A 19th century impression of life in Plympton

CHRIS ROBINSON STUDIES A WORK BY SAMUEL COOK

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THIS rather delightful, tranquil, Plympton view of "The Black Pool, part of the Castle Ditch, below the north-east slope of the Mound, now filled up" was published in Joshua Brooking Rowe's 'A History of Plympton Erle' in 1906, and had been taken from a drawing executed 50 years earlier by the Cornwall-born artist, Samuel Cook (1806-1859).

As a young man, Cook had come to Plymouth, having completed his apprenticeship at a woollen factory in Camelford. He set himself up as a painter and glazier. During his apprenticeship, Cook would amuse himself, when time allowed, by making drawings in chalk on the factory floor, much to the irritation of his employers, one of whom declared that Samuel would "never be fit for anything but a limner".

Charles Lock Eastlake, the celebrated Plymouth-born, Plymptoneducated artist, referenced limning in his book 'Methods and Materials of Painting! Talking of the medieval period and the age of Dante, Eastlake spoke of the art "which in Paris was called illuminating" - limning.