HENRYTHOMSON(1773—1843), the son of a purser in the Navy, was born at Portsea, or, as some say, in London. His works consist of historic and fancy subjects, and portraits. His first picture exhibited at the Academy wasDaedalus fastening wings on to his Son Icarus. Thomson was, in 1825, appointed Keeper of the Academy in succession to Fuseli. He exhibited, from 1800 to 1825, seventy-six pictures, chiefly portraits.The Dead Robinis in the National Gallery.
JOHNJACKSON(1778—1831) rose from the simple home of the tailor, his father, to a high place in the world of art. He was freed from the craft of his father by Lord Mulgrave and Sir George Beaumont. The latter encouraged him to visit London, and allowed him £50 a year and a room in his house while he studied in the Academy. The young painter soon obtained success as a portrait painter, and in 1817 was elected a full member of the Academy. In 1819, he visited Rome with Sir F. Chantrey, and painted for him a portrait ofCanova. A portrait ofFlaxman, painted for Lord Dover, is considered Jackson's masterpiece. Leslie, speaking of the subdued richness of his colouring, said that Lawrence never approached him; and Lawrence himself declared that the portrait of Flaxman was "a great achievement of the English school, one of which Van Dyck might have felt proud to own himself the author." Three portraits by Jackson are in the National Gallery—theRev. W. H. Carr,Sir John Soane, andMiss Stephens, afterwards the late Countess of Essex. Jackson's own portrait, by himself, is in the National Portrait Gallery.
JOSEPH MALLORD WILLIAM TURNER (1775—1851) stands at the head of English landscape painters. It has been said that though others may have equalled or surpassed him in some respects, "none has yet appeared with such versatility of talent." (Dr. Waagen.) The character of Turner is a mixture of contradictory elements. He possessed a marvellous appreciation of the beautiful in nature, yet lived in dirt and squalor, and dressed in a style between that of a sea-captain and a hackney coachman. The man who worked exquisitely was sometimes harsh and uncouth, though capable of a rude hospitality; disliking the society of some of his fellow-men, he yet loved the company of his friends, and though penurious in some money transactions, left a magnificent bequest to his profession. Turner owed nothing to the beauty or poetic surroundings of his birth-place, which was the house of his father, a barber in Maiden Lane, Covent Garden. But as Lord Byron is said to have conjured up his loveliest scenes of Greece whilst walking in Albemarle Street, so the associations of Maiden Lane did not prevent Turner from delineating storm-swept landscapes, and innumerable splendours of nature. The barber was justly proud of his child, who very early displayedhis genius, and the first drawings of Turner are said to have been exhibited in his father's shaving-room. In time the boy was colouring prints and washing in the backgrounds of architects' drawings. Dr. Monro, the art patron, extended a helping hand to the young genius of Maiden Lane. "Girtin and I," says Turner, "often walked to Bushey and back, to make drawings for good Dr. Monro at half-a-crown a piece, and the money for our supper when we got home." He did not, of course, start from London.
The Grand Canal, Venice. By TURNER. A.D. 1834.The Grand Canal, Venice.ByTURNER.A.D1834.
In 1789, Turner became a student in the Academy, and exhibited a picture in the next year at Somerset House,View of the Archbishop's Palace at Lambeth. He was then only fifteen. From that time he worked with unceasing energy at his profession. Indeed, the pursuit of art was the one ruling principle of his life. He frequently went on excursions, the first being to Ramsgate and Margate, and was storing his memory with effects of storm, mist, and tempest, which he reproduced. In 1799, when made A.R.A., Turner had already exhibited works which ranged over twenty-six counties of England and Wales. In 1802 he was made full Academician, and presented, as his diploma picture,Dolbadarn Castle, North Wales. In this year he visited the Continent, and saw France and Switzerland. Five years later Turner was appointed Professor of Perspective to the Royal Academy. We are told his lectures were delivered in so strange a style, that they were scarcely instructive. Of his water-colour paintings and of theLiber Studiorumit is impossible to speak too highly; he created the modern school of water-colour painting, and his works in oil have influenced the art of the nineteenth century. He visited Italy for the first time in 1819; again ten years later, and for the last time in 1840. His eccentricity, both in manner and in art, increased with age. Though wealthy, and possessing a good house in Queen Anne Street, he died in an obscure lodging by the Thames, at Chelsea, a few days before Christmas, 1851,Turner bequeathed his property to found a charity for male decayed artists, but the alleged obscurity of his will defeated this object. It was decided that his pictures and drawings should be presented to the National Gallery, that one thousand pounds should be spent on a monument to the painter in St. Paul's, twenty thousand pounds should be given to the Royal Academy, and the remainder to the next of kin and heir at law. The National Gallery contains more than one hundred of his pictures, besides a large number of water-colour drawings and sketches. In his earlier works Turner took the old masters as his models, some of his best pictures showing the characteristics of the Dutch school, asThe Shipwreck, andThe Sun rising in a Mist. InThe Tenth Plague, andThe Goddess of Discord, the influence of Poussin is visible, whilst Wilson is imitated inÆneas with the Sibyl, andA View in Wales. Turner was fond of matching himself against Claude; and not only did he try his powers in rivalry with the older masters, he delighted to enter into honest competition with painters of the day, and when Wilkie'sVillage Politicianswas attracting universal notice, Turner produced hisBlacksmith's Shopin imitation of it. In his later pictures Turner sacrificed form to colour. "Mist and vapour, lit by the golden light of morn, or crimsoned with the tints of evening, spread out to veil the distance, or rolled in clouds and storms, are the great characteristics of Turner's art as contrasted with the mild serenity of the calm unclouded heaven of Claude." (Redgrave.) Turner in his choice of colours forsook conventionality, and "went to the cataract for its iris, to the conflagration for its flames, asked of the sea its intensest azure, of the sky its clearest gold." (Ruskin.) The same critic considers Turner's period of central power, entirely developed and entirely unabated, to begin with theUlysses, and to close with theTéméraire, a period of ten years, 1829—1839.
JOHNCONSTABLE(1776—1837) was born at East Bergholt, inSuffolk, June 11th, 1776, and the sunny June weather in which the painter first saw the light seems to pervade all his pictures. Constable's father was a miller, and intended that his son should succeed to his business; it has been said also that it was proposed to educate him for holy orders. Constable, however, was meant for a painter, and became one of the best delineators of English scenery. In 1800, he became student in the Royal Academy. In 1802, he exhibited his first picture. In 1819, he was elected A.R.A., and became a full member ten years after. Constable's earlier efforts were in the direction of historical painting and portraiture, but he found his true sphere in landscape. He was thoroughly English. No foreign master influenced him, and rustic life furnished all he needed. He said, "I love every style and stump and lane in the village: as long as I am able to hold a brush, I shall never cease to paint them." To this determination we owe some of the most pleasant English pictures, full of fresh, breezy life, rolling clouds, shower-wetted foliage, and all the greenery of island scenes. He loved to paintunder the sun, and impart a glittering effect to his foliage which many of his critics could not understand. Indeed, Constable was not appreciated thoroughly till after his death. He seems to have known that this would be the case, for early in his career he wrote, "I feel now more than ever a decided conviction that I shall some time or other make some good pictures—pictures that shall be valuable to posterity, if I do not reap the benefit of them." Constable did not attempt bold or mountainous scenery, but loved the flat, sunny meadows of Suffolk, and declared that the river Stour made him a painter. In the National Gallery are his:The Corn-field,The Valley Farm(seeFrontispiece), (a view of "Willy Lott's House," on the Stour, close by Flatford Mill, the property of the painter's father),A Corn-field with figures, andOn Barnes Common.
