THE TEACHING OF NON-PROFESSIONAL ARTISTS IN EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY ENGLAND KIMBERLY MAE SLOAN Thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Westfield College University of London 1986 ABSTRACT The introductory chapter explains terms used throughout this thesis and why this period was chosen for study. The history of the introduction of drawing to the curriculum of Christ's Hospital, the Lens family who were the drawing masters there, and their drawing manuals and teaching methods are the subject of the second chapter. The third deals with the teaching of drawing at private academies, particularly Thomas Weston's in Greenwich, and with his and the Bickham family's activities as drawing masters to the pupils of this academy and the children at the Royal Naval Hospital. William and Sawrey Gilpin at Cheam Preparatory School are examined through the surviving correspondence of the Grimstons of Kilnwick in chapter four. Alexander Cozens's activities as a drawing master occupy the remaining half of the thesis. Chapter five explains how he himself learnt to draw and describes his earliest known employment as a drawing master at Christ's Hospital from 1749 to 1754. Chapter six traces his activities through the 1750's as a private drawing master and as the author of publications intended to assist the artistic invention of amateurs and professionals alike. It also examines his relationship with his son, John Robert Cozens, with Sir George Beaumont at Eton College, and with Henry Stebbing who studied Cozeris's 'blot' method. Chapter seven examines the activities of three of Cozens's private pupils through their surviving work and family papers in order to ascertain the element of original artistic creativity in the landscapes produced under his instruction. The concluding chapter considers why art education gained considerable importance in the education of young gentlemen and gentlewomen during this period, and whether the drawing masters' methods of teaching them changed. Finally, the role of drawing masters as creators and disseminators of artistic theories and their contribution to the development of English landscape watercolour painting are discussed. 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS VOLUME I Abbreviations p. 4 Acknowledgements ................................p. 5 List of Illustrations ........................... pp. 6-11 Chapter1: Introduction .........................pp. 12-29 Chapter 2: Teaching Drawing at Christ's Hospital pp. 30-70 Chapter 3: Teaching Drawing in Private Academies pp. 71-112 Chapter 4: The Gilpins, Grimstons, and Cheam Preparatory School .................. pp. 113-142 Chapter 5: Alexander Cozens's Early Training.... pp. 143-177 Chapter 6: The Teaching Methods of Alexander Cozens ............................... pp. 178-209 Chapter 7: Private Pupils of Drawing Masters, of Alexander Cozens in Particular ....... pp. 210-233 Chapter 8: Conclusion ........................... pp. 234-250 Bibliography .................................... pp. 251-265 VOLUME II Appendix A: Drawing Masters in Eighteenth-Century Britain ............................. pp. 266-308 Appendix B: Private Academies and Public Schools Where Drawing may have been Taught and the Names of their Drawing Masters.. pp. 309-318 Appendix C: The Lens Family ..................... pp. 319-326 Appendix D: The Bickham Family .................. pp. 327-328 Appendix E: Subscribers, Pupils, and Patrons of Alexander Cozens .................... pp. 329-356 Appendix F: 'Drawing - A "Polite Recreation" in Eighteenth-Century England', Kim Sloan in Studies in Eighteenth-Century Culture, Harry C. Payne (ed.), vol. 11 (Madison, 1982), pp. 217-40 Appendix G: 'Thomas Weston and the Academy at Greenwich', Kim Sloan in Transactions of the Greenwich and Lewishani Antiquarian Society, vol. IX, no. 6 (1984), pp. 313-33 3 Appendix H: 'A New Chronology for Alexander Cozens, Part I: 1717-59', Kim Sloan in Burlington Magazine, vol. CXXVII, no. 983 (1985), pp. 70-5 Appendix I: 'A New Chronology for Alexander Cozens, Part II: 1759-1786', Kim Sloan in Burlington Magazine, vol. CXXVII, no. 989 (1985), pp. 355-63 Illustrations..........................................1-110 ABBREVIATIONS BAC Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, Conn. BM British Museum BML British Museum Library BM MSS Department of Manuscripts, British Museum BM P & D Department of Prints and Drawings, British Museum DNB Dictionary of National Biography NAL National Art Library, Victoria and Albert Museum NLW National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth NMM National Maritime Museum, Greenwich VAM Victoria and Albert Museum 4 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I should first of all like to thank the Central Research Fund of the University of London for providing the financial assistance to carry out research for this thesis in the Hermitage and in record offices and museums all over Britain. The staff of the record offices at Bedford and Aylesbury were particulary helpful and patient. It should be noted here that, unless stated otherwise in the text or footnotes, quotations