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 English Art 
 
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CONSULTING THE ORACLE. 
 J. W. Waterhouse. 
 
English Art 
 
 IN 
 
 I 884 
 
 ILLUSTRATED 
 
 BY FACSIMILE SKETCHES BY THE ARTISTS, 
 
 AND FOURTEEN FULL-PAGE PHOTO-ENGRAVINGS 
 
 EDITED BY 
 
 HENRY BLACKBURN 
 
 EDITOR OF “ACADEMY NOTES;” LECTURER ON ART; AUTHOR OF “BRETON FOLK;” “NORMANDY PICTURESQUE;” 
 
 “ARTISTS AND ARABS,” ETC. 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 D. APPLETON AND COMPANY 
 
 I, 3, AND 5 BOND STREET 
 
 I 885 
 
COPYRIGHT, 1884 
 
 By D. APPLETON AND COMPANY 
 
No. 389. “ The Herring-Market at Sea." Colin Hunter. 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 The art of England, as represented in painting, water-colors, and 
 sculpture, is so full of activity and resource, that it has been thought 
 desirable to gather into one compendious volume an indication of the 
 work of a year. 
 
 In the galleries containing new pictures, there have been exhibited 
 in London alone, during the past year, upward of five thousand works. 
 Of these, nearly four hundred are sketched in this volume, generally 
 by the artists themselves. They have been selected from the exhibi- 
 tions of the Royal Academy, the Grosvenor Gallery, the Institute of 
 Oil-Painters, and the Water-Color Societies. Should the plan be pur- 
 sued another year, other galleries will be included. 
 
 The majority of English pictures pass annually into private hands, 
 and the American public would hardly be aware of their existence, 
 
VI 
 
 Preface. 
 
 were it not for the publication of engravings and etchings. But no 
 engravings or etchings could keep pace with the art activity of Eng- 
 land,* and it became necessary to devise some simple means of pre- 
 senting to the public an indication, or outline, of the art of the year. 
 
 It is maintained by some writers that the English school of paint- 
 ing is, at the present time, the first in the world ; that there is a 
 wider measure of success among its foremost men, and more individu- 
 ality and interest in the work of the younger, than in any other 
 
 school. Certainly, as regards portraiture, the country of Gainsborough 
 and Reynolds would seem to be again first in the field ; and, in land- 
 scape, the country of Turner and David Cox is producing work from 
 which foreign countries derive much of their inspiration. 
 
 It is not the purpose of this publication, which should be more 
 
 descriptive than critical, to discuss the comparative merits of modern 
 schools, but rather to direct attention to a powerful factor in “ the 
 
 year’s art.” 
 
 The English figure-painters, headed by such artists as Sir Frederick 
 Leighton, President of the Royal Academy, E. Burne-Jones, J. E. 
 Millais, Holman Hunt, G. F. Watts, L. Alma-Tadema, E. J. Poynter, 
 and others, are producing work equal to any period in the history of 
 art. As compared with the Paris Salon , there have been few large 
 
 and important pictures exhibited ; but, on the other hand, it would 
 be difficult to point to greater technical successes, or to modern paint- 
 ings on which more skill, labor, and cultivation, had been bestowed, 
 than on the u Ct/mon and Iphigenia ” (page 2), by Sir Frederick Leigh- 
 ton; the C£ Hadrian in Britain ” (page 4), by L. Alma-Tadema; or the 
 
 "he number of pictures sent in to the Royal Academy alone last spring was eight thousand and 
 ninety-three, of which eighteen hundred and fifty-six were exhibited. 
 
Preface. 
 
 VI 1 
 
 “ King Cophetua ” (page 141), by Burne-Jones. Mr. Holman Hunt has 
 been engaged for five years on one picture, and Mr. G. F. Watts and 
 Mr. E. J. Poynter have contributed little to the year’s exhibitions; the 
 latter having been engaged, with Sir Frederick Leighton, on designs for 
 the decoration of St. Paul’s Cathedral in London. 
 
 The influence of such artists and the teaching in our schools have 
 raised the standard in drawing and composition in a remarkable man- 
 ner during the last few years. But variety of character and individu- 
 ality are still the marked characteristics of English work, students in 
 England being less influenced by any master’s style than in the ateliers 
 of Paris or Munich. 
 
 In landscape it will be observed that English artists are not occu- 
 pied in composing pictures like Turner or Cdaude ; they are followers 
 rather of that school of landscape-painting which found its best expres- 
 sion in the work of Constable and Crowe, and, in pure water-colors, 
 in the drawings of David Cox and Dewint. The sentiment of land- 
 scape is less considered than quality and truth to nature. 
 
 Thus, without entering into a discussion of comparative merits, it 
 may be pointed out that che art of England has qualities and charac- 
 teristics which should be more widely known ; and when the great 
 barriers against progress — protective tariffs — shall be broken down, a 
 knowledge of English art may become as wide-spread as that of its 
 literature, and a love for it be as deeply implanted in American soil. 
 
 The notice of the Water-Color Societies will be interesting in con- 
 nection with the proposed exhibition by English water-color artists, to be 
 held in New York and at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, in 1885. 
 The works of many artists spoken of here, and whose sketches appear 
 on these pages, will then be seen for the first time in America. 
 
Vlll 
 
 Preface. 
 
 Of the illustrations in “English Art” a few words must be said. 
 When, just ten years ago, the possibility of obtaining an exact fac- 
 simile of an artist’s pen-drawing on a “ relief ’’-block, to print with the 
 type, was first practically demonstrated, it opened out a wide field of 
 interest and usefulness. By means of the invention of photo-mechanical 
 engraving we are enabled to present to the reader of these pages the 
 very hand-work of the artist side by side with the text. The communi- 
 cation between the artist and the public has thus become very rapid and 
 direct. The artist, having completed his picture, puts down on paper, 
 in the fewest lines, the leading features or accents of it; this memo- 
 randum or sketch is reproduced without the aid of the wood-engraver, 
 
 and, by means of the printing-press, multiplied over the world. There 
 
 is no attempt, or should be no attempt, at making a finished picture ; 
 
 the object is to indicate, in the fewest lines and in the most direct 
 way, what the artist had in his mind. To some artists this power is 
 
 given in an exceptional degree. Sir John Gilbert, the veteran illustra- 
 tor, in his sketch, on page 16, of the weary horseman on the morn- 
 ing of the battle of Agincourt, indicates exactly the character and 
 
 composition of his picture. More subtly expressed in these pages — so 
 tenderly, indeed, that we wonder at the power which conveys an 
 impression by such simple means — is the disturbed little face in Mar- 
 cus Stone’s painting entitled “ Fallen out” on page 21. No elabo- 
 rate wood-engraving would have done this for us on the small 
 scale necessary. Again, Mr. Eyre Crowe, in the sketch of his pict- 
 ure of the little scholars at St. Maclou, Rouen (page 23), tells the 
 
 public what he saw as clearly as in the painting. And in many other 
 
 figure-subjects the story is told by this process in a very few lines 
 indeed. 
 
Preface. 
 
 IX 
 
 In portraiture, illustrations are of necessity less interesting, but the 
 sketch on page 155, of Millais’s portrait of Lord Lome, from the 
 Grosvenor Gallery, gives the character of it exactly, and it is the style 
 of a portrait we seek to know. 
 
 In landscape we may often obtain an accurate idea not only of 
 the composition, but of the sentiment of a picture, as, for instance, 
 of the quietness in Mr. Parton’s autumn scene, “ The Vale of Lightf 
 sketched on page 97, and of the wind in the trees in “ A Wintry 
 Dirge ” (page 103), by Alfred East. 
 
 This system of expression, of communication between two minds 
 by means of a few touches, is the great art of the illustrator. It has 
 been shown in a high degree in the war sketches by Detaille in Paris- 
 ian newspapers. 
 
 But the tendency of all illustrators is to elaborate, and the fashion 
 tends toward smooth and highly-finished illustrations everywhere. Even 
 the French artists, imitating the English system of making sketches of 
 their pictures exhibited in the Salon , tend to over-elaboration. In 
 
 engravings of pictures there is generally too much given, and a pict- 
 ure is presented to us which is far from the original. The most 
 
 attractive reproduction is often one from which the individuality of the 
 originator has passed away. In sketching a picture, the great art is 
 “ the art of leaving out” and, looking to the future, it would be well 
 for young artists to make a study of expressing effects in the fewest 
 lines. In this method of work we are approaching nearer in artistic 
 value to the reproductions of drawings by Mantegna and Durer, and 
 to the etchings by Rembrandt ; the value of the new system, as com- 
 pared with the old, being in the almost illimitable number of copies 
 that may now be printed from a single block. 
 
X 
 
 Preface. 
 
 The full-page plates in this volume have been photographed direct 
 from the painting, and reproduced by a system of photo-engraving ; 
 but photographs of pictures, valuable and interesting as they are, are 
 very far from giving the true balance of color of the original. In the 
 reproduction of many compositions photography is of the utmost value ; 
 but the light on the sea in Colin Hunter’s u Her ring- Market ,” which 
 we give at the head of this Preface, could not have been indicated 
 without lines. In short, we are still far from the possibility of repro- 
 ducing a picture satisfactorily without the hand-work of the artist on 
 the reproduction. 
 
 In turning over a portfolio of engravings or etchings, or an ordi- 
 nary illustrated book, we may linger admiringly on the perfection of 
 the engraver’s art ; but in this volume we should care as little for the 
 method of reproducing an artist’s sketch as for character in the hand- 
 writing of a telegram. 
 
 Thus regarded, “ English Art in 1884” will be found of great 
 interest in drawing attention to the work of many artists whose pict- 
 ures, from various causes, have never been illustrated before. And the 
 possessor of this book will be a collector of autographs which will 
 increase in interest year by year ; for never, we believe, in the history 
 of art has one volume contained the hand-work of so many differ- 
 ent men. 
 
 H enry Blackburn. 
 
 103 Victoria Street, Westminster, 
 
 August 1, 1884. 
 
 In the production of this volume I have to acknowledge the 
 kind assistance of Mr. M. Phipps - Jackson and Mr. Frederick Wed- 
 
Preface 
 
 xi 
 
 more. The illustrations are by various processes, English, French, and 
 American. A number of the blocks are by the Lefman process, from 
 a work entitled “ The Royal Academy Illustrated.” 
 
 No. 986 . “ Water-Lilies and Poppies." W. J. Muckley, 
 

CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 THE ROYAL ACADEMY i 
 
 THE GROSVENOR GALLERY. ........ 139 
 
 THE INSTITUTE OF PAINTERS IN OID-COLORS 173 
 
 THE WATER-COLOR SOCIETIES 
 
 193 
 

LIST OF FULL-PAGE PHOTO-ENGRAVINGS. 
 
 
 SUBJECT. 
 
 ARTIST. 
 
 I. 
 
 Consulting the Oracle .... 
 
 J. W. Waterhouse. 
 
 2. 
 
 Dr. Johnson and Mrs. Siddons 
 
 W. P. Frith, R. A. 
 
 3- 
 
 Faith ....... 
 
 E. Armitage, R. A. 
 
 4- 
 
 The Pet Plant ..... 
 
 Id. S. Marks, R. A. 
 
 5 - 
 
 Sweethearts and Wives .... 
 
 P. R. Morris, A. R. A. 
 
 6. 
 
 The Very Image .... 
 
 Joseph Clark. 
 
 7 - 
 
 The Declaration of War .... 
 
 J. D. Linton. 
 
 8. 
 
 La Cocarde Tricolore, Paris, 1789 . 
 
 G. P. Jacomb-FIood. 
 
 9- 
 
 You a Christian! ..... 
 
 James Archer. 
 
 IO. 
 
 Waifs 
 
 T. B. Kennington. 
 
 ii. 
 
 An Ugly Customer .... 
 
 J. R. Reid. 
 
 12. 
 
 Going to the Fountain 
 
 Haynes Williams. 
 
 13- 
 
 Friendly Advances .... 
 
 J. P. Beadle. 
 
 14. 
 
 Queen of the May .... 
 
 Id. Schmalz. 
 
 *** For Engravings in the text, see Index to Artists, at the end of the volume. 
 
THE ROYAL ACADEMY. 
 
 The one hundred and sixteenth exhibition of the Royal Academy of Arts, at Burlington 
 House, in London, contained eighteen hundred and fifty-six works of art in painting in oils 
 and water-colors, engraving, etching, architectural designs, and sculpture. 
 
 There are nine rooms devoted to oil-paintings, of which the principal is the fine long 
 Gallery III, where the banquets and other meetings are held, and where the president 
 
 addresses the students at the annual giving of 
 prizes. 
 
 In this gallery the principal pictures of the year 
 (works of members of the Academy, of whom there 
 are forty, with a right to exhibit eight pictures 
 each) are generally to be found on the line. 
 
 Let us look first at the prominent features of 
 this gallery. In the place of honor, in the center 
 of the north wall, was a large picture by Sir Fred- 
 erick Leighton, the president, a work upon which 
 he has been long engaged, and upon the studies and 
 models for which much has been written. It is by 
 no means the most successful work of the painter, 
 and interests us less than many earlier paintings— 
 such as the “ Daphneforia" of 1876, and his grace- 
 ful picture of “ Wedded ,” exhibited two years ago. 
 The painting of “ Cymon and Iphigenia ” is 
 
 68 x 47. <_ 
 
 No. 340. “Night." P. H. Calderon, R. A.* refined and scholarly; the subject grandly and (as 
 
 “Empress of silence and queen of sleep.” we see in the outline) conventionally and decora- 
 
 * The figures below the illustrations indicate the sizes of the pictures. The numbers are those of the official catalogues 
 of the various public galleries where the pictures have been exhibited. 
 
2 
 
 English Art in 1884 . 
 
 tivelv treated ; elaborate and highly finished, rich in color, and almost perfect in the drawing 
 and arrangement of draperies. 
 
 It is Boccaccio’s rendering of the familiar story of Cymon and Iphigenia that the presi- 
 dent has chosen for his theme. The scene is on the edge of a wood in the Island of 
 Cyprus, where, “under the breath of a May night, is seen asleep a lovely lady, clad only in 
 her subtile vesture, and with no guards excepting two sleeping attendants and a little child.” 
 
 Near stands Cymon, the young peasant, transfixed by the sight of her beauty. To depict 
 the gradual awakening of better thoughts and a higher life in an uneducated peasant, under 
 the influence of Iphigenia’s charms, has been the great effort of the painter — the refining 
 influence of art upon the uncultivated being the moral of the story. In the absence of 
 many pictures of high aim or intention, and considering the great want of thoroughness in 
 modern work, this painting sets an example to students. The photogravure produced by 
 Messrs. Goupil will give a good indication of the design. Sir Frederick Leighton takes 
 much interest in this new and wonderful method of reproduction. 
 
 Opposite to the foregoing is the principal contribution by J. E. Millais, R. A., a picture 
 of five figures, for which the sum of twenty-five thousand dollars has been paid. The 
 painter of a long line of celebrated pictures — of “ The Huguenots ,” of “ The Gambler s 
 Wife]' of “ Autumn Leaves]' of “ The Yeoman of the Guard"-, the greatest living portrait- 
 painter, and, we might almost add, the greatest landscape-painter — has given us this year 
 one subject-picture, lacking, it is true, the absorbing human interest of many of his former 
 works, but bearing the mark of genius upon it as unmistakably as its predecessors. 
 
The Royal Academy. 
 
 3 
 
 The scene is a wood by a cool rivulet — the period soon after the battle ol Culloden — 
 where three Scotch lasses are seated, listening to an English fifer-boy — who has come north 
 with the troops — the latter clad in 
 the crude -colored red -and -yellow 
 uniform with white gaiters depicted 
 in Hogarth’s “ March to Finchley'.' 
 
 The interest centers, we might say 
 culminates, in the figure of the boy 
 playing, which is almost as power- 
 ful, as a character-study, as the old 
 “ Yeoman of the Guard” painted in 
 1877. It has been suggested that 
 the boy-figure might with advantage 
 have made one picture, and the three 
 girls another. For the sake of har- 
 mony and “ keeping,” this change 
 might have been made with advan- 
 tage, for the crudeness of the uniform, red, yellow, and white, the painter has rendered with 
 such uncompromising force as seriously to detract from the beauty of the children, and to 
 take our attention from the rich quality of much of the work. The painting has the peculiar 
 charm which pervades all Millais’s representations of children, and the composition is well 
 indicated in the rough sketch. 
 
 At the head of this gallery, in the center of the wall, was a large picture by L. Alma- 
 Tadema, R. A. This painter has produced nothing so important in size or composition 
 since “ The Picture-Gallery " and “ The Sculpture-Gallery ,” which were exhibited in the 
 Academy in 1874 and 1875, and are now in Mr. Gambart’s villa at Nice. “ The Pottery ” 
 is in some sense a pendant to the foregoing. It represents the visit of the Emperor 
 Hadrian, with his wife and attendants, to a Romano-British pottery. The following descrip- 
 tion, from details communicated by the artist to the correspondent of a London newspaper, 
 will be read with interest in connection with the outline on page 4 : 
 
 “The exact locality of the manufactory is not signaled. We may suppose it to have 
 been situated in the center of one of the great Roman colonies, and to have possessed 
 show-rooms in which not merely the local ware, but specimens from all the famous kilns, 
 could be inspected. We are not allowed to decide which of all the sorts presented to the 
 emperor is actually being made by the fair-haired artisans whom we see at work under the 
 archway of the staircase. Upon the stairs itself two half-naked men, girt with broad leather 
 
 54i x 74i- 
 
 No. 347. “An Idyll , 1745.” J. E. Millais, R. A. 
 
4 
 
 English Art in 1884 . 
 
 belts, are carrying specimen-trays up to the emperor. In the tray of the first of these, 
 whose entire figure is seen on the right of the composition, the peculiar drah pots made in 
 the Upchurch marshes are presented to us ; while the man who follows him, and whose 
 head and uplifted hands alone are visible, hears aloft a tray of nothing hut the slate-colored 
 
 86 | x 66|. 
 
 No. 245. “ Hadrian in Britain; visiting a Romano- British Pottery .” L. Alma-Tadema, R. A. 
 
 OK<&SARDlV| 
 
 NIRAUHFIEVS/ V) 1 , 
 
 IERWNEPQA P J \ 
 
 |\ /CU / r\DIAMC t 1 
 
 IV5HADR'AI\I& 
 
 — 
 
 Durobrivian-ware, which was made round Castor, in the valley of the Nen in Northamp- 
 tonshire. 
 
 “ At the top of the staircase we see an open gallery filled with the distinguished Roman 
 visitors. Hadrian himself, in a purple toga, stands at the head of the stairs, examining a 
 
The Royal Academy. 
 
 5 
 
 vase with an expression of dignified affability. The master-potter leans forward in the act 
 of explanation, and we see his light red hair and beard in contrast to the black hair of 
 all the Romans. Behind Hadrian stands his friend Lucius Verus, afterward father to the 
 Emperor Commodus. He is in attendance on Hadrian, and keeps the rest of the suite a 
 little in the background. He leans with a dandified air on a long staff, which is tipped 
 with a little Venus carved in ivory. On the other side of the gallery the great ladies 
 cluster round the potter’s wife. She is represented as a blonde girl, of extremely fair skin, 
 in a pale-blue dress ; her back is turned to us, and we can only judge of her beauty from 
 the delicacy of her neck and shoulders. Mr. Alma-Tadema declares that he turned her face 
 away because he despaired of doing justice to her fresh English beauty. She is talking to 
 the Empress Sabina, Hadrian’s wife, a dignified Roman matron, and to Balbilla, the friend 
 of Sabina, the famous female wit whose Boeotian verses were inscribed by Hadrian’s com- 
 mand on the base of the Vocal Memnon. Between the groups there leans over the stair- 
 case, in a lilac toga, Servianus, Hadrian’s sister’s husband. 
 
 “ The accessories of this interesting group of historical personages are full of ingenuity 
 and suggestiveness, as always in Mr. Alma-Tadema’s pictures. The architecture is rough, in 
 red terra-cotta, which has been made on the premises ; for the master-potter, like a Doulton 
 of to-day, makes at the same time the roughest things for practical uses, and the most 
 delicate for ornamental uses. At the elbow of the staircase stands a beautiful black vase, 
 which is a careful reproduction of the famous Colchester Pot, which was discovered in 
 1853; this has interesting reliefs running round it as a frieze. Another large and graceful 
 vase is full of wall-flowers, and a great wreath of primroses is wound around it to show at 
 what time of the year Hadrian’s visit was made. The wall of the staircase is copied from a 
 mosaic found on the floors of the famous Roman villa of Bignor, near Arundel, and Mr. 
 Alma-Tadema considers that such walls and pavements as this made in mosaic would prob- 
 ably be manufactured at such a pottery as he has painted, the tessalcz being of terra-cotta 
 and local stone. In the corner of the staircase, near the center of the picture, we see one 
 of those interesting little bits of reproduction of antique life in which Mr. Alma-Tadema is 
 so eminently happy. This is the altar of the household god. A snake is painted round it, 
 and by a little lamp there is placed a votive offering of onions, sacred to the Penates. The 
 potters have painted this inscription as a welcome to their emperor : 
 
 ‘ Ave Imperator Caesar 
 Divi Trajani parth. films 
 Divi Nervae nepos 
 Trajanus Hadrianus 
 
 Locupletator Orbis.’ 
 
English Art in 1884 . 
 
 / 
 
 0 
 
 Hadrian was not, indeed, declared locupletator by the senate till after the date of this 
 picture, but Mr. Alma-Tadema thinks that it would probably be in some grateful colony 
 that the title would first be, unofficially, suggested. 
 
 “The painter possesses a unique collection of drawings of the Romano-British pottery, 
 and he has visited most of the museums, and particularly those at Colchester, Maidstone, 
 and Cirencester, to make studies for this picture.” 
 