Trent in Tyrol. By CALLCOTT. In the possession of Mr. Samuel Cartwright.Trent in Tyrol.ByCALLCOTT.In the possession of Mr. Samuel Cartwright.
SIRAUGUSTUSWALLCALLCOTT(1779—1844) has been styledthe English Claude. He was born at Kensington Gravel Pits, then a pretty suburban spot. He was, for some years, a chorister at Westminster Abbey, but early adopted painting as his profession. Callcott was a pupil of Hoppner, and began as a portrait painter. He soon devoted himself to landscape, with an occasional attempt at history. He became a full member of the Academy in 1810, his presentation picture beingMorning. His best pictures were produced between 1812 and 1826, during which period he producedThe Old Pier at Littlehampton(National Gallery),Entrance to the Pool of London,Mouth of the Tyne,Calm on the Medway(Earl of Durham). Callcott married in 1827, and went to Italy. On his return in the following year he soon became a fashionable painter. "His pictures, bright, pleasant of surface, and finished in execution, were suited to the appreciation of the public, and not beyond their comprehension; commissions poured in upon him." (Redgrave.) The Queen knighted him in 1837, and in the same year he exhibited hisRaphael and the Fornarina, engraved for the Art Union by L. Stocks, which, if it possesses few faults, excites no enthusiasm. In 1840 appearedMilton dictating Paradise Lost to his Daughter, a large picture, which overtaxed the decaying powers of the artist. Among Callcott's later pictures areDutch Peasants returning from Market, andEntrance to Pisa from Leghorn. As a figure painter he does not appear at his best. Examples of this class areFalstaff and Simple, andAnne Page and Slender(Sheepshanks Collection).
The Fisherman's Departure. By COLLINS. Painted in A.D. 1826 for Mr. Morrison.The Fisherman's Departure.ByCOLLINS.Painted inA.D. 1826for Mr. Morrison.
WILLIAMCOLLINS(1788—1847) was born in London, where his father carried on business as a picture dealer, in addition to the somewhat uncertain calling of a journalist. The future painter was introduced to Morland, a friend of his father, and learnt many things, some to be imitated, others to be avoided, in that artist's studio. From 1807 he exhibited at the Academy, of which he became a full member in 1820. Heexhibited one hundred and twenty-one pictures in a period of forty years, specially devoting himself to landscape, with incidents of ordinary life. Now he would paint children swinging on a gate, as inHappy as a King(National Gallery); children bird-nesting, or sorrowing for their play-fellows, as inThe Sale of the Pet Lamb. Collins was also specially successful in his treatment of cottage and coast scenery, as inThe Haunts of the Sea-fowl,The Prawn Catchers(National Gallery), andFishermen on the look-out. After visiting Italy, Collins forsook for a time his former manner, and painted theCave of Ulysses, and theBay of Naples; but neither here nor in theChrist in the Temple with the Doctors, andThe two Disciples at Emmaus, do we see him at his best. He wisely returned to his first style.
WILLIAMLINTON(1791—1876) was employed in a merchant's office in Liverpool, but quitted it to begin an artist's career in London. In 1821, he exhibited his first picture,The Morning after the Storm. After visiting the Continent, Linton returned to England, and produced pictures of the classic scenes he had studied. After a second foreign tour, in which he visited Greece, Sicily, and Calabria, he exhibitedThe Embarkation of the Greeks for Troy,The Temples of Pæstum(National Gallery), and several works of a like character.
PATRICKNASMYTH(1786—1831), son of a Scotch landscape painter, was born in Edinburgh, and came to London. His first exhibited picture at the Academy was aView of Loch Katrine, in 1811. In the British Institution Gallery of the same year hisLoch Auchrayappeared. It is by his pictures of simple English scenery that Nasmyth is best known. He took Hobbema and Wynants as models, and chose country lanes, hedge-rows, with dwarf oak-trees, for his subjects. Nasmyth was deaf in consequence of an illness, and having lost the use of his right hand by an accident, painted with his left. In the National Gallery are aCottage, andThe Angler's Nook; atSouth Kensington areLandscape with an Oak,Cottage by a Brook, andLandscape with a Haystack.
St. Gomer, Brussels. By DAVID ROBERTS.St. Gomer, Brussels.ByDAVID ROBERTS.
DAVIDROBERTS(1796—1864), a native of Stockbridge, near Edinburgh, began life as a house-decorator, and, becoming a scene-painter, found employment at Drury Lane in 1822. Marked success in this capacity led him to attempt a higher flight in architectural landscape. He exhibitedRouen Cathedralat the Academy in 1826, and very often contributed pictures to the British Institution and Society of British Artists; of the last-named body he was a foundation-member. Roberts made a tour in Spain for materials of pictures and sketches; noteworthy among the results of this journey areThe Cathedral of Burgos, an exterior view, and a small Interior of the same, now in the National Gallery. Extending his travels to the East, Roberts producedThe Ruins of Baalbec, andJerusalem from the South-East. He was made a full member of the Academy in 1841, and lived to see his pictures sold for far higher prices than he had originally assigned to them. David Roberts is well known by "Sketches in the Holy Land, Syria, and Egypt."
RICHARDPARKESBONINGTON(1801—1828) passed most of his life abroad. He studied in the Louvre when a child, and gained his knowledge of art exclusively in Paris and Italy. His influence on the French school ofgenreand dramatic art was very great indeed, almost equal to that which Constable produced on the French artists in landscape. He died, aged twenty-seven, from the effects of a sunstroke received while sketching in Paris. Bonington excelled in landscape, marine, and figure subjects. He exhibited in the British Institution, among other pictures, twoViews of the French Coast, which attracted much notice, andThe Column of St. Mark's,Venice(National Gallery). Sir Richard Wallace possesses several of his best works, notablyHenri IV. and the Spanish Ambassador.
Francis I. and his Sister. By BONINGTON. In the possession of Sir Richard Wallace, Bart.Francis I. and his Sister.ByBONINGTON.In the possession of Sir Richard Wallace, Bart.
WILLIAMJOHNMÜLLER(1812—1845) was another landscape painter whose career was brief, and who chiefly painted foreignscenery. He travelled in Germany, Italy and Switzerland, and for a time practised as a landscape painter at Bath, though with little success. In 1838 Müller visited Greece and Egypt,and in 1841 he was in Lycia. He had previously settled in London. His pictures were chiefly of Oriental scenes, and his fame was rapidly growing when he died. His works now command high prices. In the National Gallery we have aLandscape, with two Lycian Peasants, and aRiver Scene.
