John Clerk of Eldin - Etchings

Etchings

It is generally thought that Clerk of Eldin began to draw in the late 1740s, when he was introduced to Paul Sandby, the well-known English draughtsman, who was in Scotland under the Board of Ordnance Survey from 1746 to 1751. The earliest known drawings all belong to around 1750. These all show Sandby's influence. Robert Adam too, was influenced by Sandby, and it is no surprise therefore to find a similarity in their drawing style. Clerk was fundamentally a topographical artist, his landscapes often than not being centred around a particular historical building.

Although Clerk would have known Sandby's own etchings, Clerk himself does not mention any teachers and so we must consider him as self-taught. His early career was seemingly haphazard, a trial and error education. Overall, Clerk of Eldin went on to produce over one hundred and ten etchings, from the first impressions from around 1770, to the last in 1778. It is difficult to say exactly when he started etching; he states himself to have commenced at age forty five, that is in 1773, but as dated works of 1772 survive, this is unlikely. The standard even in 1772 is too high for a complete beginner. Clerk made sets of etchings which he sold, though this was at a time well before any concept of formal editions. He printed up to order. Many sets were sold to Thomas Philipe "Printseller at his shop, second door of the Bull turnpike, opposite the Tron Church, Edinburgh". His images, handled in a style that owed much to European master printers, capture the castles and ruins of Scotland in a fine picturesque manner. They are quite charming and of a surprisingly high quality for an amateur printmaker.

On his death, the collection of prints and plates were retained by his family, and in 1825, with the help of his son John Clerk, Lord Eldin, the Bannatyne Club of Edinburgh issued a volume of etching called 'Etchings, Chiefly Views of Scotland by John Clerk of Eldin'. This publication contained twenty-six views. In 1855, the Bannatyne Club published another issue, this time with seventy-six etchings, as additional plates had been discovered at Eldin. It is understood that The Bannatyne Club then destroyed the plates, their quality having seriously deteriorated.