James Carmichael

Dundee Art Galleries & Museum: 272-1987-68

Artist: Dicksee, John Robert

Date: Between 1850 and 1870

State: 1/1

Size: 41.9 x 31.8 cm

Medium: Lithograph

Details Lithograph. Imprinted signature ‘James Carmichael’. Printed by M. & N. Hanhart. Bottom left to right ‘John Zephaniah Bell Del. Printed by M. And N. Hanhart. J.R. Dicksee Lith.’
Description Born in Glasgow, Carmichael (1776-1853) came to Dundee in 1805 to form a business as a mill wright. His brother Charles shortly joined him and the siblings established an important and influential engineering presence in the city and beyond. Their business built Scotland’s first locomotives and the brothers were important developers of early iron steam-ships.Carmichael’s portrait may have been captured by Dicksee shortly prior to the sitter’s death in 1853 (when the artist was in his early 30s) however it may also have been completed at a later date and based on an, as yet, unidentified painted portrait.

The Orchar Collection also has a portrait bust of Carmichael (c.1873) by John Hutchison (1833-1910). A statue of Carmichael, also by Hutchison and erected in 1876, can be found outside the north entrance to The McManus.

The Illustrated London News described the statue: ‘The plain old Scotch mechanician, in his ordinary dress, is supposed to have been taking a turn through his works, when becoming suddenly possessed of an idea, he has sat down to think it out. He sits in a posture slightly stopping … an intent expression indicative of mental occupation. The left hand hangs over the edge of a steam cylinder, while the right, grasping a foot-rule, rests on a drawing … a representation of a reversing gear for marine engines … one of Carmichael’s inventions, and … a model of the fan-blast machinery [to aid ventilation in coal mines], which lies near his right foot’. 9 September 1876, p.245. As cited in Christine MacLeod, Heroes of Invention: Technology, Liberalism and British Identity 1750-1914. Cambridge 2007, pp.332-3.

The painter, John Zephaniah Bell, was born in Dundee. He studied under Antoine-Jean Gros in Paris and was an assistant to David Wilkie.

References
  1. Emmanuel Bénézit, Dictionary of Artists. Paris, Gründ, 2006
  2. Rodney K. Engen, Dictionary of Victorian Engravers, Print Publishers and Their Works. Cambridge, Chadwyck-Heley, 1979

 

Leave a comment