The Portland vase: Sir William Hamilton, Josiah Wedgwood and the Darwins

Notes and Records of the Royal Society

Volumn 52, Issue 2, 1998, Pages 237-259

  Keynes, Milo ^a  

^a NONE   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 2442424243     PISSN: 00359149     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1098/rsnr.1998.0048     Document Type: Article

References (82)

1. Pietro Santi Bartoli, Gli antichi sepolchri, plates 80, 84, 85 and 86 (Rome, 1697).
2. W. Gudenrath, K. Painter, D. Whitehouse and I.C. Freestone, 'The Portland Vase'. J. Glass Studies 32, 12-188 (1990); Aileen Dawson, 'The Portland Vase', with appendix: 'Early copies of the Portland Vase', in Masterpieces of Wedgwood, pp. 112-125 (British Museum Press, 1984; revised edn, 1995).
3. W. Gudenrath, K. Painter, D. Whitehouse and I.C. Freestone, 'The Portland Vase'. J. Glass Studies 32, 12-188 (1990); Aileen Dawson, 'The Portland Vase', with appendix: 'Early copies of the Portland Vase', in Masterpieces of Wedgwood, pp. 112-125 (British Museum Press, 1984; revised edn, 1995).
4. Brian Fothergill, Sir William Hamilton - Envoy Extraordinary, pp. 192-196 (Faber and Faber, London, 1969).
5. Hamilton reported on the activities of Vesuvius from 1765 to 1767 in a series of letters addressed to James Douglas, 14th Earl of Morton (1702-1768), P.R.S. 1764-68, and was elected F.R.S. in 1766. Sir William Hamilton, Observations on Mount Vesuvius, Mount Etna, and other Volcanos in a Series of Letters addressed to the Royal Society (London, 1772); Campi Phlegraei, Observations on the Volcanos of the Two Sicilies as they have been communicated to the Royal Society of London, 2 vols (Naples, 1776. Supplement, 1779); Of the earthquakes which happened in Italy from February to May 1783', Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. 73, 169-208 (1783); 'An Account of the Late Eruption of Mount Vesuvius by the Rt Hon. Sir W. Hamilton K.B., F.R.S. Dated Naples Aug. 25,1794', Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Lond., 73-116 (1795).
6. Hamilton reported on the activities of Vesuvius from 1765 to 1767 in a series of letters addressed to James Douglas, 14th Earl of Morton (1702-1768), P.R.S. 1764-68, and was elected F.R.S. in 1766. Sir William Hamilton, Observations on Mount Vesuvius, Mount Etna, and other Volcanos in a Series of Letters addressed to the Royal Society (London, 1772); Campi Phlegraei, Observations on the Volcanos of the Two Sicilies as they have been communicated to the Royal Society of London, 2 vols (Naples, 1776. Supplement, 1779); Of the earthquakes which happened in Italy from February to May 1783', Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. 73, 169-208 (1783); 'An Account of the Late Eruption of Mount Vesuvius by the Rt Hon. Sir W. Hamilton K.B., F.R.S. Dated Naples Aug. 25,1794', Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Lond., 73-116 (1795).
7. Hamilton reported on the activities of Vesuvius from 1765 to 1767 in a series of letters addressed to James Douglas, 14th Earl of Morton (1702-1768), P.R.S. 1764-68, and was elected F.R.S. in 1766. Sir William Hamilton, Observations on Mount Vesuvius, Mount Etna, and other Volcanos in a Series of Letters addressed to the Royal Society (London, 1772); Campi Phlegraei, Observations on the Volcanos of the Two Sicilies as they have been communicated to the Royal Society of London, 2 vols (Naples, 1776. Supplement, 1779); Of the earthquakes which happened in Italy from February to May 1783', Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. 73, 169-208 (1783); 'An Account of the Late Eruption of Mount Vesuvius by the Rt Hon. Sir W. Hamilton K.B., F.R.S. Dated Naples Aug. 25,1794', Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Lond., 73-116 (1795).
