Beauty & Power Plymouth’s Greatest Gift: The Cottonian Collection
TEACHERS PACK
CONTENTS
About the Teacher’s Notes
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Introduction to the exhibition
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Cottonian Collectors
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Themes in the exhibition
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Selection of objects in the exhibition
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Ideas for activities in school
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What can we do for you?
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How to book a visit
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Further resources
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About the Teachers Pack
The aim of this pack is to provide a way to look at, learn from, and engage with the various themes, characters, and artworks included in the exhibition Beauty and Power: Plymouth’s Greatest Gift – The Cottonian Collection at Plymouth City Museum and Art Gallery, Saturday 24 January to Saturday 9 May 2015.
Elements of this pack can support your visit to the exhibition, and can also be adapted for use in the classroom pre- or post- visit.
Please refer to page 22 for guidance on how to book a visit.
Introduction to the exhibition
Beauty and Power: Plymouth’s Greatest Gift – The Cottonian Collection takes a fresh look at our amazing Designated Cottonian Collection. The Designation Scheme is a mark of distinction, identifying and celebrating preeminent collections of national and international importance in non-national institutions.
This nationally important collection encompasses a 2,000 volume book library, several thousand prints, Old Master drawings, oil paintings, works by celebrated portrait artist Sir Joshua Reynolds, bronzes and sculptures.
The main Collection was compiled by Charles Rogers (1711-1783) in mid18th century London before being inherited by the Cotton family in 1783.
It passed through three generations of Cotton’s, each of whom left their mark on it, before it was gifted to the people of Plymouth in 1853. It was initially part of the Proprietary Library. It finally came under the care of the City Museum and Art Gallery in 1915.
This exhibition will provide a unique insight into the stories behind the Collection, and bring together some of its most significant and less seen items from over 600 years of art.
To find out more about Sir Joshua Reynolds, please refer to our dedicated ‘Sir Joshua Reynolds’ teachers notes, which can be found either on our or our new ISSUU site. www.ISSUU.com/plymouthcitymuseumatgallery/docs/sir_joshua_reynolds_teachers_notes_
Themes in the exhibition
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Antiquities
New archaeological finds, and recent translations and re-prints of the writings of Virgil, Horace and Ovid led to an interest in Ancient Rome and Ancient Greece. This fashion for Neoclassicism influenced many artist and collectors, particularly those who took part in the ‘Grand Tour’, where mainly upperclass or wealthy men travelled Europe, discovering the cultural legacy of past civilisations. Collectors responded to these trends with a passion by collecting antiquities, art works and books that where related.
The Cottonian Collection’s representation of antiquities in art works and books reflects the collectors eternal quest for knowledge and understanding. Antiquarianism (people who are interested in antiquities and evidence of the past) was widely regarded as a "polite" pursuit. The collection and interest in antiquities was presented as a contribution to polite learning and the mark of a gentleman. The Society of Antiquaries (which Charles Rogers was a member) boasted a fashionable, genteel, and rapidly growing membership throughout the 18th Century.
Biblical Histories and Figures
The Cottonian Collection belongs to the ‘long 18th century’ that stretches from the Restoration (1660) to the end of the Georgian period (1830). Whilst it is often thought of as a secular period, state and church were still a strong unity within British society. In fact, the collectors who put this Collection together were all devout believers in the established church.
Biblical artworks and texts, such as the Bibles and sermons, make up a significant element of the Collection. Robert Townson, the first ‘Cottonian collector’ was a deeply religious man – of the several hundred books he acquired, two thirds were sermons. Although the artworks and texts are instructional and symbolic in nature, this may not be the only reason why they were collected. The artwork or text’s rarity, age, beauty, the associated artist or author, and whether it expanded the collector’s ‘curious ambition’, personal taste or public identity may have had a greater influence on the collector than the Christian significance of its subject.