 As a work of art, probably no painting has given the artist more labor, but the result 
 as a whole can hardly be considered an artistic success. There is nothing in this large 
 picture to equal in quality or charm “ The Oleander " of last year. The design of “ The 
 Pottery" is complicated, and seems to transgress many of the ordinary rules of composition, 
 but the painting of the man’s figure ascending the stairs has hardly been surpassed in any 
 period of art ; certainly there was nothing to approach it, technically, in this year’s exhibition. 
 Some details also are painted in Mr. Alma-Tadema’s best and strongest manner, but as a 
 whole the picture fails — the effect of perspective is questionable, the great blank wall in the 
 middle of the canvas is uninteresting, and the cutting off of the head of the lower figure 
 carrying pots is unpleasing. We are made to care most for details, for the painting of 
 flesh, for the texture of Hadrian’s robe, and for the draperies and ornaments of the women. 
 Thus, we might sum up Mr. Alma-Tadema’s art, as shown in this picture, as devotion to 
 accessories , to technical triumphs of a high order. But Mr. Alma-Tadema, like Mr. Millais, 
 is also great in portraiture, especially in the portraits of his friends. These were exhibited 
 in the Grosvenor Gallery in 1884. 
 
 The “ picture of the year,” that is to say, the picture upon which more has been said 
 and written than any other, is Mr. Orchardson’s “ Mariage de Convenance The three 
 figures which we see in the sketch, in a curiously-empty apartment, have set half London 
 talking during the month of May. The painter of Napoleon in 1880, and Voltaire in 
 1883, has achieved an extraordinary success in his “ Mariage de Convenance'.' The figures 
 (the lady in white-satin dress) are seen under a glow of subdued light from the colored 
 lamp over the dinner-table ; the distribution of light and shade is very harmonious, and 
 the management of color on the table laden with fruit most skillful. But the interest of 
 the picture to the majority has been, so to speak, more literary than artistic ; it is the story, 
 not altogether a pleasant one, that absorbs attention. 
 
 Mr. George Augustus Sala, a great admirer of Mr. Orchardson’s work, writes thus on 
 the “ Mariage de Convenance" : “We are in the dining-room of a fashionable mansion, and 
 Beatrice and Benedick have been dining en petite comite. Dinner is over, dessert is being 
 served and the pair are being waited upon by a judicious butler. Beatrice is young, 
 comely, and fully aware of her comeliness, and she is dressed in the strictest accordance 
 
The Royal Academy. 
 
 7 
 
 with the latest behests of the ‘ Ladies’ Gazette of Fashion.’ Anon, you think, the brougham 
 will be in attendance, the grande dame de par le monde will be carefully shawled and 
 cloaked, and the loving couple will honor a box at the opera or a stall at the Haymarket 
 with their presence. But are they a loving couple ? Alas and alack ! although Beatrice is 
 youthful and fair and fascinating, Benedick is old — and not venerable. His valet has made 
 the best of his master’s sparse locks and grizzled mustache ; but he is beyond the help of 
 valets, and even of the magician Truefitt himself. An excellent old gentleman, no doubt. 
 Although he feebly wags his head over the glass which the butler is replenishing, he is 
 evidently, as regards breeding, very high. A baronet probably ; member for his county 
 
 41 X 60. 
 
 No. 341. “ Manage de Convenance.” W. Q. Orchardson, R. A. 
 
 possibly ; evidently wealthy. Fond of antique silver, old books, old illuminated manuscripts. 
 Well known at Christie’s ; a member of several Pall Mall clubs. He grudges Beatrice nor 
 diamonds, nor dresses from Worth, nor point-lace from Elise, nor bonnets from Louise, nor 
 horses and carriages and Dutch pugs, nor trips to Nice or the Engadine — and it is a 
 ‘ Mari age de Convenance'. 
 
 “ Only three personages in this domestic drama of fashionable life ? Why, the imagina- 
 tion at once fills the dining-room, the servants’ hall, the whole house with people knowing 
 a variety of things, occult and awful. The brougham is driving up to the door of the 
 great mansion ; but it is Black Care and not the groom who sits by the coachman’s side. 
 
8 
 
 English Art in 1884 . 
 
 At one end of the splendid dining-room table, laden with costly plate, with choice flowers 
 and luscious fruit, cowers Caducity, humbled, vainly trying to preserve its dignity, labori- 
 ously endeavoring to put a good face upon things, but hopelessly drifting into Fogyism, 
 utterly unable to accept the situation, and ashamed of being old. In the shadows behind 
 Benedick’s chair seem to hover ‘ the Painful Family of Death, more hideous than their 
 Queen ’ — the ills that rack the joints or fire the veins, that strain every laboring sinew or 
 in the deeper vitals rage. And at the other end of the table — a wide, wide gulf, not only 
 of fruit and flower-decked damask napery, but of years, and imperfect sympathies, and unim- 
 parted thoughts and blasted hopes yawning between them — sits Beatrice, young, beautiful, 
 shapely, vascular, and in a silent, mad rage. She looks as though on but slight provocation 
 she would tear her rich raiment from her shoulders, and wrench her rings from her fingers 
 and her bracelets from her wrists, and fling the gewgaws at the head of her husband or of 
 the judicious butler. 
 
 “ In the 1 Mariage de Convenance ,’ the handsome, willful, self-tormenting Beatrice, the 
 effete and dispirited but always high-toned and high-bred Benedick, and the judicious butler, 
 who is so careful in whispering the precise date of the vintage of the Chateau Margaux, 
 and is aware, besides, of such an alarming variety of things, are all adequately modeled, or, 
 to speak more technically, ‘ made out,’ with due attention to the laws of convexity and 
 concavity. Of the wealth and subtilty of expression in the faces of the three personages 
 enough has been said in sketching the wholly imaginary drama in which they are taking 
 part.” 
 
 Columns have been written in this strain, an extract from which may prove more 
 interesting than dwelling entirely on the technical merits of this picture. Mr. Orchardson 
 ranks high as a painter of genre , but, to get a more complete idea of his style and method, 
 his smaller picture of “ The Farmer s Daughter ,” in the Grosvenor Gallery this year, should 
 be looked at in the section devoted to that gallery. 
 
 “ The Toast of the Kitcat Club'' as presented to us by Mr. W. F. Yeames, R. A., is more 
 interesting historically than for any special quality in the painting. In Mr. Orchardson’s 
 work there is much that is subtile and suggestive; here in Mr. Yeames’s picture, which 
 hangs beside it, all is careful, literal, and, as far as possible, matter of fact. 
 
 I he members of the literary clubs in the last century were intimately associated with 
 the society of the time, and there is nothing doubtful in the story that the little Lady 
 Mary Pierrepont was brought in to be admired and “ kissed all round ! ” The Whig gen- 
 tlemen, we read, drank her health upstanding, gave her sweetmeats, and had her name cut 
 on a drinking-glass in honor of her visit. “ Never,” writes Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, 
 “did I pass so happy an evening.” Mr. Yeames has labored hard to give the portraits and 
 
The Royal Academy. 
 
 9 
 
 costumes from the best authorities. Sir Godfrey Kneller is in the foreground ; next to him 
 Garth; Congreve turning in his chair; Tonson, the publisher; above him, Addison; and Steele, 
 with a wine-glass in his hand. Marlborough and others on the left of the picture. Alto- 
 
 gether, in the lack of historic painting, of the first class, we are glad to welcome Mr. 
 Yeames’s work, and to reproduce it in our record of “English Art in 1884.” 
 
 43 x 39- 
 
 No. 332. “ The Toast of the Kitcat Club.” W. F. Yeames, R. A. 
 
 “ It having fallen to the turn of the Duke of Kingston to propose a beauty as the annual toast of the club, he nominated 
 his little daughter Lady Mary Pierrepont (afterward Lady Mary Wortley Montagu). Some of the members demurred, as 
 they had not seen her. The duke sent for her, and when she arrived she was received with acclamations, her claims unani- 
 mously allowed, and she was petted and caressed by all the eminent men present.” 
 
 Mr. Philip Calderon, R. A., is represented in his principal work by a single figure of 
 “Night” which is sketched at the head of this chapter. Always with grace and refinement, 
 as distinctive characteristics of his art, Mr. Calderon, when at his best, rises to the rank of 
 those masters who, with poetic conception of a high order, have combined great technical 
 
IO 
 
 English Art in 1884 . 
 
 dexterity. This realization of his present subject is the life-size figure of a Greek girl rest- 
 ing upon a marble seat, with the starlighted canopy of heaven above her, and in the dis- 
 tance, upon a hill, Corinth, or some other city of Greece. The principal motive of the 
 design is repose, whether in sentiment, color, or line. The deep-blue sky, the girl’s seated 
 figure, the upper half of which is draped in white, with dark-blue robe across her knees, 
 and the delicate flesh-tints, altogether form a fine and harmonious picture. This, and another, 
 entitled “Day” are to form part of the decoration of a dining-room in the house of a well- 
 known art-collector in London. 
 
 Mr. J. C. Horsley, one of the elder of the Royal Academicians, sends a picture of a 
 country churchyard, with children and sheep that have strayed among the tombstones — a 
 
 glory of their young life fresh upon them, heedlessly hiding over the dead, who once prob- 
 ably had done in like mirth what these little ones are doing — the pastor and his flock, nay, 
 even the animals, the sheep, suggesting memorable words once spoken — everything intro- 
 duced into the scene carries out, not without an occasional touch of pathos, the simple 
 story of life and death the artist seeks to convey.” 
 
 One of the largest pictures in the Royal Academy is Mr. Goodall’s picture of “ The 
 Flight into Egypt” which faces the spectator as he enters the galleries. It is a powerful 
 painting, much darker in tone than would appear from the sketch. The Pyramids have 
 been painted often, and “ The Flight into Egypt” is no new subject for the artist; but 
 Mr. Goodall’s skill and knowledge of Eastern atmospheric effects endow the subject with 
 new interest. In the absence of almost all religious subjects in the Academy, this picture 
 is welcome to many. Another large picture by the same artist is called “ A New Light 
 
 46 X 61. 
 
 No. 272. “Hide and Seek.” J. C. Horsley, R. A. 
 
 familiar enough subject in England, 
 treated with simplicity and truth in 
 all details. The large, heavy stone 
 slabs, now almost discarded in Eng- 
 land, the pretty lych-gate under the 
 yew-tree, the group at the church- 
 porch — are all portraits, so to spreak. 
 A homely picture, without any special 
 quality in the painting, of which a 
 writer remarks : “ We have not the 
 slightest doubt that Mr. Horsley saw 
 what is here represented, for no artist 
 would manufacture such a scene for 
 himself. The. pretty children, with the 
 
The Royal Academy. 
 
 1 1 
 
 in the Harem'' depicting a young mother and child in an Eastern interior, with a Nubian 
 nurse. This work is rich in color and costume, and full of character and vivacity. Mr. 
 Goodall, like Mr. Edwin Long, R. A., has made his greatest success by the painting of single 
 
 84 x 144. 
 
 No. 619. “ The Flight into Egypt." F. Goodall, R. A. 
 
 figures from scriptural subjects, figures many of which are familiar to us in engravings. Both 
 artists are celebrated for the painting of ornaments and draperies glowing in sunlight. 
 
 Mr. Edwin Long reserves his large works for private exhibition; the figure he has chosen 
 for his principal Academy picture is that of “ Thisbc'.' It is related by Ovid that, during the 
 celebration of the festival of Bacchus, the daughters of Minyas preferred staying at home, 
 rather than take part in what they regarded as impious rites, and, in order that time might 
 pass pleasantly, one of them proposed to tell a story. The first story related was that of 
 Pyramus and Thisbe. Pyramus is described as the most beauteous of youths, and Thisbe 
 as “ preferred before all the damsels that the East contained.” Living in adjoining houses, 
 they became acquainted, and mutually enamoured of each other, and would have united 
 themselves in marriage, but their fathers forbade it. But they managed, however, to com- 
 municate by nods and signs. Afterward they discovered a crack through the party-wall that 
 divided their two houses, through which they were able to converse, Thisbe on one side 
 and Pyramus on the other. This is the passage in the poem, and the incident that Mr. 
 Edwin Long has chosen for his Royal Academy picture. The artist has borne well in 
 mind the poet’s brief description of Thisbe’s charms — he tells us that she was “ preferred 
 
12 
 
 English Art in 1884 . 
 
 before all other damsels that the East contained”— the modeling of the figure, that of a 
 voumr woman, not a girl, listening with rapt attention to the accents of her lover as they 
 
 reach her through the chink in the wall, is indi- 
 cated in the sketch. The attitude is easy, natural, 
 and graceful, and the expression modest yet fervent. 
 This picture has been reproduced in pure line-engrav- 
 ing by Monsieur G. Bertinos. 
 
 No. 353, “ Cruel Necessity ,” by W. P. Frith, R. A. 
 The artist here illustrates a story told of the Pro- 
 tector Cromwell, that he visited the Banqueting- 
 House, Whitehall, where the body of that hapless 
 monarch, Charles I, was laid the night succeeding 
 his execution, and, quietly ascending the stairs, he 
 gazed at the king’s remains for some time, giving 
 utterance to the suggestive words referred to in the 
 title of the picture. With the political aspect of the 
 question we have really nothing whatever to do ; but 
 there is something singularly solemn in the idea of 
 the great man who, in the plenitude of his power 
 and in cold blood, had upset the government of a 
 powerful nation and brought its ruler to the block, 
 feeling impelled to secretly view the remains of the 
 man whose life he had just taken away. Two Cava- 
 liers, Lord Southampton and another, are said to 
 have witnessed the extraordinary occurrence. History appears to point to the fact that the 
 persistence of the king in a wrong-headed and perverse course had resulted in a state of 
 things where either his life, or that of his sworn opponent, Cromwell, must be sacrificed. 
 
 No. 306, “Dr. Johnson and Mrs. Siddons ,” is a work by the same well-known artist. 
 The fascinating actress, Mrs. Siddons, was, it appears, in the habit of visiting Dr. Johnson 
 constantly, not long before his death. Our great lexicographer, who was scarcely noted for 
 urbanity, was, however, generally polite to the fair sex, and, although himself so distin- 
 guished a man of letters, he acknowledged with graceful courtesy and gratitude the attention 
 of a lady who was in every way an ornament to histrionic art. These visits, which took 
 place in 1 784, shortly before the doctor’s death, in his sixty-fifth year, found him so infirm 
 that he was unable to accompany the fair actress to her carriage, but he was wont to 
 thank her with a high-bred politeness, and in a set formulary of words he never varied. 
 
 An envious wall the Babylonian maid 
 From Pyramus, her gentle lover, stayed. 
 
 Yet here a tiny chink none else had seen 
 Sufficed to bear love’s messages between. 
 
 They kissed its stony mouth like lovers true, 
 But neither side would let the kisses through.” 
 Ovid, Met. IV, 55 et seq. 
 
The Royal Academy. 
 
 
 Mr. W. P. Frith, the painter of the “ Derby Day" (so popular in the Royal Academy 
 in 1858, and now in the National Gallery) and other similar works, has given us nothing 
 so interesting for some years as this portrait-picture of Dr. Johnson and Mrs. Siddons, 
 of which we give a full-page illustration. 
 
 “ The night after King Charles I was beheaded, my Lord Southampton and a friend got leave to sit up by the body in 
 the Banqueting-House at Whitehall. As they were sitting there very melancholy at about two o’clock in the morning, they 
 heard the tread of somebody coming slowly up the stairs. By-and-by the door opened and a man entered, very much 
 muffled up in his cloak. He approached the body, considered it very attentively for some time, and then shook his head 
 and sighed out the words, ‘ Cruel necessity.’ He then departed in the same slow and concealed manner as he had come in. 
 Lord Southampton used to say that he could not distinguish anything of his face, but that by his voice and gait he took him 
 to be Oliver Cromwell.” 
 
 No. 463, “Faith" by Edward Armitage, R. A., is a scriptural design, showing the Sav- 
 iour, while walking through the streets with his disciples, followed by a crowd of the poor 
 and of those who believed in his sacred mission. Some of these — sick, blind, and in sorry 
 plight — have hope in their hearts that, if Christ only wills it, they may be healed. One 
 
 poor woman, strong in faith, feels assured her cure is certain, if she can but kiss the hem 
 of the Saviour’s garment. And it is recorded in Holy Writ that Christ turned himself 
 about, “ feeling that virtue had gone out of him,” and the trusting sufferer was made 
 whole. The chief figure in this fine group is instinct with calm, grand dignity — the crowd 
 typifying those who in this world watch, and wait, and suffer. 
 
 Mr. Armitage was born in London, in 1817, and was a pupil of Paul Delaroche. 
 
14 
 
 English Art in 1884. 
 
 This artist, and Mr. J. R. Herbert, R. A., are among the few exponents of sacred art among 
 members of the Royal Academy at the present time. Mr. Herbert, who is the painter 
 of the celebrated picture in the Houses of Parliament of “ Moses with the Tables of the 
 Law',' still contributes to the Academy, but his day is past, and his pictures can hardly be 
 regarded seriously by the critic. Mr. Armitage still holds his position, and in choice of his- 
 toric subjects sets a good example to younger men. Mr. Armitage’s lectures before the 
 students at the Academy have lately been published, and are well worth reading. 
 
 38 x 29. 
 
 No. 292. “ The Anglers Rest." H. S. Marks, R. A. 
 
 ^ N °- 3^3> “ The Pet Plant',' by H. Stacy Marks, R. A., is one of the studies of monkish 
 character which the artist peculiarly affects, and which, it is needless to add, he executes 
 exceedingly well. A good father, whose duty is evidently that of gardener, combined with 
 his more spiritual office, is in the conservatory of the monastery, attending to the plants. 
 Pets, it is to be presumed, are scarcely an allowable luxury with priests, but this worthy 
 
DR. JOHNSON AND MRS. SIDDONS. 
 W. P. Frith, R. A. 
 
w .yC 
 
The Royal Academy. 
 
 *5 
 
 man has transgressed the law in as permissible a manner as possible when, yielding to 
 temptation, he makes a pet of a flower. 
 
 Another single-figure study of a monk, No. 45, “ The Stopped Key” by Mr. Marks, 
 represents a priest at the monastery-door with a basket of comestibles at his side which he 
 has just brought from a neighboring village. The old fellow is trying to pick out some- 
 thing from his key, which will not turn in the lock. This picture is very similar in style 
 and composition to “ The Pet Plant'd 
 
 More important and interesting than either of the former is No. 292, “ The Angler s 
 Rest'd by the same hand. A piscator, in costume of about a century ago, is seated outside 
 a picturesque-looking country inn, chatting to some traveler. Sportsmen are impracticable 
 creatures for general social purposes, their conversation being, as a rule, limited to their 
 sport. One of the characters Mr. Marks delineates is evidently holding forth with much 
 emphasis upon the delights of some past great day’s sport, or of the best method, under 
 certain circumstances, of ensnaring the finny tribe. In the distance, a peep of bright, flat 
 lands, with a winding stream, forms an attractive background. Many accurately studied 
 details are worth noting, such as the timbers of “The Dolphin Inn,” the traveler’s old-fash- 
 ioned seat by the road-side, the cos- 
 tumes, the cat, the pigeons, and the 
 general quiet of a scene soon to dis- 
 appear from England before railway- 
 hotels. 
 
 No. 359, “ The Vigil'd by John Pet- 
 tie, R. A. The artist takes us back to 
 the ages of chivalry in this subject. 
 
 A young esquire is here represented 
 kneeling upon the stone floor of a 
 chapel, watching his armor, and this 
 he will have to do the whole night 
 through, until the succeeding day sees 
 him entitled to the honor of knight- 
 hood. The cold, gray light of early dawn strikes upon the young man, who wears a 
 white garb and crimson mantle, and he fixes his glance intently upward, as he grasps 
 in both hands his great two-handed sword. The design is curiously suggestive of the 
 religious feeling influencing the knights and cavaliers of the middle ages. The contrast 
 between the still, mystical light of the chapel and the rigid but powerful human form, 
 is very striking ; while there is interest, technically speaking, in the effect of early day- 
 
 46 x 66. 
 
 No. 359. “ The Vigil.” John Pettie, R. A. 
 
 ( Chantrey Fundi) 
 
1 6 
 
 English Art in 1884 . 
 
 No. 41O. u Site of an Early Christian Altar." 
 John Pettie, R. A. 
 
 light as opposed to the mechani- 
 cal light of an expiring lamp 
 hanging between the pillars. 
 
 This picture has been pur- 
 chased by the Royal Academy 
 out of the funds of the “ Chan- 
 trey Bequest.” Sir Francis Chan- 
 trey, the well-known English 
 sculptor, who died in 1841 with- 
 out issue, left the residue of 
 his personal estate, amounting 
 to about a hundred thousand 
 pounds sterling, to his wife for 
 life, and on her decease — which 
 took place a few years ago — to 
 the Royal Academy of Arts, to 
 England by living artists, 
 is also by Mr. Pettie. The scene illus- 
 
 “ The method adopted in fixing the orientation of churches by a 
 pole placed in the ground ; the sun’s rays appearing above the horizon 
 fixed the line of orientation.” 
 
 be expended in the purchase of pictures painted in 
 No. 410, “ Site of an Early Christian Altar ,” 
 
 47 x 65. 
 
 No. 258. “ The Morning of the Battle of Agincourt.” Sir John Gilbert, R. A. 
 
The Royal Academy. 
 
 1 7 
 
 trates the method adopted for fixing the orientation of churches. A large group of priests 
 and others is assembled in the outskirts of a forest among the trees and felled timber, 
 watching earnestly for the first rays of the rising sun, in order to determine the site of an 
 altar. Shading their eyes with their hands, they are just encountering the first brilliant 
 gleams of the god of day. Apart from the dignity of thought in the subject itself, the 
 effect of early sunlight is very skillfully rendered. 
 
 Sir John Gilbert, R. A., has chosen for the subject of his one Academy picture, “ The 
 Morning of the Battle of Agincourt ,” and has sketched for us here the three tired horse- 
 men, which occupy nearly the whole of his picture in the large room. On the actual 
 canvas we can see in the distance a line of warriors — the remnant of the English host — 
 sitting, as Shakespeare describes, “like fixed candlesticks with torch-staves in their hands,” 
 and “ their poor jades bob down their heads, dropping the hides and hips,” and “ their execu- 
 tors, the knavish crows, fly o’er them, all impatient for their hour.” This is a valuable 
 historical work, painted with great realism and verve ; Sir John Gilbert having exceptional 
 knowledge of costume and details of the period. The picture is grand in style, and full of 
 the spirit of the scene, as given in Shakespeare’s play of “King Henry V”; in fact, the 
 artist has evidently been much more influenced by the spirit of the play than by Hume or 
 any other historian. Sir John Gilbert is a painter in water-colors as well as in oils, and is 
 president of the principal water-color society of England. 
 
