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Faces and Places

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Faces and Places FACES AND PLACES I thought it would be helpful to tell you about some of the books I have found inspiring in preparing this talk. As the poster says, this is a very personal ramble but I have had so much enjoyment from the period not least because there are so many places, stately homes, National Trust houses, and many distinguished examples of architecture and many remarkable collections of paintings and other objects, and wonderful period gardens. The list is far from exhaustive and a trawl through the internet will reward you with many other sources, for example there are very readable books by Amanda Vickery, Lucy Worsley and Lucy Ingles. I have avoided dealing with literature but I have had a great deal of enjoyment from the novels of Henry Fielding and Tobias Smollet and dipping into Daniel Defoe’s journalistic Tour through the Whole Island of Great Britain. This was a period of wonderful and witty poetry; I’ve included a quote from Alexander Pope on the flyer for this talk. His “Consult the genius of the place in all…” entreats anyone who wishes to build houses or gardens to make their project sympathetic to the place in which the development is to take place. This is often referred to as the ‘Genius Loci’ and has been a guiding principle in English art even up to artists like Paul Nash and John Piper. Kate Retford The Art of Domestic Life – Family Portraiture in Eighteenth-century England [New Haven and London 2006] Not such an easy read unless you find yourself enthusiastic about the period. But to me it was an important guide to portrait painting. Stephen V Sartin Polite Society – Portraits of the English Country Gentleman and His Family by Arthur Devis 1712-1787 [Preston 1983] A book of an exhibition which did a great deal to resurrect the memory of an artist who is a particular favourite of mine. Surprisingly it’s still available from Amazon. Roy Porter has written a number of books on the period my favourite is Flesh in the Age of Reason [Penguin London – undated] Vic Gatrell City of Laughter: Sex and Satire in Eighteenth Century London [London 2007] Definitely one of the books I would take to my desert island, it wouldn’t be the only one though. It’s a rollicking read, but not for the prudish. It paints a striking picture of the London of the period. A second book by this writer equally exciting is The First Bohemians: Life and Art in London's Golden Age [London 2013] Tim Richardson The Arcadian Friends – Inventing the English Landscape Garden [London 2007] His is another book for my desert Island. A comprehensive history of one of England’s greatest art forms Molly Peacock The Paper Garden: Mrs Delany Begins Her Life's Work at 72 [London 2012] An amazing story of a remarkable woman who as well as building grottos made botanical pictures out of cut paper. Her work is held by the British Museum. Timothy Mowl William Kent: Architect, Designer, Opportunist [2011] Mowl has written an amazing number of books on, for example English Gardens and the English Rococo. I am indebted to him for pointing out the correspondence between the rococo and the gothick. He is engaged in writing a series of books on the English garden county by county. I do hope that some of the above will give you as much pleasure they have given me FACES AND PLACES GAWEN HAMILTON – The Ducane and Boehm Family A rather obscure artist born near Glasgow but worked in London WILLIAM HOGARTH –The Strode Family The main subject here is the wealthy city magnate William Strode, seated at table with his new wife Lady Anne Cecil, his relative Col. Strode, and his tutor Dr Arthur Smyth, later Archbishop of Dublin. The paintings on the wall are reminders of their recent tour of Italy. On the floor is the tea caddy JOSEPH HIGHMORE. – Mr Oldham and his Guests Highmore was born in London, the third son of Edward Highmore, a coal merchant. On the revival of the Order of the Bath in 1725, he was selected to paint the knights in full costume. Nathaniel Oldham served with the army in India in his youth, but retired on inheriting a fortune, to pursue his interests as an extravagant collector of curiosities, and as a patron of the arts and the turf. His enthusiasms eventually bankrupted him and he apparently died a debtor in the King's Bench prison. ARTHUR DEVIS - Mr and Mrs Van Harthals – Mr and Mrs Van Harthals and his Guests Arthur Devis was born in Preston, Lancashire, was the eldest son of Anthony Devis. His father was a member of the town council as well as a carpenter and a bookseller. Devis received his greatest number of commissions for portraits between 1748 and 1758. Many of the pictures show the sitters in landscapes. Although portrayed with what seems like precise topographical detail, these views, like all