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拍品專文
The present, previously unpublished album is a unique and highly important record of Hamilton's early work, executed soon after he left the Dublin Society Schools, which he attended from around 1750 to 1756, or possibly later. Very few autograph works by Hamilton from this period have survived, which makes the discovery of an album of 67 still in their original binding a remarkable find.
The Dublin Society Drawing Schools were founded out of the art school started by Robert West in about 1740, as an Academy for artists and craftsmen. West himself was a superb draftsman and was particularly noted for his skill in the medium of red chalk. Dr Thomas Campbell mentions in his Diary of a Visit to England in 1775, published 1854 'Let me not forget to set down what Ryland told me ... what indeed I had always heard in Ireland, that old West was the best drawer in red chalks at Paris, of his time, and that for drawing in general he was the best scholar of Venloo [sic].' The only known drawing attributed to West was sold in these Rooms, 17 May 2001, lot 58, and regretably no autograph drawings have survived. Robert West's pupils at the school certainly excelled in the medium of chalks and pastels; Hamilton was one of the most skilled practitioners. O'Keeffe, a fellow student, said of his figure drawings that Hamilton was 'remarkable for choosing, when drawing the human figure, the most foreshortened view, consequently the most difficult.' The present album contains four works in red chalk, which reflect the influence of West's teaching at the schools. Prior to the discovery of this album there were no known examples of Hamilton's work in chalk.
As can be seen in the style of the present collection, drawing in Ireland at this period was heavily influenced by French Art and the Rococo Style. From about 1750 West was joined at the Schools by the french-trained James Mannin (d.1779) and several other private drawing Schools in Dublin were established by Frenchmen. French architectural treatises and pattern books were circulated in great number and French influence can be seen in the architecture and the decorative arts of this period. Many of the Irish had connections with France and saw Paris as a cultural alternative to London.
One of the surviving autographed works by Hamilton of the same date as the present album is a superb architectural capriccio (see A. Crookshank and The Knight of Glin, The Watercolours of Ireland, London, 1994, p.67, pl. 79) executed in pen and wash, for Lord Kildare as the title page of a Survey of Kilkea made by John Rocque in 1760. Kildare was the chief private patron of Rocque, a Frenchman, known for his cartouches with which his maps are decorated (see op.cit, p. 50, pl. 50) and his influence can be seen in the elaborate scrolled cartouche of the title page of the present work. The figures in this drawing; the two soldiers leaning against the arch and the statue in the architrave are similar in execution to the figure studies in our album.
The drawings would appear to be intended for engraving, though the work was never executed.
The discovery of this album is a milestone in the study of eighteenth century Irish Art and one of the most important records of drawing from this period to appear on the market. Some of the drawings are to be included in Anne Crookshank and The Knight of Glin's forthcoming book Ireland's Painter's, to be promised later this year.
The Dublin Society Drawing Schools were founded out of the art school started by Robert West in about 1740, as an Academy for artists and craftsmen. West himself was a superb draftsman and was particularly noted for his skill in the medium of red chalk. Dr Thomas Campbell mentions in his Diary of a Visit to England in 1775, published 1854 'Let me not forget to set down what Ryland told me ... what indeed I had always heard in Ireland, that old West was the best drawer in red chalks at Paris, of his time, and that for drawing in general he was the best scholar of Venloo [sic].' The only known drawing attributed to West was sold in these Rooms, 17 May 2001, lot 58, and regretably no autograph drawings have survived. Robert West's pupils at the school certainly excelled in the medium of chalks and pastels; Hamilton was one of the most skilled practitioners. O'Keeffe, a fellow student, said of his figure drawings that Hamilton was 'remarkable for choosing, when drawing the human figure, the most foreshortened view, consequently the most difficult.' The present album contains four works in red chalk, which reflect the influence of West's teaching at the schools. Prior to the discovery of this album there were no known examples of Hamilton's work in chalk.
As can be seen in the style of the present collection, drawing in Ireland at this period was heavily influenced by French Art and the Rococo Style. From about 1750 West was joined at the Schools by the french-trained James Mannin (d.1779) and several other private drawing Schools in Dublin were established by Frenchmen. French architectural treatises and pattern books were circulated in great number and French influence can be seen in the architecture and the decorative arts of this period. Many of the Irish had connections with France and saw Paris as a cultural alternative to London.
One of the surviving autographed works by Hamilton of the same date as the present album is a superb architectural capriccio (see A. Crookshank and The Knight of Glin, The Watercolours of Ireland, London, 1994, p.67, pl. 79) executed in pen and wash, for Lord Kildare as the title page of a Survey of Kilkea made by John Rocque in 1760. Kildare was the chief private patron of Rocque, a Frenchman, known for his cartouches with which his maps are decorated (see op.cit, p. 50, pl. 50) and his influence can be seen in the elaborate scrolled cartouche of the title page of the present work. The figures in this drawing; the two soldiers leaning against the arch and the statue in the architrave are similar in execution to the figure studies in our album.
The drawings would appear to be intended for engraving, though the work was never executed.
The discovery of this album is a milestone in the study of eighteenth century Irish Art and one of the most important records of drawing from this period to appear on the market. Some of the drawings are to be included in Anne Crookshank and The Knight of Glin's forthcoming book Ireland's Painter's, to be promised later this year.