Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t7czq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T07:59:02.978Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

John Carter, FSA (1748–1817): ‘The Ingenious, and Very Accurate Draughtsman’

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 May 2011

Bernard Nurse  and
J Mordaunt Crook
Bernard Nurse*
Affiliation:
Bernard Nurse, FSA, 18 Ruskin Walk, London SE24 9LZ, UK. E-mail: [email protected]
J Mordaunt Crook*
Affiliation:
J Mordaunt Crook, FSA, 55 Gloucester Avenue, London NW1 7BA, UK. E-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

John Carter's newly catalogued papers and correspondence in the archives of King's College London throw considerable new light on his relationship with members of the Society of Antiquaries and his patrons, and include previously unpublished sketches of several of them. His memoirs show that a small group of wealthy antiquaries recognized his skills as an accurate and conscientious draughtsman and encouraged him faithfully to record historic – and especially medieval – buildings and monuments. Many of these buildings were later altered or destroyed, and his numerous surviving drawings are thus of immense value to scholars. The opportunity has also been taken to publish a postscript with additional comments and corrections to the Society's monograph, John Carter and the Mind of the Gothic Revival (1995).

Résumé

Les écrits et la correspondance de John Carter qui se trouvent dans les archives de King's College, Londres, et qui viennent d’être catalogués, jettent vraiment un jour nouveau sur ses rapports avec les membres de la Société des Antiquaires et ses patrons, et comprennent des croquis de plusieurs d'entre eux, qui n'avaient jamais été publiés. Ses mémoires montrent qu'un petit groupe de riches antiquaires reconnaissaient son talent de dessinateur précis et consciencieux et l'encourageaient à faire des dessins très exacts de bâtiments et de monuments historiques – tout particulièrement médiévaux. Nombre de ces bâtiments furent changés ou détruits par la suite, et les nombreux dessins qui nous restent de lui sont donc d'une très grande valeur pour les spécialistes. Nous avons également saisi l'occasion de publier un post-scriptum contenant des corrections et des remarques supplémentaires à la monographie de la Société, John Carter and the Mind of the Gothic Revival (1995).

Zusammenfassung

John Carters katalogisierten Aufsätze und Korrespondenzen in den Archiven des King's College, London offenbaren viele neue Informationen über seine Beziehungen zu den Mitgliedern der Society of Antiquaries und deren Schirmherren, unter anderem auch bis jetzt unveröffentlichte Skizzen von mehreren von ihnen. Carters Memoiren zeigen, daß eine kleine Gruppe von wohlhabenden Altertumskennern sein Talent als sorgfältigen und gewissenhaften Zeichner erkannten und ihn anregten historische – und vor allem mittelalterliche – Gebäude und Monumente akkurat aufzuzeichnen. Viele dieser Gebäude wurden später umgebaut oder zerstört und seine umfangreiche Sammlung von Zeichnungen ist daher von unmittelbarem Wert für Gelehrte. Es wird auch die Gelegenheit ergriffen, ein Nachwort für die Monographie der Society John Carter and the Mind of the Gothic Revival (1995) zu veröffentlichen, das viele zusätzliche Kommentare und Korrekturen enthält.

Type
Articles
Information
The Antiquaries Journal , Volume 91 , September 2011 , pp. 211 - 252
Copyright
Copyright © The Society of Antiquaries of London 2011

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Manuscript sources

Ashmolean, Department of Western Art, Moore-Miller PapersGoogle Scholar
BL, Add mss 26109, 27322, 29925–44, 31113Google Scholar
Bodleian, ms Eng Lett a 1, b 32, Don d 89Google Scholar
KCL, Archives, Leathes 7/1–8Google Scholar
Leeds, University Library, Brotherton Collection, Misc Letters 2 Carter (letters to Barrett, 1781–94)Google Scholar
Private Collection, London (Arnold Hunt), Carter's letters to Gough, 1792 and 1796Google Scholar
SAL, Archives, CorrespondenceGoogle Scholar
SAL, Archives, Audit Books 1761–80, 1785–91Google Scholar
SAL, Blue Portfolio (St Stephen's)Google Scholar
SAL, Council MinutesGoogle Scholar
SAL, Red Portfolio (Derby)Google Scholar
SAL, Red Portfolio (Hants)Google Scholar
SAL, Red Portfolio (Herts)Google Scholar
SAL, MinutesGoogle Scholar
SAL, ms 447/2Google Scholar

