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Draft:John Cranch (English painter, 1751-1821)

For other people with the same name, see John Cranch.

John Cranch (1751–1821), painter, attorney and antiquarian, was born in Kingsbridge, Devonshire on 12th October 1751.

Biography^1,2,3

John Cranch
John Cranch aged 45. Engraving by John Thomas Smith
Born	Kingsbridge, Devon, 1751
Died	1821 Bath, Somerset
Education	No formal schooling. Self taught.
Occupation(s)	Attorney, Artist, Antiquarian

John Cranch was the seventh of nine children of a saddler, Joseph Cranch, and his wife Elizabeth. He received no formal education beyond learning to read and write and started work aged 10. However, his natural talents for writing, drawing and music, were recognised from early in his life. When he left home at age 20 to work in Axminster, Devonshire, he was already widely read. Initially a clerk to the landowning Petre family, he quickly found more congenial employment with a lawyer, Simon Bunter, with whom he served a five-year apprenticeship to become an enrolled attorney. He worked as a lawyer in Axminster until an acquisition of capital enabled him to go and live in London in 1787 and pursue his wide-ranging cultural interests. Neither the source nor the amount of these funds is known with certainty although in a letter written at the time he described his great friend Eliza Feilder as his 'beloved benefactress'. His relationship with her was the most important in his life although they never married. Cranch lived mainly in London until 1810 after which he resided in Bath, Somerset for the rest of his life.

Relations with America¹

Although he never visited the US, John Cranch supported the cause of independence and was related to several individuals prominent in the early days of the republic. Among those with whom he corresponded and/or met were:

Joseph Palmer (American Revolutionary War general and John Cranch's uncle by marriage to his Aunt Mary).

John Adams (2nd president of the United States and the brother in law of John Cranch's Uncle Richard). When the Adams family visited Devonshire in 1787, John Cranch accompanied them.

William Cranch (John Cranch's 1st cousin and the son of his Uncle Richard), Chief Judge of the U.S. Circuit Court of the District of Columbia.

William Cranch Bond (John Cranch's nephew and the son of his sister, Hannah),  Founder of U.S. academic astronomy and first Director of the Harvard Observatory.

As a result of interactions with these and other American acquaintances John Cranch was elected to membership of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1797 and the American Antiquarian Society in 1818.

The Painter

John Cranch - Plasterer - Google Art Project

Cranch taught himself to paint in oils. He was a passionate advocate of naturalism in art and became best known for paintings depicting scenes of everyday life. He himself compared his work to Dutch painting e.g. that of David Teniers the Younger. In Britain at the time this style was not fashionable, scenes from mythology and religion being preferred by the Royal Academy of Arts. However, at the beginning of the 19th century, the foundation of the British Institution marked some shift in taste and Cranch exhibited successfully there in 1808. In modern times increasing recognition of his originality has led to acquisition by major collections of Cranch's paintings, including the Tate Gallery, the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Louvre and the Yale Center for British Art. Provincial British galleries holding his work include those of Exeter, Bristol and Aberdeen. Surviving documents reveal Cranch to have been an early mentor of John Constable, some of whose painting techniques continued to show evidence of their acquaintance⁴. An annotated list of suggested reading about art by Cranch was retained by Constable who acquired all the volumes mentioned. Cranch's notes criticised the hierarchy attached to the various genres of paintings at the time and is believed to have influenced Constable's determination to persist with landscape painting even though it led to little public recognition during most of his career⁵.

Much of Cranch's output appears to be lost including two paintings noted during his lifetime: The Burning of the Albion Mill was hung at the Society of Artists of Great Britain in 1791, while his Death of Chatterton was described in considerable detail in Remarks on Rural Scenery by John Thomas Smith, published in 1797⁶.

The Antiquary¹

Frontispiece drawn by John Cranch for his thesis on Roman remains in Bath presented to the American Antiquarian Society in 1818

Cranch was a life-long, passionate antiquarian involved in numerous investigations. Two of the most notable are mentioned here:

A putative head of Oliver Cromwell was exhibited in Bond Street, London, in 1799 and to accompany this Cranch researched its provenance as far as possible and wrote a pamphlet about it. Much of his effort was concentrated on the chain of custody after the head blew down from Westminster Hall where it had been displayed after the restoration of Charles II.

The relic continued to attract interest well into the 20th century and is now interred in the chapel of Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge. As other contending relics have been discounted and further research done, Cranch's near certainty as to its genuineness remains valid.

After Cranch moved to Bath he became aware that, as well as monumental survivals from the Roman period, there were numerous buried domestic remains, such as pottery, mosaics and coins, which were being revealed during excavations of foundations for new buildings. He set about collecting as many as he could. In this way he became a pioneer of what would now be termed 'rescue archaeology'. His collection formed the basis of the first museum dedicated to the Romans in Bath.

Publications Of John Cranch

• Cranch, John (1794), The Œconomy of Testaments; or, Reflections on the mischievous consequences generally arising from the usual dispositions of property by will. Published with a Preface by William Langworthy of the Honourable Society of the Inner Temple. Printed by J. Johnson, Bath.
• Cranch, John (1799) Narrative relating to the real embalmed head of Oliver Cromwell, now exhibiting in Mead-Court, in Old Bond-Street.
• Cranch, John (1811) Inducements to promote the Fine Arts of Great Britain by exciting Native Genius to independent Effort and original Designations. Printed by the Crockers, Frome.
• Cranch, John (1820) A Brief Inquiry Concerning Pen Pits in which the Origin and Purpose of those Extraordinary Excavations are Attempted to be Explained and Accounted For. Printed by the Crockers, Frome.

References

1. Lamble, John W. (2019) John Cranch: Uncommon Genius, The Wolborough Press, Cambridge ISBN 9781916144507
2. Wilson, Arnold (1972) Eccentric Painter of the Rustic Genre, Country Life vol. 152 (issue No. 3929) pp. 906–908, IPC Magazines, London.
3. Stephen, Leslie, ed. (1888), Cranch, John, Dictionary of National Biography, 13, Smith, Elder & Co., London
4. Parris, Leslie et al. eds (1975), John Constable: Further Documents & Correspondence, pp. 199–202, The Tate Gallery, London and the Suffolk Records Society, Ipswich. ISBN 0900874945
5. Various authors (1991) From Gainsborough to Constable, The emergence of naturalism in British landscape painting 1750-1810, pp. 13 and 42, The Boydell Press, Woodbridge ISBN 0851153003
6. Smith, John Thomas (1797), Remarks on rural scenery : with twenty etchings of cottages, from nature : and some observations and precepts relative to the picturesque, published by Nathaniel Smith and JT Smith, London