FEATURE
Randolph Caldecott’s Places and Faces in Brittany ERIC HOULDER LRPS
This feature is based on an old photograph, in that it is based on drawings resulting from three tours of Brittany made by the then well-known artist Randolph Caldecott RA as Two Victorian Travellers in 1870s Brittany.
T
he date is significant in that it is just before efficient photo-mechanical reproduction was developed. It also preceded the introduction of rapid plates and hand-held cameras, so that to capture and eventually reproduce action, photography was ‘out,’ and a ‘rapid artist,’ as Caldecott was described, was ‘in.’ Crucially, it was also before all but main line railways in France, so that country districts were quite isolated, and retained local costume and customs long after the
cities. Caldecott was quite famous in his time as an equestrian artist, as well as contributing material to illustrated magazines. His hunting scenes are still sought after by collectors, as are his coaching images, which even in the 1860s were reminders of a vanished world. Sadly he died of a chronic heart condition in 1886; he was just forty. Today his work is particularly valued by collectors of sporting prints. On the Breton tours, Caldecott was accompanied by his friend and employer Henry Blackburn, who was editor of London Society magazine. Blackburn had previously published illustrated books on his summer tours, using other artists as well as Caldecott. This time the book was to be titled Breton Folk, and Caldecott was to be given joint authorship. Blackburn advised ‘modern tourists’ to avoid the railways and travel by diligence ( like
Blackburn & Caldecott in a hired trap.
our earlier stage coaches, but bigger, slower, and more ‘downmarket’) between towns, and hire traps from inns to visit the local villages. Caldecott’s (flipped) portrait of a girl who served him at a Breton inn. Note her likeness to one of the dancers in #1.
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I came into possession of Breton Folk as a gift from a friend. Many years ago Michael, who has since died, gave me his copy of the book, inherited
