George Cumberland
Encyclopedia
George Cumberland was an English
art collector, writer and poet. He was a lifelong friend and supporter of William Blake
, and like him was an experimental printmaker
. He was also an amateur watercolourist, and one of the earliest members of the Bristol School
of artists. He made use of his wide circle of connections to help its other members, in particular assisting and influencing Edward Bird
and Francis Danby
.
in 1754. From 1769–85 he was an insurance clerk with the Royal Exchange Assurance Corporation
. In 1772 he also attended the Royal Academy
Schools and exhibited at the Academy in 1782 and 1783, but failed to be elected an Associate in 1784. He formed a low opinion of the Academy and attacked it in various essays.
Along with John Flaxman
and Thomas Stothard
, Cumberland joined the social circle of William Blake within a year of Blake becoming a student at the Royal Academy Schools in 1779. This circle also included the engraver William Sharp
. The young Cumberland held radical views; with Stothard and Sharp, he joined the Society for Constitutional Information
, becoming a friend of its leader, John Horne Tooke
, and attracting the attention of government spies. However when Cumberland witnessed the Gordon Riots
of 1780 at first hand, he reacted with horror.
Cumberland was to be a lifelong friend and supporter of Blake. As early as 1780 a contribution by Cumberland to the Morning Chronicle
praised Blake's first exhibit at the Academy, the watercolour The Death of Earl Goodwin. Cumberland would often seek to provide clients for Blake, as in 1798 when he tried to persuade Tooke to use Blake as the engraver for a new edition of Tooke's book Diversions of Purleigh.
Cumberland shared an interest with Blake in printmaking. In 1784 they both experimented with new methods of printing etched texts. In that year Cumberland printed an account of his "New Mode of Printing", although it does not seem to have been a practical commercial proposition. In printing his own works Cumberland would come to rely on Blake's technical advice on copperplate and lithography
.
. He also visited Paris and Florence, and in 1786 visited Switzerland with Charles Long, 1st Baron Farnborough
. In 1787 he eloped with Mrs Elizabeth Cooper née
Price and took her back to Italy.
In Rome he joined a circle of artists which included John Deare
, Robert Fagan
, Charles Grignion and Samuel Woodforde
. Cumberland studied the works of Raphael
and the engravers Marcantonio Raimondi
and Giulio Bonasone
and formed a collection of prints and objects, in particular a large collection of Bonasone engravings.
After Cumberland's return from Italy in 1790 he first lived near Southampton
, where he continued to build his art collection. From 1793–98 he lived in Egham
, Surrey
. In 1793 he published Poem on the Landscapes of Great Britain and the illustrated poem Lewina, the Maid of Snowdon. In the same year he published Some Anecdotes of the Life of Julio Bonasoni, prefaced by A Plan for the Improvement of the Arts in England, which contained a proposal for the formation of a national gallery. His Italian studies bore further fruit in 1796 when he published Thoughts on Outline, a set of theoretical principles for classical art
illustrated with 24 designs by Cumberland on classical subjects. Cumberland etched 16 of the designs and commissioned Blake to etch the other 8, with Blake providing the inscriptions for all 24. Blake also provided Cumberland with advice on the engraving process.
Another of Cumberland's friends was Thomas Johnes
, who was influenced by Cumberland to become a translator of medieval French chronicles. In 1796 Cumberland produced An Attempt to Describe Hafod, a guide to Johnes's estate of Hafod
in Wales. Cumberland commissioned Blake to engrave a map to accompany the guide.
In 1798 Cumberland published a utopian novel, The Captive of the Castle of Sennaar. He called his utopia Sophis, setting it in Africa, and gave it classical Greek virtues but without war, slavery or sexual inequality. Fearing that its radicalism would antagonise the authorities, Cumberland withdrew the novel, though not before he had sent a copy to another of his acquaintances, Isaac D'Israeli
.
in Somerset
, and then in 1807 to Bristol
where he lived for the rest of his life. He became one of the earliest members of the informal group of artists which has become known as the Bristol School, and one of the first to take part in the group's excursions to sketch the scenery around Bristol. Cumberland's daughter Eliza and probably also his son George Cumberland, Jr. sometimes joined these excursions. His friend Stothard also participated occasionally.
Cumberland believed that painting should be directly from nature; he produced small landscape studies which avoided the picturesque
. His watercolours were similar in style to those of his friend John Linnell
. It was Cumberland's son George, a pupil of Linnell, who introduced Linnell to Blake in 1818.
