tree on the right and pull the band of shade all the way across the bottom of the drawing. I lightly draw in the clouds, distant islands and reef. In my studio I take my time and develop the new sketch. It is more refined but still remains true to the colours, the freshness of the rougher sketch.
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LORD HOWE ISLAND VOYAGE ~ NOVEMBER 2012
Lord Howe Island, NSW, View of Mt Gower and Mt Lidgbird from Southern Passage Watercolour on paper; 14 x 20 cm., NOVEMBER 2012
My intention has been to experience similar conditions to those of Cook’s artists to investigate theories, in a practical sense, suggesting they were influenced by elements associated with art/science collaboration and travel. These elements included: artistic improvisation and experimentation by expedition artists, portable materials and studio, art in the field, intimate and sustained contact with the marine environment, increased awareness of atmospheric phenomena, inter-discipline collaboration and unfamiliar subject matter. The Lord Howe Island trip served as a chance to make adjustments to my field study equipment and practice before the Broughton Island expedition. The chance to take part in an open ocean passage offered the opportunity to experience another element of field research undertaken by Cook’s artists.
It is November 2012 and I’m sitting on the foredeck of the 60ft schooner Commitment, moored in the Southern Passage of Lord Howe Island’s lagoon. The Island lies 315
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nautical miles east of Port Macquarie, the closest port on the East Coast of the Australian mainland. I had arrived yesterday after a three-day voyage. After departing from Newcastle, the 380 nautical mile passage on Commitment began in fifteen-knots of wind from the northeast, with a cold front predicted to arrive during the first night at sea. We motor-sailed a zigzag course tacking back and forth through the wind, keeping just offshore while trying to stay inside the south flowing East Australian Current. We followed the coastline towards the northeast before changing onto a more easterly heading towards Lord Howe Island once we were abeam of the Seal Rocks lighthouse. When the wind changed direction to the north giving us a more favourable wind angle, the auxiliary engine was shut down. Hours later with the schooner well offshore, the wind continuing to swing through the west and into the southwest, increasing to twenty-five knots and bringing rainsqualls throughout the night before settling in the southeast by the morning. Squalls with increased wind and rain continued to arrive periodically throughout the rest of the voyage. Sailing at a steady seven knots and displacing 32 tonnes, Commitment was untroubled by a disturbed sea state created by swells coming from a number of directions as well as the changing wind strength and direction. Plans for making sketches on the passage had suffered, as had four of my shipmates who had struggled with seasickness. I utilized the practical advantage of my camera by taking photos when possible, however I was on this voyage as both a sailor and artist and with half the crew unwell, standing watch and general duties sailing the boat took precedence over trying to make sketches from such an unstable platform. The disorganized sea state was transformed as the voyage progressed with a large swell from the south emerging as the dominate factor as the smaller swell from the northeast abated. We experienced a changing selection of cumulus clouds, sometimes with total cloud cover at other times large sections of sky were visible. The yacht’s motion still made it a challenge but I was able to make a number of brief sketches of the sea and clouds during the later stages of the passage with the intention of continuing work on them later with assistance of photos taken at the same times. The nights were very dark with glances of the moon and intermittent patches of stars.
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Lord Howe Island Voyage, Open Ocean watercolour on paper; 14 x 20 cm., NOVEMBER 2012
Upon reflection, I have an increased understanding of how the body of knowledge possessed by sailors after countless hours standing watch, intently studying the ocean and atmosphere an essential part of keeping the ship safe, could when later collaborating with artists to make coastal profiles, as Cook’s sailors and artists did, influence the artists perception of the surrounding ocean environment. The heightened awareness I experience while sailing adds to a body of knowledge that influences my field sketches and is transferred to my studio practice.
After three nights at sea the morning watch sighted two peaks through the sea haze, the peaks of Mount Lidgbird (777 metres), and Mount Gower (875 metres). Sailing close- hauled, with Commitment’s bow pointed as close to the wind as possible, we worked hard to maintain the boats heading towards the island. The wind and current were coming from the South, continuing to force Commitment northward with our intended destination appearing only as two small blue peaks in the haze on the horizon. The entire crew gathered on deck watching as the island appeared to slowly rise out of the sea, first we could make out trees and then a few buildings as we sailed nearer and the
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island became more distinct. Two hours later we picked up a mooring buoy inside Lord Howe Island’s southern passage, approximately seventy hours after departing Newcastle.
Making landfall on such a spec in the ocean was an exceptional experience. Coming in through the passage with waves breaking on the reef either side of the boat all the while trying to both help prepare the boat for mooring and absorb with all my senses the surrounding environment. Once Commitment was secure on the permanent mooring provided by the islanders we launched the dingy and headed off to explore the incredible world heritage listed Lord Howe Island. The other crew members and I rented bikes and for the next three days roamed all over the island returning to the boat occasionally to eat or sleep.
Lord Howe Island, NSW, View of Mt. Gower and Mt. Lidgbird, from Lagoon Beach Watercolour on paper; 14 x 20 cm., NOVEMBER 2012
After spending much of the first day exploring with some of the crew, taking photos of the spectacular scenery along the way, I find a quiet spot on the lagoon beach in front of the boatshed and get down to the business of making a sketch. I take off my backpack
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and sit on a low sandy embankment at the edge of the lagoon. I’m looking along the beach towards the south past the clump of spikey grass, past the three hoop pines in the middle distance there are the two mountains were visible to us while still miles out on the ocean. Mount Lidgbird and Mount Gower are spectacular. They dominate the scene, jutting out of deep ocean with their sharp weathered ridges and ravines with a blanket of cloud just resting on their summits they feel somehow Polynesian. I open my backpack pull out a small watercolour sketchbook and begin the drawing by placing a horizon line a little more than one third of the way up from the bottom. I sketch in the mountains first and then work my way back along the left hand margin measuring and adjusting as the drawing progresses. Next are the distant low hills, the nearer hill with three hoop pines then the foreground of spikey-grass, creepers and shoreline. The mountains are the dominant feature and I focus my attention on recording them accurately. I lightly draw the clouds and prepare to add colour. I open my small watercolour kit, fill my water container and lay out my brushes on a towel next to me. I take a few quick photos before beginning to paint the clouds. I wet the paper and lay in a few strokes of blue grey of the clouds hovering over the mountains. I wet the area for the sky and create an even gradation from dark to light blue for the sky leaving a gap between cloud and sky to suggest the bright white edge of the cloud. I work on the mountains and hills by first laying a light green and carefully building up the darker tones in the nearer Mount Lidgbird and the hills. I use some earth tones for bare rock and light blues to suggest atmospheric haze on the more distant Mount Gower. It is a pleasant day and I am able to work at a comfortable rate. Working for a while on the mountains then letting the paint dry completely while working on the lagoon and the beach before returning to the mountains. I also work wet in wet on the lagoon trying to match the colours; darker blue to turquoise, light green to sandy yellow in the shallows with purple shadows. I return to the water once the paint is dry with a selection of short parallel lines of darker tones to suggest the small wind chop on the water of the lagoon. Working section by section then returning a second or third time until I gradually bring the different areas to a similar level of finish. When the sketch feels complete I take a few more photos, pack up my gear and ride my bike back to our landing spot and
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rendezvous with some of the crew before taking the short dingy ride out to Commitment.
Knowing that my stay on Lord Howe Island will be short each of the three days is filled to the brim exploring the island on bike and by foot. I record the experience as much as possible, taking lots of photos and making some sketches each day. On the morning of the fourth day we return our bikes and make preparations for departure. Tony Mowbray, owner and skipper of Commitment, has a business obligation on the mainland and has made plans to fly back. He is joined by another member of the crew leaving six of us on the return passage with the most experienced sailor Glen in command. The make up of the three watches are decided and we get underway around 9:30 in the morning. There is a light wind from the southeast with only the low clouds that almost always form at the top of Mounts Gower and Lidgbird. Once through the pass in the surrounding reef that creates Lord Howe’s lagoon we shake out the reef in the forward main. The sail area had been reduced during our passage out in more boisterous conditions. Motor-sailing south away from the island we are soon out of the lee and in deep water and begin feeling the remaining moderate swell. We are heading towards the distant pinnacle of Ball’s Pyramid before changing Commitment’s heading to the southwest for Newcastle and home. The view back towards Lord Howe catches my attention. I recognise the cycle of cloud formation as the moisture-laden air sweeps over mounts Gower and Lidgbird, the high pressure formed at their peaks condenses the water vapour creating clouds that build and then disperse as they are swept off the peaks and to the west. I find the event fascinating and quickly take some photos and make a very brief pencil sketch.
I am drawn to record this image for a number of reasons: the objective demonstration of dynamic atmospheric phenomena, recognizing both the natural science of meteorology and the way-finding tool of clouds forming over islands, used by both the Polynesians and Cook, the cyclical movement of the clouds is reinforced in the waves, my interest influenced perhaps by Turner’s use of the vortex in many of his later compositions and the element of the island somehow symbolising a sentinel or beacon, mysterious and
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timeless. I decide to develop this image once back in Newcastle, first as a refined study and than as one of the three large final images.
Lord Howe Island Voyage, Departure Acrylic on prepared paper; 22 x 35 cm., NOVEMBER 2012
It is late mid-day when we approach Balls Pyramid, the ocean and air are filled with life. Fish break the surface repeatedly, we hook but fail to land a large kingfish, and squadrons of seabirds relentlessly circle the guano covered Pyramid diving on the boat screeching protests at our presence. This mid-ocean spire provides structure creating a sort of an oasis. It is an incredible experience witnessing this multitude of life thriving in all directions at this seemingly desolate spot in the middle of the ocean. For a moment we are part of this incredible mid-ocean oasis, I have time to take just a few photos as we round the 551meter tall basalt pinnacle, keeping Ball’s Pyramid, the much smaller Wheatsheaf Islet and scattered exposed rocks to starboard before setting course for Lake Macquarie just south of Newcastle where Commitment is located between voyages.
The six of us settle into the familiar routine we will follow for the next few days: keeping Commitment sailing day and night, adjusting sails, standing watch, preparing and eating meals and sleeping. I return to spending as much time on deck trying to
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make sketches or taking photos throughout the day. With the exception of one period of motoring through very light winds when I’m able to use my watercolours on deck to make some brief colour sketches I rely on making sketches just in pencil. I make notes on weather conditions and colours and also take photos intending to rework the sketches once back in my studio.
In the early hours of the morning, under almost complete cloud cover with only a few patches of star filled sky lighting our way, we near the coast off Port Stephens 30 miles north of Newcastle. As we the cross shipping lanes we spot north and southbound freighters and further south see the bright lights of what turns out to be a cruise ship heading for Newcastle. A few hours later we are south of Newcastle with the eastern horizon just beginning to light-up a spectacular sunrise when we reach our waypoint just east of Moon Island and Swansea Channel the entrance to Lake Macquarie.
The voyage to and from Lord Howe Island lasts only ten days. While I can’t help being slightly disappointed with the amount of work produced, the overall experience has been incredible and that it had a profound influence on my work is unquestionable. The heightened levels of awareness to an array of natural phenomena were sustained for the duration of the trip. The intimate and prolonged contact with the marine environment dictated how I conducted all my daily activities. Living aboard Commitment I am completely surrounded by the marine environment, of course there are learned skills necessary for living on a boat but after awhile the constant monitoring of your surroundings becomes almost instinctive; adjusting for the boat’s ceaseless movement, the clouds, wind and rain, ocean swell (even in the anchorage), an abundance of new and familiar flora and fauna. My involvement on the voyage included a large spectrum of activities besides those narrowly described as field studies such as drawing and taking photos. While the skipper and more experienced sailors were making the decisions regarding sail changes and navigation I was engaged in the process, closely observing the weather data and chart plotter, asking questions and always adding to my body of knowledge. The meteorological data as well as the time spent exploring the island formed a bank of sensory experiences that are absorbed, some consciously others
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unconsciously but all return to the studio along with the sketches and photos made during my field studies, all these elements are part of my art process and contribute to the more refined images I make of the voyage.
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THE BROUGHTON ISLAND EXPEDITION ~ FEBRUARY 2013
Broughton Island, NSW ~ Southeast Gale Anchorage Acrylic on prepared paper; 22 x 35 cm., FEBRUARY 2013
The Broughton Island Expedition was initiated in an effort to investigate, in a practical sense, elements of the cultural and physical environments experienced by Cook’s artists. Having previously corresponded with a number of research and commercial organizations that undertake expeditions without successfully securing participation on a voyage, I decided to initiate my own small-scale self-funded natural history-based expedition. I first approached the owner and skipper of the 60ft schooner Commitment with my request and was encouraged by his enthusiasm for the project. I subsequently requested and received proposals from a number of Natural History Illustrators for suitable projects that could be combined to create a brief profile of the island. The final group of Natural History Illustrators selected for participation on the expedition included, Dr Andrew Howells, Dr Daniel Atkins, PhD candidate Kathleen Hanna, Christine Rockley, Herbert Heinrich and myself. The final outcome of this endeavour
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will be a major exhibition at the Newcastle Regional Museum, opening May 28th, 2015 and running for three months. Although the actual expedition lasted five days, from the third to the seventh February 2012, the voyage began two days earlier for myself having assisted Tony as mate during the delivery voyage from Rose Bay, Sydney prior to the Natural History Illustrators embarking at Nelson Bay. Working closely with Tony, I gained insight how a close association with mariners may have influence cook’s artists. I continued in serving in the capacity as well as conducting my field research throughout the duration of the expedition.