 Next in order we may refer to some prominent associates of the Royal Academy, artists 
 from whom the full members are elected as vacancies occur. 
 
 The only exhibited works this year by Mr. G. H. Boughton, A. R. A., are from scenes 
 in North Holland. In Mr. Boughton’s studio we see from time to time other subjects, but 
 the English public will know this artist best in 1884 by his sturdy field-handmaidens of 
 Brabant, and his views of that strange sea-shore in Holland, where the villagers nestle under 
 sand-hills, protected from wind and wave by an impenetrable wall, which hides even the 
 village church-tower from those who approach it from the sea. It is a wild and windy 
 place at the best of times, inhabited by sturdy peasants who cultivate the flat country and 
 make scanty harvests, both from sea and land ; but it has special attractions for the artist 
 in summer-time for the quaintness of the scene. The soft, atmospheric effects, the costumes 
 and buildings, lend themselves readily to the artist’s pencil. Mr. Boughton has told us of 
 these things in the pages of “ Harper’s Magazine,” and we now know something more of 
 the color and character of North Holland by his exhibited works. Mr. Boughton’s own 
 sketch of his single-figure picture, a girl carrying a basket of cabbages, exhibits a stalwart 
 figure worthy to be carved in stone and placed beside Mr. Hamo Thornycroft’s statue of 
 “ The Mower? There would be singular appropriateness in the juxtaposition of these two 
 
 3 
 
i8 
 
 English Art in 1884 . 
 
 figures, emblematic of field-labor (see “Sculpture”). On the technical quality of Mr. Bough- 
 ton’s art we need not dwell now ; there is the usual feeling for refinement of colors in the 
 picture of “ The Field Handmaiden ” ; the purple of the cabbages, and the brown and gray 
 
 50 x 27. 
 
 No. 80. 11 A Field Handmaiden , Brabant .” G. H. Boughton, A. R. A. 
 
 of the distant village, form a pleasant harmony with the fair hair and work-a-day attire of 
 the girl. But some day, not far distant, we hope to see Mr. Boughton in a new field of 
 labor altogether. 
 
 Mr P. R. Morris, A. R. A., has the art of attracting us by his treatment of the simplest 
 incidents. A little child, waiting ready dressed for a drive in the park (the artist’s own 
 
The Royal Academy. 
 
 l 9 
 
 child, by-the-way), was put on canvas with so much style and attractiveness that the editor 
 of the London “ Graphic ” newspaper decided to reproduce it as a colored illustration in the 
 Christmas number of that paper. The popularity thus attained by the painter, through the 
 medium of the printing-press, is enormous, no less than six hundred and fifty thousand 
 copies having been printed and distributed over the English-speaking world. Mr. P. R. 
 Morris’s picture may not be high art, but it is innocently attractive, and there is an air of 
 refinement which has proved delightful to the inmates of many homes. But, as a critic justly 
 remarks, Mr. Morris is not at his best in painting pictures of “overdressed babies, whose 
 
 I 
 
 iSal 
 
 • , yAA 
 
 No. 458. u A Village below the Sand-Dunes ” (“ Un Village pres des Dunes”). G. H. Boughton, A. R. A. 
 
 raiment is from Bond Street, and the texture of whose countenances is that of the costliest 
 dolls in the Burlington Arcade.” There is better and healthier work in his large picture of 
 “ Sweethearts and Wives'' which we have chosen for illustration. There is a little of the 
 tendency to overcolor his pictures evident in this, but the old West - Indiaman, with her 
 white-painted, yellow-stained, and weather-beaten timbers, coming into port under a summer 
 sun, forming a background to the gay dresses of the girls on the quay, forms altogether so 
 bright and pleasant a scene that we may thank the painter, rather than blame him, for put- 
 ting so much light, air, and gayety of color into a common scene at an English seaport. 
 
20 
 
 English Art in 1884 . 
 
 53^ x 35k 
 
 No. 177- “ Quite ready." 
 
 P. R. Morris, A. R. A. 
 
 Mr. Morris is a painter of much vivacity and origi- 
 nality, and everything he touches has a marked per- 
 sonality. Few painters are more rapid, or have greater 
 facility with the brush. 
 
 Of the many delicate and refined painters of genre 
 in England (men whose work is not much seen in 
 public exhibitions, because they paint for private com- 
 missions), Mr. Marcus Stone, A. R. A., is one of the 
 most attractive. FI is pictures are generally painted on 
 a small scale, and elaborated with the utmost care 
 and fastidiousness. No better example of Mr. Marcus 
 Stone’s style could have been selected than the two 
 pictures, “ Fallen out" and “ Reconciled which he has 
 sketched for this work. The harmonious color and 
 careful touch of the brush must be left to the imagi- 
 nation. All Mr. Stone’s work is thorough, and the 
 story of the picture is generally suggested rather than 
 explained. The artist is the son of Frank Stone, 
 R. A., the painter of “ The Last Appeal and other subjects which charmed the last genera- 
 tion of Academy visitors. It is said that Mr. Ruskin, standing one day in front of a very 
 popular picture by Frank Stone, turned to the artist, who happened to be present, and said, 
 “ Thank you , Frank'.' These words subsequently formed the criticism of the picture in Mr. 
 Ruskin’s printed notes of the Academy Exhibition. 
 
 Mr. Marcus Stone, an artist from childhood and by tradition de famille , so to speak, 
 will probably soon be in the ranks 
 of the Royal Academy, of which he 
 is now an associate. 
 
 No. 798, “ Daniel in the Lions' 
 
 Den" by Robert Thorburn, A. R. A. 
 
 Mr. Thorburn, in whose art may 
 still be traced the influence of his 
 early training as a miniature-painter, 
 treats this subject in a somewhat 
 original manner. The prophet, an 
 aged, bearded man, clad in a man- 
 tle, stands in the midst of the terri- No. 403 . “ Sweethearts and Wives.” P. R. Morris, A. R. A. 
 
The Royal Academy. 
 
 2 I 
 
 ble beasts, among whom he has been cast by order of the king. Before him is a radiant 
 female form — the angelic being sent by the Almighty to protect his servant. The motive 
 of this design is, in reality, the figure of the angel, that of Daniel being comparatively of 
 
 60 x 27. 60 x 27. 
 
 No. 448 . “ Fallen out." No. 449 . “ Reconciled 
 
 Marcus Stone, A. R. A. 
 
 “We fell out, my wife and I, 
 
 Oh, we fell out, I know not why, 
 
 And kissed again with tears.” 
 
 secondary importance in the background. It was otherwise in the very remarkable picture 
 of this subject, painted by Mr. Briton Riviere, R. A., some few years ago, and with which 
 we are all so familiar from the engravings, wherein the whole interest of the design is made 
 to center with surprising power in the solitary figure, with back turned to the spectator, of 
 the grand old prophet. 
 
 No. 35, “ The Shy Lover]' by G. A. Storey, A. R. A., is a work instinct with the quiet 
 humor with which the artist evidently desired to invest the design. A young couple, lady 
 and gentleman, seated on a garden-bench, are apparently afflicted with that bar to all human 
 progress — a distressing degree of bashfulness. The lady is seated at one end of the bench, a 
 
22 
 
 English Art in 1884 . 
 
 34 X 48. 
 
 No. 798. “ Daniel in the Lions' Den." 
 
 Robert Thorburn, A. R. A. 
 
 “ Then Daniel said unto the king, ‘ My God hath sent his 
 angel, and hath shut the lions’ mouths.’ ” 
 
 book upon her lap, and with eyes modestly cast down and face turned away, while she 
 somehow advances one hand in the direction of some flowers which her admirer has ven- 
 tured to push toward her upon the 
 seat. He, at the other end of the 
 bench, and holding his cap up so as to 
 partially screen his face, looks the prey 
 of a mauvaise honte which we much 
 question if his companion altogether 
 approves. If the poor fellow would 
 but take heart of grace and remember 
 that “ faint heart never won fair lady,” 
 he might possibly have a better pros- 
 pect of succeeding in his suit. 
 
 The Old World picturesqueness 
 which attracted Samuel Prout and the 
 English painters of the beginning of 
 the century, still attracts and repays 
 the artist. The local costumes not 
 quite extinct, the old towers and churches, the high-pitched roofs and gables covered with 
 carved wood-work, send many artists to Rouen and other parts of Normandy. Mr. W. 
 J. Hennessy, living much near Honfleur, at the mouth of the Seine (whose work was in 
 the Grosvenor Gallery), and his friend Mark 
 Fisher, still send us pictures of Normandy 
 orchards and bits of pastoral life. (See 
 sketches in Grosvenor Gallery.) 
 
 Mr. Eyre Crowe, in the sketches before 
 us, depicts more of the life and activity of 
 the town. Rouen is a great commercial cen- 
 ter in the north of France, and, like Birming- 
 ham in England, a “fish-center” for distribu- 
 tion over the country. The scene in the 
 fish-market is seldom visited by artists, but it 
 is worth finding out. The old court-yard of 
 the school at the Aitre, St. Maclou, is well 
 
 known, and permission can easily be obtained to sketch the wood-carving and architecture 
 of the fifteenth century, which stil! exists in the cloisters and precincts of the famous church 
 
 No. 35. “ The Shy Lover." 
 
 G. A. Storey, A. R. A. 
 
 26 x 36. 
 
The Royal Academy 
 
 2 3 
 
 26 X 36. 
 
 No. 1627. “ Fish-Market at Rouen.” Eyre Crowe, A. R. A. 
 
 of St. Maclou, at Rouen. Mr. Eyre Crowe has grouped the scholars with singular dexterity 
 in the sketch before us, and has given an interest to the scene which many an artist would 
 have missed. It is worth while for the reader to look along the line of the young people 
 in this illustration ; there is nothing more life-like in the book. 
 
 43 x 23. 
 
 No. 169. “ School at the Ait re, St. Maclou , Rouen.” Eyre Crowe, A. R. A. 
 
24 
 
 English Art in 1884.. 
 
 No. 552, “ The Scramble at the Wedding ,” by J. B. Burgess, A. R. A., is a subject illus- 
 trating domestic life in Spain. The wedding-party is leaving the church after the ceremony, 
 and the happy bridegroom, with his lovely wife leaning trustfully upon his arm, is acknowl- 
 edging the congratulations and good wishes of many friends. The dark-eyed bride, who is 
 glancing downward, is the cynosure of all eyes, and, in her pink dress and the ever-becom- 
 ing mantilla, is a splendid realization of Spanish beauty. In the group of girls upon her 
 left, one at least looks as if she thought that she herself at one time might have had some 
 hope of occupying the young wife’s happy position. Upon the left a cavalier on horse- 
 back liberally showers small coins among the urchins and others assembled. One little lass 
 offers a bouquet to the bride, and in the foreground gamins scramble furiously for the 
 
 x 7T- 
 
 No. 552. “ The Scramble at the Wedding." J. B. Burgess, A. R. A. 
 
 coins so liberally bestowed, and there is a pretty touch of sentiment in the incident of the 
 little beggar-girl with her tambourine on the right, eagerly followed by the hesitating steps 
 of her poor, old, blind grandfather. Mr. Burgess, who executed the picture, is now the 
 most able exponent of Spanish domestic genre subjects in England. Educated in the 
 
 schools of the English Royal Academy, where he was a student in 1848, and a silver 
 
 medalist, he was early impressed with a great admiration of the works of the late John 
 Phillip, R. A., whose manner of art he has adopted — without, however, the least degree of 
 servile imitation. Mr. Burgess has spent a considerable time in Spain, where he has accu- 
 mulated a vast number of sketches done upon the spot as material for future pictures. 
 
 Unlike Mr. Edwin Long, R.A., and other followers of the school of John Phillip, who have 
 forsaken Spanish subjects for other branches of art, Mr. Burgess has found in Spain, its 
 
FAITH. 
 
 E. Armitage, R. A. 
 
The Royal Academy. 
 
 25 
 
 'k 
 
 customs, people, and climate, a motive for art-work of which he has never been weary, and 
 from his first more important picture “Bravo Toro ,” to the present time, he has followed 
 with unfailing fidelity the delineation of Spanish life and character. The artist exhibits two 
 other pictures at the Academy in portraits of E. A. Goodall, Esq., and the Honorable Mrs. 
 H. A. Laurence, but, clever though they undoubtedly are, we have no desire to see the artist 
 abandon for portraiture what is beyond all question his real role in art. 
 
 Mr. Luke Fildes, A. R. A., has sketched the central figure of his chief contribution to 
 the Academy entitled “ Venetian Life ,” No. 390. This artist is one whose genius will not 
 
 be denied. It was but a few years ago that he startled the world of art with his picture 
 of “ Casuals ” — a work so powerful, instructive, and impressive that, had he but followed on 
 with other productions of like quality, his future fame was assured. In succeeding years we 
 had from his brush “ The Widower ,” and other subjects, strong in individuality, but with a 
 uniform character of melancholy in motive than was hardly to be desired. Determined to 
 free himself from the reputation of being painter of dismal subjects only, the young artist 
 has this year struck out a totally new line for himself, and that, it is only fair to add, with 
 complete success. Mr. Fildes has been to Venice, where his brother-in-law, Henry Woods, 
 
 4 
 
26 
 
 English Art in 1884. 
 
 A. R. A., resides, and, in that city of marble palaces and generally bright influences, the 
 inspiration he desired came to him. He painted on the spot a large picture illustrating 
 every-day “ Venetian life.” In the Piazza del Marco, or in the grand places of that peerless 
 city, one does not see the real life of Venice, but let the visitor, in the evening, traverse 
 some of the by-ways, and he will notice groups of work-girls and others, who, seated at the 
 entrances of the palaces, in which even the poorest now lodge, ply needle and thread, have 
 their long dark hair combed out, and meantime make the air vocal with songs and chatter. 
 Dressed in costumes the lightest and sometimes the most brilliant in color, and with busy 
 fingers and not less active tongues, very often these characteristic groups pass the best part 
 of the night thus engaged, under the lovely blue sky of the famous southern city. A won- 
 derfully pretty girl, with rich, reddish-colored hair, is seated, holding a ball of thread and some 
 muslin on her lap. She is dressed in light blue, and her costume, like that of her compan- 
 ions, is bright and pretty in the extreme. Mr. Fildes is to be congratulated upon changing 
 
 No. 1546. “ Pressing to the JVest." Hubert Herkomer, A. R. A. 
 
 his class of subject in his pictures. We admit the strength, expression, and value of his 
 forme designs, but there was always the fear that he might have fallen away, as an illus- 
 trate!' of only one class of subjects, and that a morbid one. Another picture by this artist 
 
The Roy a l Academy. 
 
 2 7 
 
 is a Venetian flower-girl, a figuse nearly life-size, with blue-black, curly hair, in bright-green 
 shawl and gay dress, standing near a blaze of flowers. Thus, the Venice of to-day, described 
 so well by Mr. W. D. Howells, and painted with such subtilty and grace by Van Haanen, 
 is depicted without much reticence of color, but with unmistakable power. 
 
 No. 8l0. “ The Saturday Dole in Worcester Chapter-House.” Val Princep, A. R. A. 
 
 Mr. Hubert Herkomer, A.R.A., sends to the Academy the picture of “ Pressing to the 
 West” the studies for which he made when visiting America last year. This artist, who 
 thirty-three years ago himself landed at New York city from Bavaria, and was taken by 
 his parents to Cleveland, Ohio, was much struck by the picturesque aspect of the scene in 
 Castle Garden, in the dreary building set apart for immigrants at the present time. Here 
 was material exactly suited to a painter of Mr. Herkomer’s temperament, imagination, and 
 energy. The accompanying sketch will indicate, to those who did not see the unfinished 
 original in New York, how the painter has worked out his idea, bringing together the vari- 
 ous nationalities, and grouping them in one powerful, pathetic picture. It is a drama of 
 many acts brought before us in one scene. 
 
 It may be interesting to note how a picture, which created much interest in New York 
 during its progress, was received in England by the press. “We have little doubt,” says the 
 
28 
 
 English Art in 1884 . 
 
 “Pall Mall Gazette,” “that this gloomy and singular composition will be the most popular 
 picture of the year.” The London “Observer” says, “The execution seems purposely rough, 
 and the color brown and unpleasant, but it is painted with prodigious vigor”; and the 
 
 “Daily News” speaks of it as “a composition which has no mission of beauty, and is 
 instructive rather than agreeable.” 
 
 As an artistic effort this picture will scarcely add to the reputation of the painter of 
 “ The Last Muster'.' The skill is undeniable, and few painters could bring together such a 
 variet) of character with more force and individuality — the easy-going Irish, the Germans, 
 Hungarians, Poles, Italians, and others — but the handling is decidedly rough, and the picture 
 
The Royal Academy. 
 
 2 9 
 
 seems to want relief — if not a touch of actual comedy, at least that grim relief that 
 Hogarth would have given to such a scene. 
 
 No. 810, “ The Saturday Dole in Worcester Chapter-House : A Relic of the Olden 
 Time ,” by Val Princep, A. R. A. This is the interesting record of a charitable bequest to 
 the poor of the city of Worcester. A large quantity of bread is distributed under the 
 superintendence of the clergy in the chapter-house, and the gathering of old and young 
 upon these occasions of those, not unfrequently, who, but for this most seasonable charity, 
 would be in dire want, is a sight calculated to arouse feelings both of benevolence and 
 gratitude* 
 
 The painter of “Romeo and Juliet ,” Mr. Frank Dicksee, whose illustrations to Longfel- 
 low’s “Evangeline” are well known, made a great success in the Academy in 1877 by 
 a picture called “ Harmony ,” a girl seated at an organ and a young man listening. It was 
 an ambitious work for a young artist, but it was excellently placed in the center of a wall 
 in the first gallery, purchased by the Academy, and afterward engraved. Since that time 
 Mr. Dicksee has exhibited annually important pictures, and in 1881 was made an Associate 
 of the Academy. There is very beautiful painting in his parting of “ Romeo and Juliet ,” with 
 
 48 x 108. 
 
 No. 805. “ A Fen Farm.” Robert W. Macbeth, A. R. A. 
 
 “ Cusha ! cusha ! cusha ! calling, 
 
 For the dews will soon be falling.” 
 
 the light of morning breaking in the distance and just tingeing the laurel-leaves as the 
 lovers part. It is a powerful picture, much finer, we imagine, than the majority of visitors 
 to the Academy discovered, as it hung in a corner of a gallery. However, an engraving is 
 
 * In the absence of a sketch of this picture by the artist, we have inserted a photographic reproduction by the Lefm- 
 man process. It will serve to indicate the composition. 
 
3 ° 
 
 English Art in 1884. 
 
 in progress which will give the details of costume and texture as they have never yet been 
 seen. There is no doubt that the painting of details and the effect of break of day are 
 the artist’s strong points in this work. But the painter of “Evangeline,” in 1879, with the 
 emigrants on the shore, “when the sun went down,” has a reserve of power of which we 
 shall hear more in future exhibitions. 
 
 No. 805, “A Fen Farm ,” by Robert Walker Macbeth, A. R. A., is one of the Cam- 
 bridgeshire or Lincolnshire scenes in which the artist delights. In a farm in the low, 
 marshy land of the fen districts, a buxom, golden-haired country lassie stands at the farm- 
 
 56 x 77. 
 
 No. 88l. “ After Culloden : Rebel- Hunting.” Seymour Lucas. 
 
 gate she is holding open, while she lustily calls into their night’s resting-place her charge 
 of young cattle. The cows and calves obey the familiar invitation, but watch warily the 
 dog standing close to his mistress’s side. The sky is rendered luminous by the setting sun, 
 which also brightens, with its departing radiance, the living objects in the scene. Mr. Mac- 
 beth, who is a Scotch artist, was born in Glasgow in 1848, and may be considered fortu- 
 nate in being elected an Associate of the Academy while still so young. He has not fol- 
 lowed the line of art of his father, Norman Macbeth, the well-known portrait-painter, but 
 there can be little doubt that the early artistic associations and training which fell to his 
 lot have been of no little value in securing his hitherto remarkably successful career. 
 
The Royal Academy. 
 
 3 1 
 
 No. 88 1, “ After Culloden : Rebel-Hunting ,” by Seymour Lucas, is another of the pict- 
 ures purchased by the Royal Academy from the Chantrey Bequest Fund. In a Scotch 
 smithy in the Highlands, after the Duke of Cumberland had, in 1746, defeated Prince 
 Charles, the last of the Stuarts, at Culloden, some English soldiers are busy on the trail 
 of rebel Scots. The smiths — fine, brawny fellows — are busy at their trade when the 
 duke’s soldiers, sword in hand, enter. Whether these good fellows — or any of them — were 
 concerned in the recent fierce fight, which cost them between two and three thousand men 
 slain upon the field, we will not undertake to say, but certainly more than one of their 
 number present an appearance of determination and strength that would augur no good 
 thing for those who are to make them prisoners and lead them off to punishment. The 
 picture is a remarkable example of the steadily increasing powers of the young artist, Mr. 
 Seymour Lucas. There is a little conventionality apparent in the arrangement, but the 
 painting is thorough and the color good ; and the general verdict in London is that it is 
 “ the most satisfactory purchase of the year out of the funds of the Chantrey Bequest.” 
 
 No. 559, “ Consulting the Oracle ,” by J. W. Waterhouse. Last year this artist exhibited 
 at the Academy a picture of the Emperor Honorius — a scene in Italian court-life in the 
 fifth or sixth century. This picture excited attention as a work of considerable promise, but 
 it scarcely led the way to so fine a production technically as the one we have now to 
 
 48 X 78. 
 
 No. 559- “ Consulting the Oracle .” J. W. Waterhouse. 
 
 remark upon. The subject Mr. Waterhouse has selected is singular, as it relates to a prac- 
 tice among the Eastern nations in ancient times, when they slaughtered a man, cut off his 
 head, and put it in spices and oil. They then wrote the name of an evil spirit on a golden 
 plate, placed it under the tongue, and, the head being fastened to the wall and lamps lighted, 
 
3 2 
 
 English Art in 1884 . 
 
 they knelt down in adoration, when it was said the tongue began to utter divinations. 
 Such was the singular idea of this particular oracle, the diviners becoming so excited that 
 they imagined they heard a voice whispering future events. The artist’s design shows to us 
 the interior of a temple with marble floor, and upon the left is affixed to the wall the 
 ghastly human head, in front of which the diviner is listening to the imaginary words of 
 terrible import, and repeating them to a group of women, seated around in a semicircle. 
 
