Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Loggan, David
LOGGAN, DAVID (1635–1700?), artist and engraver, was born at Danzig in 1635. It is said, but on no very certain authority, that he learnt engraving in Denmark from Simon van den Passe, and in Holland from Hendrik Hondius, and that he followed Hondius's two sons to England. The date of his arrival in England is uncertain, but it must have been before 1653, if Vertue be right in assigning his earliest portrait to that year (Walpole, ed. Dallaway, v. 185). In 1665 he was residing at Nuffeild, near Oxford, and had made the acquaintance of Anthony à Wood. In 1669 (30 March) he was appointed engraver to the university of Oxford, with an annual salary of 20s. In or about 1671 he married a daughter of Robert Jordan, esq., of Kencote Hall in Oxfordshire, by whom he had at least one son, John Loggan, who matriculated at Trinity College on 20 Aug. 1688, being then sixteen years old. He is described as ‘son of David Loggan of Oxford, gentleman (generosus).’ William Loggan of Oxford, who about 1681 published a satirical print on Father Peters and the jesuits (Brit. Mus. Cat. Satires, i. 686), was probably another son. By this time Loggan was residing in Holywell. In the following year (1672) he subscribed the articles of religion, and matriculated, probably for the purpose of securing the privileges of membership of the university. In 1675 he was naturalised as an Englishman.
The illustrated book, usually referred to as Loggan's first work, appeared in 1674. It is entitled ‘Reverendis … Doctoribus Academiæ Oxoniensis hæc omnium Ordinium [sic] Habituumque Academicorum exemplaria … D.D. Georgius Edwards, 1674.’ There are twelve plates: 1. title; 2. Academiæ Procancellarius cum sex Bedellis et virgifero præeuntibus (a folding plate occupying the space of two); 3. Ss. Theologiæ Doctor ea toga coccinea indutus qua solemniorum in Academiâ conventuum celebritatem cohonestare soleat; 4. Ss. Theologiæ Doctor eo Habitu coccineo quo tempore minus solenni indutus apparet; 5. Doctor in Medicina Toga ordinaria indutus cui per omnia conformis est ea qua utuntur Doctores in Iure Ciuili; 6. Procurator; 7. Artium Magister; 8. Commensalis superioris ordinis; 9. Artium Baccalaureus; 10. Commensalis inferioris ordinis; 11. Juris-Prudentiæ studiosus nongraduatus; 12. Serviens. No engraver's name appears on any of the plates, and they are ascribed to Loggan on the evidence of style only. If this ascription be correct, it is remarkable that Wood, whose diaries contain many references to Loggan, should never mention them. A set (wanting the title) is in the print room at the British Museum.
In 1675 Loggan published: ‘Oxonia Illustrata, sive omnium celeberrimæ istius Universitatis Collegiorum, Aularum, Bibliothecæ Bodleianæ, Scholarum Publicarum, Theatri Sheldoniani: nec non Urbis totius Scenographia. Delineavit et sculpsit Dav: Loggan Univ. Oxon. Chalcographus. Oxoniæ, e Theatro Sheldoniano Ano Dni mdclxxv.’ Wood records that this book was ‘not printed in the Theater, but in his [Loggan's] own house in Halywell.’ It contains forty plates, each extending over two folio pages; viz. two general views of Oxford (occupying a single plate), a plan of the city, a plate of academical costumes, and thirty-seven views of colleges, halls, and public buildings. The extraordinary amount of accurate detail in these views implies an equally extraordinary expenditure of time in preparing for their publication, and in his preface (in Latin) he expressly says that the work had been ‘long expected, and begun several years before.’ That such was the case may be proved from other sources. In 1665 (14 Oct.) Wood notes: ‘Lent the old map of Oxon [‘prob. Agas’] to Mr. David Loggan;’ and in 1669 (4 May), describing the reception of the Duke of Tuscany, ‘likewise D. Logan, the Univ. sculptor, presented him with the king's picture in white satten of his owne draught, and with the sight of his cuts of the colleges.’ The same authority tells us that ‘this map or platforme of the University and Citie of Oxon was mostly drawne by the hand, with a pencill, of David Loggan … anno 1673.’
The ‘Oxonia Illustrata’ was evidently intended as a companion to Wood's ‘History and Antiquities of the University of Oxford,’ published in 1674, for the table of contents gives, opposite to each plate, a reference to the page of that work where the history of the building represented is to be found; and the two books were given together by the university to distinguished visitors, e.g. 1 June 1675, to the Prince of Neuburg, of whom Wood notes that he ‘had presented to him in two volumes the History and Antiquities of the University of Oxon, penned by Mr. Anthony à Wood, with the cuts.’
Soon after the publication of the ‘Oxonia Illustrata’ Loggan turned his attention to Cambridge, where he printed in 1676 Wren's design for the library of Trinity College, probably with the view of obtaining subscriptions. The library accounts for 1676 set down: ‘To David Loggan for ye plates, cutting and 450 Cutts … 21l. 12s.;’ and an entry in 1690–1 ‘for mending … the chamber where Mr. Loggan's Press stood formerly,’ shows that he had been provided with a workroom in Trinity College. In 1676, however, he resided in London, where he had a house in Leicester Fields (Walpole, ed. Dallaway, v. 184), and, according to his own statement in the preface to his ‘Cantabrigia Illustrata,’ he only visited Cambridge from time to time.