It is Friday the first of February, 2013 and my thoughts are focused on the weather as Tony Mowbray and I drive south from Newcastle to Rose Bay, Sydney where Tony’s sixty-foot expedition schooner Commitment has been temporarily moored. The Broughton Island expedition has already been postponed twice because of a series of strong low-pressure systems in the Tasman Sea. With driving wind and steady rain out of the south all afternoon, weather conditions are looking adverse for tomorrow’s voyage delivering Commitment eighty nautical miles north to Port Stephens to rendezvous with the five other Natural History Illustrators. Conditions are predicted by the Bureau of Meteorology to begin moderating and with this being our last window of opportunity before Tony, myself and the other Natural History Illustrators taking part in the expedition are forced back to our regular obligations of family, work and deskbound research, we are determined to proceed. Preparations are begun for an early morning departure. Tony and I find the dinghy and ferry our gear out to Commitment in the rain. Later that evening we meet up with Gary, who has been looking after Commitment and will be taking part in the delivery. The three of us have dinner at the local bowling club before returning to Commitment, hoisting the dinghy on deck and lashing it down securely. The newscast on the local radio station reports that there has been storm damage around Sydney with trees and power lines down and 60mm’s of rain has fallen in Rose Bay in the last twelve hours. The thought of a five o’clock alarm has the three of us in our berths early listening to the rain pelting the deck and the rigging droning and
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whistling from the wind, Commitment restlessly rocking and pitching on her mooring anxious to get under way.
Saturday arrives early. We are up by 5:00 and have a quick cup of tea and some toast, put on foul weather gear and start the auxiliary engine. While the big Yanmar is warming up we check and stow gear below and on deck. Tony downloads the latest grib files and checks the weather. Grib is an anagram for Gridded Binary Data files. They are one of the most accurate weather forecasting tools, commonly used by many if not most offshore sailors and commercial mariners. They add another layer of information that influences how I perceive the unfolding atmospheric phenomena. We untie and drop the line and mooring buoy off Commitment’s bow and depart by six o’clock. There is a low blanket of solid cloud cover and heavy rain. As Commitment motors out of Rose Bay, we hoist the forward main, double reefed to reduce the sail area, unfurl most of the small inner headsail and are soon sailing out through Sydney Heads. The wind may be moderating but is still 20-25kts with some stronger gusts. It’s direction slowly shifting from southwest to southeast as the morning progresses. There is limited visibility with the constant rain and wind driven spray shearing the tops off the uneven three-meter swell. Tony is an extremely experienced skipper, with many Sydney Hobart races, high latitude voyages including trips to Antarctica as well as a solo and unassisted circumnavigation of the globe. He sets our course towards Port Stephens heading almost directly downwind. I steer and handle lines in the cockpit while Tony and Gary go forward and fix a block and tackle device called a handy billy from the boom to the deck to leeward to prevent an accidental gybe of the mainsail. They then set the spinnaker pole to windward and I sheet the small headsail through the wind and out to starboard. With Commitment’s sails now set with one to each side the boats motion improves considerably, even so Gary soon succumbs to seasickness and retires to his berth. We are more or less on a parallel course following the New South Wales coastline in a northeasterly direction towards Port Stephens. However our heading takes us offshore and soon the land is just a dark uneven line to the west in the haze of rain and spray. Tony and I settle into a routine rotating between making and drinking cups of tea while eating snacks down below in the warm dry cabin and standing at the wheel,
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wearing wet weather gear, only hands and a portion of our faces exposed, the wind and rain relentlessly drumming on our backs, hand steering as Commitment thunders downwind towards our destination. I’m at the wheel, feeling the changing rhythms of the ocean and the wind and adjusting my steering as the waves overtake us and Commitment heals over more trying to head up into the wind. The ocean and air are filled with seabirds hard at their daily work. Shearwaters, common gulls and petrels continuously surround us throughout day. It is mid-morning and I’m again alone on deck and at the wheel, a little wet but warm. While concentrating on holding our course, alternating between watching the compass and the waves, I take a quick glance through the clear companionway sliders down into the warm glow of the cabin when suddenly a pod of Common Dolphins (Dephinus delphis) appear to starboard and begin surfing Commitment’s bow wave. I estimate the pod at between 15-20 individuals consisting of a range of ages; they stay with the boat for approximately 15minutes before disappearing back into the maelstrom. Patches of blue sky begin appearing and the rain eases as the afternoon progresses. However the wind strengthens into the thirty-knot range and the swell height (4-5 meters) increases as we approach shallower water off Point Stephens. A large freighter heading south steams past us only 500 meters further offshore. It is amazing to see such a large ship clearly working hard in the near gale conditions; pitching and rolling with large swells crashing into its bow, spray flying well above the rails. Once past Point Stephens the headsail is furled (rolled tightly around the forestay), the spinnaker pole is eased to the deck and lashed it down, the handbilly is released and the forward mainsail gybed across to port as we change course and head into Port Stephens. The auxiliary engine is started and Commitment motor- sails on a beam reach across a section of water called the Fly Roads. The main is lowered as we approach Tomaree Head. We round the Head motoring slowly, cautiously into Shoal Bay, Tony closely monitoring the depth meter. The sound of the chain rings out as we drop anchor in Shoal bay just before 6:00 having sailed 80 nautical miles in a little under ten hours. The cloud cover is continuing to break up with large patches of blue sky now showing. After the constant motion and work of sailing in the boisterous conditions offshore it now feels very peaceful, although the remnants from the large ocean swell are wrapping around Tomaree Head and well into this sheltered
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bay creating a very unsettled anchorage. It has been a brilliant day; a great sail on a 60ft schooner, interacting with a wild, beautiful ocean. We are all tired so we turn on some music, relax, cook some food and have an early night.
Port Stephens, NSW ~ Fame Cove Watercolour on paper; 14 x 20 cm., FEBRUARY 2013
By six o’clock we are awake, have a quick cup of tea, some toast. The anchor is hoisted and Commitment is departing Shoal Bay by seven o’clock. After motoring to Nelson Bay and anchoring just east of the marina, we launch the dinghy and go ashore. Gary returns to Sydney and Tony and I get a ride to the market and buy provisions for the expedition. We nearly have everything packed away when my Natural History Illustration colleagues begin to arrive. I make trips to and from shore in the dingy until the other five participants are aboard. Lunch is served while Tony conducts an entertaining induction, familiarising everyone with Commitment and safety procedures. We discuss the weather and everyone agrees that it is still too un-settled out at Broughton Island. We will lose half a day on the island but decide to remain in the more sheltered waters of Nelson Bay allowing time for the adverse weather to abate and for my colleagues to acclimatize to life on a boat. We choose to spend the night in Fame
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Cove and depart Nelson Bay by one o’clock in the afternoon. I am able to take photographs while Commitment motors from Nelson Bay to Fame Cove. The wind is still blowing from the southwest between 25 to 30 knots; there are fast moving cumulus congestus clouds and numerous rainsqualls in surrounding area. With no sails set the force of the wind on the standing rigging alone heals Commitment 5-10 degrees. Tony motors slowly, easing Commitment into Fame Cove. The cove is well protected from the wind so we drop the anchor. Everyone gets busy; we quickly launch the dingy, organise our field gear, all the Natural History Illustrators pile into the dingy and we begin exploring Fame Cove and Nanabah Creek. My colleagues are conducting research in a range of natural history-based disciplines including botany and marine biology. They provide insight on flora and fauna that expands my perception of the natural world we are exploring as we motor the dingy slowly up Nanabah creek and before long the overhanging trees close in on both sides and the water becomes too shallow to continue. We tie the dingy to a branch and climb through the scrub, have a look around and take photos. The land has been cleared and a fence persuades us to return to the cove. A Sea Eagle and Whistling Kite squabbling over fishing rights are an immediate source of interest. Daniel ends up with a nice study of the kite. I take photos from shore and the yacht and make a watercolour sketch of the entrance to Nanabah Creek from Commitment’s deck. The recent arrivals organise their gear and settle into their cabins, while the skipper prepares the evening meal. We gather around the table in the main cabin and discuss our day. The conversation flows covering things we experienced on the day. Drawings and photos, flora and fauna, birds, fish, crabs and the weather are discussed. Tony contributes to the conversation as well and I reflect on the possibility of a similar scene unfolding a few hundred years ago in the great cabin of one of Cook’s ships with officers, naturalists and artists discussing the day’s events.
Monday arrives and everyone is up early. Breakfast is a hurried affair shortly before the anchor is raised and we get under way. Everyone is on deck with cameras firing away. I photograph the land, sea, sky and cloud from Commitment while sailing from Fame Cove to the northern side of Broughton Island. We leave Port Stephens, passing between Yacaba Head to the north and Tomaree Head to the south.
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Broughton Island, NSW ~ Esmeralda Cove Watercolour on paper; 14 x 20 cm., FEBRUARY 2013
The weather conditions are improving; the cloud clearing and wind abating, but there is still two meters of swell. As we cruise past there are a few people in boats fishing over the reef that runs out from the northwest end of Cabbage Tree Island. It takes three hours to reach the island from Fame Cove. We cautiously approach the beach on the western side of Broughton Island and drop Commitment’s anchor at North Bay off the western end of Providence Beach. Everyone has already become accustomed to the routine and we quickly launch the dinghy. We organise into small groups and while the other Natural History Illustrators commence field studies ashore I prepare an inflatable kayak and explore the waters just off Providence Beach. I take some photos of the Providence Beach area from water level however, although even here in the lee of the island, the strong wind conditions are creating small waves that make any attempt at sketching from the kayak far too challenging. I return to Commitment and photograph the Providence Beach area from the foredeck. After lunch everyone returns to shore by dinghy. While hiking across to the south side of the Island I see quail darting through the low scrub. I then hear a colony of frogs in a damp impression in the undergrowth but can’t see any of them. I take photographs along the way and then make a sketch at
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Esmeralda Cove. It is warm and windy; the breeze dries the paint too quickly but my sketch still turns out reasonably well. I pack up and wander over to the cliff top overlooking Coal Shaft Bay and meet colleagues Christine and Kathleen. Attracted by the blustery conditions, I take some photos of the seascape, the low light source creating a silver-slate-grey sea with low fast moving cumulus congestus clouds still producing numerous rainsqualls in the surrounding area. We watch as a particularly large rainsquall approaches from well offshore, eventually it becomes clear it is bearing down on the three of us and we run for it, crossing the island and getting to the beach just as Tony arrives with the dinghy and somehow reach Commitment just as the first drops of rain begin to fall. Everyone is back aboard and we spread drawings and gear across the table, talking about our day on the island as Tony prepares dinner, clearing the table to eat then we resume discussing the expedition while two of us wash up. Tony again adds valuable insight gained from his sailing experiences to the conversation. It has been another big day and people start drifting off to bed early. It’s not very late before everyone has retired with the leftover swell gently rocking Commitment throughout the night.
I’m awake as soon as it begins to get light, climbing on deck to photograph North Bay and the Providence Beach. Everyone is soon awake and has some breakfast before quickly preparing field kits for another day of exploring Broughton Island. Weather conditions have continued to improve with the normal summer high-pressure system re-establishing itself in the Tasman Sea to the northeast. A light breeze from the southeast remains but is predicted to ease and swing to the east throughout the day. A line of cumulus clouds can be seen out to sea but the sky is mostly clear. The swell has dropped away to nothing so I launch the kayak and explore the area taking more photographs from water level. I return to Commitment, fill my backpack with water, snacks, and my field kit, climb back into my kayak and paddle east of Providence Beach. I encounter Daniel snorkelling over a nearby reef conducting his marine biology-based field studies of the local marine life. We have a quick chat and I take a few photos of him, just a head with mask and snorkel bobbing on the surface of the ocean, and then continue on my way before eventually landing my kayak on a sandy beach just east of
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Providence Beach between two rocky outcrops. After tying the kayak to a large piece of driftwood I hike along the sandy shoreline. Traveling eastward, a rocky uneven shoreline and tide pools gradually replace the sandy beach. It becomes too difficult too continue along the shoreline so I veer right and after climbing a three-metre rock face discover a rough trail. I’m now travelling southeast toward a high hill I can see perhaps a kilometre in the distance. It turns out to be Pinkatop Head. It is the middle of the day and very hot as I pass fresh water pools full of pollywogs. I can hear but not see any of the frogs. It is a fascinating site; very exposed to any weather from north to east-south- east, an abundance of prickly pear cactus, long grasses, reeds and lichen covered rocks with scattered fresh water ponds throughout area. I walk another twenty meters to large rock platform over-looking a small bay marked Southeast Gale Anchorage on the chart. I am in a very isolated area of the island. I can hear both the small waves breaking against the rock shelf that I’m sitting on and the frogs, possibly Green & Golden Bell Frogs, making their particular call in the fresh water ponds not far behind me. The weather is calm now but judging from the seaweed and other assorted flotsam scattered well up the rock shelf and into the undergrowth behind me it is clear that this area had been battered by the recent adverse weather. It seems like a very perilous place for frogs to make a home. I immediately find the area intriguing and sit down to make a sketch.
In many ways the scene in front of me symbolises the story of this expedition. The tale of the recent weather is told in the sky and clouds; a large section of cirrocumulus fan out overhead, billowing cumulus clouds are still lined up across the horizon and producing rainsqualls while one section of clouds appears to be building into cumulonimbus as the afternoon heats up and the moisture from the recent rain evaporates and forms more clouds. Besides the atmospheric phenomena, other traditional design elements used in landscape images recording voyages of discovery are reflected in many of the elements in the scene in front of me; a large four metre tall rock looks like a large head in profile and seems almost man-made suggesting a past civilisation, the foreground landscape along with the rock formations on the shelf naturally create a traditional coulisse framing element. The foreground rock formations and storm flotsam are suggestive of a number of views Easter Island made by William
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Hodges. For me, the sense of isolation and discovery instantly harken back to the Cook voyages.