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Global Discourses
The Cottonian Collection was formed within what is known as the ‘Age of Enlightenment’, a period which saw an explosion of public discussion with the establishment of libraries, book clubs, coffee houses and fine art and antiquarian societies. It was believed that human reason could discover the natural laws of the universe through the accumulation of knowledge.
The Cottonian Collection was an important resource for the collectors, supporting their personal study and interests. Although a systematic analysis of the Cottonian Library remains to be undertaken, its 2000 or more volumes divides approximately into a third contemporary religion and philosophy, and two thirds arts and historical books. It is also particularly rich in travel books, with a distinct focus on the ancient world and lands newly discovered in the Pacific and Americas. There are some fine examples of the earliest printed books on the history of England and art theory. The Collection’s books confirm that the new discoveries – from the ancient world to those of the British Isles – were an important area of interest for the Collectors.
Pleasures of the Imagination
18th Century London was one of the most energetic and creative places in Western Europe. No other period can boast as many connoisseurs and amateurs in the various fields of the arts and sciences. This habit of being actively curious helped establish the attributes of the ‘sociable man’ – a connoisseur and lover of literature, music and art.
The Cottonian collectors were all sociable men. They demonstrated their education, taste and masculinity through the collecting and ownership of rare and exquisite objects. The collection of art and antiquities, visits to the theatre, concerts and auction houses served the purposes of self-presentation and social identity. Even when William Cotton II sold two-thirds of the Collection in 1799 and 1801, his social status of as a sociable man was intact due to the remainder of the collection, his consumption of luxury goods, and his plans for a new family home in Clapham.
However by the end of the 18th century, collecting had become more common in British culture. The ‘habit of curiosity’ had spread to the middle classes, provoking cultural anxieties such as the proliferation of greed, the changes to British culture from foreign influences, and the increasing social and financial power of the objects themselves.
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Selection of objects in the exhibition
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Antiquities
Hamilton’s Antiquities Collection of Etruscan, Greek, and Roman Antiquities from the Cabinet of the Hon. W. Hamilton Naples: 1766-67 © Plymouth City Museum and Art Gallery: Cottonian Collection
This spectacular compilation of elevations, representing a superb collection of Etruscan, Greek, and Roman vases, is the fruit of a collaboration between Lord William Hamilton (1730-1803), British diplomat and collector, and Hugues d'Hancarville (1719-1805), an amateur art dealer.
While working as an envoy to the British Embassy in Naples, Hamilton developed a keen interest in antiquity, visiting the excavations of Pompeii and Herculaneum and publishing the first scientific essays on volcanology. His friend d'Hancarville introduced him to the Porcinari family, whose collection of vases Hamilton purchased in its entirety, and who helped Hamilton seek out additional artefacts.
In 1772, Hamilton sold his collection to the British Museum. Before these invaluable artefacts were shipped to England (and half lost in a shipwreck), d'Hancarville commissioned drawings depicting the vases in great detail. These drawings were published in four volumes now known as Hamilton’s Antiquities. They are considered to be among the most beautiful books ever published. These drawings helped spark Britain's interest in Neoclassicism, and inspired reproductions from pottery manufacturers such as Josiah Wedgwood.
A video of this book being opened can be viewed here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPW8bDG5jVw
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Biblical Histories and Figures
Passio Christi (The Small Passion) Albrect Dürer (1471-1528) Nuremberg: 1511
CB381 © Plymouth City Museum and Art Gallery: Cottonian Collection
The Small Passion was designed and cut in a relatively short time, probably in the two years preceding its publication in 1511 -- a milestone year when Dürer also issued the Large Passion, and the Life of the Virgin. It was published by Dürer himself, and is the most extensive of all his series, comprising 36 blocks. 34 of these wooden blocks have survived and are now in the collection of the British Museum.