JOHNMARTIN(1789—1854) held a distinguished place as a painter of poetic or imaginative landscapes and architectural subjects. He was born near Hexham, and began the study of art in the humble field of coach painting at Newcastle. Coming to London, Martin worked at enamel painting, and in 1812 exhibited his first picture at the Academy,Sadak in Search of the Waters of Oblivion, which is one of his best works. This was followed byJoshua commanding the Sun to stand still(1816),The Death of Moses(1838),The Last Man(from Campbell's poem),The Eve of the Deluge,Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, &c. Martin's most famous works were not exhibited at the Academy,e.g.Belshazzar's Feast,The Fall of Babylon, andThe Fall of Nineveh. Many of his compositions were engraved, securing for them a wide circulation. Mr. Redgrave said: "We can hardly agree with Bulwer, that Martin was 'more original, more self-dependent than Raphael or Michael Angelo.'" But if in his lifetime Martin was over-praised, he was unjustly depreciated afterwards. Many of his brother artists and the public, when the first astonishment his pictures created had passed away, called his art a trick and an illusion, his execution mechanical, his colouring bad, his figures vilely drawn, their actions and expressions bombastic and ridiculous. But, granting this, wholly or partially, it must be remembered that his art, or manner, was original; that it opened new views, which yielded glimpses of the sublime, and dreams and visions that art had not hitherto displayed; and that others, better prepared by previous study, working after him, have delighted, and are still delighting, the world with their works.
Belshazzar's Feast. By John Martin. Exhibited at the British Institution in A.D. 1821.Belshazzar's Feast.ByJohn Martin.Exhibited at the British Institution inA.D. 1821.
We must now speak of a provincial school of landscape painters which was founded by JOHNCROME(1769—1821). The father of the Norwich Society of Artists is generally known as "Old Crome," to distinguish him from his son, who was likewise a painter. Crome, the son of a journey-man weaver, born in a small tavern at Norwich, was in due course apprenticed to a house and sign-painter. The young house-painter spent his spare time in painting something more attractive than the walls of houses, and chose the scenery round Norwich for his subjects. The flat, sunny landscapes, dotted with farms and cottages, through which the sleeping river glided slowly, and the Norfolk broads, with their flocks of wild fowl, remained to the last the frequent subjects of Crome's pencil. Determining to be a painter in good earnest, Crome, when his apprenticeship was over, eked out his scanty resources by giving lessons in drawing and painting. At the Royal Academy he exhibited only fourteen pictures, but in his native town one hundred and ninety-six. With the exception ofThe Blacksmith's Shop, all the works shown at the Academy were landscapes. "He wanted but little subject: an aged oak, a pollard willow by the side of the slow Norfolk streams, or a patch of broken ground, in his hands became pictures charming us by their sweet colour and rustic nature." "Crome seems to have founded his art on Hobbema, Ruysdael, and the Dutch school, rather than on the French and Italian painters; except so far as these were represented by our countryman, Wilson, whose works he copied, and whose influence is seen mingled with the more realistic treatment derived from the Dutch masters." (Redgrave.) In the National Gallery are hisMousehold Heath,View of Chapel Field, andWindmill on a Heath: all views near Norwich.A Clump of Trees, Hautbois Common(Fitzwilliam Gallery, Cambridge), is another favourable specimen of his art.
JAMESSTARK(1794—1859) was a pupil of Crome, and takes rank next to him in the Norwich school. In 1812, he was elected a member of the Norwich Society of Artists. In 1817, he came to London, and became a student in the Royal Academy. There appeared some of his best works:Boys Bathing,Flounder Fishing, andLambeth, looking towards Westminster Bridge. Illness obliged Stark to return to Norwich, where he produced his "Scenery of the Rivers Yare and Waveney, Norfolk;" a series of illustrations engraved by Goodall and others. Stark lacked the vigour of Crome in colour and drawing.
GEORGEVINCENT(1796—about 1831) is best known for hisView of Greenwich Hospital, shown from the river. It was painted for Mr. Carpenter, of the British Museum, and was in the International Exhibition of 1862. Vincent was specially fond of sunlight effects or clouds in his pictures.
JOHNSELLCOTMAN(1782—1842) having escaped the life of a linen-draper's shopman, devoted himself to art, and coming to London found a friend and patron in Dr. Monro. From 1800 to 1806 Cotman exhibited pictures at the Academy, and, returning to Norwich, was made a member and secretary of the Society of Artists there. In the year 1808 he contributed to the Norwich exhibition sixty-seven works. Cotman paid many visits to Normandy, and after 1834 was Professor of Drawing in King's College School, London. He was more successful as a water-colour artist than a painter in oils. He painted chiefly landscapes, marine pieces, and executed many engravings of architecture.
The Norwich school no longer exists as a distinct body.
FRANCISDANBY(1793—1861) excelled Martin in the poetry of landscape art. He was born near Wexford, and gained his first knowledge of art in Dublin, where, in 1812, he exhibited his first picture,Evening. In 1813, he was established at Bristolas a teacher of drawing in water colour. He became known to the artistic world of London by hisUpas Tree of Java, which was at the British Institution of 1820, an intensely poetic work, now in the National Gallery. HisSunset at Sea after a Storm, exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1824, was purchased by Sir Thomas Lawrence. A year later Danby exhibitedThe Delivery of Israel out of Egypt, for which he was elected an A.R.A. He is most famous, however, for quiet scenes, calm evenings at sea, sunset effects, combined with some poetic incident, and always remarkable for great brilliancy of colour, among which areThe Artist's HolidayandThe Evening Gun. In the National Gallery isThe Fisherman's Home, Sunrise. He never became a R.A.
WILLIAMCLARKSONSTANFIELD(1793—1867) holds one of the highest places among English landscape and marine painters. Beginning life as a sailor in the Royal Navy, he sketched vessels as they passed his own. A severe fall compelled retirement from the navy. He began his art career as a scene-painter in the Old Royalty Theatre, Wellclose Square, and later became scene-painter to Drury Lane Theatre. His first exhibited picture wasA River Scenein the Academy, 1820. In the same yearA Study from Naturewas at the British Institution. He exhibitedBen Venu, andA Coast Scene, at the Institution in 1822. In 1824, he was a foundation-member of the Society of British Artists, and sent five pictures to their first exhibition in that year. Stanfield's largeWreckers off Fort Rouge, was exhibited at the British Institution in 1828. In 1827 appearedA Calm, in the Royal Academy. From that time Stanfield's success was assured. His truthfulness in reading nature, whether in naval battle scenes, views of foreign sea-ports, or mountain and river scenery, has seldom if ever been surpassed. He became a full member of the Academy in 1835. An unwearied worker, he exhibited one hundred and thirty-two pictures at the Royal Academy. We may mentionThe Battle of Trafalgar;The Victory, with Nelson's Body on board, towed into Gibraltar;Entrance to the Zuyder Zee;Lake of Como, andThe Canal of the Giudecca, Venice(all in the National Gallery). Among his earlier works areMount St. Michael, Cornwall;A Storm;A Fisherman off Honfleur, andThe Opening of New London Bridge.
Terminati Marina. By STANFIELD. A.D. 1840. In the possession of the Marquis of Lansdowne.Terminati Marina.BySTANFIELD.A.D1840.In the possession of the Marquis of Lansdowne.
