https://theses.gla.ac.uk/ Theses Digitisation: https://www.gla.ac.uk/myglasgow/research/enlighten/theses/digitisation/ This is a digitised version of the original print thesis. Copyright and moral rights for this work are retained by the author A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge This work cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the author The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the author When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given Enlighten: Theses https://theses.gla.ac.uk/ [email protected] The drawing strategies of James Nasmyth (1808-1890): Technological and artistic visual traditions in the early nineteenth century Frances Robertson M.Phil. dissertation University of Glasgow Faculty of Arts History of Art June 2003 Q Frances Robertson 2003 ProQuest Number: 10391032 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a com plete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. uest ProQuest 10391032 Published by ProQuest LLO (2017). Copyright of the Dissertation is held by the Author. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States C ode Microform Edition © ProQuest LLO. ProQuest LLO. 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.Q. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106- 1346 GLïVSGOW UNIVERSITY IWBRARY: I 3 I S o CofY L ABSTRACT This dissertation explores the range of drawing practices open to James Nasmyth (1808-1890), the mechanical engineer. He has been used as the focus for the study of different conventions of drawing and mark-making in mid-19th-century Britain at a time when mechanization began to influence the production of images at many levels. The context of his education and training in Edinburgh in the 1820s is described first; this covers not only the influence of his father, Alexander Nasmyth (1758-1840), the landscape painter, but also the curriculum and student bodies of the Trustees' Academy and the Edinburgh School of Arts. Nasmyth's working life coincided with the development and consolidation of technical and engineering drawing, and this dissertation examines the theoretical and material bases of this style as it appeared in technical illustrations; in teaching manuals; and in working and presentation drawings, using material from the Nasmyth & Gaskell donation at the Institute of Mechanical Engineers. In tandem with his working drawings, Nasmyth throughout his life continued the practice of observational sketching as a record of the people, places, and objects that interested him, and many of these drawings have been preserved in sketchbooks or in his Autobiography. In addition, James Nasmyth produced a book on the nature of the Moon landscape. The Moon, considered as a Planet, a World, and a Satellite in 1874 in collaboration with James Carpenter (1840-1899). This was illustrated with photographic images which exhibited several innovative features both in Nasmyth's idiosyncratic mixed-medium method of working, and in their method of production as print illustrations; this section drew on material from the John Murray Archive. This whole range of drawing practices was considered in order to begin to address two questions; 1) were different drawing conventions kept rigidly apart at this period, and 2) did the development of mechanically reproduced images lead to a new synthesis between different mark-making conventions? Contents List of Illustrations i-iv Chapter I: 1: Introduction 1 2: Discussion of Sources 8 Chapter II: Nasmyth's Drawing Education in Context 1: Family 14 2: Masters; manuals; the Trustees' Academy 23 3: Technical drawing 35 Chapter III: Plutonic Landscapes 53 Chapter IV: In the Age of Mechanical Reproduction 1: Introduction 65 2: Nasmyth's Scheme Book 75 3: Roll 52: Technical drawings of Nasmyth,Gaskell, and Company 86 Chapter V: Nasmyth's Book on the Moon of 1874 99 Chapter VI: Conclusion Bibliography and List of Sources 125 List of illustrations Figure 1: Alexander Nasmyth, detail from Loch Katrine, undated, oil on canvas 68.6 x 90.2 cm. Glasgow Museums and Art Galleries (Kemp 1970:97), Figure 2: S t Bernard's Well, wood engraving (Nasmyth 1883:44). Figure 3: The Family Tree, wood engraving (Nasmyth 1883:38). Figure 4: James Nasmyth, Oak Tree, 1830 pencil 13.2 x 20.6 cm. (NLS MS3241 no.68). Figure 5: Sir John Herschel, Bonneville near Geneva, on the road to Chamonix, 13 August 1821 camera lucida pencil drawing 19.2 x 27.9 cm. (Schaaf 1992:7). Figure 6: Original by Lady Elizabeth Foster drawn on lithographic stone by A.Regnault, from Georgiana Spencer, Passage du Mont