 No. 14 . “ The Very Image." Joseph Clark. 
 
 The character in the listeners is remarkable. Some are bowed down with anguish at the 
 message just conveyed to them ; others are hopeful ; and others, again, are listening in rapt 
 attention. The costumes are varied and beautiful, the expressions of the faces also being 
 well expressed. The semi-obscurity of the building, lighted by oil-lamps burning before the 
 face of the dead, the natural excitement of the diviner, and the semicircle of listeners in 
 the spring-time of life, form altogether a remarkable picture — remarkable especially for good 
 color and quality. 
 
The Roy a l Academy . 
 
 33 
 
 No. 14, “ The Very Image]' by Joseph Clark. The 
 group here consists of a young artist standing, palette and 
 brushes in hand, in some humble country cottage. He has 
 just finished his picture standing upon the easel, which an 
 old granddame is expressing high approval of, while her 
 good man indorses her opinion, and their little chubby 
 grandson sits upon the floor doing all the mischief, time 
 will admit of, with the artist’s camp-stool. The picture on 
 the easel may be the interior of the cottage itself, with the 
 admiring old couple introduced, and perhaps the child ; but, 
 at any rate, the picture is admired, and the painter has the 
 satisfaction of having an approving critic. The contrast of 
 stalwart manhood with trembling old age, and the charm 
 of childhood, will also not be overlooked by the observant. 
 
 For many years (without any special recognition from the 
 Academy) has Mr. Joseph Clark had similar subjects on the walls, interiors painted with 
 the precision and certainty of the old Dutch masters ; and, like them, making every detail 
 of household life an interesting part of the composition. 
 
 A refined and graceful picture, gray in tone, lighted by a touch of blue in the peacock’s 
 plume, is Mr. Perugini’s “Idle Moments'.' The action of drawing the feathers through the 
 
 hand gives the motive of the composition. This artist’s 
 method of painting is highly finished and careful, resem- 
 bling in its style that of Sir Frederick Leighton. Mr. 
 Perugini married Kate, daughter of the late Charles Dick- 
 ens. This lady’s portraits of children are very successful, 
 and are generally seen in our exhibition. 
 
 A young member of the talented family of the Mont- 
 albas is represented (No. 880) in a Venetian girl going to 
 a well ; her sister Ellen is a most skillful portrait-painter, 
 and exhibited two portraits of ladies this year. Examples 
 of the work of Clara and H. S. Montalba will be found 
 in this volume. 
 
 Among the younger painters whose work is of great 
 interest and promise we should mention Mr. Herbert 
 Schmalz. No picture this year excited more interest during 
 its progress than “ Too late]' a large and carefully thought- 
 
 to the Well.” 
 Hilda Montalba. 
 
 C. E. Perugini. 
 
 5 
 
3 + 
 
 English Art in 1884 - 
 
 out picture, exhibiting great power on the part of the painter. The solemn grouping of the 
 figures round the body of the bride, the management of color in the morning light, and the 
 painting of the interior and accessories of the palace of a Norse chieftain on a very large 
 canvas, went far to make a great success. But the figure of the returning warrior, who 
 arrives to find his young wife dead, is less successful than the rest of the picture. Mr. 
 Schmalz had another picture in the Grosvenor Gallery. 
 
 62 x 100. 
 
 No. 827 . “ Too late!" Herbert Schmalz. 
 
 Of Mr. J. D. Linton, of whose fine picture of “ The Declaration of War " we give a 
 reproduction, we have spoken in the section devoted to water-colors. It will be interesting, 
 however, to give a sketch of his principal works in oils, communicated by the artist, which 
 appeared in a London newspaper : 
 
 “The President of the Royal Institute of Painters in Water-Colors has made a reputa- 
 tion as an oil-painter principally by a single series of pictures. This is the only way in 
 which we can account for the fact that one of the first craftsmen of the age remains out- 
 side the ranks of the Royal Academy. That body considers painting in oils as alone 
 worthy of its attention, and, until 1880, Mr. Linton was simply one of the best of living 
 water-color painters. But in 1879 he had the happy inspiration of furnishing a great room 
 with five large oil-pictures, representing the life of a soldier in the sixteenth century. It 
 will not be the least notable fact about the Royal Academy of 1884 that it will contain 
 the best installment of this extremely interesting series. The five pictures have not been 
 exhibited in their proper order. This is their true distribution: ‘ The Declaration of War' 
 Roya’ Academy, 1884; ‘ The Benediction ,' Royal Academy, 1881; ‘ The Surrender ' Royal 
 Academy, 1883; ‘ Victorious ,’ Grosvenor Gallery, 1880; ‘ The Banquet', Royal Academy, 
 
/ 
 
 THE PET PLANT. 
 H. S. Marks, R. A. 
 
The Royal Academy. 
 
 35 
 
 1882. The legend running through them may be thus rapidly defined: A young soldier is 
 in the service of a German prince who declares war against the Turk ; he is solemnly 
 blessed and knighted in the cathedral; he attacks the principal fortress of the Turk and 
 storms it ; he returns to his prince covered with glory ; and is honored with a public 
 banquet of congratulation. It may be a matter of some interest to mention that throughout 
 the series many of the heads are portraits. The young prince is Mr. E. J. Gregory, 
 A. R. A. ; his minister of state is Mr. Brewtnall, the distinguished water-color painter, and 
 the faces of several other kindred artists may be detected by the curious. 
 
 “ The picture of this year, ‘ The Declaration of War] though the last painted, is the 
 first of the series. We stand in the interior of a Byzantine palace, which, presumably, from 
 the order of its architecture and the nature of its ornaments, stands not far from the Adri- 
 atic — in Istria, perhaps, or Dalmatia — although the arms which we see embroidered in gold 
 and black on the blue arras are the arms of Bohemia. At the top of a low flight of mar- 
 ble steps, the young prince of the state, Herzog or Landesherr, owning no suzerain but the 
 Kaiser, stands in a splendid attitude of wrath, rending the parchment treaty which the two 
 stolid embassadors from the Grand Turk, who stand below him on the left-hand side, have 
 brought. The embassadors bow with a dignified resignation, but evidently all the Germans 
 sympathize with their prince. Behind him, from one door, the Church gives him her sup- 
 port in a stream of priests and acolytes, headed by a blonde Teutonic bishop. On the 
 other side the slender young soldier, a mere stripling in armor, who is to be the hero of the 
 series, is presented as general of the coming war by the minister of state, who advances in 
 a long robe of vair. At the left-hand corner of the picture the lawyers form a picturesque 
 group over their codes and Latin formulas. The color of the whole picture is sumptuous. 
 The simple green and red of the flowing robes of the embassadors contrast with the elabo- 
 rate richness of the prince’s dress. By the Turks, on a carved marble seat of florid Re- 
 naissance work, stand the useless gifts which they have brought with them from their 
 Orient. 
 
 “ Mr. Linton thinks it yet possible that he may be tempted to add an appendix to the 
 series. He would like to represent his soldier in old age, still wearing the costume of his 
 glorious youth, and serving a new young Herzog, whose ways are not his, and whose 
 fashions are half a century later.” 
 
 Mr. Linton has also exhibited several small and very powerful pictures in oils, princi- 
 pally in the Grosvenor Gallery in 1879. 
 
 In the year 1876 a poetical picture, by Mr. Lrederick Morgan, attracted much attention 
 in the Royal Academy. It was a large work, representing hay-makers returning from work 
 in the glow of a summer’s evening. Since that time this artist has been a regular contribu- 
 
3 6 
 
 English Art in 1884. 
 
 tor to the exhibitions, but he has seldom painted with more success than in 1884. We 
 have noticed elsewhere his picture of children, but the present sketch (No. 147, “ Besieged ”) 
 indicates his principal work. It is accurate in the lines of the composition (for it is by 
 the artist’s own hand), but gives little idea of the skillful management of sunlight on the 
 features of the woman and child, or of the delicate balance of color throughout. This 
 picture, happy in idea, natural in action, presents us with a scene of rustic life in summer 
 on the southern side of the Alps. 
 
 No. 701, “La Cocarde Tricolore ,” by G. P. Jacomb-IIood. A young mother standing 
 at a window in Paris, rocking her child’s cradle with one foot while she sews together the 
 
 fatal tricolor cockade her husband is to wear in that awful period of French history to 
 
 which the picture refers. The incident recalls memories never to be forgotten in the history 
 not only of “ la belle France ” but of Europe. A great nation roused to wrath by a long 
 system of cruelty and oppression that was unendurable ; the consequent destruction of king, 
 queen, and nobles, who, either willingly or by force of circumstances, had become oppressors 
 
 and brought to one of the fairest and most beautiful of cities a “ Reign of Terror,” a very 
 
 carnival of blood. Over that time we may willingly draw a veil, when the fierce passions 
 
The Royal Academy. 
 
 37 
 
 60 x 42. 
 
 No. 1622. “ The Marsh-King' s Daugh- 
 
 ter." John Scott. 
 
 of man were in all their fury. But the French Revo- 
 lution is ever a favorite subject with the painter. Here 
 is the young wife of a Paris ouvrier busily plying 
 needle and thread, constructing the distinctive badge 
 which by-and-by is to be worn by her husband at that 
 terrible festival of the guillotine. Will she also be one 
 of the many of her sex who used to sit, as at a theatre, 
 calmly working while the bloody massacres were going 
 on? At present she looks thoughtful and as if half 
 alarmed at the tumult in the streets below, and we 
 care not to think how she may soon be an approving 
 participator in the scenes of blood taking place around. 
 
 This picture is one of the successes of the year by a 
 young exhibitor. 
 
 No. 693, “ Disinherited ,” by Laslett J. Pott. The 
 scene here depicted reminds us of Hogarth’s “ Rakes 
 Progress'.' It is the oft-told story of the lavish thought- 
 lessness and waste of youth. A young man, after doubt- 
 less countless follies, and as constant forgiveness, has at length aroused his father’s wrath, 
 
 has met with the reward of his misdeeds, and is seen 
 descending the stairs of the mansion a beggar. There 
 is no mistake about it, for the scene tells its own story 
 most powerfully. The young man has been a spend- 
 thrift, squanderer, and at last comes the day of reckon- 
 ing when the outraged parent, who has heard the oft- 
 repeated tale of his son’s offenses, until the time of 
 forgiveness is gone, stands indignantly at the head of 
 the stairs ordering the offender to depart from his 
 house. But there is still a pleading voice to be heard 
 in favor of young scapegrace, and, come what may, a 
 mother’s love is not to be exhausted. And thus we 
 see the mother striving to allay the storm of just in- 
 dignation ; but all is useless, and with bowed head and 
 humbled mien the heir of the house quits his father’s 
 house, while the servants, as their young master passes 
 No. 693. “ Disinherited L. J. Pott. from his home forever, by their respectful obeisance 
 
3§ 
 
 English Art in 1884 . 
 
 suggest that possibly the young sinner was, after all, not wholly unpopular, and may have 
 been his own greatest enemy. The artist, Mr. L. J. Pott, has more than once, in exhibited 
 works of very considerable power, made fair bid for the honor of associateship, which, if he 
 is but true to himself in the way in which he is now working, may hardly be much longer 
 denied to him. 
 
 No. 374, “ The Peace-Maker ,” by G. B. O’Neill (sketched on page 46), a group in 
 which a little girl is attempting to re-establish the entente cordiale between two school-boys 
 who have fallen out, is an interesting and satisfactory little study of the class to which we 
 have been now referring. 
 
 No. 662, “ Saved from the Snow? by Arthur Stocks. A group consisting of a shepherd 
 and his family gathered round a small lamb which the man holds upon his knees. The 
 
 No. 662. “ Saved from the Snow." A. Stocks. 
 
 weather has been hard, and perhaps, far away from its mother, in some wild mountain- 
 pass, the poor little lamb has been overcome in a snow storm, and would have perished but 
 that the shepherd’s footstep strayed that way and he saved the wanderer. And now, safely 
 
The Royal Academy. 
 
 39 
 
 housed in the good man’s cottage, with warmth, food, and kindly treatment, the pretty 
 animal will be restored. Rather a quaint feature of the design is the shepherd’s dog — 
 certainly an animal not naturally fond of sheep, but who is now seated, looking on at what 
 is going forward, almost with instinctive knowledge that, with good luck and nursing, the 
 time may come when he will have the pleasure of harrying and driving this little nursling 
 with the rest of the flock. There is great pictorial interest in Mr. Stocks’s pictures, which 
 are looked for annually as popular points in the exhibition. We believe “ Saved from the 
 Snow ” will shortly appear as an engraving. 
 
 54 x 77- 
 
 No. 516. “ The French in Cairo , a. d. 1800.” Walter C. Horsley. 
 
 Mr. Walter C. Horsley, son of the well-known Royal Academician, J. C. Horsley, has 
 turned to good account his experiences as an artist, or war correspondent, on one of the 
 London illustrated newspapers, and, nearly every year, since 1877 (when he first made a 
 mark with a picture called “ The Hour of Prayer ,” a scene on a Turkish ironclad), he has 
 contributed some painting descriptive of life in the East and the incidents of modern war- 
 fare. The value of this early training in the sketching and arrangement of groups of figures 
 is conspicuous in this artist’s work, which is generally well placed on the line in the Royal 
 Academy. This year he has chosen an historical incident in which he depicts a successful 
 soldier of the Emperor Napoleon cutting in the stone of one of the principal buildings in 
 
40 
 
 English Art in 1884. 
 
 Cairo the names of the great marshals of France. Some of these names still remain, a 
 memorial of the emperor’s love of display, and of his merciless disregard of the feelings of 
 those he conquered. In the group Mr. Horsley pictures, the French soldiers contemplate with 
 satisfaction the work of their comrade, who, with chisel and mallet, carves out the famous 
 names, while the citizens look on with feelings of bitterness and indignation at the insult 
 thus put upon them and their noble city. One French soldier, a veteran from many a 
 hard-fought field, is sitting down reading in a newspaper the account of some recent battle, 
 while a young comrade, with musket slung at his back, is also seated, observing, with non- 
 chalant ease and an expression of gratified pride, the public record of his country’s prowess. 
 
 No. 128, “The Union-Jack ,” by W. Christian Symons, is one of those strongly designed, 
 bright, and suggestive subjects that is sure to be deservedly popular. Some girls and 
 others are wandering near a flag-staff on the sea-shore, when a Jack-tar amuses himself by 
 wrapping the flag of Old England round a bright-faced, happy-looking lass. And many a 
 time before has the Union-Jack sheltered and protected those in our little island, as Nelson 
 
 No. 128. “ The Union -Jack." W. C. Symons. 
 
 and many other heroes could have testified. The other lassies and surrounding spectators 
 look on amused at the impromptu garment honest Jack has found for his lass, but little 
 cares he, while his strong, sheltering arm is placed around the fair form, trusting confidingly 
 in him. 
 
The Royal Academy . 
 
 4i 
 
 No. 294, “ Men were Deceivers ever” by Peter Macnab. The artist here hints, it is to 
 be surmised, at one of those stories of fond but fleeting love, which ever have been since 
 the world began. A young gentleman is speaking his devotion to his sweetheart as he 
 tenderly presses her hand, and at the same time we see in the distance the ship which is 
 
 “ Sigh no more, ladies, sigh no more, 
 Men were deceivers ever ; 
 
 One foot on sea, and one on shore, 
 To one thing constant never.” 
 
 to bear him to other shores, and perhaps to other loves. The maiden looks very trustful 
 and equally sad, so that one quite feels for her in her bereavement. Perhaps it is unwise 
 to trust a lover — particularly if he be young and handsome — miles away in a ship, if 
 he must be gone a long time. There is a sad and tender grace about the treatment 
 
 6 
 
42 
 
 English Art in 1884 . 
 
 No. 828. “ An Impromptu." H. T. Schafer. 
 
 of the well-worn theme peculiar to Mr. Macnab’s work. The picture will make a good 
 engraving. 
 
 Next are two representative pictures by H. T. Schafer, a young and successful painter, 
 a frequent contributor to the Academy. No. 828, “An Impromptu ,” is a pretty idyl; two 
 Greek girls, fair and graceful, listening to a classic shepherd who pipes sweet music while 
 they listen, charmed by the melody. 
 
 No. 419, “ II Dolce far Niente” from the same brush, pictures another fair dame stretched 
 at her ease among clustering flowers, in the distance being what are possibly the blue 
 waters of the Grecian Archipelago. The lady has one arm raised above her head, and looks 
 the very personification of all that is graceful and lovely. Mr. Schafer is sometimes over- 
 bright in color, but his grace of line bears down all criticism ; no one is a harder worker 
 in this branch of art. It is worth while to note here how admirably the artist has indicated 
 the flow of soft drapery in his sketch (419) before us. Few artists have greater facility of 
 expression in line. 
 
 12 x 24. 
 
 No. 419. “II Dolce far Niente." H. T. Schafer. 
 
The Royal Academy. 
 
 4-3 
 
 No. 425, “ The Widower ,” by William Rainey, is a study of an old cottager, left by for- 
 tune to fight the battle of life alone, when he is of an age ill fitting him for the contest. 
 The poor old fellow is cleaning his cup after partaking of that beverage without which it 
 
 would almost appear that the poor in England could hardly exist. He looks desperately 
 lonely, and we need not be told of the irremediable loss he has experienced. This picture 
 is by a young artist who made a mark last year by an excellent river-scene entitled “ The 
 Horse-Boat , Fowey ! ’ 
 
 The works of Mr. Wetherbee and Mr. Waterlow may be examined together. They are 
 
44 
 
 English Art in 1884 
 
 No. 414 . “ The Harvest is past , the Summer is ended.” G. F. Wetherbee. 
 
 35 x to. 
 
 painters of kindred subjects, both in oils and water-colors. Mr. E. A. Waterlow is a young 
 and very successful painter of landscape with figures, showing, like Mr. Wetherbee, much 
 
The Royal Academy. 
 
 45 
 
 of the feeling of the late Frederick Walker in pastoral subjects. But Mr. Waterlow is no 
 imitator of other men’s styles ; he is working out steadily a line of his own, with a good 
 eye for color and grace in composition. This year his picture of “ Sand-Digging in North 
 Cornwall" reminds us in its treatment more of Mr. J. C. Hook, R. A. 
 
 62 x 92. 
 
 No. 809. “ La Belle Dame sans Merci." Anna Lea Merritt. 
 
 “ She took me to her elfin grot, 
 
 And there she wept, and sighed full sore, 
 And there I shut her wild, wild eyes 
 With kisses four. 
 
 And there she lulled me asleep, 
 
 And there I dreamed — ah ! woe betide 
 The latest dream I ever dreamed 
 On the cold hill's side.” 
 
 Mrs. Merritt’s large canvas, “ La Belle Dame sans Merci" occupies a very prominent 
 position in the center of the wall in Gallery VII. The picture is full of grace; there is 
 fine drawing of the figure, as usual. The accessories have been painted with great care ; the 
 elfin grot, the trees, and undergrowth, from nature-studies, giving great interest to the com- 
 position. The subject of this picture is suggested by Keats’s poem oi “ La Belle Dame sans 
 Merci" ; the moment chosen is when the knight is being lulled to sleep. 
 
4 6 
 
 English Art in 1884 
 
 25 X 30. 
 
 No. 374. “ The Peace-Maker,” G. B. O’Neill. 
 
 40 x 60. 
 
 No. 176. “ Old Friends." Carl Schloesser. 
 
 11 A Load of Turf." A. O’Kelly. 
 
 No. 451. “ Prince Rupert." Stanley Berkley. No. 815. “ Her own Gleanings." H. R. Robertson. 
 
SWEETHEARTS AND WIVES. 
 
 P. R. Morris, A. R. A. 
 
The Royal Academy. 
 
 47 
 
 No. 674, “ Called to Court'd by Haynes Williams. “She thought of nothing but the 
 bright life before her, and in her youth and innocence dreamed only of love and truth and 
 pleasure ; but he, her father, sighed and wished that France’s queen had left his child to 
 him and home.” Mr. Williams, whose direct role in art one has been accustomed to regard 
 as more akin to that of his old friend and comrade, Mr. J. B. Burgess, A. R. A., in the 
 present work forsakes Spanish subjects, in which, on former occasions, he has shown that he 
 delights and has great facility, and favors us with an example of his skill in historical genre . 
 The scene is laid in the time of Louis XIII, whose queen was in the habit of selecting 
 her maids of honor on account both of their beauty and high birth. In the present 
 instance the choice has fallen upon a very lovely girl, who, sumptuously attired in white 
 
 No. 674 . “ Called to Court." Haynes Williams. 
 
 satin, is being conducted by the old nobleman, her father, to the presence-chamber of the 
 queen. She, in the joyousness of her young life, thinks only of the honor conferred upon 
 her, and of coming pleasures; but her father, with greater knowledge of court-life, has other 
 and graver thoughts. Meantime, the fair young beauty leans lightly upon her father’s arm, 
 and is more intent upon the attendant arranging her train than aught more important. 
 Two pages, in blue-satin jackets, make obeisance as they hold open the folding-doors which 
 lead to the immediate presence of royalty. 
 
 To turn to something designed and executed in a more comic vein. No. 671, “ Not 
 worth Powder and Shot ,” by J. C. Dollman, is certainly humorous. A mounted highway- 
 man, armed, masked, and doubtless keenly anxious for his prey, has spied a traveler in the 
 distance, and, setting spurs to his horse, he after a long and sharp gallop has succeeded in 
 coming up with the individual. But, pulling up, for his horse is blown, he finds that this 
 
+8 
 
 English Art in 1884 .. 
 
 26 x 40. 
 
 No. 671. u Not worth Powder and Shot.” J. C. Dollman. 
 
 time, at any rate, he is thoroughly mistaken, for what he doubtless hoped was a wealthy 
 traveler proved to be but a starveling, old, itinerant musician — one whose poverty is such 
 that, feeling secure in his total lack of this world’s goods, he does not even take the trouble 
 to turn upon his heel to see who his pursuer may be, but trudges along, supremely inde- 
 pendent in that he has nothing to lose. The subject is no caricature, no exaggeration of 
 very unlikely possibilities, but the incident is a simple transcript of what might very well 
 take place, while it is, of course, a humorous phase of human nature. 
 
