The living academies of nature: Scientific experiment in learning and communicating the new skills of early nineteenth-century landscape painting

Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A

Volumn 27, Issue 2, 1996, Pages 149-180

  Hartley, Beryl ^a  

^a IMPERIAL COLLEGE LONDON   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 0030159569     PISSN: 00393681     EISSN: 18792510     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1016/0039-3681(95)00022-4     Document Type: Article

References (66)

1. 1 C. R. Leslie, Memoirs of the Life of John Constable [London, 1843] (Phaidon reprint, 1951), p. 323.
2. 2 For example, N. Goodman, Languages of Art (Indianapolis: Hackett, 1976), p. 33, and Beckett: 'Constable tried to persuade himself that landscape was a branch of science', R. B. Beckett (ed.), John Constable's Correspondence (The Suffolk Records Society, 1962-68), IV, p. 172.
3. 2 For example, N. Goodman, Languages of Art (Indianapolis: Hackett, 1976), p. 33, and Beckett: 'Constable tried to persuade himself that landscape was a branch of science', R. B. Beckett (ed.), John Constable's Correspondence (The Suffolk Records Society, 1962-68), IV, p. 172.
4. 3 E. Gombrich, Art and Illusion London (Phaidon, 1960), pp. 29 ff; p. 41.
5. 4 This is the central argument of my Ph.D. thesis, The Artist as Naturalist and Experimenter: Landscape Painting and Science 1740-1850 (University of London, 1995). It includes an extensive discussion of the unique role of landscape painters in the study and depiction of trees.
6. 5 See M. Rudwick, 'The Emergence of a Visual Language for Geological Science 1760-1840', History of Science 14 (1976), 148-195, and R. Porter, The Making of Geology: Earth Science in Britain 1660-1815 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1977), on the importance of visual communication in the early days of geology.
7. 5 See M. Rudwick, 'The Emergence of a Visual Language for Geological Science 1760-1840', History of Science 14 (1976), 148-195, and R. Porter, The Making of Geology: Earth Science in Britain 1660-1815 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1977), on the importance of visual communication in the early days of geology.
8. 6 K. Badt, John Constable's Clouds (London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1950). See also J. Thornes, 'Constable's Clouds', Burlington Magazine (Nov. 1979), pp. 697-704. For reactions see A. P. Oppé, Alexander and John Robert Cozens (London: A&C Black, 1952); L. Hawes, 'Constable's Sky Sketches', Journal of the Courtauld and Warburg Institutes 32 (1969), 344-365.
9. 6 K. Badt, John Constable's Clouds (London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1950). See also J. Thornes, 'Constable's Clouds', Burlington Magazine (Nov. 1979), pp. 697-704. For reactions see A. P. Oppé, Alexander and John Robert Cozens (London: A&C Black, 1952); L. Hawes, 'Constable's Sky Sketches', Journal of the Courtauld and Warburg Institutes 32 (1969), 344-365.
10. 6 K. Badt, John Constable's Clouds (London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1950). See also J. Thornes, 'Constable's Clouds', Burlington Magazine (Nov. 1979), pp. 697-704. For reactions see A. P. Oppé, Alexander and John Robert Cozens (London: A&C Black, 1952); L. Hawes, 'Constable's Sky Sketches', Journal of the Courtauld and Warburg Institutes 32 (1969), 344-365.
11. 6 K. Badt, John Constable's Clouds (London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1950). See also J. Thornes, 'Constable's Clouds', Burlington Magazine (Nov. 1979), pp. 697-704. For reactions see A. P. Oppé, Alexander and John Robert Cozens (London: A&C Black, 1952); L. Hawes, 'Constable's Sky Sketches', Journal of the Courtauld and Warburg Institutes 32 (1969), 344-365.
12. 7 See, for example, D. Gooding, Experiment and the Making of Meaning (Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1990); B. Latour and S. Woolgar, Laboratory Life: the Social Construction of Scientific Facts (Beverly Hills and London: Sage, 1979); M. Lynch and S. Woolgar (eds), Representation in Scientific Practice (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1990).
