Hostname: page-component-77c89778f8-gq7q9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-19T00:41:10.935Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Artistic Practice, Protracted Publication and Posthumous Completion of Charles Alfred Stothard's Monumental Effigies of Great Britain

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 September 2012

Phillip Lindley
Phillip Lindley*
Affiliation:
Phillip Lindley, FSA, History of Art and Film Department, University of Leicester, Leicester LE1 7RH, UK. Email: pgl1@le.ac.uk
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This paper examines the complicated circumstances surrounding the very slow production of The Monumental Effigies of Great Britain, the great masterpiece of Charles Alfred Stothard, FSA, and the various reasons why it took twenty-one years to complete. The methods and techniques Stothard adopted to produce his celebrated etchings and the evolution of his artistic style are first analysed, as is the role played by Thomas Kerrich, FSA, in the project. Next, this paper investigates the severe problems facing Stothard's young widow, Anna Eliza, and his brother-in-law, Alfred Kempe, FSA, as they tried to bring the project to a conclusion, and the reasons why it was necessary to employ four different etchers to produce the remaining plates from Stothard's original drawings. Anna Eliza's recording of Charles Stothard's achievements, her scrupulous preservation of his drawings and her poignant publication of his life story are shown to have consolidated and enhanced his posthumous reputation as perhaps the finest antiquarian artist ever to depict medieval monumental sculpture.

Résumé

Ce document examine les circonstances compliquées entourant la très lente production de The Monumental Effigies of Great Britain, le chef-d’œuvre de Charles Alfred Stothard, FSA, et les différentes raisons des vingt-et-un ans de retard dans son achèvement. Les méthodes et techniques que Charles Alfred Stothard a adoptées pour produire ses célèbres gravures et l’évolution de son style artistique sont analysées, tout comme le rôle joué par Thomas Kerrich, FSA, dans ce projet. Ensuite, ce document examine les graves problèmes auxquels furent confrontés la jeune veuve de Charles Alfred Stothard, Anna Eliza, et son beau-frère, Alfred Kempe, FSA, lorsqu'ils ont essayé de conclure le projet, ainsi que les raisons pour lesquelles il a été nécessaire d'employer quatre graveurs différents pour produire les plaques restantes des dessins originaux de Charles Alfred Stothard. L'archivage par Anna Eliza des exploits de Charles Alfred Stothard, sa conservation scrupuleuse de ses dessins et sa publication poignante de l'histoire de sa vie sont présentés comme ayant consolidé et renforcé sa réputation posthume de, peut-être, le meilleur artiste antiquaire qui ait dépeint la sculpture monumentale médiévale.

Zusammenfassung

Diese Abhandlung untersucht die verwickelten Umstände um die äußerst langsame Fertigstellung des großartigen Meisterwerks von Charles Alfred Stothard, FSA, The Monumental Effigies of Great Britain, und die verschiedenen Gründe für die lange Verzögerung von einundzwanzig Jahren. Eingangs werden die von Stothard bei der Herstellung seiner prachtvollen Kupferstiche angewandten Methoden und Techniken und die Entwicklung seines Kunststils, sowie auch die Rolle eingehend untersucht, die Thomas Kerrich, FSA, bei diesem Projekt gespielt hat. Als nächstes werden die Probleme behandelt, denen sich Stothards junge Witwe, Anna Eliza, und sein Schwager, Alfred Kempe, FSA, gegenübersahen, als sie versuchten, das Projekt zum Abschluss zu bringen, und es wird erklärt, weshalb es notwendig war, vier verschiedene Kupferstecher zur Herstellung der restlichen vier Platten von Stothards Originalzeichnungen einzusetzen. Ebenfalls wird aufgezeigt, dass Anna Elizas Aufzeichnungen zu den Leistungen von Charles Stothard, ihre gewissenhafte Erhaltung seiner Zeichnungen und ihre rührende Schilderung seiner Lebensgeschichte seinen posthumen Ruhm als einer der bedeutendsten, wenn nicht der bedeutendste, Darsteller mittelalterlicher Monumentalskulpturen gefestigt und aufgewertet hat.

Type
Research papers
Information
The Antiquaries Journal , Volume 92 , September 2012 , pp. 385 - 426
Copyright
Copyright © The Society of Antiquaries of London 2012