Cumberland became a close friend of Edward Bird, and godfather to his son. He did not have the resources to be Bird's patron, but he would lend Bird items from his art collection to study. In 1814 when Bird asked for help in gaining a royal commission, Cumberland introduced him to Charles Long, who then arranged with the Prince Regent
for Bird to conduct royal portrait studies aboard the royal yacht. On Bird's death in 1819 Cumberland successfully petitioned the Royal Academy to provide a pension for Bird's widow.
Cumberland helped many of the Bristol artists through recommendations and introductions to his influential friends. In 1820 when Francis Danby exhibited The Upas Tree of Java at the British Institution
, Cumberland exerted his influence to promote its favourable reception. In 1822 when Danby, Branwhite
and Johnson
were about to visit London, Cumberland ensured that Thomas Lawrence
, Thomas Stothard and others were alerted.
There is evidence from their correspondence that Cumberland often suggested subjects for Danby to paint. It has been suggested that the influence of Blake may also have been transmitted to Danby. Danby's second exhibited painting was Disappointed Love, shown at the Royal Academy in 1821. Its subject is reminiscent of Blake's Songs of Innocence and of Experience
, while the work's neoclassical
figure of a girl evokes Cumberland's Thoughts on Outline. A later watercolour, A Scene from "A Midsummer Night's Dream" (1832) is very reminiscent of Blake's illustrations for The Book of Thel
.
Cumberland had been the recipient from Blake of one of the 16 early copies of The Book of Thel and one of For Children: The Gates of Paradise, only five of which now survive. He also had copies of America a Prophecy
, Europe a Prophecy
, The Song of Los
, Visions of the Daughters of Albion
and Songs of Innocence and of Experience.
Blake died in 1827. The last engraving
that Blake made was a visiting card
for Cumberland, who had sent the plate to Blake for him to decorate. Blake did so by surrounding Cumberland's name with figures intended to represent the Season
s, including children hoop rolling
and flying kite
s.
s and from 1810 was an honorary member of the Geological Society
. In 1826 he published Reliquiae conservatae, a study of some fossil encrinites
.
In 1827 he published Essay on the Utility of Collecting the Best Works of the Ancient Engravers of the Italian School, which catalogued his collection of prints. He presented his collections to the Royal Academy and the British Museum
.
Cumberland's wife Elizabeth died on 2 February 1837. He died on 8 August 1848 in Bristol and was buried at St Augustine the Less Church
; his tombstone is now in the churchyard of St George's Church, Brandon Hill
. They had two sons, George and Sydney, and two daughters, Eliza and Lavinia.
English people
The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...
art collector, writer and poet. He was a lifelong friend and supporter of William Blake
William Blake
William Blake was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognised during his lifetime, Blake is now considered a seminal figure in the history of both the poetry and visual arts of the Romantic Age...
, and like him was an experimental printmaker
Printmaking
Printmaking is the process of making artworks by printing, normally on paper. Printmaking normally covers only the process of creating prints with an element of originality, rather than just being a photographic reproduction of a painting. Except in the case of monotyping, the process is capable...
. He was also an amateur watercolourist, and one of the earliest members of the Bristol School
Bristol School
The Bristol School is a term applied retrospectively to describe the informal association and works of a group of artists working in Bristol, England, in the early 19th century. It was mainly active in the 1820s, although the origins and influences of the school have been traced over the...
of artists. He made use of his wide circle of connections to help its other members, in particular assisting and influencing Edward Bird
Edward Bird
Edward Bird was an English genre painter who spent most of his working life in Bristol, where the Bristol School of artists formed around him....
and Francis Danby
Francis Danby
Francis Danby was an Irish painter of the Romantic era. His imaginative, dramatic landscapes were comparable to those of John Martin. Danby initially developed his imaginative style while he was the central figure in a group of artists who have come to be known as the Bristol School...
.
Early life
Cumberland, whose father was also called George, was born in LondonLondon
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
in 1754. From 1769–85 he was an insurance clerk with the Royal Exchange Assurance Corporation
Royal Exchange Assurance Corporation
The Royal Exchange Assurance Corporation, founded in 1720, was a British insurance company. It took its name from the location of its offices at the Royal Exchange, London.-Origins:...
. In 1772 he also attended the Royal Academy
Royal Academy
The Royal Academy of Arts is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly, London. The Royal Academy of Arts has a unique position in being an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects whose purpose is to promote the creation, enjoyment and...
