/ithdtskisrlso

and

.ory

;ivethe

luteour

.A.W.N. Pugin and Dtirer:

print collecting and insPiration

by lack Hinton

l-f1he range ugin's tastes as a collector, informed by the

I careful s often been remarked uPon, and was the

I subject s live Wainwrlght.l Whilst a fulIdescription

of the collection was never made, the post-mortem sale catalogues of his property

and diverse written accounts offer some clues as to its extent. Pugin assembled a

choice group of objects that decorated his several homes and provided inspiration

for his designs. He began collecting prodigiously early, and the death of A.C. Pugin

in 1832 would have added further goods.'It is easy to imagine an impressive Sroupof objects assembled in A.W.N.'s first homes, after leaving Great Russell Street.

Letters written to Edward |ames Willson from Ellington Cottage, Ramsgate, in 1834

tantalise with mention of objects displayed in such a way as to transport the viewer

'back to the fifteenth cent'.3 Purchasing and arranging such evocative groupings of

artefacts surely required judicious use of Pugin's antiquarian skills, although one

wonders if juxtapositions such as sixteenth-century Palissy ware with fourteenth-

century ivories reflect an eclectic taste.

The creation of 'romantic interiors' in Britain and on the continent in the period

no doubt formed models for Pugin to interpret and adapt'a As Wainwright

suggested, his knowledge surely developed through visits to antiquaries, scholars,

prlrrut" collections and museums.s Certainly, the Pugin family's proximity to the-British

Museum afforded frequent access to its collections. Visits to the Print Room

played their part in shaping his career as a designer and architect, and his knowledge

of prints.6 Alamous early success relates to Pugin's study in the Print Room; whilst

drawing works by Diirer, the prodigy was accosted by a partner of Rundell, Bridge

and Rundell, the royal goldsmiths, and asked to produce designs for plate' TWo

silver-gilt standing cups in the Royal Collection are attributed to his designs, one of

whichlincluded in the recent'Albrecht Diirer and his Legacy'exhibition) was clearly

based on a drawing by Diirer in the Sloane collectipn.t Lt lut"t life, Pugin might have

disavowed the cup's ahistorical elements as'enormities'similar to those perpetrated

I am most grateful to Tim Brittain-Catlin for his enthusiasm, suPPort and advice on the subiect and content of this

article I would also like to thank Skye Jameson for her support and patience and Jane Wainwright for her kind help

at an early stage.t Wainwright 6O+A, pp 91-103 Wainwright describes the sources and identifies surviving objects from the collec-

tion2 lbid,pp9l-2.Pugin',s taste for'antiquities'began-at age 13. Although man_y of AC Pugin's books, prints, drawings

and iJsts were ,6ld i. yr." 1833, ce?tain itemi of furniture, artefacts and books were retained.

3 Quoted ibid, pp 92-3; Belcher 2001, p 43 (6.17 1'83Q.

4 See Wainwright 1989.

5 Wainwright 1994b, p 703.

6 Wahwright I994a, p 2.It is unlikely that Pugin found T- its collJctions of medieval and renaissance artefacts rn

Contrastsi 'No price can be too great for a cameo or a he is

rigidly excluded from the colleition': Pugin L841b (Contrasts,2nd ed), p 16, n'

7 Eatwell & North 7994, p 173: Bartrum 2002, p 734, no 69

3no1 Summer 2004

in his furniture for windsor and recanted of in The trtte principles'8 Nevertheless, the

original source held important lessons for Pugin the designer and collector'

Albrecht Drirer (t+Zt-tSZS) is today considered as the first northern artist to

engage and compete with the aesthetic and intellectual achievements of ltalian

."iuirru.r." art. In the romantic period, however, the German master's art was

lauded for its archaic, 'masculine' char rcter, in contrast to 'artificial' or 'effete'

classicist and rococo styles.e Diirer was 'gothic', and his art was a touchstone for

those working in a revivalist idiom. Groups like the Nazarenes, based in Rome and

led by Iohanir Friedrich Overbeck (7789-7869), worshipped Diirer as their role

model. The pious, honest characteristics of Drirer's life and art that appealed to the

Nazarenes could easily have seemed to Pugin the p

artist. Given Dtirer's place in Pugin's early life, it i

felt an attachment to the sixteenth-century artist, an

his work and collecting.In his memoir, J.H. Powell was clear as to Pugin,S tastes, at least as far as it

AWN PUGIN

concerned the old masters:

8 Pugin 7841a (True PrittciPles), P9 Kuhlmann 2002, PP'10 1

10 Wedgwood 1988, P 182

11 Wedgwood 1977,1751P a5'

12AnEnglishtranslationofCelliniexistedasearlyaslTTlPuginmayhavereadThomasRoscoe,stranslation,pub.lished in 1822

13 Wedgwood 7977, 126l P 57

m?

