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The Artist As Naturalist and Experimenter: Landscape Painting and Science 1740-1850

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The Artist As Naturalist and Experimenter: Landscape Painting and Science 1740-1850 1 THE ARTIST AS NATURALIST AND EXPERIMENTER: LANDSCAPE PAINTING AND SCIENCE 1740-1850 Beryl Hartley MA (RCA) Volume I A thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy of the University of London Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine (History of Science and Technology) 2 ABSTRACT This thesis discusses the relationship of late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century British naturalistic landscape painting to the fieldwork and experimental practices of contemporary scientific endeavour. It argues that close study was essential to a naturalistic treatment and traces what this entailed in practical terms. Part I assesses some eighteenth-century field collaborations between artists and naturalists engaged in a variety of investigations from the 1740s, and the value of sketching to fieldwork. The significant effect of the naturalists' rigour and methodology on the artists' practice is revealed. Part II deals with the knowledge and representation of trees; of obvious importance in nature and landscape painting, they have been little discussed by historians of science or art. It demonstrates the unique role of landscape painters in the study of living trees. A survey of works on trees dating from mid­ seventeenth century, resulting from a wide range of economic, aesthetic and scientific concerns, reveals an increasing demand for naturalistic drawings. The neglect of whole trees by botanists and their artists is explained and major changes in British botany around 1830 are shown to have ended it; the expertise of certain landscape painters was essential in providing depictions of living trees. In Part III an examination of eighty years of tree-drawing manuals by landscape painters helps to clarify the practical aspects of close study. The special and often innovative visual and manual skills acquired in the activity of tree drawing from nature, including the creation of a device - "the touch" - to express the characters of different foliage, are analysed in depth. The exploratory nature of this practice, and its embedded craft and tacit skills, are shown to be analagous to aspects of laboratory experimentation. 3 CONTENTS Volume I Preface 5 Acknowledgements 7 List of Illustrations in Volume II 8 Abbreviations !2 INTRODUCTION 13 PART I SKETCHING IN THE FIELD: COLLABORATION BETWEEN LANDSCAPE PAINTERS AND NATURALISTS IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY 26 Chapter 1 From idealising to studying nature 31 Chapter 2 The artist's role 63 PART II THE KNOWLEDGE AND REPRESENTATION OF TREES 104 Chapter 3 Attitudes to trees and their representation: Evelyn to Loudon 108 Chapter 4 Tree drawing: picturesque theory and natural history practice 136 Chapter 5 Naming and knowing: botany and trees 163 PART III THE LIVING ACADEMIES OF NATURE: EXPERIMENTAL PRACTICES AND COMMUNICATION OF TECHNIQUES IN TREE DRAWING 207 Chapter 6 Nature as guide: innovations 210 Chapter 7 Putting the stamp of nature on the work of art 246 Chapter 8 Scientific experiment in learning and communicating the skills of tree drawing 285 4 CONCLUSION 317 BIBLIOGRAPHY 325 Volume II ILLUSTRATIONS PART I 358 PART II 387 PART III 415 5 PREFACE Looking at naturalistic landscapes by British painters of the early nineteenth century over a long period, and pondering on their striking contrast to the artificiality of idealised visions, or the stark matter-of-factness of topographical art, raised various questions. Why did landscape painters begin to look more directly at nature and when, and - since it was clearly not a simple transition from either of these modes - precisely how did they go about it? To what extent did they need to change their perception of nature, adopt new methods and develop new skills? Above all, was the 'how' in any way connected with Constable's remarks that painting was a science, and "a branch of natural philosophy of which the paintings are but experiments"?1 This had always puzzled me and I had never found a convincing explanation. I was aware of Constable's interest in natural history, including geology, and of his studies of cloud formations and trees, but what models had he, and others attempting to draw naturalistically, found for their practice? The influence of seventeenth-century Dutch landscape appeared an insufficient explanation,- Constable himself said: "I have been running after pictures, and seeking the truth at second hand".2 Tree drawing appeared a neglected area and I began to investigate attitudes to trees and tree depiction, and especially the teaching of it. Treatises on trees were generally informative and the drawings they contained increasingly naturalistic; botany appeared to ignore whole trees completely, and the implications of that for landscape painters who were drawing them needed to be clarified. Examining tree-drawing manuals, which urged painters to observe nature closely and depict her faithfully, I had a growing conviction that these 1 . Royal Institution lecture 16 June 1836, quoted Leslie 1843 (1951 p. 323). 