 41 x 32. 
 
 No. 69. “ Fact and Fiction.” G. W. C. Hutchinson. 
 
The Royal Academy . 
 
 49 
 
 No. 66 1, “ The Unconverted Cavalier ,” by Charles C. 
 
 Seton, is another work in which the motive is distinctly 
 jocular. One of King Charles’s worldling and unregener- 
 ate Cavaliers, richly attired and lounging at his ease in a 
 chair, smoking, is listening to a Puritan who, with eager 
 zeal, is expounding the word to him. But the good seed 
 is evidently sown on barren soil, for the reprobate listens, 
 too lazy even to answer, too careless to attempt to refute 
 the words of the worthv Roundhead. 
 
 j 
 
 To refer to yet one other study of the class we are 
 alluding to. No. 69, “ Fact and Fiction ,” by George W. 
 
 C. Hutchinson, is a quaintly characteristic figure of a little 
 girl kneeling at a stove toasting some bread, while eyes 
 and mind are engaged with a story-book spread open at 
 her feet. The milk boils over on the stove, and the steam 
 from the kettle threatens a similar mishap, the toast burns 
 furiously, but the little one’s mind is in the region of fancy, and all things sublunary are 
 lost to her. This charming little study, which exhibits the grace of childhood, is not with- 
 out thoughtful sense of humor in its suggestiveness. 
 
 No. 485, 11 For Sale" by Arthur Hacker, exhibits an Arab salesman with a matchlock 
 and various other wares which he is offering for sale. At his side runs a little black lad, 
 
 and in the foreground are fruits and other objects upon a 
 stall. 
 
 No. 439, “ Home, Sweet Home" by William E. F. Britten. 
 Two country children, a boy and girl, are finding their way 
 home through the heavy winter snows, and, as they approach, 
 hail those who are welcoming them at the cottage-door. 
 
 No. 465, “ The Gladiator s Wife" by E. Blair Leighton. 
 This picture, notwithstanding the scant courtesy with which it 
 was treated by the hangers, was one of the most interesting 
 and remarkable in the exhibition. It recalls to mind imperial 
 Rome when, in the splendor of her power, she inaugurated 
 those deadly sports with wild beasts, and combats, which de- 
 lighted the citizens with scenes of blood. Founded in cruelty 
 No 439. “Home Sweet Home.” — for 4 was built by Vespasian with the enforced labor of the 
 
 W. E. F. Britten. miserable, conquered Jews — the Coliseum during the reigns of 
 
 70 x 50. 
 
 No. 485. “ For Sale.” 
 
 Arthur Hacker. 
 
 7 
 
5 ° 
 
 English Art in 1884. 
 
 several succeeding emperors was the scene where the people 
 conoremited to witness the gladiatorial encounters — fights 
 with wild beasts — and upon one occasion, at least, the whole- 
 sale destruction of the then despised sect of Christians, that 
 served to make holiday for a warlike but semi-barbarous 
 nation. But while demoralized by the cultivation of their 
 more cruel instincts, and degraded by their constant trade 
 of war, it may not be doubted that they were still susceptible 
 to the feelings of natural affection which make “ the whole 
 world kin.” It is true that even women used upon occasions 
 to figure in their gladiatorial shows as combatants, but it is 
 probable that such instances were comparatively isolated and 
 unusual. Mr. Blair Leighton, in his singularly dramatic and 
 powerful picture, depicts what would be a very probable in- 
 cident, the young wife of a gladiator awaiting the result of a 
 combat in which her husband is engaged. The splendid and 
 terrible scene is sufficiently indicated — the immense amphi- 
 theatre crowded with spectators ; the emperor in all his semi-barbaric pomp ; the vestal 
 virgins, senators, patricians, and citizens of all classes, watching with eager interest the inci- 
 dents of the bloody fray. But here, unable to turn her face toward the awful sight — to the 
 scene which may rob her, in a moment, of one dear to her 
 as life — a young wife stands listening to the shouts and 
 cries which greet her ear. In nervous dread she clutches 
 at her necklace. What cares she for emperor and court, 
 for the splendor of the scene, or for victory, if but the one 
 life she holds so dear be spared? And meantime the brill- 
 iant light of the sun, scarce checked by the awning, is 
 shed upon the scene as if in mockery at human happiness 
 or woes. The artist’s pathetic little story is told with 
 wondrous power and effect. 
 
 Another work by the same hand, No. 1552, “ Conquest ,” 
 pictures an armed knight returning to his castle with what 
 it is to be presumed are the spoils of war. Advancing 
 with measured step and holding his trusty sword, he is 
 preceding a lady who, with eyes cast down and humbled 
 mien, follows her captor. An attendant is gathering up 
 
 50 x 30. 
 
 No. 1552. “Conquest." 
 E. Blair Leighton. 
 
 62 x 38. 
 
 No. 465. “ The Gladiator s Wife." 
 E. Blair Leighton. 
 
The Royal Academy. 
 
 5i 
 
 some golden cups and other spoil at the knight’s side, and in the distance others are 
 approaching bearing in the wounded. There is perhaps a little obscurity in the design as 
 far as the lady-prisoner is concerned, as one hardly supposes that in ages of chivalry noble 
 knights warred against women. But certain it is that in all times and ages warriors have 
 been keenly alive to the commercial part of their business, so it is perhaps the case that 
 the fair dame represents a good ransom. 
 
 No. 475, “ Shadow s,” by Robert Hillingford, Oliver Cromwell seated in a chair moodily 
 regarding a whole-length portrait of Charles I. At the Protector’s side stands a lady, pos- 
 sibly his favorite daughter, Mrs. Claypole, and in the background is a gentleman having 
 the appearance of being a follower of the royal cause. It is not difficult to imagine what 
 
 29 x 44. 
 
 No. 475 - “Shadows.” Robert Hillingford. 
 
 may be the feelings of mingled doubt, hesitation, and regret in the mind of the remarkable 
 man who, in 1649, had altered a nation’s destiny and signed the death-warrant of a king. 
 Cromwell was no believer in “the divine right” of kings, but he was a patriot and a man 
 of unflinching will. When the wrong-headed, overbearing, and obstinate monarch, unhappy 
 Charles I, had, by his unjust acts, pressed his subjects to the verge of revolution, the peo- 
 ple’s cause found support, and themselves a most powerful leader, in the young country gen- 
 tleman who was in the future to rule the kingdom. But the struggle must have been a 
 fierce one, and particularly in the then state of public feeling, before Cromwell could have 
 made up his mind to get rid of the king by ordering his execution. Branded on the one 
 hand as a regicide, and on the other regarded as the saviour of his country, he must indeed 
 have felt it to be a stern necessity, and one that taxed to the utmost even his iron will, 
 before he could sign that fatal warrant which sent his king to the block. Naturally reti- 
 
5 2 
 
 English Art in 1884 . 
 
 cent and a man of few words, Cromwell was one to act rather than to speak, but still the 
 shadow of that tremendous deed must have overspread his life, and it is in one of the 
 gloomy moments of doubt and retrospection that Mr. Hillingford supposes him to be in his 
 picture. 
 
 36 X 60. 
 
 No. 260. “ Sporting with the Leaves that fall." Edgar Barclay. 
 
 In some sort in association with this work, No. 451, “Prince Rupert” by Stanley Berk- 
 ley (see sketch on page 46), represents a cavalry charge, headed by the brave, impetuous, 
 but thoughtless prince, who perhaps helped more to mar than make the fortunes of his 
 royal master, Charles I. The scene here pictured is most likely incidental in character 
 
 rather than being a reference to any special occasion. It 
 could not be the battle of either Marston Moor or Naseby, 
 for both were fought in the summer-time, while, in this de- 
 sign, mad Rupert and his no less wild troopers are tearing, at 
 headlong gallop, over snow-covered marshes. At such fiery 
 charges no one was better than Prince Rupert, but he sadly 
 lacked discretion, and was consequently but a very poor gen- 
 eral officer. His career was a curiously checkered one, for, 
 first a cavalry-officer, he was afterward a naval commander, 
 when he was well chased over the seas by Blake, and had 
 his ships sunk and destroyed ; while, after the Restoration, he 
 turned philosopher, artist, engraver, and student of mechanics. 
 
 No. 356, “ The Champion of the Tournament ,” by George 
 William Joy, is the portrait of a pretty-looking girl, whose 
 tennis-bat and the balls she holds in her hands sufficiently 
 
 50 x 30. 
 
 No. 356. “ The Champion of 
 
 the Tournament.” G. W. Joy. 
 
 indicate the game of skill in which she excels. 
 
The Royal Academy. 
 
 53 
 
 Mrs. Alma-Tadema. 
 
 No. 1642, “Saying Grace',' by Laura Alma-Tadema. The gifted artist vies with her 
 husband, although in a totally different direction, in talent. Mr. Alma-Tadema, as we are 
 aware, has a strong archaeological and antiquarian taste in art, and in that particular line he 
 is, perhaps, unequaled in the present day. A some- 
 what characteristic story of Mr. Tadema has found 
 currency with reference to the prefix, Alma, before 
 what was really his proper name, Tadema. With 
 that ready forethought which is peculiar to him, he 
 is said to have observed that Tadema came among 
 the T’s, and was therefore nearly last in the alpha- 
 bet, while a prefix with A, as an initial letter, would 
 make his name stand among the first in the Royal 
 Academy catalogue and elsewhere — hence the name 
 Alma, which he henceforth adopted. His wife, Mrs. 
 
 Alma-Tadema, whose picture, “ Saying Grace',' we are referring to, has hitherto made as her 
 subjects for illustration domestic incidents, and those scenes of every-day life which are not 
 without dramatic interest and pathos. Mrs. Tadema is fond of Dutch character and cos- 
 tume, and that from associations which it is easy to understand. In her picture in the 
 Academy, the family (three children with the mother and grandmother) is assembled at 
 
 dinner, and a lesson of reverent thankful- 
 ness is taught in the charming group. 
 
 No. 1566, “What shall I sing?" In- 
 terior of a Cairo caf ?, by F. A. Bridgman. 
 This subject, which might have suited 
 the pencil of Mr. Carl Haag, represents 
 a couple of Egyptian gentlemen seated at 
 their ease — one with the eternal nargheel 
 in his hand — in a cafe, while a young 
 girl, a wandering musician, asks what she 
 shall sing to amuse them. The picture 
 carries with it evidence of either having 
 been painted on the spot, or from sketches 
 made in Cairo, for character, costume, and 
 
 even the sunny atmosphere of the East, are all realized with the most telling effect. 
 
 No. 46, “A Little Outcast ," by Henriette Corkran. This artist, who is almost better 
 known from her efforts to revive in this country the nearly extinct art of pastel-drawing, 
 
 No. 1566. 
 
 24 x 32. 
 
 What shall / sing?" Anterior of a Cairo 
 Cafe.) F. A. Bridgman. 
 
54 - 
 
 English Art in 1884 . 
 
 here exhibits a rather pathetic study of one of the 
 waifs and strays of the metropolis. A poor flower- 
 girl, looking suppliant and piteous, holds in her hand 
 bunches of beautiful violets for which she is eagerly 
 seeking a purchaser. 
 
 No. 339, “ Herodias and her Daughter” (St. Mark 
 vi, 22-24), by J. R. Weguelin. The Scriptural incident 
 of the foul murder of John the Baptist in prison, by 
 command of Herod, has been a very favorite one with 
 artists, and we have had pictured representations of the 
 beautiful but evil-minded Salome, with the Baptist’s 
 head in a charger, innumerable. But the present ren- 
 dering of the story is somewhat a new one, in that the 
 design here shows the mother of the girl, just after her 
 daughter had pleased the king with her dancing, whis- 
 pering the foul words of vengeance into the girl’s ear, 
 which suggested, as a reward, the demand for the life 
 of the unhappy prophet. Every student of Scripture history is aware that John the Baptist 
 had incurred the hatred of the king’s wife, Herodias, as 
 the prophet had lifted up his voice in condemnation of 
 Herod’s incestuous marriage. The opportunity for ven- 
 geance arrived, as Salome, on some occasion, danced 
 
 before the monarch, and so pleased his sensual tastes 
 that he swore to grant her any request she made, even 
 to the half of his kingdom. Probably the girl, if left 
 alone, would have demanded wealth, or something that 
 would have gratified vanity and caprice, but, instigated 
 by her mother, she asked for what could have given 
 
 her no pleasure, the life of the man who had offended 
 
 Herodias. In Mr. Weguelin’s picture we see indicated 
 in the distance the king and his court, and in the fore- 
 ground the wretched girl, who lived to die a terrible 
 
 death, listening to the evil words of the tempter. 
 
 Turning from biblical record to historical incident, 
 another subject by Mr. Dicey, to whom we have pre- 
 viously referred, is No. 561, “ Joan of Arc in Prison ,” 
 
 57 x 37- 
 
 No. 561 . “ Joan of Arc in Prison .” 
 
 F. Dicey. 
 
 49 * 33- 
 
 No. 339- “ Herodias and her Daugh- 
 
 ter, J. R. Weguelin. 
 
The Roy a l Academy 
 
 55 
 
 67 X 53. 39 X 32. 
 
 No. 124. “ Preparations for the Market, QuimperlL" No. 726. “ Fair Measure." ( A Skopin Quimperle . ) 
 
 Stanhope A. Forbes. 
 
 in which we have the pictured semblance of the fair Maid of Orleans seated in prison, hei 
 armor by her side, and her hands grasping the hilt of her two-handed sword. The half- 
 heroic, half-fanatic character of poor Joan is one of the most remarkable in history, and her 
 brief life a record of some of the more unselfish and brave, as well as of the weakest, traits 
 of our common humanity. It is a curious characteristic of the rough, warlike times in 
 which she lived that she was thrust into prison with her arms and armor, and her bar- 
 barous death at Rouen certainly reflects no credit upon the English. 
 
 No. 525. “ Washing-Day .” Everton Sainsbury. 
 
5 & 
 
 English Art in 1884.. 
 
 No. 144, “ The H minted Lake ,” by Alice 
 Havers. Among our female artists like Mrs. 
 
 Elizabeth Butler, Mrs. E. M. Ward, Louise 
 Rayner, Einnie Watt, and others, Alice 
 Havers is entitled to a distinctive position. 
 
 Her numerous pictures and designs have 
 always been marked with good taste as well 
 as executive ability, and, while she has a 
 certain power of selection in her subjects, 
 there is more of nature and less of the 
 painting-room in her work than we often 
 meet with in the present day. The motive 
 of her picture, “ The Haimtcd Lake',' is self- 
 suggestive and singularly spontaneous — a 
 dismal pool, whose deep waters are hidden 
 away in solitary woods and thick, damp 
 
 30 x 25. 
 
 undergrowth of weeds and trailing plants. No. 590 . 11 The Betrothal Ring." 
 
 The old wood-cutter, the almost solitary Arthur H. Weigall. 
 
 visitant to such a scene, is pointing out to 
 
 two girls, whose exploring footsteps curiosity has led to the spot, the dismal pool, and 
 doubtless, with the garrulity of age, he is telling them the legend of where the ghost 
 appears and other nameless horrors, giving to the weird - looking place its title. But, 
 “ uncanny ” as the story may be, there are marvelous grace and charm in the pretty maidens, 
 while the artist has been quick to seize upon and heighten the dramatic effect of her design 
 
 by the contrast of youth with the decrepi- 
 tude of age. 
 
 No. 124, “ Preparations for the Market , 
 Quimperld]' and “A Shop in Quimperlf' 
 are studies in the south of Brittany, by 
 Stanhope A. Forbes. In No. 124 an old 
 woman, kneeling by her basket of vegeta- 
 bles and miscellaneous commodities in- 
 tended for market, is holding a fowl in 
 her hands as she discusses with her daugh- 
 ter the prices to be asked, and makes other 
 arrangements. The girl, wearing the pic- 
 
The Royal Academy. 
 
 SI 
 
 turesque wooden sabots of her class, listens, seated upon a hen-coop. The artist appears to 
 have painted his picture on the spot, for the glimpse of the village in the background and 
 the figures of the women are distinctly French. This young artist’s pictures attracted atten- 
 tion last year. 
 
 In No. 1 6 1 6, “ Sally in our Alley]' a quaint old ballad, has furnished the text for E. 
 Sherrard Kennedy’s design : 
 
 “ On Sunday, dressed in all my best, 
 
 I walk abroad with Sally.” 
 
 In one of the narrower streets of London of the last century, the young apprentice, clad in 
 gorgeous apparel — a bright-yellow coat of spruce cut — walks out with pretty Sally on his 
 arm, the admired of all beholders. What cares he for mocking gibe and jest, for the old 
 vintner proffering a pot of foaming porter, for the children who ape his proudly contented 
 walk with his sweetheart, or for the thronging crowd around, who laugh, make fun of, and 
 perhaps envy the happy couple ? The painter’s idea of old London, with its narrow streets, 
 overhanging houses, gabled windows, and swinging oil-lamps, is not badly seen in the pres- 
 ent Health Exhibition at South Kensington, in the portion devoted to the imitation of 
 
 No. 149. “ Heads or Tails?” A. Weir. 
 
 our city in ancient times. But all is strangely altered, and we live now under a rule of 
 law and order. No more do unruly apprentices flock together in the streets at some 
 affront, real or imaginary, to those of their order ; and no longer is any class allowed to take 
 the law into its own hands, and show in broils, tumults, and broken heads, defiance of 
 authority and good government. Mr. Kennedy’s picture has somewhat of the character of 
 
5 » 
 
 English Art in 1884. 
 
 an historical treatise, dealing with scenes and characters in our great city long since passed 
 away, but it is in all respects extremely interesting. 
 
 No. 1537, “A Midway Inn , ” by F. W. Lawson. In a quaint, picturesque inn, such as 
 was the “Tabard” or “The Three Nuns” in the olden time, the artist has pictured groups 
 of travelers who might have assembled in a similar edifice in, say, the seventeenth century. 
 
 At a table in the foreground on the left, free lances and reckless scoundrels quarrel over 
 their cards. One raises a wine-flagon, while another draws his dagger, and together these 
 desperadoes alarm the house. In the distance a lady seeks the protection of her father, and 
 on the right a frightened child clings to its nurse. Another lady stops, at the wild tumult, 
 as she descends the stairs; and an old man, who rather recalls Gaspard the miser, peers 
 curiously from a gallery in the rear. The landlady, feeling that the honor of her house is 
 at stake, starts, keys in hand, from her cozy corner. But, apart from the brawlers, the tide 
 of life in the old posting-inn goes on : the cook is seen by the glow of the firelight ; down 
 a long passage we catch a glimpse of horses ; market-people are here from some neighbor- 
 ing village; and the country element is suggested in a “jolly postboy” saluting an appar- 
 ently by no means reluctant maiden. Then we note in a corner a Jacobite, a courtier of 
 St. Germains, bribing a swashbuckler who drinks success to the cause of “ the king over the 
 water,” as he takes the golden “ louis d'ors" of “ Le Roi Soleill Full of strong life and 
 quaint sketches of character is this pictured posting-house of the olden days — of the times 
 of Marlborough and Turenne, of Villeroi and Sarsfield, who fought in the open field, and 
 our soldiers followed “Corporal John,” and found “glory and plunder but never retreat” in 
 the trenches of some Flemish town or in the pillage of some Rhenish chateau. The artist, 
 Mr. F. Wo Lawson, is one whose life has not been without its vicissitudes. Brother of the 
 
THE VERY IMAGE. 
 Joseph Clark. 
 
The Royal Academy. 
 
 59 
 
 late Cecil G. Lawson, the young landscape-painter 
 whose recent early death we had occasion to re- 
 gret, he began his artistic career as a designer on 
 wood for various periodicals, and notably “ The 
 Graphic.” Then followed his series of illustrations 
 of the childish beggar-life of London — the sorry 
 existence of those poor little match-sellers and 
 street Arabs, whose uncertain way of keeping body 
 and soul together must be almost as great a mys- 
 tery to themselves as it is to the outside public. 
 
 The artist’s well-known “ Children of the Great 
 City l' “ Imprisoned Spring ,” and “Dawn" the lat- 
 ter representing a poor girl dying in a wretched 
 garret, supported in her brother’s arms, while the 
 first gleam of day through the window suggests 
 that other “ dawn ” to which she is about awaken- 
 ing, were all marked with a feeling of poetical 
 
 pathos. Other artists studying London street-life are Mr. T. B. Kennington, Mrs. Archibald 
 Weir, and Miss E. M. Merrick. 
 
 No. 856, “ Primrose-Day .” Two little street Arabs, one a girl, a flower-seller, is en- 
 gaged fixing in the button-hole of a shoeless crossing-sweeper the favorite flower of the late 
 Lord Beaconsfield, in wearing which members of the Tory party celebrate the anniversary 
 
 No. 856 . “ Primrose-Day .” 
 
 E. M. Merrick. 
 
 17 X 21. 
 
 No. 818 . “Is Dueling lawful l" Sydney W. Lee. 
 
6o 
 
 English Art in 1884.. 
 
 of that lamented nobleman’s death. The design is grotesque enough, when one considers 
 how little the giver and receiver know about the matter. 
 
 No. 818, “Is Duel nig lawful ?” by Sydney VV. Lee, is rather an amusing design, rep- 
 resenting a soldier in red coat, seated over a bowl of punch, with the chaplain of his regi- 
 ment putting the knotty question to him suggested in the title of the work. The chaplain 
 is of opinion that the question is a difficult one, but he hopes that latitude may be 
 
 granted to soldiers in this particular instance. A soldier and a parson together seem a 
 curiously assorted couple, particularly with such a subject under discussion as that now 
 upon the tapis. That a man whose trade is war, and his hope of promotion founded upon 
 deeds of blood, should submit to indignity or insult without at once resenting it, is evi- 
 dently a proposition the worthy divine can not tackle, and he is, if anything, inclined to 
 concede the point by a semi-evasion like that we have but now referred to. In the great 
 military nations of Europe, where the laws as to dueling are very stringent, an officer in 
 
The Royal Academy. 
 
 6 1 
 
 the army is in rather an unfortunate position : for if, when insulted, he resents it in a 
 manner which suggests itself, the law takes cognizance of the fact ; whereas, if he does not 
 do so, he is ostracized by all his brother officers. 
 
