Paul Sandby RA, Picturing Britain: a Bicentenary Exhibition
13 March - 13 June, 2010
Royal Academy Of Arts - Admission Charge
Paul Sandby (1731-1809) grew up in Nottingham, the son of a framework fitter. Because there are no records of his having had any art training, it is believed that he was tutored by his older brother, Thomas Sandby, a military draughtsman, In 1747, in the wake of the defeat of the Jacobite rebellion, the Board of Ordnance was ordered to make a complete and accurate survey of Scotland. Paul Sandby submitted two drawings to the Board and made such an impression, he was made Chief Draughtsman for the project.
Sandby’s task was to collate the maps made by six teams of draughtsmen into one ‘fair’ copy. A section of the Great Map that focuses on Culloden Moor is on display at the Paul Sandby RA, Picturing Britain: a Bicentenary Exhibition, at the Royal Academy of Arts. In 1751, Sandby followed his brother south, first to Windsor Great Park, then to live in Soho in London. There, he became a rival for one of the most famous artists of the previous generation, William Hogarth (1697 – 1764).
Although Sandby had a base of aristocratic patrons through which to sell his work, he entered onto the market for prints, which was then rapidly expanding. In 1760 he published a set of twelve prints, Twelve London Cries, done from life. The prints feature the criers of London, traders that sang their wares as they walked through the streets. There is nothing pretty or idealised about these prints, however. Rare Mackerel features a ragged, ugly seller of fish, vending to a bad-tempered customer. Several of these prints are on display in the Roads And Street Life area of the exhibition.
In 1767, Sandby, his brother and twenty other artists signed a formal letter to King George III requesting assistance and patronage for a new Royal Academy of Arts. Paul was elected to the Council and Thomas appointed First Professor of Architecture. The paintings and prints on display at the exhibition date from before and after Paul’s appointment as Academician. In Views of London and its Environs, Sandby’s panoramic views of districts near London, can be seen. On looking at pictures like The Camp on Worley Common, I was struck by Sandby’s ability to render minute human and animal figures in the expanses of scenery.
The Antiquities area features views of Windsor Castle, focusing on different details of the castle, and in varying atmospheres, from the spooky The north-east corner of the Castle seen from below with lightening (1756) to the sunny The North Terrace, Windsor Castle Looking East (1765). A clue to Sandby’s all-seeing eye may be found in his bodycolour (gouache) painting, Roslin Castle, Midlothian). Among the tiny human figures enjoying the beauty spot is an erstwhile student of his, Lady Frances Scott. She is wielding a camera obscura to transcribe the scene in front of her into a drawing.
The camera obscura had been in use since the Renaissance and, in tandem with mathematical perspective, allowed images to be drawn ‘realistically’. A map-maker like Sandby would have had a good knowledge of all available optical devices, and of their use. In his painting Magic Lantern (1753), we see a group of people in a middle-class drawing room watching a show of images cast upon the wall by this forerunner of the slide projector.
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| Paul Sandby View in Luton Park c.1765 Pen, bodycolour and watercolour over graphite 535 x 740 mm Private collection |
In Estates, the final area of the exhibition, can be seen the Luton Park series, three paintings that have never been in public before. Capability Brown laid out Luton Park for the Earl of Bute and Sandby’s paintings record its ancient trees. One extraordinary painting in this area is View of Vinter’s at Bexley, Kent, with Mr Whitman’s Turkey Paper Mills. According to curators Professor Stephen Daniels and Dr John Bonehill, this was not a real view but Sandby’s atlas of the nation and its productivity, a Britain that was being reborn at the time through trade and industry. This exhibition is a must for anybody with an interest in how industrial activity was transforming the landscape of Britain in the 1700s and, of course, in the astonishing paintings of Paul Sandby. It is open until June 13.
Mary Phelan, 2010