2. Quoted Leslie ibid. p. 15. 6 landscape painters were emulating field naturalists. It became evident that in coping with the particular difficulties of representing foliage, for instance, they originally learned by doing, observing the trees closely and exploring various means of expressing the salient features of each type. Perhaps this was what Constable meant by experimentation? Parts II and III contain my examination and evaluation of these issues. Part I, on landscape painters and naturalists collaborating in fieldwork in the eighteenth-century, arose out of the tree research since the 'when' question still remained unanswered. It thus sets the scene for the discussion of trees in the rest of the thesis and gives credence to my view of the artist as naturalist. 7 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First and foremost I want to thank Jim Secord, who is surely the thesis supervisor par excellence. He has been unstinting with his time and effort and his constructive criticism and helpful suggestions have been invaluable. His unfailing enthusiasm for my research encouraged me in difficult times when I might otherwise have given up. David Allen, Ian Fleming-Williams, David Gooding and Peter Stevens were generous with their time, and discussions with them helped me greatly with some troublesome points. Thanks for advice and help of various sorts are also due to Nicholas Alfrey, Christopher Frayling, Patricia Fara, Andrew Grout, Yolande Hodson, Frank James, Mary Jennings, Stephen Johnston, David Knight, Alan Moreton, James Ryan, Anne Secord, Peter Schimkat, Ann Shteir, Richard Taylor and Hugh Torrens. Dan Fern at the Royal College of Art kindly provided access to a special copier for the illustrations for the bound copies, and Mike Watson operated it with skill and care. I am particularly indebted to all the archivists and librarians who provided invaluable assistance, especially Malcolm Beasley and Julie Upton in the Botany Library, Natural History Museum,- Karin Cooke and Geoff Armitage in the British Library Map Library; Harold Carter and his assistants in the Banks Archive,- Miss Fitzgerald and her assistants at Kew,- Mrs. McCabe, Royal Institution; Gina Douglas, Linnean Society; Christine Butler, Corpus Christi College; Lavinia Wellicome at Woburn Abbey. I have been sustained throughout by the loving support of my long-suffering children and close friends, who must frequently have felt that I'd got my priorities wrong. 8 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS IN VOLUME II Titles, sources, dates and sizes are given in the captions PART I Fig. 1 Thomas Hearne Sir George Beaumont and Joseph Farington sketching a waterfall 358 Fig. 2 Robert Price A glacier on Mont Blanc 359 Fig. 3 Marc-Théodore Bourrit View of Mont Blanc 360 Fig. 4 Robert Price Two drawings of grass species 361 Fig. 5 Thomas Gainsborough Beech Trees at Foxley 362 Fig. 6 Robert Price View at Foxley 363 Fig. 7 John Baptist Malchair View at Foxley 363 Fig. 8 Robert Price View of Cynant 364 Fig. 9 Robert Price River view 364 Fig. 10 Robert Price A waterfall in Wales 365 Fig. 11 Robert Price Llanberis 365 Fig. 12 Moses Griffith Glyder Bach 366 Fig. 13 Moses Griffith Dolbadarn Castle and Snowdon 366 Fig. 14 Moses Griffith Trevaen from Glyder Bach 367 Fig. 15 Moses Griffith On Glyder Bach 368 Fig. 16 Paul Sandby Falls of the Clyde 369 Fig. 17 Paul Sandby Falls of the Clyde 369 Fig. 18 Paul Sandby Chepstow Castle 370 Fig. 19 Paul Sandby Chepstow Castle 370 Fig. 20 Paul Sandby View in the Avon Gorge 371 Fig. 21 Alexander Catcott Strata in the banks of the Wye 372 Fig. 22 Paul Sandby Briton Ferry 373 Fig. 23 Paul Sandby Dolbadarn Castle and Llanberis 374 Fig. 24 Paul Sandby Dolbadarn and Snowdon 374 Fig. 25 Samuel Buck Dobadarn Castle 375 Fig. 26 John Boydell View of Snowdon 375 Fig. 27 Paul Sandby Ancient Beech Tree 376 Fig. 28 Paul Sandby Section of the Fair Copy, Military Survey of the Highlands 377 Fig. 29 William Leybourn Plate from The Comoleat Surveyor 378 Fig. 30 Paul Sandby Castle Duart 379 Fig. 31 Paul Sandby View of Castle Duart 379 9 Fig. 32 Paul Sandby Sheet of Plans and Views of Castles 379 Fig. 33 Paul Sandby Plan of Dumbarton Castle 380 Fig. 34 Paul Sandby Survey Party near Rannoch 381 Fig. 35 Paul Sandby Survey Party near Rannoch 381 Fig. 36 Paul Sandby A young man 382 Fig. 37 Francis Cotes Paul Sandby 382 Fig. 38 Robert K. Dawson Instructions for surveyors 383 Fig. 39 Robert K. Dawson Instructions for surveyors 383 Fig. 40 John Cleveley Bou-sha-la, Staffa 384 Fig. 41 John Cleveley Bou-sha-la, Staffa 384 Fig. 42 John Cleveley Shagg's Cove, Staffa 385 Fig. 43 Paul Sandby A surveying party in the Highlands 386 PART II Fig. 44 Anon. Sap collecting 387 Fig. 45 Anon. A forest glade 388 Fig 46 Dionysius Ehret Cedar of Lebanon 389 Fig.
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