8. Hamilton reported on the activities of Vesuvius from 1765 to 1767 in a series of letters addressed to James Douglas, 14th Earl of Morton (1702-1768), P.R.S. 1764-68, and was elected F.R.S. in 1766. Sir William Hamilton, Observations on Mount Vesuvius, Mount Etna, and other Volcanos in a Series of Letters addressed to the Royal Society (London, 1772); Campi Phlegraei, Observations on the Volcanos of the Two Sicilies as they have been communicated to the Royal Society of London, 2 vols (Naples, 1776. Supplement, 1779); Of the earthquakes which happened in Italy from February to May 1783', Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. 73, 169-208 (1783); 'An Account of the Late Eruption of Mount Vesuvius by the Rt Hon. Sir W. Hamilton K.B., F.R.S. Dated Naples Aug. 25,1794', Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Lond., 73-116 (1795).
9. I.D. Jenkins and K. Sloan, Vases & Volcanoes: Sir William Hamilton and His Collection (British Museum Press, 1996).
10. m Hamilton, his Britannick Majesty's Envoy Extraordinary at the Court of Naples (facing this is a second title page in French), 4 vols (Naples, 1766-67). Vois 1 and 2 with pages in English facing pages in French, but in vols 3 and 4 only French text.
11. Robin Reilly, Josiah Wedgwood 1730-1795, p. 80 (London: Macmillan, 1992).
12. Eliza Meteyard, The Life of Josiah Wedgwood, 2 vols (Hurst and Blackett, London, 1865-66. Facsimile edition published by Josiah Wedgwood and Sons, Barlaston, Stoke-on-Trent, 1980: vol. 1, footnote p. 492); E.J.D. Warrillow, History of Etruria, Staffordshire, England 1760-1951, 3rd (Coronation) edn, p. 3 (Etruscan Publications, Stoke-on-Trent, 1953). Meteyard wrote that it was possibly Dr Darwin, with his well-known love of classical allusions, who recommended the name Etruria. This name was first mentioned by Wedgwood in a letter to Bentley in August 1767, when he used the alternative classical spelling of Hetruria. Wedgwood had left any schooling at 14 when he became an apprentice potter, and Bentley, a cautious businessman who had had a far better education, corrected this spelling by December 1767. It is not known at whose suggestion the name arose, but most agree that Darwin was the likely suggester.
13. Eliza Meteyard, The Life of Josiah Wedgwood, 2 vols (Hurst and Blackett, London, 1865-66. Facsimile edition published by Josiah Wedgwood and Sons, Barlaston, Stoke-on-Trent, 1980: vol. 1, footnote p. 492); E.J.D. Warrillow, History of Etruria, Staffordshire, England 1760-1951, 3rd (Coronation) edn, p. 3 (Etruscan Publications, Stoke-on-Trent, 1953). Meteyard wrote that it was possibly Dr Darwin, with his well-known love of classical allusions, who recommended the name Etruria. This name was first mentioned by Wedgwood in a letter to Bentley in August 1767, when he used the alternative classical spelling of Hetruria. Wedgwood had left any schooling at 14 when he became an apprentice potter, and Bentley, a cautious businessman who had had a far better education, corrected this spelling by December 1767. It is not known at whose suggestion the name arose, but most agree that Darwin was the likely suggester.
14. Reilly, op. cit. (note 7), p. 72.
15. Reilly, op. cit. (note 7), pp. 62-75.
16. Josiah Wedgwood I to Thomas Bentley, 8 November and 17 December 1766, WMS E25-18132 and E25-18177 in the Wedgwood Archival Collection currently housed at Keele University. In February 1767 Wedgwood had reached an informal agreement for a partnership with Bentley (E25-18186), that became operational on 14 November 1768 (E25-18213), but was only formally signed on 10 August 1769.
17. Reilly, op. cit. (note 7), p. 133.
18. Fothergill, op. cit. (note 3), pp. 113-118.
19. Francesco Bartolozzi's engravings of the Portland Vase after drawings by G.B. Cipriani were published by John Boydell on 20 April 1786.