Schools and exhibited at the Academy in 1782 and 1783, but failed to be elected an Associate in 1784. He formed a low opinion of the Academy and attacked it in various essays.
Along with John Flaxman
John Flaxman
John Flaxman was an English sculptor and draughtsman.-Early life:He was born in York. His father was also named John, after an ancestor who, according to family tradition, had fought for Parliament at the Battle of Naseby, and afterwards settled as a carrier or farmer in Buckinghamshire...
and Thomas Stothard
Thomas Stothard
Thomas Stothard was an English painter, illustrator and engraver.-Life and work:Stothard was born in London, the son of a well-to-do innkeeper in Long Acre, London. A delicate child, he was sent at the age of five to a relative in Yorkshire, and attended school at Acomb, and afterwards at...
, Cumberland joined the social circle of William Blake within a year of Blake becoming a student at the Royal Academy Schools in 1779. This circle also included the engraver William Sharp
William Sharp (engraver)
William Sharp , was an English line-engraver and artist.-Life and work:Sharp was the son of a reputable gunsmith who lived at Haydon's Yard, Minories in central London...
. The young Cumberland held radical views; with Stothard and Sharp, he joined the Society for Constitutional Information
Society for Constitutional Information
Founded in 1780 by Major John Cartwright to promote parliamentary reform, the Society for Constitutional Information flourished until 1783, but thereafter made little headway...
, becoming a friend of its leader, John Horne Tooke
John Horne Tooke
John Horne Tooke was an English politician and philologist.-Early life and work:He was born in Newport Street, Long Acre, Westminster, the third son of John Horne, a poulterer in Newport Market. As a youth at Eton College, Tooke described his father to friends as a "turkey merchant"...
, and attracting the attention of government spies. However when Cumberland witnessed the Gordon Riots
Gordon Riots
The Gordon Riots of 1780 were an anti-Catholic protest against the Papists Act 1778.The Popery Act 1698 had imposed a number of penalties and disabilities on Roman Catholics in England; the 1778 act eliminated some of these. An initial peaceful protest led on to widespread rioting and looting and...
of 1780 at first hand, he reacted with horror.
Cumberland was to be a lifelong friend and supporter of Blake. As early as 1780 a contribution by Cumberland to the Morning Chronicle
Morning Chronicle
The Morning Chronicle was a newspaper founded in 1769 in London, England, and published under various owners until 1862. It was most notable for having been the first employer of Charles Dickens, and for publishing the articles by Henry Mayhew which were collected and published in book format in...
praised Blake's first exhibit at the Academy, the watercolour The Death of Earl Goodwin. Cumberland would often seek to provide clients for Blake, as in 1798 when he tried to persuade Tooke to use Blake as the engraver for a new edition of Tooke's book Diversions of Purleigh.
Cumberland shared an interest with Blake in printmaking. In 1784 they both experimented with new methods of printing etched texts. In that year Cumberland printed an account of his "New Mode of Printing", although it does not seem to have been a practical commercial proposition. In printing his own works Cumberland would come to rely on Blake's technical advice on copperplate and lithography
Lithography
Lithography is a method for printing using a stone or a metal plate with a completely smooth surface...
.
Italy
In 1784 Cumberland received an inheritance providing him with an annual income of £300, enabling him to leave his job. From 1785–90 he travelled in Europe, mainly living in RomeRome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
. He also visited Paris and Florence, and in 1786 visited Switzerland with Charles Long, 1st Baron Farnborough
Charles Long, 1st Baron Farnborough
Charles Long, 1st Baron Farnborough GCB PC PC FRS FSA was an English politician and connoisseur of the arts.-Early life:...
. In 1787 he eloped with Mrs Elizabeth Cooper née
NEE
NEE is a political protest group whose goal was to provide an alternative for voters who are unhappy with all political parties at hand in Belgium, where voting is compulsory.The NEE party was founded in 2005 in Antwerp...
Price and took her back to Italy.
In Rome he joined a circle of artists which included John Deare
John Deare
John Deare was a British neo-classical sculptor. His nephew Joseph was also a sculptor.-Life:...
, Robert Fagan
Robert Fagan
Robert Fagan was an Irish painter, diplomat and archaeologist.-Career:The son of Cork immigrants, Fagan was born in London. As an archaeologist he traveled to Italy and was involved in the excavations near Laurentum, which resulted in the discovery of the Venus at the Capitoline. Fagan then...