His next work is entitled ‘Cantabrigia Illustrata, sive omnium Celeberrimæ istius Universitatis Collegiorum, Aularum, Bibliothecæ Academicæ, Scholarum Publicarum, Sacelli Coll: Regalis, nec non Totius Oppidi Ichnographia, Deliniatore et Sculptore Dav: Loggan utriusque Academiæ Calcographo. Quam Propriis Sumptibus Typis mandavit et Impressit Cantabrigiæ.’ This work, a pendant to the ‘Oxonia Illustrata,’ contains twenty-six views of Cambridge, one of Eton College, a plan of Cambridge, a plate containing two general views of Cambridge, and a portrait of Charles, duke of Somerset, chancellor of the university. There is no date on the title-page, but it is not difficult to discover from internal evidence when some of the views were drawn. The inscription at the foot of the view of Catharine Hall speaks of Dr. Lightfoot, who died in 1675, as ‘very lately Master’ (nuperrimè magister), and does not mention his successor. It was therefore probably drawn in 1676. A similar inscription on the view of Pembroke mentions that it was taken when the master, Nathaniel Coga, was vice-chancellor, i.e. in 1681–2; the view of the south side of King's College Chapel is dedicated to Provost Page, who died in 1681; the view of Trinity Hall and the plan of Cambridge are dated 1688; and lastly, the view of Magdalene College mentions Gabriel Quadring as master, who was not elected until 1690. This analysis shows that the work was in progress from 1676 to 1690, a period which coincides fairly well with Loggan's own statement in the preface, that he had ‘been employed upon it for a space of nearly twelve years.’ Further, Loggan was not made engraver to the university till 5 March 1690, and the account-books of Trinity and King's set down the sums paid for the work in the same year. In this year (1 May) the university presented him with 50l. as a free gift.
It is recorded in Vertue's ‘Diary’ (Brit. Mus. Add. MS. 23069) that ‘one Kickers drew the views and drafts of the Colleges of Oxford for D. Loggan, and those of Cambridge in partnership with him, and they both went to Scotland, and there he drew the views in “Theatrum Scotiæ.”’ Vertue also says that Loggan's pupil, Robert White [q. v.], assisted him in drawing many buildings. However this may be, the conscientious accuracy, as well as the artistic ability, which characterises Loggan's views, can hardly be sufficiently praised. He enables one to walk into the quadrangles of the colleges, and discover their style of architecture. Every detail of the buildings, the courts, and the gardens is carefully noted, so that they present not merely a record of the architecture, but of the life of the period.
Loggan was one of the most celebrated engravers of portraits of his time, many of his engravings being done ad vivum, such as Edward Hyde, earl of Clarendon, General Monck, Dr. Isaac Barrow, Archbishop Sancroft, and others. Dryden, satirising vain poets, says:
And in the front of all his senseless plays
Makes David Loggan crown his head with bays.
He also drew portraits on vellum in plumbago, with great delicacy of touch. Some of these are in the British Museum. Loggan does not appear ever to have painted portraits. Among other plates engraved by Loggan were illustrations to Dr. Robert Morison's ‘Plantarum Historia Universalis Oxoniensis;’ the triumphal arches erected in the city of London on the coronation of Charles II; two views of Stonehenge, &c. A portrait, drawn on vellum in plumbago by Robert White (in the print room at the British Museum), is stated to be a portrait of Loggan. According to Vertue, ‘The Picture of D. Loggan, Engraver, drawn on Vellom with Black Lead by himself, ætat. 20, 1655,’ was in the possession of Michael Burghers [q. v.], engraver at Oxford.
Loggan died at his house, ‘next door to the Golden Head,’ in Leicester Fields at the end of the seventeenth century. The dates 1693 and 1700 are both given by Vertue.
The ‘Oxonia’ and ‘Cantabrigia’ were afterwards republished, without date, by ‘Henry Overton at the White Horse without Newgate, London,’ with an English preface. The plate of the interior of King's College Chapel was republished, with the figures altered, and inscriptions in French and English, by ‘Robert Sayer at the Golden Buck in Fleet Street.’ He also published all the views of Cambridge, much reduced in size, on a single large sheet. The views of both Cambridge and Oxford appear, similarly reduced, in ‘Délices de la Grande Bretagne,’ par J. Beeverell, 8 vols. 12mo, Leyden, 1707. The ‘Habitus Oxoniensium’ was republished and ‘sold by I. Oliver on Lud-gate Hill, at the corner of the Old-Baily.’
[Kramm's Levens en Werken der Hollandsche en Vlaamsche Kunstschilders, 8vo, Amsterdam, 1859; Reg. of Convocation, Oxford; Bloxam's Reg. of Magdalen College, Oxford, vi. 75; Walpole, ed. Dallaway, vol. v.; Redgrave's Dict. of Artists, ed. 1878; Grace-books of the Univ. of Cambridge; Life and Times of Anthony à Wood, ed. Clark, vol. ii.; Willis and Clark's Architectural Hist. of the Univ. and Colleges of Cambridge, vol. i. pp. cvii–cxiii.]
Dictionary of National Biography, Errata (1904), p.185
N.B.— f.e. stands for from end and l.l. for last line
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