Peter Perez Burdett
Encyclopedia
Peter Perez Burdett was an 18th century cartographer, surveyor
, artist
, and draughtsman
originally from Eastwood
in Essex where he inherited a small estate and the name Perez from his maternal grandfather who was the clergyman there.
He would have been notable just for his many appearances in Joseph Wright's pictures but he was also involved with numerous projects including surveying the route for one of the major projects of the industrial revolution, the Leeds and Liverpool Canal
, in 1769. He has been described as "if not in the centre at least in the penumbra of the Lunar Society
of Birmingham".
He spent the last years of his life in Karlsruhe
, avoiding debtors, but still active in German society. His German daughter married a Count.
in Essex, the son of William and Elizabeth Burdett. He inherited a small estate and the name Perez from his maternal grandfather who was the clergyman in Eastwood. Little is known about his early life until
Burdett met Joseph Wright of Derby
early in the 1760s and he was able to borrow money from him to fund his map making. Burdett was a model for several of Wright's paintings and he was able to benefit from his friendship and finance whilst Burdett explained the finer points of perspective to Wright.
In about 1766 Wright painted A Philosopher Giving that Lecture on the Orrery, in which a Lamp is put in place of the Sun
(sometimes called simply The Orrery). The painting depicts a public lecture about the solar system, with a lamp—in place of the sun—illuminating the faces of the orrery and the faces of the audience. Consistent with the astronomical theme, the partially illuminated faces may represent the phases of the moon
. The figure to the left of the philosopher has been clearly identified as Burdett whilst the man to the right is thought to be Washington Shirley, the Earl of Ferrers
who Burdett stayed with at Staunton Harold
which is just within Leicestershire. The Earl was, like Burdett, interested in science and he did briefly own this painting.
By 1767 he had produced a map of Derby
at a scale of one inch to one mile. With this map Burdett was the second successful claimant of a 1759 challenge made by the Society of Art for those who created county maps at this scale. He produced the aquatint Two Boys Blowing a Bladder by Candle-light.
Burdett was so successful at identifying and exploiting his new contacts that he invited his friend, Wright, to join him in Liverpool. This was a successful move for Wright too and he quickly received commissions from the local gentry and merchants, however it was Burdett who founded a Society of Artists in 1769 in Liverpool and became its first president. Academy by Lamplight, a 1768-69 painting by Joseph Wright of Derby is thought to be of Burdett's academy.
The first British aquatint artist is thought to be Burdett, who exhibited these first aquatints in 1772. Burdett brushed acid direct on to an aquatint ground, only using varnish to stop-off large areas of a single tone. His technique appears to have been novel and was different from early methods developed in France. Burdett published a first aquatint based on an image by John Hamilton Mortimer
, but he eventually sold the process to another cartographer, Paul Sandby
. Burdett also developed a process for transferring aquatint
to pottery; it was not a success.
Burdett learnt his aquatint technique from J.B. Le Prince of Paris. He showed two plates at the Society of Arts Exhibition of 1772, An Etching in imitation of a Wash Drawing and An Etching from a design of Mr. Mortimer. In 1773 he exhibited a plate entitled The effect of a stained drawing attempted by printing from a plate wrought chemically, without the use of any instrument of sculpture. There are extant three known images by Burdett, Banditti Terrifying Fishermen of 1771 and Skeleton on a Rocky Shore, both after the painter J.H. Mortimer, and Two Boys Blowing a Bladder by Candle-light after Wright of Derby. A copy of the latter in Liverpool Public Library bears on its back the inscription “First Speciman of aquatinta invented in Liverpool by P.P. Burdett, 1774, assisted by Mr. S. Chubbard.”
The artist Paul Sandby learnt the basic techniques of aquatint from the Hon. Charles Greville, who himself had purchased the knowledge either from Burdett or from Le Prince. It appears that Greville had received incomplete information, and Sandby found it difficult to produce a plate by Le Prince's method of sifting the rosin over the surface. He discovered that by dissolving the rosin and floating it on the copper a better effect was obtained.
Benjamin Franklin wrote to Burdett on the 21st August 1773 “I should be glad to be inform’d where I can see some example of the new Art you mention of printing in Imitation of Paintings. It must be a most valuable Discovery: but more likely to meet with adequate Encouragement on this side the water than on ours.”
