Joseph Pennell: The Cathedrals

"St. Paul's from Cheapside"
by Joseph Pennell

In 1892 author Mrs. Schuler Van Rensselaer wrote: "Some years ago I was asked to write descriptions of twelve of the English cathedrals for 'The Century Magazine,' and was promised the invaluable help of Mr. Pennell's drawings. A summer in England was the immediate result, and the final result is this book." Twelve of Pennell's illustrations in her series of magazine articles had grown to one hundred and fifty-four for her book, and he spent far longer than 'a summer in England' to produce his beautiful pictures.

"The difficulty of illustrating these magnificent buildings well was teaching Pennell a great deal, and his drawings were growing more elaborate, more learned, more impressive. As his interest increased, he rebelled against the tedium of struggling with architectural perspective. His concern was the beauty of the architecture, not its technical problems, And yet, he believed that to express this beauty the technical problems must be mastered according to technical rules. 

But from the beginning, coming to Gothic fresh from the comparative simplicity of Colonial architecture, he was afraid to trust his extraordinary powers of observation. He turned to photographs and abandoned them promptly. They were of so little use that he gave them up altogether, except as notes or reminders, and then he did not trust them too confidently. He knew that Abbey relied upon architectural draughtsmen, he had heard that this was Doré's method also, and Alma Tadema's for his classical perspectives. 

A young architect, Charles Edward Mallows, proved to be his man. He had met him in his travels, had watched him at work, realized his ability, asked if he had time to spare. Mallows did and was glad to give it. Pennell would select his point of view, Mallows would prepare the perspective, and the drawing could be made without the preliminary mechanical labour that has little to do with the interpretation of beauty. Later Pennell wrote that if Mallows helped him with architecture, then 'I taught him how to draw it,' and in Mallows' large drawings of architecture Pennell's influence is unmistakable. Mallows was his first student and, like all his intelligent students, was devoted."

To be continued

(Excerpts from "The Life and Letters of Joseph Pennell" by Elizabeth Robins Pennell.)