 There is capital character in No. 208, “An East Wind by Howard Helmick, a study 
 of an old gentleman who certainly is rapidly approaching the “last stage of all that ends 
 this strange eventful history,” standing gazing ruefully from the window, as he seeks to 
 explain the twinge of rheumatism in his back by finding that the wind is in that ill-omened 
 quarter — the east. The study of extreme senility in the figure of the old man is mingled 
 — as usual with Mr. Helmick’s works — with a strong sense of humor. 
 
 Nos. 1554, 1555, and 1556, “A Love-Story ” (“ The Letter ” — “ A Trial ” — “ Happier than 
 ever ”), by Maria Brooks. Three tableaux in one frame: No. 1, Dolly, the housemaid, 
 
 17 X 10. 
 
 No. 1554. 
 
 “ The Letter .” 
 
 17 X 12. 
 
 No. 1555. 
 
 “A Trial:' 
 
 17 X 10. 
 
 No. 1556. 
 
 ‘ Happier than ever. 
 
 “ A Love-Story .” Maria Brooks. 
 
 reading a letter just received; No. 2, poor Dolly seated and in tears over her missive; and 
 No. 3, that fortunate maiden looking the very embodiment of contentment and delight. 
 Of course, a good deal is left to the imagination in this subject. It is difficult to know 
 what has happened in the second tableau to cause such grief. Has Lubin played a prac- 
 tical joke on poor Dolly, and stated in the body of his letter that he no longer loves her, 
 while in a postscript he confesses he has only been having a little fun, and assures her of 
 his undying affection ? That appears a not unlikely explanation of this pictured page in 
 the life of a little housemaid, but anyway the subject is cleverly and suggestively treated. 
 
 The picture sketched on the next page is one of two clever genre subjects by a young 
 artist, to which attention may well be drawn in these pages. They were hung rather out of 
 
62 
 
 English Art in 1884 . 
 
 sight in the Royal Academy, and have been missed altogether by many visitors. The first 
 is “ The Archceologist]' an old gentleman, in eighteenth-century costume, examining some 
 sculpture in a museum ; the second “A Walk with Grandpapa ” remarkable for ease and 
 
 No. 120. “ A Walk with Grandpapa." H. E. Detmold. 
 
 close study of character. Mr. Detmold has studied in foreign schools, and is a painter 
 whose work should be looked for in future exhibitions. 
 
 No. 386, “ Going to Work'.' This and the two following works are “ Three Scenes in a 
 Miner's Life ,” from the brush of A. Dixon : 
 
The Royal Academy . 
 
 6 3 
 
 70 x 50. 
 
 No. 386. “ Going to Work.” 
 
 “ ‘ Get up ! ’ the caller calls, ‘ get up ! ’ 
 
 And in the dead of night 
 To win the bairns their bite and sup, 
 
 I rise, a weary wight.” 
 
 In a cottage home a miner, at earliest 
 light of dawn, has risen from his bed, 
 and, safety-lamp in hand, says farewell 
 to his wife and child as he hurries off 
 to his laborious and often dangerous 
 work. The young wife, standing by the 
 window, with all her life bound up in 
 child and husband, thinks not of harm 
 or ill to happen to him she loves so 
 well. 
 
 In No. 567, “ To the Rescue ,” all is 
 changed. A terrible explosion in the 
 mine, smoke from the pit-mouth, and 
 women, children, and others are flying 
 to the scene in agony of apprehension 
 for the safety of those near and dear 
 to them. Then follows the horror of 
 suspense before those who are but too 
 willing dare attempt to succor those 
 who may yet be living in the dark re- 
 cesses of the mine. But at length it is 
 pronounced safe, for those anxious to 
 help, to attempt a rescue. The men 
 fearlessly descend into the prison-house ; 
 and then, in No. 544, “Rescued” we see 
 those happily wrested from the jaws of 
 death. The young wife is there, and, 
 
 with a joy and thankfulness too great for utterance, the child clings to her father, and even 
 the dog fawns upon his master as he licks his hand. Such are the stirring passages in the 
 life of the laborer in mines. But this is only one side of the picture ; the other we dare 
 not touch upon, for it is harrowing in its details, and the despair of those whose fate it -is 
 to look no more upon the living is perhaps suggested by contrast in the happiness of the 
 
 60 x 25. 
 
 ’ To the Rescue.” 
 
 No. 567. 
 
 “ Three Scenes in a Miners Life.” A. Dixon. 
 
64 
 
 English Art in 1884 
 
 All things come to those who wait.” 
 
 46 x 36. 
 
 No. 24. “Artists.” Robert Fowler. 
 
The Royal Academy. 
 
 65 
 
 favored, whose brighter story is seen in the picture of the “ Rescued ” we have but now 
 referred to. 
 
 No. 795, a Wishes and Fishes" (“All things come to those who wait”), by Weedon 
 Grossmith, is, properly speaking, portraiture in costume of half a century ago. A boy and 
 girl, a pair of Izaak Waltonians, are patiently fishing on the sedgy bank of a river. The 
 little folk look both pretty and picturesque, with much childish grace about their figures, 
 but, truth to speak, they are anything but keen anglers, and appear weary of non-success. 
 Let us hope that the quotation in the text will come true, so that patience may meet with 
 its reward. 
 
 No. 24, “Artists” by Robert Fowler. Two very graceful female figures, one seated, 
 regarding a canvas upon the easel, which is placed out in the open air. The design is just 
 sufficiently obscure to make it interesting. Are these beautiful girls — for they really are alto- 
 gether charming in their light, silvery draperies and red head-dresses — themselves professors of 
 palette and brushes, or are they only artists in taste, feeling, and appreciation of art? There 
 is nice symbolism in the motive of the work, and so much grace in the conception and 
 composition that one is quite content to take the picture with all its little half-suggested 
 doubts, and accept it gratefully for the sense of beauty it arouses in the mind. 
 
 In No. 1541, “ The Last Mile" by Robert Collinson, we see a good old dame, appar- 
 ently a villager of the humblest class, who has been tramping wearily along the road until 
 she reaches a mile-stone, happily the last before 
 she reaches her destination. Life’s load of years 
 not being sufficient, she has to carry a bundle, 
 containing possibly all her worldly goods, and this 
 she has placed upon the ground as she rests her- 
 self while attempting to decipher, upon the hard 
 stone, the distance yet to be traversed ere the 
 feeble footsteps will bring her to shelter and re- 
 pose. Fields and foliage look young and bright 
 and beautiful, in strong contrast to the venerable 
 life which now, like the stone the poor old lady 
 is consulting, indicates the last stage of the journey. 
 
 No. 31 1, “ The Quarrel ,” by C. W. Pittard. 
 
 “ Here’s much to do with hate, but more with love.” 
 
 Here, again, the subject is one full of suggestion. 
 A young lady, richly robed in pink satin, is seated 
 
 No. 311. 
 
 44 x 34- 
 
 The Quarrel." C. W. Pittard. 
 
 9 
 
66 
 
 English Art in 1884 . 
 
 in a chair, anger in her face and mien. Behind her stands a young cavalier, crushing his 
 broad-leaved hat in one hand, while the other is fiercely closed. Upon the floor, at the 
 lady’s feet, lie some flowers, which have evidently been thrown there in scorn and disgust. 
 What has occasioned this dire disturbance, what has aroused the hate, which, as Shakespeare 
 says, is so near akin to love, between the pair? It is to be presumed that they are lovers, 
 and, if that be so, “ Amantium irce amor is integratioest ,” and, shortly, their love will be the 
 stronger for this passing anger. But, meantime, the social atmosphere is disturbed. The 
 flowers — those pretty love-tokens, suggestive of beauty, peace, and happiness — are fiercely 
 cast away, and their at one time loving donor is considered almost as a foe. So much for 
 the passion of love and its strange vicissitudes. 
 
 No. 646 . “ Cook's Straits, New Zealand." Nicolas Chevalier. 
 
 No. 646, “ Cook's Straits , New Zealand by Nicolas Chevalier, is a departure in art, on 
 the part of this painter, from subjects we are accustomed to from his brush. With Eastern 
 scenes, views in Cairo, and elsewhere, we are all familiar, but, like Luke Fildes and other 
 of our more enterprising artists, he has exercised his genius in striking out a new path for 
 himself with considerable success. M. Chevalier’s pictures always exhibit great care and 
 technical completeness. 
 
 No. 95, “ For those in Peril on the Seal' by Jessie Macgregor. The painter, a young 
 artist of considerable promise, made her dibiit a few seasons since with her picture illustrat- 
 ing in three tableaux the quaint old ballad of “The Mistletoe-Bough.” This she followed 
 in succeeding years with works of more or less promise, until the production of her present 
 picture. In an old wainscoted chamber, whose large window opens out upon the sea, a 
 family group is assembled. Either it is evening, or the apartment is darkened by the rag- 
 ing storm, and two girls are singing to the accompaniment of a third at the piano. One 
 
The Royal Academy. 
 
 67 
 
 little fellow, too young to be conscious of impending evil, is engaged with his toys upon 
 the floor, and a servant holds at the window a child who looks out upon the angry ocean. 
 As far as the sentiment of the picture is concerned, it matters not whether the singers carol 
 
 plaintively of danger to those near and dear to them, or, taking a deeper, wider view, 
 whisper in sweet melody a prayer for the safety of all those “ who go down to the deep in 
 ships.” The grandeur and solemnity of the war of elements in a storm are amply realized in 
 the darkened atmosphere seen from the window and in 
 the saddened faces of the hymn-singers. 
 
 No. 499, “ The H erring- Harvest]' by John White, 
 is a characteristic study of a fishing-village, with a fish- 
 erman selling his store of herrings from the panniers 
 with which his donkey is laden. At a fisherman’s 
 cottage, on the right of the picture, children are also 
 amusing themselves with the fish, which, during this 
 season of plenty, form their staple article of food. The 
 street is a curious, winding one, with those remarkably 
 primitive cottages, half mud, half plaster, one is accus- 
 tomed to see in such villages. 
 
 No. 1615, “A Yarmouth Row]' by Percy R. Craft, 
 is in some respects not dissimilar in motive from the 
 last-named subject — only that Yarmouth is, as we are 
 
 aware, a place of importance on the east coast of Eng- John White. 
 
 68 x 47. 
 
 No. 499 - u The Herring-Harvest." 
 
68 
 
 English Art in 1884 . 
 
 land. The houses in this picture, while they are quite as picturesque — -oddly-shaped, with 
 pointed roofs and other individual peculiarities — are altogether larger, and form indeed the 
 
 32 X 18. 
 
 No. 1615 . U A Yarmouth Row” P. R. Craft. 
 
 leading motive of the design. Of all the large towns on the Norfolk coast there is, per- 
 haps, not one which has more completely retained its ancient character than Yarmouth — 
 
The Royal Academy. 
 
 69 
 
 some of the streets, like the one in our illustration, almost reminding us of some of the 
 curious old wynds of Edinburgh. The town of Yarmouth is as much the resort of the 
 middle and lower classes for sea-bathing as Brighton, in the south of England, is for those 
 of a somewhat higher position socially. Yarmouth is also a popular sketching-ground for 
 artists, who are never weary of delineating the Yare, the fishing-boats, and steam-tugs, 
 together with the more prominent points of interest upon the coast with which the district 
 certainly abounds. 
 
 54 X 84. 
 
 No. * J 1 $. “ St. Agnes, of the Early Christian Martyrs." James Archer. 
 
 Mr. James Archer, a member of the Scottish Academy, a painter who has been an 
 exhibitor for many years, painting both subject-pictures and portraits, sent this year two 
 pictures to the Royal Academy. The first is an elaborate composition representing the 
 martyrdom of St. Agnes; the second, entitled “ You a Christian !" A young pagan lover dis- 
 covers a cross worn by his betrothed, and starts back with the exclamation “You a Christian!” 
 There are much learning and evident painstaking in these two pictures; but Mr. Archer’s 
 portraits, notably one lately painted of Professor Blackie, show his powers to the best 
 advantage. 
 
 No. 1653, “ Vespers]' by F. D. Hardy. The subject introduces us to monastic life; not 
 the phase of monkish existence in which our well-known young painter, Mr. Dendy Sadler, 
 
7 o 
 
 English Art in 1884 
 
 delights, and which he delineates with such keen humor — the sly indulgence of the worthy 
 fathers in the good things of this life, their preference for pastimes like fishing, etc., to pen- 
 ance, or similar scenes — but a group of monks in the belfry, ringing in their brethren to 
 service. They are shut off from the interior of the church, which is to be seen in the back- 
 ground, by a curtain screen, which one of their number is closing. Probably their present 
 
 56 x 41. 
 
 No. 1653 . “Vespers.” F. D. Hardy. 
 
 occupation is not quite so distasteful to them as digging their own graves, kneeling all 
 night upon the cold stones of the chapel, fasting, or other like cheerful modes of passing 
 away their time with which they are credited by historical record. Still, the view of life is a 
 curious one, when we see the grave and learned doing the work of menials ; the self-evident 
 object of existence as social beings cast aside for self-denials which are opposed to nature, 
 and are not demanded by law, Scripture, or common sense. Many of the monks in the olden 
 time, like Fra Angelico and Bartolommeo, were splendid artists, and made their age illustri- 
 
The Royal Academy. 
 
 7i 
 
 ous by their works, or, like Savonarola and Martin Luther, were pioneers in a revolution 
 of truth ; but modern professors of this curious system of self-sacrifice appear to do little else 
 
 23 X 36. 
 
 No. 300 . “ Caught Tripping .” A. W. Bayes. 
 
 than fritter away the great boon of life in useless observances and customs, doing no good 
 to the great human family of which they form a part. In saying this much, however, we 
 say nothing against Mr. Hardy’s picture, which is not only excellent in scenic effect, but 
 also as a study of character. 
 
 No. 300, “ Caught Tripping ,” by A. W. Bayes. Here the scene presented to us is that 
 of a Puritan’s household. The master of the house, evidently a stanch non-conformist, with 
 
7 2 
 
 English Art in 1884. 
 
 steeple-crowned hat and clothes of somber shade, has been away from home, and now 
 returning, Bible in hand, opens the door, when, dreadful to relate, he finds his three 
 daughters — prim lassies in white caps and gray dresses — engaged, the one dancing while the 
 others are approving spectators of the performance! Had they only been engaged in sew- 
 ing, or reading “ the good book,” all might have been well, but this exhibition of natural feel- 
 ing in the young is really too shocking. The dancer trips it merrily, and looks charming 
 in her primly modest costume. We may imagine the denoiiment, the righteous wrath of 
 the old Puritan, and the sound lecturing the young sinners will get before they are con- 
 sidered purged of their wickedness. Technically, the de- 
 sign is full of merit, the incident being fully told, and 
 most amusingly. 
 
 No. 714, Mong the Thick-falling Dews,” by Edgar 
 Wills. A pleasant pastoral, with cattle in the eventide 
 settling to rest among the thick grasses of pasture-land 
 near the margin of some water. The time appointed 
 for Nature’s rest approaches, and in the gathering gloom 
 the group of cows — animals so specially typical of peace- 
 ful industry — forms a natural and suggestive adjunct to 
 such a scene. 
 
 No. 574, “A Side-Glance ” by G. Crosland Robinson. 
 
 “ She gives a side-glance and looks down — 
 
 Beware ! ” 
 
 A study of a bright, pleasant-looking girl, who glances 
 downward to the left. As regards the original of the 
 picture, the warning in the quotation may not be without its value to the more impression- 
 able of the opposite sex. 
 
 No. 698, “ The Young Squire” by Francis S. Walker. In the corner of an orchard the 
 young gentleman who forms the motive of the work is stretched at his ease full length 
 
 upon the grass, amusing himself for the fleeting hour chatting to two girls. The maidens 
 
 are not, we should imagine, of exactly the same sphere of life as the squire, and they 
 appear to be looking at him as quite a superior being. Of course the damsels, pretty and 
 
 innocent-looking as they are, may have that shrewd common sense and commercial instinct 
 
 enabling them to see in a young, handsome, and wealthy gentleman not at all a bad match, 
 matrime nially speaking. But it is quite certain, even if he has any thought of settling 
 for life, that he can not, according to the laws of England, marry both of them, and to 
 
 16 x 13. 
 
 No. 574 - 'A Side-Glance." 
 
 G. C. Robinson. 
 
The Royal Academy . 
 
 73 
 
 select either one or the other would arouse horrible jealousy and heart-burning. Besides, it 
 is not at all unusual for young squires to see a great many pretty girls, and have no other 
 thought than whiling away a passing hour or so in agreeable flirtation. But we wish them 
 well, for they certainly form a picturesque and charming group. 
 
 In No. 329, “ Ludgate Hill , 1883,” the artist, C. J. Watson, illustrates one of the busiest 
 centers of the British metropolis, and one of the five great roadways of traffic branching off 
 from the basilica of St. Paul’s. The cathedral, a peep of which is obtained in the picture, 
 is second only in size to St. Peter’s at Rome, and has ever been held by those versed in 
 ecclesiastical architecture to be even more symmetrical and of juster proportions than the 
 colossal edifice in the Eternal City. The latter building has, however, the advantage in 
 that, while the fine site where it is situated is kept comparatively open and free, St. Paul’s 
 is unfortunately dwarfed by the close proximity of surrounding warehouses, which scarcely 
 permit the ordinary passenger the opportunity of judging of the architectural beauties of 
 the grand old cathedral. 
 
 The garden of a pretty country house, with clustering ivy, honeysuckle, and other trail- 
 ing plants, and two girls, one seated, the other reading a letter as she thoughtfully paces 
 
 10 
 
74 
 
 English Art in 1884 . 
 
 No. 329. 
 
 30 x 15. 
 
 “ Ludgate Hill, 
 
 “ Pale Death knocks with impartial hand 
 At prince’s hall and peasant’s hut.” 
 
 In one of the curious, cupboard-like beds that we occasionally 
 meet with in a country cottage, a peasant, the father and bread- 
 winner for the family, lies dying. His figure is not seen in the 
 picture, but the story is most graphically told, and he is surely 
 there. Bowed down in grief, his wife kneels upon the floor, 
 and his aged mother leans against the side of the bed. The children, scarce appreciat- 
 ing the magnitude of their disaster, are yet hushed and somewhat frightened, and desist 
 from play. The artist touches with a poet’s feeling 
 upon the lights and shadows of life, and in this design 
 pictures pathetically the universal empire of the dread 
 foe to whom both prince and peasant must at last suc- 
 cumb. 
 
 No. 1618, “ Hickory Dickory Dock',' by Edith Hipkins, 
 is a pleasant study of a young mother holding her little 
 child up to the clock, while she repeats the old nursery 
 rhyme. Miss Hipkins, who is steadily improving in her 
 art, has cleverly availed herself of the attractive sentiment 
 of motherhood in this nice little work. 
 
 No. 312, “ Meditation by A. Glendening, Jr. A rather 
 spruce maiden in quilted skirt, and wearing a coquettish 
 little cap, has found her way to a corner of the garden, 
 where, setting down, with love-letter in her lap, she resigns 
 herself to her thoughts. What those thoughts may be is 
 
 No. 123. 
 
 41 X 25. 
 
 “ It might have been." 
 
 A. L. Vernon. 
 
 along the walk, has formed the subject for a picture which the 
 artist, Arthur L. Vernon, calls “ It might have been" (No. 123). 
 We are led to imagine that the young lady is reading in her 
 just-received missive of the marriage of a former admirer, and we 
 must also suppose she reads the announcement with some regret. 
 She is, however, still young enough and pretty enough to lead 
 one to hope that there may be a solace for disappointed love 
 in store for her, so that her future path in life may not be an 
 altogether solitary one. 
 
 No. 26, “ The Pathos of Life',' by R. G. Hutchison. 
 
THE DECLARATION OF WAR. 
 J. D. Linton. 
 

 
 
 
 
 
The Royal Academy. 
 
 75 
 
 72 X 84. 
 
 No, 26. “ The Pathos of Life.” R. G. Hutchison. 
 
 left to the spectator to determine, but they evidently are not sad ones, and all will wish so 
 pretty a lass a happy fate. 
 
 No. 240, “A Ramsay Wrecker ,” by J. H. E. Partington. A wild sea, scarce settled 
 down from recent storm, a stiffish gale blowing, and rain, with a good, strong-built fisher 
 lass, loaded with wreckage which she is conveying along the sands to her home, are the 
 ingredients from which Mr. Partington has constructed a clever picture. The girl has not 
 made much of a “ haul,” however, her prize apparently consisting principally of planks from 
 the ill-fated ship. But she seems to be content, and has probably loaded herself to the 
 extent of her power. The receding tide appears to show in the distance a vessel which has 
 
English Art in 1884 . 
 
 76 
 
 fared ill upon the treacherous sands, and it is possibly from that source the fair wrecker 
 secures her spoil. She is barefoot, and in her evident physical strength looks not un- 
 graceful. 
 
 No. 1524, “ Expectation ,” by G. Hillyard Swinstead. A pastoral subject, with barefooted 
 country girl making her way from her father’s cottage, followed by those who are evidently 
 
 her pensioners, some geese and a calf. The creatures, 
 fearless where they have ever met with kindness, seek 
 from her hand the food to which they are accustomed. 
 This charming little picture is nice in design, scheme 
 of color, and general effect. In the white geese the 
 artist has embodied, while he has carried much further, 
 the rudimentary principle of coloring that everything 
 harmonizes with white. 
 
 Another work from the same hand, No. 1582, with- 
 out title, but with the quotation — 
 
 “ Oh ! merry goes the time when the heart is young, 
 
 For Paris gives the pippin for the best song sung” — 
 
 is rather Watteau-like in motive, and very different from 
 the design we have but now referred to. Here we see 
 a group of ladies and gentlemen who, having selected a 
 shady spot under some trees, are indulging in a little 
 siesta or picnic upon the greensward. Careless and young, when the heart is fresh and life 
 is in its spring-time, the group reposes in joyous ease, and makes merry with music and 
 laughter. Nor have the merry-makers forgotten creature comforts, as the viands spread 
 upon their impromptu table testify. 
 