In 1771 he produced 'A Chart for the Harbour of Liverpool’. and in 1772 Survey of the County Palatine of Chester.
in Prague
. It recently returned for an exhibition in Liverpool. This was the second time the work has been seen in the United Kingdom since it left with Burdett on his departure from Liverpool in the eighteenth century.
He did not leave his friends entirely and Joseph Wright visited him in 1774 in south Germany. He married again to Friederike Kotkowski in Germany in 11 July 1787 and he had a daughter Anna, who went on to marry a Count. In the same year he was drawing up plans for Karlsruhe marketplace whose outline can still be seen in the layout of today's buildings.
Burdett died in Karlsruhe on 9 September 1793.
He was a correspondent of Benjamin Franklin
who was a founder member of the Lunar society of Birmingham which included such figures as Erasmus Darwin
, John Whitehurst
, Matthew Boulton
, Joseph Priestley
, Josiah Wedgwood
and James Watt
. Burdett has been described as "if not in the centre at least in the penumbra of the Lunar Society
of Birmingham".
Surveying
See Also: Public Land Survey SystemSurveying or land surveying is the technique, profession, and science of accurately determining the terrestrial or three-dimensional position of points and the distances and angles between them...
, artist
Artist
An artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a practitioner in the visual arts only...
, and draughtsman
Technical drawing
Technical drawing, also known as drafting or draughting, is the act and discipline of composing plans that visually communicate how something functions or has to be constructed.Drafting is the language of industry....
originally from Eastwood
Eastwood, Essex
Eastwood is a town four miles west of Southend-on-Sea in Essex, England. It is a suburb of Southend and part of the Southend-on-Sea unitary district. Eastwood is sometimes called Eastwood Park, such as for local elections....
in Essex where he inherited a small estate and the name Perez from his maternal grandfather who was the clergyman there.
He would have been notable just for his many appearances in Joseph Wright's pictures but he was also involved with numerous projects including surveying the route for one of the major projects of the industrial revolution, the Leeds and Liverpool Canal
Leeds and Liverpool Canal
The Leeds and Liverpool Canal is a canal in Northern England, linking the cities of Leeds and Liverpool. Over a distance of , it crosses the Pennines, and includes 91 locks on the main line...
, in 1769. He has been described as "if not in the centre at least in the penumbra of the Lunar Society
Lunar Society
The Lunar Society of Birmingham was a dinner club and informal learned society of prominent figures in the Midlands Enlightenment, including industrialists, natural philosophers and intellectuals, who met regularly between 1765 and 1813 in Birmingham, England. At first called the Lunar Circle,...
of Birmingham".
He spent the last years of his life in Karlsruhe
Karlsruhe
The City of Karlsruhe is a city in the southwest of Germany, in the state of Baden-Württemberg, located near the French-German border.Karlsruhe was founded in 1715 as Karlsruhe Palace, when Germany was a series of principalities and city states...
, avoiding debtors, but still active in German society. His German daughter married a Count.
Biography
Burdett was born 1734 or 1735 in EastwoodEastwood, Essex
Eastwood is a town four miles west of Southend-on-Sea in Essex, England. It is a suburb of Southend and part of the Southend-on-Sea unitary district. Eastwood is sometimes called Eastwood Park, such as for local elections....
in Essex, the son of William and Elizabeth Burdett. He inherited a small estate and the name Perez from his maternal grandfather who was the clergyman in Eastwood. Little is known about his early life until
Burdett met Joseph Wright of Derby
Joseph Wright of Derby
Joseph Wright , styled Wright of Derby, was an English landscape and portrait painter. He has been acclaimed as "the first professional painter to express the spirit of the Industrial Revolution"....
early in the 1760s and he was able to borrow money from him to fund his map making. Burdett was a model for several of Wright's paintings and he was able to benefit from his friendship and finance whilst Burdett explained the finer points of perspective to Wright.
In about 1766 Wright painted A Philosopher Giving that Lecture on the Orrery, in which a Lamp is put in place of the Sun
A Philosopher Lecturing on the Orrery
A Philosopher Lecturing on the Orrery, or the full title, A Philosopher giving a Lecture on the Orrery in which a lamp is put in place of the Sun, is a painting by Joseph Wright of Derby depicting a lecturer giving a demonstration of an orrery to a small audience...
