The River Tay from Eastwood House, Dunkeld thumbnail 1
Not currently on display at the V&A

The River Tay from Eastwood House, Dunkeld

Photograph
August 1893
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 Scotland and the Lake District 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 and Lingholm on the edge of Derwentwater. This photograph is a view of the River Tay as seen from outside Eastwood House, Dunkeld, taken in August 1893 during the Potter family's summer holiday in Perthshire.

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). Like Millais, Beatrix went on to employ photography in the service of her own art, photographing details, particularly in the Lake District landscapes, that she later incorporated into her book illustrations.


Object details

Categories
Object type
TitleThe River Tay from Eastwood House, Dunkeld
Materials and techniques
Albumen print on paper
Brief description
Photograph of the River Tay seen from Eastwood House, Dunkeld, by Rupert Potter, August 1893; Linder Bequest cat. no. LB.2076.
Physical description
A photograph looking down a lane, with a river on the left and the edge of a house on the right.
Dimensions
  • Sheet height: 158mm
  • Sheet width: 216mm
Style
Production typesmall batch
Marks and inscriptions
'Eastwood / R Potter / Aug 1893' (Inscribed in pencil on verso of print.)
Credit line
Linder Bequest [plus object number; written on labels on the same line as the object number]
Object history
Photograph taken by Rupert Potter in August 1893. Acquired by the V&A from Leslie Linder (1904-1973) in 1973 as part of the Linder Bequest, a collection of ca. 2150 watercolours, drawings, literary manuscripts, correspondence, books, photographs, and other memorabilia associated with Beatrix Potter and her family.
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 Scotland and the Lake District 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 and Lingholm on the edge of Derwentwater. This photograph is a view of the River Tay as seen from outside Eastwood House, Dunkeld, taken in August 1893 during the Potter family's summer holiday in Perthshire.

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). Like Millais, Beatrix went on to employ photography in the service of her own art, photographing details, particularly in the Lake District landscapes, that she later incorporated into her book illustrations.
Bibliographic reference
Hobbs, Anne Stevenson, and Joyce Irene Whalley, eds. Beatrix Potter: the V & A collection : the Leslie Linder bequest of Beatrix Potter material : watercolours, drawings, manuscripts, books, photographs and memorabilia. London: Victoria and Albert Museum, 1985. p.215; no.2076 Hobbs, Anne Stevenson, and Joyce Irene Whalley, eds. Beatrix Potter: the V & A collection: the Leslie Linder bequest of Beatrix Potter material: watercolours, drawings, manuscripts, books, photographs and memorabilia. London: Victoria and Albert Museum, 1985. p.215; no.2076
Other number
LB.2076 - Linder Bequest catalogue no.
Collection
Library number
BP.1346

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Record createdSeptember 8, 2016
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