Landscape Section - 2022

'The Picturesque Eye'

Wednesday 28th September

What is the 'Picturesque'? Dr Jessica Fay, University of Birmingham, has written an introduction to the Picturesque as part of the National Trust's 'Trusted Source' articles.

Gordon le Pard led a visit to the Meon Valley to use replicas of 18th-C. technology to view the landscape. The technology included a ‘Claude Glass’, as illustrated above, a mirror used to view the landscape as a reflection. The photo, below, shows how, in this case, a view of the sky can be selected and framed to get a particular effect.

Gordon brought another type of Claude Glass that viewed the landscape through coloured glass, with different colours for different effects, e.g. blue for winter or moonlight. These are shown below:

Programme:

• "Experiencing the picturesque": Roy Birch sketched an historical/aesthetics background to cultural perspectives on viewing landscape with the assistance of optical instruments.


• Gordon le Pard then introduced the various devises. This was then followed by the opportunity to handle the optical instruments before visiting view points in the landscape near the village hall. The photo below shows a modern 'Camera Lucida' being used to aid the artist in drawing a landscape.

The group then walked to a viewing point overlooking Meon valley. The photo below shows a view northwards, towards Old Winchester Hill.

A larger view of the same photo can be seen by linking to the above image. ('Pop-ups' may need to allowed for this webpage.)