Three Essays: On Picturesque Beauty; On Picturesque Travel; and On Sketching Landscape, with a Poem on Landscape Painting: to these are now added Two Essays giving an Account of the Principles and Mode in which the Author Executed his Own Drawings

by William Gilpin

This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book.

Genres: Art

234 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1794

About the author

William Gilpin was an English artist, Anglican cleric, schoolmaster and author. He is best known as one of those who originated the idea of the picturesque.

Gilpin was born in Cumberland, the son of Captain John Bernard Gilpin, a soldier and amateur artist. From an early age he was an enthusiastic sketcher and collector of prints, but while his brother Sawrey Gilpin became a professional painter, William opted for a career in the church, graduating from Queen's College, Oxford in 1748.

In 1768 Gilpin published his popular Essay on Prints where he defined the picturesque as '"that kind of beauty which is agreeable in a picture" and began to expound his "principles of picturesque beauty", based largely on his knowledge of landscape painting. During the late 1760s and 1770s Gilpin travelled extensively in the summer holidays and applied these principles to the landscapes he saw, committing his thoughts and spontaneous sketches to notebooks.

Reviews

[Vern · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am giving this book only three stars because I have done no other reading on the subject; I will be doing so later this year.

The task of reading was modestly troublesome because it was written in the late 1700s: syntax and grammar are different from now. Also, as it is a reproduction of the text, I had to deal with the archaic symbol, similar to "f" which is an initial or single "s"

I read it slowly at first. But, with practice I read it more quickly.

The first two essays were concerned with the art of painting and sketching, i.e. what the author considered to be pleasing to the human eye, both in nature and as an artistic representation.

The third essay was concerned with the science of a particular artistic representation: the sketch.

I remember some of the rules of the latter from 3rd grade art class. Topics from the 1st two essays were not discussed: my elementary school education was concerned about learning and following rules; thinking and understanding were considered nonessential.

I had not thought about the "art of art" before: now I have something new to think about...

[Valeddy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have a problem with the premise of getting so specific about defining precisely what qualities something like a cottage or a tree must adhere to in order for a painting to be picturesque, so that part of it loses my interest, but the more literary parts are worth reading and his observations are pleasant and play with the sublime.

[Lucilla · Rating 3 out of 5]

I highly recommend reading this on its original 18th century version, which is available in V&A Museum, London.