To various scenes from the ‘Life of Christ’ and the ‘Passion’, Dürer added two images of the ‘Fall of Man’ and the ‘Expulsion from Paradise’ at the beginning, and of the ‘Pentecost’ and the ‘Last Judgement’ at the end, thereby setting the ‘Passion’ at the centre of a larger, all-encompassing narrative of the fall and redemption of mankind. Two images, ‘Christ's Entry into Jerusalem’ and ‘Christ Driving the Money-changers from the Temple’, are not included in any of Dürer's other Passion series.
A video of this book being opened can be viewed here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGppvxC_SNs
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Global Discourses
The Death of Captain Cook From the book ‘A Voyage to the Pacific Ocean … ‘ by Captain James Cook (1728 – 1779) London: 1784. CB528 © Plymouth City Museum and Art Gallery: Cottonian Collection
When Captain Cook and his crew on HMS Endeavour set off from Plymouth in 1768, they must have expected their voyage would help make the world a more understandable place. The astronomer Charles Green was appointed by the Royal Society to observe the transit of Venus, with Cook as the second observer. Joseph Banks, a wealthy amateur botanist, also joined the expedition, bringing with him the landscape artist Alexander Buchan and the botanical artist Sydney Parkinson. The island of Tahiti, whose longitude had recently been determined astronomically by Samuel Wallis, was chosen for the observation.
On his second journey on HMS Resolution in 1771, the purpose of the voyage was to answer a very specific question – was a there an unknown continent known as Terra Australis in the Southern Hemisphere? On the earlier voyage, Cook had mapped most of the Eastern coast of Australia, which showed that it was continental in scale. Despite this, Cook and his crew were sent again to search for Terra Australis. On this voyage, Cook was joined by Captain Tobias Furneaux, born in Devonport. Furneaux was the first man to circumnavigate the world in both directions.
Furneaux returned home with Omai of Ulaietea (Raiatea), who became the first South Sea Islander to travel to Great Britain. Omai later returned to Tahiti with Cook in 1776–1777. He is best known through the amazing portrait made by Sir Joshua Reynolds.
Cook died in Hawaii in 1779.
A video of this book being opened can be viewed here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DitwlS2Pvwc
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Pleasures of the Imagination
The Man in the Moon (L’Homme Dans La Lune) Illustration from the book The Man in the Moone: or a discovrse of a Voyage thither by Domingo Gonsales The speedy Messenger. by Francis Godwin London: 1638. CB650 © Plymouth City Museum and Art Gallery: Cottonian Collection
This book by Francis Godwin is notable for the role it played in what was called the ‘new astronomy’, the branch of astronomy influenced especially by Copernicus. It begins with a prologue, with the main character Gonsales explaining how a voyage to the moon is no more fantastic an idea than a voyage to the Americas would have been a few years earlier. Godwin proposes that the earth is magnetic, and that only an initial push is needed to escape its magnetic field. The energy needed for this ‘push’ comes from the gansas, a specially bred swan with one webbed foot and one talon. Each year these birds migrate to the moon, and so in the illustration we see Gonsales’ flying machine powered by birds.
This book has been described as one of the first works of science fiction, but it was written at a time when fiction and non-fiction’s boundaries blurred, so Godwin was being read alongside Copernicus, Galileo, and Kepler as pioneering works in the field of astronomy. Before Isaac Newton’s Theory of Gravitation was published, this kind of book would help fuel the curious mind.
A video of this book being opened can be viewed here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYZs7HzfJQU
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Ideas for activities
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Ideas for activities
Who are you? Create your own Collection
Collections, much like portrait or self-portraits, tell us a huge amount about the person who put them together. We can map someone’s interests, we can work out how much they were buying objects for, whether they had travelled themselves or were interested in travelling, and who their friends and acquaintances were.
Why not hold a ‘Share your Collection’ day at school? Many pupils will already have a collection of their own (such as leaves, stones, stamps, cards, stickers, jewellery), and those who don’t can be encouraged to start one. Along with the Cottonian Collection, we have a huge collection of other material, from natural and social history, to photographs, prints, drawings and paintings. The famous stamp collector Stanley Gibbons was born in Plymouth and started his business here, so anything is possible!