Published sources

Badham, S 1987. ‘Richard Gough and the flowering of romantic antiquarianism’, Church Monuments, 2, 32–43Google Scholar
Bailey, M 2006. ‘The rediscovery of the Hereford Mappamundi, early references, 1684–1873’, in The Hereford World Map (ed P D A Harvey), 45–78, London: British LibraryGoogle Scholar
Bell, A 2004. ‘Sykes, Sir Mark Masterman, third baronet (1771–1823)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, <http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/26869> (2 Feb 2011)+(2+Feb+2011)>Google Scholar
Bell, C F 1915–17. ‘Fresh light on some water-colour painters of the old British School, derived from the collections and papers of James Moore, FSA’, Walpole Soc, 5, 47–83Google Scholar
Blum, P Z 1998. ‘Thirteenth-century glass of the Salisbury Chapter House’, Gesta, 37 (2), 142–149Google Scholar
Bradley, S 2002. ‘The Englishness of Gothic: theories and interpretations from William Gilpin to J H Parker’, Architect Hist, 45, 325–346Google Scholar
British Architectural Library 1994–2003. Early Printed Books 1478–1840, 5 vols, Munich: Bowker-SaurGoogle Scholar
Britton, J 1828. History and Antiquities of Peterborough Cathedral, London: Longman & CoGoogle Scholar
Britton, J 1850. ‘On the life, professional works, writings, and character of John Carter, FSA and draughtsman’, The Builder, 8, pt 386 (29 June 1850), 302–304Google Scholar
Britton, J 1851. ‘Carter's drawings of York Cathedral’, Notes Queries, 33, 40Google Scholar
Brydges, E 1834. The autobiography … of Sir Egerton Brydges, 2 vols, London: Cochrane & M'CroneGoogle Scholar
[Buckler, J C] 1817. ‘Memoir of Mr John Carter, F.A.S.’, GM, 87 (2), 366–368Google Scholar
Cameron, C 1772. The baths of the Romans explained and illustrated, with the restorations of Palladio corrected and improved, London: George ScottGoogle Scholar
Campbell, L 1998. National Gallery Catalogues: the fifteenth-century Netherlandish schools, London: National Gallery Publications and Yale University PressGoogle Scholar
Campbell, T 2007. Henry VIII and the Art of Majesty: tapestries at the Tudor court, London: Yale University PressGoogle Scholar
Carter, J 1780–94. Specimens of the Ancient Sculpture and Painting, now remaining in this kingdom, from the earliest period to the reign of Henry VIII, 2 vols, LondonGoogle Scholar
Carter, J 1786–93. Views of Ancient Buildings in England, 6 vols, LondonGoogle Scholar
Carter, J 1802. ‘Pursuits of architectural innovation’, GM, 72 (2), 1115Google Scholar
Carter, J 1803. ‘Publications of cathedrals by the Antiquarian Society’, GM, 73 (1), 106–107Google Scholar
Carter, J 1804. ‘Pursuits of architectural innovation’, GM, 74 (1), 508–512Google Scholar
Carter, J 1817. Specimens of English ecclesiastical costume, from the earliest period down to the sixteenth century, selected from sculptures, paintings, and brasses … extracted from the new edition of Fosbrooke's ‘British Monachism’, London: Nichols, Son & BentleyGoogle Scholar
Chambers, W 1791. Treatise on the Decorative Part of Civil Architecture, London: Joseph SmeetonGoogle Scholar
Champ, J 2004. ‘Milner, John (1752–1826)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, <http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/18791> (2 Feb 2011)+(2+Feb+2011)>Google Scholar
Chandler, R, Revett, N Pars, W 1769. Ionian antiquities, London: Society of DilettantiGoogle Scholar
