TEACHERS PACK

Beauty & PowerPlymouth’s Greatest Gift: The Cottonian Collection

About the Teacher’s Notes 3

Introduction to the exhibition 3

Cottonian Collectors 4

Themes in the exhibition 6

Selection of objects in the exhibition 9

Ideas for activities in school 15

What can we do for you? 17

How to book a visit 17

Further resources 18

CONTENTS

About the Teachers Pack

The aim of this pack is to provide a way to look at, learn from, and engagewith the various themes, characters, and artworks included in the exhibitionBeauty and Power: Plymouth’s Greatest Gift – The Cottonian Collectionat Plymouth City Museum and Art Gallery, Saturday 24 January to Saturday9 May 2015.

Elements of this pack can support your visit to the exhibition, and can also beadapted 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 Collectiontakes a fresh look at our amazing Designated Cottonian Collection. TheDesignation Scheme is a mark of distinction, identifying and celebrating pre-eminent collections of national and international importance in non-nationalinstitutions.

This nationally important collection encompasses a 2,000 volume booklibrary, several thousand prints, Old Master drawings, oil paintings, works bycelebrated portrait artist Sir Joshua Reynolds, bronzes and sculptures.

The main Collection was compiled by Charles Rogers (1711-1783) in mid-18th century London before being inherited by the Cotton family in 1783.

It passed through three generations of Cotton’s, each of whom left their markon it, before it was gifted to the people of Plymouth in 1853. It was initiallypart of the Proprietary Library. It finally came under the care of the CityMuseum and Art Gallery in 1915.

This exhibition will provide a unique insight into the stories behind theCollection, and bring together some of its most significant and less seenitems 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 ournew ISSUU site.www.ISSUU.com/plymouthcitymuseumatgallery/docs/sir_joshua_reynolds_teachers_notes_

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Themes in the exhibition

New archaeological finds, and recent translations and re-prints of the writingsof Virgil, Horace and Ovid led to an interest in Ancient Rome and AncientGreece. This fashion for Neoclassicism influenced many artist and collectors,particularly those who took part in the ‘Grand Tour’, where mainly upper-class or wealthy men travelled Europe, discovering the cultural legacy of pastcivilisations. Collectors responded to these trends with a passion bycollecting antiquities, art works and books that where related.

The Cottonian Collection’s representation of antiquities in art works andbooks reflects the collectors eternal quest for knowledge and understanding.Antiquarianism (people who are interested in antiquities and evidence of thepast) was widely regarded as a "polite" pursuit. The collection and interest inantiquities was presented as a contribution to polite learning and the mark ofa gentleman. The Society of Antiquaries (which Charles Rogers was amember) boasted a fashionable, genteel, and rapidly growing membershipthroughout the 18th Century.

Biblical Histories and Figures

Antiquities

The Cottonian Collection belongs to the ‘long 18th century’ that stretchesfrom the Restoration (1660) to the end of the Georgian period (1830). Whilstit is often thought of as a secular period, state and church were still a strongunity within British society. In fact, the collectors who put this Collectiontogether were all devout believers in the established church.

Biblical artworks and texts, such as the Bibles and sermons, make up asignificant element of the Collection. Robert Townson, the first ‘Cottoniancollector’ was a deeply religious man – of the several hundred books heacquired, two thirds were sermons. Although the artworks and texts areinstructional and symbolic in nature, this may not be the only reason whythey were collected. The artwork or text’s rarity, age, beauty, the associatedartist or author, and whether it expanded the collector’s ‘curious ambition’,personal taste or public identity may have had a greater influence on thecollector than the Christian significance of its subject.

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The Cottonian Collection was formed within what is known as the ‘Age ofEnlightenment’, a period which saw an explosion of public discussion withthe establishment of libraries, book clubs, coffee houses and fine art andantiquarian societies. It was believed that human reason could discover thenatural 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 analysisof the Cottonian Library remains to be undertaken, its 2000 or more volumesdivides approximately into a third contemporary religion and philosophy, andtwo 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 thePacific and Americas. There are some fine examples of the earliest printedbooks on the history of England and art theory. The Collection’s booksconfirm that the new discoveries – from the ancient world to those of theBritish Isles – were an important area of interest for the Collectors.

Pleasures of the Imagination

Global Discourses

18th Century London was one of the most energetic and creative places inWestern Europe. No other period can boast as many connoisseurs andamateurs in the various fields of the arts and sciences. This habit of beingactively curious helped establish the attributes of the ‘sociable man’ – aconnoisseur and lover of literature, music and art.

