William Bartram: Artist

artram’s influence in the history of American art might well have been stronger if he had not restricted himself to purely scientific illustration and if more of his paintings had remained in America. Because of the patronage system under which he was working, however, almost all of his early drawings were sent to England and few ever found their way into publications. With the exception of several bird drawings used in whole or in part by George Edwards and some herpetological illustrations which appeared in the Gentleman’s Magazine, Bartram’s drawings were considered private property by the collectors of curiosity “cabinets” who purchased them, and were seldom seen beyond the small circle of collector naturalists who provided the funds for their execution.

By the time Bartram’s illustrations appeared in Travels, in Elements of Botany, and in several other scientific publications in the United States,(267) the quality and sophistication of American art had increased so dramatically from the period of Bartram ’s youth that the pictures were of little interest to any but readers with scientific interests.

Because artists were so scarce in the colonies in Bartram’s youth (and these were primarily limners or portraitists), Bartram had few people to whom he could turn for instruction.(268) Professional art training as we know it today was unavailable in Philadelphia (or anywhere else in the colonies) until 1795.(269) Since a trip to Europe for instruction was out of the question for the young Quaker and artistic apprenticeship was almost unknown in America, Bartram had to teach himself from what books he could find. It is little wonder, therefore, that his early pictures reflect the styles of Mark Catesby and George Edwards whose books John Bartram owned. One can well imagine that the young Bartram spent hours carefully copying their drawings before attempting any original compositions. Two artists with whom Bartram did have contact early in his life were Gustavus Hesselius (1682–1755) and Jane Colden (1724–1766).

In 1748, Swedish naturalist Peter Kalm reports accompanying “Swedish painter Mr. Hesselius to the country seat of Mr. Bartram.”(270) Gustavus Hesselius was the principal painter of the middle colonies throughout William ’s developing years and, through his Indian portraits, has been credited with “the first artistic indication of scientific realism rising in the intellectual life of Pennsylvania.”(271) This evidence of his familiarity with the Bartrams (which for some reason has escaped previous biographers) provides an important clue to how William may have gained his early interest in art. One wonders how often the famous painter visited the garden at Kingsessing or if William ever called on him in his Philadelphia studio.

Bartram first met Jane Colden in 1753 during a visit to her father’s house in New York State. So inspired by her crude drawings of plants was the fourteen year-old, that, on returning to Philadelphia with his father, he drew a set of his own pictures (which, according to John, were “far beyond Catesby”)(272) and sent them to her as a gift. What became of the “packet of very fine drawings” after it was received has been obscured by time. Colden’s influence on Bartram ’s art was primarily inspirational. Her own artistic abilities were very limited (and quickly surpassed by her young acquaintance), but her encouragement and example may well have helped to confirm William’s interest in art.(273)

Dr. Joseph Ewan, in introducing a book on Bartram ’s drawings in the British Museum (American Philosophical Society, 1968), divides his artistic development into three periods: an Edwardsian or “Magpie and Stump” period, 1753–1770; an Ehretian or apogee period, 1770–1788; and a Bartonian or Journeyman period, 1788–1803.

The first, exemplified by Bartram’s “Magnolia Warbler” of 1755–1756, is stiff and awkward, but possesses a certain primitive charm. It is clearly derived from the pages of George Edward’s Greenings From Natural History and Mark Catesby’s Natural History. [Compare for example, Catesby’s “Small Bittern” (c1730) or “Yellow and Black Pye” (c1735) to Bartram’s “Magnolia Warbler” (c1755–6).](274) The poses and subject/background relationships are almost identical.

The second period (exemplified by Bartram’s “Little Green Bittern” and “Franklinia alatamaha” of 1788)(275) is unquestionably Bartram’s most painterly. His compositions fill the pages with bold confidence. His flowing lines and pleasing colors create visual impressions as sophisticated as any natural history paintings produced in America prior to John James Audubon. The influence of (Danish- born) English botanical illustrator Georg Dionysius Ehret may well have affected Bartram’s style during this period.(276) Peter Collinson evidently introduced the works of these two men to each other,(277) although Bartram would surely have known of Ehret’s botanical illustrations in one or more editions of Philip Miller’s Gardiner’s Dictionary even without Collinson’s intervention.

The final period of Bartram’s artistic development (as seen in his illustrations for Barton’s Elements of Botany) is typical of the controlled and accurate illustrative style that was to become a standard for American scientific publications. Alexander Wilson, Alexander Ryder, Charles Lesueur, and Titian Ramsey Peale, the leading scientific illustrators of the early nineteenth century (and all friends of Bartram), reflect a similar objectivity in their work. Although such taxonomic depictions were important in establishing the credibility of American science (and served much the same purpose as herbarium sheets with actual specimens)(278) they did not have quite the artistic appeal of Bartram’s middle period.

It is significant that at no time does Bartram ever regard himself as a fine artist, but rather prefers to take the role of an illustrator. Through his drawings, Bartram tries to record reality for others (particularly his patrons) to share. Only once in the Travels does Bartram mention drawing specimens, and this, he explains, is done “of such curious subjects as could not be preserved in their natural state of excellence.”(279)

Footnotes

An Introduction to Botany, Philadelphia, 1818, is almost surely by William Bartram. How many other anonymous publications include Bartram’s work may be revealed by future research.

268. For a general discussion of art in the early colonies, see Edgar P. Richardson, Painting in America, New York, 1956.

269. The first artists' academy in America was the Columbian Academy (Philadelphia), founded by Charles Willson Peale. Fraught with internal strife, the Academy was a short-lived institution. The Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts (Philadelphia), founded in the first decade of the nineteenth century, was the first institution devoted to art instruction to prove successful. For information on the early art academies, the Bartram Trail Conference is indebted to Dr. Wayne Craven, Department of Art History, University of Delaware, who has done considerable research on this subject.

270. Peter Kalm, Travels into North America, Adolph D. Benson, Editor, New York, 1966.

271. Richardson, Painting in America, op. cit., p. 35.

272. John’s description is cited in Ewan, William Bartram Drawings, op. cit., p. 4, which also includes a general discussion of the Bartram/Colden relationship.

273. Jane Colden’s primitive botanical drawings have been reproduced with her notes in Botanic Manuscript of Jane Colden, Garden Club of America, Chanticleer Press, New York, 1963.

274. A color reproduction of the Bartram sketch can be found in Ewan, Bartram Drawings, op. cit. and on the cover of Horticulture (Magazine), (April, 1978) published by the Massachusetts Horticultural Society. Color reproductions of the Catesby drawings can be seen in: Martina R. Norelli, American Wildlife Paintings, New York, 1975. For excellent facsimile reproductions of Catesby, see the Beehive Press edition of Catesby’s The Natural History of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama Islands, Savannah, 1976.

275. See Ewan, Bartram Drawings, op. cit.

276. Ibid., p. 6.

277. For an account of Ehret’s reaction to seeing Bartram’s work, see Peter Collinson’s letter to John Bartram, May 28, 1766, in: Darlington’s Memorials, op. cit., p. 280.

278. Porter, “The Excursive Naturalists,” op. cit. The drawings were in some ways superior to herbarium sheets, for they were able to emphasize taxonomic characters often difficult to see in dried, bent and broken specimens.

279. Bartram’s Travels, op. cit., p. 48, Harper, p. 31.