| Description | Large volume containing notes on sculpture and art and some pencil and ink sketches by the artist John Flaxman.
Description of contents on each page, as follows
1. Title "A commonplace book containing .. a lecture on science employed in sculpture, bound in parchment." - George Wallis
2- Sketch of a lecture, "on the use and connection of the Arts of Design in the circle of Human Knowledge"
3- Introduction continues
4- Connection to Geometry
5- Connections to Astronomy and Mechanics
6- Connections to Geography & History, Natural History, and Anatomy
7- Connection to Philosophy and Religion
8-10- Connection to religion continues
11- List of classical "noble monuments of sculpture"
12- "The universal connexion with all other branches of knowledge & their indispensible importance in cultivating the nobbler faculties of the mind"
13-15- Blank
16- Sketch of a lecture on Composition
17- Introduction continues
18-20- Lists key classical Greek and Roman sculptures up to 5th/6th century AD
21- Dark ages, "Arts of design and poetry revived in Religious subjects"
22- Begins subsection on Principles (scribbled out)
23- Discusions on Principles, Lines, and Light & Shadow
24- Examples of Sublime, Tender, Graceful, and Tragic categories of sculpture. Explores the powers of sculpture (more limited than poetical arts or painting)
25-26- Blank
27- Lecture on the Science of Sculpture: Anatomy, proportions, motion & mechanical powers
28- Blank
29- Lecture on Saxon Architecture, "barbarous & ignorant deviations from the greek orders"
30- Leads on to Norman architecture, lists key examples
31-32- Blank
33- Lecture on the principles of Drapery
34- Details the effects of body shape and wind on sculpting drapery
35- Drapery in Repose and Motion
36- Motion continued, History of Drapery
37- Blank
38-39- Lecture on Public Monuments, list key classical examples
40-41- Blank
42-43- Lecture on Style, its definition and intentions and signs of progressive improvement over time
44-46- Blank
47- Pen sketches of male body from front, side, and only torso
48- Pencil sketches of male figures from Temple of Theseus and Altemps Palace in Rome
49- Pencil sketches of sculptures of Hercules and Venus
50- Pencil sketch of two men wrestling
51-52- Introductory lecture on Ancient Art
53- Stages of advancement in ancient art over time
54-55- Lecture on Ancient Sculpture, from essential developments to key examples
56-57- Lecture on Modern Sculpture, essential developments starting from the establishment of Christianity
58- Blank (end of notebook)
59- statement "Presented to UCL by Sir Alexander Gibb" 1921 |
| CustodialHistory | Presented to UCL by Sir Alexander Gibb, 1921 |