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Badham, S 1987. ‘Richard Gough and the flowering of Romantic antiquarianism’, Church Monuments, 2, 32–43 Google Scholar
Badham, S 2007. ‘Drawings of a top view and details of the effigy commemorating Sir Oliver de Ingham (d. 1344)’, in Royal Academy 2007, 139Google Scholar
Baigent, E 2004. ‘Lysons, Daniel (1762–1834)’, in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography Online Edition (eds H C G Matthew and B Harrison), 〈http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/17296〉 (21 May 2012)Google Scholar
Bann, S 1984. The Clothing of Clio: a study of the representation of history in nineteenth-century Britain and France, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Google Scholar
Bann, S 1990. The Inventions of History, Manchester: Manchester University Press Google Scholar
Bann, S 1995. Romanticism and the Rise of History, New York: Twayne Google Scholar
Bennett, S M 1988. Thomas Stothard: the mechanisms of art patronage in England c 1800, Columbia (Mo): University of Missouri Press Google Scholar
Binski, P 1986. The Painted Chamber at Westminster, London: Society of Antiquaries Google Scholar
Binyon, L 1898–1907. Catalogue of Drawings by British Artists and Artists of Foreign Origin Working in Great Britain Preserved in the British Museum, 4 vols, London: British Museum Google Scholar
Blore, E 1826. The Monumental Remains of Noble and Eminent Persons, comprising The Sepulchral Antiquities of Great Britain, engraved from drawings by Edward Blore FSA, London: Harding, Lepard, & Co Google Scholar
Blore, T 1811. The History and Antiquities of the County of Rutland, Stamford: Newcomb Google Scholar
Boase, G C 1884. ‘Mrs Bray and her writings’, Libr Chron, 1, 126–129 and 160Google Scholar
Britton, J 1806–26. The Architectural Antiquities of Great Britain, 5 vols, London: Longman Google Scholar
Britton, J 1819. The History and Antiquities of the Metropolitical Church of York, London: Longman Google Scholar
Carlyle, E I 2004. ‘Stothard, Charles Alfred (1786–1821)’ (rev D Graham-Vernon), in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography Online Edition (eds H C G Matthew and B Harrison), 〈http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/47612〉 (24 June 2006)Google Scholar
Cartwright, E 1830. The Parochial Topography of the Rape of Bramber, London: John Bowyer Nichols and Son Google Scholar
Chambers, E 1999. An Indolent and Blundering Art? The Etching Revival and the Redefinition of Etching in England 1838–1892, Aldershot: Ashgate Google Scholar
Church, S D 2009. ‘The care of the royal tombs in English cathedrals in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries: the case of the effigy of King John at Worcester’, Antiq J, 89, 365–387 Google Scholar
Cust, L H 2004a. ‘Hollis, George (1793–1842)’ (rev B Hunnisett), Oxford Dictionary of National Biography Online Edition (eds H C G Matthew and B Harrison), 〈http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/13567〉 (21 May 2012)Google Scholar
Cust, L H 2004b. ‘Howlett, Bartholomew (1767–1827)’ (rev M Guyatt), Oxford Dictionary of National Biography Online Edition (eds H C G Matthew and B Harrison), 〈http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/14001〉 (21 May 2012)Google Scholar
Dallaway, J 1815. A History of the Western Division of the County of Sussex, London: Bensley Google Scholar
Dressler, R 2005. ‘“Those effigies which belonged to the English Nation”: antiquarianism, nationalism, and Charles Alfred Stothard's Monumental Effigies of Great Britain’, in Correspondences: medievalism in scholarship and the arts (eds T Shippey and M Arnold), 143–174, Stud Medievalism 14, Woodbridge: Boydell & Brewer Google Scholar
Duffy, M 2003. Royal Tombs of Medieval England, Stroud: Tempus Google Scholar
Girouard, M 1981. The Return to Camelot: chivalry and the English gentleman, London: Yale University Press Google Scholar
Goodwin, G 2004. ‘Lysons, Samuel (bap. 1763, d 1819)’ (rev B Frith), Oxford Dictionary of National Biography Online Edition (eds H C G Matthew and B Harrison), 〈http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/17298〉 (21 May 2012)Google Scholar
Griffith-Jones, R Park, D (eds) 2010. The Temple Church in London: history, architecture, art, Woodbridge: Boydell Google Scholar
Hassell, J 1811. Calcographia: or, the art of multiplying, with perfection, drawings, after the manner of chalk, black lead pencil, and pen and ink, London: Sherwood, Neely & Jones Google Scholar
Hind, A M 1923. A History of Engraving and Etching from the Fifteenth Century to the Year 1914, London: Constable Google Scholar
Hutchison, S C 1986. History of the Royal Academy, 1768–1986, London: Robert Royce Google Scholar
Kempe, J A (ed) 1884. Autobiography of Anna Eliza Bray (born 1789: died 1883), London: Chapman & Hall Google Scholar
Knowles, R 1978. ‘An enterprising antiquary: Charles Alfred Stothard (1786–1821)’, Country Life, 5 Jan 1978, 42–43 Google Scholar