Broughton Island, NSW ~ Southeast Gale Anchorage I Watercolour on paper; 18 x 26 cm., FEBRUARY 2013
I open my backpack and spread out my field kit next to me. I take a few photos, pick up my small watercolour sketchbook, and with a pencil begin making a panoramic view of the bay from the large head-shaped rock on my left to the headland on my right. There is a lot of information to fit into the small format of the sketchbook. I begin my drawing by placing the horizon line a quarter of the way up from the bottom of the page focusing on the main geographical elements; the rock shelf, large rock/head and Pinkatop Head across the bay. I lightly sketch in the clouds and take another photo and set the small sketch aside, planning to add colour later. I turn my attention to making two other slightly larger more detailed sketches of the area using prepared boards I have brought with me. The boards are light plywood, 30 x 38 cm’s with stretched watercolour paper fastened to one side. I spend nearly two hours at the site making the three drawings; the first, of the entire scene is brief and rough, the second, of the
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rock/head and the third of Pinkatop Head across the bay are more refined. There is a seldom-used trail from the southeast end of platform, over and through some very rough terrain and up to Pinkatop Head. I decide instead to return to the beached kayak and paddle back to Commitment following the same route just off the beach I had used previously. After having a late lunch I work at refining the Gale Anchorage drawings aboard Commitment during what is left of the afternoon.
Broughton Island, NSW ~ Southeast Gale Anchorage II Watercolour on paper; 18 x 26 cm., FEBRUARY 2013
Commitment departs North Bay early on Wednesday morning intending to complete a circumnavigation of Broughton Island begun on the outward leg of voyage. Keeping the island to starboard, Commitment travels slowly, under power and without sail at approximately 3 knots. All six Natural History Illustrators are on deck and taking photographs. The weather has improved since the beginning of the trip with both the wind and swell having abated considerably. A high-pressure system has developed locally and is delivering very calm seas with a light northeast sea breeze of around five knots. The sky is mostly clear with scattered cumulus clouds to seaward.
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Broughton Island, NSW ~ Coal Shaft Bay Watercolour on paper; 14 x 20 cm., FEBRUARY 2013
A pair of Bottlenose Dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) is encountered as we slowly motor into Esmeralda Cove. We depart just as slowly and end our morning’s cruise at Coal Shaft Bay on the southwest side of the island. Commitment is anchored in the bay by 11:00. We see a sea turtle in bay as soon as we arrive and the Bottlenose Dolphins seen earlier in Esmeralda Bay have followed us are now patrolling the shoreline. Most of the researchers organise their gear and are taken to the beach by dingy. Daniel uses the kayak to explore the cove, investigating the marine fauna. I photograph and sketch Coal Shaft Bay from shore before climbing a rough trail and photographing and sketching the area from the cliff-top. Cumulus clouds can again be seen building with rainsqualls visible to seaward. We all gather aboard Commitment for lunch before returning to the beach. Herbert and I climb a different route to the cliff-top and follow a very rough path to an established trail over-looking Esmeralda Bay before hiking northward to some scrub covered sand dunes overlooking Providence Beach. We sit on top of the dunes; taking photos of the area and sketching while talking about the natural world. After returning to Commitment everyone spends the rest of the afternoon stowing gear and making preparations for departure the following morning.
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With everyone aboard, the anchor is raised and Commitment departs Coal Shaft Bay early Thursday morning. We motor into Port Stephens and anchor in the same area near Nelson Bay Marina used at start of the expedition. Christine is dropped off at the jetty after deciding to return to Newcastle by car. The remaining Natural History Illustrators sail out of Nelson Bay bound for Lake Macquarie with Tony at the helm. We all enjoy a great sail with fine weather and a building northeast sea breeze on the voyage to Lake Macquarie. Commitment’s keel brushes the bottom lightly coming in through the shallow Swansea channel before entering the lake through the open drawbridge. We arrive and tie up at Lake Macquarie Yacht Club our expedition having come to an end. Along with Tony, all the remaining participants sit in the cockpit discussing plans for our Broughton Island Research Project reluctant to leave Commitment.
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EXPLORING THE FIORDS OF TIERRA DEL FUEGO, CHILE
APRIL ~ MAY 2014
Tierra del Fuego, Chile ~ View of Glacier from Caleta Beaulieu, Seno Pia Acrylic on timber panel; 120 x 200 cm., 2014
I believe experiencing and recording this distant and historically significant area of South America adds depth to my research. It is territory explored by Cook along with his naturalists and artists on the first two of his three voyages. We sailed in the Beagle Channel, named after the vessel that carried the famous naturalist Charles Darwin on his own voyage of discovery (1831-1836). A number of other natural history based expeditions also ventured to this area and it continues to be a destination rich in natural history inquiry. The dramatic scenery is perfect for my studies in the sense that the high mountains and glaciers are comparable to the Alps, an area credited by scholars as the inspiration for Turner’s foray into the sublime. Tony and Commitment are here for the season and offered me the chance to sail with them so the opportunity can’t be missed. I have included large amounts of narrative that may not relate directly to my art practice but I believe the entire experience of the expedition has shaped my art. The experience of again preparing and sailing Commitment, living in a foreign land, seeing the world’s most southern city of Ushuaia, Argentina, the frontier outpost of Williams, Chile and most of all, exploring the pristine wilderness of the fiords of Tierra del Fuego, Chile.
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Saturday, 19 April 2014. I begin my journey departing Sydney, Australia on a flight to Buenos Aires, Argentina making transit stops in Auckland, New Zealand and Santiago, Chile. The sunrise at 11,000 meters while crossing the Pacific Ocean from New Zealand to South America is spectacular. I suspect the route follows an arc to the south to utilise the strong polar westerlies and avoid the Pacific high-pressure system. I could feel the jet slow from time to time most likely from head winds. It was interesting to see the ETA go backwards and then forwards as the jet changed speed. As we approached South America we flew over the coast in a Northeast direction. I could see the scalloped coastline and what looked like an endless series of left-hand point breaks. We descended over a coastal mountain range and landed in Santiago, Chile for another three-hour spell in transit. Located in a dessert basin between the coastal range and the Andes, Santiago has a serious issue with smog. As I resume my journey towards Buenos Aires we take off and emerge out of the belt of brown haze and fly over the Andes. Below me is an incredible barren moonscape of ragged mountain peaks with large snowfields in the high valleys. We are still ascending and I’m disappointed my camera is packed away in the overhead compartment. I arrive in Buenos Aires late in the afternoon, collect my bag and take a taxi across town to a hotel. The mixture of fatigue from the long series of flights and the excitement of being in Buenos Aires makes the journey seem surreal. There is an amazing mixture of huge concrete apartment blocks overlooking crowded barrios with a wild array of clothes flapping in the wind strung between them next to beautiful colonial era churches and government buildings and everywhere electrical wires leading haphazardly between buildings. I roll down the window and can smell different kinds of food cooking mixed in along side that less desirable fragrance of inadequate sanitation. I had travelled to Mexico frequently when I was a young man and Argentina feels both alien and strange yet somehow familiar. I lean back and relax, comfortable in this sprawling city with its seventeen million inhabitants, its long rich history of colonial ties to Europe and clever improvisation necessary to deal with a severe lack of infrastructure. I wish I could settle in and explore Buenos Aires but I’m only here for the night. The taxi driver drops me at the door of a small hotel near a famous cemetery in the Recoleta District. Aero Parque Jorge
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Newbery, the airport I’ll be leaving from in the morning is just a few kilometres away. I check in, get cleaned up and go out to find some food. I wander around a neighbourhood crowded with beautiful colonial buildings before discovering that I’m staying in the Diplomatic Quarter and all the restaurants are high end. I settle for some fruit and biscuits from the small market across the street from the hotel and go to bed early. I toss and turn for a few hours before catching a taxi at 3:15 in the morning to the aero parque for the flight to Ushuaia. We leave Buenos Aires in the dark but I have a window seat and see a brilliant sunrise as we approach Ushuaia. This is the southern tip of the Andes, a mountain range that runs for thousands of kilometres and it is spectacular! There are jagged snow capped mountains with deep fiords and inland lakes as far as I can see. I take a few photos out the window before preparing to land. As we get lower I can see from the water that there is no wind at all. The ocean is like a mirror reflecting the snow-capped mountains on every side. Brilliant!
Sunday, 20 April 2014. The airport terminal has a ski lodge feel; open plan with large timber beams, lots of glass and views of the surrounding mountains. Ushuaia is the southern most city in the world and is Argentina’s southern frontier; part naval outpost, part skiing and trekking tourist destination and the major port for trips to Antarctica. I drag my baggage out of the terminal into the icy cold morning and load my gear into one of the waiting taxis. I speak to the driver in some strange language not completely unrelated to Spanish and he somehow delivers me to Club AFASYN where I find Commitment tied up at the club jetty with some other yachts along with an assortment of tourist and work boats. I shuffle down the still frozen jetty of rough timber and rusting steel and climb aboard. I climb down into Commitment’s main cabin; the diesel heater is working away as it is every morning in these high latitudes, its comforting flame can be seen through its small glass door. There are socks and gloves hung on the metal frame that surrounds the heater’s chimney, jackets and beanies and equipment lying around the cabin. After six months of running sailing adventures the cabin has a relaxed lived in feel. I am already acutely aware that it will be a challenge dealing with the cold and condensation that are a constant presence here. I’m greeted by Tony and
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soon after by his son Jordan and departing crewmember Max. After Max leaves the yacht to return to Australia in a few days, Tony, Jordan and I will first be sailing across the Beagle Channel to Puerto Williams to clear into Chile and then to explore some of Chile’s spectacular fiords. I move my gear into a vacant cabin and have a cup of tea before all of us head into town. Jordan and Max head off in one direction while I assist Tony with the usual chores between trips. This and the next few days in Ushuaia are a blur of activities based around preparing Commitment for our upcoming trip to the fiords; changing money, dropping off and picking up laundry, filling two large shopping trollies to over flowing at La Anonima, the large modern supermarket. On Tuesday morning Tony takes Max to the airport while and Jordan and I attend to getting fuel for Commitment. We begin by launching the dinghy; a French yacht is rafted up next to us forcing us to manhandle the dinghy across the deck before lowering it over the bow and into the water, rather than the much easier technique of simply lifting it off the deck, slippery from the frost, and launching it using a spare halyard. We put on all of our foul weather gear; boots, gloves and beanies and then do three round trips to the service station across the bay. There is an icy cold west wind blowing at ten knots judging from the light chop on the bay. The sky is clear with the exception of some high cirrus to the west and cumulus covering the tops of the mountains that form an arc around behind Ushuaia. It is icy cold, eye watering cold, crossing the bay in the dinghy but with all the gear we are wearing we heat up carrying the six twenty-litre fuel containers across the busy four-lane waterfront boulevard, filling them with diesel before lugging them back to the dinghy for the wet cold ride returning to Commitment. Since returning from the airport Tony has been busy vacuuming the cabins and cleaning bilges so Jordan and I aren’t complaining. We top up Commitment’s tanks then have lunch before heading into town to check-in with friends and family back in Australia using the local Internet café. We spend the afternoon walking around Ushuaia doing various chores then return to Commitment in the evening before getting cleaned up and catching a taxi to have dinner at Eduardo’s with his wife Laly (Lay-lee) and university age son David. Eduardo has a few apartments that he rents to travellers. Tony and Jordan first stayed in one in 2008 when Tony began running sailing adventures out of Ushuaia and now they are like family. We enjoy a proper Argentine Parilla (barbeque) with plenty of sausages, steaks,
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beer and wine before accompanying David to his indoor football match at midnight. Wednesday is a bit slower paced; after a sleep in we head into town and pick up the last load of clothes from the laundry, run a few other errands and head back to the boat. I have carried my camera and sketchbook with me everywhere and have taken plenty of photos but this afternoon is the first chance I’ve had to do a sketch. I stand on the end of the jetty and make a drawing of the low hills 100 metres across the water, the snow capped mountains on the other side of the Beagle Channel and the high cirrus clouds. There is only a light wind blowing from the east but it’s far to cold to sit down on the jetty and in twenty minutes my fingers are frozen stiff. I take a few photos and retreat to Commitment realising how challenging the conditions will be for making field studies during the next two weeks.
Thursday, 24 April 2014. Tony, Jordan and I all wake up early and have a quick cup of tea before taking a taxi to the Naval station to do the necessary paperwork before clearing out of Argentina. It is nearly nine o’clock and still very cold but beginning to get light when we return to Commitment, lift the dingy on to the deck and securely lash it down. Once the big diesel auxiliary is warmed up we untie our dock lines and Jordan carefully steers Commitment out into the bay and gets her headed for Puerto Williams, Chile. Approximately 28 nautical miles away on the southern side of the famous Beagle Channel, Puerto Williams is only seventy-five miles from Cape Horn. Once into the channel we unfurl some of the big headsail and motor-sail towards our destination. On the far side of the Beagle Channel we see the French yacht that had been rafted up next to us on the jetty in Ushuaia. They are sailing in some nice wind but the water further up the channel to the west is glassy and they will soon be motoring. We arrive in the Chilean frontier outpost of Puerto Williams in the early afternoon. There are houses
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and some timber fishing boats but clearly most of the buildings, roads, ships and port construction are part of a large Naval presence established to secure Chilean claims to this area. We furl the headsail and motor slowly across the sand bar and into the well- protected mouth of a creek. There is a large ship run aground in the creek called the SV Micalvi that serves as a yacht club for the Chilean Navy. Surrounding the Micalvi are 20-30 yachts all rafted up. It is late in the season for either private or commercial trips and many of the yachts have been secured and left for the winter. We prepare Commitment by hanging fenders over her sides and then inch our way into position and raft up next to the large 75ft alloy ketch, Santa Maria Australis. Once securely tied up we walk up the hill to the Port Captain’s office and clear into Chile. Port Captain, Agriculture, Immigration and Customs all have a turn and in the end we are delighted to discover that Chilean authorities have stated officially that I was born in Honolulu, Australia. I was unaware there was such a place as Honolulu, Australia and that I was in fact born there. Given how long it has taken them to discover such an unlikely fact we are not going to try and persuade them otherwise. We leave the Port Captain’s office and wander around Puerto Williams, we catch up with a few of Tony and Jordan’s friends, inspect two timber fishing boats under construction, admiring the display of traditional boat building techniques, and then have a coffee at a small café owned by another of Tony’s friends. It begins snowing on the walk back to Commitment. We have dinner before spending a few hours in the Micalvi drinking a beer or two with other sailors and sending some emails. As I enter the main salon of the old merchant vessel the ceiling is the regular height but as you cross the salon walking uphill, the ceiling height reduces until you have to hunch down a little. She is permanently listing at 5 degrees and with a wood heater blazing in the corner, yacht pennants and photos from adventurous travellers decorating the walls and ceiling, has a very welcoming and unique atmosphere. There are a few sailors from other yachts sitting on lounges with opened laptops or books, hats, jackets and beanies, necessary for the short trip from their yachts but quickly shed once inside, surround them. The Milcalvi provides a frontier outpost breed of wifi lottery that randomly chooses one or two laptops at a time but not mine tonight. I end up taking turns with the other losing punters, using the yacht club computer to check and send emails. We go back to Commitment, climbing across Santa
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Maria Australis on our way. We will be getting under way early tomorrow so have a cup of tea before climbing into our berths.
