NOTES 
 
 DESCRIPTIVE OF THE 
 
 PORTRAIT OF J. M. W. TURNER, 
 
 R.A., 
 
 PAINTED BY HIMSELF, 
 
 AND EXAMPLES OF HIS PICTURES AND SKETCHES, 
 
 NOW ON EXHIBITION. 
 
 . 4 
 
 By Robert Walker. 
 
 PRICE 3s. 6d. 
 
 An issue of 150 copies only, illustrated with Photographs of the 
 Portraits of the Cireat Artist and a Lady, presumably his Wife, 
 the Subjects of his Boating, Yachting, Fishing, Courtship, 
 Marriage, the Honeymoon in the Isle of Wight, &c., 16 in 
 
 number. 
 
 Single Copies, when these are exhausted, will be executed to 
 order at 5s., by application to Mr. G. Gubbins, Bookseller, 
 Freshwater, Isle of Wight. 
 
NOTES 
 
 DESCRIPTIVE OF THE 
 
 PORTRAIT OF J. M. W. TURNER, 
 
 R.A., 
 
 PAINTED BY HIMSELF, 
 
 AND EXAMPLES OF HIS PICTURES AND SKETCHES, 
 
 NOW ON EXHIBITION. 
 
 By Robert Walker. 
 
 PRICE 3S.6 d. 
 
 An issue of 150 copies only, illustrated with Photographs of the 
 Portraits of the Great Artist and a Lady, presumably his Wife, 
 the Subjects of his Boating, Yachting, Fishing, Courtship, 
 Marriage, the Honeymoon in the Isle of Wight, <5cc., 16 in 
 
 number. 
 
 Single Copies, when these are exhausted, will be executed to 
 order at 5s., by application to Mr. G. Gubbins, Bookseller, 
 Freshwater, Isle of Wight. 
 
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INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 
 
 The owner of the present exhibition of the works of J. M. W. 
 Turner, R.A., has a conception that some degree of interest and 
 discussion leading to controversy, will arise on the question of its 
 genuine character. Very little is generally known of his early 
 works, pninted previous to the commencement of the present 
 century. To the non-readers of his life the great man’s hand 
 will be invisible, and a smile of incredulity will be accorded by 
 the most good-natured: the boyish school-day work, the advancing 
 step of sea-painting in the scene “Off’ the Reculvers,” the lover- 
 like simplicity exhibited in the “Romantic Welsh Landscape,” the 
 boy and girl lovers’ figures can never be associated in common 
 capacities of analogical enquirers with “The Sun rising in a Mist/* 
 with “The Wreck of the Minotaur,” with “Childe Harold’s Pilgrim- 
 age,” and “The Glorious Temeraire” of his matured powers. He 
 therefore feels it incumbent on himself to offer a few notes of eluci- 
 dation to the many — to the few the}^ will not be needed — in order 
 to dispel cloudy conceptions on its character. 
 
 To write of Turner being the most varied, the most prolific, and 
 the greatest landscape painter of the English school is but to repeat 
 truisms. In this small collection, however, the germ exists in all the 
 varieties — portraits, seascapes, landscapes, architecture, waterfalls, 
 moonlights; scenes abroad and at home; sketches in Scotland and 
 Wales — in that rare vehicle of oil application, of which but a very 
 few were found by his executors, among the nineteen thousand odd 
 at his death. He once told Mr. Monro that he got them too brown, 
 hence their rarity in commerce, and infrequence in notice. 
 
 It is now well known that Turner in his early practice emulated 
 the popular painters of the period, whose works sold readily, while 
 his own transcripts of Nature were not appreciated by the public; 
 even after his election to the Royal Academyship, Wilson and Gains- 
 borough’s influence predominated in many works, whose qualities 
 he combined with a master’s skill. His seapieces, too, possessed the 
 manner of Loutherbourg, but with a freshness and charm not to be 
 found in that master. 
 
4 
 
 It is, however, on the attributes of the Portrait of the great 
 painter that the owner desires to direct the critical eye, — painted 
 at a period subsequent to those grand creations of his mind and 
 hand — “Crossing the Brook,” “The Rise of the Carthaginian Empire,” 
 and “The Fall of the Reichenbach” (in water colours), exhibited in 
 1815; and culminating in the “Polyphemus,” 1829, and coeval with 
 the grand study of “Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage,” his powers yet in 
 reserve for the magnificence of the “Temeraire” of 1839, it must 
 possess an interest unparalleled; — in the history of English Art it 
 stands unique. When Sir Joshua painted his own head repeatedly; 
 Gainsborough, too, on several occasions pourtraying himself; who 
 will proclaim the painter of this work was the least of the trio, and 
 the work itself deserving a lower niche in the Temple of Fame? 
 The owner very much questions which of the three would attain a 
 majority of a preference by profound critics if exhibited on the same 
 wall space — the Sir Joshua at Florence; the Gainsborough in the 
 council-room at the Royal Academy; and this unique example from 
 the hand of the “greatest landscape painter of the English school.” 
 In the unpractised work the chief interest lies. Who can say to 
 what wondrous perfection a life given to its pursuits would have 
 attained in this branch of the Art? 
 