Coles, J M 1962. ‘European Bronze Age shields’, Proc Prehist Soc, new ser, 28, 156–190Google Scholar
Colvin, H 2008. A Biographical Dictionary of British Architects 1600–1840, 4th edn, London: Yale University PressGoogle Scholar
Crook, J M 1973. ‘Strawberry Hill revisited’, Country Life, 153 (7 June), 1598–1602; (14 June), 1726–30; (21 June), 1794–7; and letter (28 June), 1886Google Scholar
Crook, J M 1995. John Carter and the Mind of the Gothic Revival, London: Society of AntiquariesGoogle Scholar
Crook, J M 2004. ‘Carter, John (1748–1817)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, <http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/4791> (2 Feb 2011)+(2+Feb+2011)>Google Scholar
Dille, C 2006. ‘Seward, William (1747–99)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, <http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/25137> (2 Feb 2011)+(2+Feb+2011)>Google Scholar
Dressler, R 2005. ‘“Those effigies which belonged to the nation”: antiquarianism, nationalism and Charles Alfred Stothard's Monumental Effigies of Great Britain’, Stud Medievalism, 14, 143–174Google Scholar
Englefield, H Windham, J 1792. Report on the proper methods of measuring and drawing antient buildings, London: Society of AntiquariesGoogle Scholar
Englefield, H Windham, J 1797. Plans, Elevations … of the Cathedral Church of Exeter, London: Society of AntiquariesGoogle Scholar
Evans, D M 2009. ‘“Banks is the villain!”? Sir Joseph Banks and the governance of the Society of Antiquaries’, Antiq J, 89, 337–363Google Scholar
Evans, J 1956. A History of the Society of Antiquaries, London: Society of AntiquariesGoogle Scholar
Farington, J 1978–84. The Diary of Joseph Farington (eds K Garlick, A Macintyre and K Cave), 16 vols, London: Yale University PressGoogle Scholar
Farrant, J H 2008. ‘Grimm, Samuel Hieronymous (bap. 1733, d. 1794)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, <http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/11635> (2 Feb 2011)+(2+Feb+2011)>Google Scholar
Frew, J M 1980. ‘An aspect of the Early Gothic Revival: the transformation of medievalist research, 1770–1800’, J Warburg Courtauld Inst, 43, 174–185Google Scholar
Frew, J M 1982. ‘Gothic is English: John Carter and the revival of Gothic as England's national style’, Art Bull, 64, 315–319Google Scholar
Gough, R 1783. The History and Antiquities of Croyland-Abbey in the County of Lincoln, in J Nichols, Bibliotheca Topographica Britannica, 3 (11), 1–176Google Scholar
Gough, R 1786–96. Sepulchral monuments in Great Britain applied to illustrate the history of families, manners, habits, arts, London: J NicholsGoogle Scholar
Graves, A 1905–6. The Royal Academy of Art, 8 vols, London: H GravesGoogle Scholar
Graves, A 1907. The Society of Artists of Great Britain 1760–1791 [and] The Free Society of Artists 1761–1783, London: G Bell & SonsGoogle Scholar
Grose, F 1773–87. The Antiquities of England and Wales, 6 vols, London: S HooperGoogle Scholar
Hardie, M 1967. Water-colour Painting in Britain 1: the eighteenth century, 2nd edn, London: BatsfordGoogle Scholar
Harris, E 1990. British Architectural Books and Writers 1556–1785, Cambridge: Cambridge University PressGoogle Scholar
Hayward Gallery 1984. English Romanesque Art 1066–1200, London: Weidenfeld & NicolsonGoogle Scholar
Hazen, A T 1973. A Bibliography of the Strawberry Hill Press, Folkstone: DawsonsGoogle Scholar
