James Tassie
Encyclopedia
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
gem engraver and modeller
MODELLER
MODELLER is a computer program used in producing homology models of protein tertiary structures as well as quaternary structures . It implements a technique inspired by nuclear magnetic resonance known as satisfaction of spatial restraints, by which a set of geometrical criteria are used to create...
.
He was born of humble parentage at Pollokshaws
Pollokshaws
Pollokshaws is a district on the southside of the city of Glasgow, Scotland. The housing stock mostly consists of some sandstone tenement housing, tower blocks and modern brick tenement-style buildings...
, in Glasgow
Glasgow
Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
. During his earlier years he worked as a stonemason, but, having seen the collection of paintings brought together in Glasgow by Robert Foulis
Robert Foulis (printer)
Robert Foulis was a Scottish printer and publisher.-Biography:Robert Foulis was born the son of a maltman. He was apprenticed to a barber, but was encouraged to become a publisher by Francis Hutcheson who was impressed by his ability...
and Andrew Foulis
Andrew Foulis
Andrew Foulis was a Scottish printer, brother of Robert Foulis. They worked in partnership as printers to the University of Glasgow.-Biography:...
, the printers, he removed to Glasgow, attended the academy which had been established there by the brothers Foulis, and became one of the most distinguished pupils of the school.
Subsequently he visited Dublin in search of commissions, and there became acquainted with Dr Quin, who had been experimenting, as an amateur, in imitating antique engraved gems in coloured pastes. He engaged Tassie as an assistant, and together they perfected the discovery of an enamel
Vitreous enamel
Vitreous enamel, also porcelain enamel in U.S. English, is a material made by fusing powdered glass to a substrate by firing, usually between 750 and 850 °C...
, admirably adapted by its hardness and beauty of texture for the formation of gems and medallions. Dr Quin encouraged his assistant to try his fortune in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, and thither he repaired in 1766. At first he had a hard struggle to make his way. But he worked on steadily with the greatest care and accuracy, scrupulously destroying all impressions of his gems which were in the slightest degree inferior or defective.
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
were thrown open to him for purposes of study and reproduction; and his copies were frequently sold by fraudulent dealers as the original gems. He exhibited in the Royal Academy
Royal Academy
The Royal Academy of Arts is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly, London. The Royal Academy of Arts has a unique position in being an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects whose purpose is to promote the creation, enjoyment and...
from 1769 to 1791. In 1775 he published the first catalogue of his works, a thin pamphlet detailing 2856 items. This was followed in 1791 by a large catalogue, in two volumes quarto, with illustrations etched by David Allan, and descriptive text in English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
and French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
by Rudolf Erich Raspe
Rudolf Erich Raspe
Rudolf Erich Raspe was a German librarian, writer and scientist, called by his biographer John Carswell a "rogue"...
, enumerating nearly 16,000 pieces.
In addition to his impressions from antique gems, Tassie executed many large profile medallion portraits of his contemporaries, and these form the most original and definitely artistic class of his works. They were modelled in wax from the life or from drawings done from the life, and when this was impossible from other authentic sources. They were then cast in white enamel paste, the whole medallion being sometimes executed in this material; while in other cases the head only appears in enamel, relieved against a background of ground-glass tinted of a subdued color by paper placed behind. His first large enamel portrait was that of John Dolbon, son of Sir William Dolbon, Bart., modelled in 1793 or 1794; and the series possesses great historic interest, as well as artistic value, including as it does portraits of Adam Smith
Adam Smith
Adam Smith was a Scottish social philosopher and a pioneer of political economy. One of the key figures of the Scottish Enlightenment, Smith is the author of The Theory of Moral Sentiments and An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations...
, Sir Henry Raeburn
Henry Raeburn
Sir Henry Raeburn was a Scottish portrait painter, the first significant Scottish portraitist since the Act of Union 1707 to remain based in Scotland.-Biography:...
, Drs James Beattie
James Beattie
James Beattie may refer to:*James Beattie *James Beattie , English footballer*Jim Beattie , baseball player*Jim Beattie , Scottish rock musician-See also:...
, Blair
Blair
Blair is a name of Scottish Gaelic origin, 'blàr' meaning field or plain. It may be either a first or last name. The following are some notable persons named Blair:- As a surname :* Anthony Blair , American hanged for murder...
, Black
Black
Black is the color of objects that do not emit or reflect light in any part of the visible spectrum; they absorb all such frequencies of light...
and Cullen
William Cullen
William Cullen FRS FRSE FRCPE FPSG was a Scottish physician, chemist and agriculturalist, and one of the most important professors at the Edinburgh Medical School, during its heyday as the leading center of medical education in the English-speaking world.Cullen was also a central figure in the...
, and many other celebrated men of the latter half of the 18th century. At the time of his death, in 1799, the collection of Tassie's works numbered about 20,000 pieces.
His nephew William Tassie
William Tassie
William Tassie was a gem engraver and cameo modeller of Scottish descent, who worked in London in the early 19th century...
followed him in the business.
In 2008, a bar in the Shawlands area of Glasgow, was renamed "The James Tassie" in his honour.