 In No. 313, “Circe" the artist, H. M. Paget, presents to us the beautiful enchantress and 
 daughter of Sol seated at her loom with a tiger at her side. One can hardly suppose that 
 the fell sorceress, who worked such woe to the unhappy companions of Ulysses in turning 
 them into swine, or behaved with no less cruelty to Scylla and others, is here engaged 
 weaving her mischievous spells, for she looks quite contemplative, and very graceful and 
 pretty. 
 
 No. 91, “ Quiet Hoiirs ,” by Percy Bigland. A capital study of a young fish-wife, seated 
 in a kind of balcony of her house, in a quaint old Flemish fishing-village, while her good- 
 man is away upon the seas. She has thrown off her sabots for greater comfort, and looks 
 quiet and contemplative as her busy fingers ply the knitting-needles. Her face is of that 
 
The Royal Academy. 
 
 77 
 
 better-class type, where the characteristics of her race are sufficiently and yet not too promi- 
 nently marked. Her needs in this life are few, and those probably supplied in the humblest 
 fashion ; and yet she looks the very picture of contentment and happiness. 
 
 No. 145, “ When the Long Days are ended by W. Frank Calderon. The artist, who is 
 the son of Mr. Calderon, the Academician, adopts an entirely different role of art from his 
 
 30 X 20. 
 
 No. 1524 . “ Expectation .” G. H. Swinstead. 
 
 father. But, in another way, his designs have sentiment, and are strong in their adherence 
 to nature. In the picture before us (page 80) a wagoner brings down his team of horses 
 to drink in the shallow part of a stream. The labors of the day are over, and the wearied 
 beasts lave their bodies in the cool waters. The sky is brilliant in the light of the depart- 
 ing sun, and the whole scene suggests the time of coming quiet and rest. 
 
 There is a character of bright life and sunshine in H. Tuck’s “A Corner of the Hay- 
 
English Art in 1884 
 
 7 8 
 
 field',' No. 813, that carries with it a peculiar charm. The new-mown hay lies thick upon 
 the meadows, and the hay-makers are busy at their task loading the wagons with Nature’s 
 
 37 X 62. 
 
 No. 1582. u Oh! merry goes the time when the heart is young, 
 
 For Paris gives the pippin for the best song sung." G. H. Swinstead. 
 
 summer harvest. The hay-field and its calm, joyous associations have ever been a theme of 
 special interest with the English artist. In sylvan subjects the painters of France have, as 
 a rule, preferred more dramatic designs, or those in which the sad element predominates, as 
 
 25 x 35- 
 
 No. 313. “ Circe." H. M. Paget. 
 
 we find in their aged wood-cutters or weary laborers, while in colder latitudes and more 
 sterile countries, like Russia, works of this class appear to have had little or no hold upon 
 
The Royal Academy . 
 
 79 
 
 the imaginations of the people. But with English artists the hay-field has certainly ever 
 been a fruitful source of inspiration. 
 
 No. 509, “To Antkea," by G. C. Hindley. An exceedingly vigorous and spirited design, 
 in which the principal figure is a gentleman, who, having thrown off his shoes and cast his 
 
 rapier upon the ground, pens his missive to his lady. Her portrait is upon the table before 
 him, and, whether inspired by that or by more tender recollections, certain it is that face 
 and figure testify to the writer’s earnestness of purpose. A friend, appearing upon the scene, 
 presses back the arras as he enters the apartment. 
 
 In the second picture by this artist, No. 195, “ The Standard-Bearer ,” the study is chiefly 
 
8o 
 
 English Art in 1884 
 
 24 X 36. 
 
 No. 145. “ When the Long Days are ended." W. F. Calderon. 
 
 r 
 
 47 x 34- 
 
 No. 813. “-4 Corner of the Hay-field — Les Foins.” H. Tuck. 
 
 
The Royal Academy. 
 
 8 1 
 
 an exercise in character and color. The face, if we mistake not, expresses firm resolve and 
 inflexible will, so that he who in battle would rob him of his sacred trust can only hope 
 to do so either when life has fled or all power of resistance is beaten down. 
 
 No. 29, “ I'm for the Ferry ,” by Frank E. Cox. A young gleaner, whose armful of 
 corn shows that she has been diligent, is here pictured waiting at the river-side for the 
 ferry-boat. Bronzed by the sun and with somewhat wearied gait, for the girl has doubtless 
 toiled the long day through to earn the little bread of which she is now assured, she seeks 
 her home. It requires no imagination to picture how poor and humble that home must 
 
 28 X 22. 
 
 No. 509. “ To Anthea." G. C. Hindley. 
 
 be, for it is but the poorest who are driven to so precarious a means of obtaining a scanty 
 meal. Mr. Cox, in his picture, with peculiar grace, teaches a lesson in the history of the 
 laboring poor, and fails not to arouse in the mind a feeling of sympathy which is near akin 
 to charity. 
 
 No. 229, “ Africa ,” by Thomas Hill, pictures some fruit-sellers with their store of melons 
 and oranges, together with vegetables, arranged in baskets for sale. As a study of character, 
 the design is powerful, the calm and somewhat dignified composure of these people as they 
 quietly wait for customers, and the hot and glowing atmosphere of Africa, being excellently 
 rendered. 
 
82 
 
 English Art in 1884. 
 
 No. 908, “Ruth” by S. J. Solomon. 
 
 “And Ruth said, ‘Entreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee.”’ 
 
 One of the most pathetic stories of the Bible is here beautifully illustrated by the artist. 
 The moment selected for illustration is when Ruth, clinging to the one she loved so well, 
 
 45 x 35- 
 
 No. 195- “ The Standard-Bearer .” G. C. Hindley. 
 
 uttered the beautiful words quoted above. The scheme of color in the picture is very deli- 
 cate, and the light draperies are in pleasant harmony with the bright Eastern atmosphere 
 and sky. 
 
 The first among English animal-painters is Mr. Briton Riviere, the painter of “ Circe ,” 
 and of “Daniel in the Lions Den” familiar to us in countless engravings. This painter, 
 who stands to the present generation in the place of Landseer, is an earnest and highly 
 educated worker, aiming at a higher level intellectually than most painters who devote 
 
The T(oycil Academy. 
 
 83 
 
 themselves to the portrayal of animal life. In Sir Edwin Landseer’s works, one of the 
 principal attractions was the human interest and character with which he endowed the 
 brute creation; in Mr. Riviere’s pictures (excepting, perhaps, in his 11 Circe") his animals 
 
 44 x 34- 
 
 No. 29. “I’m for the Ferry!' F. E. Cox. 
 
 seem to live and move as in nature. In “ The King and his Satellites' ’ sketched on page 
 84, there is, as a critic well remarks, “ no departure either from leonine or jackal nature, and 
 yet the simple incident of the colossal brute stalking onward, with his abject clients at his 
 heels, who would gladly devour him had they the chance, tells a story eloquently.” Nothing 
 that Mr. Riviere has painted, since the pictures we have referred to, will interest more than 
 his “ Lion and Jackals ,” which is now doubtless in the hands of the engraver. 
 
 In another subject, “ Actccon ” attacked by dogs, an upright picture, the interest is cen- 
 tered more in landscape; but in “The Eve of St. Ba rtholomew ” we have another composition 
 which is far more popular. In spite of this, Mr. Riviere’s natural bent is to paint classical 
 and idealistic subjects, and we may yet see many works of imagination from his hand. 
 
English Art in 1884. 
 
 There are four pictures in the Academy by the veteran animal-painter, T. Sidney Cooper, 
 R.. A., one of which, cows on the banks of the Thames, near Tilbury Fort, measures about 
 eleven by seven and a half feet; also four by Richard Ansdell, R. A. Industrious as ever, 
 but failing in health, Mr. Ansdell sends year after year his favorite studies of sheep in the 
 Highlands of Scotland; also scenes from the south of Spain, with mules with their gay 
 trappings, Spanish peasants, and scenery near the Alhambra. Mr. Ansdell has an estate in 
 the north of Scotland, and many of the animals in his pictures are portraits from life. 
 
 36 x 63. 
 
 No. 88. “ The King and his Satellites.'' Briton Riviere, R. A. 
 
The Royal Academy 
 
 85 
 
 55 x 47- 
 
 No. 52. “ The Eve of Si. Bartholomew 
 Briton Riviere, R. A. 
 
 574 x 414. 
 
 No. l6ll. “Spring : Isle of Skye.” 
 R. Ansdell, R. A. 
 
 Since Sir Edwin Landseer and Mr. Ansdell began to paint, and to interest the public 
 in Highland scenes, a new generation of animal and landscape painters crowds the walls of 
 the Academy with large canvases. Among the most important and successful of these is 
 Mr. H. W. B. Davis, R. A., one of whose pictures of cattle is sketched below. The interest 
 of this picture is great in landscape, in the color of the hills, and in the wide, open-air 
 
 48 X 84. 
 
 No. 286. “On the Hill-side , clearing after Rain.” H. W. B. Davis, R. A. 
 
86 
 
 English Art in 1884 . 
 
 effect which the painter has rendered with great truthfulness and beauty. But this artist’s 
 cattle should always be noticed for the close study of nature in every movement, and for 
 the almost monumental or sculpturesque character which he gives to his animals. Mr. 
 Davis was educated as a sculptor, and the value of this early training is generally evident. 
 In 1876 he sent to the Academy a large picture of “ Mares and Foals , ” and in 1877 a 
 picture called “ Contentment ” — two oxen by the sea-shore — in both of which the exceptionally 
 fine grouping of animals was observed. 
 
 No. 691 . “ The Rear-Guard." Heywood Hardy. 
 
 With Mr. Davis we should naturally mention another painter of the same scenes, Mr. 
 Peter Graham, R. A., whose Scotch cattle, wandering between mist-covered hills, are perhaps 
 even better known ; but we must refer to his work in speaking of landscape. 
 
 A very interesting animal as well as genre painter should be mentioned here; one 
 closely allied to Mr. Riviere in selection of subjects, such as dogs and children in friendly 
 relations, is Mr. Heywood Hardy. His studies of animals, lately published as etchings, heads 
 of lions, horses, etc., are popular in the print-shops, and every year his pictures are on the 
 Academy walls. For the last year he has been living in France, and has sent home some 
 
The Royal Academy. 
 
 8 7 
 
 admirable studies of French horse-soldiers. The “rear-guard” of dragoons riding up a quiet 
 road in Brittany, in rather free-and-easy fashion ; the last man, saluting a peasant-girl leading 
 a cow by a string, has an air of vraisemblance seldom achieved. Mr. Hardy gives exact 
 
 portraits of the style and accoutrements of the men; they “ sit on their horses" unmistak- 
 ably, the road is a French road, and there are ease of manner and an open-air effect which 
 are so often missed in similar subjects. All this we may see in the foregoing sketch, which 
 Mr. Hardy has made for us; also in the spirited drawing of the central figure in his second 
 
88 
 
 English Art in 1884. 
 
 34 x 6 i- 
 
 No. 615. “ Changing Pasture on the Roman Campagna." R. Beavis. 
 
 picture, “ The Sale of Cavalry-Horses ,” a dragoon, in undress, riding through the fair. The 
 large annual sales of horses in the interior of Brittany are great opportunities for artists. 
 They are held at stated times at Carhaix and other towns easily reached from Paris ; also 
 at Pont Aven, where a little colony of French and American students work during the 
 summer months. 
 
 Probably no one can paint horses much better at the present time than Mr. R. Beavis, 
 
 an artist who has been before the public for many years without receiving any special rec- 
 
 ognition from the Academy. He has a wide 
 range of subjects — historical, marine, and pas- 
 toral — from studies in Italy, France, Holland, 
 and England. Mr. Beavis paints in oils and 
 water-colors, and last year sent to the Society 
 of Painters in Water-Colors a study of horses 
 under trees near Fontainebleau that indicated 
 his special power as an animal-painter. 
 
 One of the most prominent of the young 
 
 painters in this branch of art is Mr. S. E. 
 
 Waller. He is very successful in the tech- 
 No. 597. “ The Orphans." S. E. Waller. nique of Iiis art, owing much to the advice 
 
 44 X 56. 
 
The Royal Academy . 
 
 89 
 
 of his friend Briton Riviere. For a comparatively 
 young artist his work is excellent, and, should he suc- 
 ceed in maintaining his present progress, it is not diffi- 
 cult to foretell his attainment in the future to academic 
 honors. The artist’s wife, Mrs. Mary L. Waller, is a 
 portrait-painter, and contributed “ Mildred , Daughter of 
 Colonel Try on]' to the present exhibition. Mr. Waller’s 
 painting of “ The 
 
 in a park, which a young lady, who is kneeling in the 
 snow, is feeding from a basket. 
 
 Another young painter of promise is Mr. E. S. 
 Montefiore, whose picture of “ Leaving Labor" horses 
 in a field (his first important picture in the Academy), 
 was a success last year. “ The Leader of the Team ” 
 is well indicated in the accompanying sketch by the 
 artist. 
 
 Mr. Emms has chosen a popular subject in the three 
 noble St. Bernard dogs, who, having returned from their trained mission of mercy in the 
 snow, are now waiting admittance at the monastery- 
 door. Sent out by the monks, and provided with 
 flasks and other means of succor for those luckless 
 travelers who may have been overwhelmed in deep 
 snow-drifts in the dangerous mountain defiles, the 
 grand brutes, with an all but human instinct, have 
 fulfilled their duty, and now seek for readmittance 
 and shelter. Without being able to sympathize with 
 the cynical asceticism of Lord Byron, in his lines — 
 
 “ I never had a friend but one, 
 
 And there he lies ” — 
 
 upon the tomb of his favorite, at Newstead, there is 
 not, perhaps, in the animal creation anything with the 
 sagacity, the intelligence, and the unselfish affection 
 of the dog. Starve and maltreat your canine follower, 
 as did Mr. Bill Sykes of happy memory, still he will No. 248. “ The Return to the Monastery.” 
 be faithful to you. Call upon his intelligence in a John Emms. 
 
 Orphans ” represents a couple of deer 
 
 50 X 36. 
 
 “ The Leader of the Team." 
 E. B. Stanley Montefiore. 
 
 12 
 
9 ° 
 
 English Art in 1884 . 
 
 7x9. 
 
 No. 598. “ The Cottage- Door." W. B. Baird. 
 
 manner scarcely to be credited, as in the case of the Scotch collie in charge of his flock, 
 and he will respond ; or venture upon personal chastisement with the most deadly and 
 dangerous of his kind, as did Charlotte Bronte with her formidable bull-dog, and he will 
 submit. Faithful, stanch, and true, of all domestic animals commend us to the dog. 
 
 No. 598, “ The Cottage-Door ,” by W. B. Baird, is a group of household pets that 
 appeals to the sympathies of man in another way, in that it is ornamental and also edible. 
 Dogs are not eaten, at least not in civilized countries. Mr. Baird pictures a hen with her 
 brood of chicks on the cottage door-step. In Ireland it would be the pig that would be 
 
 40 x bo. 
 
 No. 324. “ The Gillie's Kitchen." J. S. Noble. 
 
The Royal Academy 
 
 9i 
 
 42 x 32. 
 
 No. 845 . “ The Squire's Pets." Frank Dicey. 
 
 the courted and familiar companion ; while in Great Britain the humblest cottage is not 
 without that ornamental, useful, and tasty luxury, the fowl. 
 
 No. 324, “ The Gillie's Kitchen ,” by J. S. Noble, pictures the spoils of the chase in the 
 body of a fine stag and other game, together with a blood-hound and a deer-hound. Capital 
 in texture, the artist is also particularly apt in the composition of his pictures. It is a diffi- 
 cult thing to fall gracefully, but Mr. Noble’s animals always fall well, and the group before 
 us is capitally arranged, the pen-and-ink sketch indicating the lines of composition with 
 unusual exactness. 
 
 40 X 60. 
 
 No. 391 . “ Caught at last : Retribution." Walter Hunt. 
 
9 2 
 
 English Art in 1884 . 
 
 No. 845, “ The Squires Pets , ” by Frank Dicey. In the breakfast-room of an ancient 
 mansion is assembled a group consisting of the squire, his daughter, and a brace of hand- 
 some hounds. There is a double entendre in the title, for doubtless the lovely girl, who 
 stands holding in her hand a dainty morsel for one or other of the expectant favorites, is 
 
 50 x 40. 
 
 No. 1613. “ Steerage-Passcngersd J. Yates Carrington. 
 
 as much a pet with the owner of the house, who sits at the great fireplace reading his news- 
 paper, as the dogs who have contributed their best to many a good day’s sport. The ani- 
 mals turn their heads up wistfully toward their young mistress, and, being well-bred dogs, 
 as becomes the followers of an ancient house, they do not fawn or jump up, but await in 
 silence the expected favor. Mr. Dicey is a skillful portrait-painter, and we rather imagine 
 that the subject is altogether portraiture ; and, if so, the artist has woven his design into an 
 exceedingly interesting little scene of domestic life. 
 
 No. 391, “ Caught at last: Retribution ,” by Walter Hunt, is an amusing and suggest- 
 
The Royal Academy . 
 
 93 
 
 ive incident in animal life. Stealthily, as is his wont, a fox has stolen down upon the 
 sheep-fold and, the shepherd being absent, has made prey of a little lamb. But the brigand 
 meets with his punishment in the very moment of success ; for, scarcely has he had time 
 to seize upon and kill his little victim, ere the trusty sheep-dog — possibly alarmed by the 
 bleating of the fold — appears upon the scene, and, seizing Reynard flagrante delicto , he at 
 once administers condign punishment and lays the marauder dead upon the field. There 
 is here capital opportunity for the delineation of animal character. The distant sheep, 
 strong it is true, but, fortunately for man, proverbially timid and unconscious of the way in 
 which to apply their strength ; the slaughtered lamb and his dead destroyer, with the active 
 
 No. 1571. “Fatal Fidelity .” E. M. Cox. 
 
 and handsome collie, panting with the exertion of his victory, standing triumphant as he 
 looks anxiously toward his approaching master, form together a most effective and telling 
 design. 
 
 These are works which become very popular as engravings, and in every year’s exhibi- 
 
94 
 
 English Art in 1884 . 
 
 tion of the Academy some painter achieves success by a happily chosen subject. Thus Mr. 
 Edwin Douglas, with his graceful pictures of Jersey cows and maidens, and Mr. C. Burton- 
 Barber, with his dogs and children, have become widely known. 
 
 Other animal-painters whose names should be mentioned are Mr. Bouverie Goddard, the 
 painter of “ Lord Wolvertons Blood-hounds " ; Mr. Samuel Carter, the painter of “ Herne, the 
 Hunter Mr. John Charlton; Mr. J. Yates Carrington; Mr. J. T. Nettleship, who sent a 
 large picture of a lioness and cub just saved from drowning; and Mr. Blinks, whose 
 “ Victory ” is sketched on page xiii. 
 
 No. 1571, “ Fatal Fidelity ,” by E. Morant Cox. A capital and very suggestive incident 
 excellently told. During the Civil Wars some of the Parliamentarian troops have lighted 
 upon the mansion of a Cavalier, which they are about despoiling, but, before doing 
 so, they make eager search for the master of the house. He, however, is securely 
 hidden away, and might have escaped in safety, but for the too faithful attachment of his 
 little spaniel dog, which, having run away from his mistress, flies at once to the wainscot, 
 where, behind some sliding-panels, his master is secreted, and there stands whining and beg- 
 ging for admission. This is not lost upon the pursuers, who at once guess the meaning of 
 the animal’s importunity, and, while some of them hasten to avail themselves of the clew 
 
LA COCARDE TRICOLORE, EARLS, 1789. 
 G. P. Jacomb-Hood. 
 
The Royal Academy. 
 
 95 
 
 thus afforded, others seize upon the lady of the house, who in wild alarm is descending the 
 staircase with the view of recalling the dog to her side. But it is now too late, and the 
 faithful animal, all unwittingly, has betrayed his master to his foes. 
 
 Of the painters of mountains, river, and sea, artists who devote themselves almost 
 entirely to Nature and live for the most part in the midst of the scenes they depict, there 
 is a larger number in England every year. There are the artists who chiefly study the 
 Thames, like Vicat Cole, Keeley Halswelle, Alfred Parsons, and W. L. Wyllie ; others 
 who are more at home on the mountains, like Peter Graham, J. McWhirter, A. R. A., and 
 C. G. Johnson; others, again, who work on the sea-coast, like J. C. Hook, R. A., John 
 Brett, A. R. A., Hamilton Macallum, C. N. Hemy, G. A. Waterlow; and others who, like 
 Henry Moore, work actually out at sea in rough and windy weather. We can do little 
 more than indicate in these pages, by means of sketches by the artists, the subjects and 
 styles of some prominent landscapists. Without color, a verbal description of many landscapes 
 might prove uninteresting. 
 
 The principal picture by Vicat Cole, R. A., who is painting a series of views of the river 
 Thames “ from its source to the sea,” was a view outside the cathedral city of Oxford, seen 
 
 under sunshine, with the green foliage of early summer. Two other pictures by him were 
 painted at Bisham and Mapledurham Lock. The rich, sleepy aspect of. pasture-land, near 
 the upper reaches of the Thames, where the water is kept up at all seasons by means of 
 
9 6 
 
 English Art in 1884 . 
 
 locks, and often overflows the meadows, is indicated in Mr. Cole’s sketch. We have only 
 to picture to ourselves the bright, fresh green of the fields, the dark-brown stems of the 
 oaks and elms, and the gray willows on the banks, “ with their feet in the water,” the hay- 
 makers at work, and the sheep at rest by the road-side, to realize the landscape of Constable 
 and Gainsborough — the source of inspiration of Goldsmith and Gray. 
 
 All down the river, between Oxford and Maidenhead, in these modern days, the artist’s 
 house-boat ” is to be seen, generally moored in some cozy corner, half hidden among the 
 
 48 X 84. 
 
 No. 902. “ The Plowman homeward plods his Weary Way.” B. W. Leader, A. R. A. 
 
 trees. This is the new method of work, a house and studio afloat giving opportunities for 
 a closer study of nature than working on shore. 
 
 Here Mr. Keeley Halswelle lived for several summers, and painted the series of studies 
 of the Thames which formed a separate exhibition in London last season. Mr. Halswelle 
 is an almost unique example of a successful figure-painter abandoning figures altogether and 
 painting landscape pure and simple. His landscapes are most carefully planned with this 
 idea ; the balance of parts is so perfect that a figure introduced even in the distance would 
 injure the composition. The floating beds of water-lilies people the landscape and endow it 
 with almost human interest 
 
 Many other painters of the upper Thames we might mention here. Some artists, like 
 
The Royal Academy. 
 
