The view from Richmond Hill

One of the most famous views in the history of landscape painting is "The View from Richmond Hill". In the last it was liked so much that it's now the only view in the UK which is specifically protected by an Act of Parliament.

I've created a small website about it - The View from Richmond Hill - for those who want to know exactly where it is and what the view looks like - and some more about the artists associated with painting the view from the hill e.g.

• Sir Joshua Reynolds whose home (Wick House on Richmond Hill) has this view, or 
• JMW Turner who painted it several time or 
• Jasper Francis Cropsey, the American landscape painter (Hudson River School) whose painting of the View of Richmond Hill recently sold at Bonhams in New York. Cropsey later produced a massive painting of the same view - some eight feet wide - based on this study (and presumably others he made at the same time).  This study is principally focused on the features of the landscape and doesn't have the figures seen in the later painting.

View of Richmond Hill - Jasper Francis Cropsey (1823-1900)
previously exhibited as Study for Richmond Hill in the Summer of 1862
oil on canvas 12 1/2 x 20 1/2in
sold 21st May 2014 for $50,000 at Bonhams

Back in 2010 I visited to see what all the fuss was about. Like many such views I've visited in the past - the trees have grown!

I found it very tricky to get a place where you got a decent view of the bend in the river without running into other problems - like trees obscuring the view.

This is my "failed" photographic view. It's a classic one - with the horizon bisecting the image! You can at least see the river and the fact it has a curve and an island and some boats on it - plus some water meadows next to it!

The view from Richmond Hill - in 2010

This local photographer has had a go at showing us what is the magic of this place in this video

I'm thinking maybe a visit in winter when there are no leaves might prove more fruitful - although it would appear this brings different challenges

The Peak Prints Project

Images from the Peak Prints Collection

The Peak Prints Project highlights both the art of the wood engraver and the place known as the Peak District.

This area of Middle England is highly suitable for the art because of its plethora of woods and stones, crags and deep river gorges, ancient carved stones and picturesque farms, fields and barns. But hardly any wood engravings of these subjects have been done!

The project has been sponsored by Nicholas and Ruth Pitts-Tucker. The aim was to ‘encourage wood engravers to engage with the Peak District, and local people to engage with this art form.’

They invited 12 leading wood engravers to stay through the course of the year over a number of long weekends. As a result 40 engravings have now been produced which are being sold in editions of 25.

The prints are now being displayed in exhibitions at different locations within the Peak District.

You can also buy prints via the website where you can see which prints are for sale and you can order them. Click on an image to see the individual image a bigger version of the image which he or she has created

Artists

The participating artists are:

• Harry Brockway
• Chris Daunt
• Andy English
• Paul Kershaw
• Kathleen Lindsley
• Miriam McGregor
• Hilary Paynter past President of the Society of Wood Engravers
• Howard Phipps
• Sue Scullard - this is a video of Sue Scullard showing how a wood engraving is produced
• Peter S Phipps
• Sarah Van Niekerk
• Geri Waddington

I'm the owner of prints by both Hilary Paynter and Sue Scullard and can speak very highly of the quality of their work

Exhibitions

You can see The Peak Prints at the following exhibitions in and around the Peak District.

25th July – 7th August 2014Beechenhill Farm
Ilam
Ashbourne
Derbyshire DE6 2BD UK
Telephone 01335 310274
Email stay@beechenhill.co.uk
Website www.beechenhill.co.uk

15th August 2014 – 28th August 2014
Longshaw
near Sheffield
Derbyshire S11 7TS
Telephone 01433 637904
Email peakdistrict@nationaltrust.org.uk
Website www.nationaltrust.org.uk/longshaw

6th September 2014 – 20th September 2014
Wirksworth Festival
Wirksworth
Matlock
Derbyshire DE4 4FG
Telephone 01629 824003
Email info@wirksworthfestival.co.uk
Website www.wirksworthfestival.co.uk

4th October 2014 – 19th October 2014
Derwent Gallery
Main Road
Grindleford
Hope Valley
Derbyshire S32 2JN
Telephone 01433 630458
Email robin.ashmore@btconnect.com
Website www.derwentgallery.com
Open Wednesday – Saturday 10.00am – 5.00pm
Sunday and Bank Holidays 10.00am – 4.00pm

19th October 2014 – 25th October 2014
George Inn Barn
Altonsfield
Derbyshire

Mapping landscape paintings on Google Maps

I'm in two minds about a website I came across today.  MyReadingMapped maps places to historic events - or in the case of artists - landscape paintings to places on maps

The thing is that they're mapping the place in the picture - not the place from where the picture was seen and/or painted - and it's often the latter which artists are interested to see.  Not least because some of us are rather fond of trying to see what we make of the same view! (see my "Places to Paint" series)

The Google Map view of the world as seen in landscape paintings

Here's the link - The Works of Artists, Architects and Photographers in Google Map - and you can see for yourself.