Encourage your pupils to write their own labels for some of their collection objects, much like we would in the Museum and Art Gallery. You should be able to find examples of good practice for label writing on the internet.
Travel the world without leaving the classroom
In the 18th Century, the ‘Grand Tour’ was a desirable activity for many men of a certain social standing and wealth. They would travel Europe searching for cultural experiences, such as viewing particular works of art, or visiting specific places. This was well before travel was easily accessible, and before photography made it easier for people to see things and places that they hadn’t visited before. Today, we can explore the world’s streets through Google Maps - you can even explore within museums and galleries (including Plymouth City Museum and Art Gallery). The need to be upper-class, wealthy or a man to travel the world has long since disappeared.
Why not explore somewhere in the world that you’ve never been before? Ask the class to list all of the places they’ve visited, both in this country and abroad. Plot these onto a map (either a printed map, or through dropping ‘pins’ on Google Maps), and select a place that you’ve never been before. What can you find out about this place? Try using Street View to explore the streets.
If no-one has been there, try searching for ‘Amfiteatar u Puli’ in Croatia, ‘Machu Picchu’ in Peru, and ‘Senso-ji Temple’ in Japan.
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Ideas for activities
Illuminate your writing
An illuminated manuscript is one that has had decoration added to its text, such as decorative letters to start sentences, beautiful borders around the text, and small illustrations that help tell a story. They are often also decorated with gold or silver. The most obvious example we have in the Cottonian Collection is the 14th Century Book of Hours (a film of which can be seen here (link to follow)). To see one of the most elaborate ever produced, try searching for the ‘Book of Kells’.
Ask you pupils to ‘illuminate’ their writing. Using software such as Photoshop (or even Word), scan drawings and add them to your writing. You’ll even be able to replicate the traditional ‘Gothic Script’ or ‘Blackletter’ type by downloading a free font from Dafont http://www.dafont.com/theme.php?cat=401) or similar.
Observe your possessions
Hamilton’s Antiquities is said to be one of the most beautiful books ever published, inspiring many to explore the world of classical design and mythology. Josiah Wedgwood made exact copies of some of the objects included in this book (including the Roman glass ‘Portland Vase’ owned by the British Museum, with Wedgwood’s replica now owned by the V&A), while architects were being influenced by the designs of Andrea Palladio, who had in turn been influenced by Ancient Roman buildings. Saltram House in Plymouth has a ‘Palladian’ façade – the height of fashion in 18th Century Britain.
Having built their own collection, can your pupils make detailed drawings of their objects? Archaeological objects are still drawn today as well as photographed, despite the huge improvements in digital photography. How much detail can they achieve?
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What can we do for you?
We are able to offer schools various options when visiting the exhibition. Visits can be arranged for anywhere between one class to an entire school. In many cases, a member of staff can be present to facilitate your visit. We are also very happy for you to visit as a selfdirected group.
The exhibition provides a perfect opportunity for your pupils to experience nationally significant architecture and art first hand – and will act as a starting point for working in sketchbooks, fact finding, and talking about the themes that surround the exhibition.
How to book a visit
Booking in advance is essential for visits
We want to ensure your group has the best experience possible when visiting, so please remember to contact us first before organising your trip. We are very popular with schools, colleges and other user groups, so our galleries can get very busy from time to time.
For enquiries for school visits, contact museumvisits@plymouth.gov.uk. Please have a range of possible dates available before contacting us, as it may not always be possible to offer you your first choice date.
Please remember to bring along sketchbooks and pencils for your visit, as wet materials, and also dusty materials will not be permitted in the exhibition galleries. If you have any questions regarding materials, please contact us using the email above.
Further resources
Many of our previous Teachers Packs, Notes, and Resources are available as PDF downloads from our website http://www.plymouth.gov.uk/museumlearningresources.htm