Júlia Papp, John Brampton Philpot's
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RIHA Journal 0091 | 25 June 2014 John Brampton Philpot's photographs of fictile ivory in the Hungarian National Museum1 In commemoration of the bicentenary of Ferenc Pulszky's birth J lia Papp Institute for Art History, Research Centre for the Humanities, Hungarian Aca emy of !ciences, "u a#est Peer revie! and e"iting managed by# Ju it $alu y, Institute for Art History, Research Centre for the Humanities, Hungarian Aca emy of !ciences, "u a#est $evie!ers# Zsu&sa $arkas, J(nos )isler %bstract In the Archeological Archives of the Hungarian National Museum you can find a series of photographs depicting fictile ivory. Made up of 265 items, the series were produced y !ohn "rampton #hilpot, orn in the $% and settled in &lorence in the middle of the '(th century, then donated to the museum y &erenc #uls)*y in '+6+. ,urned to e-ile in '+.(, #uls)*y inherited his elated uncle/s valua le ivory collection, which was e-hi ited in 0ondon in '+51. 2ince technologies which made it possi le for sensitive artefacts to e reproduced without any damage done to the original had ecome available y that time, #uls)*y gave authori)ation, upon re3uest of his colleagues at 2outh %ensington Museum, for the reproduction of his ivory collection. In '+61 #uls)*y started to live in &lorence, where he got into professional contact with #hilpot and is li*ely to have een instrumental in the ma*ing of the a ove photo series of fictile ivory. #hilpot pu lished an individual catalogue of these series, which despite its misspellings and erroneous data has provided great assistance in identifying the photographs from "udapest. #hilpot/s series of photographs supplied a lot of important information for the 4uropean history of photographing and collecting art treasures in the '(th century, and also contri uted to the art reproduction movement of the '+55665s. New technologies 7electrotyping, photography8 came to play a dominant role in the institutional development of art history, archeology and historic conservation. ,he networ* esta lished and widened etween the 4uropean pu lic and private collections, which enhanced the e-change and the sales of art reproductions, with the intention of serving oth educative and scientific aims. &ontents Art re#ro uctions in )uro#e in the secon half of the 19th century Fictile i*ory in the 19th century The #hotogra#hic series of John "ram#ton ,hil#ot !electe -i-liogra#hy an list of a--re*iations * * * * * 9': 2earching in the photographic archives of the Hungarian National Museum/s central database, you can find a series of photographs 7in "o-. No. 158 consisting of 265 items, which depict fictile ivory form the ancient, medieval and early modern ages. Dry6 stamped y the artist with the inscription "J. B. Philpot Firenze Lungo l'Arno", '5' out of these items are of a larger format 72<,. - '(,< cm8, while the remaining ''. are of a ' ,he present study has een accomplished within the framewor* of a cooperation etween the Hungarian National Museum and the =esearch >enter for Humanities of the Hungarian Academy of 2ciences 7HA28. I have to thank the Hungarian National Museum for the reproductions I used as illustrations for my wor*. ,his research was supported y the Hungarian Institute "alassi, the National >ultural &und of Hungary 7N%A8 and the >onsiglio Nazionale delle =icerche 7Italy8. License: The text of this article is provided under the terms of the Creative Commons License CC-BY1NC-ND 3.06 RIHA Journal 0091 | 25 June 2014 smaller format 7'',5 - 6,< cm8 and completed with only a note on the verso saying "J. B. Philpot Firenze Borgo Ognissanti No 17"2 ? thus the photographs were taken y !ohn "rampton #hilpot 7'+'26'+<+81, orn in the $% 7Maidstone8 and settled in &lorence in '+55. ,he ack of each of these items is provided with the registration date of '+<' and a manuscript inscription, which reads "by courtesy o Ferenc Pulsz!y"" that is to say, the series were donated y &erenc #ulsz*y 7'+'.6'+(<8 to the li rary of the museum, which had come under his direction in '+6(. 7&ig. '8 1 John Brampton Philpot: Photograph, verso, Hungarian National Museum 2 @n the verso of the small format photographs no. 1Aa, .Aa, 'A , 2A , 5Aa neither a note nor a dry stamp is visi le. 1 #iero "ecchetti, Fotografi e otografia in #talia, 1%&'(1%%). =oma '(<+, 25, 16, 65B I. Cannier, *toria +ella otografia italiana, =oma ? "ari '(+6, '<B Michele &al)one del "ar arD, Monica Maffioli, 4manuela 2esti, Alle origini +ella otografia: un itinerario toscano 1%&'(1%%), &irenze '(+(, 11, .5?.6, 2'.B "oda von ;ewit), ;ietmar 2iegert, %arin 2chuller6#rocopovici, #talien sehen und sterben. Photographien +er -eit +es .isorgi/ento 01%12(1%7)3, %Eln '((., 52?51, 2<1, 2+2B ;orothea =itter, ed., Florenz und +ie 4os!ana$ Photographien 1%1)(1')). *am/lung *iegert, Heidel erg '((<, 2<B Fiovanni &anelli, L'ani/a +ei luoghi. La 4oscana nella otografia stereoscopica, &irenze 255'B ,amassia 2552B Arturo >arlo Guintavalle, 5li Alinari, &irenze 2551, 255, 2.1, 162B ,amassia 255., 66?6<B =oger ,aylor, Larry !ohn 2chaaf, #/presse+ by Light, British Photographs ro/ Paper Negati6es$ 1%1)(1%7), New Haven 255<B Éloge +u négati . Les +9buts +e la photographie sur papier en #talie 01%17(1%7:3. 