William Sawrey Gilpin

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Coast Scene

William Sawrey Gilpin (born October 4, 1762 , † January 20, 1843 in Sedbury Hall , North Yorkshire ) was a British watercolor painter, draftsman and landscape architect. He worked as a consultant in the creation of landscape gardens for English landowners and also made his own designs; his work is documented for about seventy places. He wrote a book on landscaping.

Origin and life

He was the son of Sawrey Gilpin (1733-1807) and attended school with his uncle William Gilpin in Cheam , Surrey . He married Elizabeth Paddock in 1785 with whom he had two or three sons. He died in Sedbury Hall , North Yorkshire , the home of his cousin Reverend John Gilpin, and was buried in the churchyard at Gilling West .

Artist

In the 1780s he autodidactically learned the contemporary new aquatint technique and implemented his uncle's templates for his book Observations on the River Wye ... made in the summer of the year 1770 . He also specialized in watercolors and in 1804 became president of the Society of Painters in Water-Colors . He was supported by George Beaumont , through whom he also met Uvedale Price .

Drawing teacher

From 1806 Gilpin had a job as a drawing teacher for sea cadets at the Royal Military College in Great Marlow (from 1812 in Sandhurst). He lost this apparently secure position in life as part of budget cuts after the end of the Napoleonic Wars at the age of almost 60.

Landscaper

To support his family, he began to work as a landscape gardener and architect. Apart from his artistic experience, he had no qualifications for it. He was encouraged and supported by Uvedale Price, whose theories about painterly landscaping were in line with his ideas. His work also shows the influence of his old adversary, Humphry Repton , who died in 1818.

Gilpin was successful in this occupation, he worked on about seventy gardens (according to his own statements there were a hundred). Few of his designs have survived, as his role was more that of an advisor to his aristocratic clientele. His designs explicitly did not follow the style of Lancelot Brown , were less "natural" and committed to the style of Picturesque . The hallmarks of his grounds were irregular flower beds, gently curved paths through irregular bushes and elevated walks.

The following jobs are known:

Fonts

  • Tour through parts of north Wales (1818, unpublished manuscript, with illustrations)
  • Practical Hints upon Landscape Gardening: with some remarks on Domestic Architecture, as connected with scenery (1832, second edition 1835)

literature

  • Lionel Henry Cust : Gilpin, William Sawrey . In: The dictionary of national biography . From the earliest times to 1900 , founded by George Smith , edited by Leslie Stephen . Volume 7. Oxford University Press , London 1889-1890, reprinted 1921-1922, page 1264.
  • Gerhard Bissell: Gilpin, William Sawrey . In: General Artist Lexicon. The visual artists of all times and peoples. Volume 54. Saur, Munich, Leipzig 2007, ISBN 978-3-598-22794-3 , pages 250-251.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ William Sawrey Gilpin - Summary Parks & Gardens UK (English)
personal data
SURNAME Gilpin, William Sawrey
BRIEF DESCRIPTION English garden architect and painter
DATE OF BIRTH October 4, 1762
DATE OF DEATH January 20, 1843
Place of death Sedbury Hall , North Yorkshire