JAMESBAKERPYNE(1800—1870), born in Bristol, began life in a solicitor's office, which he quitted to make a precarious subsistence by painting, teaching, or restoring pictures. He went to London in 1835, where a picture exhibited a year after at the Academy attracted notice, and opened the way of success. He became famous as a delineator of lake scenery, and forpseudo-Turner-like treatment of sunlight effects.
THOMASCRESWICK(1811—1869), one of the most pleasing modern English landscape painters, was born at Sheffield. He came to London when only seventeen, and his pictures were exhibited by the British Institution and the Royal Academy in that year, 1828. Having settled in London, he delighted lovers of landscape with views in Ireland and Wales, and, later, turned his attention to the North of England, the rocky dales and rivers of which furnished subjects for his finest works. In 1842, he was elected an Associate of the Academy, and received a premium of fifty guineas from the British Institution for the general excellence of his productions. In 1851, Creswick became a full member of the Academy, and somewhat later executed pictures into which Frith and Ansdell introduced figures and cattle. There is a charm in his paintings, the character of which may be gathered fromThe Old Foot Road,The Hall Garden,The Pleasant Way Home,The Valley Mill,The Blithe Brook,Across the Beck. In the National Gallery isThe Pathway to the Village Church. "He painted the homely scenery of his country, especially its streams, in all its native beauty and freshness; natural, pure, and simple in his treatment and colour, careful and complete in his finish,good taste prevailing in all his works, and conspicuously so in his charming contributions to the works of the Etching Club, of which he was a valued member, and also in his many designs on wood." (Redgrave.)
The Pleasant Way Home. By CRESWICK. Exhibited in 1846.The Pleasant Way Home.ByCRESWICK.Exhibited in1846.
JOHNLINNELL(1792—1882) the son of a carver and gilder in Bloomsbury, was at first brought up to his father's trade, and had many opportunities of studying pictures. At eight years of age he copied Morland so well that his versions were often taken for originals. Soon afterwards he became a pupil of John Varley, and in his studio met Mulready and W. H. Hunt, with whom he frequently went on sketching tours. In 1807, when only fifteen years of age, Linnell sent his first pictures,A Study from Nature, andA View near Reading, to the Royal Academy Exhibition, to which for more than seventy years he was a regular contributor. He frequently painted portraits, and was particularly successful in landscapes with many trees. Mr. Ruskin says, "The forest studies of John Linnell are particularly elaborate, and in many points most skilful." For many years towards the close of his life he lived at Redhill, with his two sons and his son-in-law, Samuel Palmer, all landscape painters, near him.
During his long life he painted many hundred pictures, which are now for the most part scattered in private galleries in England. Two of his works are in the National Gallery,Wood Cutters, andThe Windmill; and three at South Kensington,Wild Flower Gatherers,Milking Time, andDriving Cattle.
EDWARDWILLIAMCOOKE(1811—1880), the son of an engraver, was intended for his father's profession; but he preferred the brush to the graver. In 1851 he was made an associate and in 1864 a full member of the Royal Academy, to whose exhibitions he was a most constant contributor: he also exhibited at the British Institution. His works are, for the most part, coast and river scenes, generally in England, and frequently on the Thames or Medway. Paintings by him are in the National Gallery and the South Kensington Museum.
MANY of our painters who aspired to high art in the field of history were forced to abandon these ambitious designs, and confine themselves to the more lucrative branches of their calling. It was not so with
WILLIAMHILTON(1786—1839), who, although chilled and saddened by neglect, and generally unable to sell his pictures, maintained his position as a history painter, and suffered neither poverty nor the coldness of the public to turn him aside. Few details are known of his life; he was a gentle, silent, and retiring man, who knew much sorrow and shunned publicity. Rescued from a trade to which he was destined, Hilton was allowed to learn drawing, and became a pupil of J. Raphael Smith, the mezzotint engraver. He entered the Academy schools, and paid special attention to the anatomy of the figure. His earliest known productions were a series of designs in oil to illustrate "The Mirror," and "The Citizen of the World." Hilton's early exhibited works had classic subjects, such asCephalus and Procris,Venus carrying the wounded Achilles, andUlysses and Calypso. In 1810, he produced a large historic painting, calledCitizens of Calais delivering the Keys to Edward III., for which the British Institution awarded him a premium of fifty guineas.For theEntombment of Christhe received a second premium, and forEdith discovering the Dead Body of Harolda third of one hundred guineas. Nevertheless, the public did not appreciate his works, and they were unsold. The Directors of the British Institution, who had already marked their sense of this painter's ability, purchased two of his sacred pieces,Mary anointing the Feet of Jesus, which was presented to the Church of St. Michael, in the City, andChrist crowned with Thorns, which was given to that of St. Peter's, Eaton Square, but which has since been sold. In 1819 Hilton became a full member of the Academy, and was appointed Keeper in 1827, a position for which he was specially fitted, and where he gained the affection of the students. In the next year he married. The death of his wife, in 1835, crushed his energy and hope. He saw himself painting for a public which did not value his art.
The Rape of Europa. By HILTON. A.D. 1818. In the possession of the Earl of Egremont.The Rape of Europa.ByHILTON.A.D1818.In the possession of the Earl of Egremont.
In addition to the above examples, we may mention Hilton'sSerena rescued by the Red Cross Knight, Sir Calepine, andThe Meeting of Abraham's Servant with Rebekah(National Gallery), and a triptych ofThe Crucifixion, which is at Liverpool. Most of Hilton's works are falling to decay through the use of asphaltum.
