{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O1256714"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1256714/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2018LG8306/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2018LG8306/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"low","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2018LG8306","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":null},"record":{"systemNumber":"O1256714","accessionNumber":"AR.14:27-1983","objectType":"Photograph","titles":[{"title":"View of Esthwaite Water","type":"generic title"}],"summaryDescription":"Rupert Potter (1832-1914), father of the children's writer and illustrator Beatrix Potter (1866-1943), took up  photography in the 1860s when it was still a relatively new art form.  An enthusiastic and skilled amateur, he  was elected to the Photographic Society of London in 1869 and later contributed to photographic exhibitions.   Rupert assisted the artist Sir John Everett Millais (1829-1896), a close friend, by photographing backgrounds  for paintings and sitters for portraits. His favourite subject, however, was Beatrix herself and his prolific legacy  of several hundred photographs forms a broad pictorial account of her life from infancy to marriage.\r\n\r\nRupert was also a skilled landscape photographer.  During the Potter family's extended summer holidays to   the countryside it was Beatrix's delight to accompany her father on photographic expeditions. He  photographed in particular the countryside around Eastwood in Dunkeld, Wray Castle near Ambleside,  Lingholm on the edge of Derwentwater and Tenby in Pembrokeshire. This photograph depicts a view of Esthwaite Water, taken while the Potter family stayed at Eeswyke, a house in Near Sawrey rented often by the Potter family for summer vacations in the Lake District.   The house was formerly known as Lakefield during the Potters' time and was built as a Lake District retreat for   a Lancashire mill owner in 1742; it is now a hotel.\r\n\r\nExcited by the possibilities of the new art form, Beatrix too became an avid photographer, inheriting one of her  father’s old cameras, 'a most inconveniently heavy article which he refuses to use, and which has been   breaking my back since I took to that profession.' (Journal, Friday 19th April 1895).  Beatrix went on to employ  photography in the service of her own art and, like Millais, she photographed details, particularly in the Lake  District landscapes, that she later incorporated in her imaginative book illustrations.","physicalDescription":"View of a lake with trees and hills on the background.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Rupert Potter","id":"A19569"},"association":{"text":"photographer","id":"x43821"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"photographic paper","id":"AAT14190"}],"techniques":[{"text":"albumen process","id":"AAT133274"},{"text":"photography","id":"AAT54225"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Albumen print on paper","categories":[{"text":"Landscapes","id":"THES250800"},{"text":"Photographs","id":"THES48910"},{"text":"Tourism & Travel","id":"THES250702"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"PDP","id":"THES48595"},"images":["2018LG8306"],"imageResolution":"low","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"002","id":"THES317922"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"photograph","id":"AAT46300"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Esthwaite Water","id":"x45929"},"association":{"text":"photographed","id":"x30151"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"16 August 1900","earliest":"1900-08-16","latest":"1900-08-16"},"association":{"text":"photographed","id":"x30151"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Given by Joan Duke.","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"164","unit":"mm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"216","unit":"mm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"'Esthwaite'","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":"Pencil inscription by Joan Duke on verso."},{"content":"'Aug 16 1900'","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":"Pencil inscription by Rupert Potter on verso."}],"objectHistory":"Photographed by Rupert Potter on 16 August 1900.  Photograph given to the Museum by Joan Duke in 1983.","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"View of Esthwaite Water, Cumbria; albumen print by Rupert Potter, 16 August 1900.","bibliographicReferences":[],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[{"text":"Esthwaite Water","id":"x45929"}],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[{"text":"lakes","id":"AAT8680"},{"text":"hills","id":"AAT8777"},{"text":"views","id":"AAT15424"},{"text":"landscapes","id":"x31544"},{"text":"farm buildings","id":"AAT4961"}],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["AR.14:27-1983"],"accessionNumberNum":"14","accessionNumberPrefix":"AR","accessionYear":1983,"otherNumbers":[{"type":{"text":"V&A Archive number","id":"THES54576"},"number":"AAD/1983/14/27"}],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2026-03-10","recordCreationDate":"2012-10-24","availableToBook":true}}