, Charles Grignion and Samuel Woodforde
Samuel Woodforde
Samuel Woodforde was an 18th-century British painter.Woodforde was born at Castle Cary, Somerset. He was the second son of Heighes Woodforde, an accountant of Ansford and Anne. He was a lineal descendant of the painter Samuel Woodford, and nephew of the diarist, James Woodforde...
. Cumberland studied the works of Raphael
Raphael
Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino , better known simply as Raphael, was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. His work is admired for its clarity of form and ease of composition and for its visual achievement of the Neoplatonic ideal of human grandeur...
and the engravers Marcantonio Raimondi
Marcantonio Raimondi
Marcantonio Raimondi, also simply Marcantonio, was an Italian engraver, known for being the first important printmaker whose body of work consists mainly of prints copying paintings. He is therefore a key figure in the rise of the reproductive print...
and Giulio Bonasone
Giulio Bonasone
Giulio Bonasone was an Italian painter and engraver. He was born at Bologna, where he worked from 1521 to 1574. He studied painting under Lorenzo Sabbatini. He painted a Purgatory for the church of San Stefano...
and formed a collection of prints and objects, in particular a large collection of Bonasone engravings.
Publications
Southampton
Southampton is the largest city in the county of Hampshire on the south coast of England, and is situated south-west of London and north-west of Portsmouth. Southampton is a major port and the closest city to the New Forest...
, where he continued to build his art collection. From 1793–98 he lived in Egham
Egham
Egham is a wealthy suburb in the Runnymede borough of Surrey, in the south-east of England. It is part of the London commuter belt and Greater London Urban Area, and about south-west of central London on the River Thames and near junction 13 of the M25 motorway.-Demographics:Egham town has a...
, Surrey
Surrey
Surrey is a county in the South East of England and is one of the Home Counties. The county borders Greater London, Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, Hampshire and Berkshire. The historic county town is Guildford. Surrey County Council sits at Kingston upon Thames, although this has been part of...
. In 1793 he published Poem on the Landscapes of Great Britain and the illustrated poem Lewina, the Maid of Snowdon. In the same year he published Some Anecdotes of the Life of Julio Bonasoni, prefaced by A Plan for the Improvement of the Arts in England, which contained a proposal for the formation of a national gallery. His Italian studies bore further fruit in 1796 when he published Thoughts on Outline, a set of theoretical principles for classical art
Neoclassicism
Neoclassicism is the name given to Western movements in the decorative and visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture that draw inspiration from the "classical" art and culture of Ancient Greece or Ancient Rome...
illustrated with 24 designs by Cumberland on classical subjects. Cumberland etched 16 of the designs and commissioned Blake to etch the other 8, with Blake providing the inscriptions for all 24. Blake also provided Cumberland with advice on the engraving process.
Another of Cumberland's friends was Thomas Johnes
Thomas Johnes
Thomas Johnes , born in Ludlow, Shropshire, England was a Member of Parliament, landscape architect, farmer, printer, writer and social benefactor...
, who was influenced by Cumberland to become a translator of medieval French chronicles. In 1796 Cumberland produced An Attempt to Describe Hafod, a guide to Johnes's estate of Hafod
Hafod Uchtryd
The estate of Hafod Uchtryd is located in Ceredigion, Wales in the Ystwyth valley near Devil's Bridge, Cwmystwyth and Pont-rhyd-y-groes off the B4574 road, described by the Automobile Association as one of the ten most scenic drives in the world. It is the ancient location of a dwelling on the...
in Wales. Cumberland commissioned Blake to engrave a map to accompany the guide.
In 1798 Cumberland published a utopian novel, The Captive of the Castle of Sennaar. He called his utopia Sophis, setting it in Africa, and gave it classical Greek virtues but without war, slavery or sexual inequality. Fearing that its radicalism would antagonise the authorities, Cumberland withdrew the novel, though not before he had sent a copy to another of his acquaintances, Isaac D'Israeli
Isaac D'Israeli
Isaac D'Israeli was a British writer, scholar and man of letters. He is best known for his essays, his associations with other men of letters, and for being the father of British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli....
.
