William Gilpin was a schoolmaster, author, Anglican Clerk and most importantly this week he was an artist.
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He was born in Cumberland England in Scaleby Castle, educated at Queen's College, Oxford, Headmaster at Cheam School, Vicar of Boldre in Hampshire. During his time as Vicar he took on a student named Caroline Anne Southey who would become an artist
and Poet.
William Gilpin is my 4th cousin 9 times removed, in other words; my 10th great grandfather was his 3rd great grandfather.
He described his paintings as Picturesque. Picturesque : visually charming or quaint, as if resembling or suitable for a painting. William painted and wrote about what he saw as he traveled during summer breaks into journals and notebooks. After being published his books became a sort of travel guide for an eager audience armed with sketchbooks and romantic tour plans.
To William a picturesque scene should be intricate, rough, varied and without straight lines. It should include a dark foreground, with a screen in the front or on the sides, a lighter, brighter middle at a distance and a scene depicted even further in the distance. He would
paint from a low viewpoint occasionally adding the odd tree or boulder to create the perfect composition.
A personal color atlas from British artist William Gilpin (1724-1804). His sketchbook titled "Hints to Form The Taste & Regulate Ye Judgement in Sketching Landscape" is from 1790.
His writings contained few historical facts about a place and his descriptions vague but he would write what he thought would make a sight more picturesque such as this comment he made while painting Tintern Abbey; "a mallet judiciously used might render the
insufficiently ruinous gable of Tintern Abbey more picturesque".
Many of William's manuscripts are housed in the Bodleian Library, Oxford.
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