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A Visual Revolution on the Wye Tour

Curated by Tim Heimlich (Utrecht University)
Doctors Syntax Observing the Wye Landscape

“Start hence with us, and trace, with raptur’d eye, / The wild meanderings of the beauteous WYE; / Thy ten days leisure ten days joy shall prove, / And rock and stream breathe amity and love” (see Robert Bloomfield's poem, The Banks of Wye, 1.17-20). It is a June morning, near the turn of the nineteenth century. You are in Ross-on-Wye, England, a steadily growing town near the Welsh border. The bustle of early morning commerce reflects your own restless excitement. On this morning, you will be departing Ross via a pleasure boat that you have hired from a local inn. For three or four guineas (depending on the time of the season and your own ability to bargain), you will be swept south in a serpentine, looping fashion, down the River Wye and past some of the most beautiful scenes the British Isles offer. You will see the iron works at New Weir, Goodrich and Chepstow Castles, the soaring cliffs near Piercefield, and, of course, Tintern Abbey. If it is after 1798 and you have read William Wordsworth’s “Lines composed a few miles above Tintern Abbey, on revisiting the banks of the Wye Valley on a tour, July 13, 1798,” then the journey to come will be more than a procession of pretty pictures. Instead, like the poet, you will use the majestic ruins and lush vegetation to experience nature's impact on the soul, and the picturesque tour will become a voyage of self-discovery, facilitated by the views that can be found only along the banks of the Wye. You hurry into one of ten or so pleasure boats that are docked on the river, tucking yourself beneath the vessel’s built in canopy, and secure a spot next to the drawing table. Excitedly, you open a blank book—your own new travel journal—and set a copy of William Gilpin’s Observations on the River Wye, and Several Parts of South Wales, etc. relative chiefly to Picturesque Beauty; Made in Summer of the Year 1770 on the table as well. The boatmen—two rowers and one oarsman—make sure that your friends and family, who will join you on this remarkable tour, are safely in the boat before announcing that your trip is about to begin.

Date Published

Date Published
October 2023

Exhibit Items

Syntax and a Bookseller

Thomas Rowlandson, William Combe

Doctor Syntax and the bookseller occupy the center of the piece. Syntax gestures demonstratively at his travel journal while the bookseller looks upward.

Doctor Syntax & Bookseller

Doctor Syntax Observing Lakes

Thomas Rowlandson, William Combe

Dr. Syntax sits on his horse at the center of the engraving, holding an open sketchbook and pen; an open umbrella appears to be tucked under his arm. A local fisherman and his dog stand behind him; before Syntax, on the water, a man rows three tourists in a boat, two of them women.

Doctor Syntax Sketching the Lake

Syntax Falling Into Water

William Combe, Thomas Rowlandson

Doctor Syntax Tumbling into the Water was first published in the inaugural issue of Poetical Magazine (1809), along with the rest of Combe’s poem, “The Schoolmaster’s Tour.” It was later bound in book form (May, 1812). Dr. Syntax falls backward off his rocky seat into the water.

Doctor Syntax Tumbling into the Water

Image of Goodrich Castle

William Gilpin

During the Romantic period in England, Gilpin helped popularize picturesque tourism—that is, sightseeing centered on experiencing the Romantic notion of the picturesque: a natural object, such as a stone, tree, etc., that stood out in stark contrast to its surroundings and often impressed th

Goodrich Castle

Color Image of Goodrich Castle

William Gilpin

This image features a view of Goodrich Castle from the river Wye, and so recreates for us the perspective of the tourists depicted in the boats on the river.

Goodrich Castle on the Wye

View of Ross-on-Wye near Woody Bank

William Gilpin

Grand Woody Banks near Ross-on-Wye was originally sketched in the travel journal of William Gilpin. This and other sketches were eventually published in the printed version of Gilpin’s journal.

Grand Woody Banks near Ross-on-Wye

Image of Martin's Tower

John Hayes, Robert Bransby Cooper, Robert Bloomfield

The subject, Chepstow Castle, dominates most of the print, sitting across the water from the viewer. It is in a state of ruin: ivy climbs up the towers, and the tops of the rightmost towers are either severely damaged or missing.

Martin's Tower, Chepstow Castle

Image of Cliffs near Wye

Robert Bloomfield, Robert Bransby Cooper, John Hayes

Cliffs, presumably near New Weir (spelled “New Wear” in the title), stretch upward, taking up most of the left half of the print. In the foreground, at the foot of the cliffs, is a small house. A sailboat floats on the river.

New Wear on the Wye

View of Tintern Abbey

William Gilpin

This image depicts the ruins of Tintern Abbey, which dates back to the twelfth century and is located on the the banks of the River Wye, in Monmouthshire, Wales.

Tintern Abbey

Image of the Wye

John Martin

Light brown cliffs, partially cloaked in dark green plant life, take up most of the left half of the painting.

View on the River Wye, Looking towards Chepstow

Collection Credits

Collection Credits
Department of Special Collections, Memorial Library, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI

Exhibit Tags

Exhibit Tags
picturesque

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