Friday, 25 April 2014. We are up early and have some breakfast while the Yanmar is warming up. It takes less than an hour before we have untied Commitment from Santa Maria Australis and we are motoring slowly out of Puerto Williams ready to explore some of Chile’s spectacular fiords. The wind is blowing lightly out of the East, showing the caution learned from time spent in these sometimes volatile latitudes Tony elects to keep one reef in the forward main, using auxiliary power as well we sail up the Beagle Channel intending to circumnavigate Isla Gordon over the next two weeks or so. Tony and Jordan have done the trip a number of times previously so we plan using familiar anchorages as well as testing out some new ones. The trees on the hillsides are starting to change colour. Tony comments that he has usually finished doing trips and left by this time of the year and it is the first time he has seen that. Even though it is sunny and there is only a light breeze, it is fresh on the water; we all wear gloves and balaclavas when on deck. We motor sail throughout the day, entering Bahia Yendegaia in the afternoon and anchoring in Caleta Ferrari by 4:30. There is a small estancia (ranch) run by a Gaucho, Jose and his Belgian girlfriend Annamee. We launch the dinghy and go ashore. Fifty metres up from the beach there is a small ranch house with the ever- present thin wisp of smoke drifting out of the chimney, a few sheds and heaps of dogs but no-one answers when Tony calls out. We trudge up the cleared field through the long grass and find a young Gaucho named Angelo in a corral breaking in a freshly caught wild horse. It is a scene nearly unchanged since the late 19th century when Anglican missionary Thomas Bridges founded the estancia in Bahia Yendegaia as well as ones in Lapataia and Pakewaia. The three of us stand talking quietly, watching Angelo patiently working with his horse, in a meadow overlooking this protected deep bay surrounded by incredible wilderness and high snow capped mountains. I take some photos and soon Annamee returns, hiking down out of the top of the meadow after looking for the local herd of wild horses. Angelo finishes working with his horse and along with a pack of half a dozen semi-domesticated ranch dogs of all shapes and sizes we all make our way back down to the ranch house. The dogs stay outside while the rest
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of us file in and crowd around a rough timber table with two long benches for a glass of vino. We swap news about the yachts and sailors travelling through the area as well as the fresh challenges facing the estancia. It has been a long day and is beginning to get dark outside so Tony, Jordan and I thank our hosts and return to Commitment for some dinner and an early night.
Tierra del Fuego, Chile ~ View of Glacier from Beagle Channel Watercolour on paper; 14 x 20 cm., APRIL 2014
Saturday, 26 April 2014. We are underway by 9:00 and sailing again with one reef in the forward main and auxiliary power. Commitment departs Bahia Yendegaia keeping to the western side of the bay. As we round the point cruising back into the channel we pass a large colony, I believe, of southern sea lions (otaria flavescens). I use the binoculars to confirm that they have exterior ears and the GoPro to record the colony. I estimate over one hundred animals of mixed ages. We continue seeing them regularly out in the channels but only rarely inside the fiords and bays. The wind is very light and the temperature is mild, perhaps in the low teens. We cruise west in the main channel
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passing a number of large spectacular glaciers on our starboard side. The peaks are hidden in swirls of mist and cloud, there are cascades of water flowing out in places and these glaciers all end in shallow rock filled bays in the channel that offer no safe anchorage and Tony, not surprisingly, doesn’t know much about them. The nautical guide names them as Frances, Italia, Holanda and Alemania but notes that many have been renamed a number of times. I can’t figure out which I’m looking at but manage to take some photos and make some quick pencil sketches as we cruise past hoping to identify them later. As Isla Gordon divides the Beagle Channel the two channels become the Brazo Noroeste (Northwest Arm) and the Brazo Sudoeste (Southwest Arm). We follow the Brazo Noroeste keeping the jagged snow-capped mountain range of the Cordillera Darwin to starboard and Isla Gordon to port. The channel divides again and we slow and cruise through the narrower channel on the north side of a small island called Isla del Diablo. Jordan has a short radio conversation with the crew of a bright orange French expedition yacht returning to Puerto Williams on its final trip of the season. The returning French yacht reinforces a late end-of-season feeling and the sense of just how remote Tierra del Fuego is. We will see a few of the local timber fishing boats in the channels heading north for the winter but we’ll see no other yachts until we return to Puerto Williams ourselves. Sailing throughout the day and into the afternoon we reach the mouth of Seno Pia by four o’clock. The wind has died completely so we drop and secure the main before motoring slowly, watching the depth sounder as we pass over an ancient moraine. This berm made of sand and rocks of all sizes up to giant boulders fans out across the mouth of the sound marking the previous limit of the resident glacier. Most of the moraine is submerged but jetty like pile of boulders on both sides of the entrance mark where the water will become shallow. The depth sounder reconfirms our visual information and as we progress up the sound the water begins to take on the opaque milky green colour of glacial runoff. We continue another four nautical miles further up the sound, passing through areas with small floating bits of ice that have broken off the glacier, we round a tree covered peninsula and inch our way into a small protected cove. With the three of us working together it takes over an hour to set the anchor, launch the dinghy and string a web of four shore lines tied to trees before the skipper is satisfied that Commitment is secure. The
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anchorage is deep, in a protected corner of a cove named Caleta Beaulieu. Looking from the bow of Commitment up the small bay made by the peninsula to the end of what is the eastern arm of the sound, Seno Pia, is a large glacier below a series of tall jagged peaks. Bordering the glacier, on my right side, is a hillside of rock nearly bare of any vegetation and has been polished by previous glacial movement. The layers of different sediment angled at forty-five degrees are clearly visible. It is an amazing scene and I quickly take some photos before climbing down the stern ladder onto the swim step, ready to go ashore with Jordan.
Early nineteenth century geologists such as Charles Lyell, in his Principles of Geology (1830) proposed a history of the earth much older and vastly different then the previously accepted view of six thousand years. This new interpretation of the earth inspired landscape painters, giving their subject, the land, a readable past. The famous naturalist Charles Darwin considered himself a geologist when he travelled through these channels. He collected fossils on the pampas and would have seen many of the glaciers and obvious signs of the earth’s long history. John Ruskin, Britain’s most influential art critic of the period was inspired by Turner’s landscapes that dealt with geological history. Ruskin was himself an artist but also a published scientific writer and illustrator was deeply interested in geology. Emerging geological theory in the nineteenth century changed artist’s understanding of the earth and portraying geological phenomena that suggested the dynamic history of the earth became widespread as subject matter (Bedell 2009).
These small coves have relatively deep water very near shore and the closer we are, theoretically, the more protected from the wind and the safer we are. Jordan starts the small outboard and we motor the 20 meters to shore. We hike and scramble up a steep hill directly behind Commitment following a rough trail next to a creek. When the trail levels out a bit near a rock platform overlooking our anchorage I stop to make a sketch while Jordan continues hiking up to the top of a ridge. Even though I’m wearing waterproof foul weather gear sitting on the ground is uncomfortably cold and wet. I stand to draw using pencil in my larger sketchbook measuring and adjusting the
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drawing trying to record the scene accurately but quickly. There is a limitless amount of information and while I enjoy the challenge I also use my camera for good measure. With the drawing far from finished and getting soaked by the light mist, the failing light and the cold encourage a hasty retreat back down the hillside. By the time I untie the dinghy Jordan reappears from his hike and we return to Commitment together. It has been a long strenuous day. After dinner everyone retires early. Lying in bed at night the heavy rumbling from large sections of ice breaking off the glacier over two miles away can be heard from our anchorage.
Sunday, 27 April 2014. I am up on deck early with a steaming cup of tea surveying the scene. It has snowed during the night and there is a fresh dusting on the hills and shoreline. There is also a thin layer of ice approximately 5 millimetres thick on the surface of the water and Commitment is surrounded by pieces of ice ranging in size from that of a brick to a medium car tyre that have been blown back into our cove. I take some photos and make a quick pencil drawing on a small prepared board to work on later before retreating back down the companionway steps to enjoy another cup of tea and some breakfast in Commitment’s warm main salon. Tony and I decide to take the dinghy exploring up the fiord trying to get near the face of the glacier while Jordan hikes up to another nearby ridge. Tony and I put on foul weather gear and sea boots, we even wear PFDs (personal floatation devices) for the dinghy ride. We drop Jordan on shore with a handheld radio before motoring slowly towards the glacier. We crunch over the thin skin of ice in the rubber dinghy and avoid the clusters of larger chunks searching for a path to the occasional clear patches when Tony is able to get the dinghy planning along for a few hundred meters. I use the GoPro and take photos as we cruise trying to record as much as possible. There are a few cormorants sitting on large chunks of ice and a few schools of small fingerlings. By slowing when the ice becomes congested and planning when possible we eventually make our way to within one hundred meters of the glacier where a barrier of large broken chunks of ice stops our progress. We beach the dinghy on a sandbar attached to a tree-covered moraine as close as we can get to the face of the glacier. The tide is rising so we drag the dinghy well up the beach and tie it to a large block of ice the size of a wheelie bin. We walk along the
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beach towards the glacier and the sight and the sound is incredible. There are constant rumbles and crashing sounds as large pieces fracture unseen inside this giant frozen river. We climb a low berm of sand and boulders, on the other side is the glacier but in between is a fierce stream of water that rushes out of a cavern three meters across and two high the face of the glacier forming a relentless torrent across its base preventing us from getting any closer. The ice is a brilliant blue where large sections have sheared off. Other sections are a dirty grey from all the imbedded sediment ranging in size from small particles to large boulders. There are small stones in some of the chunks of ice that lay scattered around the beach. They seem to be a sort of granite; mostly white with black specs and creamy pink veins running through them. It is an incredible morning. We explore the area for a few hours until the increasing cloud and wind threaten a change in the weather and we return to Commitment. We collect Jordan from the beach just behind Commitment; we are close enough that we simply drag ourselves to the swim-step using a stern shoreline and climb aboard for some lunch. It rains all afternoon but I’m happy to sit in the warm cabin checking out all the morning’s GoPro
Tierra del Fuego, Chile ~ View of Glacier from Caleta Beaulieu Oil on prepared paper; 18 x 26 cm., APRIL 2014
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footage and photos, writing and working on my sketch. I have my camera attached to my open laptop displaying a photo taken from Commitment’s bow this morning. I make a few adjustments to my morning’s sketch and lay out my painting tools. Using a tear- off paper palette, I squeeze out a selection of my water-mixable oil paints. Thinning the paint using water and dashes of a fast drying medium I lay in the shapes of the land with a light blue-grey, building up layers into darker shades. The land area needs time to dry completely before continuing any further so I move to the sky. I use my larger (13mm) brush to cover the area completely, gently working until it is evenly saturated. I work quickly with smaller brushes now using mostly blues but also mix in touches of red, green and brown trying to match the colour of the morning’s clouds. Clearly I’m relying on my photo, but also memories from the morning and years of practice mixing colours. I work until I’m satisfied with the clouds before leaving them and moving to the water. I use the same technique as used on the clouds. Once dry I will return to the water with white paint to render in all the small bits of floating ice. My drawing is incomplete but the paint has become tacky and difficult to manipulate. The afternoon has turned to evening and the skipper is clearing the table for tea so I gather up all of my things and stack them on the top bunk in my cabin. I go up on deck for a quick look around; it is now dark outside, the cabin lights and the warm glow from the heater escaping out of the ports. This afternoon’s rain is now falling gently as snow, dusting the deck of the sixty-foot schooner, Commitment. Anchored as well as secured by shorelines in this small cove in a remote fiord in Tierra del Fuego, I return to the warmth of the main salon and the three of us spend the evening sitting around the table discussing the day’s adventures over a bottle of Argentine Cabernet Sauvignon. We also examine the latest weather information. A change in wind direction is predicted so we start making plans for a move to a different anchorage in the morning. It has been an incredible day, in my bunk, laying under a pile of blankets the images race past my closed eyes as I drift off to sleep listening to the wind in the rigging, small pieces of ice rubbing against the boat’s hull and the distant rumblings of an ancient glacier.