Knowles, R 1981. The Death of Charles Stothard: an eyewitness account, Wakefield: Box Tree Press Google Scholar
Knowles, R 1998. ‘French excursions: Charles Alfred Stothard and the Monumental Effigies of France’, Church Monuments, 13, 45–69 Google Scholar
Knowles, R 1999. ‘A further album of Stothard drawings’, Church Monuments, 14, 38–40 Google Scholar
Lankester, P 2004. ‘Charles Stothard's drawings for the Monumental Effigies of Great Britain’, Church Monuments Soc Newslett, 20/1, 6–9 Google Scholar
Lankester, P 2010. ‘The thirteenth-century military effigies in the Temple church’, in Griffith-Jones and Park 2010, 93–134Google Scholar
Levinson, J 1992. ‘Intention and interpretation: a last look’, in Intention and Interpretation, (ed G Iseminger), 221–256, Philadelphia: Temple University Press Google Scholar
Lewis, M 2007. ‘The mystery of Charles Stothard, FSA, and the Bayeux Tapestry fragment’, Antiq J, 87, 401–406 Google Scholar
Lindley, P forthcoming a. ‘Abstracted effigies: Charles Stothard's depictions of the Peche monument at Lullingstone, Kent’Google Scholar
Lindley, P forthcoming b. ‘Meaning and making: Charles Alfred Stothard's Monumental Effigies of Great Britain re-examined’Google Scholar
Meller, H 1978. ‘From engraver to architect’, Country Life, 164, 1205–1206 Google Scholar
Mordaunt Crook, J 2008. ‘Carter, John (1748–1817)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography Online Edition (eds H C G Matthew and B Harrison), 〈http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/4791〉 (21 May 2012)Google Scholar
Munby, A N L 1962. The Cult of the Autograph Letter in England, London: Athlone Press Google Scholar
Munby, A N L 1972. Connoisseurs and Medieval Miniatures 1750–1850, Oxford: Oxford University Press Google Scholar
Nichols, J G 1842. ‘Observations on the Heraldic Devices discovered on the Effigies of Richard the Second and his Queen in Westminster Abbey, and upon the Mode in which those Ornaments were executed; including some Remarks on the surname Plantagenet, and on the Ostrich Feathers of the Prince of Wales’, Archaeologia, 29, 32–59 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
O'Donoghue, F M 2005. ‘Smith, Charles John (1803–1838)’ (rev J Desmond), Oxford Dictionary of National Biography Online Edition (eds H C G Matthew and B Harrison), 〈http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/25788〉 (21 May 2012)Google Scholar
Park, D 2010. ‘Medieval burials and monuments’, in Griffith-Jones and Park 2010, 67–91Google Scholar
Popham, A E 1922. ‘The etchings of John Sell Cotman’, Print Collector's Quarterly, 9, 236–273 Google Scholar
Port, M H 2008. ‘Blore, Edward (1787–1879)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography Online Edition (eds H C G Matthew and B Harrison), 〈http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/2679〉 (21 May 2012)Google Scholar
Rajnai, M Allthorpe-Guyton, M 1979. John Sell Cotman 1782–1842, Norwich: Norwich Museums Service Google Scholar
Royal Academy 2007. Making History: antiquaries in Britain 1707–2007, London: Royal Academy of Arts Google Scholar
Schneller, B E 2004. ‘Bray, Anna Eliza (1790–1883)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography Online Edition (eds H C G Matthew and B Harrison), 〈http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/3291〉 (21 May 2012)Google Scholar
Smiles, S 2000. Eye Witness: artists and visual documentation in Britain 1770–1830, Aldershot: Ashgate Google Scholar
Smiles, S 2007. ‘The art of recording’, in Royal Academy 2007, 123–5Google Scholar
Steer, F W (ed) 1966. The Letters of John Hawkins and Samuel and Daniel Lysons 1812–1830, Chichester: West Sussex County Council Google Scholar
Stothard, A E 1820. Letters Written during a Tour through Normandy, Britanny and other Parts of France, in 1818, London: Longman Google Scholar
Stothard, C Mrs [Bray, A E] 1823. Memoirs, including original Journals, Letters, Papers, and Antiquarian Tracts, of the late Charles Alfred Stothard, F.S.A., Author of the Monumental Effigies of Great Britain, London: Longman Google Scholar
Stothard, C A 1832. The Monumental Effigies of Great Britain, London: Murray & Stothard Google Scholar
Stothard, R T 1827. ‘Account of a monumental effigy discovered in Stevenage church in Hertfordshire’, Archaeologia, 21, 499–500 Google Scholar
Strong, R 1978. And When Did You Last See Your Father? The Victorian Painter and British History, London: Thames & Hudson Google Scholar
Sweet, R H 2004. Antiquaries: the discovery of the past in eighteenth-century Britain, London: Hambledon & London Google Scholar
Sweet, R H 2008. ‘Gough, Richard (1735–1809)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography Online Edition (eds H C G Matthew and B Harrison), 〈http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/11141〉 (21 May 2012)Google Scholar
Tudor-Craig, P 2004. ‘Kerrich, Thomas (1748–1828)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography Online Edition (eds H C G Matthew and B Harrison), 〈http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/15471〉 (21 May 2012)Google Scholar