Manuscript Travel Journal, "Journal in France, & Belgium and on the Rhine."
Manuscript Travel Diary of a Young Female Artist
[Travel]. Gordon, Julia Emily. Journal in France, Belgium, and on the Rhine. April, May, June 1833.
12mo.; full contemporary suede; marbled endpapers; bookplate affixed to the front pastedown (“J.E. Gordon”); identical bookplate with clipped corners mounted on the front cover; all edges marbled.; rear hinge cracked. In a specially made cloth slipcase.
A manuscript travel diary kept by artist Julia Emily Gordon, during a three-month European tour with her family. 120 pages, with dates listed in the left-hand margins and entries varying in length from a few lines of text to multiple pages. With a number of interesting items laid in at the front and rear, including a list of Parisian vendors (booksellers, shoemakers) and their addresses, eight measures of music labeled “Hymn to the Virgin, sung at the English Convent at Bruges, 2 June 1833,” and a sheet listing train ticket costs to various hotels and spas in France pasted over the rear endpapers. “France, Belgium the Rhine Journal 1833” is inscribed in red ink on the front cover in Julia’s hand, and “J.E.G. 1833” is imprinted on rear cover.
Julia was accompanied on the trip by her parents, brother Henry Percy, and Orlando Felix (1790-1860), a Major General and Egyptologist, referred to in the diary as “Major Felix” and “MF.” When the Gordons visited the battlefield at Waterloo, Major Felix, who fought there, gave them a personalized tour, which Julia describes in detail.
The journal contains Julia’s impressions of the landscape and notes on the works of art and architecture that she viewed on the trip. The Gordons, who were serious art patrons, visited a number of private and public art collections in each country. In the entry dated April 30, Julia lists her favorite sculptures in the Louvre, which include the Venus de Milo (which had only been recently acquired by the museum) and several other ancient Greek and Roman statues. The family was also socially well-connected, and dined regularly with high-ranking government officials, including the British Ambassador, and even royalty. In an entry dated April 21, Julia records an especially remarkable Sunday evening spent in the company of the French royal family: “My mother and I were presented to and sat with the Queen in the Palace of the Tuileries by the Ladies of the Court.”
The Gordons made stops in Cologne, Antwerp, Bruges, and many other major cities. However, the highlight of the trip for Julia seems to have been the family’s ascent up the Rhine, which began on May 20th. Devoting over a dozen pages to the three-day steamboat ride, Julia vividly describes mountains and castle ruins, including historical anecdotes about the region as well.
Six paintings by Julia Emily Gordon (1810-1896) are in the permanent collection at the Tate Gallery in London. Her father, Sir James Willoughby Gordon, was a decorated military General who rose to fame during the Peninsular Wars. Her mother, Lady Gordon, was an amateur artist like her daughter and studied under J.M.W. Turner. Julia never married, though the portrait artist David Wilkie asked for her hand and was refused in 1834. Wilkie proposed to Julia after she sat for him for a series of portraits, but her father disapproved of the match. In addition to her art, Julia is also remembered for reportedly sitting on the Duke of Wellington’s knee at Brussels on the eve of the Battle of Waterloo.
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