GL

Ntga,

trawase€

fab

Durer,smasculinereligiousspiritinMediaevalformwasthe,,endolart',.Holbienattracted him, despite fiis glving up the Gothic character for Naturalism. Rembrant

astonished him. Michel Aigelo"ani Raphael "were disguised pagans" and their art

descendants "abomination"'10

The title page for a grouP of designs made by Pugin for an early' unrealised' set of

designimplieshisvenerationoftheGermanartist. I two niches decorated with crockets and

finials, in the other is'Benvenuto Chelini''ll As

exemplars, Dtirer, as a designer rather than maker of goldsmith's work, would surely

have held most personal siinificance to Pugin. The figure of Benvenuto Cellini (1500-

71) is intriguing; he p.oUufty represents the actual craft of the goldsmith' Cellini's

Autobiography (written 1558-a6) was well known in the early nineteenth ::111y*":$

works ii-r g"fi and, silver were often ascribed to his authorship by virtue ot hls tame'

Cellini,s inclusion reveals Pugin's attitude towards 'Pagan'Italian art, before the

vehement dislike related by Poivell. The pairing of these artists is interesting from the

point of view of biog raphy,as both had heir lives set

out for posterity, l.t *ideiy available p es may have

inspired Pugin's own early autobiograp

Drawin[ and sketching architecture and details of paintings and obiects seen on

his travels was which Pugin expanded his understanding of

gothicstyle,pronsultationwhenbackinEngland.onesuchtour taken aro gium in the summer of 7834' recorded in a

sketchbook, incorporated an important stop for any admirer of Diirer'13 Pugin visited

notb"gBritacq

wilLAltlesta

of tl

Prtske

InU

chrr

hisKolDriillurepfanbio

PrerthrearyFebipart

BehePu(Prtur

15 Bar

15 Ku17 Sta18 Wa

19 Sot

20 Wa

14

True princiPles vol 3 no 1 Sum

:less, the

r.

artist torf Italianart was

r 'effete'

;tone forome andheir roleled to the

he gothicrer Pugin

'sented in

s far as it

,lbien

brant:ir art

sed, set ofe Germanrckets and

ehni'.11 As

'uld surely

tlini (i500-a. Cellini's:nturv and

72fus tame.

before therg from the

:ir lives set

may have

cts seen ontanding ofOne such

rrded in a

;in visited

nslahon, pub-

Jack Hinton

many places, including Strasbourg, Aachen, Cologne, Brussels, Bruges, Antwerp and

Cn"r"tt, sketching alJng the way' Much of his time' however' was spent in

Nuremberg, Diirer's citi where he made a number of studies of the city's walls and

gates. MoJt significanily, Pugin made -a

careful drawing of Dtirer's tomb and

transcribed the epitaph. ir nngi" related to Willson in a letter of 22 August 1834' it

was ,the finest journey I ever tolt m my Life'. With tangible excitement, he describes

seeing the tabernacles, gothic doors, locks, brass chandeliers' stained glass and

fabrics in a Nuremberg church:

when I first entered the church & the Grandeur of the interior burst on me I could

have repeated the song of Simeon without profanation'l4

Pugin also breathlessly states that: 'I have seen the house of albert Durer, I have

e,like the tomb, was a focus for homage and is now a

he revealed his purchase of a copy of the Nuremberg

other'additio.rtomycollection''Alavishlyillustratedhistory of the world from the creation, the chronicle was published by Anton

