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Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Observations, Relative Chiefly to Picturesque Beauty
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
William Gilpin (author and artist)
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1792
22.0 x 12.3 cm
DA 620 G49 1792
Description
An account of the resource
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Willia</span><span style="font-weight: 400;">m Gilpin</span><span style="font-weight: 400;">’s </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Observations, Relative Chiefly to Picturesque Beauty </span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">instructed readers in how to enjoy the landscapes of England’s Lake District, and was illustrated with <a href="https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/aqtn/hd_aqtn.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">aquatints</a> (a type of <a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/art-terms/e/etching" target="_blank" rel="noopener">etching</a>) based on Gilpin's drawings. <a href="https://www.royalacademy.org.uk/art-artists/name/william-gilpin" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Gilpin</a> encouraged his readers to create sketches from nature and to tweak what they saw in order to create </span>picturesque drawings<span style="font-weight: 400;">. Gilpin described the <a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/art-terms/p/picturesque" target="_blank" rel="noopener">picturesque</a> as a type of view that offered a middleground between the peacefulness of a beautiful landscape and the thrill of a <a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/art-terms/s/sublime" target="_blank" rel="noopener">sublime landscape</a>. </span></p>
<span style="font-weight: 400;">Gilpin’s popularization of sketching </span><a href="https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/features/what-is-the-picturesque-" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span style="font-weight: 400;">picturesque scenery</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> played a role in William Henry Fox Talbot's </span><a href="https://www.sfmoma.org/watch/sun-pictures-henry-fox-talbot-and-first-photographs/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">discovery of photography</a><span style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">. It was when he was sketching the picturesque landscape of Italy that Talbot grew frustrated, and began imagining how much easier life could be if nature could just imprint itself onto a piece of paper.<br /><br />Many of the landscape views that would be created photographically in the centuries to come followed the formula of </span></span><span style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">picturesque scenery popularized by Gilpin. <a href="https://omeka.library.ualberta.ca/exhibits/show/photograpies/item/3060"><em>Views of Portree</em></a> offers an excellent example; some of its views seem to come straight out of Gilpin's sketchbooks. Some albums and <a href="https://omeka.library.ualberta.ca/exhibits/show/photograpies/memory-and-identity/1900-to-1969/souvenir-books">souvenir books</a> focus on <a href="https://omeka.library.ualberta.ca/exhibits/show/photograpies/item/3147">sublime landscapes</a>, while others include <a href="https://omeka.library.ualberta.ca/exhibits/show/photograpies/item/3148">both conventions side by side</a>. <br /></span></span><span style="font-weight: 400;"> <br />A full scan of Gilpin’s book is available through the <a href="https://archive.org/details/cu31924104095298/page/n6/mode/2up" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Internet Archive</a>.<br /></span>
engraving
William Henry Fox Talbot