Art and landscape history: British artists in nineteenth-century Val d’Aosta (north-west Italy)

ABSTRACT

This paper explores the value of landscape and topographical art for understanding contemporary landscapes of the Val d’Aosta, north­west Italy. The region became very popular with British tourists in the early nineteenth century and several amateur and professional artists depicted its landscapes. The paper focuses on the case study of Saint-Pierre, its castle and the surrounding landscapes, examining views by amateur artists like Henrietta Fortescue and professionals such as John Brett. The examination of art, alongside written accounts, historical cartography and field data, provides insights into the landscape history of the Val d’Aosta. The analysis of the artists’ representations raises questions of landscape identity and characterisation and provides evidence for subtle changes in local land­use practices which have had a significant impact on land use change. We suggest that this artistic heritage should be recognised as a source to help improve sustainable tourism in the area and to assist in the development of current land management policies.

Keywords:

• Landscape change
• Aosta
• Alpine landscape
• topography
• Henrietta Fortescue
• John Brett

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This work was supported by the Leverhulme Trust (project number RB1546). We should like to thank the staff of the Archive of the Royal Museum Greenwich, Dr Alessandra Vallet, Mrs Liliana Armand, Mr Giorgio-Darbelly, Dr Rudy Sandi and Dr Raffaella Giordano of the Regione Valle d’Aosta, Dr Omar Borettaz of the Bibliothèque régionale ‘Bruno Salvadori’ and staff from the local Corpo Forestale dello Stato for their help and assistance.

Notes

1 Three field visits in January, February and April 2017 and discussions with local residents and staff of the local Corpo Forestale dello Stato.

2 John Warwick Smith, The Val d’Aosta, 1784. Piedmont, Yale Center of British Art, Paul Mellon Collection. There is another watercolour in the Victoria and Albert Museum dated 1803: http://collections. vam.ac.uk/item/O1069195/val-daosta-piedmont-watercolour-smith-john-warwick/. Ingamells (1997), A Dictionary of British and Irish Travellers in Italy, 1701– 1800, notes that Smith was based in Rome 1776–81 and travelled back to England via Switzerland with Francis Towne from August 1781. He ‘continued to work up his Italian material after his return to England and there are dated Italian views up to 1796. Select Views in Italy, published in London between 1792 and 1799, contained seventy-two plates engraved after Smith … ’ (p. 869).

3 Turner may also have been ‘inspired by the lost oil painting by J. R. Cozens, which passed through the sale rooms in 1802.’ (http://www.tate.org.uk/ art/artworks/turner-snow-storm-hannibal-and-his-army-crossing-the-alps-n00490, published in Martin Butlin and Evelyn Joll, 1984. The Paintings of J.M.W. Turner, revised edn (New Haven & London).

4 J. M. W. Turner, Chateau de St Pierre, Val d’Aosta, Looking towards Villenueve, Château d’Argent in the Distance, 1802. Turner Bequest LXXIV 62, Tate Britain. Turner made a second visit to the valley in 1836 and the views and sketches he made then have been analysed by Hill (2000). See the Fort Bard Sketchbook (1836), Turner Bequest CCXCIV (Tate Britain).

5 He was a friend of Camillo Benso, Conte di Cavour (1810–1861) who was a key figure in the unification of Italy. Brockedon was a founding member of the Royal Geographical Society and at a dinner there in 1835 he introduced Cavour to the publisher John Murray (Bogge 1991).

6 There is a second medieval castle in the village: Chateau La Tour was built around the eleventh century on the edge of a cliff over the Dora River. It belonged to the Sarriod family until 1921 and its current appearance dates back to the eighteenth century (Cerruti, Borney & Ceriano 1993).

7 The drawing on which it is based is held at the Regione Autonoma Valle d’Aosta Collection.

8 RMG Archive, John Brett sketchbook no. 3 Val d’Aosta 1858, PAF 8705.

9 This is in a private collection and measures 87.6 x 68 cm.

10 Corpo di Stato Maggiore Sardo, Carta topografica degli stati in terraferma di S.M. il Re di Sardegna, 1866, sc. 1:50.000, sheet 29, La Thuile.

11 RMG Archive, Wine Torrette, a Klr from Sarre, John Brett sketchbook no. 3 Val d’Aosta 1858, PAF 8734.

12 This disease is likely to be powdery mildew (Oïdium Tuckeri) which was first noticed in 1845 and spread through much of Europe, including Italy, by the 1850s. It is too early for phylloxera, which did not arrive in Europe until the early 1860s where it was noticed in southern France (Unwin 1991) pp. 282–4.

13 http://www.regione.vda.it/risorsenaturali/conservazione/natura2000/siti/IT1205050/default_i.aspx.