The Artistic Approach of the Grieve Family to Selected Problems of Nineteenth Century Scene Painting
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This dissertation has been microfilmed exactly as received 67-6318 HAMBLIN, Junius N., 1930- THE ARTISTIC APPROACH OF THE GRIEVE FAMILY TO SELECTED PROBLEMS OF NINETEENTH CENTURY SCENE PAINTING. The Ohio State University, Ph.D., 1966 Speech-Theater University Microfilms, Inc., Ann Arbor, Michigan C Copyright by Junius N. Hamblin 1967 THE ARTISTIC APPROACH OF THE GRIEVE FAMILY TO SELECTED PROBLEMS OF NINETEENTH CENTURY SCENE PAINTING DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Junius N . Hamblin* B .S.* M.S. ****** The Ohio State University 1966 Approved by Department of Speech PLEASE NOTE: Figure pages are not original copy. They tend to "curl". Filmed in the best possible way. UNIVERSITY MICROFILMS PREFACE The conduct of this investigation would not have been possible without the large number of drawings by members of the Grieve family available for analysis through the microfilm holdings of The Ohio State University Theatre Collection. These holdings are from three sources: (l) The British Museum collection of drawings by John Henderson Grieve (OSUTC film No. 1454). (2) The Victoria and Albert Museum holdings of drawings by members of the Grieve family (OSUTC film No. 1721). It is from these two sources that the drawings were selected for analysis and illustration in this study. (3) Drawings by Thomas Grieve in the Charles Kean Collection at the Victoria and Albert Museum (OSUTC film Nos. 893, 894 and 895 )• These drawings are catalogued in Appendix A and were examined but were not used as illustrations for the study because they are from the second half of the century when theatrical conditions had begun to change. A second source of information valuable to this study was the extensive microfilm holdings of early nine teenth century play scripts in The Ohio State University Theatre Collection— originals in the Henry E. Huntington Library and the Victoria and Albert Museum. These scripts, ii primarily the pantomimes, frequently gave a description of each scene and the scene painter for that scene. This information was valuable not only in indicating the kinds of scenes the Grieves most frequently painted, it also made possible the identification of some of the drawings. The materials used in this investigation have certain limitations which should be kept in mind. First, a scene painter's drawing is at least two steps removed from the setting as seen by the audience in the theatre. In painting a setting from a drawing, changes would be made because of the great differences in scale and because of the different media used. The visual effect of the setting would again be changed by the stage lighting. Therefore, conclusions have been drawn only about those elements of form that would remain relatively unchanged under such conditions. A second limitation is in the nature of the micro film process which does not reproduce one important design element— color. However, this is not as great a limitation as it would at first appear. The change from the rendering to the lighted set would affect color more than any other design element. This, and the tendency of water colors to fade with age, would make possible only very limited conclusions about the color of the setting as seen by the audience. iii VITA April 29, 1930 Born— Salt Lake City* Utah 1952 ..... B.S., Utah State Agricultural College 1952-1953 • Graduate Assistant, Department of Speech and Theatre, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah 1953 .... M.S., Brigham Young University* Provo, Utah 1953-1954 Teacher of English and Speech, Preston High School, Preston, Idaho 1954-1955 Graduate Assitant, Department of Speech and Theatre, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah 1955-1956 Graduate Assistant, Department of Speech, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 1956-1957 Assistant Instructor, Department of Speech, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 1957-1958 Instructor, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana 1958-1961 Instructor, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 1961-1966 Assistant Professor, State University College at Oneonta, Oneonta, New York FIELDS OF STUDY Major Field: Theatre Theatre History and Criticism: Professor John McDowell Technical Theatre and Scenery Design: Leland Watson and Alfred D. Sensenbach Minor Field: Radio and Television Production Professor Harrison B. Summers Minor F.^eld: Art History Professor Frank Seiberling and Alexander D. Severino iv CONTENTS Page PREFACE ........................................ ii ILLUSTRATIONS .................................. vii Chapter I. ARTISTIC AND THEATRICAL BACKGROUND ....... 1 Artistic Background ........ 