BENJAMINROBERTHAYDON(1786—1846) was the son of a bookseller at Plymouth, and his "fitful life"—marked by "restless and importunate vanity"—was ended by his own act. Haydon refused to follow his father's business, and insisted on becoming a painter. Of his thoughts, hopes, and dreams, we have been well informed. He was in the habit of writing in an elaborate diary all that concerned himself. He came to London in 1804 with £20 in his pocket, entered the Academy schools, and worked there with vigour and self-reliance. Northcote did not encourage his enthusiastic countryman when he told him that as an historic painter "he would starve with a bundle of straw under his head." We admirethe courage of Haydon in holding fast to the branch of art he had embraced, but his egotism fulfilled the prophecy of Northcote. When twenty-one, Haydon ordered a canvas forJoseph and Mary resting on the Road to Egypt, and he prayed over the blank canvas that God would bless his career, and enable him to create a new era in art. Lord Mulgrave became his patron, and this may have added to the painter's hopes. He paintedDentatus, and, intoxicated by flattery, believed the production of this his second work would mark "an epoch in English art."Dentatus, however, was hung in the ante-room of the Royal Academy, and coldly received. In 1810, he beganLady Macbethfor Sir George Beaumont; quarrelling with his patron, he lost the commission, but worked on at the picture. Although deeply in debt, he quarrelled with those who would have been his friends. HisJudgment of Solomon, a very fine picture, was painted under great difficulties and privations. West, the President, whom the painter accused of hostility to him, is said to have shed tears of admiration at the sight of this work, and sent Haydon a gift of £15.Solomonwas sold for 600 guineas, and the British Institution awarded another hundred guineas as a premium to its author. In 1820 Haydon producedChrist's Entry into Jerusalem, and during its progress he, as he recorded, "held intercourse only with his art and his Creator." This picture was exhibited at the Egyptian Hall, Piccadilly, and brought a large sum of money to the painter. Unsold in England, the work of which Haydon had expected much was purchased for £240, and sent to America. He established an Art school, where several able painters were trained, but the master was constantly in great pecuniary difficulties. In 1823, he exhibited theThe Raising of Lazarus, containing twenty figures, each nine feet high, which is now in the National Gallery. Of this work Mr. Redgrave says: "The first impression of the picture is imposing; the general effect powerful, and well suited to the subject; the incidents and grouping wellconceived; the colouring good, and in parts brilliant. The Christ is weak, probably the weakest, though the chief figure in the picture." Misfortune still dogged the painter. He was thrown into prison for debt; released, he worked in poverty, afraid of his "wicked-eyed, wrinkled, waddling, gin-drinking, dirty-ruffled landlady." The closing scenes of his life grew darker and darker. In 1826, he paintedVenus and Anchises, on commission, beganAlexander taming Bucephalus, andEuclus, and was once more in prison. An appeal in the newspapers produced money enough to set him again at liberty. Then appeared theMock Election, andChairing the Member, the former being purchased by the King. No success, however, seemed to stem the tide of Haydon's misfortunes. He lectured on Art with great ability in 1840, continued painting for bread, and finally, disgusted by the cold reception ofAristides, andNero watching the Burning of Rome, the over-wrought mind of the unfortunate man gave way, and he committed suicide, leaving this brief entry in his journal—"God forgive me! Amen. Finis. B. R. Haydon. 'Stretch me no longer on the rack of this sad world.'—Lear." A sad finish to his ambitious hopes! Of Haydon's art generally Mr. Redgrave says: "He was a good anatomist and draughtsman, his colour was effective, the treatment of his subject and conception were original and powerful; but his works have a hurried and incomplete look, his finish is coarse, sometimes woolly, and not free from vulgarity."
The Dangerous Playmate. By ETTY. A.D. 1833. In the National Gallery.The Dangerous Playmate.ByETTY.A.D1833.In the National Gallery.
WILLIAMETTY(1787—1849), the son of a miller at York, had few advantages to help him on the road to fame. His education was slight, and his early years were spent as a printer's apprentice in Hull. But he had determined to be a painter; and his motto was, as he tells us, "Perseverance." In 1806, he visited an uncle, in Lombard Street, and became a student at the Academy, though his earliest art-school was a plaster-cast shop in Cock Lane. Through his uncle's generosity, hebecame a pupil of Lawrence, who had little time to attend to him. Though overwhelmed with difficulties Etty persevered bravely. He laboured diligently in the "Life School," tried in vain for all the medals, sent his pictures to the Academy only to see them rejected; unlike Haydon, he never lost heart. In 1820The Coral Finderswas exhibited at the Academy, and in the following yearCleopatra. His patience and diligence were rewarded; henceforth his career was one of success. In 1822, he visited Italy, and in 1828 became a full member of the Academy. His art was very unequal. He chiefly devoted himself, however, to painting women, as being the embodiments of beauty. As a colourist few English painters have rivalled him, and as a painter of flesh he stands high. As showing the different forms of his many-sided art, we may mentionJudith and Holofernes,Benaiah,The Eve of theDeluge,Youth on the prow and Pleasure at the Helm,The Imprudence of Candaules,The dangerous Playmate, andThe Magdalen(all in the National Gallery). Etty died unmarried, and the possessor of a considerable fortune.
HENRYPERRONETBRIGGS(1792—1844), distinguished as an historic and portrait painter, began his art studies at the Academy in 1811, and was made a full member of that body in 1832. His best-known works areOthello relating his Adventures,The first Conference between the Spaniards and Peruvians, andJuliet and her Nurse; the two latter are in the National Gallery. This master in his later years forsook historical painting for portraiture.
Greek Fugitives. By EASTLAKE. Painted for Sir Matthew White Ridley, Bart. Exhibited at the Royal Academy in A.D. 1833.Greek Fugitives.ByEASTLAKE. Painted for Sir Matthew White Ridley, Bart.Exhibited at the Royal Academy inA.D. 1833.
CHARLESLOCKEASTLAKE(1793—1865), son of the Solicitor to the Admiralty in that town, was born at Plymouth, and educated first in Plympton Grammar School, where Reynolds had studied, and afterwards at the Charterhouse, London. Choosing the profession of a painter, he was encouraged, doubtless, by his fellow-townsman, Haydon, who had just exhibitedDentatus. Eastlake became the pupil of that erratic master, and attended the Academy schools. In 1813, he exhibited at the British Institution a large and ambitious picture,Christ raising the Daughter of the Ruler. In the following year the young painter was sent by Mr. Harman to Paris, to copy some of the famous works collected by Napoleon in the Louvre. The Emperor's escape from Elba, and the consequent excitement in Europe, caused Eastlake to quit Paris, and he returned to Plymouth, where he practised successfully as a portrait painter. A portrait of Napoleon, which Eastlake enlarged from his sketch of the Emperor on board theBellerophonwhen bound for St. Helena, appeared in 1815. This picture now belongs to Lord Clinton. In the same year he exhibitedBrutus exhorting the Romans to avenge the Death of Lucretia. In 1819 Eastlake visited Greece and Italy, and spent fourteen years abroad, chiefly at Ferrara and Rome. The picturesquedress of the Italian and Greek peasantry so fascinated him that for a long period he forsook history for smallgenreworks, of which brigands and peasants were the chief subjects. A large historical painting,Mercury bringing the Golden Apple to Paris, appeared in 1820. Seven years later,The Spartan Isidas, now in the possession of the Duke of Devonshire, was exhibited at the Academy, and procured for the painter the Associateship. It illustrates the story told by Plutarch, in his "Life of Agesilaus," of the young warrior called suddenly in his bath to oppose the Thebans. Rushing forth naked with his sword and spear, he drove back the Thebans and escaped unhurt. In 1828, Eastlake producedItalian Scene in the Anno Santo, Pilgrims arriving in sight of St. Peter's, which he twice repeated. In 1829Lord Byron's Dream, a poetic landscape (National Gallery), was exhibited, and Eastlake becoming an Academician, returned to England. Then followedGreek Fugitives,Escape of the Carrara Family from the Duke of Milan(a repetition is in the National Gallery),Haidee(National Gallery),Gaston de Foix before the Battle of Ravenna,Christ blessing Little Children,Christ weeping over Jerusalem(a repetition is in the National Gallery), andHagar and Ishmael. To his labours as a painter Eastlake added the duties of several important offices, and much valuable literary work. He was Secretary to the Royal Commission for Decorating the New Palace of Westminster, Librarian of the Royal Academy, and Keeper, and afterwards Director of the National Gallery. In 1850, he succeeded Sir Martin Shee as President of the Royal Academy, and was knighted. From that time till his death, at Pisa, in 1865, he was chiefly engaged in selecting pictures to be purchased by the British Government. He was editor of Kugler's "Handbook of the Italian Schools of Painting," and author of "Materials for a History of Oil Painting."