Kobereer, Durer,s godfather, and contained images designed by Michael wolgemut,

our"r7, master.15 ihe clarity, precision and subject matter of the 1,800 woodcut

illustrations must have appealed to Pu

represented a tangible link to Diirer' This

familiarity with Dtirer's life, knowledge

biographies that appeared around the 30"P.,gi,.,,

p,,rchas"s of works by Dflrer, either on the continent or in England, are

not recorded, but he must have made regular',additions'. It seems probable that he

began collecting prints in his youth, ins

British Museum. Puginacquired Diirers bY this

will be discussed beloAlthough there is evidence to show that the family retained items from Pugin's

estate,lilthe number of prints listed in the sale catalogue makes it apparent that most

of the print collection was dispersed'

SoineUy and Wilkinson neta the sale of paintings, drawings and prints at their

premises ai Wellington Street, London, on7 Aprll785g.Ie This was the last sale of

ihree that had witnessed the dismemberment of Pugin's library (Sotheby's, 27 Janu-

ary 1853) and his collection of medieval carvings and other artefacts (Sotheby's,12

Fibruary 1853). As has been noted elsewhere, it is hard to believe how the family,

parhcularly E.W. Pugtn,could have stood this disposal.20 The sale comPrised around

14 Belcher 2001, p 38 Whilst Wedgwood dated the sketchbook to 1834/5, Pugin's letter to Willson makes it clear thathe had spent June, July and August of 1834 on this journey. The church he mentions is perhaps the St LorenzkirchePugin praises the sculpted tabernacle (1493-6) in the church by Adam Kraft (c1460 7508 / 9) inhis Letter to Haketuill(Pugin 1835), where he also cites Diirer's paintings as examples of the compatibility of art with pointed architec-ture Nuremberg's lasting impression on Pugin is also described by Ferrey (Ferrey 1861., p 225)

15 Bartrum 2002, pp 934, nos 23-416 Kuhlmann 2002, pp 45-9 Unfortunately, no such biography was listed in the auction catalogue of Pugin's books17 Stanton 7968, p 129

18 Wainwright 1.994b, p 96

19 Sotheby & Wilkinson 1853 British Library Mic B 740 Ptl.I reel 5; SCS364,1 The Lugt number for the sale is 21309.

20 Watkin 1,972, p 239 The sale catalogue of Pugin's library is published in facsimile in this volume

vo13no1 Summer 2004

AWN PUGIN

210 lots belonging to Pugin, in-cluding drawings bY Pugin him-self and old master Paintings'There were around 125 lots ofprints, some lots containing over

twenty prints. ManY were inglazed oak frames, PresumablYdesigned by Pugin' Although not

extensive, the grouP of Prints bY

Drirer warranted its own section inthe sale, with a few other imPres-

sions offered loose in the 'Portfo-

lio'.21 Disposed of in twelve lots,

not all of which are fullY de-

scribed, it is possible to identify at

least thirty prints, either by Diireaor historically attributed to him."Unfortunately, it has not been Pos-sible to identify extant impressions

formerly in the collection.In terms of Diirer's finest,

most rare and best-known Prints,Pugin owned an excellent selec-

tion, suggesting a connoisseur'sknowledge. The first Dtirer to be

offered, lot72, was a'verY fine im-

Figur.e 2: Albrecht Direr, Satyr t'amlly, engraving, 1505 pression, rare' of Adsm gnd Eae ofPhitnLlelphia MtLseurr of Art: TIu' Clnrles M Len Collectiott' 1918 1504 (HOIIStein 1), the German(1928'42 1229)

master's magisterial demonstra-

tion of his understanding of human proportion and virtuoso engraving'23 As an in-

dication of its quality, the print was bought for eight guineas by Colnaghi and was

the single most expensive print in the sale. Another rare engraving bought by the

d.ealer for four guineas was lot 78, Loaers surprised by Death, c1498 (Hollstein 83), de-

scribed in the catalogue as 'The Lady and Gentleman, with Deathbehind a tree'' The

detail of the couple;s fashionable "lotni.tg

and 'dance of death' symbolism of the

print must have greatly appealed to Pugin's scholarly and Romantic inclinations'

Lots 75 and77,fine, rare impressions of .tr ight, Death and the Deail,1573 (Hollstein

74) and. Coat of arms with a skull,1503 (Hollstein 98) would also have held this attrac-

tion, notwithstanding their highly regarded place in Dtirer's o"rrrrr".tn

As well as the major lrrg.urri.g, sold individually, there were mixed lots of smaller