 It may be demurred that the position of the face, looking off* from 
 the spectator, is against the usual practice of painting before a mirror. 
 The demurrers, however, little know the vast powers of the artist — 
 one who could portray himself in any position. In the present col- 
 lection he is seen in profile, steering his yacht. He shows a back 
 position in the old “Rows of Chester”: he is seen kneeling (looking 
 for a lost fish), from his hat to the sole of his shoe, showing the pe- 
 culiar steel protection of leather, and Avhich carried him his 25 miles 
 a day, in the “Park Waterfall at Bolton Abbey;” he may have had 
 help, too, from Chantrey making a pencil drawing of his features for 
 an ultimate bust for an “Institution to be called Turner’s Gift.” 
 
 It is not generally known that Turner, for a period, was a pupil 
 and student of Sir Joshua Reynolds, and copied his works. Thorn- 
 bury, in his life, records the following account of his connection with 
 the greatest master of the English school of portrait painting: — 
 “Turner is now growing up. He had been allowed to copy two of 
 Reynolds’s wonderful portraits ; and it is impossible to say what 
 might have been the effect on his future life of this contact with a 
 
great painter’s mature mind ; but it was of short duration, for Sir 
 Joshua one day, engaged upon Lady Beauchamp’s portrait, finds his 
 eyes beginning to fail, and with a sigh resigns his brush all but for 
 ever. With the death of Reynolds, Turner apparently ceased to 
 think much of portraits, yet his picture of himself at the age of 
 seventeen, now in the Vernon Gallery, shows he had attained no 
 mean skill in that branch of art. Destitute though he may be of 
 the grave, wise firmness of Reynolds, and unequal to the production 
 of mellow reds, pearly greys, and sunny browns, still he must have 
 learnt many secrets of execution from this description of copying. 
 
 “ It was towards the close of the great portrait painter’s career that 
 Turner had access to Reynolds’s house for the purpose of copying 
 those exquisite women and dignified men. We can fancy Sir 
 Joshua, with the shrewd face and scarred lip, the white wig, the 
 beaming spectacles, and the ear-trumpet, regarding him approvingly, 
 and patting him on the head as he enters with his square boxwood 
 palette and long mahogany brushes. 
 
 “We know for a certainty that the long-haired youth was present 
 as an ardent student on that eventful day, as Sir Joshua was 
 lecturing in the great room at Somerset House. The floor suddenly 
 gave way, a dreadful panic ensued among the lords, and wits, and 
 artists then congregated, but Sir Joshua sat as calm as Jove. I 
 suppose after the first alarm Sir Joshua also retreated with the 
 calmest of those who remained unmoved, for my story has it that 
 in escaping Turner and Sir Joshua were close companions. Little 
 thought he then that the long-haired student, the observant lad 
 who came to his studio to copy, and who on that occasion moved 
 calmly by his side, was a great genius, destined to advance painting 
 beyond the furthest triumph it had at that period achieved.” 
 
 That Turner at a later period could draw the figure powerfully 
 and nobly, is evident not only from the admirable picture of “Venus 
 and Adonis ” (in the collection of Mr. Munro, of Hamilton Place), 
 which is an imitation of Titian, but from a life study (in the same 
 collection), which I am unable to assign to any special period, but 
 which is worthy of Etty for power and of Mulready for correctness. 
 The “Venus and Adonis” was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 
 1849, but “Bacchus and Ariadne,” probably a companion subject, 
 appeared in 1840. 
 
 The artist of Turner’s admiration next to Girten was Reynolds, 
 
6 
 
 He drew his purse to buy Sir J oshua’s palette to present to Shee. 
 Hence may be discerned some affinity with the school of the great 
 master of portrait in the colour and technical execution by this his 
 youngest disciple. 
 
 The owner here records his grateful thanks to Messrs. Chatto and 
 Windus for their ready accord and kindness in giving permission 
 for this and many other extracts from Thornbury’s Life of Turner 
 to appear; without it, indeed, the interest of the work would have 
 been faint, and the story in a measure unreliable. He believes from 
 their continuity — from its commencement to the end — that it would 
 form a second appendix to any future edition this eminent and en- 
 terprising firm of publishers may issue of the life of the great artist. 
 