from manuscripts found in these record offices are, as far as can be established, unpublished. I am very grateful to the staff of many art galleries, print rooms and libraries but I would especially like to thank those who gave me so much of their time in the British Museum Print Room, the Courtauld Library and Slide Library, Eton College Library and Gallery, the City of London Guildhall Manuscripts Department, the National Maritime Museum, the Paul Mellon Centre, the Department of Art Library of Queen's University at Kingston, the Royal Observatory, the Witt Library, 'Woodlands' Local History Library, Greenwich, and the Yale Center for British Art. There is not room here to list all of the individuals who have replied to numerous enquiries, invited me into their homes to study their private collections, or suggested fruitful sources of information, but I would like to record my gratitude to the following in particular: David Alexander, Sir Francis Beaumont, T.R.C. Blofeld, Judy Egerton, Lady Elton, Ian Fleming-williams, Joan Friedman, Asya Xantor-Gukovskaya, the Baroness Lucas, Professor Michael McCarthy, Dr. Tessa Murdoch, Sheila O'Connell, Felicity Owen, Nicholas Plurnley, Bruce Robertson, Mr. and Mrs. Dudley Sneigrove, and Andrew Wilton. The debt I owe Denys Oppé and the work of his father cannot be measured. Nor can I adequately thank my thesis supervisor, Dr. David Bindman, for his kind patience, advice and support. In many ways this thesis is as much my family's, especially my husband's, Paul Chaffe, as it is mine. Without their encouragement and help it could not have been finished. Finally, I would like to dedicate this thesis to the memory of Desmond Chaffe, Pat Holmes, and Isabel Sloan. 5 ILLUSTRATIONS 1. Lens The New and Compleat Drawing-Book (1750) Un- numbered plate (Christ's Hospital, Library, Horsham). 2. Lens The New and Compleat Drawing-Book (1750) un- numbered plate (Christ's Hospital, Library, Horsham) 3. Lens The New and Compleat Drawing-Book (1750) Un- numbered plate (Christ's Hospital, Library, Horsham) 4. Lens The New and Compleat Drawing-Book (1750) un- numbered plate (Christ's Hospital, Library, Horsham) 5. Lens The New and Compleat Drawing-Book (1750) Un- numbered plate 6. Bernard Lens Figure studies s. & d. 1704 (c/AM) 7. Lens The New and Compleat Drawing-Book (1750) Un- numbered plate (Christ's Hospital, Library, Horsham) 8. Lens (attr.) Castle ruins n.d. (D.S. Snelgrove, Esq.) 9. George Bickham (engraver). Title-page to A Drawing- Book, Part I, by Thomas Weston. (NAL, VAM) 10. Abraham Bloemaert Receuil de Principes pour Dsigner (1655) title-page to Part I (BM) 11. Thomas Weston (attr.) A Drawing-Book Composed for the Use of the Young Gentlemen at the Academy in Greenwich (1726) (NAL, yAM) 12. Abraham Bloemaert Receuil de Principes pour Dsigner (1655) plate 64 (BM) 13. Thomas Weston (attr.) A Drawing-Book Composed for... (1726) (NAL, yAM) 14. Thomas Weston (attr.) A Drawing-Book Composed for... (1726) (NAL, yAM) 15. Thomas Weston (attr.) A Drawing-Book Composed for... (1726) (NAL, yAM) 16. Thomas Weston (attr.) A Drawing-Book Composed for... (1726) (NAL, VAM) 17. Thomas Weston (attr.) A Drawing-Book Composed for... (1726) (NAL, VAM) 18. George Bickham the Elder (attr.) The Drawing and Writing Tutor (n.d.) title-page (NAL, yAM) 19. George Bickham the Elder (attr.) The Drawing and Writing Tutor (n.d.) p1. 1 (NAL, yAM) 20. George Bickham the Elder (attr.) The Drawing and Writing Tutor (n.d.) p1. 12 (NAL, yAM) 6 21. Sawrey Gilpin (etching) in Two Essays by William Gilpin (1804) p1. 1 (NAL, yAM) 22. Sawrey Gilpin (etching) in Two Essays by William Gilpin (1804), p1. 2 (NAL, yAM) 23. C. Yorke Sculpt., del. W. Gilpin Forest scene oval etching, p. 78 of A Collection of Prints Engraved by Various Persons of Quality [collected by Horace Walpole], vol. I (Lewis Walpole Library, Yale, Farmington, Conn.) 24. Alexander Cozens Windbreak of trees s. & d. 1736. pen, ink, and wash. (London, Christie's, 17 November, 1981, lot 52, repro.) 25. Alexander Cozens. Landscape s. & d. 1743. pen and ink (BM) 26. Alexander Cozens. Cottage amongst trees pen, ink, and wash (yAM) 27. Alexander Cozens. Landscape near Rome 1746. pen and ink (yAM) 28. John Pine, after Alexander Cozens The East View of Eton College detail. 1742. hand-coloured etching (BAC) 29. Alexander Cozens Roman Sketchbook p. 19v. 1746. pencil. (BAC) 30. Alexander Cozens Landscape with bathers ink and coloured wash (?) (ex. coll. Walkers Galleries, 1929) 31. Alexander Cozens Harbour scene with a tower (Priv. Coll. UK) 32. Alexander Cozens On the banks of a river ink wash (BM) 33. Alexander Cozens Roman Sketchbook p. 9r (detail). 1746. pencil (BAC) 34. Alexander Cozens Roman Sketchbook p. 2r. 1746. pencil (BAC) 35. Alexander Cozens Roman Sketchbook p. 20v. 1746. pencil (BAC) 36. Alexander Cozens Roman Sketchbook p. 60v. 1746. pencil (BAC) 37. Alexander Cozens Roman Sketchbook p. 3r. 1746. pencil (BAC) 38. Alexander Cozens Roman Sketchbook p. 33v. 1746. pencil (BAC) 39. James Elly lements of Navigation 1755. pencil, pen and ink drawing opposite description of 'Oblique Sailing' (Christ's Hospital, Library, Horsham) 7 40.