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David Irwin, John Flaxman 1755-1826

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David Irwin, John Flaxman 1755-1826 REVIEW David Irwin, John ilaxman 1755-1826: Sculptor, Illustrator, Designer Janice Lyle Blake/An Illustrated Quarterly, Volume 15, Issue 4, Spring 1982, pp. 176-178 176 John Flaxman REVIEWS 1755-1826 Sculptor Illustrator Designer David Irwin. John Flaxman 1 755- 1826, Sculptor, Illustrator, Designer. London: Studio Vista/Christie's, 1979. New York: Rizzoli International Publications, Inc., 1980. xviii + 249 pp., 282 illus. $55.00. David Irwin Reviewed by Janice Lyle ntil recently the only full-length monograph Irwin has been quite successful in the task he on John Flaxman available to scholars was set for himself. He has assembled and collated U the limited edition of W. G. Constable's information from widely diverse and often hard-to- biography published in 1927. However, 1979 saw find sources into a logical, cogent--if at times dry-' Flaxman's full re-emergence as an artistic exposition of Flaxman's development. Undoubtedly, personality. The re-evaluation of his importance the book's greatest contribution to scholarship is reached its peak with the major Flaxman exhibitions its presentation of factual information in an held in Hamburg, Copenhagen, and London accompanied organized format. by an extensive catalogue edited by David Bindman, the numerous reviews of these exhibitions, and the publication of David Irwin's monograph, John Flaxman Technically the book is excellent. It is well- 2755-2826 Soulptor Illustrator Designer. Thus, John designed and offers 282 illustrations, all black-and- Flaxman, whose art Irwin promoted as early as 1959 white (a fact which is less distressing with (see "Reviving Interest in Flaxman," Connoisseur, Flaxman's work than with that of most artists, as the 144 [1959], 104-05), is now the subject of much majority of his drawings are pen-and-ink while his modern attention. sculpture is uncolored marble). The illustrations are located either on or near the page of the dis- cussion, and there are notably few errors in In the Preface of his book, the first full- corresponding plate numbers. scale appraisal of Flaxman's life and work, Irwin states: The format is basically thematic, although the My aim has been a comprehensive examination of progression of Flaxman's interests all ows the author all aspects of Flaxman's career between the to place the ten chapters in a general ly chrono- covers of one book. Different areas of his work logical sequence: (I) Early Career; ( II) Artist and are interdependent, thus making separate studies Industry: Wedgwood; (III) To Italy; ( IV) Sculptures by their very nature incomplete. I have not in Italy; (V) Illustrations; (VI) Scul ptor of Tombs: traced his influence abroad, nor included his after 1794; (VII) Sculpture: Secular Commissions; influence on Victorian artists. I have tried, (VIII) Portraits; (IX) Royal Plate and Other Metal - however, to discuss as many of Flaxman's works work; (X) Professor of Sculpture; Epil ogue: as possible, short of producing a catalogue Victorian Taste. Notes, bibliography, index of works raisonne. and general index follow. 177 The outstanding feature of Irwin's study is his motif of a chariot flanked by several figures, presentation within a single volume of the entire but whereas Flaxman's represent constellations, range of Flaxman's activities. Besides lecturing at Stothard's are putti; Flaxman's chariot is the Royal Academy, Flaxman was a prolific sculptor pulled by horses, Stothard's by centaurs. of tombs and monuments, an influential illustrator (pp. 194-95) of important literary works, and a recoqnized designer of pottery and silver. Irwin's greatest contribution John Flaxman's refinement of composition, his ability to our understanding of Flaxman's work is his chapter to design complex figural groups which remain clear on Flaxman's interest in Italian Trecento and Quattro- and distinct, and his sensitive use of three- cento art. The care with which Irwin cites only dimensional qualities contrast sharply with Stothard's those frescoes that Flaxman could have seen in the overly-elaborate compositional elements and less 1790s is a credit to his thorough art-historical well-proportioned figures. The author's exposition methodology. In addition, he incorporates an ex- of these important differences would certainly cellent selection of photographs to demonstrate the clarify the positive aspects of Flaxman's style and Italian sources for Flaxman's art. The author's his sensibility in design. discussion of the close relationship between John Flaxman and William Young Ottley offers valuable In Chapter IV Irwin notes that insights into a relationship which has received too little attention. In this context, Ottley's dedi- Flaxman's volumes [of illustrations to Homer, cation of his volume, A Series of plates engraved Aeschylus and Dante] were therefore published after the paintings and sculptures of the most either without any quotations at all or with eminent masters of the early Florentine school, 