Not currently on display at the V&A

Bullfinch

Transfer Print
ca.1870-1880 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Rupert Potter (1832-1914), father of the children's author and illustrator Beatrix Potter, was himself an art practitioner and collector. In the 1860s he became fascinated with the new art of photography and was elected a member of the Photographic Society of London and contributed to its annual exhibitions. He also enjoyed drawing and filled a sketchbook in 1853 with humorous caricatures of his fellow law students at Lincoln's Inn and with fantasy sketches of animals, including a dog smoking a pipe and a duck wearing a bonnet - a forerunner, perhaps, of the famously simple Jemima Puddle-duck.

Rupert nurtured his daughter's extraordinary artistic talent and power of observation. In particular, he encouraged her to develop her eye and hand by copying outlines in the popular drawing manuals of Vere Foster. These drawing books, published by Blackie & Son, comprise a booklet of outlines alongside blank paper for copying. The Victoria and Albert Museum holds several of Beatrix's juvenile copies from Vere Foster's Drawing Books, some reproduced as transfer prints on paper.

Rupert, too, copied outlines of birds from Vere Foster's Drawing Books, including this drawing of a bullfinch reproduced as a transfer print on linen. These prints were probably made by putting the original ink drawing, while still wet, face down on a gelatine film so that some of the ink was transferred to the gelatine. The original was then removed and the gelatine used as a printing surface. Rupert also used this method to produce a set of ceramic plates for the nursery of 2 Bolton Gardens, some of which can be seen in the hall of Beatrix's former home at Hill Top in the Lake District.


Object details

Categories
Object type
TitleBullfinch (assigned by artist)
Materials and techniques
Transfer print on linen
Brief description
Transfer print of a bullfinch on a branch, copied from Vere Foster's Drawing Book (O3) by Rupert Potter ca.1880.
Physical description
Blue ink transfer print on linen of a bullfinch on a branch, incorporating artist's cypher: RP ('R' back to front).
Dimensions
  • Height: 164mm
  • Width: 163mm
Production typeUnique
Credit line
Given by Joan Duke
Object history
Produced by Rupert Potter in the 1870s. Acquired by the V&A from Joan Duke in October 2006.
Subjects depicted
Literary referenceCopied from Vere Foster's Drawing Books. O3: British Small Birds (London and Glasgow: Blackie & Son, Ltd., [187-?]).
Summary
Rupert Potter (1832-1914), father of the children's author and illustrator Beatrix Potter, was himself an art practitioner and collector. In the 1860s he became fascinated with the new art of photography and was elected a member of the Photographic Society of London and contributed to its annual exhibitions. He also enjoyed drawing and filled a sketchbook in 1853 with humorous caricatures of his fellow law students at Lincoln's Inn and with fantasy sketches of animals, including a dog smoking a pipe and a duck wearing a bonnet - a forerunner, perhaps, of the famously simple Jemima Puddle-duck.

Rupert nurtured his daughter's extraordinary artistic talent and power of observation. In particular, he encouraged her to develop her eye and hand by copying outlines in the popular drawing manuals of Vere Foster. These drawing books, published by Blackie & Son, comprise a booklet of outlines alongside blank paper for copying. The Victoria and Albert Museum holds several of Beatrix's juvenile copies from Vere Foster's Drawing Books, some reproduced as transfer prints on paper.

Rupert, too, copied outlines of birds from Vere Foster's Drawing Books, including this drawing of a bullfinch reproduced as a transfer print on linen. These prints were probably made by putting the original ink drawing, while still wet, face down on a gelatine film so that some of the ink was transferred to the gelatine. The original was then removed and the gelatine used as a printing surface. Rupert also used this method to produce a set of ceramic plates for the nursery of 2 Bolton Gardens, some of which can be seen in the hall of Beatrix's former home at Hill Top in the Lake District.
Other number
AAD/2006/4/344 - Archive number
Collection
Accession number
AR.4:344-2006

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Record createdJune 28, 2007
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