Not currently on display at the V&A

Photograph of Eeswyke

Photograph
August 1896 (photographed)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Rupert Potter (1832-1914), father of the children's writer and illustrator Beatrix Potter (1866-1943), took up photography in the 1860s when it was still a relatively new art form. An enthusiastic and skilled amateur, he was elected to the Photographic Society of London in 1869 and later contributed to photographic exhibitions. Rupert assisted the artist Sir John Everett Millais (1829-1896), a close friend, by photographing backgrounds for paintings and sitters for portraits. His favourite subject, however, was Beatrix herself and his prolific legacy of several hundred photographs forms a broad pictorial account of her life from infancy to marriage.

Rupert was also a skilled landscape photographer. During the Potter family's extended summer holidays to the countryside it was Beatrix's delight to accompany her father on photographic expeditions. He photographed in particular the countryside around Eastwood in Dunkeld, Wray Castle near Ambleside, Lingholm on the edge of Derwentwater and Tenby in Pembrokeshire. This photograph depicts a view from Eeswyke, a house in Near Sawrey rented often by the Potter family for summer vacations in the Lake District. The house was formerly known as Lakefield during the Potters' time and was built as a Lake District retreat for a Lancashire mill owner in 1742; it is now a hotel.

Excited by the possibilities of the new art form, Beatrix too became an avid photographer, inheriting one of her father’s old cameras, 'a most inconveniently heavy article which he refuses to use, and which has been breaking my back since I took to that profession.' (Journal, Friday 19th April 1895). Beatrix went on to employ photography in the service of her own art and, like Millais, she photographed details, particularly in the Lake District landscapes, that she later incorporated in her imaginative book illustrations.
Author: Emma Laws


Object details

Categories
Object type
TitlePhotograph of Eeswyke (generic title)
Materials and techniques
Albumen print on paper.
Brief description
Photograph of Eeswyke (formerly known as Lakefield), in Near Sawrey, Hawkshead, August 1896; albumen print by Rupert Potter.
Physical description
Photograph of a house, Eeswyke. With a garden and a path in front of the house and hills in the distance on the left of the photograph.
Dimensions
  • Height: 159mm
  • Width: 214mm
Production typeUnique
Marks and inscriptions
  • 'Lakefield Sawrey' (Pencil inscription by Joan Duke on verso.)
  • 'Aug 1896' (Pencil inscription by Rupert Potter on verso.)
Credit line
Given by Joan Duke.
Object history
Photographed by Rupert Potter in August 1896. Photograph given to the museum by Joan Duke in 1983.
Subjects depicted
Places depicted
Summary
Rupert Potter (1832-1914), father of the children's writer and illustrator Beatrix Potter (1866-1943), took up photography in the 1860s when it was still a relatively new art form. An enthusiastic and skilled amateur, he was elected to the Photographic Society of London in 1869 and later contributed to photographic exhibitions. Rupert assisted the artist Sir John Everett Millais (1829-1896), a close friend, by photographing backgrounds for paintings and sitters for portraits. His favourite subject, however, was Beatrix herself and his prolific legacy of several hundred photographs forms a broad pictorial account of her life from infancy to marriage.

Rupert was also a skilled landscape photographer. During the Potter family's extended summer holidays to the countryside it was Beatrix's delight to accompany her father on photographic expeditions. He photographed in particular the countryside around Eastwood in Dunkeld, Wray Castle near Ambleside, Lingholm on the edge of Derwentwater and Tenby in Pembrokeshire. This photograph depicts a view from Eeswyke, a house in Near Sawrey rented often by the Potter family for summer vacations in the Lake District. The house was formerly known as Lakefield during the Potters' time and was built as a Lake District retreat for a Lancashire mill owner in 1742; it is now a hotel.

Excited by the possibilities of the new art form, Beatrix too became an avid photographer, inheriting one of her father’s old cameras, 'a most inconveniently heavy article which he refuses to use, and which has been breaking my back since I took to that profession.' (Journal, Friday 19th April 1895). Beatrix went on to employ photography in the service of her own art and, like Millais, she photographed details, particularly in the Lake District landscapes, that she later incorporated in her imaginative book illustrations.
Author: Emma Laws
Other number
AAD/1983/14/20 - V&A Archive number
Collection
Accession number
AR.14:20-1983

About this object record

Explore the Collections contains over a million catalogue records, and over half a million images. It is a working database that includes information compiled over the life of the museum. Some of our records may contain offensive and discriminatory language, or reflect outdated ideas, practice and analysis. We are committed to addressing these issues, and to review and update our records accordingly.

You can write to us to suggest improvements to the record.

Suggest feedback

Record createdOctober 9, 2012
Record URL
Download as: JSON