 He enters upon the descriptive points of the subjects with the 
 spirit of an analyst. Several incidents belong to the painter’s do- 
 mestic relations, or in which he perpetuates his own person as part 
 of the scene. Yachting, fishing, boating, courtship, and marriage 
 designs, enter freely into the themes. To readers of his life and 
 students of his nature and character these are at once apparent. 
 To all others they convey no other meaning than simple accessories 
 to make up a judicious composition. His intention is to keep the 
 collection together and sell it as a whole, by auction or otherwise, 
 at the reserved price of £1200. “Keep them together,” Turner 
 would say on analagous occasion. He believes many owners of the 
 artist’s great pictures — the Petworth Gallery, the matchless Farnley 
 Hall Collection, the fine Walton Bridge, for which Mr. Agnew gave 
 £7000 or upwards — would value the portrait alone at double the 
 money. In a recent sale at Christie’s, “Helvoetsluys, City of 
 Utrecht,” a coeval work exhibited in 1832, realized 6400 guineas; 
 the “Val D’ Aosta,” 4000 guineas; “Mortlake,” another coeval work, 
 5200 guineas; “Going to the Ball” and “Returning from the Ball,” 
 2800 guineas each; “A Dream of Italy,” 1250 guineas. (All these 
 fell to the bidding of Mr. Agnew). Its most appropriate position, 
 however, would be in juxtaposition with the great Polyphemus. 
 He names this price as within the means of many corporate art 
 collections, and the affording an opportunity to see at a glance the 
 advancing steps of a great genius — from the small boy’s weak and 
 timid hand to the apex of the masterly portraiture of its embodi- 
 ment — conveying its very mind in unmistakable characters a 
 supremacy over all its fellows in the art it had chosen to exercise 
 
7 
 
 its faculties — a contemptuous anger in the flashing steel grey-blue 
 eye and the firm set mouth, at the treatment it had received from 
 the art patrons of the period. “From exhibition after exhibition 
 his pictures came back to him unsold.” “It is a well attested 
 fact,” says Thornbury, “that while tenth-rate Caraccis and sordid 
 I)u tell pictures were being purchased by hundreds to fill the 
 the galleries of the nobility, Turner’s Venetian pictures found recog- 
 nition of merit among the merchants of Manchester.” 
 
 “Imagine,” says Mr. Ruskin, “what it was to a man to live seventy 
 years in the hard world, with the kindest heart and the noblest 
 intellect of his time, never to meet with a word of sympathy. From 
 the time he knew his own greatness all the world was against him ; 
 he held his own, but it could not be without a roughness of bearing 
 and hardening of the temper if not of the heart. No one under- 
 stood him, no one trusted him, and every one cried out against him.” 
 The very embodiment of his genius, under these depressing 
 slights and insults, is here fully exemplified by its own act and 
 deed. 
 
8 
 
 J. M. W. TURNER, R.A. 
 
 1. PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST, circa 1830. 
 
 This fine head of the greatest landscape painter of the English 
 school stands unparalleled in interest among his compeers in their 
 portraitures. Sir Joshua Reynolds, Gainsborough, and others of 
 high renown had repeatedly transmitted to canvas their re-ispe 
 performances. Many may be seen in the council-room at the Royal 
 Academy and other noted collections, but excepting the portrait 
 painted when young, in the National Gallery, there is no other known 
 from his own hand that is painted with a consciousness of the power 
 that had just then executed the marvellous Polyphemus. There had 
 been no knowledge of its existence until, a few months since, it was 
 found in a state of utter neglect, with a companion portrait of a lady 
 painted by the same hand. Both had been cut out of their frames, 
 and had been folded and compressed for packing; probably coming 
 from the Continent some 25 years since, at which period the late 
 owner purchased them from a dealer at Knightsbridge. Its previous 
 history must remain a matter of conjecture, but it can be readily 
 imagined that the motive for painting it lay in the intention of 
 founding an institution for the maintenance and support of poor and 
 decayed artists, of which particulars may be seen in the will exe- 
 cuted in 1831, and this would have been a part of its furniture — 
 the presence of their friend and benefactor. It is well known how 
 futile this intention turned out, and the great likelihood is that he 
 carried it abroad in one of his repeated visits to the Continent; 
 probably he may have painted it at Rome, where he was living and 
 working in 1829. His housekeeper, Mrs. I)anby, would have been 
 likely to have known and spoken of its existence had it been painted 
 under her own immediate notice. There were other agencies (of 
 which more hereafter) that had a claim to it, but it is likely that its 
 antecedents will ever remain — like its original — an incomprehen- 
 sible mystery. 
 