Bristol School
In 1803 Cumberland moved to Weston-super-MareWeston-super-Mare
Weston-super-Mare is a seaside resort, town and civil parish in the unitary authority of North Somerset, which is within the ceremonial county of Somerset, England. It is located on the Bristol Channel coast, south west of Bristol, spanning the coast between the bounding high ground of Worlebury...
in Somerset
Somerset
The ceremonial and non-metropolitan county of Somerset in South West England borders Bristol and Gloucestershire to the north, Wiltshire to the east, Dorset to the south-east, and Devon to the south-west. It is partly bounded to the north and west by the Bristol Channel and the estuary of the...
, and then in 1807 to Bristol
Bristol
Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...
where he lived for the rest of his life. He became one of the earliest members of the informal group of artists which has become known as the Bristol School, and one of the first to take part in the group's excursions to sketch the scenery around Bristol. Cumberland's daughter Eliza and probably also his son George Cumberland, Jr. sometimes joined these excursions. His friend Stothard also participated occasionally.
Cumberland believed that painting should be directly from nature; he produced small landscape studies which avoided the picturesque
Picturesque
Picturesque is an aesthetic ideal introduced into English cultural debate in 1782 by William Gilpin in Observations on the River Wye, and Several Parts of South Wales, etc. Relative Chiefly to Picturesque Beauty; made in the Summer of the Year 1770, a practical book which instructed England's...
. His watercolours were similar in style to those of his friend John Linnell
John Linnell (painter)
John Linnell was an English landscape painter. Linnell was a naturalist and a rival to John Constable. He had a taste for Northern European art of the Renaissance, particularly Albrecht Dürer. He also associated with William Blake, to whom he introduced Samuel Palmer and others of the...
. It was Cumberland's son George, a pupil of Linnell, who introduced Linnell to Blake in 1818.
Cumberland became a close friend of Edward Bird, and godfather to his son. He did not have the resources to be Bird's patron, but he would lend Bird items from his art collection to study. In 1814 when Bird asked for help in gaining a royal commission, Cumberland introduced him to Charles Long, who then arranged with the Prince Regent
George IV of the United Kingdom
George IV was the King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and also of Hanover from the death of his father, George III, on 29 January 1820 until his own death ten years later...
for Bird to conduct royal portrait studies aboard the royal yacht. On Bird's death in 1819 Cumberland successfully petitioned the Royal Academy to provide a pension for Bird's widow.
Cumberland helped many of the Bristol artists through recommendations and introductions to his influential friends. In 1820 when Francis Danby exhibited The Upas Tree of Java at the British Institution
British Institution
The British Institution was a private 19th-century society in London formed to exhibit the works of living and dead artists; it was also known as the Pall Mall Picture Galleries or the British Gallery...
, Cumberland exerted his influence to promote its favourable reception. In 1822 when Danby, Branwhite
Nathan Cooper Branwhite
-External links:*...
and Johnson
James Johnson (artist)
-External links:* *...
were about to visit London, Cumberland ensured that Thomas Lawrence
Thomas Lawrence
Thomas Lawrence may refer to:*Sir Thomas Lawrence, British artist, President of Royal Academy*Thomas Lawrence , mayor of colonial Philadelphia*T. E. Lawrence, "Lawrence of Arabia"*Thomas Lawrence , U.S. politician...
, Thomas Stothard and others were alerted.
There is evidence from their correspondence that Cumberland often suggested subjects for Danby to paint. It has been suggested that the influence of Blake may also have been transmitted to Danby. Danby's second exhibited painting was Disappointed Love, shown at the Royal Academy in 1821. Its subject is reminiscent of Blake's Songs of Innocence and of Experience
Songs of Innocence and of Experience
Songs of Innocence and of Experience is an illustrated collection of poems by William Blake. It appeared in two phases. A few first copies were printed and illuminated by William Blake himself in 1789; five years later he bound these poems with a set of new poems in a volume titled Songs of...
, while the work's neoclassical
Neoclassicism
Neoclassicism is the name given to Western movements in the decorative and visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture that draw inspiration from the "classical" art and culture of Ancient Greece or Ancient Rome...
figure of a girl evokes Cumberland's Thoughts on Outline. A later watercolour, A Scene from "A Midsummer Night's Dream" (1832) is very reminiscent of Blake's illustrations for The Book of Thel
The Book of Thel
The Book of Thel is a poem by William Blake, dated 1789 and probably worked on in the period 1788 to 1790.It is illustrated by his own plates, and is relatively short and easy to understand, compared to his later prophetic books. The metre is a fourteen-syllable line. It was preceded by Tiriel,...