Hoare, R C 1806. The Itinerary of Archbishop Baldwin through Wales, 2 vols, London: William MillerGoogle Scholar
[Hore, J] 1817. ‘Memoir of the late Mr John Carter, F.A.S.’, GM, 87 (2), 363–366Google Scholar
Hutchings, V 2009. ‘Hoare, Sir (Richard) Colt, second baronet (1758–1838)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, <http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/13387> (2 Feb 2011)+(2+Feb+2011)>Google Scholar
Kuist, J M 1982. The Nichols File of the Gentleman's Magazine: attributions of authorship and other documentation in editorial papers at the Folger Library, Madison: University of Wisconsin PressGoogle Scholar
Lewis, E 2007. ‘Drawings of antiquities in the Society's albums c 1750–1860’, Ant J, 87, 365–386Google Scholar
Lewis, W S (ed) 1937–83. Horace Walpole's Correspondence, 48 vols, New Haven, Conn: Yale University PressGoogle Scholar
Lloyd, S Sloan, K 2008. The Intimate Portrait, Edinburgh: National Galleries of Scotland and London: British MuseumGoogle Scholar
Lorraine de Montluzin, E 1993. ‘Attributions of authorship in the Gentleman's Magazine, 1793–1808: a supplement to Kuist’, Stud Bibliography, 46, 320–349Google Scholar
Lorraine de Montluzin, E 1994. ‘Attributions of authorship in the Gentleman's Magazine, 1809–26: a supplement to Kuist’, Stud Bibliography, 47, 164–195Google Scholar
Murphy, J 1795. Plans, Elevations, Sections, and Views of the Church of Batalha, LondonGoogle Scholar
Nichols, J B 1855. ‘Some notices of the library at Stourhead’, Wiltshire Archaeol Natur Hist Mag, 2, 119–125Google Scholar
Nurse, B 2000. ‘George Cruikshank's The Antiquarian Society, 1812, and Sir Henry Charles Englefield’, Antiq J, 80, 316–320Google Scholar
Nurse, B 2007. ‘Bringing truth to light’, in Nurse et al (eds) (2007), 143–61Google Scholar
Nurse, B 2008. ‘Englefield, Sir Henry Charles, seventh baronet (c.1752–1822)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, <http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/8812> (2 Feb 2011)+(2+Feb+2011)>Google Scholar
Nurse, B, Gaimster, D McCarthy, S (eds) 2007. Making History: antiquaries in Britain 1707–2007, London: Royal AcademyGoogle Scholar
Park, D 1988. ‘A lost fourteenth-century altar-piece from Ingham, Norfolk’, Burlington Mag, 130, 132–136Google Scholar
Parry, G 1995. The Trophies of Time: English antiquarians of the seventeenth century, Oxford: Oxford University PressGoogle Scholar
Peltz, L 2007. ‘A friendly gathering: the social politics of presentation books and their extra-illustration in Horace Walpole's circle’, J Hist Collect, 19 (1), 33–49Google Scholar
Pickles, J D 2004. ‘Lort, Michael (1724/5–1790)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, <http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/17022> (2 Feb 2011)+(2+Feb+2011)>Google Scholar
Pinkerton, J M 1978. ‘Richard Bull of Ongar, Essex’, The Book Collector, 27, 41–59Google Scholar
Pooley, J 2008. ‘Bray, William (1735/6–1832)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, <http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/3299> (2 Feb 2011)+(2+Feb+2011)>Google Scholar
Roberts, M E 1986. ‘John Carter at St. Stephen's Chapel: a romantic turns archaeologist’, in England in the Fourteenth Century: proceedings of the 1985 Harlaxton symposium (ed W M Ormrod), 202–212, Woodbridge: Shaun TyasGoogle Scholar
Roberts, M 1988. The Emergence of Clarity: images of English cathedrals 1640–1840, Charlottesville: McIntire Department of Art, University of VirginiaGoogle Scholar