20. John Flaxman to Josiah Wedgwood I, 5 February 1784, WMS E2-30188.
21. Dawson, op. cit. (note 2), p. 116.
22. Josiah Wedgwood I to Sir William Hamilton, 16 June 1787, WMS E26-19090.
23. Reilly, op. cit. (note 7), pp. 295-296.
24. Sir William Hamilton, Collection of Engravings from Ancient Vases mostly of Pure Greek Workmanship discovered in Sepulchres in the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, 4 vols (Naples, 1791-95).
25. Fothergill, op. cit. (note 3), p. 402.
26. D. Edwards, Thomas Hope's Wedgwood purchases', Ars Ceramica, no. 13, 24-25 (1996), published by The Wedgwood Society of New York.
27. Dawson, op. cit. (note 2), pp. 112-114.
28. N. Williams, The Breaking and Remaking of the Portland Vase, pp. 27-29 (British Museum Publications, 1989).
29. E. Simon, Die Portlandvase (Mainz, 1957); B. Ashmole, ' A New Interpretation of the Portland Vase', J. Hellenic Studies 87, 1-17 (1967); D.E.L. Haynes, The Portland Vase, 2nd revised edition (London, 1975); J.G.F. Hind, 'Greek and Roman epic scenes on the Portland Vase', J. Hellenic Studies 99, 20-25 (1979); D.B. Harden, Glass of the Caesars (Milan, 1987); K. Painter and D. Whitehouse, 'VI Interpretation of the scenes', in Gudenrath et al., op. cit. (note 2), pp. 130-136.
30. E. Simon, Die Portlandvase (Mainz, 1957); B. Ashmole, ' A New Interpretation of the Portland Vase', J. Hellenic Studies 87, 1-17 (1967); D.E.L. Haynes, The Portland Vase, 2nd revised edition (London, 1975); J.G.F. Hind, 'Greek and Roman epic scenes on the Portland Vase', J. Hellenic Studies 99, 20-25 (1979); D.B. Harden, Glass of the Caesars (Milan, 1987); K. Painter and D. Whitehouse, 'VI Interpretation of the scenes', in Gudenrath et al., op. cit. (note 2), pp. 130-136.
31. E. Simon, Die Portlandvase (Mainz, 1957); B. Ashmole, ' A New Interpretation of the Portland Vase', J. Hellenic Studies 87, 1-17 (1967); D.E.L. Haynes, The Portland Vase, 2nd revised edition (London, 1975); J.G.F. Hind, 'Greek and Roman epic scenes on the Portland Vase', J. Hellenic Studies 99, 20-25 (1979); D.B. Harden, Glass of the Caesars (Milan, 1987); K. Painter and D. Whitehouse, 'VI Interpretation of the scenes', in Gudenrath et al., op. cit. (note 2), pp. 130-136.
32. E. Simon, Die Portlandvase (Mainz, 1957); B. Ashmole, ' A New Interpretation of the Portland Vase', J. Hellenic Studies 87, 1-17 (1967); D.E.L. Haynes, The Portland Vase, 2nd revised edition (London, 1975); J.G.F. Hind, 'Greek and Roman epic scenes on the Portland Vase', J. Hellenic Studies 99, 20-25 (1979); D.B. Harden, Glass of the Caesars (Milan, 1987); K. Painter and D. Whitehouse, 'VI Interpretation of the scenes', in Gudenrath et al., op. cit. (note 2), pp. 130-136.
33. E. Simon, Die Portlandvase (Mainz, 1957); B. Ashmole, ' A New Interpretation of the Portland Vase', J. Hellenic Studies 87, 1-17 (1967); D.E.L. Haynes, The Portland Vase, 2nd revised edition (London, 1975); J.G.F. Hind, 'Greek and Roman epic scenes on the Portland Vase', J. Hellenic Studies 99, 20-25 (1979); D.B. Harden, Glass of the Caesars (Milan, 1987); K. Painter and D. Whitehouse, 'VI Interpretation of the scenes', in Gudenrath et al., op. cit. (note 2), pp. 130-136.
34. E. Simon, Die Portlandvase (Mainz, 1957); B. Ashmole, ' A New Interpretation of the Portland Vase', J. Hellenic Studies 87, 1-17 (1967); D.E.L. Haynes, The Portland Vase, 2nd revised edition (London, 1975); J.G.F. Hind, 'Greek and Roman epic scenes on the Portland Vase', J. Hellenic Studies 99, 20-25 (1979); D.B. Harden, Glass of the Caesars (Milan, 1987); K. Painter and D. Whitehouse, 'VI Interpretation of the scenes', in Gudenrath et al., op. cit. (note 2), pp. 130-136.
35. N. Williams, op. cit. (note 23), pp. 27-29.
36. Josiah Wedgwood I to Sir William Hamilton, 24 June 1786, WMS E26-18976.
37. Sir William Hamilton to Josiah Wedgwood I, 24 July 1786. Quoted by W. Mankowitz, The Portland Vase and the Wedgwood Copies, pp. 29-30 (London, 1952).
38. Reilly, op. cit. (note 7), pp. 313-315.
39. Josiah Wedgwood, Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. 72, 305-326 (1782).
40. Reilly, op. cit. (note 7), p. 329.
41. Reilly, op. cit. (note 7), pp. 318-321.
42. Josiah Wedgwood I to Sir William Hamilton, 24 June 1786, WMS E26-18976.
43. E. Meteyard, op. cit. (note 8), vol. 2, pp. 580-581.
44. D. King-Hele, Doctor of Revolution - The Life and Genius of Erasmus Darwin, p. 58 (Faber and Faber, London, 1977). The first letter from Josiah Wedgwood to Darwin was probably that of 3 April 1765 (Cambridge University Library MS DAR 227.3: 4), but Wedgwood must have met Darwin before this.
45. Meteyard, op. cit. (note 8), vol. 1, pp. 219-229. Why Josiah Wedgewood's knee became stiff and painful after a bad attack of smallpox is not clear. Meteyard's account makes a septic arthritis unlikely and raises the possibility that the arthritis was an immunological consequence of the infection.
46. Meteyard, op. cit. (note 8), vol. 2, pp. 38-41; Josiah Wedgwood I to Thomas Bentley, 14 July 1768, WMS E25-18205.
47. Josiah Wedgwood I to Erasmus Darwin, 28 June 1789, WMS E26-19001.
48. Reilly, op. cit. (note 7), p. 322.
49. Erasmus Darwin to Josiah Wedgwood I, October 1789, C.U.L. MS DAR 227. 1:117.
50. Sir Joshua Reynolds's WMS note on the Portland Vase of 15 June 1790 is quoted by Mankowitz, op. cit. (note 27), p. 35, but can no longer be found.
51. The 'Oven Book' records firings at Etruria between 27 May 1791 and 31 December 1796. WMS 53-30016.
52. Reilly, op. cit. (note 7), p. 328.
53. Edwards, op. cit. (note 21), p. 27.
54. Dawson, op. cit. (note 2), pp. 149-150.
55. [Erasmus Darwin], The Botanic Garden - A Poem in Two Parts. Part I containing 'The Economy of Vegetation' with Additional Notes (J. Johnson, St Paul's Church Yard, 1791; 2nd edn, 1791; 6th, 1824). Part II containing 'The Loves of the Plants' with Philosophical Notes (J. Johnson, St Paul's Church Yard, 1789; 2nd edn, 1790; 3rd, 1791; 7th, 1824). 1st edn of Part I is usually bound with 3rd edn of Part II.
56. Erasmus Darwin to Joseph Johnson, 23 May 1784, Letter 84G, in The Letters of Erasmus Darwin (ed. D. King-Hele), pp. 139-140 (Cambridge University Press, 1981).