9.Lots7}-S2included prints by Diirer, as did lot 111 from ihe po-rtfo1io . .,mentions eleven Diirei printsin the sale' he must have been referring to the

23 Sotheby erence numbers after each print are to Hollstein 1954-'

24 lbid, p 7 as ,The Knight of Death,, s"lli.g fo. €7 ].5s and the Coat of arms was ,Shield of

Armi, o old for €4'

10 True PrinciPles vol 3 no 1

prints in inine prinundescrit(Hollstein32) and thArcadianaccusatiorthe doubt,Pugin haci

E lbitl,pT.Tlknocked dc

Summer 2(

]ack Hinton

8tn/ rn-

in him-intings.iots of

n8 over,/ere lnumablyugh notrinis by:ction inlmPres-'portfo-Lve lots,

dly de-

:ntify atg Diirer,

22c nlm.ren Pos-TESSlONS

finest,r prints,Lt selec-

isseur'ser to be

fine im-d Eae ofSermanronstra-\S an ln-ind was

t by the

83), de-

ee' The

n of thenations.

Iollstein

s attrac-

smaller

'olioring to the

;'Shield of

Figure 3: Albrecht Diirer, Melencholia 1, engraving, 1514

Philadelphin Museum of Art: Purchased: Lisa Norris Elkins Fund (1951-96-5)

prints in frames, including works by other artists. Lot73, for example, comprisednine prints in one oak frame, some by Sebald Beham (1500-50), with othersundescribed. Three prints were Diirer's, the Virgin and Child with a pear, 757I(Hollstein 33), Virgin and Child on the crescent moon with a crown of stars, 1508 (Hollstein32) and,the Satyr Family,1505 (Hollstein 65) [figure 21.2s The latter print, showing anArcadian scene inspired by Italian and antique literary sources, flies close toaccusations of 'paganism'. Pugin was evidently willing to give Dtirer the benefit ofthe doubt, perhaps balancing out pagan'abomination'with images of the Madonna.Pugin had acquired impressions of woodcuts, including lot 80, St George killing the

25 Ibid,pT.TheSatyrfamilywasdescribedas'Nakedwomanandchildwithasatyr, 1505,veryfine'Thelotwasknocked down to Colnaghi for f5

rl 3no1 Summer 2004 11

AWN PUCIN

dragon, c1504-05 (Hollstein 225), inan oak and gilt frame. Also in this lot, perhaps in

separate frames, were a St Bsrbsra and a Sf Catherine, at the time believed to be by

Dtirer, but now given to an erstwhile assistant, Hans Baldung Grien (7484/5-754r'26

]ohn Hardman, Pugin's former business associate, purchased them for 15 shillings'Among other lots bought by Hardman was a'very fine' impression of 'Melancholy',

or Melenchotia I, of fSf+ lUottsteinT5), for €5 [figur.3)." The explicit link between

melancholy and artistic creation in this most written-about of prints was a fruitfulsource of inspiration to artists and writers in the romantic period. It is tempting to

suggest that this lot held particular significance to the buyer as an object with a

theirDtire

LoolDrireGolt:sholrBeha

alsormpcfamoof St'Dea

mentsadllDrirebooken8ilinflu,surel

IcollerMisetof c1l

incorbook,for e>

In adPugir

T

Pugir

abov,lSAS

28 Bial,29 Soth

30 lbid,for r

31 Watltion,

32 Sian

33 lbid,Diirra det

Figure 4: canaletto (ciovanni Antonio canal), The PierT deI Bando, etching, c7741-4

: Thc Mtu'ic Col[cctittn ' git'ctt f o tltt

c Fine Arts MtLriel atttl PltiliYt

of Lisn Nort Vtrn WlriLe' ruith

bq lohtt Ho iliP H nttd A S W

llo-scrr&nclr F Ltu ttLh t i ort (19 85 52-1 3 )

'meaningful' link to Pugin. Given Pugin's un-Saturnine temPerament, however,

F{ardman more likely valued the print as a demonstration of skill in rendering line,

texture, shade and form, as Pugin must have.