4 Theatrical Background .......... 10 Summary............................... 30 II. THE GRIEVE FAMILY AND THEIR RELATION TO THE NINETEENTH CENTURY THEATRE ............. 32 A Chronological Survey...... 32 From 1770 to 1820 .............. 34 From 1820 to 1845 ..... 38 From 1845 to i860 ..... 40 From i860 to 1882 .................... 46 The Character and Scope of The Grieve Family's Professional Activity....... 49 Summary.................... 62 III. EXAMINATION OF SELECTED DRAWINGS BY MEMBERS OF THE GRIEVE FAMILY........... 63 Introduction........................... 63 The Artistic Content of the Drawings .... 68 Exotic subject-matter ................ 70 Moonlight ............................ 85 Ruins ............................... 99 Rugged and wild landscape ............ 105 Violence of nature ................... 106 Common man ........................... 109 Conclusion ....................... 119 The Style of the Drawings ............ 121 Rendering of forms ........... 122 Organizing the elements .............. 134 Summary ............................... 149 v Chapter Page IV. THE USES MADE OP THE DRAWINGS BY THE SCENE PAINTERS .................. ...... 153 Two Drawings for Harlequinades ......... 156 The Blind Beggar of Bethnal Green ...... 159 Harlequin and The Magic Rose ........... 165 Robinson Crusoe .......... 178 Summary............................... 187 V. CONCLUSION.............................. 191 The Grieve Family in the Nineteenth Century Theatre ...................... 191 Areas for Possible Future Investigation .. 198 Appendix A. CATALOGUE OF DRAWINGS BY MEMBERS OF THE GRIEVE FAMILY IN THE OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY THEATRE COLLECTION.......... 201 B. IDENTIFICATION OF THE DRAWINGS ........... 273 C. CHRONOLOGY OF THE THEATRE ACTIVITIES OF THE GRIEVE FAMILY...................... 293 BIBLIOGRAPHY................................... 313 vi ILLUSTRATIONS Figure Page 1. Maquette of monolithic ruins in a forest .... 71 2. Maquette of Moorish ruins on the edge of a plain with a city in the distance ........ 74 3. Moorish interior ......................... 76 4. Don Quixote attacking the "windmill" ...... 79 5. Fantastic kitchen scene ................... 81 6. Fantastic island-ship ..................... 83 7. The Louvre by moonlight from across the river .................................. 87 8. Woods by moonlight.. ...................... 89 9. Woods by moonlight.. ...................... 91 10. Ruins of an Oriental temple by moonlight .... 94 11. Aldgate pump and Aldgate street ....... 97 12. Ruins of a castle with distant landscape .... 100 13. Tonbridge Castle ............ 102 14. Desolate landscape with bridge ............. 107 15. Storm-tossed coast with ship In distress .... 110 16. Woodsman’s cottage ...................... 113 17. Mountain village ................ 115 18. Sketch of village .................. 117 19. Palatial interior ......................... 124 20. Domestic interior ......................... 126 21. Ruined church by moonlight ................ 129 vii Figure Page 22. Cottage with distant landscape ........... 132 23. Subterranean palace or grotto ............ 136 24. Act drop for the Theatre Royal Bath ...... 138 2 5 . City scene .............................. 143 2 6 . Spanish street and town .................. 146 27. A view of Hackney and Bethnal Green...... l6l 28. The Beggar’s Cottage .................... 16*+ 2 9. Bird's-eye-view of Constantinople ........ 169 30. St. Petersburg and Grand Square .......... 171 31. Amsterdam by moonlight ................... 173 32. Crusoe’s f a r m ...... 180 33. The interior of Crusoe's cave ............ 184 viii CHAPTER I ARTISTIC AND THEATRICAL BACKGROUND This study is an examination of selected drawings by members of the Grieve family* a family of nineteenth century English scene painters. In recent years a number of studies of the nineteenth century theatre have utilized the enormous quantity of visual material available from that period including drawings by scene painters. Most of these studies* however* have been intended to illustrate the staging of the plays. Wilson in his study of Charles Kean's productions of Shakespearian tragedy at the Princess Theatre* utilizes many of the drawings made for these productions* now in the Victoria and Albert Museum.1 However* his study is concerned with the staging of these plays and does not discuss the subject-matter of the drawings or the way in which the subject-matter was organized by the scenic artists. Stranger's discussion of 1Mardis G. Wilson* "Charles Kean: A Study in Nineteenth Century Production of Shakespearian Tragedy" (unpublished Ph.D. dissertation* The Ohio State University* 1957). Thomas Grieve's drawings in this collection are catalogued in Appendix A. 1 these drawings is primarily a catalogue of the drawings with only an occasional discussion