 It will be seen that the hand holding paper has been cut away, 
 leaving only a fragment of the thumb. This paper, doubtless, when 
 painted, contained writing that intimated the contents which, in 
 after years, the artist himself thought fit to cancel 
 
9 
 
 2. PORTRAIT OF A LADY. 
 
 Presumably the wife of the artist. Strong evidences of a marriage 
 will appear in the course of routine of description of each subject of 
 the collection; here it may be stated that in Thornbury’s life an 
 attachment to a lady — the sister of Mrs. Trimmer — was formed, but 
 ended in disappointment (another fallacy). Thus in the progress 
 of examination of his note books, in a little red book with a clasp, 
 marked June, 1813, there occurs “some obscure verses about 
 Anna ’ ‘ kiss e a look back ,’ ‘ toilsome dream! an d ‘ human joy , 
 ecstasy, and hope,’ and the like.” It is somewhat singular that in a 
 letter to Mr. Trimmer he proposes that the lady should make the 
 advance; adding, that Sandycombe, his Thames villa, was empty, 
 and should change ownership. This was in 1813, and the uncon- 
 ventional mode of proposal doubtless ended this matter of courtship, 
 and the fulfilment of the “human joy, ecstasy, and hope,” the result 
 within a brief period after. 
 
 The design of a marriage is fully depicted in one of the most 
 remarkable works of the master, and included in the present collec- 
 tion — “The Old Rows of Chester” — and search is being instituted 
 in the registers of the many churches of the old city: it is, however, 
 exceedingly likely that the marriage rites were conducted with 
 great secrecy by special licence, and it may be difficult clearly to 
 arrive at any discovery of corroborative evidence of an act con- 
 ducted with the tact of his well-known reserve and masterly 
 reticence. 
 
 The portrait, as has already been stated, was the companion to his 
 own, and had been much injured and maltreated, so much so that the 
 former owner had altered its form to an oval; the present owner 
 however, for the better harmony of juxtaposition, has restored it to 
 its original square. It will be seen that the manner is much like 
 that of Sir Thos. Lawrence, especially in the eyes, and in its pristine 
 state the face must have been as highly finished as a miniature. 
 The companionship is evident from the exactitude of position ; the 
 same turn of heads, the same cast of shadows — especially under the 
 nose — rendering it certain and sure, and beyond cavil or dispute. 
 
10 
 
 a SCHOOL DAYS AT MARGATE. — “A HOLIDAY.” 
 
 The proclivities of the artist for the sea and its phases are exemplified 
 in this interesting early work, painted probably before the age of 14. 
 The scene represents the young artist in the act of launching, with 
 his oar, a boat in which two ladies are seated. The younger is evi- 
 dently the sister of his school friend, the other her stepmother. 
 Thornbury relates that this love affair commenced at the age of 13. 
 He was then known to copy Morland in oils, and at the age of 10 
 could draw a ship with its rig correctly. Painted on oak panel. 
 
 7J by 5 inches. 
 
 4. THE ARTIST & HIS FRIEND MR. BELL, THE ENGRAVER, 
 IN A TRIP TO MARGATE. 
 
 Thornbury surmises that this excursion was made by land. He 
 relates, however, “that Lord Egremont used to assert that Turner 
 kept a yacht, but we cannot ascertain this to be the case.” The craft 
 in question is that seen in the view, a Dutch galliot, at that time 
 common in the Thames. 
 
 The scene is off the Reculvers, the vessel careering towards Mar- 
 gate under a jib and lugsail, the artist at the helm and his companion 
 directing his attention to the twin towers of the church. In the 
 offing a sloop of war is hove too, signalling a pilot boat with sunlit 
 sail near the shore. The sea is wonderfully rendered in this early 
 work (painted about 1795), and the handling and action of the 
 vessel are perfect. Painted on canvas. 20 by 24 inches. 
 
 5. A ROMANTIC LANDSCAPE IN WALES. 
 
 A pathetic interest must attach to this early work of the young 
 painter. He has depicted his own struggles — uphill endeavours 
 to provide a home for the object of his love, left at Margate. He 
 paints a rough, uphill road, but nearing its summit, and showing a 
 restful valley beyond; on the right a large empty sunlit cottage 
 occurs, waiting to be occupied. Midway down the road the lovers 
 appear, himself in the familiar red cap of the holiday episode, 
 kneeling and offering a bouquet of wild flowers to his companion. 
 