Monday, 28 April 2014. It is dark and I’m still snug in my bunk when I hear Tony moving around the cabin; starting the cabin heaters and the generator before boiling the
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billy. The three of us begin the day early with a cup of tea and some breakfast. The auxiliary is soon started and warming up. We all work together to retrieve shorelines and coil them into their plastic storage barrels and bags then lift the dinghy onto the deck. We get underway, raising our anchor before slowly easing our way out of the cove. There is some adverse weather predicted but for now there is very little wind at water level with almost solid cloud cover and the surrounding peaks hidden in swirling mist. Jordan steers while Tony and I continue stowing shorelines and securing the dinghy as we move slowly through the broken pieces of ice known as brash. Once everything on deck is sorted Tony moves to the bow and directs Jordan using hand signals. I use my camera and GoPro as we steer around the larger pieces of ice, slowing when it gets congested and steaming a little faster in the clear patches. We carry on without sail and under power only, leaving the Eastern Arm of Seno Pia and entering the Western Arm hoping to get near the glacier that is at its upper end. Progress slows as we reach a section of the Western Arm with the water’s surface covered by slurry of brash ice that has calved off the glacier. Many of the larger chunks of ice are the size of wheelie bins some even as large as dumpsters. The glacier is still out of sight around a bend in the sound, we are carefully picking our way through the slurry, chunks of ice grinding down Commitment’s hull when the stakes are raised by the wind beginning to build accompanied by flurries of snow. Tony and Jordan have years of experience dealing with the fast changing conditions of these high latitudes and decide immediately not to continue any further up the sound. Jordan steers Commitment through a gentle 180- degree turn and we retreat to clearer water. We are steaming out of the western arm of the sound back towards the Brazo Noroeste of the Beagle Channel but decide to investigate an unfamiliar anchorage behind a low peninsula in a small cove called Caleta del Sur. Tony has never stayed here before but the nautical guide book rates it well and the wind and snow flurries have abated for now so we inch our way in and have a look. It’s narrow and looks well protected from most wind directions. We follow the guide’s advice and pass a small island in the channel through the narrower gap and take a few slow loops around the anchorage double-checking depths and comparing our visual information with the guide. Once satisfied with the looks of the anchorage Tony lets out the anchor, Jordan backs Commitment deep into the cove, a little more than a boat-
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length from shore. We launch the dinghy and set two stern lines and one off the port bow. We have a hot lunch of empanadas and steaming cups of tea before Jordan and I get ready and go ashore. The wind has almost died out completely and there are patches of blue sky scattered across the slow-moving cloudscape. We explore up the stream that empties into the cove just behind Commitment. Following the stream we scramble up the aftermath of a rockslide. There are boulders of various sizes and entire trees in wreckage spanning four meters across that continues up through the densely wooded hillside for a hundred metres until we reach the base of a shear granite wall five hundred metres high. We can see where the water is running down the face of the wall and where the rocks and foliage have been dislodged causing the slide. Our position standing below this display feels a little precarious so we return to the boat before Jordan sets off again exploring and I settle down on Commitment’s bow to make a sketch.
Sitting on one of the blue plastic barrels used for storing shorelines I survey the scene before taking some photos and beginning a drawing in my big sketchbook. The surface of the cove is now completely calm reflecting the profiles of the land and the distant glacier like a mirror. I first lightly sketch in the distant glacier and surrounding landscape, continually measuring and comparing the scene in front of me with my drawing. The profiles of the nearer hillsides are dark and covered with trees. Working rapidly, I suggest the trees and increase the shading. Higher on the hillside are bands of exposed rock the now receding glacier has scoured over the millenniums. I compare their positions with landmarks across the sound and try to record the scene accurately. I draw the clouds and craggy peaks above the glacier and then the reflected landscape in the water. Once all the elements are mapped out I work to refine areas trying to create balance in the composition. The HB lead of my mechanical pencil limits how far I can push the shading but I’m satisfied with my drawing. The sun is below the surrounding
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mountains and fingers are now stiff from the cold, I take a few more photos, gather up my things and head below.
Jordan soon returns from his hike covered in mud but reports reaching the top of a nearby ridge and being able to see that the conditions in the Beagle Channel are still quite rough. The skipper has been busy preparing another feast, and we sit down to eat. After we clear away the dishes we have a little red wine while watching a video about the Shackleton expedition. Watching the video increases our sense of isolation and more disturbingly the wind picks up considerably. We put on our gear and go up on deck. The wind is building and coming directly over the starboard bow, not the predicted direction but most likely ricocheting off the hillsides. We don’t have a shoreline leading in that direction leaving us vulnerable. It’s ten thirty, the freezing rain is beginning to turn to sleet and total cloud cover has delivered a pitch-black night. The awning we had set over the cockpit earlier in the day is going berserk. We wrestle it to the deck and secure it. The situation becomes very tense when it appears the anchor is beginning to drag. We shine torches on the shoreline behind us and it is way too close for comfort. The wind is shrieking in the rigging but we can still hear small waves breaking around us and on the nearby shoreline. Tony lets out some chain but the numbers on the depth meter are going down to less than eight feet. We make the decision to take a line across to the shore 150 metres off the starboard bow. Tony goes to the bow and readies the line while Jordan and I put on PFDs and headlamps before climbing into the dinghy. Jordan starts the outboard, we drag the dinghy forward and Tony throws in some coils of line before we head off into darkness and driving spray. We are nearly to the shore but have to stop while Tony ties a second line to the first before we have a change of luck. We find a large boulder as we reach shore in the perfect direction from the boat. Jordan beaches the dinghy, I climb out, dragging a length of galvanized steel cable kept in the bottom of the dinghy for just this purpose, and wrap it around the boulder. Jordan ties the line to it and shouts at the top if his lungs for Tony to take up the slack. We motor back to Commitment, climb aboard and adjust lines while checking the depth meter until we are back with 10 feet of water under the keel and the skipper is satisfied although still a bit on edge. We climb down
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the companionway into the warm salon but everyone has had enough wine and certainly enough Shackleton for the night. We busy ourselves tidying up the cabin, everyone checking and rechecking the depth meter over the next half hour. Then, reasonably sure that the worst has past, we retire to our cabins for a night of disturbed sleep.
Tuesday, 29 April 2014. I’m up on deck with a cup of tea and my camera surveying the scene. There is a light dusting of fresh snow on the mountains and hillsides with a few patches of sky showing through low cloud. The wind has calmed for now but is predicted to freshen with the arrival of a moderate cold front later in the day. We have some breakfast and then make preparations for getting under way. The shorelines and anchor are retrieved and the dinghy is secured on deck. We have a voyage of a little over fifteen nautical miles to our intended destination today. We get underway, departing Caleta del Sur under power until across the shallow bar formed by the ancient moraine at the mouth of Seno Pia when we hoist the forward main, leaving in the first reef, and unfurl half of the big headsail. The wind is 15-20 knots from the northwest as we sail on a close reach across the Brazo Noroeste (Northwest Arm) of the Beagle Channel. When the wind picks up or the sun is hidden behind the clouds it becomes very cold on deck. The conditions demand the wearing of multiple layers of gear including a beanie over a balaclava and gloves plus liners. I take some photos as we sail but quickly get my gloves back on and return to shelter in the deep cockpit tucked in behind the shelter of the dodger. We have a good sail during the morning, the channel has a one-metre chop but we still see dozens of sea lions on the surface and there are birds circling and feeding, however we don’t see any other boats. After crossing the channel we drop the main, furl the headsail and make our way into Isla Gordon’s Bahia Tres Brazos (Three Arms Bay). With the auxiliary just ticking over we enter slowly, avoiding the patches of kelp that can warn of just submerged reefs, and make our way to a small well-protected cove named Caleta Cinco Estrellas (Five Stars Cove). Shaped like a round bottle with a long curving neck, we squeeze through the narrow channel leaving just a few metres on either side and even less under the keel. In the tight confines of the small cove Jordan conducts a five-point turn, getting Commitment pointed towards the entrance before dropping and backing down on the anchor. Tony and I quickly launch the dinghy and
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create a web using four shorelines. After a nice hot lunch Jordan and I take the dinghy across to a landing next to a stream just behind Commitment. We hike up a rough trail, the ground is sodden and spongy, and our boots get sucked into the mud. We arrive at a small level platform overlooking the cove and I stop to make a sketch while Jordan continues hiking up the trail intent on reaching the ridge. To my right and behind me the stream has formed a series of small shallow lakes and the steep hillsides have waterfalls streaming from deep ravines. Looking down on Commitment, I can see why Tony calls this anchorage the Duck Hole. With the exception of the narrow entrance, Commitment is completely landlocked. From where I’m standing looking south, I can see beyond the cove and across the bay, to the jagged snow-covered peaks of Isla Gordon’s interior. I take photos and then begin drawing in my larger sketchbook.
Drawing lightly, I first create a rough composition focusing on Commitment anchored in the small cove below me. I frame the image using the foliage just down the slope in front of me as a band across the bottom of the page, the hillsides of the cove on the left and right sides wrap around and merge with the mountains in the distance. It is quickly apparent that there is an overwhelming amount of information to record. It is not just the scene itself but also the conditions for making a field-sketch that are challenging; I’m warm for awhile from hiking up the muddy trail but soon I find myself trying to keep warm by marching in place whenever I pause in my drawing. The trees below me are stunted and spindly suggesting that even here in this protected cove the slopes are subjected to strong winds. I roughly render some form on the hillside just beyond Commitment and suggest some of the reflected landscape on the water’s surface in the cove. I still have a glove on my left hand but my exposed drawing hand is beginning to stiffen from the cold. It is with a degree of relief that a light drizzle sets in and again ends my time sketching. I take a few photos before returning to Commitment.
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Jordan returns from his trek covered in mud and tired but satisfied after reaching the peak behind Commitment. We have dinner while discussing the latest weather predictions and making plans for tomorrow’s voyage. All of us are relieved to enjoy a quiet night with little wind reaching us in the Duck Hole.
Wednesday, 30 April 2014. We have a leisurely morning; cooking up a big breakfast and getting the main cabin tidied up while waiting for the constant drizzle to clear before braving the elements to retrieve our shorelines and get under way. This is normal weather for Tierra del Fuego so unsurprisingly the drizzle doesn’t clear, if anything it gets a little heavier so we put on our gear and get to work in the freezing rain, departing the Duck Hole by 10:00. The wind is light and we sail using auxiliary power and keeping one reef in the main. As we leave Bahia Tres Brazos Jordan steers Commitment on a westerly course keeping Isla Gordon on our port side. Occasionally when the rain eases there are magnificent views of glaciers across the Brazo Noroeste on Tierra del Fuego. I spend the morning on deck relieving Jordan at the wheel when he wants a break or taking photos and using the GoPro to record the coastal profiles. We progressively change course onto a more southerly heading as we sail around the western end of Isla Gordon and then to the southeast and then east as we enter the Brazo Sudoeste, or Southwest Arm, of the Beagle Channel staying on the northern side of the channel. We arrive at Fiordo Pasqui in the early afternoon. Although nowhere near as deep geographically as either Seno Pia or Bahia Tres Brazos this fiord contains one of Tony’s favourite anchorages. We drop and secure the main sail before slowly entering the fiord. I estimate it is perhaps 500 metres across the mouth and only 750 metres to the back of the fiord with a cove on the left hand side of a similar depth. A small island makes up the right side of the fiord with the narrowest of channels separating it from Isla Gordon. Steep, heavily vegetated cliffs surround the fiord with waterfalls running down deep ravines. The rain has stopped and there is almost no wind, with only small flurries occasionally descending from the ridge tops to disturb the water’s glasslike surface with ripples called cat’s paws. The anchoring process has become familiar but the manoeuvre we now preform is amazing. We slowly approach a
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gap between two cliffs with lush foliage, even trees somehow clinging to the sides. The mouth of is 25 - 30 metres wide but it progressively narrows until it ends 500 metres back in a mass of fallen moss covered trees at the base of a deep narrow ravine. Jordan brings Commitment to a stop just outside the entrance and performs a multi-point turn until we are facing backwards to the opening. We launch the dinghy, Tony climbs in and we begin backing Commitment into the narrow gap. I go to the bow and start easing out the anchor as we inch our way in backwards, until we have 30 metres out with about two metres under the keel. Tony works the dinghy like a tugboat keeping us straight and then quickly gets a stern shoreline tied to a tree on the bank. I jump in the dinghy when he returns for the next line and begin clambering up into the thick foliage on the steep cliff-sides, tying shorelines off on each selected tree until we have six lines securing Commitment. We are two hundred metres back from the opening and there are three, surely no more than four metres on each side, the water is crystal clear and the sand and rock on the bottom can be made out distinctly only a few metres below us. Looking up at the thin line of sky and cloud above us, it seems the overhanging trees are reaching out to capture Commitment’s two masts. It is early afternoon but seems later because of the limited sunlight filtering down into our hidden fairyland. We have some lunch then Tony and I explore the anchorage in the dinghy. The accumulation of huge moss covered fallen trees at the end the ravine is fascinating. Water streams down everything, the atmosphere is mist-like, everything glistens, and trees are rotting away and covered in vines or clearly visible reaching under the surface and resting on the bottom. Nothing is solid and normal distinctions between atmospheric, terrestrial and ocean elements are stretched; the air is mostly water and the trees rest on the bottom of the sea. We continue exploring, Tony using the paddle or pulling us along overhanging trees branch by branch. It’s whisper quiet with only the sound of water constantly dripping from the thick foliage into the water. Hanging over the side of the dinghy we inspect a small colony of bright orange crabs on the bottom and large starfish on the rock walls below the overhanging undergrowth. Along the banks freshwater escaping from the rock walls just below the surface appears as streams of disrupted water clarity. It is an incredible, enchanted if slightly claustrophobic anchorage and I now understand the skipper’s fascination and desire to spend time here. We return to Commitment and
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prepare our evening meal as darkness engulfs the anchorage. Just as we finish our meal and the dishes are being cleared away the wind picks up with ferocious blasts ricocheting down from the peaks into the ravine. For a second time in a few days we are forced to go up on deck and wrestle down and secure the awning before increasing the tension on some of the shorelines. Commitment is bucking and rocking forcefully in the confined space but thankfully the turmoil only lasts an hour or so. However we all spend the rest of the night slightly on edge.
Thursday, 1 May 2014. After a restless night we take our time having breakfast and getting under way. The deck is soon cluttered with retrieved shorelines as well as leaves and even small branches from the previous night’s commotion. We ease our way out of the confined anchorage retrieving the anchor as we go. Once out of the gap we have enough room to lift the dinghy on deck, securing it and coiling and stowing the shorelines while we depart the fiord. The weather looks promising with no rain and only patchy cumulus clouds but very little wind so we don’t raise sail but continue our voyage under power. While steaming across the channel towards Isla Hoste and our days intended destination of Estéro Coloane we encounter a pod of six Dusky dolphins (Lagenorchynus australis). The mixed pod of adults as well as juveniles accompany us throughout the morning, riding Commitment’s bow wave and only leave us to explore other areas of the inlet once we round Peninsula Clové and enter Estéro Coloane. We motor well into the inlet and anchor behind a small finger of land with an even smaller island like a terrestrial exclamation mark. After securing Commitment with six shorelines and having a late lunch the three of us go exploring in the dinghy. The estuary (estéro) or marshy inlet is our first stop. After going as far up a small creek as possible the dinghy is left tied to a tree and we continue tramping through the sodden landscape of reeds intermixed with
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trees that appear to be a variety of aspen. We are amazed to discover that beavers have clearly felled a number of trees in the area. Soon we locate the dam and then are able to recognise a network of trails used by the industrious animals. According to the nautical guide the Argentine navy introduced beaver from North America to the area many years ago hoping to create a fur industry. Having no natural predators the beaver have reproduced quite successfully and are now considered an invasive species. We cruise the dinghy around the inlet exploring for a while longer before afternoon rain again settles in encouraging a speedy if wet return to Commitment. The rest of the afternoon is spent warm and dry in the main salon with the heater doing its magic while I refine a couple sketches and work on some writing before taking my turn in the galley.
