Page 14 - A Time and A Place Catalogue, Jorge Welsh

The pleasure brought by these ‘views and
perspectives’ was often mentioned in descriptions
of the countryside during this period, as for example
by William Gilpin (1724-1804), one of the proponents
of the Picturesque ideal, who marvelled that:

… the most enchanting Views up and down
the River, (…) which, together with very
charming Prospects into the Country, (…)
make as fine a Piece of Nature, as perhaps
can any where be met with.2

Gilpin’s many writings also reveal the curiosity
that Europeans had for new and unfamiliar places:

We travel for various purposes; to explore
the culture of soils; to view the curiosities
of art; to survey the beauties of nature;
to search for her productions; and to learn
the manners of men; their different polities,
and modes of life.3

In addition, during this period ‘the past’ acquired FIG. 1
new significance and importance. ‘Antiquarianism’
and in particular ancient buildings and inhabited It was for reasons of curiosity and the desire Fig. 1
landscapes were seen as providing insights into to document or commemorate them, that ‘views
a distant time and place. This was recognised and perspectives’ were commissioned to be painted Plate
as early as 1709, when Sir John Vanbrugh, on Asian works of art for the Western markets. Tin-glazed earthenware
playwright and architect, wrote to the Duchess At a time in the 18th century when images were Delft — ca. 1650-1675
of Marlborough: circulating more than ever before, but travelling Ø 21 cm
was still difficult and expensive, the depiction
… There is perhaps no one thing, which of views on objects that were meant to be © Collection Rijksmuseum,
the most polite part of mankind have more used and displayed, provided, in some cases, Amsterdam
universally agreed in, than in the vallue they the only existing knowledge or memory of a place.
have ever set upon the remains of distant times, Furthermore, these types of representations were
nor amongst the several kinds of those commissioned for various reasons, such as a family
antiquitys, are there any so much regarded, anniversary, a status symbol, a token of religious
as those of Buildings; some for their and political sympathies, or simply as a souvenir.
magnificence, or curious workmanship; As such these objects have become important
and others, as they move more lively and in documenting the history of the period.
pleasing reflections (than History without
their aid can do) on the persons who have
inhabited them; or the extraordinary occasions
of erecting them.4

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