(sometimes called simply The Orrery). The painting depicts a public lecture about the solar system, with a lamp—in place of the sun—illuminating the faces of the orrery and the faces of the audience. Consistent with the astronomical theme, the partially illuminated faces may represent the phases of the moon
Moon
The Moon is Earth's only known natural satellite,There are a number of near-Earth asteroids including 3753 Cruithne that are co-orbital with Earth: their orbits bring them close to Earth for periods of time but then alter in the long term . These are quasi-satellites and not true moons. For more...
. The figure to the left of the philosopher has been clearly identified as Burdett whilst the man to the right is thought to be Washington Shirley, the Earl of Ferrers
Washington Shirley, 5th Earl Ferrers
Vice Admiral Washington Shirley, 5th Earl Ferrers, FRS was a British Royal Navy officer, peer, freemason and amateur astronomer.-Biography:...
who Burdett stayed with at Staunton Harold
Staunton Harold
Staunton Harold is a civil parish in North West Leicestershire about north of Ashby-de-la-Zouch. The parish is on the county boundary with Derbyshire and about south of Derby....
which is just within Leicestershire. The Earl was, like Burdett, interested in science and he did briefly own this painting.
By 1767 he had produced a map of Derby
Derby
Derby , is a city and unitary authority in the East Midlands region of England. It lies upon the banks of the River Derwent and is located in the south of the ceremonial county of Derbyshire. In the 2001 census, the population of the city was 233,700, whilst that of the Derby Urban Area was 229,407...
at a scale of one inch to one mile. With this map Burdett was the second successful claimant of a 1759 challenge made by the Society of Art for those who created county maps at this scale. He produced the aquatint Two Boys Blowing a Bladder by Candle-light.
Liverpool
In 1768, Burdett moved from Derby to Liverpool to create a map for Lancashire as he had successfully done for Derbyshire. He obtained new patrons and assisted George Perry on his map and history of Liverpool. Burdett created drawings and wrote descriptions of major buildings for Perry's history of 1773.Burdett was so successful at identifying and exploiting his new contacts that he invited his friend, Wright, to join him in Liverpool. This was a successful move for Wright too and he quickly received commissions from the local gentry and merchants, however it was Burdett who founded a Society of Artists in 1769 in Liverpool and became its first president. Academy by Lamplight, a 1768-69 painting by Joseph Wright of Derby is thought to be of Burdett's academy.
John Hamilton Mortimer
John Hamilton Mortimer was a British Neoclassical painter known primarily for his romantic paintings and pieces set in Italy and its countryside, various other works depicting conversations between people, and works drawn in the 1770s portraying war scenes, very similar to those of Salvator Rosa...
, but he eventually sold the process to another cartographer, Paul Sandby
Paul Sandby
Paul Sandby was an English map-maker turned landscape painter in watercolours, who, along with his older brother Thomas, became one of the founding members of the Royal Academy in 1768.-Life and work:...
. Burdett also developed a process for transferring aquatint
Aquatint
Aquatint is an intaglio printmaking technique, a variant of etching.Intaglio printmaking makes marks on the matrix that are capable of holding ink. The inked plate is passed through a printing press together with a sheet of paper, resulting in a transfer of the ink to the paper...
to pottery; it was not a success.
Burdett learnt his aquatint technique from J.B. Le Prince of Paris. He showed two plates at the Society of Arts Exhibition of 1772, An Etching in imitation of a Wash Drawing and An Etching from a design of Mr. Mortimer. In 1773 he exhibited a plate entitled The effect of a stained drawing attempted by printing from a plate wrought chemically, without the use of any instrument of sculpture. There are extant three known images by Burdett, Banditti Terrifying Fishermen of 1771 and Skeleton on a Rocky Shore, both after the painter J.H. Mortimer, and Two Boys Blowing a Bladder by Candle-light after Wright of Derby. A copy of the latter in Liverpool Public Library bears on its back the inscription “First Speciman of aquatinta invented in Liverpool by P.P. Burdett, 1774, assisted by Mr. S. Chubbard.”
The artist Paul Sandby learnt the basic techniques of aquatint from the Hon. Charles Greville, who himself had purchased the knowledge either from Burdett or from Le Prince. It appears that Greville had received incomplete information, and Sandby found it difficult to produce a plate by Le Prince's method of sifting the rosin over the surface. He discovered that by dissolving the rosin and floating it on the copper a better effect was obtained.
