Graphical version

Geological Society of London

TUPPER, John Lucas ( [1824]-1879)


IDENTITY STATEMENT

Reference code(s): GB 378 LDGSL/1102

Held at: Geological Society of London

Title: TUPPER, John Lucas ( [1824]-1879)

Date(s): [1875]

Level of description: Series

Extent: 1 large drawing

Name of creator(s): Tupper | John Lucas | [1824]-1879 | artist, early member of the Pre-Raphaelite circle

CONTEXT

Administrative/Biographical history:

Born in Stoke Newington, London, John Lucas Tupper was the son of the lithographer George Frederick Tupper. He attended the Royal Academy Schools from about 1844 and at the same time became an anatomical draftsman at Guy's Hospital, London. This not only provided an income but reflected his lifelong interest in science. Tupper remained working at Guy's until 1863 and two years later became master of drawing at Rugby School. His teaching at Rugby pioneered '...teaching art from the human form, as shown in the skeleton, the anatomical figure and the best antiques...'. The 'Athenaeum' considered him one of the ablest 'draughtsmen of the day' and that his experiment to make the study of drawing more than 'a genteel accomplishment' was 'fully attained'. In recognition of his achievements, Tupper was appointed curator of the museum at Rugby School.

Tupper was an early member of the Pre-Raphaelite circle and was particularly close to William Holman Hunt (later godfather to one of his children) and to William Michael Rossetti who edited a published volume of his poems in 1897. Tupper was not only a poet but also contributed letters and articles on literature, art and art education to: 'The Germ'; 'Art and Poetry: Being Thoughts towards Nature Conducted principally by Artists'; 'The Crayon'; and 'The Portfolio'. In 1866 he published under the name of "Outis" 'Hiatus, the Void in Modern Education, its cause and Antidote' (Macmillan). Demonstrating his versatility, Tupper also wrote an article 'On the Centre of Motion in the Human Eye' which was published in the 'Royal Society Proceedings', vol. 22 (1874), pp. 429-30.

His interest in science is reflected in the subjects of his work. In the 1850s and early 1860s Tupper made a number of portraits of his colleagues at Guy's Hospital. He was also commissioned (c.1858) to make a statue of Linnaeus for the Natural History Museum at Oxford designed by the Dublin based practice of Sir Thomas Newenham Deane and Benjamin Woodward.

CONTENT

Scope and content/abstract:

Large, conte and pencil drawing of a Cruziana semiplicata fossil by John Lucas Tupper, Rugby School, Rugby, [1875].

ACCESS AND USE

Language/scripts of material: English

System of arrangement:

Conditions governing access:

Access is by appointment only, daily readership fee is applicable unless you are a member of the Society. Please contact the Archivist for further information.

Conditions governing reproduction:

Copies, subject to copyright and the condition of the original, may be supplied. Requests to publish original material should be submitted to the Archivist.

Finding aids:

ARCHIVAL INFORMATION

Archival history:

Immediate source of acquisition:

Presented to the Society by John Lucas Tupper in April 1875, see letter in GSL/L/R/19/146.

ALLIED MATERIALS

Publication note:

A paper which related to the drawing was read at the Ordinary Meeting of 14 April 1875, and possibly published as: 'Tupper, J L "The Fossil", 'Report of the Rugby School Natural History Society for 1875', pp. 50-56. The specimen appears to have been obtained from a workman at Bangor.

DESCRIPTION NOTES

Archivist's note: Source: 'Mapping the Practice and Profession of Sculpture in Britain and Ireland 1851-1951', (http://sculpture.gla.ac.uk/view/person.php?id=msib7_1220373335), accessed 18 April 2013. Description by Caroline Lam.

Rules or conventions: Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997.

Date(s) of descriptions: April 2013


INDEX ENTRIES
Subjects
Fossils | Palaeontology

Personal names
Tupper | John Lucas | [1824]-1879 | artist, early member of the Pre-Raphaelite circle

Corporate names
Rugby School | Warwickshire

Places
Bangor | Caernarvonshire | Wales | UK | Western Europe | Europe