Lot Essay
This album records five sessions of the Sketching Society or, as it was known in 1809-10, 'The Society for the Study of Epic and Pastoral Design'. The Society had its origins in a sketching club founded in 1799 by a group of artists headed by Thomas Girtin, and known as 'The Brothers'. The group's aim was to establish a 'School of Historic Landscape'. After Girtin's death, the group was refounded in 1802 under John Sell Cotman.
In 1802 a new society was formed by Francis Stevens with the Chalon brothers. The first meeting took place on 6 January 1802 and the groups official title was as given above; it became more familiarly know as the 'Bread and Cheese Society' and later 'The Chalon Sketching Society' after the brothers, who remained active members up to the final meeting in 1851.
It was ruled that the membership should consist of eight, plus one or later two visitors for each session. The group was to meet every Wednesday between November and May, and there were summer excursions. At each session a particular subject was chosen of which each artist did a drawing. The sessions took place at the home of each member in turn, and each night's drawings remained the property of the host.
The drawings in this album were, therefore, done at the house of Francis Stevens when the chosen subjects were as follows, the facts and dates of the session being ......... in the album before each group of drawings: 4 October 1809, a passage from Milton's Cornus; 15 November 1809, Ovid's Metamorphoses, Book 5, line 861; 20 December 1809, Psalm 137, verses 1 and 2; 24 January 1810, a passage from Wodhull's translation of Euripedes' Bacchantas; and, after a gap, 4 April 1810, a passage from 'Spring' in Thomson's The Seasons.
Until the reappearance of this album, the first know work from this new Society were datable to 1812 or 1813. This earlier group of drawings done in 1809 and 1810 differs from examples from the previous Societies in that, fortunately for us, all the works are signed. From this it can be seen that Webster was absent from all but the first session, while Bone was also absent on 24 January 1810.
(For a summary of the history of the various Sketching Societies, see Jean Hamilton, The Sketching Society 1799-1851, Victoria and Albert Museum, 1971)
In 1802 a new society was formed by Francis Stevens with the Chalon brothers. The first meeting took place on 6 January 1802 and the groups official title was as given above; it became more familiarly know as the 'Bread and Cheese Society' and later 'The Chalon Sketching Society' after the brothers, who remained active members up to the final meeting in 1851.
It was ruled that the membership should consist of eight, plus one or later two visitors for each session. The group was to meet every Wednesday between November and May, and there were summer excursions. At each session a particular subject was chosen of which each artist did a drawing. The sessions took place at the home of each member in turn, and each night's drawings remained the property of the host.
The drawings in this album were, therefore, done at the house of Francis Stevens when the chosen subjects were as follows, the facts and dates of the session being ......... in the album before each group of drawings: 4 October 1809, a passage from Milton's Cornus; 15 November 1809, Ovid's Metamorphoses, Book 5, line 861; 20 December 1809, Psalm 137, verses 1 and 2; 24 January 1810, a passage from Wodhull's translation of Euripedes' Bacchantas; and, after a gap, 4 April 1810, a passage from 'Spring' in Thomson's The Seasons.
Until the reappearance of this album, the first know work from this new Society were datable to 1812 or 1813. This earlier group of drawings done in 1809 and 1810 differs from examples from the previous Societies in that, fortunately for us, all the works are signed. From this it can be seen that Webster was absent from all but the first session, while Bone was also absent on 24 January 1810.
(For a summary of the history of the various Sketching Societies, see Jean Hamilton, The Sketching Society 1799-1851, Victoria and Albert Museum, 1971)