The Cottonian collectors were all sociable men. They demonstrated theireducation, taste and masculinity through the collecting and ownership of rareand exquisite objects. The collection of art and antiquities, visits to thetheatre, concerts and auction houses served the purposes of self-presentationand social identity. Even when William Cotton II sold two-thirds of theCollection in 1799 and 1801, his social status of as a sociable man was intactdue to the remainder of the collection, his consumption of luxury goods, andhis plans for a new family home in Clapham.

However by the end of the 18th century, collecting had become morecommon in British culture. The ‘habit of curiosity’ had spread to the middleclasses, provoking cultural anxieties such as the proliferation of greed, thechanges to British culture from foreign influences, and the increasing socialand financial power of the objects themselves.

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Selection of objects in the exhibition

Hamilton’s AntiquitiesCollection of Etruscan, Greek, and Roman Antiquities from the Cabinet of theHon. W. HamiltonNaples: 1766-67

© Plymouth City Museum and Art Gallery: Cottonian Collection

This spectacular compilation of elevations, representing a superb collectionof Etruscan, Greek, and Roman vases, is the fruit of a collaboration betweenLord William Hamilton (1730-1803), British diplomat and collector, andHugues d'Hancarville (1719-1805), an amateur art dealer.

While working as an envoy to the British Embassy in Naples, Hamiltondeveloped a keen interest in antiquity, visiting the excavations of Pompeiiand Herculaneum and publishing the first scientific essays on volcanology.His friend d'Hancarville introduced him to the Porcinari family, whosecollection of vases Hamilton purchased in its entirety, and who helpedHamilton seek out additional artefacts.

In 1772, Hamilton sold his collection to the British Museum. Before theseinvaluable 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’sAntiquities. They are considered to be among the most beautiful books everpublished. These drawings helped spark Britain's interest in Neoclassicism,and inspired reproductions from pottery manufacturers such as JosiahWedgwood.

A video of this book being opened can be viewed here:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPW8bDG5jVw

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Antiquities

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Passio Christi (The Small Passion)Albrect Dürer (1471-1528)Nuremberg: 1511CB381© Plymouth City Museum and Art Gallery: Cottonian Collection

The Small Passion was designed and cut in a relatively short time, probablyin the two years preceding its publication in 1511 -- a milestone year whenDürer also issued the Large Passion, and the Life of the Virgin. It waspublished by Dürer himself, and is the most extensive of all his series,comprising 36 blocks. 34 of these wooden blocks have survived and are nowin the collection of the British Museum.

To various scenes from the ‘Life of Christ’ and the ‘Passion’, Dürer addedtwo images of the ‘Fall of Man’ and the ‘Expulsion from Paradise’ at thebeginning, and of the ‘Pentecost’ and the ‘Last Judgement’ at the end, therebysetting the ‘Passion’ at the centre of a larger, all-encompassing narrative ofthe fall and redemption of mankind. Two images, ‘Christ's Entry intoJerusalem’ and ‘Christ Driving the Money-changers from the Temple’, arenot 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

Biblical Histories and Figures

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The Death of Captain CookFrom the book ‘AVoyage 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 Plymouthin 1768, they must have expected their voyage would help make the world amore understandable place. The astronomer Charles Green was appointed bythe Royal Society to observe the transit of Venus, with Cook as the secondobserver. Joseph Banks, a wealthy amateur botanist, also joined theexpedition, bringing with him the landscape artist Alexander Buchan and thebotanical artist Sydney Parkinson. The island of Tahiti, whose longitude hadrecently been determined astronomically by Samuel Wallis, was chosen forthe observation.

On his second journey on HMS Resolution in 1771, the purpose of thevoyage was to answer a very specific question – was a there an unknowncontinent known as Terra Australis in the Southern Hemisphere? On theearlier voyage, Cook had mapped most of the Eastern coast of Australia,which showed that it was continental in scale. Despite this, Cook and hiscrew were sent again to search for Terra Australis. On this voyage, Cook wasjoined by Captain Tobias Furneaux, born in Devonport. Furneaux was thefirst man to circumnavigate the world in both directions.