11 
 
 To denote the far-away distance, a woman in Welsh costume is 
 descending the road with a basket on her arm, suggestive of market- 
 ing purposes for the young couple, — j probably painted for his 
 promised bride. 
 
 Thornbury tells that here, “through the influence of the wicked 
 stepmother and the suppression of his letters and other tokens of 
 his continued attachment, the girl was induced to believe that he 
 no longer desired to continue the engagement, and she formed 
 another connection, and a day of marriage was fixed. Within a 
 week of the appointed day Turner suddenly arrived from a distant 
 town. He immediately went to visit his accepted bride, and he was 
 frantic at hearing what had occurred. He had written constantly, 
 and, notwithstanding he had received no replies, his faith in her was 
 unshaken; he still loved her with all fervour and all truth, and he 
 urged her in the most passionate terms to break off the alliance she 
 was about to form. Entreaties and adjurations were unavailing, and 
 Turner left her in bitter grief, declaring that he would never marry, 
 and that his life henceforth was hopeless and blighted.” 
 
 13 by 11 inches. 
 
 6. A WELSH MOUNTAIN STORM. 
 
 Waves of vapour roll up the valley; torrents descend from every 
 declivity. A great wave breaks over a cottage which is seen in the 
 act of collapsing, forming a scene of the utmost desolation. Painted 
 in a grey monochrome. 
 
 It is not too much to assume that this sketch was an outcome of 
 the bitter grief and agony the artist experienced from the breaking 
 off on the part of his accepted bride from her promise, the incident 
 of the ruined cottage leads to this conclusion. 12 by 16 inches. 
 
 7. IRON FOUNDRIES IN WALES, with Moon Rising. 
 
 Painted in emulation of Loutherbourg’s famous Eidophusikon (a 
 combination of scene painting and landscape), which all the world 
 went to see, and of which exhibition Gainsborough was a passionate 
 admirer and Sir Joshua Reynolds a frequent visitor. Thornbury 
 
12 
 
 relates that “Mrs. Loutherbourg grew very jealous of Turner’s visits 
 to her husband, and that at last, suspecting the young painter was 
 obtaining all her husband’s secrets from him, she shut the door in 
 his face and roughly refused him admittance.” The combination of 
 natural moonlight and artificial foundry flame is admirably rendered. 
 
 13 by 18 inches. 
 
 8. THE OLD BRIDGE OF PONT-Y-PAIN, BETTWYS-Y-COED. 
 
 • 
 
 Under the arch is seen the famous salmon leap, the morning sun 
 lighting up the parapet and other points with fine effect; beyond is 
 a group of Scotch firs or stone pines, painted with singular truth to 
 nature. Thornbury mentions that “in one of the Farnley drawings 
 there is a large fir, so true, so vigorous, so matchless, that it shows 
 not only that Turner could draw the fir when he chose, but that he 
 might have been one of the finest painters of trees the world ever 
 saw.” Painted about 1798 on a mahogany panel. 11 by 13 inches. 
 
 9. A FRENCH COAST SCENE, with Fishermen. 
 
 Cape Grisnez in the distance. In the manner of Claude. Unfinished. 
 Probably made in his first Continental tour in 1802. 5 by 7 inches. 
 
 10. THE MILL AND LOCK AT HANWELL. 
 
 A finished sketch for the well-known picture, from which it varies 
 in tone of colour, the sky being very pearly in tone and less cloudy, 
 and the absence of the cattle and figures. Painted on a sheet of 
 paper and relaid on canvas. 8 by 10 inches. 
 
 Mr. Trimmer informed Thornbury that the sketch was painted 
 in the evening after a visit to his father. The subject engraved in 
 the Liber Studiorum and in the Royal Gallery of British Art. 
 
 11. A DISTANT VIEW OF BEESTON CASTLE. 
 
 Windy day with storm clouds A woman driving cows and sheep, 
 with a rocky foreground. Painted on an old orange-yellow coach- 
 panel. 7 by 10 inches. 
 
 12. THE LAKE OF LLANBERIS. 
 
 Early dawn. Painted on oak panel. 
 