.
Cumberland had been the recipient from Blake of one of the 16 early copies of The Book of Thel and one of For Children: The Gates of Paradise, only five of which now survive. He also had copies of America a Prophecy
America a Prophecy
America a Prophecy is a 1793 prophetic book by English poet and illustrator William Blake. It is engraved on eighteen plates, and survives in fourteen known copies. It is the first of Blake's Continental prophecies.-Background:...
, Europe a Prophecy
Europe a Prophecy
Europe a Prophecy is a 1794 prophetic book by English poet and illustrator William Blake. It is engraved on 18 plates, and survives in just nine known copies. It followed America a Prophecy of 1793.-Background:...
, The Song of Los
The Song of Los
The Song of Los is one of William Blake's epic poems, known as prophetic books. The poem consists of two sections, "Africa" and "Asia". In the first section Blake catalogues the decline of morality in Europe, which he blames on both the African slave trade and enlightenment philosophers...
, Visions of the Daughters of Albion
Visions of the Daughters of Albion
Visions of the Daughters of Albion is a 1793 poem by William Blake, produced as a book with his own illustrations. It is a short and early example of his prophetic books, and a sequel of sorts to The Book of Thel....
and Songs of Innocence and of Experience.
Blake died in 1827. The last engraving
Engraving
Engraving is the practice of incising a design on to a hard, usually flat surface, by cutting grooves into it. The result may be a decorated object in itself, as when silver, gold, steel, or glass are engraved, or may provide an intaglio printing plate, of copper or another metal, for printing...
that Blake made was a visiting card
Visiting card
A visiting card, also known as a calling card, is a small paper card with one's name printed on it. They first appeared in China in the 15th century, and in Europe in the 17th century...
for Cumberland, who had sent the plate to Blake for him to decorate. Blake did so by surrounding Cumberland's name with figures intended to represent the Season
Season
A season is a division of the year, marked by changes in weather, ecology, and hours of daylight.Seasons result from the yearly revolution of the Earth around the Sun and the tilt of the Earth's axis relative to the plane of revolution...
s, including children hoop rolling
Hoop rolling
Hoop rolling, also called hoop trundling, is both a sport and a child's game in which a large hoop is rolled along the ground, generally by means of an implement wielded by the player. The aim of the game is to keep the hoop upright for long periods of time or to do various tricks.Hoop rolling has...
and flying kite
Kite
A kite is a tethered aircraft. The necessary lift that makes the kite wing fly is generated when air flows over and under the kite's wing, producing low pressure above the wing and high pressure below it. This deflection also generates horizontal drag along the direction of the wind...
s.
Final years
Cumberland was also a collector of fossilFossil
Fossils are the preserved remains or traces of animals , plants, and other organisms from the remote past...
s and from 1810 was an honorary member of the Geological Society
Geological Society of London
The Geological Society of London is a learned society based in the United Kingdom with the aim of "investigating the mineral structure of the Earth"...
. In 1826 he published Reliquiae conservatae, a study of some fossil encrinites
Crinoid
Crinoids are marine animals that make up the class Crinoidea of the echinoderms . Crinoidea comes from the Greek word krinon, "a lily", and eidos, "form". They live both in shallow water and in depths as great as 6,000 meters. Sea lilies refer to the crinoids which, in their adult form, are...
.
In 1827 he published Essay on the Utility of Collecting the Best Works of the Ancient Engravers of the Italian School, which catalogued his collection of prints. He presented his collections to the Royal Academy and the British Museum
British Museum
The British Museum is a museum of human history and culture in London. Its collections, which number more than seven million objects, are amongst the largest and most comprehensive in the world and originate from all continents, illustrating and documenting the story of human culture from its...
.
Cumberland's wife Elizabeth died on 2 February 1837. He died on 8 August 1848 in Bristol and was buried at St Augustine the Less Church
St Augustine the Less Church, Bristol
St Augustine the Less was a Church of England parish church in Bristol, England, first attested in 1240, rebuilt in 1480, damaged in 1940 by fire, and demolished in 1962...
; his tombstone is now in the churchyard of St George's Church, Brandon Hill
St George's Church, Brandon Hill
St George's is a church in the Clifton area of Bristol, England.It was built between 1821 and 1823 by Sir Robert Smirke in a Greek Revival style...
. They had two sons, George and Sydney, and two daughters, Eliza and Lavinia.