Joash shooting the Arrows of Deliverance. By DYCE. A.D. 1844. In the possession of Mr. Bicknell.Joash shooting the Arrows of Deliverance.ByDYCE. A.D. 1844.In the possession of Mr. Bicknell.
WILLIAMDYCE(1806—1864), a native of Aberdeen, commenced his art studies at the Royal Scottish Academy. Visiting Italy he studied the old masters, and their influence had a lasting effect upon his style. In 1827 Dyce exhibited at the Royal AcademyBacchus nursed by the Nymphs. In 1830, he settled in Edinburgh, and achieved marked success.The Descent of Venusappeared at the Academy in 1836. Having removed to London, Dyce exhibited, in 1844,Joash shooting the Arrows of Deliverance, and was elected an Associate. In 1847, he produced the sketch of a fresco executed at Osborne House,Neptune assigning to Britannia the Empire of the Sea. Dyce was chosen, in 1848, to decorate the Queen's Robing-Room in the Houses of Parliament, and commenced, but did not quite finish, a large series of frescoes illustratingThe Legend of King Arthur. He produced other historic works, chiefly of Biblical subjects, and of great merit.
GEORGEHARVEY(1805—1876) was born at St. Ninian's, Fifeshire, and apprenticed to a bookseller at Stirling. He quitted this craft at the age of eighteen, and commenced his art career at Edinburgh. In Scotland he gained a wide popularity. He took an active part in the establishment of the Royal Scottish Academy, and was knighted in 1867. His favourite subjects were Puritan episodes, such asCovenanters' Communion,Bunyan imagining his Pilgrim's Progress in Bedford Gaol, andThe Battle of Drumclog.
THOMASDUNCAN(1807—1845), a native of Perthshire, first attracted notice by his pictures of aMilkmaid, andSir John Falstaff. In 1840, he exhibited at the Royal Academy his historical painting,Entrance of Prince Charlie into Edinburgh after Preston Pans, and next year producedWaefu' Heart, from the ballad of "Auld Robin Gray," which is now at South Kensington.
Harold, returned from Normandy, presents himself to Edward the Confessor. By MACLISE. A.D. 1866. From the "Story of the Norman Conquest."Harold, returned from Normandy, presents himself to Edward the Confessor. By MACLISE. A.D. 1866.From the "Story of the Norman Conquest."
DANIELMACLISE(1811—1870) was born at Cork, and was intended for the unromantic calling of a banker's clerk. Fortunately for the world he soon left the bank stool for thestudio of the Cork Society of Arts. In 1828, he transferred his attention to the Academy schools in London, and soon obtained the gold medal for the best historic composition, representingThe Choice of Hercules. He had previously exhibitedMalvolio affecting the Count. In due course appeared, at the British Institution,Mokanna unveiling his features to Zelica, andSnap-Apple Night, which found a place at the Royal Academy. Maclise became a full Academician in 1840. His latter years were chiefly occupied with the famous water-glass pictures in the Houses of Parliament,The Interview of Wellington and Blucher after Waterloo, andThe Death of Nelson at Trafalgar. The noble cartoon (bought by subscriptions of artists, who likewise presented the designer with a gold port-crayon) of the former is now the property of the Royal Academy. Maclise executed many book illustrations, including those for "Moore's Melodies," and "The Pilgrims of the Rhine." He executed a noble series of designs delineatingThe Story of the Norman Conquest. A collection of his drawings has been bequeathed to the South Kensington Museum by Mr. John Forster. Maclise painted a few portraits, among them that of Charles Dickens, who spoke thus of the dead painter, "Of his prodigious fertility of mind and wonderful wealth of intellect, I may confidently assert that they would have made him, if he had been so minded, at least as great a writer as he was a painter. The gentlest, and most modest of men; the freest as to his generous appreciation of young aspirants; and the frankest and largest-hearted as to his peers. No artist ever went to his rest leaving a golden memory more free from dross, or having devoted himself with a truer chivalry to the goddess whom he worshipped." The most remarkable works of Maclise areMacbeth and the Witches;Olivia and Sophia fitting out Moses for the Fair;The Banquet Scene in Macbeth;Ordeal by Touch;Robin Hood and Cœur de Lion;The Play Scene in Hamlet(National Gallery);Malvolio and the Countess(National Gallery).
CHARLESLANDSEER(1799—1879), the elder brother of the more famous Sir Edwin Landseer, was a pupil of Haydon and the Royal Academy Schools. In 1836 appeared hisSacking of Basing House(now in the National Gallery). He was elected an A.R.A. in the following year, became a full member in 1845, and Keeper in 1851. Amongst other good works by him areClarissa Harlowe in the Spunging House(National Gallery),Charles II. escaping in disguise from Colonel Lane's House, andThe Eve of the Battle of Edgehill.
CHARLESLUCY(1814—1873) began life as a chemist's apprentice in his native town of Hereford. He soon forsook the counter, and went to Paris to study painting. Coming to London, he exhibitedCaractacus and his Family before the Emperor Claudius, a work which formed the introduction to a long series of historic pictures, noteworthy among which areThe Parting of Charles I. with his Children,The Parting of Lord and Lady Russell, andBuonaparte in discussion with the Savants, all of which were exhibited at the Academy. Lucy established a great reputation in Europe and America.
JOHNPHILLIP(1817—1867) was one of the best colourists of the English school. He was a native of Aberdeen, began life as an errand boy to what the Scotch call a "tin smith," and afterwards became an apprentice to a painter and glazier, and seems to have had instruction in his early pursuit of art from a portrait painter of his native town, named Forbes, who was very generous to him. A picture by Phillip secured him the patronage of Lord Panmure, who sent him to London. In 1837 the young painter entered the Academy Schools. He exhibited two portraits in 1838, and two years later returned to Aberdeen, exhibiting in the Royal AcademyTasso in Disguise relating his Persecutions to his Sister. Once more returning to London, Phillip exhibitedThe Catechism, and several pictures of Scottish life, asThe Baptism,The Spae Wife,The Free Kirk. Illness compelledhim to visit Spain in 1851, and here he produced many excellent pictures of Spanish life, which greatly added to his reputation, and gained for him the sobriquet of "Don Phillip of Spain."A Visit to Gipsy Quarters,The Letter-writer of Seville, andEl Paseoare examples of his Spanish pictures. In 1857 Phillip was elected Associate of the Royal Academy, and exhibited thePrison Window in Seville. Elected a full member in 1859, he painted next yearThe Marriage of the Princess Royal, by command of the Queen.La Gloria, one of his most celebrated works, appeared in 1864. His pictures combine correctness of drawing with boldness, if not refinement, of colouring—which is seldom met with in the works of our best painters.
ALFREDELMORE(1815—1881), an Irishman by birth, won for himself fame as a painter of historic scenes andgenresubjects. Among his works areRienzi in the Forum;The Invention of the Stocking LoomandThe Invention of the Combing Machine;Marie Antoinette in the Tuileries;Marie Antoinette in the Temple;Ophelia; andMary Queen of Scots and Darnley. He was elected a R.A. in 1857.