 4 by 7J inches, 
 
13 
 
 13. A CASCADE OF REICHENBACH, SWITZERLAND. 
 
 A beautiful work, painted in 1815, the great year of the artist’s 
 exhibits at the R.A., in which the “Carthage” and Swiss subjects 
 appeared, with “Crossing the Brook” and the “Great Fall of the 
 Reiclienbach,” in water colours, now at Farnley Hall — a galaxy un- 
 precedented from one hand. This cabinet example is from one of 
 the minor falls, that enters the valley of Hasle below the great fall. 
 Its chief interest lies in the descent of water illuminated by the 
 evening sun; the foreground of rocks, however, and accessories of 
 goats are in the same beautiful keeping in the contrast of shadow. 
 In the original frame, made by Cooper, whose card of address is 
 affixed at the back, “43 Piccadilly.” These premises were occupied 
 by the frame maker in the year 1815 only. See London Directories. 
 
 24 by 20 inches. 
 
 14. THE BRIG O’ DOON, with Kirk Alloway. 
 
 The scene of the witches’ and warlocks’ revels in the immortal “Tam 
 o’ Shanter,” and the Burns monument in the distance, taken from 
 the banks o’ Doon. An unfinished sketch in oil, showing the mark 
 of the artist’s thumb on its lower left corner. Painted about the 
 time of his visit to Scotland in 1818, to make drawings for Border 
 Antiquities; on millboard, with the equally interesting “Brigs o’ Ayr” 
 at the back, showing a grey luminous sky, originally possessing a 
 rainbow, which has been scraped off by a former owner and the 
 sky restored; it has otherwise suffered from ill usage. 
 
 15. THE PARK WATERFALL, BOLTON ABBEY, 1826. 
 
 Painted in tempera body colour and varnished in imitation of a 
 work in oil. Autumn foliage, with the portrait of Turner fishing. 
 The position of this figure marks an incident in his fishing procli- 
 vities. A big trout appears to have carried away his line from the 
 reel, and he is kneeling and bending over the pool in search of it. 
 The dress is characteristic, a wide-tailed coat with large pockets, and 
 the upturned sole of his shoe shod like a horse instead of nails. 
 Thornbury relates that his walks extended to 25 miles a day. Farn- 
 ley Hall, to which his usual visits to Yorkshire were directed, is 
 about 12 miles from Bolton Abbey. 16 by 11 inches. 
 
14 
 
 16. VIEW OF A TOWN ON AN ISLAND IN THE 
 MEDITERRANEAN. 
 
 With craft, boats with microscopical figures. Painted on a piece of 
 card, said to have been given by the artist to a lady, circa 1836. 
 
 17. THE OLD ROWS OF CHESTER. 
 
 The incidents depicted in this extraordinary work convey a revelation 
 appertaining to the life of the gifted artist and great man, of a 
 circumstance hitherto unknown and unsuspected, illustrating in 
 the fullest measure the secretiveness of his nature, and the un- 
 bounded reticence on a subject, that continued to the end of his 
 life — the marriage with the lady whose portrait accompanies his 
 in this collection. The design is obvious; every incident conduces 
 to the purpose and conclusion. The principal figures (his own de- 
 notes lameness and he walks with a stick — Thornbury relates 
 that at one period in a sketching ramble he snapped a tendon 
 Achillis, enforcing limping about with a stick) — the lady in white 
 hat and dress of the period of George IV., and himself in wedding 
 costume; to emphasise this purpose the stronger, a boy behind the 
 couple is pointing with outstretched hand to the unusual spectacle. 
 The accessories before them are equally conclusive. A sun-ray crosses 
 their path to the church, illustrating the adage “Happy the bride 
 the sun shines on.” A feast is provided in a booth at the end of 
 the row, towards which a gipsy in a red cloak is walking; a tipsy 
 market-woman and a man in similar condition are on the steps lead- 
 ing down from the row in Bridge Street; the balustrades are crowded 
 with people; bales of requisites for travel litter the streets; a tilted 
 waggon is being loaded with trunks and other luggage; a character- 
 istic incident in the composition is the horse, old Cropear, fitted 
 with a pad saddle to carry the lady, and newly steel shod for more 
 lasting wear on Continental roads. 
 
 There can be no other meaning in these symbols than a mar- 
 riage; the registers of the Chester churches have been looked into, 
 but hitherto no evidence of the well-known name appears. The 
 secretiveness of his nature would make it highly improbable for 
 
15 
 
 him to disclose in a city where he had been a frequent visitor, and 
 had made it the subject of several drawings, a circumstance he in- 
 tended to keep with a profound taciturnity. In all probability his 
 instincts, like that of the lapwing, would suggest the design of 
 making Chester to appear the scene of its performance. Its appa- 
 rent Continental character induces a belief in the owner’s mind that 
 it occurred in a Continental city of quaint old houses, while the 
 decided English church and provincial figures and market wares 
 would tend to stifle inquiries in quarters he was known to frequent 
 abroad. 
 
