Shapter, Mary Gibbs, 1842-1921, Sketchbooks, 1866-1900
- Title(s):
Sketchbooks.
- Published/Created:
- [Great Britain], 1866-1900.
- Physical Description:
- 5 sketchbooks ; 18 x 26 cm, and smaller
- Holdings:
- Rare Books and ManuscriptsDA625.S53 S43 1866 Flat AYale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon FundView by request in the Study Room [Request]
Note: The Study Room is open by appointment. Please visit the Study Room page on our website for more details. - Copyright Status:
- Copyright Not Evaluated
- Full Orbis Record:
- http://hdl.handle.net/10079/bibid/11372381
- Classification:
- Drawings & Watercolors
- Notes:
- Mary Gibbs Shapter (1842-1921) was the daughter of John Shapter (1806-1887), Queen's Counsel and bencher of Lincoln's Inn, who lived at 7 Clarendon Place, Hyde Park Gardens.
The sketchbooks are accompanied by "Notes on various trees, with leaf specimens" (1 volume, 1879-1880) by Mary Gibbs Shapter, which has been catalogued separately (DA625.S53 S43 1866a Flat).
Five sketchbooks by Mary Gibbs Shapter, 1866-1900, in various media. The sketchbooks reveal Shapter's development as an artist and her life in London in the 1860s, with all its connections to the legal world of the time, and her travels--to Wales in 1871, to Scotland in 1873, and the Victorian seaside resort of Broadstairs on the Kentish coast at the turn of the century.
Volume 1 comprises pen-and-ink sketches of named groups, 1866-1869. It features eight double-page group portraits in ink, the sitters numbered and identified at the side, e.g. "Legal Group. 1866," with Sir John Rolt, Attorney General, John Shapter QC, Vice Chancellor (of the High Court) Sir Richard Malins, and Hon. Mr Justice Montague Smith; "Mary Baird's group. Novr 1866," with "Mr Gladstone" (i.e. the future Prime Minister), etc. The addition drawings, mostly in graphite, include family portraits ("Papa," "Tom Shapter," "Lewis Shapter," "Aunt Fanny," "John") and other sketches. A number of drawings on smaller sheets of paper (mostly portraits) have been laid in.
Volume 2 comprises views made at Penmaenmawr, North Wales, August-September, 1871. It includes panoramas and mountain/coastal scenes, some double-page (Penmaenmawr, Carnarvon and Conway Castles, Dwygyfylchi Glen, Llandudno, "Conway Castle from the train," Great Ormes Head, "Druids Circle," a view towards Anglesey and Puffin Island, Snowdon and Capel Curig) and portraits (Sophy and Mother playing "Bézique at Pen Maen Mawr, August 1871," "The family starting for drive in the Moors"). Drawings are in ink, watercolor, or wash. It also includes four limericks written on the final page.
Volume 3 comprises views made at Strontian in the Highlands, 1873, and scenes in the southeast of England, 1874-1875. The volume features six panoramas, two double-page, of Strontian (August 1873): Loch Sunart, "The Stores," "Strontian from the bathing house," as well as Maidenhead Bridge; "The Lock, Clevedon" (i.e. Cliveden?). Also present are drawings of Shotover (Oxon.), Shrubhurst, and Godstone (Surrey); with certain trees named at the bottom of the page.
Volume 4 comprises drawings of various country houses, 1877-1889. Includes graphite drawings, some colored or heightened with wash, of Oxley Manor (Staffs.); Kidbrooke Park (Sussex); Barnfield, Exeter; Westfield, Hayling Island; Whittlebury Lodge (Northants.); Canon Hill; George Hotel, Bray; "Camp of the 4th Royal Staffordshire Volunteers, Oxley Manor, Aug. 1880"; Wood Lea, Virginia Water; The Rectory, Speldhurst (Kent), "Riverside," and Maidenhead.
Volume 5 comprises drawings made at Broadstairs, Kent, 1899-1900. Watercolors, many double-page, record views of Broadstairs and the Regatta during stays in the summers of 1899 and 1900. All are named and dated, among them: "North Foreland Stone Gap & Eastern Esplanade from our Balcony"; "Bleak House, Coast Guard & Garden of Clevedon from our Balcony" (this, a double-page panorama, with an extra folding section pasted on the fore-edge of the leaf); "East Cliff House, Broadstairs" (two views); "Church & Rectory Broadstairs from our garden"; "Bleak House & Coast Guard Broadstairs from our balcony" (single-page); "View from balcony, East Cliffe House"; the "Back of Cobo ... Back of Summerland" (villas); "View from the Dining room, Cobo," etc. The volume also features a small number of portraits and 25 pages of drawings of sailing boats and steamers, many of them named. - Subject Terms:
- Broadstairs (England) -- Pictorial works.Country homes -- Great Britain -- Pictorial works.Great Britain -- Description and travel.Highlands (Scotland) -- Pictorial works.Penmaenmawr (Wales) -- Pictorial works.Sailboats -- Great Britain -- Pictorial works.Shapter family.Shapter, Mary Gibbs, 1842-1921.Steamboats -- Great Britain -- Pictorial works.Women travelers -- Great Britain.
- Form/Genre:
- Travel sketches.
Portraits.
Sketchbooks.
Graphite drawings.
Ink drawings.
Watercolors.
Limericks. - Export:
- XML