With the acquisition of the Coat of arms with a skull for 84, F{ardman obtained a

useful group of prints, either for his pleasure, or to use as teaching aids for his

workers. Pugin had developed this Practice by sending objects to Birmingham to

educate Hardman's craftsmen. Diirer's assured drawing style must have impressed

upon Pugin the importance of developing one's skills as a draughtsman. Despite

2627

p7'stBarbaraandStCatherine,stGeorgeandthedragon&c,woodcuts,oakandgilt frames'(4)Ibtd,IbLd, p 7,lot76

72 True principles vol 3 no 1 Sumr

, perhaps in'ed to be byr/5-r54r.26l5 shillings.{elancholy',nk betweenas a fruitfultempting torject with a

m, gluen to the

nd Philipite, withtdASlY.

t, however,dering line,

obtained a

rids for hisringham tor impressedan. Despite

es' (4)

Jack Hinton

their antipathy, the words of |ohn Ruskin in Elements of drawing (7857) on copyingDtirer prints suggest a subject on which even they could have shared an opinion:

provide yourself, if possible, with an engraving of Albert Drirer's. This you will notbe able to copy; but you must keep it beside you, and refer to it as a standard ofprecision in line. If you can get one with a wing in it, it will be best. That crest withthe cock, that with the skull and satyr lCoat of arms with a skulll, and the Melancholy,are the best you can have.28

Looking at the sale contents more widely, one can discern further examples ofDi.irer's influence on Pugin's collecting. Lot72, 'Virgin with dead Christ'by HendrickGoltzius, is probably the Pieth of L596, composed and engraved in Diirer's style toshow Goltzius'virtuosity.2e There were many prints by the 'little master' SebaldBeham, who was born in Nuremberg, and produced works derived from Diirer. It isalso interesting to note that Pugin also bought reproductions when originals wereimpossible to obtain. For example, he owned a lithograph after Martin Schongauer'sfamous large engraving of Christ carrying the cross, and a reproduqt^ion by Carl Meyerof St John and St Peter, from Drirer's late painting , Four holy men.30 A painting of the'Death of the Blessed Virgin', attributed to 'Durer and pupils', should also be

mentioned. Sold for f,56 to Hardman towards the end of the auction, the painting has

sadly not been traced. The sale of Pugin's library on 27 Janwary 1853 offered otherDtirer items. Lot204 was a volume of early seventeenth-century editions of Diirer'sbooks on human proportion, fortifications, and geometry as applied to architecture,engineering, perspective drawing and decoration, all bound together.3l Theirinfluence may not have been as great as other books owned by Pugin, but they are

surely proof of the depth of his interest in the German master.Aside from Dtireriana, other lots demonstrate the breadth of Pugin's print

collection. He had twenty-seven prints by Wenceslaus Hollar, Callot's etchings of theMiseries of utar, and a Rembrandt. A group of twenty-six out of thirty Views of Venice

of c17414 by Antonio Canal (Canaletto), bought by Colnaghi for f,7 10s, may seem

incongruous. Their appeal, as with seventeenth and eighteenth-century illustratedbooks, may have been the depiction of medieval architecture in some of the images,for example the view of the Doge's Palace, seen from the 'Piera del Bando' [figure 4].

In addition, Canaletto's superb drawing and etching ability was surely instructive forPugin's technique, an instruction also offered by Hollar's prints.32

There is little evidence to suggest how the collection of prints was displayed inPugin's homes. Stanton's recognition of Hollar's framed Vieza of Greenwich,hungabove the entrance to the chapel in St Marie's Grange, from a watercolour of 1835,

is a singular example.33 Powell's recollection of the later interior at the Grange in

28 Bialostocki 1986,p 24929 Sotheby & Wilkinson 1853, p 330 lbid,pp34 ThereproductionsbyMeyerwerelotll SeeBartrum2002,p3l3,no.2S2,foralalerpreparatorysketch

for reproductions of the same paintings for the Arundel Society.

37 Watkin1972,p 256 Described as: 'Durer: Messmg mit Zirkel, von der Befestigung, and von menschlicher propor-tion, Arnhem 1503', bought by Quaritch's for 5 shillings.