Friday and Saturday, 2-3 May 2014. Besides the estuary that we investigated yesterday Estéro Coloane contains a number of rough trails, waterfalls cascading into the fiord, secluded coves and two magnificent glaciers. Time is running short and with good weather predicted for the next two days it is decided that Jordan and I will spend them exploring Estéro Coloane while Tony does some necessary maintenance after six months of expeditions and begins preparing Commitment for spending the winter in Puerto Williams. Both days follow a similar pattern of exploring in the dinghy in the mornings, finding suitable landing sites before continuing on foot. I use the GoPro and camera but never remain in any one place long enough to make a sketch. We spend afternoons aboard Commitment after the rain sets in each day, Jordan lending a hand with boat chores while I work on my research project. One of the highlights from the two days is a hike trying to get near a glacier but instead discovering another beaver dam. The scale and engineering is staggering! The dam measures at least one hundred metres across creating a lake the size of a football pitch. The face of the dam is ten metres high with a constant torrent escaping from the base and rushing down the steep valley. The dam must be the result of relentless building and patching by generations of beavers. The landscape of the surrounding area has also been transformed by beaver activity with typically pointed stumps, freshly fallen trees, small ponds and trails. Another highlight is taking the dinghy to the foot of a waterfall and recording it cascading directly into the fiord with the GoPro. An unforgettable experience was discovering as we travelled in
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the dinghy one morning that the inlet had become full of huge jellyfish overnight. Jordan stopped so I could use the GoPro to record one specimen that was well over one metre in length. We do eventually get within one hundred metres of the terminus of a glacier but our path to the base is blocked by a stream that rushes out of the mouth of an ice cavern twenty metres across and ten high. I use the GoPro but can see the opportunity for a more dynamic way to record the scene. I am determined that a drone will be put on the equipment list for my next expedition. The three of us spend the last night in Estéro Coloane sitting around the table in Commitment’s main salon, red wine and the warm glow from the heater creating the perfect atmosphere for discussing our experiences from the previous days and planning future adventures. With the exception of afternoon showers the weather over the last few days has been fine with very little wind and an assortment of interesting cloudscapes. As well as constantly keeping an eye on local conditions the weather in the surrounding region is monitored using the equipment on Commitment and recent gribs have been predicting the arrival of a large and powerful low pressure system with the charts showing red arrows (a symbol used on synoptic charts for the most powerful winds of fifty knots and above) stretching from the Antarctic Peninsula, six hundred miles to our south, nearly to Puerto Monte over 1000 miles north. It is the most impressive system Tony and Jordan have seen in the last six months and while not predicted to arrive in our area until tomorrow evening it will certainly encourage an early departure if we are to reach Puerto Williams before conditions become seriously adverse. We will be sailing the entire day tomorrow so we make sure everything has been properly stowed throughout the boat and then retire for the night.
Sunday, 4 May 2014. It is 6:30 and pitch black when I hear Tony moving around the salon starting the heater and generator. We have a quick cup of tea before the generator is shut down and the auxiliary started. We put on all our gear including PFDs and headlamps and get to work retrieving shorelines just as gusts of wind arrive out of the dark bringing driving sleet just to make things more challenging. By the time we have all our shorelines and the dinghy on deck and raise the anchor the wind eases, the sleet stops and it begins to get light. As we depart Estéro Coloane under power, the day’s
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first rays of sunlight are striking the jagged peaks above one of the fiord’s glaciers. The wind is light and out of the northwest. Once in the channel and heading east towards Puerto Williams the main is raised, as always with the first reef left in, and secured out to starboard with the handybilly too prevent the boom from swinging across the boat dangerously if the wind shifts. Soon after getting underway the wind dies out completely so the main is centred and after setting the autopilot everyone has some cereal, another cup of tea and settles in for a day of voyaging. I use the GoPro to record coastal profiles and cloudscapes as we make our way up the Brazo Sudoeste (Southwest Arm). Our circumnavigation of Isla Gordon is completed when we reach the convergence with the Brazo Noroeste and again return to the main Beagle Channel. There are a variety of clouds on display with local cumulus over the nearby peaks, high streaks of alto cirrus with alto cumulus building in the Northwest foretelling the arrival of the storm front.
Tierra del Fuego, Chile ~ Beagle Channel Watercolour on paper; 14 x 20 cm., MAY 2014
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As the day progresses the wind comes back in and the main sail is reset out to starboard, the small headsail is unfurled and we return to hand steering. Trying to take advantage of the final hours of the voyage I remain on deck watching the cold front approaching from the west. It arrives just as the sun departs and we spend the last few hours of our voyage blasting along in the dark with the wind building as the lights of Puerto Williams slowly come into view. We round the peninsula that protects the small port entering with the auxiliary just ticking over and cautiously approach the congregation of yachts surrounding S.V. Micalvi. Sailors appear on a large yacht, a few directions are spoken, ropes are passed across and soon we are rafted up with the other yachts and securely tied to the Micalvi.
Over the next few days there is little time for reflection or fieldwork. I have participated on the voyage not just conducting Natural History Illustration research but also as crew. We spend long hard days cleaning and preparing Commitment to be left here in Puerto Williams for the winter. Trudging through the muddy streets of the frontier Naval outpost with a huge bag of laundry, cleaning and drying all the foul weather gear, drying then dropping, packing and storing the headsail below, the list of chores seems endless. We spend the evenings in the Micalvi swapping stories with other sailors and trying to connect with the Internet to arrange travel plans and contact friends and family back home. Eventually the chores get done, Commitment is moored in the creek in Puerto Williams and Tony, Jordan and I fly out each going in a different direction; me back to Australia, Jordan to work on a super yacht in the Caribbean and Tony to a small village in Fiji. The opportunity to develop a relationship as a sailor voyaging with Tony and Jordan and the prolonged intimate contact with the marine environment has provided substantial insight for my research, influencing my art much the same way as the interaction with mariners during Cook’s voyages must have influenced his artists. I return to Newcastle with a number of sketches made in the field, hundreds of photos and hours of GoPro footage although perhaps most important of all are the incredible sensory experiences seared into my memory that will influence my more refined studies and the finished artwork.
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CHAPTER VIII
CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF THIS PRACTICE-BASED
RESEARCH PROJECT
During this research project I investigated theories advanced by a number of researchers asserting that an environment of art/science collaboration and travel provided key influential elements leading to major transformations in British land and seascape painting styles between the 1770’s and 1850’s. During the course of my candidature I have made use of extensive relevant literary and visual evidence to gain a thorough understanding of the cultural and aesthetic environments experienced by a group of artists selected as the most significant examples. While it is clear that theory and analysis incorporated in historical research informed my course of action, the creation of a systematic and experimental art practice with an emphasis on field research provided the substantial personal insight into the practical challenges and heightened perception of the natural world experienced by my selected artists.
By informing my art practice with theory and analysis identified in relevant literature and images I believe I have gained valuable insight by combining practical and theoretical analysis into the above period of British landscape art. My field research, the three voyages in particular, which included various lengths of time in prolonged and intimate contact with the marine environment raised my awareness regarding the wealth of influential elements that saturate the life of a voyager. The practical concerns of living at sea: sailing, navigating, meteorology the addition of enquiry into natural history and the creative demands of a recording images of the voyage are recognized as being interconnected increasing my desire to understand our world. My personal experience reinforces the historical literature stating that unfamiliar environments the artists encountered while immersed in a culture shaped by the rapid development of technology and scientific disciplines aimed at investigation of the natural world encouraged them to search for ways to not just record visual information accurately, but
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to somehow convey a larger spectrum of their incredible sensory experiences. In 1836 John Constable, while giving a lecture on the history of landscape painting stated:
Painting is a science, and should be pursued as an inquiry into the laws of nature… Why, then, may not a landscape be considered as a branch of natural philosophy, of which pictures are but experiments? (cited in Leslie 1980, 2nd ed. p. 331)
My early experiments searching for a practical field research methodology were conducted near my home in Dudley, NSW and continually refined as I carried out trips further afield. The voyage through the fiords of Chilean, Tierra del Fuego provided the most challenging conditions for carrying out field research I encountered during my candidature. While the opportunities to make field sketches were brief, my heightened awareness of the natural environment, both in the immediate sense as an active sailor on the voyage as well as recognising something of the geological, glacial and meteorological story unfolding before me was inspirational. That inspiration, as it had been for me previously, was translated to a creative drive, not just to record an image, but also to convey experience. My art practice was an experimental approach, informed by literary research, shaped by the physical and cultural environment and then transferred throughout each progressive stage of refinement during the four-stage approach of my art practice from small field-sketches to large exhibition size paintings.
It should be noted that I have undertaken this investigation as a Natural History illustrator and, in an aesthetic sense, have purposely maintained a reasonably high level of objective description in my art practice. I have refrained from pushing the boundaries of objective description as Turner had but remind the reader that his lectures on colour and motion while serving as Professor of perspective at the Royal Academy provide evidence that even while painting his most seemingly abstract work he was pursuing scientifically descriptive as well as expressive aims.
In her book Voyage into Substance (1985) Barbara Maria Stafford asserts that the study of natural history ignited ‘a fruitful relationship between the creative and the empirical adventure of scientific investigation’ (Stafford 1984 p. 56). Likewise my investigation
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into images of land, sea, sky and cloud has combined academic research with creative endeavour. The description and analysis of my field research and art practice and the exhibition of my work contribute new knowledge in a tradition similar to the demand for a scientific gaze used in the production of descriptive images being matched with clear, concise plain language to document travel accounts as outlined by Andrew Sparrman (1748-1820) in the following quote found in Stafford’s Voyage into Substance. Sparrman, a Swedish naturalist and pupil of Linneaus, had joined Cook’s second voyage at Cape Town, South Africa as assistant naturalist to Johann and Georg Forster. In a passage in his travel account: A Voyage to the Cape of Good Hope (1786), Sparrman wrote: Now every authentic and well-written book of voyages and travels is, in fact, a treatise of experimental philosophy…’ (cited in Stafford 1984, p. 47).
Martin Kemp’s well researched book dealing with the development of optics, perspective and colour theory, The Science of Art: Optical themes in western art from Brunelleschi to Seurat (1990), was founded on the following premise,
There were special kinds of affinity between the central intellectual and observational concerns in the visual arts and sciences in Europe from the Renaissance to the nineteenth century. The affinities centred on the belief that the direct study of nature through the faculty of vision was essential if the rules underlying the structure of the world were to be understood (Kemp 1990, p. 1).
I believe the graphic arts program undertaken by Cook’s artists in collaboration with a host of naturalists and mariners and further enhanced by prolonged intimate contact with the marine environment inherent in the voyages has presented the most significant example of clear literary and visual evidence of the ‘intellectual and observational concerns’ (1990, p. 1) described by Kemp. Evidence has also been presented that elements associated with art/science collaboration and travel influenced the art practices of Cook’s artists and that the tradition was continued by Constable and Turner, even
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while pursuing success in the classically orientated British fine art establishment of the Royal Academy.
My investigation into images of land, sea, sky and cloud has been an amalgamation of traditional theoretical and analytical discussion with a practical approach embodied in an experimental art practice to gain insight into how the artists were influenced. I conducted extensive field research as an essential element of my four-phase art practice informed by a survey of relevant literature and images. I have provided a number of examples of natural science and travel influencing my art practice in a similar if less rigid way than it did for Cook’s artists, Constable and Turner. My experience has led me to conclude that while a heightened knowledge of the natural world has assisted my ability to visually record my travels, gaining that knowledge through the prolonged and intimate contact with the natural world has encouraged the desire to search for ways to visually the convey a wider range of sensory experience. The challenge of travelling and making art in the field combined with the immediacy of the marks made are rewarding. The exhibition of my artwork forms an essential component of my investigation into images of land, sea, sky and cloud, revealing how my personal experience conducting field research was transferred across too the more refined stages of my art practice.
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GUEST, H. 2007. Empire, Barbarism, and Civilization : James Cook, William Hodges, And the Return to the Pacific, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.
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LAMBERT DAVIS 189 catalogue of works : phase i
Catalogue of Selected Work
Art Practice Methodologies
This catalogue contains images from each of the four phases of my art practice included in my exhibition. A brief list of materials and description of painting techniques are included.
The focus of this art practice is images of land, sea, sky, and cloud. A four-phase systematic and experimental approach was developed for my art practice informed by historically based research. Drawing and painting techniques similar to those used by the artists identified in my research as most significant have been employed both in the field and the studio. With field research established as the foundation of my art practice there is an emphasis on field sketches as the first phase, with two other phases of experimentation and refinement leading to the forth phase of large-scale paintings. I have conducted field studies both locally and on journeys in Australia and overseas. Field study techniques were developed to achieve portability and ease of use on early local field trips and then further modified to suit the more challenging conditions encountered during the sailing expeditions.
List of Materials:
- Graphite pencils
- Fixative
- Pens: Faber-Castell PITT artist pens- dark sepia 175, various tips
- Watercolour paint: Cotman half pans, Schmincke 5oz tubes
- Watercolour pencils: Derwent
- Acrylic paint
- Water-mixable oil paint
- Brushes: sable/synthetic, bristle, various shapes and sizes
Lambert Davis 190 cataloguePhotography: of works : phase i
- Olympus TG-610 digital camera.