Furneaux returned home with Omai of Ulaietea (Raiatea), who became thefirst South Sea Islander to travel to Great Britain. Omai later returned toTahiti with Cook in 1776–1777. He is best known through the amazingportrait 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

Global Discourses

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Pleasures of the Imagination

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The Man in the Moon(L’Homme Dans La Lune)Illustration from the book The Man in the Moone: or a discovrse of a Voyagethither by Domingo Gonsales The speedy Messenger.by Francis GodwinLondon: 1638.CB650© Plymouth City Museum and Art Gallery: Cottonian Collection

This book by Francis Godwin is notable for the role it played in what wascalled the ‘new astronomy’, the branch of astronomy influenced especially byCopernicus. It begins with a prologue, with the main character Gonsalesexplaining how a voyage to the moon is no more fantastic an idea than avoyage to the Americas would have been a few years earlier. Godwinproposes that the earth is magnetic, and that only an initial push is needed toescape its magnetic field. The energy needed for this ‘push’ comes from thegansas, a specially bred swan with one webbed foot and one talon. Each yearthese 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, butit was written at a time when fiction and non-fiction’s boundaries blurred, soGodwin was being read alongside Copernicus, Galileo, and Kepler aspioneering works in the field of astronomy. Before Isaac Newton’s Theory ofGravitation 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

Who are you? Create your own CollectionCollections, much like portrait or self-portraits, tell us a huge amount about the person whoput them together. We can map someone’s interests, we can work out how much they werebuying 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 acollection of their own (such as leaves, stones, stamps, cards, stickers, jewellery), and thosewho don’t can be encouraged to start one. Along with the Cottonian Collection, we have ahuge collection of other material, from natural and social history, to photographs, prints,drawings and paintings. The famous stamp collector Stanley Gibbons was born in Plymouthand started his business here, so anything is possible!

Encourage your pupils to write their own labels for some of their collection objects, muchlike we would in the Museum and Art Gallery. You should be able to find examples of goodpractice for label writing on the internet.

Travel the world without leaving the classroomIn the 18th Century, the ‘Grand Tour’ was a desirable activity for many men of a certainsocial 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 beforetravel was easily accessible, and before photography made it easier for people to see thingsand places that they hadn’t visited before. Today, we can explore the world’s streets throughGoogle Maps - you can even explore within museums and galleries (including PlymouthCity Museum and Art Gallery). The need to be upper-class, wealthy or a man to travel theworld has long since disappeared.

Why not explore somewhere in the world that you’ve never been before? Ask the class to listall 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 thatyou’ve never been before. What can you find out about this place? Try using Street View toexplore the streets.

If no-one has been there, try searching for ‘Amfiteatar u Puli’ in Croatia, ‘Machu Picchu’ inPeru, and ‘Senso-ji Temple’ in Japan.

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Ideas for activities

Illuminate your writingAn illuminated manuscript is one that has had decoration added to its text, such as decorativeletters to start sentences, beautiful borders around the text, and small illustrations that helptell a story. They are often also decorated with gold or silver. The most obvious example wehave in the Cottonian Collection is the 14th Century Book of Hours (a film of which can beseen here (link to follow)). To see one of the most elaborate ever produced, try searching forthe ‘Book of Kells’.

Ask you pupils to ‘illuminate’ their writing. Using software such as Photoshop (or evenWord), scan drawings and add them to your writing. You’ll even be able to replicate thetraditional ‘Gothic Script’ or ‘Blackletter’ type by downloading a free font from Dafonthttp://www.dafont.com/theme.php?cat=401) or similar.

Observe your possessionsHamilton’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 Wedgwoodmade 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 theV&A), while architects were being influenced by the designs of Andrea Palladio, who hadin 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 hugeimprovements in digital photography. How much detail can they achieve?

Ideas for activities

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What can we do for you?We are able to offer schools various options when visiting the exhibition. Visits can bearranged for anywhere between one class to an entire school. In many cases, a member ofstaff can be present to facilitate your visit. We are also very happy for you to visit as a self-directed group.

The exhibition provides a perfect opportunity for your pupils to experience nationallysignificant architecture and art first hand – and will act as a starting point for working insketchbooks, fact finding, and talking about the themes that surround the exhibition.

How to book a visitBooking in advance is essential for visits

We want to ensure your group has the best experience possible when visiting, so pleaseremember 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, contactmuseumvisits@plymouth.gov.uk. Please have arange of possible dates available before contacting us, as it may not always be possible tooffer 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 anyquestions regarding materials, please contact us using the email above.

Further resourcesMany of our previous Teachers Packs, Notes, and Resources are available as PDFdownloads from our website -http://www.plymouth.gov.uk/museumlearningresources.htm

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