 “All his life,” writes Thornbury, “he had the peculiar love of 
 mystification which is the result of suspicious reserve. As a youth 
 he concealed his processes of water-colours from all but special 
 friends, .... and at a later period he stole backwards and forwards 
 to the Continent with the jealous secrecy with which a detective 
 
 officer effects his silent journeys His charitable intentions 
 
 were mysteries; his residence was a mystery; where he had been to, 
 where he was going to, and what he intended to do, were all mysteries; 
 and so powerful was this habit of reserve that I have no doubt he 
 died absolutely rejoicing in the fact that even his best friend knew 
 not where he lay hid.” 
 
 The marriage is likely to have occurred in 1814, following close 
 upon the entry in the little red book of 1813 of the verses about 
 “Anna Kiss, the human joy, a look back, a toilsome dream, and 
 hope.” Necessarily the expense of maintaining another establish- 
 ment awakened him to greater efforts; to meet this the exhibits at 
 Somerset House in 1815 were abnormal. The spirit of industry had 
 been roused, and he sends for exhibition eight works, by the sale 
 of which he hoped to hold his own and maintain his secret. His 
 prices were then but moderate. The list comprises several of his 
 most important works, as may be judged from Thornbury’s record 
 and Academy catalogues: — 
 
 1 “Bligh Sand, near Sheerness. Fishing boats trawling. 
 
 2 “Crossing the Brook.” (£500 said to have been its price). 
 
 3 “Dido Building Carthage; or the Rise of the Carthaginian 
 
 Empire.” (£100). 
 
 4 “The Battle of Fort Rock, Yal d’Aouste, Piedmont.” 
 
 5 “The Eruption of the Souffrier Mountains in the Island of St. 
 
 Vincent, at Midnight, on the 30th April, 1812.” 
 
16 
 
 6 “The Passage of Mount St. Gothard; taken from the centre of 
 
 the Teufelsbriick (Devil’s Bridge), Switzerland.” 
 
 7 “The Great Fall of the Reichenbach, in the valley of Hasle, 
 
 Switzerland,” now at Farnley Hall. 
 
 8 “The Lake of Lucerne; from the landing-place at Fluelen, 
 
 looking towards Bauen and Tell’s Chapel, Switzerland.” 
 The “wonderful year!” as Thornbury calls it. 
 
 “There are men living,” writes Thornbury, “who have seen him 
 in bitter anger about the neglect shown to his exhibited pictures.” 
 Pointing to a stack of them against a wall he would say: “Don’t talk 
 about ’em; all of them came back. They might have had ’em; now 
 they shan’t have ’em.” 
 
 Doubtless the works exhibited in this year were included in the 
 “stack”; the most important of them certainly were returned unsold 
 and now enrich the national collection; yet hope sustained him, and 
 the “Fallacies,” which had begun to appear three years previous, 
 were not called again into requisition until 1830. He had kept his 
 secret. Prosperity, in a worldly sense, had attended him. Suddenly 
 there must have been a terrible catastrophe that had altered the 
 whole tenor of his nature. The “Fallacies of Hope” recur in quo- 
 tations almost continually from this period until the end of his life. 
 
 Stupendous Avalanche! lamentable the wreck; pathetic must 
 be the story, if ever related, of the ending of what appears to have 
 been a happy union; attracting his presence far, far away from his 
 English home, securing it there and making it a field of industry 
 year after year, and where most of his finest conceptions were exe- 
 cuted; France, Switzerland, Italy, Holland, &c., affording subjects 
 that appeared on the Academy walls successively at each yearly 
 exhibition — a field that yielded those beautiful creations for the 
 engravers, and were ready to hand when needed for “Rogers’s Italy” 
 and “Rivers of France.” The sight of these exquisite productions 
 is a convincing proof that happiness attended him; sunshine 
 brightened his days in the frequent company of a wife, never 
 publicly owned. He had doubtless impressed her with reasons 
 for this necessity, and contented her with a promise that she 
 should take her proper place in his English home as soon as 
 policy permitted. The lady of the portrait would be no termagant; 
 her gentle, dove-like eyes are beaming with love and contentment. 
 She had her children to vary the monotony during his necessary 
 
17 
 
 absences. Again let it be repeated, pathetic must be the story of 
 the destruction of this happy union. The retrospection of this 
 period doubtless ultimately destroyed the equilibrium of his brain, 
 and fully accounts for the vagaries of his hand in the latter years of 
 his life, and rendering him irresponsible for any erratic movements. 
 His absolutely living and dying under an assumed name shows the 
 intensity of the effect on his sensitive nature. 
 