13. 7 See, for example, D. Gooding, Experiment and the Making of Meaning (Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1990); B. Latour and S. Woolgar, Laboratory Life: the Social Construction of Scientific Facts (Beverly Hills and London: Sage, 1979); M. Lynch and S. Woolgar (eds), Representation in Scientific Practice (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1990).
14. 7 See, for example, D. Gooding, Experiment and the Making of Meaning (Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1990); B. Latour and S. Woolgar, Laboratory Life: the Social Construction of Scientific Facts (Beverly Hills and London: Sage, 1979); M. Lynch and S. Woolgar (eds), Representation in Scientific Practice (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1990).
15. 8 An exception is Martin Kemp, but his studies have mainly focused on the Renaissance (see note 45 below).
16. 9 The Gardener's Magazine XI (1835), 395-412; Arboretum et Fruticetum Britannicum, 6 vols (1835-38), see vol. I, pp. 202-211. Note: All these manuals and articles on tree drawing will be referred to in the text by their dates and page numbers only.
17. 9 The Gardener's Magazine XI (1835), 395-412; Arboretum et Fruticetum Britannicum, 6 vols (1835-38), see vol. I, pp. 202-211. Note: All these manuals and articles on tree drawing will be referred to in the text by their dates and page numbers only.
18. 10 J. C. Loudon (ed.), Magazine of Natural History and Journal of Zoology, Botany, Mineralogy, Geology and Meteorology I (1828), p. 37. Other exceptions he makes are Alexander Nasmyth (1758-1840), an important Edinburgh teacher whose students drew from nature in the 1790s, and George Fennel Robson (1788-1833), whose views of the Lake District and Scotland were very popular.
19. 11 Letter to J. Dunthorne, 29 May 1802, quoted in Leslie, op. cit., p. 15.
20. 12 Constable used this term in connection with the subject matter of his English Landscape (London, 1830). Quoted in R. B. Beckett (ed.), John Constable's Discourses (The Suffolk Records Society, 1970), p. 3.
21. 12 Constable used this term in connection with the subject matter of his English Landscape (London, 1830). Quoted in R. B. Beckett (ed.), John Constable's Discourses (The Suffolk Records Society, 1970), p. 3.
22. 13 'Improving' on nature was an important aspect of eighteenth-century aesthetics.
23. 14 The phrase "mere topography", common in early nineteenth-century discussions, gives a sense of its humble status in relation to fine art.
24. 15 See the quote by Burnett below and J. Lindley, An Introduction to The Natural System of Botany (London, 1830), p. ix.
25. 16 G. Burnett, 'Amoenitates Querneae', in H. W. Burgess, Eidodendron (London, 1827), pp. 1-26; see p. 4. This is a substantial pictorial work; Burgess was the King's Painter. With the growth in popularity of the natural system (supported by Lindley, Loudon and Burnett) the criteria for "essential characters" were broadened to include the whole plant and its habitat, etc., thus encouraging an interest in whole trees. Attitudes to trees within botany, and particularly their connection with nineteenth-century "philosophical botany", are dealt with in detail in Chapter 5 of my dissertation.
26. 17 King's College, London, 11 October 1831.
27. 18 Hampstead 25 July 1836. Quoted in Beckett op. cit. (1970), p. 69.
28. 19 On the disappearance of the process, see M. Baxandall, Patterns of Intention: On the Historical Explanation of Pictures (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1985), p. 39. The section 'Angles on process: positing the intentional flux' is particularly relevant to this whole discussion (especially pp. 62-67).
29. 20 22 July 1812, 6 March 1821, quoted in Leslie, op. cit., pp. 34 and 79.
30. 21 Third lecture Royal Institution, 9 June 1836. Quoted in L. Parris, C. Shields and I. Fleming-Williams (eds), John Constable, Further Documents and Correspondence (The Suffolk Records Society, 1975), p. 64.
31. 22 R. Arnheim, 'A Plea for Visual Thinkìng', in W. J. T. Mitchell (ed.), The Language of Images (Chicago: Chicago University Press, 1980), pp. 171-180, see p. 176.
32. 23 Although, of course, in the context of art or of science, observation is an active process. See Gooding on this in relation to experimental practice: op. cit., chs. 2-4 and ch. 6, p. 139, and 'Theory and Observation', International Studies in the Philosophy of Science IV (1990), 131-148.