DOMESTIC subject, orgenre, painting in England may be said to have originated with Hogarth, but it made slow progress after his death till the commencement of the nineteenth century. Historic pictures of a large size were neither popular nor profitable. Corporate bodies did not care to spend money on the adornment of their guild halls, and ordinary householders had no room for large pictures. Englishmen are essentiallydomestic, and pictures small enough to hang in small houses, and illustrative of home life, suit their necessities, and appeal to their feelings far more strongly than vast canvases representing battles or sacred histories. Ingenrepainting the Dutch school has ever been prominent; to it we doubtless owe much of the popularity of this branch of art in England, where our painters have chosen familiar subjects, without descending to the coarse or sensual incidents in which some old Dutch artists delighted. Thegenrepainters of this country have mainly drawn their subjects from our national poets and prose writers and the every-day life of Englishmen, sometimes verging on the side of triviality, but on the whole including pleasing works, which, as it has been well said, "bear the same relation to historic art as the tale or novel does to history."
DAVIDWILKIE(1785—1841) was born in his father's manse at Cults, Fifeshire. It was fully intended that Wilkie should follow in his father's steps, and become a minister of the Scottish Kirk, but it was not to be so. He was placed, at his own earnest desire, in the Trustees' Academy, at Edinburgh, and there in 1803 justified the wisdom of this choice by gaining the ten-guinea premium for the best painting of the time, the subject beingCallisto in the Baths of Diana. Next year young Wilkie visited his home, and paintedPiltassie Fair, which he sold for £25. He painted portraits, and with the money thus acquired went to London in 1805. Having entered himself as a student at the Academy, Wilkie soon attracted attention by theVillage Politicians, which was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1806. One hundred of his paintings appeared from time to time on the Academy walls; each succeeding early work added to its author's fame. All his earlier works weregenrepictures. His favourite subjects are shown inThe Blind Fiddler,Card-Players,The Rent Day,The Jew's Harp,The Cut Finger,The Village Festival,Blindman's Buff,The Letter of Introduction,Duncan Gray,The Penny Wedding,Reading the Will,The Parish Beadle, andThe Chelsea Pensioners, the last painted for the Duke of Wellington. Wilkie was elected A.R.A. in 1809, and a full member in 1811. He went abroad in 1814, and again in 1825, when he visited Germany, Italy, and Spain. The study of the old masters, especially Correggio, Rembrandt, and Velazquez, had a marked effect on Wilkie, who changed both his style and subjects. He forsookgenrefor history and portraiture, and substituted a light effective style of handling for the careful execution of his earlier works.John Knox Preaching(National Gallery) is a good specimen of this second period of Wilkie's art. He succeeded Sir Thomas Lawrence in 1830 as Painter in Ordinary to the King, and was knighted six years later. In 1840 Wilkie visited the East, and painted the portrait of the Sultan Abdul Medjid. Next year,whilst far from home, on board a steamer off Gibraltar, he died, and found a grave in the sea. There are eleven of his pictures in the National Gallery. Her Majesty possesses most of the pictures painted by Wilkie in Spain, such asThe Guerilla Council of War, andThe Maid of Saragossa. Another Spanish picture, painted in England, isTwo Spanish Monks in the Cathedral of Toledo, belonging to the Marquis of Lansdowne. In it we notice the painting of the hands, which are full of life and action, a characteristic in which Wilkie excelled. "His early art certainly made a great impression on the English school, showing how Dutch art might be nationalized, and story and sentiment added to scenes of common life treated with truth and individuality. As to his middle time, such pictures as theJohn Knoxalso had their influence on the school, and the new mode of execution as supported by Wilkie's authority, a very evil influence, bringing discredit upon English pictures as entirely wanting in permanency. His methods and the pigments he used were soon discarded in England, but at the time they influenced, and have continued to influence, his countrymen long after his death." (Redgrave.)
The Maid of Saragossa. By WILKIE. A.D. 1827. In the possession of the Queen.The Maid of Saragossa.ByWILKIE.A.D1827.In the possession of the Queen.
WILLIAMFREDERICKWITHERINGTON(1785—1865) combined landscape and subject painting in his art. He exhibited his first picture,Tintern Abbey, in 1811, and his succeeding works were principally landscapes and figure subjects in combination. Witherington was elected A.R.A. in 1830, and became a full member ten years later. Favourable specimens of his thoroughly English and pleasing pictures areThe Stepping StonesandThe Hop Garlandin the National Gallery, andThe Hop Gardenin the Sheepshanks Collection at South Kensington.
ABRAHAMCOOPER(1787—1868), the son of an inn-keeper, was born in London, and early showed singular skill with his pencil. The inn stables furnished his first and favoured subjects, and the portrait of a favourite horse belonging to SirHenry Meux gained him his first patron. In 1814 Cooper exhibited at the British InstitutionTam o'Shanter, which was purchased by the Duke of Marlborough. In 1817The Battle of Marston Moorsecured his election as an Associate of the Academy: he became a R.A. in 1820. There is little variety in the subjects of this painter's works. The best known areThe Pride of the Desert,Hawking in the Olden Time,The Dead Trooper,Richard I.andSaladin at the Battle of Ascalon, andBothwell's Seizure of Mary, Queen of Scots.
WILLIAMMULREADY(1786—1863), the ablestgenrepainter in England except Wilkie, was born at Ennis, in the County Clare. Although his works are familiar to most of us as household words, few details of his life are known. We know that his father was a maker of leather-breeches, and that he came to London with his son when the latter was about five years old. The child is said to have shown very early the artistic power which was in him. He sat as a model for Solomon to John Graham, who was illustrating Macklin's Bible and probably the surroundings of the studio stimulated young Mulready's artistic instincts. By the recommendation of Banks, the sculptor, he gained entrance to the Academy Schools; at the age of fifteen he required no further pecuniary aid from his parents. Mulready worked in the Academy Schools, as he worked through life, with all his heart and soul. He declared he always painted as though for a prize, and that when he had begun his career in the world he tried his hand at everything, "from a caricature to a panorama." He was a teacher all his life, and this accounts, perhaps, for the careful completeness of his pictures. Mulready married when very young, and did not secure happiness. He began by painting landscapes, but in 1807 producedOld Kasper, from Southey's poem of "The Battle of Blenheim," his first subject picture.The Rattleappeared a year later, and marked advance. Both pictures bear evidence that their author had studied the Dutchmasters. In 1815 Mulready was chosen A.R.A., but before his name could appear in the catalogue he had attained to the rank of a full member. This was in 1816, when he exhibitedThe Fight interrupted(Sheepshanks Collection). From this time he was a popular favourite, and his pictures, of which he exhibited on an average scarcely two a year, were eagerly looked for. We may specifyThe Wolf and the Lamb,The Last in,Fair Time,Crossing the Ford,The Young Brother,The Butt,Giving a Bite,Choosing the Wedding Gown, andThe Toyseller(all in the National Gallery or in the South Kensington Museum). "With the exception perhaps of some slight deterioration in his colouring, which of late years was obtrusively purple, he was in the enjoyment of the full powers of his great abilities for upwards of half a century. * * * He was distinguished by the excellence of his life studies, three of which in red and black chalks, presented by the Society of Arts, are in the Gallery." (National Gallery Catalogue.)
Choosing the Wedding Gown. By MULREADY, A.D. 1846. In the Sheepshanks Gallery in the South Kensington Museum.Choosing the Wedding Gown.ByMULREADY,A.D1846.In the Sheepshanks Gallery in the South Kensington Museum.