The TG-610 is weatherproof, durable and compact. By using the USB-AC adapter the camera can be connected directly to a laptop for charging as well as for viewing photo reference while refining field studies or working on watercolour sketches.
- GoPro Hero3+ digital camera.
Compact, durable and versatile, the GoPro was used to produce high definition still photography and video, providing valuable reference during the Tierra del Fuego voyage.
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Phase one - Field Studies
A description of my general technique used for making field studies was to begin my sketches with a pencil drawing in a small watercolour sketchbook, 14 x 20 cm, then to add watercolour. Watercolour pencil and/or sepia-ink pens were used occasionally. Some were done quickly while others were more refined. I also used a second sketchbook with smooth unlined paper for making field notes and pencil or pen drawings. I regularly recorded scenes I was sketching with my camera thereby maintaining the option of refining sketches further in the studio as well as building a library of photo reference that can be adapted for more refined or future work. I also kept my camera available for recording useful images when day-to-day domestic circumstances prohibited the necessary time for proper field studies.
My field kit regularly included:
- A medium sized nylon day-pack
- Two small ringed sketchbooks, one with smooth unlined paper for making drawings and field notes. The second has 90lb watercolour paper and is used for making watercolour sketches
Lambert Davis 192 - Pencils, eraser, sepia artist penscatalogue with a variety of works of :tips phase i
- Small Windsor and Newton watercolour Sketchers’ Pocket Box containing 14 watercolours (½ pans), with 6 additional colours (½ pans) in a small plastic bag.
- A bottle of water, a water container, a rag
- Sable-synthetic brushes (3-4), with a variety of tips
- A piece of cardboard used for testing colours and adjusting the amount of paint held in, and the shape of, the brushes bristles
- Compact, durable and weatherproof digital camera in a soft case
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Redhead Beach, NSW ~ View East february 2011
Nine Mile Beach, NSW ~ View South february 2011
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Dunes, North Belmont, NSW ~ View North april 2011
Dunes, North Belmont, NSW ~ View South april 2011
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Redhead Beach, NSW ~ Shark Tower october 2011
Dudley Beach, NSW ~ View North november 2011
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Dudley Beach, NSW ~ View South november 2011
Dudley, NSW ~ Cloud Study 1 december 2011
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Dudley NSW ~ Cloud Study 2 december 2011
Dudley NSW ~ Cloud Study 3 december 2011
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Margaret River 1, WA january 2012
Margaret River 2, WA january 2012
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Margaret River 3, WA january 2012
North Point, Gracetown, WA january 2012
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Old Bar, NSW april 2012
Redhead Bluff, NSW november 2012
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Mid Ocean, Lord Howe Island Voyage 1 november 2012
Mid Ocean, Lord Howe Island Voyage 2 november 2012
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Mid Ocean, Lord Howe Island Voyage 3 november 2012
Lord Howe Island, NSW ~ View of Mt Lidgbird & Mt Gower november 2012 from Lagoon Beach
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Lord Howe Island, NSW ~ View of Mt Lidgbird & Mt Grower november 2012 from Southern Passage
Port Stephens, NSW ~ Fame Cove february 2013
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Broughton Island, NSW ~ Little Poverty Beach february 2013
Broughton Island, NSW ~ Coal Shaft Bay february 2013
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Whitsunday Islands Group, Queensland ~ I october 2012
Whitsunday Islands Group, Queensland ~ II october 2012
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Tierra del Fuego, Chile ~ Glacier from Beagle Channel april 2014
Tierra del Fuego, Chile ~ Beagle Channel may 2014
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Tierra del Fuego, Chile ~ Estero Coloane may 2014
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Phase Two – Experimental and Preliminary Studies
Phase two sketches and studies were made on Arches, 300gms, watercolour paper, stretched, stapled and taped onto small prepared boards, allowing a 18 x 26cm image size for the majority of studies. Sketches and studies were made using watercolour and water mixable oil paint. Before paint was applied, a preliminary pencil drawing was made on the stretched watercolour paper. The boards are light, portable and durable and some were included with my equipment during field trips. The boards were designed to be reusable and adaptable for use with a range of mediums.
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Old Bar, NSW april 2011
Oahu, Hawaiian Islands, USA ~ Kailua Bay july 2011
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Redhead Beach, NSW ~ View South, Evening july 2011
Dudley Beach, NSW ~ View North, Afternoon august 2011
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Redhead Beach, NSW ~ Stormfront september 2011
Hunter Valley, NSW ~ Birds-eye View december 2011
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Lake Macquarie, NSW ~ Midday february 2012
Lake Macquarie, NSW ~ Afternoon february 2012
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Old Bar, NSW april 2012
Lord Howe Island Voyage ~ Open Ocean november 2012
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Lord Howe Island Voyage ~ Departure november 2012
Broughton Island, NSW ~ Southeast Gale Anchorage 1 february 2013
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Broughton Island, NSW ~ Southeast Gale Anchorage 2 february 2013
Tierra del Fuego, Chile ~ Beagle Channel Glacier april 2014
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Tierra del Fuego, Chile ~ Seno Pia View of Glacier april 2014
Tierra del Fuego, Chile ~ Beagle Channel may 2014
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Phase Three - Refined Studies
The third phase is a series of refined studies intended as a transition between the second phase, experimental and preliminary studies, and the fourth phase, large-scale final paintings. The refined studies are created on gesso-primed, 300gms cold press Arches watercolour paper, mounted on timber boards. Image dimensions are 22 x 35 cm. I began with a highly resolved graphite drawing that was sprayed with a fixative before being stained by a thin wash of an appropriate colour, most often pthalo blue. Acrylic paint was then applied using a variety of synthetic/sable blend and bristle brushes. Paint was applied in thin washes as well as thicker opaque marks. The finish of the paintings is smooth, with little texture and low gloss. The size and purpose of this phase is based on traditional “preliminary studies” created by artists in my study, used as both finished ‘salon” paintings, and for enlarging into exhibition paintings.
Board Preparation
- The boards used as supports for stretched watercolour paper are interior plywood sealed with acrylic undercoat. The paper is allowed to soak until saturated, placed in position then stapled and paper taped to the board. Once dry, the paper tape is covered with masking tape.
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- The boards can be used at this stage for watercolour sketches or primed with gesso for receiving acrylic or oil paint.
- The gesso is applied in multiple thin layers with a three-inch bristle brush. The surface is sanded before a format size is chosen and masked. Finally, a few more thin layers of gesso are applied to seal the tape edge and soften any abrasion marks left from the sanding.
- This process creates an easily handled and portable board. Using gesso, I am able to manipulate the surface texture of the paper so it is more suitable to receive my chosen medium and technique as well as making it more durable.
- The boards are prepared in batches of between four and six at a time.
- Finished works are removed from the boards and can be easily stored, scanned or framed for viewing.
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Redhead, NSW ~ Messengers january 2011
Redhead, NSW ~ View South of Evening Storm Building july 2011
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Dudley, NSW ~ View North, Evening august 2011
Oahu, Hawaii ~ View of Outrigger from Kailua Beach september 2011
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Redhead Beach, NSW ~ Compressed View november 2011
Old Bar, NSW ~ Beach Trail, Sunrise april 2012
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Old Bar, NSW april 2012
Redhead Beach, NSW ~ Shark Tower may 2012
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Lord Howe Island Voyage ~ Departure november 2012
Dudley, NSW ~ View of Storm Front from Dudley Bluff december 2012
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Broughton Island, NSW ~ S.E. Gale Anchorage february 2013
Dudley Beach, NSW ~ Evening Moonrise march 2013
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Lake Macquarie, NSW november 2013
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Phase Four - Final Paintings
A selection of sketches and third phase refined studies recording the sailing expeditions were adapted and enlarged to create three large final paintings as the forth phase. These paintings are a major component of the final exhibition. The three painting are on timber panels I built using hoop pine plywood on a treated pine frame. The entire timber panel was coated with an acrylic undercoat before the surface to be painted was prepared with numerous layers of acrylic gesso primer. Dimensions: 120 x 200 cm Water-mixable oil and acrylic paint were used for the final paintings.
I began each painting by applying a grid with light blue pencil then transferring a preliminary drawing. A well resolved drawing of my chosen scene using a charcoal pencil was lightly fixed before applying washes of colour. Building up layers and using a range of brush sizes and paint thickness as each painting progressed. I choose oil paint initially for the final paintings because it has been the traditional medium used by the significant artists in my study for large-scale exhibited paintings. I experimented with water-mixable oil paint because it doesn’t require the use of toxic thinners and to embrace new materials in a similar manner to a number of artists in my study. I used a drying medium with the water-mixable oil paint and found the process very challenging. The oil paint seemed to coagulate at a random stage limiting the time of painting sessions which I found frustrating. This development encouraged me to return to acrylic paint for the final large panel of Tierra del Fuego.
Lambert Davis 227 catalogue of works : phase i
Broughton Island, NSW ~ South East Gale Anchorage 2014
Tierra del Fuego, Chile ~ View of Glacier, Seno Pia 2014
Lambert Davis 228 catalogue of works : phase i
Lord Howe Island Voyage ~ Departure 2014
Lambert Davis 229 List of Images
Robert Hooke, 1635-1703: Diagram of a Louse, Micrographia, 1667. Engraving, 65.5 x 113.3 cm., viewed 18 February 2015, http://wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons /1/10/ louse_diagram%2c_ Micrographia%2cRobert_Hooke%2c_1667.jpg
Wenceslaus Hollar, 1607-1677: Hull, Date unknown. Engraving, 27 x 31cm., viewed 19 February 2015, http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/file:Wenceslaus_Hollar_-_Hull.jpg
Thomas Sandby, 1721-1798: Windsor Castle from the Goswells, drawn in a Camera [obscura], 1770. Pencil and watercolour, 12.5 x 58.2 cm., Drawings Gallery, Windsor Castle, viewed 18 February 2015, http://royalcollection.org.uk/collection/914602/ windsor-castle-from- the-goswells
Paul Sandby, 1731-1809: Conway Castle, 1789. Watercolour on cream, moderately textured paper, 47.9 x 64.5 cm., Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection, viewed 18 February 2015, http://commons.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Paul_Sandby_-_Conway_castle_- _Google_Art_Project.jpg
John White, c.1545-c.1593: The manner of their fishing and A Cannow, 1585. Watercolour over black lead, touched with bodycolour [gouache] and gold, 35.3 x 23.5 cm. British Museum, London, viewed 24 February 2015, http://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/ highlights/ highlight_image.aspx=ps207966.jpg&retpage=21603
John White, c.1545-c.1593: Loggerhead Turtle, 1585. Watercolour and bodycolour [gouache] over black lead heightened with white, 18.7 x 26 cm., British Museum, London, viewed 24 February 2015, http://www.nps.gov/media/photo/ gallery.htm?tagID=1851#
Jacques Le Moyne de Morgues, 1533-1588: Athore shows Laudonnière the marker column set up by Bibault, after 1566. Watercolour and bodycolour [gouache] with touches of gold on vellum, 18 x 26 cm., New York Public Library, New York, viewed, 12 March 2015, http://historymuseum.ca/virtual-museum-of-new-france/colonies-and-empires/
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Sydney Parkinson, 1745-1771: A View of the North side of the entrance into Poverty Bay & Morai Island in New Zealand.1. Young Nick’s Head. 2.Morai Island. View of Another side of the entrance into Said bay. Hand coloured engraving, 22.7 x 18.4 cm., S. Parkinson del R.B. Godfrey sc. Plate XIV [London]. Parkinson, Sydney, 1745-1771: A Journal of a voyage to the South Seas, in his Majesty’s ship, ‘The Endeavour”. Faithfully transcribed from the papers of the late Sydney Parkinson. London; Printed Charles Dilly, in the Poultry, and James Phillips, in the George-Yard, 1784., Ref; PUBL-0037-14 Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand, viewed 4 March 2015, http://natlib, govt,nz /records/22725530
Sydney Parkinson, 1745-1771: Gardenia Florida [Gardenia Taitensis], 1769, watercolour on paper, 47 x 28 cm., Natural History Museum, London, viewed 14 February 2015, http://www.nhm.ac.uk/nature-online/artnatureimaging/collections/endeavour- botanical/detail.dsml?IMAGNO=004015&index=adv&detailtype=more
Sydney Parkinson, 1745-1771: Vessels of the Island of Otaha [Tahaa], 1769. Wash on paper, 29.8 x 47.7 cm., Ref; Add. (Ms.23921f.17) British Library, London, viewed 18 September 2012, http:/www.captcook-ne.co.uk/ccne/exhibits/18994/index.htm
William Hodges, 1744-1798: Ice Islands with the Resolution and the Adventure, 1773. Wash and watercolour, 38 x 54 cm., Ref; (PXD11f.28), Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales, Sydney, viewed 12 March 2015, http://www.sl.nsw.gov.au/discover _collections /history_nation/voyages/discovery/resolution/index
William Hodges, 1744-1798: A View of the Cape of Good Hope, Taken on the Spot, from on Board the ‘Resolution’, 1772. Oil on canvas, 96.5 x 125.7 cm., National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London, viewed 12 March 2015, http://collections.rmg.co.uk/ collections/objects/13258.html
William Hodges, 1744-1798: A View of Cape Stephens in Cook’s Straits with Waterspout, 1776. Oil on canvas, 137.2 x 193.1 cm., National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London, viewed 12 March 2015, http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/ objects/13384.html
LAMBERT DAVIS 231 John Webber, 1755-1793: Captain Cook in Ship Cove, Queen Charlotte Sound, New Zealand, 1777. Pen, wash and watercolour, 60.7 x 98.5 cm., National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London, viewed 12 March 2015, http://prints.rmg.co.uk/art/503193/captain - cook-in-ship-cove-queen-charlotte-sound
John Webber, 1755-1793: The Harbour of Annamooka, 1777. Pen, wash and watercolour, 44.8 x 100 cm., Ref; Add. (Ms.15513.f.7), British Library, London, viewed 12 March 2015, http://captcook-ne.co.uk/ccne/exhibits/c3118-01/index.htm
John Constable, 1776-1837: View of Southampton showing the Town Quay and the Anchorage from the Platform, 1816. Pencil, 11 x 18 cm., Southampton Art Gallery, Southampton, viewed 12 March 2015, http://www.southampton.gov.uk /libraries/museums/art- gallery.aspx
John Constable, 1776-1837: Harwich Lighthouse, 1820 R.A. Oil on canvas, 32.7 x 50.2 cm., Ref; (N01276), Tate Gallery, London, viewed 19 March 2012, http://www.tate. org.uk/art?artworks/constable-harwich-lighthouse-n01276
John Constable, 1776-1837: Salisbury Cathedral from the Meadows, 1831 R.A. Oil on canvas, 151.8 x 189.9 cm., Tate Gallery, London, viewed 12 March 2015, http://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/the-sublime/anne-lyles-sublime-nature- john-constable
John Constable, 1776-1837: Cloud Study, 1822 Oil on paper on board, 47.6 x 57.5 cm., Ref; (N06065), Tate Gallery, London, viewed 12 March 2015, http://www.tate.org.uk /art/artworks/constable-cloud-study-n06065
Joseph Mallord William Turner, 1775-1851: The Fighting ‘Temeraire’, Tugged to her Last Berth to be Broken up, 1838, 1839. Oil on canvas; 91 x 122 cm., National Gallery, London, viewed 19 March 2015, http://nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/joseph-mallord-william- turner-the-fighting-temeraire
LAMBERT DAVIS 232 Joseph Mallord William Turner, 1775-1851: Christ Church, Oxford, from near Carfax, c.1796. Watercolour over pencil with pen and ink; 25 x 33.1 cm., Ref; (TW0882), National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, viewed 13 March 2015, http://www.tate.org.uk /art/artworks/turner-christ-church-oxford-from-near-carfax-tw0882
Joseph Mallord William Turner, 1775-1851: East Cowes Castle, the Seat of J. Nash, Esq.; the Regatta beating to Windward, 1828 R.A. Oil on canvas; 90.2 x 120.7 cm., Ref; (TW1073), Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis, viewed 19 March 2015, http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/turner-east-cowes’castle-the-seat-of-j-nash-esq-the- regatta-beating-to-windward-1073
Joseph Mallord Turner, 1771-1851: Petworth Park: Tillington Church in the Distance, c.1828. Oil on Canvas, 60 x 145.7 cm., Ref; (TW0559), Tate Gallery, London, viewed 12 March 2015, http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/turner-petwoth-park-tillington-church-in-the- distance-0559
LAMBERT DAVIS 233 PERMISSIONS
Copyright ∼ Permissions
The images reproduced in this exegesis, except for those created by myself, were originally produced between the years 1585 and 1839 and are therefore, to the best of my knowledge, in the public domain. I have endeavoured to accurately record: the name of the artist, the size, the materials, the present location and custodian of each of the actual artworks. In an effort to avoid any possible infringement of copyright, in the following pages I have also included correspondence and information downloaded from the websites of the museums and galleries that possess the original artefacts.