 It is impossible to ignore Mr. Ruskin’s eulogies on his character 
 Admitting shady qualities inherent in human nature, he is emphatic 
 on points conducive to the due fulfilment of a husband’s duty. “He 
 never broke a promise or failed in an undertaken trust. Tenderness 
 of heart (extreme), Uprightness, Generosity, are qualities he admo- 
 nishes Thornbury to bear in mind in relating the story of his life; 
 yet not to mask the dark side — Sensuality ( appearances against him 
 here), Obstinacy (extreme), Irritability, and Infidelity, and be sure 
 that he knew his own power.” His proclivities for a married state 
 are exemplified by a clause in his will (executed in 1831) to a degree 
 of intolerance of illegitimate intercourse — an interdict of any parti- 
 cipation in the benefits of his projected institution by other than 
 poor and decayed male artists born in England and of English 
 parents and lawful issue. 
 
 “His sense of justice,” continues Mr. Thornbury, “was strangely 
 acute.” Whatever the cause that terminated the connection, we 
 may be sure he acted with justice in making a provision for the 
 wife’s future maintenance. The lady makes no complaint; her 
 death alone probably exposed the evidence of the picture’s story* 
 which she had treasured with jealous care. It had been warehoused 
 in the West of England, now over thirty years since, and stated to 
 be of singular character and value, and, the case never to be opened; 
 but after twenty-five years’ custody the charges had long been in 
 arrears, and no one appearing to claim or take an interest in it, a 
 dealer at Bristol purchased it at a sale for a few pounds, in the be- 
 lief it was painted by Prout. From him it came into the present 
 owner’s hands, who at various times had visited Chester and recosr- 
 nized the “Rows,” and, induced by the principal figures parading in 
 gala costume amidst the incongruous elements of the surroundings, 
 proceeded step by step to unravel the story. From the fashion of 
 the costumes it appears to have been painted in the twenties to 
 satisfy the scruples of the lady and to be an evidence in after years of 
 
18 
 
 her position as an honourable matron and true wife. Sketches an- 
 alogous are mentioned by Thornbury, who found after his death 
 “old gabled houses, bales for composition, balustrades crowded with 
 people, gipsies in red cloaks, &c.” It is not too much to assume 
 that the whole work is a composition from these identical studies. 
 
 PRINTED AT THE COUNTY PRESS, NEWPORT, ISLE OF WIGHT. 
 
ADDENDUM. 
 
 18. THE HONEYMOON IN THE ISLE OE WIGHT. 
 
 Since the foregoing notes have left the printer’s hands an extra- 
 ordinary link in the chain of evidence as to the marriage has been 
 placed in the possession of the owner. It is a small drawing, little 
 more than a finished sketch, of Slianklin Church with roseate clouds; 
 Sandown Bay and the Culvers in the distance. In this charming 
 sketch the artist has introduced his own person and that of his bride, 
 now in travelling costume. He points, with evident interest, to the 
 picturesque fabric, to which she is turning. The old bay “Cropear,” 
 with newly trimmed tail, but with forelegs stiff with travel, harnessed 
 to the gig, suggestive of the wedding tour being made by easy stages 
 and points of interest seized by his ready pencil. He had in his 
 very early practice found the Isle of Wight a field that afforded 
 him congenial subjects. Shanklin had been visited, and its bay 
 sketched, of which the elder Landseer made an engraving; the 
 etching alone, hitherto, is within the knowledge of the owner, 
 and this is without a date. Other subjects occur — engraved by 
 Landseer: Orchard Bay, in the Undercliff', Freshwater Bay, Alum 
 Bay, and the Needles, veering round to Cowes, but all these are in 
 the etched state, and appear unfinished; they show, however, a 
 ready knowledge of the Island’s picturesque beauties. He had 
 doubtless followed the steps of his gifted predecessor, Morland, and 
 at one time been influenced by his homely but graphic transcripts, 
 hence this selection for the honeymoon trip. The sequestered vales, 
 almost roadless, and these intersected by countless gates and bar- 
 riers, affording a quietude and freedom from impertinent observation 
 that would have been highly offensive to his sensitive nature. 
 
 This enquiry possibly is only on its threshold: other evidence may 
 accrue. Time may yield works painted in the glow of new-wedded 
 happiness, and presented to a wife calculated to ensure uxorious 
 attention. The origin of many and many a gift of this nature 
 is lost by the natural effusion of time, and chance alone may 
 recover it. 
 
 ERRATUM. 
 
 In line 21 of page 15 for “Anna Kiss,” read “Anna’s Kiss.” 
 
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