ALEXANDERFRASER(1786—1865), a native of Edinburgh, exhibited his first picture,The Green Stall, in 1810. Having settled in London, he became an assistant to his countryman Wilkie, and for twenty years painted the still-life details of Wilkie's pictures. The influence of his master's art is visible in Fraser's pictures, which are usually founded upon incidents and scenes in Scotland, as, for example,Interior of a Highland Cottage(National Gallery) andSir Walter Scott dining with one of the Blue-gown Beggars of Edinburgh. Other examples areThe Cobbler at Lunch,The Blackbird and his Tutor, andThe Village Sign-painter.
Sancho Panza and the Duchess. By LESLIE. A.D. 1844. In the National Gallery.Sancho Panza and the Duchess.ByLESLIE.A.D1844.In the National Gallery.
CHARLESROBERTLESLIE(1794—1859) was born in London, probably in Clerkenwell, of American parents. His father was a clockmaker from Philadelphia, who returned with his family to America when the future painter was five years old. The boy was apprenticed to a bookseller, but his true vocation was decided by a portrait which he made of Cooke, the Englishtragedian, who was performing in Philadelphia. This work attracted so much notice among Leslie's friends that a subscription was raised to send him to England, the bookseller, his master, liberally contributing. In 1811, Leslie became a student of the Royal Academy, and received instruction from his countrymen Washington Allston and Benjamin West. Leslie, however, considered teaching of little value. He said that, if materials were provided, a man was his own best teacher, and he speaks of "Fuseli's wise neglect" of the Academy students. Influenced, probably, by the example of Allston and West, Leslie began by aiming at classic art. He mentions that he was reading "Telemachus," with a view to a subject, and among his early works wasSaul and the Witch of Endor. Even when he commenced to draw subjects from Shakespeare, he turned first to the historic plays, and paintedThe Death of RutlandandThe Murder Scene from "Macbeth." Unlike Wilkie and Mulready, Leslie did not strive tocreatesubjects for his pictures. He preferred to ramble through literature, and to select a scene or episode for his canvas. Wilkie invented scenes illustrating the festivities of the lower classes, Mulready chose similar incidents; it was left to Leslie to adopt "genteel comedy." Like his countryman and adviser, Washington Irving, he had visited, doubtless, many scenes of quiet English country life, and one of these is reproduced in his well-known picture ofSir Roger de Coverley going to Church, which was exhibited in 1819. He had previously shown his power in humorous subjects by paintingAnn Page and Slender. Leslie had discovered his true vocation, and continued to work in the department of the highergenrewith unabated success. The patronage of Lord Egremont, for whom he painted, in 1823,Sancho Panza in the Apartment of the Duchess, was the means of procuring him many commissions. The picture in the National Gallery, of which we give an illustration, is a replica with slightalterations, executed many years later. He married in 1825, and became a full member of the Academy a year later. In 1831 he exhibitedThe Dinner at Page's House, from "The Merry Wives of Windsor"—one of his finest works. No painter has made us so well acquainted with the delightful old reprobate, Falstaff, with Bardolph, and the merry company who drank sack at the Boar's Head in Eastcheap. There is a repetition ofThe Dinner at Page's Housein the Sheepshanks Collection, slightly varied from the first, and bearing traces of Constable's influence. In 1833, Leslie was appointed teacher of drawing at the American Academy at West Point, and with his family he removed thither. It was a mistake, and the painter returned to England within a year. He illustrated Shakespeare, Cervantes, Goldsmith, and Sterne, the latter furnishing him with the subject ofUncle Toby and the Widow Wadman. In 1838, Leslie, by request of the Queen, paintedHer Majesty's Coronation—which is very unlike the usual pictures of a state ceremonial. In 1841 he was commissioned to paintThe Christening of the Princess Royal. The domestic life of Leslie was peaceful and prosperous, till the death of a daughter gave a shock from which he never recovered. He died May 5, 1859. Mr. Redgrave says of his art, "Leslie entered into the true spirit of the writer he illustrated. His characters appear the very individuals who have filled our mind. Beauty, elegance, and refinement, varied, and full of character, or sparkling with sweet humour, were charmingly depicted by his pencil; while the broader characters of another class, from his fine appreciation of humour, are no less truthfully rendered, and that with an entire absence of any approach to vulgarity. The treatment of his subject is so simple that we lose the sense of a picture, and feel that we are looking upon a scene as it must have happened. He drew correctly and with an innate sense of grace. His colouring is pleasing, his costume simple and appropriate."
Captain Macheath. By NEWTON. A.D. 1826. In the possession of the Marquis of Lansdowne.Captain Macheath.ByNEWTON.A.D1826.In the possession of the Marquis of Lansdowne.
GILBERTSTUARTNEWTON(1794—1835), connected withLeslie by friendship and similarity of taste, was a native of Halifax, Nova Scotia. In 1817, when travelling in Europe, Newton met with Leslie at Paris, and returned with him to London. He was a student of the Academy, and soon attracted attention byThe Forsaken,Lovers' Quarrels, andThe Importunate Author, which were exhibited at the British Institution. Newton began to exhibit at the Academy in 1823, and delighted the world withDon Quixote in his Study, andCaptain Macheath upbraided by Polly and Lucy. In 1828 he surpassed these works withThe Vicar of Wakefield reconciling his Wife to Olivia, and was elected an A.R.A.Yorick and the Grisette,Cordelia and the Physician,Portia and Bassanio, and similar works followed. In 1832 Newton became a full member of the Academy, and visiting America, married, and returned with his wife to England. The brief remaining period of his life was clouded with a great sorrow; his mind gave way, and having exhibited his last picture,Abelard in his Study, he became altogether insane.
AUGUSTUSLEOPOLDEGG(1816—1863) was born in Piccadilly, and on becoming a painter chose similar subjects to those of Leslie and Newton. He had not the humour of Leslie; indeed, most of Egg's subjects are melancholy. His first works were Italian views, and illustrations of Scott's novels, which attracted little notice.The Victimpromised better. Egg showed pictures in the Suffolk Street Gallery, and, in 1838,The Spanish Girlappeared at the Royal Academy. Failing health compelled him to winter abroad, and on the 23rd of March, 1863, he died at Algiers, and was buried on a lonely hill. Three years before his death Egg had become a full member of the Academy. He is described as having a greater sense of colour than Leslie, but inferior to Newton in this respect. In execution he far surpassed the flimsy mannerism of the latter. His females have not the sweet beauty and gentleness of Leslie's. In the National Gallery isA Scene from "Le DiableBoiteux," in which the dexterity of Egg's execution is visible. He partially concurred with the pre-Raphaelites in his later years, and their influence may be traced inPepys' Introduction to Nell Gwynne, and in a scene from Thackeray's "Esmond." Other noteworthy pictures areThe Life and Death of Buckingham;Peter the Great sees Catherine, his future Empress, for the First Time;The Night before Naseby; andCatherine and Petruchio.
EDWINHENRYLANDSEER(1802—1873) was eminent among English animal painters. No artist has done more to teach us how to love animals and to enforce the truth that—