33. 23 Although, of course, in the context of art or of science, observation is an active process. See Gooding on this in relation to experimental practice: op. cit., chs. 2-4 and ch. 6, p. 139, and 'Theory and Observation', International Studies in the Philosophy of Science IV (1990), 131-148.
34. 24 R. Harré, Great Scientific Experiments (Oxford: Phaidon, 1981), p. 23.
35. 25 Magazine of Natural History, op. cit., p. 1.
36. 26 Ibid, pp. 39 and 244.
37. 27 Compare Canaletto's formula for indicating waves.
38. 28 W. M. Craig, An Essay on the Study of Nature in Drawing Landscape (London: Craig, 1793), pp. 20 and 22.
39. 29 Sir Joshua Reynolds referred to handling in 1771 as "a lightness of the pencil that implies great practice and gives the appearance of being done with ease", R. Fry (ed.), Sir Joshua Reynolds' Discourses (London, 1905), p. 99.
40. 30 S. Langer, Problems of Art (London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1957), p. 115.
41. 31 Ibid., p. 66.
42. 32 See, for instance, Gooding on Faraday's "construals" (Experiment and the Making of Meaning, op. cit., pp. 115-127) and his "exploration of phenomenal possibilities through the invention of devices" (pp. 116, 59-60).
43. 32 See, for instance, Gooding on Faraday's "construals" (Experiment and the Making of Meaning, op. cit., pp. 115-127) and his "exploration of phenomenal possibilities through the invention of devices" (pp. 116, 59-60).
44. 33 Studying the characters of mature trees is universally recommended for this purpose.
45. 34 The artists' own learning processes, and the method advocated here, which begins with close study of characters, appears inconsistent with Gombrich's discussion of "schema and correction" in "primers" on drawing trees or birds (op. cit., 1960), pp. 126-127.
46. 35 W. Blunt, The Art of Botanical Illustration (London: Collins, 1950), p. 3.
47. 36 Copy-books or plates without text were common - for instance, John Laporte's popular tree drawings.
48. 37 Parris et al., op. cit., p. 414.
49. 38 See H. M. Collins, 'The TEA Set: Thomas Kuhn and Scientific Networks', Science Studies 4 (1974), 165-184; see p. 167.
50. 39 Influenced by his experience in the development of lithography.
51. 40 Compare the increasing number of naturalistic landscapes and degree of contemporary discussion.
52. 41 J. Ravetz, Scientific Knowledge and its Social Problems (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1971), p. 76.
53. 42 G. Ryle, The Concept of Mind (London: Hutchinson, 1949; Peregrine edition, 1980), pp. 28 ff.
54. 43 See Gooding on Faraday's similar freedom, which enabled many "possibilities to be kept in play" (Experiment and the Making of Meaning, op. cit., p. 117).
55. 44 Op. cit., p. 202.
56. 45 See, on Leonardo: M. Kemp, Leonardo da Vinci: The Marvellous Works of Nature and Man (London: J. M. Dent, 1981), especially pp. 54-56, and The Science of Art (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1990); on Constable: A. Wilton, 'Preface' to C. White, English Landscape 1630-1850 (New Haven: Yale Centre for British Art, 1977), pp. xi-xxi; see p. xx.
57. 45 See, on Leonardo: M. Kemp, Leonardo da Vinci: The Marvellous Works of Nature and Man (London: J. M. Dent, 1981), especially pp. 54-56, and The Science of Art (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1990); on Constable: A. Wilton, 'Preface' to C. White, English Landscape 1630-1850 (New Haven: Yale Centre for British Art, 1977), pp. xi-xxi; see p. xx.
58. 45 See, on Leonardo: M. Kemp, Leonardo da Vinci: The Marvellous Works of Nature and Man (London: J. M. Dent, 1981), especially pp. 54-56, and The Science of Art (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1990); on Constable: A. Wilton, 'Preface' to C. White, English Landscape 1630-1850 (New Haven: Yale Centre for British Art, 1977), pp. xi-xxi; see p. xx.
59. 46 M. Polyani, The Tacit Dimension (London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1966), p. 71.
60. 47 Op. cit., p. 75.
61. 48 Op. cit., p. 17.
62. 49 I have not so far discovered sketchbooks with this type of work on trees, but see my comment on the dynamism of Constable's sketches, above. Such a master of tree drawing, able to go beyond the touch, might omit many stages; he might even hold an idea of the touch in his mind without having to produce it on the page.
63. 50 Op. cit., pp. 29 ff.
64. 51 Op. cit., for example, pp. 22, 99 and 148.
65. 52 1830, quoted in Leslie op. cit., p. 179.
66. 53 Op. cit., p. 31.