Benjamin Franklin wrote to Burdett on the 21st August 1773 “I should be glad to be inform’d where I can see some example of the new Art you mention of printing in Imitation of Paintings. It must be a most valuable Discovery: but more likely to meet with adequate Encouragement on this side the water than on ours.”
In 1771 he produced 'A Chart for the Harbour of Liverpool’. and in 1772 Survey of the County Palatine of Chester.
Karlsruhe
In 1774 he left Liverpool, to escape debt, and entered the service of Charles Frederick, Grand Duke of Baden. Intriguingly he took with him the painting of himself and his wife, but left his wife to face his debtors. The painting of Burdett and his wife is now in the National GalleryNational Gallery in Prague
The National Gallery in Prague is a state-owned art gallery in Prague, Czech Republic. It is housed in different locations within the city, the largest being the Veletržní Palác....
in Prague
Prague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
. It recently returned for an exhibition in Liverpool. This was the second time the work has been seen in the United Kingdom since it left with Burdett on his departure from Liverpool in the eighteenth century.
He did not leave his friends entirely and Joseph Wright visited him in 1774 in south Germany. He married again to Friederike Kotkowski in Germany in 11 July 1787 and he had a daughter Anna, who went on to marry a Count. In the same year he was drawing up plans for Karlsruhe marketplace whose outline can still be seen in the layout of today's buildings.
Burdett died in Karlsruhe on 9 September 1793.
He was a correspondent of Benjamin Franklin
Benjamin Franklin
Dr. Benjamin Franklin was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. A noted polymath, Franklin was a leading author, printer, political theorist, politician, postmaster, scientist, musician, inventor, satirist, civic activist, statesman, and diplomat...
who was a founder member of the Lunar society of Birmingham which included such figures as Erasmus Darwin
Erasmus Darwin
Erasmus Darwin was an English physician who turned down George III's invitation to be a physician to the King. One of the key thinkers of the Midlands Enlightenment, he was also a natural philosopher, physiologist, slave trade abolitionist,inventor and poet...
, John Whitehurst
John Whitehurst
John Whitehurst FRS , of Cheshire, England, was a clockmaker and scientist, and made significant early contributions to geology. He was an influential member of the Lunar Society.- Life and work :...
, Matthew Boulton
Matthew Boulton
Matthew Boulton, FRS was an English manufacturer and business partner of Scottish engineer James Watt. In the final quarter of the 18th century the partnership installed hundreds of Boulton & Watt steam engines, which were a great advance on the state of the art, making possible the...
, Joseph Priestley
Joseph Priestley
Joseph Priestley, FRS was an 18th-century English theologian, Dissenting clergyman, natural philosopher, chemist, educator, and political theorist who published over 150 works...
, Josiah Wedgwood
Josiah Wedgwood
Josiah Wedgwood was an English potter, founder of the Wedgwood company, credited with the industrialization of the manufacture of pottery. A prominent abolitionist, Wedgwood is remembered for his "Am I Not A Man And A Brother?" anti-slavery medallion. He was a member of the Darwin–Wedgwood family...
and James Watt
James Watt
James Watt, FRS, FRSE was a Scottish inventor and mechanical engineer whose improvements to the Newcomen steam engine were fundamental to the changes brought by the Industrial Revolution in both his native Great Britain and the rest of the world.While working as an instrument maker at the...
. Burdett has been described as "if not in the centre at least in the penumbra of the Lunar Society
Lunar Society
The Lunar Society of Birmingham was a dinner club and informal learned society of prominent figures in the Midlands Enlightenment, including industrialists, natural philosophers and intellectuals, who met regularly between 1765 and 1813 in Birmingham, England. At first called the Lunar Circle,...
of Birmingham".
Major works
- DerbyshireDerbyshireDerbyshire is a county in the East Midlands of England. A substantial portion of the Peak District National Park lies within Derbyshire. The northern part of Derbyshire overlaps with the Pennines, a famous chain of hills and mountains. The county contains within its boundary of approx...
map surveyed and produced by Peter Perez Burdett (1762–1767) - Two Boys Blowing a Bladder by Candle-light. An aquatint after Joseph Wright of DerbyJoseph Wright of DerbyJoseph Wright , styled Wright of Derby, was an English landscape and portrait painter. He has been acclaimed as "the first professional painter to express the spirit of the Industrial Revolution"....