32 Stanton 1,971, pp 155-9, discusses Hollar's influence on Pugin33 Ibid, p 155 and fig 3 (p 16). The lower framed picture on the viewer's left hand side of the door frame resembles

Direr's Adsm and Eue in its disposition of dark and light areas, but in such a general way that one cannot proposea definite identification

svol3nol Summer 2004

AW\l Pl-lclli

Ramsgate is evocative, ifshort on detail:

the djfferently coloured bed-rooms, with their muliionedwindows, quaintlY carved fire-places and furniture, all hungwith old paintingt, choice im-pressions of etchings and cn-

grar ings, Durer being Promi-nent, was a treat fol Artists rr

, Given the meticulous care

taken by Pugin in the con-

struclion and decoration of

the Crange, the Placement otthe prints was ProbablYplanned carefullY. A letter to

J.G. Crace of SePtembet 7814

relating to the interior deco-

ration of the Grange, tells

him to'Leave the Panel be-

tween the Albert Durers oalc

for the present. I can decorate

it at Ramsgate myself.'35 This

could refer to the Panelpaintings mentioned bY

Powell in the drawing room,or may indicate a grouPing

Ramsghave b'

Dea relatia prole'Allegcscribedfor the ,

sale cal

ple of cDtirersame L

from tlAf

signs f:riod ca

list of iby Drirand si

lished I

1836,etchingaften PincludeGerrnarhourglaumns 1r

upon ththe figuin the e

and theright oflaritiesings inseum. F24, of aclose tc

gauer'sing ofPugin nand aplbeauty, i

iicrcl{fi Nl{ 2 L"tlr'a:< t0 1-ikit t 6 )'

B11 yttrnissittn of TItt P't itislt LiLt trv 6lrcLf tunrli 7815 cc 1/ )

of pugin,s Dtirer prints.36 One might guess at the sort of decoration Pugin executed

between them. As described in the sale catalogue, the frames for prints were oak, of

apparentlysimpledesign;afewweregildedand-one,alargeviewofBrugesbyMarkGerard of 7562,*as in"un ebony una gitt fr ame

37 Framing was an important part of

Pugin's idea of interior decorum. As stated in a letter to Clarkson Stanfield of May

1843, regarding the use of painting for architectural decoration:

I revel in an old nill I bonts (after Rembrant) as much as in a fine arched doorway

butthenlmaintainthattheseproductionsshouldalwaysbeconsideredasPicttLres totally distinct from the sultaing. hang them up in a frnme. shew that lftry

are not Ttart of the ruall.38

Pugin's liking for Dutch art would be an interesting theme to investigate' One of his

own works listed in the sale, entitled 'Telling Fortunes" was a drawing of a kitchen

interior that sounds like a Dutch genre work.3e Against the stage of the Grange at

34 Wedgwood 1988, P 175

35 Belcher 2003, P 2'r'1

36 See Wedgwood 1988, P 175

37 Sothcby & Wilkinson 1853, p 6, lot 70

38 Belcher 7003,P 17

39 Soiheby & lViikinson 1E53, p , lot ]94: .|n!9rio1 of a'kitchen with figures,-one of.whom is telling fortunes, by

W pugin, a chef d,oeu're,'t ig y ii.irka' The drawing sold for f7 t6 'Anthony', btt jt has ncver been traced'40 Wedgwc41 Sotheby

Summer\1 Trr-le princiPles vol !i no 1

,cative, if

)ured bed-mullioned:arved fire-:, all hungchoice im-

;s and en-Ln8 Promr-Artists.3a

lous care

r the con-rration ofcement ofprobably

A letter tonber 1844

rior deco-nge, tellspanel be-)urers oak

n decorate

elf.'3s Thishe panelrned bying room,groupmSi executed

:re oak, ofs by Markrnt part ofld of May

twayed as

t they

)ne of hisa kitchen3range at

crtunes, by A:en traced

Jack Hinton

Ramsgate, the combination of such diverse pictures and decorative arts must indeedhave been a treat for visitors.

Despite his enthusiasm for Diirer's works, the German master seems to have hada relatively limited impact on Pugin's designs. Apreliminary drawing of c1835-6 fora projected book on the customs of the medieval Catholic church, illustrating an'Allegory of the Rosary' is one of few known Dtirer-related works by Pugin. De-

scribed by Wedgwood, the drawing is based on Diirer's woodcut frontispiece of 1511

for the series The life of the Virgin (Hollstein 188).40 This print was not described in thesale catalogue, but one listed in the 'portfolio', the Presentation of Christ in the Tem-ple of c1503-5 (Hollstein 200), is from the same set.a1 The other sixteen unidentifiedDrirer woodcuts in thesame lot may have beenfrom this series.

