William Sawrey Gilpin
Encyclopedia
William Sawrey Gilpin was an English
artist, drawing master and, in later life, landscape design
er.
Gilpin was the son of the animal painter Sawrey Gilpin
. He attended the school of his uncle, William Gilpin
, at Cheam
in Surrey
. Gilpin married Elizabeth Paddock; they had two (or possibly three) sons, one of whom seems to have remained dependent on his father. William Sawrey Gilpin died at Sedbury Hall, North Yorkshire
, the house of his cousin the Reverend John Gilpin, and is buried nearby in the churchyard at Gilling West
.
process of etching in order to produce plates to illustrate his uncle's books on picturesque scenery. Gilpin specialised in watercolours and in 1804 was elected first President of the Society of Painters in Water-Colours. He was patronised by Sir George Beaumont, through whom he met the picturesque theorist Uvedale Price
.
(at Sandhurst from 1812), teaching cadets to make accurate records of the landscape and the lie of enemy positions. This apparently secure employment came to a sudden end in 1820 when, in a round of post-Napoleonic war cutbacks, he was made redundant at the age of nearly 60.
, who had died in 1818.
Gilpin seems to have been remarkably successful, in his short landscape design
career he reputedly worked at "some hundreds" of sites. Relatively few designs survive on paper or unaltered on the ground. Features employed by Gilpin included amoeba-shaped flower beds, gently curving paths through irregular shrubberies, and raised terrace walks.
Sites where he is known to have worked include:
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
artist, drawing master and, in later life, landscape design
Landscape design
Landscape design is an independent profession and a design and art tradition, practised by landscape designers, combining nature and culture. In contemporary practice landscape design bridges between landscape architecture and garden design.-Design scope:...
er.
Gilpin was the son of the animal painter Sawrey Gilpin
Sawrey Gilpin
Sawrey Gilpin was an English animal painter, illustrator, and etcher who specialised in paintings of horses and dogs. He was made a Royal Academician.-Life and work:...
. He attended the school of his uncle, William Gilpin
William Gilpin (clergyman)
The Reverend William Gilpin was an English artist, clergyman, schoolmaster, and author, best known as one of the originators of the idea of the picturesque.-Early life:...
, at Cheam
Cheam
Cheam is a large suburban village close to Sutton in the London Borough of Sutton, England, and is located close to the southern boundary between Greater London and Surrey. It is divided into two main areas: North Cheam and Cheam Village. North Cheam includes more retail shops and supermarkets,...
in Surrey
Surrey
Surrey is a county in the South East of England and is one of the Home Counties. The county borders Greater London, Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, Hampshire and Berkshire. The historic county town is Guildford. Surrey County Council sits at Kingston upon Thames, although this has been part of...
. Gilpin married Elizabeth Paddock; they had two (or possibly three) sons, one of whom seems to have remained dependent on his father. William Sawrey Gilpin died at Sedbury Hall, North Yorkshire
North Yorkshire
North Yorkshire is a non-metropolitan or shire county located in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England, and a ceremonial county primarily in that region but partly in North East England. Created in 1974 by the Local Government Act 1972 it covers an area of , making it the largest...
, the house of his cousin the Reverend John Gilpin, and is buried nearby in the churchyard at Gilling West
Gilling West
Gilling West is a large village in the Richmondshire district of North Yorkshire, England. It is located in the civil parish of Gilling with Hartforth and Sedbury....
.
Artist
In the 1780s taught himself the relatively new aquatintAquatint
Aquatint is an intaglio printmaking technique, a variant of etching.Intaglio printmaking makes marks on the matrix that are capable of holding ink. The inked plate is passed through a printing press together with a sheet of paper, resulting in a transfer of the ink to the paper...
process of etching in order to produce plates to illustrate his uncle's books on picturesque scenery. Gilpin specialised in watercolours and in 1804 was elected first President of the Society of Painters in Water-Colours. He was patronised by Sir George Beaumont, through whom he met the picturesque theorist Uvedale Price
Uvedale Price
Sir Uvedale Price, 1st Baronet , author of the Essay on the Picturesque, As Compared With The Sublime and The Beautiful , was a Herefordshire landowner who was at the heart of the 'Picturesque debate' of the 1790s...
.
Drawing master
In 1806 Gilpin took a post as drawing master at the Royal Military CollegeRoyal Military Academy Sandhurst
The Royal Military Academy Sandhurst , commonly known simply as Sandhurst, is a British Army officer initial training centre located in Sandhurst, Berkshire, England...
(at Sandhurst from 1812), teaching cadets to make accurate records of the landscape and the lie of enemy positions. This apparently secure employment came to a sudden end in 1820 when, in a round of post-Napoleonic war cutbacks, he was made redundant at the age of nearly 60.
Landscape gardener
In order to support his family, Gilpin turned to a career as a landscape gardener, for which he had little qualification or experience beyond an artist's eye. He was helped and encouraged in this by Uvedale Price, whose theories on picturesque landscaping clearly accorded well with his own ideas. Gilpin's work also shows the influence of the later work of Price's old adversary Humphry ReptonHumphry Repton
Humphry Repton was the last great English landscape designer of the eighteenth century, often regarded as the successor to Capability Brown; he also sowed the seeds of the more intricate and eclectic styles of the 19th century...
, who had died in 1818.
Gilpin seems to have been remarkably successful, in his short landscape design
Landscape design
Landscape design is an independent profession and a design and art tradition, practised by landscape designers, combining nature and culture. In contemporary practice landscape design bridges between landscape architecture and garden design.-Design scope:...
career he reputedly worked at "some hundreds" of sites. Relatively few designs survive on paper or unaltered on the ground. Features employed by Gilpin included amoeba-shaped flower beds, gently curving paths through irregular shrubberies, and raised terrace walks.
Sites where he is known to have worked include:
- Scotney CastleScotney CastleScotney Castle is an English country house with formal gardens south-east of Lamberhurst in the valley of the River Bewl in Kent, England. It belongs to the National Trust....
in KentKentKent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of... - Nuneham HouseNuneham HouseNuneham House is a Palladian villa, at Nuneham Courtenay in Oxfordshire England. It was built for Simon Harcourt, 1st Earl Harcourt in 1756. It is owned by Oxford University and is currently used as a retreat centre by the Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual University...
in OxfordshireOxfordshireOxfordshire is a county in the South East region of England, bordering on Warwickshire and Northamptonshire , Buckinghamshire , Berkshire , Wiltshire and Gloucestershire ....
, where he laid out the Pinetum which now forms the core of the Harcourt ArboretumHarcourt ArboretumHarcourt Arboretum is an arboretum owned and run by the University of Oxford. It is a satellite of the university's botanic garden in the city of Oxford, England...
attached to the Oxford Botanic Garden.
Author
In 1832, Gilpin published Practical Hints upon Landscape Gardening: with some remarks on Domestic Architecture, as connected with scenery, which ran to a second edition in 1835.Further reading
- Sophieke Piebenga, 'William Sawrey Gilpin (1762–1843): picturesque improver' in Garden History 22:2 (Garden History Society, 1994)
- Sophieke Piebenga, 'William Sawrey Gilpin, artist and landscape designer' in 'The Picturesque No. 48, (The Picturesque Society, 2004)