DOI article:
Holmes, Charles: The History of the Royal Society of Painters in Water-Colours
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.27085#0018
THE HISTORY OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY
later men, who could profit by the experience of their predecessors,
carried the art to remarkable perfection. Indeed, it became in their
hands one of the most subtly significant of all the available means of
expression, and it took then a pre-eminent position, which it has
retained to the present day.
There are in the long list of water-colour painters who were active
during the lifetime of Paul Sandby many names well worthy to be
remembered. Before his death in 1809 the greatest masters of the
art whom this country has produced, De Wint, David Cox, Copley
Fielding, J. S. Cotman, and Turner, had been born, and were begin-
ning to range themselves among the most brilliant members of the
school. But from the middle of the eighteenth century onwards a
succession of skilful workers came forward to demonstrate the vitality
of the new movement, and to interpret in their own way the prin-
ciples which Sandby had laid down. Some of these men, like
Alexander Cozens, and his son John Robert Cozens, A. W. Devis,
Thomas Hearne, John and Robert Cleveley, Michael Angelo Rooker,
Nicholas Pocock, William Pars, William Payne, the two Maltons,
John Smith, and Edwin Dayes, several of whom had been actually
taught by Sandby, aimed simply at the improvement of the existing
method of tinting drawings. They were, according to modern ideas,
essentially draughtsmen, and for the most part illustrative draughts-
men whose “ views ” were intended for reproduction by means of
engraving. They claim attention principally because they carried
topographic drawing to its highest perfection, and by practically
exhausting its possibilities cleared the way for the pictorial departures
of the greater craftsmen who were then rising into prominence.
These greater craftsmen made their influence strongly felt at the
beginning of the nineteenth century, and then began decisively the
final and effective change in the practice of water-colour. Many
of the topographers, it is true, lived and worked for some years after
the new condition of affairs was definitely established—for instance,
Hearne did not die till 1817, and John Smith not till 1831—but
their authority was rapidly diminishing, and as they disappeared
one by one, none oi the new comers showed the least inclination to
revive the fading tradition. The new men had consciously or
unconsciously committed themselves to an esthetic policy which
was in obvious opposition to that followed by their predecessors,
and the whole course of their professional procedure was in its way
a protest against the methods and mannerisms of the old school.
Fortunately for them they were able to command the attention of
the public, and to secure from people of sound judgment such a
h vi
later men, who could profit by the experience of their predecessors,
carried the art to remarkable perfection. Indeed, it became in their
hands one of the most subtly significant of all the available means of
expression, and it took then a pre-eminent position, which it has
retained to the present day.
There are in the long list of water-colour painters who were active
during the lifetime of Paul Sandby many names well worthy to be
remembered. Before his death in 1809 the greatest masters of the
art whom this country has produced, De Wint, David Cox, Copley
Fielding, J. S. Cotman, and Turner, had been born, and were begin-
ning to range themselves among the most brilliant members of the
school. But from the middle of the eighteenth century onwards a
succession of skilful workers came forward to demonstrate the vitality
of the new movement, and to interpret in their own way the prin-
ciples which Sandby had laid down. Some of these men, like
Alexander Cozens, and his son John Robert Cozens, A. W. Devis,
Thomas Hearne, John and Robert Cleveley, Michael Angelo Rooker,
Nicholas Pocock, William Pars, William Payne, the two Maltons,
John Smith, and Edwin Dayes, several of whom had been actually
taught by Sandby, aimed simply at the improvement of the existing
method of tinting drawings. They were, according to modern ideas,
essentially draughtsmen, and for the most part illustrative draughts-
men whose “ views ” were intended for reproduction by means of
engraving. They claim attention principally because they carried
topographic drawing to its highest perfection, and by practically
exhausting its possibilities cleared the way for the pictorial departures
of the greater craftsmen who were then rising into prominence.
These greater craftsmen made their influence strongly felt at the
beginning of the nineteenth century, and then began decisively the
final and effective change in the practice of water-colour. Many
of the topographers, it is true, lived and worked for some years after
the new condition of affairs was definitely established—for instance,
Hearne did not die till 1817, and John Smith not till 1831—but
their authority was rapidly diminishing, and as they disappeared
one by one, none oi the new comers showed the least inclination to
revive the fading tradition. The new men had consciously or
unconsciously committed themselves to an esthetic policy which
was in obvious opposition to that followed by their predecessors,
and the whole course of their professional procedure was in its way
a protest against the methods and mannerisms of the old school.
Fortunately for them they were able to command the attention of
the public, and to secure from people of sound judgment such a
h vi