Getting started with the collection:
No image available
The artist's vade mecum: being the whole art of drawing taught in a new work, elegantly engraved on one hundred folio copper plates; containing great variety of examples in every branch of that noble art beasts, birds, insects, flowers, fruit, shells, ornaments, buildings, landscapes, &c &c &c. Collected from the works of the greatest masters : to which is prefixed, an essay on drawing with introductory rules for the use of learners: in which the first principles of that useful and noble art are explained in such manner that it may be attained in a short time without a master.
By
Publisher
Publication
London: R. Sayer, 1762
Year
Is about
Subject
Type
Language
Annotations / title notes
Notes
Despite its authoritive title this is not so much a detailed drawing manual as a cross section of the stock of the printseller and publisher Robert Sayer. The opening sections of measured drawings, outline and shaded portraits and anatomical details include engravings after Chardin (La Maitresse d’école, and Le portrait du fils de N. Godefroy, of 1736-37), as well as llustrations from other well known sources (Le Brun, Hogarth). However, it is the second half of the book which reveals traces of ephemeral drawing books and suites of plates, which are now largely unrecorded outside of Sayer’s own Catalogues of Prints. A substantial catalogue was in fact issued in this same year, and it records the Hogarth plates that are included in the Vade Mecum at prices that undercut those being charged by Mrs Hogarth. As well as serving a useful purpose for the publisher in reissuing spare sheets from these works, it also provided an elaborate advertisement for his business; the brief preliminary text often mentioning that more substantial works were on sale at his shop. Many of the plates bear additional numberings or letters from their earlier life, and the un-named sources include, A New Drawing Book of Beasts, Foreign & Domestick; A New Drawing Book of Butterflies, Insects, &c.; A New Drawing Book of Flowers, Fruit &c.; A New Drawing Book of Landscapes. Other unidentified works from which plates have been used appear to be Brood Mares, Colts, &c by Tillemans, as well as one of the series of full-page landscapes by H. Roberts. Pillement appears frequently, the publisher probably adapting plates from The Ladies Amusement of c1762, which may partly explain this works legendary rarity. It is in composite volumes such as this that so much of the information on the ephemeral publications for 18th century artists is preserved. The Vade Mecum is a fascinating insight into this largely unresearched area. (Spelman, cat 86)
Persistent URL
To refer to this object, please use the following persistent URL: