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Rev. William Gilpin

(1724 - 1804)

Gilpin was born at Scaleby Castle, near Carlisle, the son of an enthusiastic amateur artist Captain John Bernard Gilpin, but most of his career was spent in the south, as was that of his younger brother, the sporting and animal painter Sawrey Gilpin RA (1733-1807). Schoolmaster, parson, writer and connoisseur, William Gilpin exerted an unprecedented influence on the taste and travels of his contemporaries through his discussions of British scenery and its relationship to landscape painting. These were circulated privately in manuscript before publication in his successive volumes of Observations, relative chiefly to Picturesque Beauty, each dedicated to a different area, which appeared between 1782 and 1809. The two volumes that included his discussions of the Lake District were published in 1786, long after the northern summer tour of 1772 during which he spent less than a week in the area, visiting Windermere, Derwentwater, Borrowdale, Buttermere and Ullswater. These volumes were embellished by oval sepia-tinted aquatints, for which he acknowledged the assistance of other artists including his brother Sawrey and John 'Warwick' Smith, Gilpin continued to make drawings for his own pleasure for the rest of his life.

Gilpin’s pronouncements on ‘picturesque beauty’ stimulated intense debate not only among artists but also in the wider world and created a new occupation, ‘picturesque tourism’. Within a few years of his death he was immortalised as the absent-minded and accident-prone Dr Syntax whose adventures were illustrated by Thomas Rowlandson and related in the comic verses of William Combe.

The mezzotint portrait was engraved by George Clint after the original painting by Henry Walton Esq.

Literature

Cecilia Powell and Stephen Hebron, Savage Grandeur and Noblest Thoughts. Discovering the Lake District 1750-1820, exhibition catalogue, Wordsworth Museum, Grasmere, 2010

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Reference Gilpin, William, Rev. (1724-1804)

There are 65 works by Gilpin, William, Rev. (1724-1804) in the Trust's collection, e.g.:
1991.26.2 Gilpin, William. - William Gilpin Observations on the river Wye 1782. - Oxford ; New York : Woodstock Books, 1991. - 210 x 130mm ; text block height 200mm ; blue cloth with dust-jacket ; facsimile of London 1782 edition.

1992.36.5 Gilpin, William. - Observations on the river Wye, and several parts of South Wales, &c. relative chiefly to picturesque beauty; made in the summer of the year 1770, by William Gilpin, M.A. Vicar of Boldre near Lymington. - London : R. Blamire, 1782. - 225 x 144mm ; text block height 221mm ; full bound leather, rebacked with original label ; illustrated.

1992.55.1 Gilpin, William. - Observations, relative chiefly to picturesque beauty, made in the year 1772, on several parts of England; particularly the mountains, and lakes, of Cumberland, and Westmoreland. By William Gilpin. - Two volumes. - London : R. Blamire, 1786. - 227 x 145mm ; text block height 220mm ; full leather bound, gilt border ; includes 30 tinted aquatints ; one loose engraving at front.

1992.67.2 Gilpin, William. - Four ovals of ideal scenery. - No date, c.1786. - watercolour. - 160 x 235mm.

1992.67.2.1 Gilpin, William. - Lake Scene with fishermen. - No date, c.1786. - watercolour. - 160 x 235mm.

Person/place picker

There are 65 works by Gilpin, William, Rev. (1724-1804) in the Trust's collection, e.g.:
1991.26.2		Gilpin, William. - William Gilpin Observations on the river Wye 1782. - Oxford ; New York : Woodstock Books, 1991. - 210 x 130mm ; text block height 200mm ; blue cloth with dust-jacket ; facsimile of London 1782 edition.
1992.36.5		Gilpin, William. - Observations on the river Wye, and several parts of South Wales, &c. relative chiefly to picturesque beauty; made in the summer of the year 1770, by William Gilpin, M.A. Vicar of Boldre near Lymington. - London : R. Blamire, 1782. - 225 x 144mm ; text block height 221mm ; full bound leather, rebacked with original label ; illustrated.
1992.55.1		Gilpin, William. - Observations, relative chiefly to picturesque beauty, made in the year 1772, on several parts of England; particularly the mountains, and lakes, of Cumberland, and Westmoreland. By William Gilpin. - Two volumes. - London : R. Blamire, 1786. - 227 x 145mm ; text block height 220mm ; full leather bound, gilt border ; includes 30 tinted aquatints ; one loose engraving at front.
1992.67.2		Gilpin, William. - Four ovals of ideal scenery. - No date, c.1786. - watercolour. - 160 x 235mm.
1992.67.2.1		Gilpin, William. - Lake Scene with fishermen. - No date, c.1786. - watercolour. - 160 x 235mm.