57. Josiah Wedgwood I to Erasmus Darwin, July 1789, WMS E26-19002.
58. Josiah Wedgwood, Account of the Barberini now Portland Vase. With various explications of its bas-reliefs that have been given by different authors (London, 1788). He gave a copy to the British Museum, now in the Library of the Department of Medieval and Later Antiquities. Also in letter to Erasmus Darwin, October 1789, WMS E26-19004.
59. Josiah Wedgwood I to Erasmus Darwin, 17 November 1789, WMS E26-19000.
60. Erasmus Darwin to Josiah Wedgwood 1,9 July 1791. Quoted in G. Keynes, 'Blake and the Wedgwoods', in Blake Studies - Essays on his life and work, revised 2nd edn, p. 60 (Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1971).
61. Joseph Johnson to Erasmus Darwin, 23 July 1791. Quoted in Keynes, op. cit. (note 50), pp. 60-61.
62. King-Hele, op. cit. (note 34), p. 213.
63. Keynes, op. cit. (note 50), pp. 61-65.
64. Josiah Wedgwood I to Erasmus Darwin, July 1789, WMS E26-19002.
65. There is no mention of any Portland Vase copy in the Wills of Josiah Wedgwood I, II and III, or of Erasmus, Robert Waring and Charles Darwin.
66. Reginald Darwin to Eliza Meteyard, 1866, Wedgwood Mosley MS at Keele University, W/M 484.
67. Sir George Howard Darwin to Josiah Wedgwood and Sons, Etruria Museum, Stoke-on-Trent. 24 May 1908, WMS E33-24899 note on how Erasmus Darwin's copy of the Portland Vase came into his possession.
68. Robert Waring Darwin to Josiah Wedgwood II, 20 October1793, WMS L2-240.
69. Charles Darwin to Susan Darwin, 27 November 1844? C.U.L. MS DAR 92, pp. 9-10. The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 3, p. 86 (Cambridge University Press, 1987).
70. Sir Francis Darwin's Recollections, c.1884. C.U.L. MS DAR 140 (3), pp. 75-76.
71. Charles Darwin to J.D. Hooker, 3 January 1863, in The Life and Letters of Charles Darwin, 3 vols (ed. F. Darwin), vol. 3, pp. 4-5 (John Murray, London, 1887).
72. J.D. Hooker to Charles Darwin, 6 January 1863, in Life and Letters of Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker, M.D., 2 vols (ed. L Huxley), vol. 1, pp. 77-78 (London, 1918).
73. Charles Darwin to William Erasmus Darwin (1839-1914), his eldest son, 11 [February 1858]. C.U.L. MS DAR 210.6. Correspondence of CD, 1991, vol. 7, pp. 21-22.
74. Charles Darwin, Account Book 3 April 1858, Down House MS.
75. Charles Darwin to Trenham Reeks, 10 March [1858]. British Geological Survey Archives GSM1/501. Correspondence of CD, 1991, vol. 7, p. 45.
76. Eliza Meteyard, The Wedgwood Handbook, pp. 303-304 (London, 1875).
77. Communication from Ann Eatwell.
78. Charles Darwin to Trenham Reeks (?), 13 August [1858]. British Geological Survey Archives GSM 1/501. Correspondence of CD, 1991, vol. 7, p. 153.
79. Charles Darwin, Account Book 28 August 1858, Down House MS.
80. Sir Francis Darwin, op. cit. (note 60), p. 75. In his recollections, FD wrote that Charles Darwin 'sold a gold watch given to his father by Lord Powis [Edward Herbert, 2nd Earl of Powis (1785-1848)] - The beautiful Flaxman things & the Barberini vase were all sold at a nominal sum, part of the money (or all ?) being spent on a billiard table.' Account Book 24 February 1859, Down House MS.
81. L.M. Beeson, The Darwin Portland Vase Number 12, pp. 87-90. Proceedings of the 11th Wedgwood International Seminar, 5-7 May 1966.
82. C.V. Wedgwood, Leith Hill Place (privately printed, 1947).