John Wootton: A Prospect of Dover. View of the Procession of Lionel - PDF document

1 John Wootton: A Prospect of Dover. View of the Procession of Lionel Sackville, 1 st Duke of Dorset returning to Dover Castle after taking the oath of Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports and Constable of Dover Castle. The painting is displayed at Knole House (NT), Kent. Introduction (Slide1.) Two key people were involved in the production of this painting; John Wootton, painter of sporting subjects (1682-1764) and his patron Lionel Sackville, 7 th Earl and 1 st Duke of Dorset (1688-1765). Wootton’s success as a painter of sporting subjects during the first half of the 18 th century coincided with the 1st Duke’s rising status and position at Court during the reign of George I and George II. I think it fair to say that both were ambitious and aimed to succeed, even excel within the social and political arena of their time. For me, there are two main aspects to this work, firstly the procession; those taking part; the tradition and history of the event and secondly the landscape itself. Wootton demonstrates a carefully considered approach to both of these but here I will focus on the landscape which to an extent can only be discussed in consultation with the unfolding narrative that we see before us. We are perhaps too ready to apply the term ‘artistic licence’ when referring to paintings in which a process of selection has taken place. This article will consider more closely Wootton’s approach; his choices and ultimate solution. In his article, also featuring this work, Peter Moore comments that the painting “affords an expansive view of Dover and its surrounding landscape from the enviable vantage point of the adjoining hillside” later observing “Such a ‘pure’ mode of Topography is rarely seen elsewhere in Wootton’s work”. 1 While agreeing these comments, for my purposes, to consider the landscape as an appropriate setting is to oversimplify. The figures in the procession re-enact a centuries’ long tradition; as much to do with place as with human activity; one in which ‘sequence’ and ‘order’ are paramount. By looking more carefully at the various components of the prospect; what is included; what left out; where the emphases lie together with view-point and other compositional devices, I hope to reveal just how well considered Wootton’s depiction of Dover was. The landscape described (Slide 2.) A simple analysis reveals a foreground plane comprising a shaded band of stones and rocks scattered across an area of scrubby ground. The dogs and figures occupying this area look away from the

2 viewer and into the painting inviting us to do likewise. These, together with heightened detail, warmer pigment and sharper contrasts help ‘ground’ the landscape, enabling the viewer to focus on the main event beyond. Our eye is drawn to the reds, blues and golds of the uniforms. The white rump of a horse catches the light as it shares Wootton’s almost central viewpoint. To the left of the horse a dog looking intently into the picture leads the eye toward the main subject; the Duke, who is also seated on a white mount. That the dog and the Duke are in direct line with the central horizon and main vanishing point is no accident. This line of sight draws attention to the opening between the hills to reveal the sunlit horizon and a sky tinged with gold. Although sunlight filters to the front of the hill, the strength increases as it reaches the main foreground section of the procession and once more we are left in little doubt of what, or who, the painting is about. In general, the landscape seems ever so slightly tilted toward us revealing the harbour, shipping and town. So we have in our sights an active, prosperous town as backdrop to a richly embellished, spectacular, celebratory and historic event. Farm labourers occupy the middle distance (Slide 1.). They appear to be harvesting newly enclosed fields; a pattern that is repeated over the higher ground. I was surprised to see this pattern of enclosure but it seems that the 1st Duke had an interest in, and benefitted from the “increased efficiency and profitability” that resulted in part from the enclosure of common land. 2 As I understand it, acts of enclosure peaked during the second half of the eighteenth century and into the nineteenth. The Duke’s interest may explain why the heights of Dover are depicted with parliamentary enclosures rather than the field system that had developed in Kent during the medieval period. (Slide3.) In the town itself, Wootton includes a scattering of important landmarks including, as one would expect, church spires and towers. Other contemporary depictions of Dover agree with Wootton’s positioning in this respect. Take St. Mary’s church for example. Although the positioning within the town is correct, we can see that Wootton has extended the height of the spire to provide a strong vertical, serving to interrupt an otherwise horizontal layout. Rawle’s 1798 engraving of St. Mary’s alongside a recent photograph reveals its true appearance. (Slide 4). The archive librarian at the Dover Museum identified the second church on the right of the town as the Maison Dieu . Founded in 1203 by Hubert de Burgh, Constable of Dover Castle and Earl of Kent, Maison Dieu first served as a temporary lodging for travelling pilgrims, after this a victualling store for the Navy until finally in 1834 it became a Town Hall and Mayoral Office.

3 (Slide 5.) This engraving by Samuel and Nathaniel Buck Includes St. Mary’s with an elongated spire. St. James church lying beneath the cliff-face is also clearly shown. Despite the fact that it plays an important role in the Cinque Port tradition, Wootton could not include St. James in his view simply because it is out of site in the lee of the Castle Hill. (Slide 6.)St. James church today is in ruins. It was built in the 11 th century but during the 14 th century a large extension was added to the South side of the nave to create a new space for use as a court-house for Chancery and Admiralty Courts of the Cinque Ports. These examples help us understand the importance of topographical accuracy in the positioning of key Dover landmarks, but establishing Wootton’s actual viewpoint is not so straightforward. Bryan Williams suggested Connaught Park, a green area just north-west of the castle, as a possible spot. The route The painting includes in its title ‘returning to Dover Castle after taking the Oath’ begging the question – returning from where? Historically, the Oath was taken and Courts held at Shepway – so called, according to Edward Knocker ‘for its position being in a ‘shipway’ or ‘Way to the Ships’’. 3 In his Book of the Cinque Ports Ivan Green wrote that Shepway, otherwise described as ‘the cliff top of old England’ had a navigable waterway only a few hundred yards down the cliff. This ancient site, now marked by the Shepway Cross, lies half a mile to the east of Lympne. 4 The inning of the Walland and Romney marshes altered this landscape to the extent that it could no longer function as a deep-water harbour. (Slide 7.) A pair of beacons or ‘Pharos’ built in the 2 nd century A.D. by the Romans acted as lighthouses to light the cliffs on either side of the Roman Fort of Dubris. Hollar’s engraving foregrounds what remained of the Bredenstone. Its sister beacon is just discernible in the distance, adjacent to St Mary’s in Castro. From the end of the 16 th century, the Bredenstone, built upon Dover’s Western Heights was chosen as venue for the Oath taking. Knocker wrote that on 3 rd August 1693 Viscount Sheppey, Lord Sydney, issued a notice that “I have heard it is true that anciently the Wardens used to be sworn in at Shepway ….. of late years not being thought convenient for that purpose …. I am told that 3 of my predecessors successively were sworn upon Bredenstone Hill, lying within the liberties of the town and port of Dover”. Knocker confirmed that “Here it was that Lionel, Duke of Dorset was installed”. 5