saint- Gothard 1817 15 x 19.9 cm. (Twyman 1990:170). Figure 7: James Nasmyth, 1821, pencil drawing 12.2 x 13.7 cm. (NLS MS3241 no.8). Figure 8: James Nasmyth, 25 August 1822, pencil drawing 19 x 14 cm. (NLS MS3241 no. 14). Figure 9: James Nasmyth, pen drawing with pencil additions by Alexander Nasmyth 1825 9x13 cm. (NLS MS3 241 no. 42). Figure 10: James Nasmyth, pencil and brush drawing with ink washes (no date) 7.5 x 9.8 cm. (NLS MS 3241 no. 48). Figure 11: Hamble from a drawing by Gilpin, Gilpin's Day Plate 18; monochrome aquatint (Bicknell and Munro 1988:22). Figure 12: George Harley, First Principles of Landscape Drawing Plate 27, 1829 aquatint (Bicknell and Munro 1988:49). Figure 13: Anonymous Frontispiece and title page A Catechism of Drawing, 1822 Edinburgh: Oliver & Boyd. Figure 14: William Bell Scott, Study o f a Nude Young Man, undated, annotated Trustees Academy No. 10 Exact Copy' pencil (National Galleries of Scotland Print and Drawing Collection D4712.15). Figure 15: Figures from the Antique designed and etched by P. Gibson, Edinburgh Encyclopaedia Plate CCXXV 1830 Vol. 8: 235. Figure 16: Coining Press for the Soho Mint 3 October 1850 (Booker 1979: Plate 6). Figure 17: Robert Adam's Charlotte Square (Markus 1982:128). Figure 18: Modern diagram showing one of Finley's experiments (Kranakis 1997:46). Figure 19: Gaspard Monge, Geometrie descriptive Plate XI, 1795 (Booker 1979:99). Figure 20: Drawing by Rev. William Farish engraving by Wilson Lowry, Example of Isometric perspective 1821 (Farish 1821: Figure 9). Figure 21: John Farey, Drawing Instruments, Edinburgh Encyclopaedia Plate XXCCCV 1830 Vol. 8. Figure 22: Detail of Figure 21. Figure 23: Drawing by John Farey, engraving by Wilson Lowry, Delineators (Rees 1819 Vol. XI: Plate I). Figure 24: Two contrasting styles of drawing from Micrographia (Hooke 1665); these details are taken from part of Scheme xxxviii facing page 244; and part of Scheme vi facing page 60 (actual size). Figure 25: James Nasmyth, First drawing of Steam Hammer 24 November 1839 wood engraving (Nasmyth 1883:241). Figure 26: James Nasmyth, Sectional Model of Condensing Steam Engine c. 1827 wood engraving (Nasmyth 1883:111). Figure 27: James Nasmyth, The Alchemist just detecting a glorious passage in Geber, 1833, pen drawing with pencil underdrawing 9.4 x 9.7 cm. (NLS MS3241 no. 129), a Figure 28: James Nasmyth, Roger Bacon, 1845, lithograph drawing 19 X 23 cm. (NLS3242 no. 136). Figure 29: James Nasmyth, A Method of Casting Specula for Reflecting Telescopes wood engraving (Nasmyth 1883: 405) Figure 30: Devonport Docks wood engraving (Nasmyth 1883: 273) Figure 31: James Nasmyth, Moon surface Feb, 3 1868 , black and white drawing on fine grey paper 28.5 x 22.8 cm. (NLS MS 3242 no. 201) Below: a wood engraved illustration (Nasmyth 1883: 335) to illustrate the passage on the ‘awful grandeur of lunar scenery'. Figure 32: Group of Lunar Mountains (Nasmyth and Carpenter 1874: Plate XXIII). Figure 33: Back of Hand and Shrivelled Apple heliotype Nasmyth and Carpenter 1874: Plate II (Frizot 1998:375). Figure 34: Joshua Field,1821, annotated facsimile sketchbook page (Hall 1925-6:26). Figure 35: John Farey, sketchbook page, 1805 (Woolrich 1998: 51). Figure 36: James Nasmyth. Scheme book, Page 19 (I.Mech.E. IMS 98). Figure 37: James Nasmyth, Scheme book. Page 28(I.Mech.E. IMS 98). Figure 38: James Nasmyth, Scheme book, Page 29(I.Mech.E. IMS 98). Figure 39: Workshop of Nasmyth &Gaskell, detail of END 14/7/6 (I.Mech.E.): a large toothed gear wheel still shows the remnants of the simple operations used to build up more complex curved outlines. Figure 40: Workshop of Nasmyth &Gaskell, detail of END 14/7/1 (I.Mech.E.): preliminaiy design drawing of an automatic speed regulator. Figure 41: Workshop of Nasmyth &Gaskell, detail of END 14/3/4 (I.Mech.E.): ‘shadow-lining', used to indicate light falling from the upper left. Note that b is therefore a solid cylindrical form, whereas a is a hollow shown in section. in Figure 42: Workshop of Nasmyth &Gaskell, detail of END 14/5/1 (I.Mech.E.): detail of finished presentation drawing with applied flat washes of colour. Figure 43: Examples o f Finished Shading (Engineer and Machinists' Drawing Book 1868: Plate LVII). Figure 44: Workshop of Robert Napier, Glasgow details of engines of the Thunderbolt, 1842 pen and watercolour (Glasgow Museum of Transport TD 232/10). Figure 45: James Nasmyth, Two contrasting lathe operators (Nasmyth 1841:396). Figure 46: Four examples of moon maps 1836-1914 (Pannekoek 1961: Plate 11). Figure 47: Stamped book cover design (Nasmyth and Carpenter 1874).