10th May 1947 SA

The Wyatt Family: Architects, Sculptors and Painters

By REGINALD G. HAGGAR,

A.R.C.A., F.R.S.A., H.R.D.

President of the Society of Staffordshire Artists

One of the pleasures of exploring the byways of local history is the discovery of unexpected families which in some strange and inexplicable way have exerted an influence, profound and subtle, and out of all proportion to the immediate impact of the lives of individual members, upon the history and fortunes of their immediate circle.

If any family demonstrates the transmissibility of “genius,” the Wyatt family does, and if “genius” is too bold a word, we may transpose it for “ability” or “talent” or whatever we will, but whatever term we decide to use, we shall find similar characteristics, outcropping as it were, in succeeding generations. The Wyatts were an artistic family, and their chosen fields of expression were architecture and sculpture. No doubt the outstanding successes of the family helped on the others. Several earned the favour of princes; two enjoyed great eminence in their professions. James Wyatt became the recognised authority on Gothic architecture during the first romantic phase of the Gothic revival. His nephew, the absurdly named Wyatville, created the boldest and most solid example of Wardour Street Gothic when he renovated and re-modelled Windsor Castle. From the time when Benjamin Wyatt combined operations as timber merchant and architect, farmer and builder, there were no fewer than 13 exponents of architecture in the family circle. Others of this numerous and talented brood practised as sculptors. The equestrian statue of George III in Cockspur Street, London, is the chief [sic] d’oeuvre of one of them. Another served the cause of education in art and fostered the development of art in industry. Several were painters.

As builders and architects; as designers and carvers; as modellers and draughtsmen; as lecturers and writers these Wyatts made their impact upon their contemporaries. They helped to mould the nascent industrialised civilisation of the later Georges and early Victorian, and throughout the length and breadth of England we may discover evidences of their handiwork—in church and mansion, monument and memorial. Hereditary ability is obvious here, but they also made good use of their opportunities. Their fortunes, in at least one case, were favoured by judicious marriages—one wedded the sister of the President of the Royal Academy: and if they were dilatory in the execution of their contracts, as we suspect that one at least was, they managed to retain the interest of their patrons.

FAME OVERNIGHT

Curious that, with all this success, no member of the one-time celebrated family really lives in the popular memory. A discussion of the Gothic revival, except in specialist circles, would bring to mind not James Wyatt, but Augustus Welby Pugin and John Ruskin. Yet with what a flourish of trumpets the first work of James Wyatt was heralded! He had, through the influence of a well-connected acquaintance, found opportunity to travel and acquire knowledge; and perhaps again through influence been given at the age of 25 his commission to build the Pantheon in Oxford Street. It was opened in 1772 and young Wyatt’s fame was established overnight. Commissions poured in upon him. He had no principles or prejudices regarding style, and was equally at home in classic or Gothic. This is, perhaps, not strictly true, for his fantastic essays in Gothic have an air of the theatre about them—a sense of unsubstantiality which may account for the non-survival of his major creations. The Pantheon was destroyed by fire during his own life time, but only the ruins of the gimcrack Fonthill, sham abbey home of the author of “Vathek,” himself a curious and brilliant mind, remain to remind us of the mysterious grandeur of his design.

James Wyatt was the sixth son of the aforementioned farmer-architect, Benjamin Wyatt, and was born at Burton in Staffordshire in 1746. He journeyed to Italy, where he went to extraordinary lengths in his study of Italian architecture. Returning to London, after the first flush of his early success, he proceeded to an industrious and successful architectural career. Wyatt did not possess the scholarship of Pugin, nor did he equate Gothic architecture and ornament with religion as did Pugin years afterwards. James Wyatt was a romantic whose work in the Gothic style stands at the very heart of the Romantic revival. The tradition of Gothic, never wholly lost, was revived by Horace Walpole. Decked out with rococo fantasy at Strawberry hill, the revived tradition rises to maturation in Wyatt’s Fonthill Abbey. The influence of the Gothic romances from Walpole’s “Castle of Otranto” to Mrs. Radcliffe and “Monk” Lewis, was strongly felt in the architecture and painting of the period. For many people Gothic spelt romance and chivalry in an age which was bent upon the acquisition of hard cash and worldly success. It was an “escapist” form of architecture, if we may be allowed to use this rather overworked current expression.

LEGENDARY GLORY

The Plantagenet manor houses and sham castles were an attempt to recapture and re-live the glories of a past age. The grandest monument of this tradition, built in mysterious secrecy and at fabulous cost, crashed to the ground. The glory of Fonthill has departed, and only the shell of its former splendour remains as a reminder of the folly of human vanity. But Fonthill has taken on almost a legendary glory. Wyatt has more lasting claims upon our remembrance in his work in the classic idiom. More significant probably because more sincere are his works at Heveningham Hall, near Halesworth in Suffolk, at Dodington Park, Gloucestershire, and at Heaton Hall, now a branch museum of the Manchester City Art Gallery. Wyatt’s flare for theatrical effect made his essays in Gothic, such as Fonthill, Ashridge and Lee Priory, easy for him, but we can never be sure how deeply his heart was in Gothic art, although his brutally insensitive restorations of churches and cathedrals should give us a reasonable clue. Gilbert Scott was not more ruthless. On the other hand, his work in the classic idiom reveals an elegant and fastidious taste and a rare sense of style. His interiors and furnishings possess a personal quality in form and ornament. Such buildings as Heveningham establish a just claim upon our memory. Wyatt’s work at Fonthill did not escape criticism, even by his patron. Beckford said of him, “Wyatt had an opportunity of raising a splendid monument to his fame, but he missed it.” On another occasion, not without a touch of irony, he calls him the “Sublime Wyatt.” Although tremendously industrious Wyatt seems to have been incapable of that unflagging and an incessant energy which appears to have possessed other engaging and human qualities, if Farington’s diary is to be trusted. A blazing fire and a bottle by the hearthside were apparently welcome to him. So, too, was bed. The creator of the sham Gothic façade, the consummate and sophisticated classical artist was also a lover of domestic comfort.