Rodwell, W 2009. Dorchester Abbey, Oxfordshire: the archaeology and architecture of a cathedral, monastery and parish church, Oxford: OxbowGoogle Scholar
Rodwell, W Leighton, G 2006. Architectural Records of Wells by John Carter, FSA, 1784–1808, Somerset Rec Soc 92, Taunton: Somerset Record SocietyGoogle Scholar
Rodwell, W 2010. ‘The chapter house complex: morphology and construction’, in Westminster Abbey Chapter House (eds W Rodwell and R Mortimer), 1–31, London: Society of AntiquariesGoogle Scholar
Rogers, C 1782. ‘An Account of certain earthen masks from the Musquito [sic] Shore’, Archaeologia, 6, 107–9Google Scholar
Roscoe, I 2009. A Biographical Dictionary of Sculptors in Britain 1660–1851, London: Yale University PressGoogle Scholar
Sebag-Montefiore, C 2004. ‘Parker, Thomas Lister (1779–1858)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, <http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/21343> (2 Feb 2011)+(2+Feb+2011)>Google Scholar
Smiles, S 2000. ‘Recording the Gothic: art and information’, in Eye Witness: artists and visual documentation in Britain 1770–1830 (ed S Smiles), 47–75, Aldershot: AshgateGoogle Scholar
Smiles, S 2002. ‘Data, documentation and display in eighteenth-century investigations of Exeter Cathedral’, Art Hist, 25 (4), 500–19Google Scholar
Smiles, S 2003. ‘Record and reverie: representing British antiquity in the eighteenth century’, in Enlightening the British: knowledge, discovery and the museum in the eighteenth century (eds R G W Anderson, M L Caygill, A G MacGregor and L Syson), 176–184, London: British Museum PressGoogle Scholar
Smiles, S 2007. ‘The art of recording’, in Nurse et al (eds) (2007), 123–5Google Scholar
Smith, G 2002. The Emergence of the Professional Watercolourist, Aldershot: AshgateGoogle Scholar
Snodin, M (ed) 2009. Horace Walpole's Strawberry Hill, London: Yale University PressGoogle Scholar
Stothard, C 1817–32. The Monumental Effigies of Great Britain, London: J McCreeryGoogle Scholar
Stuart, J Revett, N 1762–87. The Antiquities of Athens, i, 1762; ii, 1787, London: Society of DilettantiCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sweet, R H 2004. Antiquaries: the discovery of the past in eighteenth-century Britain, London: Hambledon & LondonGoogle Scholar
Sweet, R H 2008. ‘Gough, Richard (1735–1809)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, <http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/11141> (2 Feb 2011)+(2+Feb+2011)>Google Scholar
Sweet, R H 2009. ‘Richard Gough: the man and the antiquary’, Bodleian Library Rec, 22 (2), 120–141Google Scholar
Tiller, K (ed) 2005. Dorchester Abbey: church and people 635–2005, Witney: Stonesfield PressGoogle Scholar
Topham, J Englefield, H 1795–1811. Plans, Elevations, Sections and Specimens of the Architecture and ornaments of … St Stephen's Chapel, Westminster, London: Society of AntiquariesGoogle Scholar
Tyack, G 2004. ‘Buckler, John (1770–1851)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, <http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/3863> (2 Feb 2011)+(2+Feb+2011)>Google Scholar
Whittemore, P Byrom, C 2009. A Very British Antiquary: Richard Gough 1735–1809, London: Wynchmore BooksGoogle Scholar
Woodbridge, K 1970. Landscape and Antiquity: aspects of culture at Stourhead 1718 to 1838, Oxford: Clarendon PressGoogle Scholar