Hooker, Sir Joseph Dalton
JHC432
Venice, Italy
JDH/2/16 f.76
Thiselton-Dyer, Sir William Turner
The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
28-4-1881
© Descendants of Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker
Letters to Thiselton-Dyer
The Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
English
Original MS
4 page letter over 1 folio
 

JDH sympathises with Sir William Turner Thiselton-Dyer's suffering with ague. JDH has seen the sights in Venice & is leaving for Milan & then Zurich via the Lakes & St Gotthard pass. After visiting [Oswald?] Heer JDH will go to Paris & stay at the Hotel St Romains, Rue St Roch. JDH is tired of looking at churches & Madonas but was more impressed even than on previous visits by the grandeur of Venetian art. Titian's 'Assumption' & 'Presentation' are the finest paintings JDH has ever seen. JDH & his party also visited Florence & Sienna with the Miss Horners & Annie Parry & met the Miss Cobdens, also Bologna & Ravenna. The famous pine forest, Pinus pinea, had been killed by the cold of 1879 to 1880 & the devastation reminded JDH of the great Eucalyptus forest of the subalpine plateaus in Tasmania, killed off in 1835. JDH reports that the weather has been fair but cold. The Grays [Asa & Jane] have been enjoying the trip, commetns particularly on Jane Gray's enthusiasm for churches and art. Her brother [General Charles C. Loring] is keeper of the Boston Art Museum. JDH gives instructions for how WTTD can get I touch if he needs JDH.

Transcript

catch me at Zurich. Thence, after seeing Heer, to Paris. Hotel St. Romains Rue St Roch. -- I am very sick of Church seeing & Madonnas, but was very glad to visit Venice again & test my former experience of the effects of its School of art on my mind. I am more impressed than ever with the grandeur of the Venetian School as well as with the colouring. & nothing comes up to my admiration of it as a whole. Nowhere is the power of pictorial art conveyed so vividly to my mind as in the academy here: & I still think Titians Assumptions & Presentation the most magnificent pictures I ever saw. From Florence we visited Sienna

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Venice
April 28/[18]81
My dear Dyer [Thielston-Dyer],*1
I am very much concerned to hear that you have again been unwell & with ague! Brought on I suppose by the miserably cold weather that you have had. I sincerely hope that it is nothing serious & that you will not hesitate to send for me if it should be at all advisable. We are now on our way home: we leave this on Monday by which time we shall have seen most of the principal sights in Venice. We shall go straight to Milan, & thence according to our "Cook’s tickets" by the lakes over the St Gotthard (if open, as I believe it is) to Zurich & so to Paris. A letter would

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catch me at Zurich. Thence, after seeing Heer, to Paris. Hotel St. Romains Rue St Roch. -- I am very sick of Church seeing & Madonnas, but was very glad to visit Venice again & test my former experience of the effects of its School of art on my mind. I am more impressed than ever with the grandeur of the Venetian School as well as with the colouring. & nothing comes up to my admiration of it as a whole. Nowhere is the power of pictorial art conveyed so vividly to my mind as in the academy here: & I still think Titians Assumptions & Presentation the most magnificent pictures I ever saw. From Florence we visited Sienna

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with the Miss Horners Annie Perry & there met two of the Miss Cobdens, who asked much for Harriet, (they were not her companion in Algerie however). On our way hither from Florence we visited Bologna, & took a siding to Ravenna, a tour of extraordinary interest. I was amazed to find the famous Pine forest (P. Pinea) killed dead, by the cold of 1879--80! & past reviving; young & old all killed -- I never saw anything like it except the great eucalyptus forest of the subalpine plateau of Tasmania what where I rode through 20 miles of apparent dead taller timber, killed in 1835.
If I have time in Paris I should like to take a day & roam down to Hortus [1 word illeg.], but

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vegetation is so backward that I fear I shall be too early to find much in a good state.
The weather has been fair on the whole, but always cold, & we have fires here in the evening! The Grays*3 are well, but I think that Dr. G is tired of sight seeing; Mrs Gray's appetite for pictures & Churches is insatiable, & she has very good judgement & & a thorough love of art (Her Brother [General Charles C. Loring] is the keeper of art museum at Boston).
With much love to Harriet from us both to the children, & best regards to yourself
Ever aff[ectionatel]y yours| J. D. Hooker.[signature]
*2I need hardly add that if I am at all wanted I do hope you will telegraph to Milan, which we cannot leave till Tuesday afternoon. address Hotel Bella Venezia -- or if too late for this to poste realaati[?] Cadenabbia Lago di Como -- Italy.

ENDNOTES


1. Sir William Turner Thiselton-Dyer (1843--1928). Appointed Assistant Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew under Joseph Hooker in 1875. Succeeded Hooker as Director Nov 1885--1905. Earlier in his career he was a Professor at The Royal Agriculture College Cirencester, Royal College of Science for Ireland in Dublin and the Royal Horticultural Society. Notable published works include editions of the Flora Capensis and the Flora of Tropical Africa. He married Joseph Hooker’s daughter Harriet Anne Hooker in 1877.
2. The text which runs here until the end of the letter is written as an addition and runs up the right hand side of the page.
3. American botanist Asa Gray and his wife Jane Gray née Loring.

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