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Britishart.yale.edu information viewed online 13 September 2015
Yale Center for British Art
Using Images of Works in the Public Domain: This work of art (Paul StandbyCustodian, Conway Castle, 1789) is believed to be in the public domain or has no known copyright restrictions. As far as the Center is concerned, you may download and use the Center’s image(s) of works in the public domain for any purpose. You do not need to ask our permission or pay any fees to us to publish the image(s.)
If you can, please acknowledge the Yale Center for British Art with a photo credit—this helps spread the word about our resources.
If you have any information about the rights status of this work contrary to our records, please contact [email protected].
Image used: Paul Sandby RA, 1731-1809, British: Conway Castle, 1789. Watercolour on medium, moderately textured, cream laid paper, 47.9 x 64.5 cm., Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection, viewed 18 February 2015.
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Britishmuseum.org information viewed online 9 September 2015
The British Museum
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Images used: John White, c.1545-c.1593: The manner of their fishing and A Cannow, 1585. Watercolour over black lead, touched with bodycolour [gouache] and gold, 35.3 x 23.5 cm. British Museum, London, viewed 24 February 2015.
John White, c.1545-c.1593: Loggerhead Turtle, 1585. Watercolour and bodycolour [gouache] over black lead heightened with white, 18.7 x 26 cm., British Museum, London. Viewed online, 24 February 2015.
LAMBERT DAVIS 236 PERMISSIONS
www.rmg.co.uk information viewed online 10 September 2015
Royal Museums Greenwich
Collections Online About these terms of use Access to and use of ‘www.rmg.co.uk’ and content provided on these pages is provided by the National Maritime Museum (NMM) on the following terms: By using www.rmg.co.uk you agree to be bound by these terms, which shall take effect immediately on your first use of www.rmg.co.uk. If you do not agree to be bound by all of the following terms please do not access, use and/or contribute to www.rmg.co.uk The NMM may change these terms from time to time and so you should check these terms regularly. Your continued use of www.rmg.co.uk will be deemed acceptance of the updated or amended terms. If there is any conflict between these terms and specific local terms appearing elsewhere on www.rmg.co.uk then the latter shall prevail. Permitted uses We encourage you to use www.rmg.co.uk to extend your knowledge of the Museum and its topics. Subject to certain limitations, there is no copyright infringement by ‘fair dealing’, which includes use of www.rmg.co.uk content for one of the following purposes: private study non-commercial research inclusion of content in thesis produced by students who are attending an educational establishment criticism and review (and news reporting) downloading content and storing a copy on a temporary basis for the sole purpose of viewing such content without alteration or addition. Where the NMM has the right to do so, and where indicated, it has also made its collection records and images available for non commercial reuse under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial-ShareAlike (CC BY-NC-SA) licence http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/.
Images used:
William Hodges, 1744-1798: A View of the Cape of Good Hope, Taken on the Spot, from on Board the ‘Resolution’, 1772. Oil on canvas, 96.5 x 125.7 cm., National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London. Viewed online, 12 March 2015.
LAMBERT DAVIS 237 PERMISSIONS
William Hodges, 1744-1798: A View of Cape Stephens in Cook’s Straits with Waterspout, 1776. Oil on canvas, 137.2 x 193.1 cm., National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London. Viewed online, 12 March 2015.
John Webber, 1755-1793: Captain Cook in Ship Cove, Queen Charlotte Sound, New Zealand, 1777. Pen, wash and watercolour, 60.7 x 98.5 cm., National Maritime Museum, Greenwich. London. Viewed online, 12 March 2015.
LAMBERT DAVIS 238 PERMISSIONS
www.nypl.org information viewed online 13 September 2015
THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY DIGITAL COLLECTIONS
Use of Content From NYPL Websites: The Library encourages its patrons to use materials from the NYPL Websites, provided that you follow these guidelines:
• Low Resolution Files (Only Non-Commercial Uses Allowed). Materials downloaded from the NYPL Websites may only be used for personal, educational, or research purposes. They may not be used for commercial purposes. • High Resolution Files (All Uses Allowed, Including Commercial Uses). High resolution digital files of photos in the Library’s Digital Gallery are available for editorial and commercial use for a reproduction fee. For more information, please go to: www.nypl.org/permissions. • You Are Responsible For Obtaining Necessary Permissions. The NYPL Websites contain a wide range of content. They contain materials that are in the public domain as well as materials that are protected by copyright. In cases where materials on the NYPL Websites are protected by third party rights, you are responsible for clearing the necessary rights in order to use the materials in question. For example, if you want to download a photo that is still protected by copyright for use in a research paper, you must determine whether your proposed use requires consent from the copyright holder, and, if so, you must secure the permission of the copyright holder. In some cases, you may also need to secure the consent of people who appear in photographs in our collections. • Because the Library’s collections are vast, we are not in a position to provide advice to patrons about which materials are protected by third party rights and which materials may be used freely.
Image used: Jacques Le Moyne de Morgues, 1533-1588: Laudonnierus et rex athore ante columnam a praefecto prima navigatione locatam quamque venerantur floridenses, after 1566. Watercolour and bodycolour [gouache] with touches of gold on vellum, 18 x 26 cm., The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs: Print Collection, The New York Public Library, New York. Viewed online 12 March 2015. http://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47d9-7bee-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99
LAMBERT DAVIS 239 PERMISSIONS
Tate.org.uk information retrieved 9 September 2015
Tate
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LAMBERT DAVIS 240 PERMISSIONS
However, the following acts are not permitted in respect of any of the content featured on Tate’s website: Reproduction of website content for commercial purposes, or any rental, leasing or lending of content obtained or derived from the website Any use of the Tate logo, brand identities or Tate trademarks without prior consent from Tate Any considerable public dissemination, display or hosting of website content via any third-party platforms, including without limitation, the substantial or repeated extraction and/or storage of Tate website content in any retrieval system, or inclusion in any other computer program or work Reproduction of Tate website content on any social media platforms, except where other terms allow Inaccurate or distorted reproductions, colour treatments, alterations or adaptations of website content, except where other terms allow Publication of any unauthorised translations or transcriptions of website content, except where other terms allow False attribution of authorial or copyright credits, and the removal of any Tate metadata from digital file formats Unauthorised text/data mining of website content and metadata
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Images used: John Constable, 1776-1837: Harwich Lighthouse, 1820 R.A. Oil on canvas, 32.7 x 50.2 cm., Ref; (N01276), Tate Gallery, London. Viewed online, 19 March 2012. http://www.tate.org.uk/art?artworks/constable-harwich-lighthouse-n01276
LAMBERT DAVIS 241 PERMISSIONS
John Constable, 1776-1837: Salisbury Cathedral from the Meadows, 1831 R.A. Oil on canvas, 151.8 x 189.9 cm., Tate Gallery, London. Viewed online, 12 March 2015. http://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/the-sublime/anne-lyles-sublime- nature-john-constable
John Constable, 1776-1837: Cloud Study, 1822 Oil on paper on board, 47.6 x 57.5 cm., Ref; (N06065), Tate Gallery, London. Viewed online, 12 March 2015. http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/constable-cloud-study-n06065
Joseph Mallord William Turner, 1775-1851: Christ Church, Oxford, from near Carfax, c.1796. Watercolour over pencil with pen and ink; 25 x 33.1 cm., Ref; (TW0882), National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa. Viewed online, 13 March 2015. http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/turner-christ-church-oxford-from-near-carfax- tw0882
Joseph Mallord William Turner, 1775-1851: East Cowes Castle, the Seat of J. Nash, Esq.; the Regatta beating to Windward, 1828 R.A. Oil on canvas; 90.2 x 120.7 cm., Ref; (TW1073), Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis. Viewed online, March 2015. http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/turner-east-cowes’castle-the-seat-of-j-nash-esq- the-regatta-beating-to-windward-1073
LAMBERT DAVIS 242 PERMISSIONS
9 September 2015
To Whom It May Concern,
I am a PhD candidate in Natural History Illustration at the University of Newcastle, Australia. I have recently completed my thesis entitled “A Visual Investigation into Images of Land, Sea, Sky and Cloud: History, Science and Travel Applied to a Contemporary Art Practice”.
I am writing to request written permission to reproduce the image listed below in my thesis. The use of the image is of great value to my research and will be reproduced strictly for non-commercial purposes on the University of Newcastle’s institutional digital repository NOVA, providing worldwide access to my research via the internet. Furthermore, a limited number of hardbound copies of my thesis will be made for my research supervisors, the university library and myself.
Thomas Sandby, 1721-1798: Windsor Castle from the Goswells, drawn in a Camera [obscura], 1770. Pencil and watercolour, 12.5 x 58.2 cm., Drawings Gallery, Windsor Castle, viewed 18 February 2015, http://royalcollection.org.uk/collection/914602/windsor-castle-from-the-goswells
It is my sincere wish to make every effort to avoid copyright infringement and your assistance in this matter is greatly appreciated.
Kind regards,
Mr Lambert Davis PhD Candidate, Natural History Illustration School of Design, Communication and Information Technology University of Newcastle, Australia [email protected]
LAMBERT DAVIS 243 PERMISSIONS
LAMBERT DAVIS 244 PERMISSIONS
21 September 2015
To Whom It May Concern,
I am a PhD candidate in Natural History Illustration at the University of Newcastle, Australia. I have recently completed my thesis entitled “A Visual Investigation into Images of Land, Sea, Sky and Cloud: History, Science and Travel Applied to a Contemporary Art Practice”.
I am writing to request written permission to include a low-resolution (300dpi) reproduction of the image listed below in my thesis. The use of the image is of great value to my research and will be reproduced strictly for non-commercial purposes on the University of Newcastle’s institutional digital repository NOVA, providing worldwide access to my research via the internet. Furthermore, a limited number of hardbound copies of my thesis will be made for my research supervisors, the university library and myself.
Sydney Parkinson, 1745-1771: Vessels of the Island of Otaha [Tahaa], 1769. Wash on paper, 29.8 x 47.7 cm., Ref; Add. (Ms.23921f.17) British Library, London.
It is my sincere wish to make every effort to avoid copyright infringement and your assistance in this matter is greatly appreciated.
Kind regards,
Mr Lambert Davis PhD Candidate, Natural History Illustration School of Design, Communication and Information Technology University of Newcastle, Australia [email protected]
LAMBERT DAVIS 245 PERMISSIONS
21 September 2015
Dear Lambert,
Thank you for your email.
The permission fees will be waived to use the image in your thesis, which is to appear online, but we ask that the image is displayed no higher than 72dpi, and that you credit the Library accordingly:
© The British Library Board, Add. 23921, f.17
You are free to use the image in the hardbound copies of your thesis also.
Kind regards
Jackie
Jackie Brown Permissions Manager
The British Library 96 Euston Road London NW1 2DB
Tel: +44 (0)20 7412 7755 www.imagesonline.bl.uk
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