DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.1311#0219
186 THE GREAT EXHIBITION
manufactory, produced the most accurate and beautiful copies of vases from Herculaneurn,
lent by Sir William Hamilton.
About this time, 1763, the celebrated Barberini vase (in the British Museum, sometime
since broken by a lunatic, but now admirably restored), was offered for sale, and Wedg-
wood bid against the Duchess of Portland; but on her promising to lend it to him to
copy, he withdrew from bidding, and the duchess became the purchaser, at the price of
eighteen hundred guineas. Wedgwood sold fifty copies of it at fifty guineas each; but
the cost of producing them exceeded the amount of the sum thus obtained. After numer-
ous experiments upon various kinds of clay and colouring substances, he succeeded in
producing the most delicate cameos, medallions, and miniature pieces of sculpture in a
substance so hard as to resist all ordinary causes of destruction or injury. Another
important discovery made by him was that of painting on vases and other similar articles,
without the glossy appearance of ordinary painting on porcelain or earthenware—an art
practised by the ancient Etruscans, but lost since the time of Pliny. Amongst other
artists employed by Wedgwood was Flaxman, who assisted him in producing those beau-
tiful sculpturesque ornaments which he was the first in modern times to execute in pottery.
In 1771 he removed to a village which he erected near Newcastle-under-Lyne, and
characteristically called Etruria. Here his works became a point of attraction to all
civilised Europe. Not only did he encourage artists; but he created a great trade in
pottery, and by his talent improved the national taste. Wedgwood's success-led to
the establishment of improved potteries in various parts of the continent of Europe,
as well as in several places in Great Britain and Ireland. His exertions were not merely
confined to his own manufactory, but were cheerfully given to the establishing of several
useful measures. On the 17th of July, 1766, he cut the first clod for the formation
of the Trent and Mersey Canal, which, by the skill of Brindley, completed a navigable
communication between the potteries of Staffordshire and the shores of Devonshire, Dor-
setshire, and Kent. Wedgwood was a Fellow of the Royal Society, and of the Society of
Antiquaries, and had bestowed considerable attention on the science of the action of
light, with a view to fixing the images produced by the camera; but neither he nor Sir
Humphrey Davy, who also investigated the subject, were fortunate enough to discover
any method of retaining these images—a wonderful step in chemistry applied to the arts,
which was reserved for Niepce, nearly half a century later. After a successful and hon-
ourable career, by which Wedgwood amassed an ample fortune, he died, at the age of
sixty-five, on the 3rd of January, 1795. A very fine portrait of this son of genius was
painted by Sir Joshua Reynolds, which still exhibits all its original freshness and truth
of colour. Indeed, it has been observed that Sir Joshua never tried any of his dangerous
experiments in art, when he had a sitter whose fame he deemed worthy to descend to
posterity; and such a compliment he deservedly paid to the subject of this memoir.
manufactory, produced the most accurate and beautiful copies of vases from Herculaneurn,
lent by Sir William Hamilton.
About this time, 1763, the celebrated Barberini vase (in the British Museum, sometime
since broken by a lunatic, but now admirably restored), was offered for sale, and Wedg-
wood bid against the Duchess of Portland; but on her promising to lend it to him to
copy, he withdrew from bidding, and the duchess became the purchaser, at the price of
eighteen hundred guineas. Wedgwood sold fifty copies of it at fifty guineas each; but
the cost of producing them exceeded the amount of the sum thus obtained. After numer-
ous experiments upon various kinds of clay and colouring substances, he succeeded in
producing the most delicate cameos, medallions, and miniature pieces of sculpture in a
substance so hard as to resist all ordinary causes of destruction or injury. Another
important discovery made by him was that of painting on vases and other similar articles,
without the glossy appearance of ordinary painting on porcelain or earthenware—an art
practised by the ancient Etruscans, but lost since the time of Pliny. Amongst other
artists employed by Wedgwood was Flaxman, who assisted him in producing those beau-
tiful sculpturesque ornaments which he was the first in modern times to execute in pottery.
In 1771 he removed to a village which he erected near Newcastle-under-Lyne, and
characteristically called Etruria. Here his works became a point of attraction to all
civilised Europe. Not only did he encourage artists; but he created a great trade in
pottery, and by his talent improved the national taste. Wedgwood's success-led to
the establishment of improved potteries in various parts of the continent of Europe,
as well as in several places in Great Britain and Ireland. His exertions were not merely
confined to his own manufactory, but were cheerfully given to the establishing of several
useful measures. On the 17th of July, 1766, he cut the first clod for the formation
of the Trent and Mersey Canal, which, by the skill of Brindley, completed a navigable
communication between the potteries of Staffordshire and the shores of Devonshire, Dor-
setshire, and Kent. Wedgwood was a Fellow of the Royal Society, and of the Society of
Antiquaries, and had bestowed considerable attention on the science of the action of
light, with a view to fixing the images produced by the camera; but neither he nor Sir
Humphrey Davy, who also investigated the subject, were fortunate enough to discover
any method of retaining these images—a wonderful step in chemistry applied to the arts,
which was reserved for Niepce, nearly half a century later. After a successful and hon-
ourable career, by which Wedgwood amassed an ample fortune, he died, at the age of
sixty-five, on the 3rd of January, 1795. A very fine portrait of this son of genius was
painted by Sir Joshua Reynolds, which still exhibits all its original freshness and truth
of colour. Indeed, it has been observed that Sir Joshua never tried any of his dangerous
experiments in art, when he had a sitter whose fame he deemed worthy to descend to
posterity; and such a compliment he deservedly paid to the subject of this memoir.