Click on the map title below to go to the blog page with an embedded map, photos and background and source information about each subject.

• The Life and Art of Vincent van Gogh / Google Map / Google Earth

• The Life and Art of Paul Cézanne / Google Map / Google Earth

• The World as seen in Famous Landscape Paintings

• The Works of Michelangelo / Google Map / Google Earth

• Works of Frank Lloyd Wright / Google Map / Google Earth

• Works of I.M. Pei / Google Map / Google Earth

• Scenes Photographed by Ansel Adams

• Le Train: The Rescuing of the German-Looted French Art Train (1944) Fact vs. Fiction. / Google Map / Google Earth

• The World as seen in Landscape Paintings / Google Map 

I think the problem for me is that this has the potential for being a good idea - however it needs more content and the pins in the map need to be rather more accurate - preferably being placed "where the easel stood" literally or metaphorically!

Thomas Rowlandson - Kew Palace and the River Thames

This watercolour painting of Kew Palace by Thomas Rowlandson (1756-1827) includes the River Thames in the foreground.

Kew Palace by Thomas Rowlandson
watercolour, 11.2" x 16.8" English School; Late 18th - early 19th century
Kew Palace, seen across the river; a boatman steadying his boat for three stout persons to enter it
Kew Palace | Rowlandson, Thomas | V&A Collection

Thomas Rowlandson is an English artist who was well known as a caricaturist in the late 18th and early 19th centuries.  He was much less well known as a landscape artist per se - however he did use them in the background of his figurative work.

Thomas Rowlandson (1756/57-1827) was one of the most brilliant draughtsmen of his day, and is best known for his satirical and humorous figure drawings. Many of his drawings have a topographical element, which serves as a backdrop for the various human encounters depicted. However, Rowlandson also made a small number of purely topographical viewsV&A

Rowlandson also produced the satirical book titled Tour of Dr Syntax in Search of the Picturesque (more of this in later posts) which was a satire on the work of William Gilpin and his Three Essays on Picturesque Beauty.

Kew Palace

For me the above painting illustrates how valuable landscape paintings can be as historical records.

I looked at this Kew Palace and did not recognise it from the one I've visited at Kew Gardens.  It turns out that the building called Kew Palace today is the fourth such Palace.

Kew Palace 
from The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction,
Vol. 10, No. 275, September 29, 1827

The one in the watercolour is the third Palace - built at the west end of Kew Green to the castellated design of King George III.  It was started in 1802, but was much criticised and never occupied and was demolished by his son George IV in 1828.

The painting is also interesting as it records the use of pleasure boats on this area of the Thames in the time of George III.  I'm not sure I've ever seen a sail boat on this part of the Thames - although competitive rowing boats can now be seen there very frequently.

Given Rowlandson's preference for satire, one wonders whether the very portly gentleman in the foreground might possibly be an allusion to the Prince Regent/future George IV.

Scene on a Thames-side towing-path

This next watercolour is also of the Thames.  I suspect it's in a similar area because of the width of the river

Scene on a Thames-side towing-path (undated) by Thomas Rowlandson
reed pen and ink and watercolour on a wove paper, 18cm x 27cm
Scene on a Thames-side towing-path | Rowlandson, Thomas | V&A Collection

This is a view of the River Thames, with a vessel on the water and a team of horses on the riverbank. The V&A record cites how Rowlandson tackled such topographical views

Rowlandson repeated drawings for sale by working up and colouring a counterproof of an original pen drawing. In this case the original has itself been worked up, strengthened with pencil and coloured. The deception was frequently increased by counterproofing the original pencil lines, thus conveying the impression of spontaneous sketches following a rough outline.
(J. Hayes, Rowlandson watercolours and drawings, 1972, pp. 41, 42.)’