William Daniell RA, The costume of the Isle of Lewis

The costume of the Isle of Lewis, probably 1815

William Daniell RA (1769 - 1837)

RA Collection: Art

Drawings of ten seated and standing figures, some drawn in pen and ink, demonstrating the type of clothing worn by the islanders of Lewis, Scotland.

William Daniell was a well-known topographical artist who had toured India with his uncle, Thomas Daniell. Between 1813 and 1823, he completed a survey of the coast of Great Britain and his drawings were published as aquatints in Richard Ayton's A Picturesque Voyage round Great Britain (1814–25). Daniell probably made this drawing in 1815 when he toured from Wigtown to Dundee, visiting Lewis on the way.

This work comes from one of sixteen volumes of Royal Academy Annual Exhibition catalogues that were collected and extra-illustrated by the lawyer and antiquarian Edward Basil Jupp F.S.A. (1812 - 1877). The catalogues span the period from the first annual exhibition in 1769 up to 1875. Jupp added drawings, prints, letters and autographs by, or referring to, Academicians and other exhibitors at the Academy's annual exhibition.

E.B. Jupp was a solicitor who married Eliza Kay, daughter of the architect William Porden Kay. He was a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries and a clerk of the Carpenters' Company, of which he published a history. Jupp amassed a large collection of paintings by British and Dutch artists, drawings, prints, books and porcelain most of which was sold after his death, at Christie's in February 1878.

Many of the drawings in Jupp's Royal Academy extra-illustrated volumes were bought from art sales during the 1860s. He was also acquainted with a number of contemporary artists and several drawings in the later volumes (along with many of the letters and autographs) were sent from the artists themselves.

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Object details

Title
The costume of the Isle of Lewis
Artist/designer
William Daniell RA (1769 - 1837)
Date
probably 1815
Object type
Drawing
Medium
Pencil, pen and ink on cream wove paper
Dimensions

118 mm x 169 mm

Collection
Royal Academy of Arts
Object number
03/3944
Acquisition
Given by Leverhulme Trust 1936
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