4-hi ition catalogue of the #etit #alais in #aris 7MusHe des "eaux6Arts de la Iille de #aris8 '+ &e ruary ? 2 May 25'5, #aris 25'5, '.'? '.1, 21'B &anelli 7for ab reviations see the i liography at the end of the article8. License: The text of this article is provided under the terms of the Creative Commons License CC-BY1NC-ND 3.06 RIHA Journal 0091 | 25 June 2014 92: ,hese series of photographs serve as a spectacular e-ample of Jreproductive continuumJ. ? which played a dominant role in the museological, educational and collector practices of the second half of '(th century ? i.e., the contact of the different reproductive techni3ues of art treasures5 7drawings, etchings, plaster casts and electrotypes, paper mosaics, photographs, post cards in mass production and distri ution, reproducing replicas of statues for cultural purposes68. A series of photographs made of fictile ivory, that is, a copy of copies, proves a useful illustration of the mutual influence these reproductive techni3ues e-erted on each other.< 8to#9 %rt repro"uctions in 'urope in the secon" half of the ()th century 91: "y the second half of the '(th century the collection of art reproductions had acquired a new functionK y ecoming commonly available in 4urope, then soon in the $nited 2tates+, these collections received a relevant mass educative, cultural and pedagogical role for the enefit of pu lic visitors to the museums, and ro*e the monopoly of practicing or training artists and scientists to study art treasure and ornamentation at the same time and place in the various museums or private collections of the world or those decorating the e-terior or interior of different uildings. 9.: 2ince purchasing plaster cast and electrotype reproductions of art had ecome more and more popular after the '+55s, oth with private individuals 7mainly collectors, scientists, architects and artists) and pu lic institutions 7museums, universities, art academies), enterprises dealing with reproduction wor* and organi)ations trusted with its sales also started to flourish. 4stablished at the end of the '+.5/s and operating throughout the end of the '(th century, the "ritish Arundel 2ociety(, for e-ample, organi)ed meetings, lectures and e-hi itions for the intention of collectors or anyone interested, and pu lished catalogues with photographic illustrations of the reproductions on sale at the society. "aker 25'5. 5 "aker 25'5. &or more cf.K ,revor &awcett, J#lane 2urfaces and 2olid "odiesK =eproducing ,hree6 ;imensional Art in the Nineteenth >enturyJ, in: ;isual .esources, An #nternational Journal o <ocumentation . 7'(+<8, Issue ', '?21. 6 A-el Fampp, J#laster >asts and #ostcardsK the postcard edition of the MusHe de 2culpture >omparHe at #arisJ, in: #laster >asts 25'5, 55'?5'+. < In the second half of the '(th century it was 3uite common during an e-hi ition to place an original wor* of art and its reproduction or photograph ne-t to one another. Apart from 2outh %ensington Museum ? where in '++5 they placed fictile ivory in line with original medieval ivory carvings in order to give an encyclopedic overview of the art history of the period 7"aker 25'5, .(.8 ? this trend was also transparent in the '++2 historical oo* e-hi ition of "udapest, where a series of renaissance illuminated codices orrowed from foreign li raries were e-hi ited together with photographs of other codices, the originals of which could not e rought to "udapest y the organi)ers. &ar*as ? #app 255<, '15B #app 255(, 22'. + &or e-ample %atherine A. 2chwa , =asting the Past, 4he >etropolitan >useum o Art =ast =ollection at Fair iel+ ?ni6ersity, &airfield $niversity '((.. ( ,anya Ledger, A study o the Arundel *ociety 1%1%(1%'7. ;#hil. $niversity of @-ford '(<+, httpKAAora.o-.ac.ukAo jectsAuuidK <+'+5+ 6'5656.c+56++5'6a552c<'f(5''. License: The text of this article is provided under the terms of the Creative Commons License CC-BY1NC-ND 3.06 RIHA Journal 0091 | 25 June 2014 95: In commissioning art reproductions, the 0ondon ased Iictoria M Al ert Museum, formerly *nown as 2outh %ensington Museum,'5 played a leading role among all the museums and managed to establish a fruitful relationship with individuals and companies speciali)ed in reproducing art.