1826, only a minimal number of lines under each plate. to John Flaxman deserves further study. Certainly This novel form of publication undoubtedly Ottley's admiration for Flaxman is evident in his contributed to their contemporary visual impact drawing style. Many Ottley drawings, made in prepa- and their far-reaching influence. ration for the volume on Florentine art and also (pp. 68-69) based on Flaxman's engraved designs to Dante, Homer, and Aeschylus, are stylistically so close to Flaxman This "novel form of publication" is significant and that they have been incorrectly catalogued as Flaxman deserves elaboration. The history of book illustra- drawings. tion offers some prototypes for this format, such as Stothard's Pilgrim's Progress series of 1788-91. Despite the importance of this instructive A broader view of context and influence would have research on Flaxman, some minor criticisms are added to the scholarly insights in this volume. necessary. In many instances, the author seems to have unnecessarily limited his aims and viewpoint. Blake scholars will be disappointed by the All too often he confines himself to a mere recita- paucity of references to the object of their interest. tion of events and description of works. Flaxman's For example, Flaxman's drawings for the Book of Enoch interaction with other artists of the period is sel- (one of which appears as figure 140) display many dom discussed, and the artistic theories prevalent correspondences with Blake's drawings of the same at the time are not explored in relationship to subject, while the similarities between Flaxman's Flaxman. Indeed, Irwin fails to make critical drawing for William Collins' sculptural monument judgments about Flaxman's place in the art world (figure 77) and Blake's illustrations for America of 1800. One example is his discussion of Flaxman's will be obvious to Blake scholars; Irwin's reticence Triumphal Arch surmounted by Britannia where no on these points is regretable. The discussion of mention is made of French visionary architects like Flaxman's designs for Homer, Aeschylus, and Dante Boull6e and Ledoux. These architects conceived rightly stresses the importance of symmetry in these projects of enormous proportions that undoubtedly works. Flaxman's illustrations, produced in Italy furnished precedents for Flaxman's design. during the early 1790s, rely on a simplification or distillation of each form, a positioning of those forms in a perpendicular or parallel relationship Symptomatic of the limitations of Irwin's to each other, and a division of the abstract space- methodology is the comparison of Flaxman's Achilles less ground into geometric segments. It is likely Shield and Thomas Stothard's Triumph of Bacchus that upon Flaxman's return from Italy in 1794, these and Ariadne; Sideboard Dish which appear as consecu- enqravings had an important stylistic impact on tive illustrations in Chapter X. Irwin writes: Blake. That the period 1794-1795 was traumatic for Blake has often been noted in reference to his poetry and his political beliefs. The French The Shield of Achilles was displayed prominently Revolution, the execution of Louis XVI, the Reign at the coronation banquet in July 1821. The of Terror, and the repressive measures instituted royal collection already possessed a large by the English government all contributed to the sideboard dish illustrating the theme of the disillusionment of Blake and other radicals of the Triumph of Bacchus and Ariadne , which had been period. This disillusionment caused Blake to alter designed by Stothard, and also made for not only his political and philosophical attitudes, Rundell's, in 1814 (Plate 271). The composition but his poetic and artistic methods as well. of this dish and the shield are in some respects Flaxman's designs are more abstract and refined than similar, and it is possible that Flaxman Blake's, but Blake was capable of translating the influenced his fellow artist. The similarities compositional elements of Flaxman's engravings into may however have been prescribed in the the powerful images of the 1795 series of color- commisions [sic]. Both works have a central printed drawings. As Blake is now the most popular 178 and well-known artist of this period, it is footnote 30, back to Chapter I, footnote 7, to unfortunate that such specific correlations in style, discover to which work by Bentley Irwin is referring. technique, and theory between the two close friends are not included in Irwin's study. The problems in citation may appear trivial, but a volume with pretentions to offering a thorough The only really distressing aspect of the book discussion, short of a catalogue raisonne, of the is Irwin's attitude toward references. Footnotes in works of a single Neoclassic artist is definitely the volume most often cite contemporary sources or more than a coffee-table book. As such, one expects the manuscripts and drawings themselves. This a thoroughness in the footnotes that will provide approach ignores the more recent critical commentary valuable research assistance.
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