A few published de-signs from the same pe-riod can be added to thelist of images influencedby Dtirer. Designs for goldand silaersmiths, pub-lished by Ackermann inL836, illustrated withetchings by Talbot Buryafter Pugin's drawings,includes allusions to theGerman's work. Thehourglass with fluted col-umns in plate 15 is basedupon the hourglass abovethe figure of 'Melancholy'in the eponymous print,and the fluted cup on theright of plate 6 bears simi-larities to Dr,irer's draw-ings in the British Mu-seum. Furthermore/ plate24, of a'Thuribulum', isclose to Martin Schon-gauer's famous engrav-ing of A censer, which Figure 6: Albrecht Diirer, Tfte Holtl Fantily in Egtlpt,woodcut, c1502Pugin must have known nlitntlctpt io MLts?Llnt of Art,1ga1 (1981-33 1).

and appreciated for itsbeauty, and as a document of medieval goldsmiths work.

40 Wedgwood '1.977 , no l28l 23, pp 52-341 Sotheby & Wilkinson 1853, p 9, lot 111

vol3nol Summer 2004

AWN PUGIN

The title-page print of Detsils of antient timber houses, also published by Ackermann

in 7837 (although dated 1836), offers a striking example of Pugin's response to

Dtirer's stimulus in creating an original image [figure 5]. Pugin himself etched the

plates. The elaborate frame, details of the timber house, doorway and post carved

with a bishop saint are his own inventions. The sources for the tools in the

foreground ut d th" figure of the woodcarver, however, are not' Fascinatingly, the

urruig"rn".t of the rules, bradawl and hammers refers to the foreground of

Melencholial; the chisel is lifted complete. The woodcarver is a direct quotation of the

figure of St Joseph from Dr.irer's woodcut of the Holy Family in Egypt, c1502 (Hollstein

2021, also frornThe Life of the Virgin series [figure 6]. Pugin was surely pleased to use

a source showing a woodcarver at work that was contemPorary to the subject of his

book. His discomfort with drawing the human figure would also have been assuaged

by Drirer's model. One should also note the prominence of the 'A and 'P' on shields

in either corner of the title-page, which must refer to Dtirer's use of his initials on

shields and plaques. Pugin's familiar'AWP'monogram, present at the back left of

the etching, is also clearly based on the nestled 'AD' of the German'

Further instances of quotation from Diirer are not obvious in Pugin's other

printed works. In the field of furniture design, prints by Diirer may have had some

influence as prototypes of chairs and tables. A print of an x-frame chair by Crispijn

de Passe II has been cited as a possible source for a chair made to Pugin's design for

the prince's Chamber at Westminster.a2 The woodcut of St Catherine in his collection,

discussed above, shows the saint seated on a similar chair. The print could be another

source, or an antecedent for Pugin's design. A table depicted by Diirer in a woodcut

of the Last supper of 1510 (Hollstein 115) for the Large pnssion, has curved braces on

either side of a central leg, with visible pegged joints. Pugin celebrated such features

in three dimensions with his 'structural' tables, incorporating the curved bracing and

revealed construction seen in the print.a3 \Atrhilst the print was not listed in the sale,

Pugin was surely aware of it; given the scarcity of surviving furniture, such images

could provide much insPiration.Drirer's influence wis not absolute, despite his prominence in the collection and

importance in Pugin's artistic life. Rather, Pugin informed himself with a diverse

rurrg" of sources. Indeed, the limit of Diirer's direct influence may measure from

Pugln's early studies in the British Museum until a few years after the trip toNuiemberg. For architectural work and the illustration of Contrasts and The true

principles, itir". offered little in the way of precedence. The prints by Hollar and'Merian

in Pugin's collection were better suited to this PuIPose and had greatel

influence on his architecture, and drawing and etching style.aa Furthermore, the use

of etched plates in Pugin's books, and in the case of The true principles, the printing

of these plates within the letterpress, was founded on the model of seventeenth-

century books in Pugin's library. By the time the Glossary of ecclesiastical ornament

appeaied, Pugin hadembraced the new technology of chromolithography. Had the

arf of woodcut printing been of the standard of Diirer's day, things might have been