Staffordshire will remember Wyatt for his restoration of Lichfield Cathedral. He was appointed in 1788, architect responsible for the seemly renovation of the fabric. Of his work upon the Cathedral, it will be kinder to pass over in silence. Sandon church also experienced his attention. His restorations earned for him the sobriquet “Wyatt the Destroyer.”

BUILT DRURY LANE THEATRE

Wyatt duly attained full academic rank. In 1813 he died and was buried in Westminster Abbey. Two of James Wyatt’s sons followed the same profession. Benjamin Dean Wyatt (1775-1850) built Drury Lane Theatre; and Philip Wyatt (died 1836) helped his brother in the alterations at Apsley House. Another son, Matthew Cotes Wyatt (1777-1862), a sculptor, was a favourite of the King and Queen. Before taking up sculpture he executed portraits and history pictures, which he exhibited at the Royal Academy. To follow this branch a little further, Matthew Cotes Wyatt has two sons, one of whom, Matthew, became a lieutenant in the Queen’s bodyguard, and was knighted; the other, James, assisted his father as a sculptor. William Lewis Wyatt, son of Benjamin Dean Wyatt, practised as an architect in Shropshire and Cheshire. James Wyatt, R.A., had several architect brothers, among whom were Samuel Wyatt (d. 1807), architect for Dodington Hall, Cheshire, and Trinity House on Tower Hill, London (destroyed in the blitz); and Joseph Wyatt. Joseph Wyatt was father of Sir Jeffrey Wyatville, R.A.

Jeffery Wyatt did for his own name what he did for that landmark in the history of the Kings of Britain, Windsor Castle, he falsified its appearance, but he was born a Wyatt at Burton-on-Trent in 1766. His great reputation was not built up upon the assumed name. In fact he remained Wyatt until the year he was elected a full Royal Academician. Like his uncle, James, Sir Jeffrey Wyatville pursued Gothic and Classic indifferently. He was a brilliant architectural draughtsman, and exhibited ambitious historical reconstructions such as “Priam’s Palace” and “The Burning of Troy.” His re-modelling of the face of Windsor Castle has a peculiar grandeur of silhouette, which is brought out clearly in the water-colours of the castle executed in 1941-32 for H.M. the Queen by John Piper. His extensive additions to Chatsworth House have completely altered the balance of that noble building. Wyatville again had a prodigious output of work. He was A.R.A. in 1882 [sic], R.A. in 1824, and in 1828 he was knighted. When he died in 1840 he was buried at Windsor.

Sir Jeffrey Wyatville’s son, George Geoffrey Wyatt, also exhibited at the Academy.

Another member of the family, Richard James Wyatt (1795-1850) was a sculptor. He was the son of a London carver and gilder. Edward Wyatt (1757-1833) and Anne Madox. After travelling abroad and studying in the studios of Bosio and Canova, he settled permanently in Rome.

ARCHITECTURAL DESCENDANTS

The foregoing Wyatts were descendants of Benjamin Wyatt, farmer and speculative builder. Benjamin Wyatt’s brother William, who was steward of Uxbridge, had several distinguished architectural descendants. Chief among them were Sir Digby Wyatt and Thomas Henry Wyatt. Both were the sons of Matthew Wyatt who had married Anne, sister of Sir Thomas Lawrence. Thomas Henry Wyatt (1807-1880) became a recognised expert upon the design and construction of hospitals. He made extensive additions to the Hospital for Consumptives, Brompton, and he built the Adelphi Theatre, London. From 1870—1873 he was president of the Royal Institute of British Architects. He was assisted by his son, Matthew.

Sir Matthew Digby Wyatt, his brother, was born near Devizes in 1820. He received a thorough training in his brother’s office and toured extensively in German, Italy and France. He combined scholarship with an extensive architectural practice. He was a voluminous writer on architecture and the arts. He espoused the cause of art in industry, was appointed (because of his administrative ability) secretary to the executive committee of the 1851 Exhibition, and became editor of “The Industrial Arts of the Nineteenth Century.” His flair for organisation brought him the secretaryship of the Royal Institute of British Architects, which he held from 1855 until 1859. He was the first Slade Professor of Fine Art at Cambridge University, which made him an Honorary Master of Arts. In 1869 he was knighted. In 1877 he died, having crowded into a brief span of life a great diversity of interests, greatly honoured by his profession.

Two other Wyatts remain to be mentioned. Both were brothers, both were portrait painters. They were born at Thickbroom, near Lichfield, and flourished at the beginning of the 19th century, or perhaps it would be truer to say that one flourished, for the other had little success. Henry Wyatt was a pupil and assistant of Lawrence and enjoyed a fair reputation. We have already mentioned him in a previous article. Thomas Wyatt (1799-1859) studied at the Royal Academy and practised in various places in the Midlands before settling down in Lichfield. He became secretary to the Midland Society of Artists, but as a painter he had little luck.

Rarely has any family yielded such a galaxy of talent as has the Wyatt family of Burton-on-Trent. It would seem that such men as James Wyatt, R.A., Sir Jeffrey Wyatville, R.A., and Sir Digby Wyatt, that Staffordshire played some small part in the architectural “Battle of the Styles.” Their works are known and remembered even if their names are many of them, forgotten.

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