but one of the interiors, were mostly invented by Devis Nothing is known of the Van Harthals. The James Family This group portrait shows Robert James, together with his wife Mary and two daughters Elizabeth and Ann. James, aged fifty-one at this time, was for many years Secretary to the East India Company. Reverend Streynsham Master The Reverend Streynsham Master and His Wife, Margaret of Croston, Lancashire, Arthur Devis, 1743-1744. This grand interior is probably not how Croston Vicarage really looked. JOSEPH WRIGHT OF DERBY – Fleetwood Heskith and his Wife Joseph Wright of Derby, was an English landscape and portrait painter. He has been acclaimed as "the first professional painter to express the spirit of the Industrial Revolution" Both Fleetwood Hesketh and his wife came from wealthy Lancashire landed families. JOSHUA REYNOLDS – Henry Loftus 1st Earl of Ely and his Wife Frances The Honourable from 1751 to 1769 and known as Henry Loftus, 4th Viscount Loftus from 1769 to 1771, was an Anglo-Irish peer and politician. THOMAS GAINSBOROUGH – Mr and Mrs Andrews This portrait is the masterpiece of Gainsborough's early years. It was painted after his return home from London to Suffolk in 1748, soon after the marriage of Robert Andrews of the Auberies and Frances Carter of Ballingdon House, near Sudbury, in November of that year. The landscape evokes Robert Andrews's estate, to which his marriage added property. He has a gun under his arm, while his wife sits on an elaborate Rococo-style wooden bench. The painting of Mrs Andrews's lap is unfinished. The space may have been reserved for a child for Mrs Andrews to hold. GEORGE STUBBS – The Reapers The Haymakers GEORGE ROMNEY – Mrs Johnson and her Son Within twelve months of his return Romney was enjoying great success. This was partly due to what he had learnt in Italy and his shrewd choice of a studio in fashionable Cavendish Square but also because of his emphasis on good value and informality. His prices were consistently lower than those of his main rivals Thomas Gainsborough and Joshua Reynolds and he chose to abstain from certain artistic rituals such as exhibiting at the Royal Academy. The loose, spontaneous handling and visible brushstrokes of this painting readily demonstrate the distinctive style of portraiture Romney was developing at this time. THOMAS GAINSBOROUGH – Thomas Rumbold and SonRumbold was the third son of William Rumbold, an officer of the East India Company's naval service. He joined the Company's service as a writer at the age of 16, then transferred to the Company's military service. Promoted to Captain in 1757, he served as Clive's aide-de-camp at the Battle of Plassey. He subsequently transferred back to the Civil Service, becoming chief at Patna in 1763 and a member of the Bengal Council from 1766 to 1769; he was mentioned as a possible Governor of Bengal in 1771, but Warren Hastings was appointed..In 1769 Rumbold returned to Britain with a large fortune. JOSHUA REYNOLDS – The Duchess of Devonshire and Child During her years in the public eye, Georgiana Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire was painted several times by both Thomas Gainsborough and Joshua Reynolds. The Duchess of Devonshire was a celebrated beauty and socialite who gathered around her a large salon of literary and political figures. She was connected to key figures of the age such as the Prince of Wales and Marie Antoinette. She was an active political campaigner in an age when women's suffrage was still more than a century away. The Spencers and the Cavendishes were Whigs. The Duchess of Devonshire campaigned for the Whigs—particularly for a distant cousin, Charles James Fox—at a time when the King (George III) and his ministers had a direct influence over the House of Commons, principally through their power of patronage. During the 1784 general election, the Duchess was rumoured to have traded kisses for votes in favour of Fox, and was satirised by Thomas Rowlandson in his print "THE DEVONSHIRE, or Most Approved Method of Securing Votes". WILLIAM HOARE – Christopher Anstey and Daughter Christopher Anstey (1724-1805 was a Poet. He is shown here with one of his four daughters who playfully tries to distract him from his work. Her toy is actually a fashion doll like those sent from Paris to guide dressmakers in the latest styles. Its towering feathered hair-style is clearly meant to recall Anstey's satire of such extremes of modern female fashion. JOHAN ZOFFANY – Lord Willoughby de Broke and Family John Peyto, fourteenth Lord Willoughby de Broke, and his wife, Lady Louisa North, appear about to take tea with their three young children He undertook a major rebuilding of the family seat, between 1762 and 1768 to the designs of architect Robert Adam and then had the gardens landscaped by Capability Brown in 1769.
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