42 Wainwright 1994c, PP 137-243 See ibid, pp L34-644 See Stanton 7971, P 158-

different.for Pugir,

In thiof homalbond suginContraton the prrDtirer ma

Diirer's vto undersThe educattested t,

the instruperhaps tGrange re

limited tohave beer

renaissanpagan'Ra... Cathol

Takercharacteriof his artidone to st'

extent to v

and his totowards u

Considerito one of lpurpose'.as decorat

45 Wedgwoodt16 Pugin 18411

47 See Christia48 Wainwright49 lhin,pp94-

gin, includi50 Pugin 1841t

51 For exampl

16 True principles vol 3 no 1 Summer 2r

\ckermannesponse toetched therost carvedrols in thertingly, theground ofrtion of theI (Hollsteinased to use

bject of hisn assuaged

on shields

initials onrack left of

3in's otherr had some

ry Crispijndesign forcollection,be anothera woodcutI braces onch features

racing andin the sale,

rch images

ection andt a diversersure from:he trip tod The truelollar andad greater)re, the use

Le printing,enteenth-

I ornament

y. Had thehave been

|ack Hinton

different. As Wedgwood suggests, Diirer's greatest appeal was perhaps the evocationfor Pugin of the late gothic spirit, before the rise of paganism and reformation.as

In this light, it is tempting to see artistic quotations like the woodcutter as a formof homage. This much Pugin would have had in common with the Nazarenes, abond suggested by his description of Overbeck as the 'prince of Christian painters'inContrasts.a6 His part in introducing Overbeck to England and subsequent influenceon the pre-Raphaelite movement is not well understood, but Pugin's appreciation ofDiirer may also have influenced later revivalists.aT Even the limited incorporation ofDiirer's work into his designs makes clear Pugin's empathy with the prints as keysto understanding ihe art, life and history of a period in which he was most interested.The educational aspect of the collection as assembled at the Grange, Ramsgate, isattested to by Ferrey's description of it as 'forming a museum'.48 Such thoughts onthe instructional use of art were surely a further legacy of Pugin's visits and tours andperhaps the formative influence of his father's collection. The range of objects at theGrange reflected the idiosyncrasies of Pugin's taste, but the collection was not strictlylimited to an illustration of the skills of medieval craftsmen. Enshrined as Drirer mayhave been, he shared wall space with Dutch genre scenes, seascapes and Italianrenaissance paintings.ae Pugin even had nice things to say about the 'disguisedpagan'Raphael, describing him (with other famous Italian painters) as an 'illustrious... Catholic artist' in a long footnote in Contrasts.s0

Taken together, these examples suggest a view that conflicts withcharacterisations of Pugin as a 'goth' or hater of post-gothic art.51 The wider pictureof his artistic taste is in fact much more complicated. Clearly, more work must bedone to study Pugin's library and collection of objects and prints, and to examine theextent to which they reflect his perceived interests. By piecing together the collectionand his tours of Britain and the continent, it would be possible to take a great steptowards understanding his use of sources for his texts, illustrations and buildings.Considering Pugin's collecting in relation to his other achievements, we might turnto one of his principles, that 'the smallest details should have a meaning or serve apurpose/. Each print by Diirer thus fulfilled a pertinent and useful purpose not onlyas decoration, but also in helping to inform and guide Pugin's genius.

45 Wedgwood 1977, p 3946 Pugin 7847b (Contrasts, 2nd ed), p 18.

42 See Christian 1973, pp 56-8348 Wainwright 7994b,p 93

49 lbid, pp 94-5 It is also interesting to note that many ceramic pieces in the collection were of sixteenth-century ori-gin, including Palissy ware, Deruta dishes and istoriato maiolica, or 'Raffaelle ware' (p 98)

50 Pugin 1841b (Contrasts, 2nd ed), p 12 n51 For example Wedgwood 1988, p 180

vol3nol Summer 2004 77

Trtre PrinciplesThe journal of The Pugin Society

vol iii no i Summer 2004

PHOEBE STANTONMrcHan Ponr . ATSxANDRA Wrocwoop

]ack Hinton:A.W.N. Pugin and Dtirer

BrueN ANonrws . CerruoNe Blarsn . Davn CnpnrN

J.A. Hrrrox. PrrsR HowElr e Jevrs Jeco . MIcsaBl KrnNpv

Roosmcr O,DoNNsrl. ANpnrw Ruoo o JosunH SHamss