 97 
 
 Mr. G. D. Leslie, R. A., have houses near its banks. Last season Mr. Leslie sent to the 
 Academy a charming picture called “ Thames Roses ” — a girl in a boat-house seated by the 
 river; also another small picture of three figures at Benson Ferry. We mention Mr. G. D. 
 Leslie’s name here because his work has an old English quaintness and color which har- 
 
 80 x 50. 
 
 No. 558. “ The Vale of Light." Ernest Parton. 
 
 monize well with these surroundings. This is the landscape which Mr. Alfred Parsons and 
 Mr. Abbey have made so familiar in book-illustration, fascinating scenery which we hardly 
 care to leave for the flat lands, for woods, mountains, and sea, where so many artists take us 
 in their pictures. 
 
 Mr. J. C. Hook, R. A., and Mr. J. W. Oakes, A. R. A., both veteran painters of sea and 
 
 13 
 
9 8 
 
 English Art in 1884 
 
 24 x 39. 
 
 No. 1621. “ Where the Wild Grass fritiges the Forest." Val Davis. 
 
 landscape, contribute annually many important works. Mr. B. W. Leader, A. R. A., paints 
 flat land under sunset with poetic feeling ; the land of Crome it might be, but in reality not 
 far from his home at Worcester in the midland counties. In the paintings of Vicat Cole 
 
 No. 325. “ Cut off by the Floods Flitcroft Fletcher. 
 
 30 x 54. 
 
The Royal Academy. 
 
 99 
 
 and Leader there is more consideration given to composition than in the work of many of 
 the prominent landscape artists. Leader in his fine work showing the plowman’s team 
 returning in the evening light, and the old village church-spire rising sharp against the sky, 
 has been compared to Herr Heffner and some painters of the French school ; but in the 
 English landscapes of the old school the first thought is generally local accuracy, the second 
 the sentiment to be conveyed. 
 
 Perhaps Mr. Ernest Parton’s poetic “Vale of Light ” (558), which hung in the center 
 of the fifth gallery, may have more in common with the school of impressionists ; and we 
 may see in the sketches in these pages evidence of much poetic sentiment and even high 
 ambition in this branch of art. There are beauty 
 
 and suggestiveness in the silence of Mr. Val | ~ ~~~ 7 
 
 Davis’s “ Where the Wild Grass fringes the 
 
 a view near Edinburgh, looking from the heights 
 
 over the river Forth, in which fir-trees take the place of figures and form an important part 
 of the subject. This was Mr. McWhirter’s principal picture of the year. 
 
 There are much feeling for composition and breadth of effect in the landscapes by Mr. C. 
 E. Johnson, who is, at the same time, a close student of nature. The lovely banks of the 
 river Wye have often been painted, but the grandeur of the scene, looking from the heights 
 above the junction of the two rivers (the Wye and the Severn), has seldom been so well 
 depicted. This large landscape was painted entirely on the spot. This is Mr. Johnson’s 
 
 Forest ,” with the little white calf standing by a 
 pool ; close the eyes a little, when looking at 
 the sketch, and you will get the effect of this 
 picture; better, also, of Mr. Flitcroft Fletcher’s 
 “Cut off by the Floods" (325). “My Love has 
 gone a-sailing" is the work of a young Scotch- 
 man, which has been purchased for “ a posses- 
 sion forever ” by the Council of the Royal 
 Academy. The small sketch, by David Murray 
 (on page 105), will serve to identify the pic- 
 ture, which has fine qualities if it is not a great 
 example of landscape art. 
 
 Mr. McWhirter, A. R. A., is a figure as well 
 as landscape painter, but this year — as a few 
 years ago, when he painted a single birch-tree, 
 called “ 7 he Lady of the Woods ” — he has given 
 
 No. 491 . “ The Windings of the Forth.” 
 
 J. McWhirter, A. R. A. 
 
IOO 
 
 English Art in 1884 
 
 . 54 X 84. 
 
 No. 8ll. “ The Wye and the Severn C. E. Johnson. 
 
 “ Le Dent du Geant." 
 
 E. T. Compton 
 
The Royal Academy 
 
 IOI 
 
 39 x 66. 
 
 No. 297. “ Windsor under Snow." V. P. Yglesias. 
 
 method, as distinct from many English artists we could name, who only make studies for 
 their pictures in the open air. There is exceptionally fine quality of color in the rocky 
 foreground on the left of this picture, which is worthy of a place in the National Gallery. 
 
 Mr. E. T. Compton takes us to the Chamouni district of Switzerland, with its glaciers 
 and treacherous ice-fields. This carefully painted picture will scarcely have been noticed in 
 the Academy, as it hung near the ceiling ; but, as the sketch indicates, it is an elaborate 
 and interesting transcript of nature that should not be overlooked. 
 
 32 x 62. 
 
 No. 239. “Rye." V. P. Yglesias. 
 
 “ Here flourish the flowers of the field, 
 Where once ships anchored.” 
 
102 
 
 English Art in 1884 
 
 No. 645. “ On the River." G. Boyle. 
 
 The town of Rye, once a seaport, like Arundel in Sussex, the seat of the present Duke 
 of Norfolk, stands high above the surrounding country, separated from the sea by miles of 
 alluvial land covered with coarse grass and wild flowers. The interest in Mr. Yglesias’s 
 pictures is strong locally, for the artist at Windsor and at Rye has given us facts both 
 in winter and spring. 
 
 Nothing could be brighter or more suggestive of early summer-time on English rivers, 
 
 34 x 60. 
 
 No. 582. “May-lime." Basil Bradley. 
 
The Royal Academy 
 
 103 
 
 60 X 36. 
 
 No. 152. “ The Haunt of the Heron." 
 
 R. W. A. Rouse. 
 
 No 41 1 . “A Wintry Dirge." 
 Alfred East. 
 
 when the white-thorn is in bloom, when the fresh green grows down to the water’s edge, 
 and the water-lilies are peeping their heads above the floating leaves, than Mr. Basil Bradley’s 
 picture of “ May-time ” (582). Such color and sunshine as are here depicted, Mr. Bradley, 
 who is a skillful animal-painter, has given us often in water-colors at various exhibitions. 
 
 50 x 30. bo x 40. 
 
 No. 865. “ The Plowman homeward plods his Weary Way.” No. 5 I 5 - “ The Birthplace of the Brook." 
 
 Allen C. Sealy. Sir Arthur Clay, Bart. 
 
44 x 72. 
 
 No. 759- “ Rievaulx Abbey." John Pf.dder. 
 
 No. 264 . “ Across the Common." Adrian Stokes. 
 
 
The Royai Academy. 
 
 io 5 
 
 There is wind blowing through the trees in “A Wintry Dirge'' by Alfred East (41 1); 
 also in “ Across the Common" (264), by Adrian Stokes. The character of some other land- 
 scapes is indicated on these pages; Mr. Marma- 
 duke Langdale’s (1624) is well expressed, but 
 Mr. Frank Walton, in 745, does injustice in his 
 drawing to one of the best landscapes in the 
 Academy. Sketches are also included here of 
 works by G. Boyle, John Pedder in his little 
 drawing, Sir Arthur Clay, Allen C. Sealy, T. 
 Hope McLachlan, Frank Dillon, and R. W. A. 
 Rouse. 
 
 Mr. W. F. Wyllie takes to the lower reaches 
 of the Thames and Medway, crowded with barges 
 and shipping at high water. He is one of the 
 few young artists who have turned to account the busy aspects of the lower Thames, and 
 shown us how steamers, steam-tugs, and even iron bridges, can be made picturesque. There 
 is ample material here, especially near high water, when the great steamers are arriving at 
 the port of Fondon. 
 
 Another picture by Mr. W. F. Wyllie (1589), “ The Close of a Winter's Day" shows 
 the shattered hulk of an old “ man-of-war,” where a gang of convicts are being marched 
 
 24 x 36. 
 
 No. 1624. Marmaduke A. Langdale. 
 
 14 
 
io6 
 
 English Art in 1884 . 
 
 37 X 54- 
 
 No. 206. “ On Morecambe Sands." T. Hope McLachlan. 
 
 36 x 48. 
 
 No. 928. “My Love has gone a-sailing." David Murray. 
 
 
 
The Royal Academy 
 
 107 
 
 No. 1589. “ The Close of a Winters Day." W. L. Wyllie. 
 
 through the snow from work — a strange subject, treated with considerable dexterity and 
 power. 
 
 Mr. Peter Graham, R. A., paints mountains, sea, and mist, and sometimes heads of 
 Scotch cattle on the hills. This year he has given us a striking and solemn landscape of 
 11 Dawn" among the mountains. Mr. Graham, like Mr. Colin Hunter, A. R. A. (whose 
 “ Herring-Market at Sea ” is sketched on page v), is one of a company of Scotch land- 
 scape-painters of undoubted force and character. Mr. Graham and Mr. Hunter are repre- 
 sentative of a class of Scotch painters who have earned the distinction of being denounced 
 annually in the columns of the London “ Athenaeum,” while the latter has lately been praised 
 in an article by William Morris, poet and art-critic, a writer who has few good words for any 
 member of the Academy. Mr. Colin Hunter’s “ Herring-Market " is a fine, suggestive 
 
 49 x 72. 
 
 No. 27. “ Dawn." Peter Graham, R. A, 
 
io8 
 
 English Art in 1884. 
 
 picture, rather coarsely painted, but composed with skill. Mr. Graham’s work has the ap- 
 pearance of a direct transcript from nature. Like his beautiful “ Sea-Mist ,” sketched below, 
 it is landscape portraiture seen under various atmospheric conditions. 
 
 As thorough in the analysis of atmospheric effects on sea and shore, but more finished 
 in detail, are the works of Mr. John Brett, A. R. A., who generally chooses sunny effects on 
 the English coast, where there is water of the purest blue, and where rocks are bathed in 
 sunshine. In “ MacLeod' s Maidens" the interest is much taken up in the resemblance to 
 
 84 x 144. 
 
 No. 216. “Sea-Mist.” Peter Graham, R. A. 
 
 human beings of the notorious rocks off the Isle of Skye, a resemblance which the artist has 
 made the most of, if not exaggerated. But we have no painter of calm blue sea to equal 
 Mr. Brett. He has also painted Granton Pier in a storm, but the painter of wind and high 
 seas is Mr. Henry Moore, who flits about the English Channel like the stormy petrel, delight- 
 ing in a gale ; his wave-drawing is unsurpassed, and his studies of clouds are, as in old 
 Dutch pictures, an important part of the composition. 
 
 A mention of all the pictures of rivers, sea, and sea-coast, which crowded the Academy 
 walls this year, would fill a separate volume; we insert a few more sketches before passing 
 to the portraits. Many other landscapes will be found in the Grosvenor Gallery section 
 and in the water-colors. 
 
 Porti ait-painting is not a branch of art which is especially interesting to illustrate by 
 sketches, but a few words must be devoted to it here, as the British school of portraiture 
 
The Royal Academy 
 
 109 
 
 42 x 72. 
 
 No. 395. “ MacLeod' s Maidens, Skye." ( Natural Sculpture) J. Brett, A. R. A. 
 
 36 x 54- 
 
 No. 1626 . “ Off the Lizard, Penzance : Boats starting east for the Fishing." Henry Moore. 
 
I IO 
 
 English Art in 1884 . 
 
 is historically famous. Of the seven presidents of the English Royal Academy, Reynolds, 
 West, Lawrence, Shee, Eastlake, Grant, and Leighton, four were professed portrait-painters, 
 while all of them practiced the limner’s art to an appreciable extent. But, in addition to 
 these, there have been men like Kneller — the only artist who was ever made a baronet 
 
 No. 251. “Mrs. William Huntingdon and Child." James Sant, R. A. 
 
 — Opie, Raeburn, Hoppner, Jackson, and Romney, all portrait-painters of a marked genius 
 that would have distinguished them in any country and in any age. Some masters, like 
 Holbein, Kneller — to whom we have referred — Vandyck, Lely, and others, although for- 
 eigners by birth, made England their home by adoption, and fostered and brought to 
 maturity art tastes indigenous to the soil. The characteristics of British portraiture have 
 ever remained — representation based upon truthfulness as a leading principle, no mere map 
 of face or form, but that likeness which disclosed individuality and the character and dispo- 
 
The Royal Academy . 
 
 1 I i 
 
 sition of the person represented. This class of portrait- 
 ure, governed by good taste, has been the foundation 
 of our school of art in this branch ; and, like portrait- 
 painting in general, it has furnished us with the best 
 kind of history of which the art of painting is capable. 
 
 Henry VIII, despotic and selfish as he certainly was, 
 was fortunately a man of learning, and, whether from 
 love of magnificence or other causes, greatly delighted 
 in gathering around him the most famous painters of 
 his time. To this monarch Englishmen must ever be 
 grateful for the introduction of Hans Holbein to Eng- 
 land, and the life-work of Holbein is the best historical 
 essay in pictured presentments of all the eminent men 
 of his period it is possible to imagine. Succeeding 
 monarchs, like the unfortunate King Charles I, were 
 not sparing of their patronage of great artists, and par- 
 ticularly of those whose craft was portraiture, so that, as a consequence, the history of our 
 country has been pretty faithfully brought down to the present day. Impressions conveyed 
 to the mind through the medium of sight, as in pictorial representation, are more powerful 
 than words, either written or spoken ; and hence it may be that a fine portrait of Oliver 
 Cromwell, Martin Luther, or Drake, the great discoverer, at once arouses familiar associa- 
 tions connected with those remarkable men, 
 which serve, perhaps, more truly the purpose 
 of history than the best account ever written. 
 Thus, in portraiture we may have presented 
 to the mind the leading events of history, 
 such as the overthrow of a great monarchy 
 or the discovery of a new continent. But in 
 the late exhibition of the Royal Academy 
 there were few historic portraits ; our great 
 artists are content with simple transcripts, 
 usually treated, it is true, with originality and 
 power. This is the case with the Academic- 
 ians Millais, Watts, W. W. Ouless, and Frank 
 Holl, with the exception, indeed, that the last- 
 Knighton Warren. named master exhibits a noble whole-length 
 
I 12 
 
 English Art in 1884. 
 
 \ 
 
 ) 
 
 portrait of the Prince of Wales in his robes as Master of the Bench of the Honorable 
 Society of the Middle Temple. 
 
 Millais, Watts, Alma-Tadema, Holl, and Herkomer were well represented at the Gros- 
 venor Gallery in portraiture, but Messrs. James Sant and Ouless are better known in the 
 
 Academy. Mr. James Sant, R. A., who is portrait-painter in 
 ordinary to her Majesty the Queen, is, like his younger brother 
 Academician, Mr. W. W. Ouless, in taste, feeling, and artistic 
 training, essentially a portrait-painter. This is not altogether the 
 case with Millais, Holl, and Watts, whose adoption of this 
 branch of art is comparatively recent, their reputations having 
 been made in historical, idealistic, and other subjects of a very 
 different class. Mr. Sant has to a great extent monopolized the 
 field of female portraiture, his great compeers, Messrs. Ouless 
 and Holl, rarely venturing upon other than male likenesses. In 
 our engraving of Mr. Sant’s picture of “Mrs. William Hunt- 
 ingdon and Child ” the special facility the artist has in at once 
 perceiving and seizing upon the more graceful traits of female 
 character, whether in childhood or in those of more mature 
 years, will readily be observed. The natural ease and refinement 
 of this group are characteristic of all the master’s work of this 
 
 Mrs. John Collier. 
 
YOU A CHRISTIAN 
 James Archer. 
 

The Royal Academy. 
 
 1 r 3 
 
 class. There are younger painters rising up, such as Mr. John Collier and Mr. Wirgman, 
 on whom the mantle may one day fall ; but at the present moment the truth remains that 
 portrait-painters of ladies in England are few and far between. 
 
 64 X 48. 
 
 No. 750. “ Watching the Effect." S. Sijjley, 
 
 No. 453, “ Miss Hat'dcastle ,” is, if a little conventional in treatment, a capital character 
 study. Rudolph Lehmann, to whose powerful pencil we are indebted for some excellent 
 portraits, has also in the galleries at Burlington House a life-like presentment of the 
 eminent surgeon, Sir Spencer Wells, the President of the College of Surgeons in Lon- 
 don. 
 
 Mr. Warren’s portrait of “ The late Duke of Buccleuch ” pictures the duke, seated at full 
 length in his library, in a (with him) characteristic and easy attitude. In preserving the like- 
 
 15 
 
1 14 - 
 
 English Art in 1884.. 
 
 No. 136. “ Daughters of Colin Makins, M. P.” 
 
 John Collier. 
 
 28 X 56. 
 
 No. 1564. “ Geoff, Polly , Dolly , and Toto." 
 
 Frederick Barnard. 
 
 ness and Scotch type of face, the artist also has not forgotten the expression of thoughtful 
 intelligence which characterized the original. 
 
 No. 139, “ Never mind by Frederick Morgan, presents to us an image of childish inno- 
 cence and beauty. One little tot, of but some five summers, has broken the toy she holds 
 upon her lap, and her sister, of but very few years older, is playing the part of the good 
 Samaritan as she caressingly whispers words of comfort to the little mourner. What grace 
 there is in childhood, and charm in sympathy, the artist has here certainly found and 
 expressed. 
 
 No. 592, “ Miss Nettie Huxley ” by Mrs. John Collier, is a picture of a young lady 
 
 standing facing the spectator. The artist, Mrs. Collier, 
 is wife of Mr. John Collier, the well-known portrait- 
 painter, who exhibits no less than four works in the 
 present exhibition. 
 
 In No. 750, “ Watching the Effect ” the artist, S. 
 Sidley, gives a fancy title to what is evidently a portrait. 
 A little girl in dark dress has planted herself upon a 
 garden-seat, and there, with a dish of soap-suds and 
 tobacco-pipe, is amusing herself blowing bubbles. She 
 is not alone in her amusement, for her pet, a quaint 
 little kitten, watches her young mistress’s experiments 
 with infinite curiosity and interest. 
 
 No. 136, May, Agatha, Veronica, and Audrey, 
 
 No. 483. “ Miss Fortescue.” 
 
 Weedon Grossmith. 
 
The Royal Academy. 
 
 “5 
 
 “ Daughters of Colin Makins, M. P.” by John Collier, is an original group in spring cos- 
 tumes, with almond-blossoms and daffodils, primroses and wild flowers, on a polished floor ; 
 and No. 1564, “Geoff, Folly , Dolly, and Toto ,” by Frederick Barnard, is a pretty group of 
 children, a boy and his two sisters with their favorite dog. 
 
 No. 483, “ Miss Fortescue” by Weedon Grossmith, is a head study of the popular and 
 pretty actress about whom there has recently been so much said with reference to an action 
 for breach of promise. 
 
 No. 351. “ Rebellion on the Throne .” F. G. Cotman. 
 
 No. 351, “ Rebellion on the Throne ,” by Frederick G. Cotman. The title here is but a 
 play upon words ; the throne in question merely being the raised platform upon which a 
 portrait-painter places his sitter. The child, who serves as a model, is a pretty little girl, 
 
n6 
 
 English Art in 1884. 
 
 whose waywardness is apparent, for around her are a 
 guitar and other objects which have evidently been 
 employed in the hopeless task of making her sitting 
 for her portrait a less distasteful proceeding. With 
 one shoe kicked off, and nursing her last bribe in the 
 shape of a peacock’s feather, she has now, however, 
 by chance, thrown herself into the very posture for a 
 successful picture, and of this the artist has not hesi- 
 tated to avail himself. 
 
 Another picture, which may properly be described 
 as of portrait class, is No. 655, "Melody,” by G. II. 
 Barrable, a young lady performing on the violin, an 
 instrument that only a recent fashion has deemed 
 suitable for those of her sex. The instrument, how- 
 ever, admits of graceful posture in the performer, and 
 is, perhaps, second to none when skillfully played upon. 
 
 No. 912, “ Philip Henry Gossc , Jr.” by Miss E. M. Osborn, is a whole-length portrait 
 
 E. M. Osborn. 
 
 Hugh Carter. 
 
The Royal Academy. 
 
 IT 7 
 
 of a pretty little boy of some seven or eight summers ; there is childish grace about the 
 figure, and much innocent character in the bright, young face. 
 
 With the mention of No. 868, “ The Burgomasters Daughter ,” by Hugh Carter — a 
 simple but extremely agreeable study of a young lady busy plying needle and thread — we 
 will for the present return to other pictures. 
 
 No. 797, “ Students at the British Museum ,” by T. Peckitt. Those studying art at the 
 museum are, so to speak, free lances as compared with those working upon an organized 
 system and under competent instruction at the Royal Academy, to which we shall immedi- 
 ately refer. But students not unfrequently make their work at the museum serve as a step- 
 ping-stone by which to obtain admission to the schools of the Academy ; and it is needless 
 to say that they at any rate have splendid models to copy from in the various antique 
 
1 18 
 
 English Art in 1884. 
 
 busts, original statues, and other art treasures like the Elgin marbles. Mr. Peckitt’s picture 
 is at least illustrative, and gives a fair idea, both of the more isolated manner of work of 
 the students, as well as of the archaeological and other objects by which they are sur- 
 rounded. 
 
 No. 106, “ The Lifc-SchooZ ,” by Florence Martin. The design pictures students at work 
 drawing and painting from the live model, and the subject is peculiarly interesting, if only 
 from the fact that it illustrates the working of one of the most important branches of free 
 
 education in England. One of the leading objects of 
 “the Royal Academy of Arts in London,” founded by 
 George III in 1769, as we learn from the memorial pre- 
 sented to the king asking his approval of such an acad- 
 emy, was “ the establishment of a well-regulated school or 
 Academy of Design for the use of students in the arts, 
 while it was hoped that the funds to be derived from 
 an annual exhibition of works of art by artists of merit 
 would be sufficient to defray the expenses of the scheme.” 
 With the foundation of the Royal Academy came this 
 all-important art-instruction. A “keeper” was appointed, 
 who was also a member of the society, and to him was 
 intrusted the general conduct and superintendence of the 
 schools, while, in addition, other members of the Academy 
 were annually appointed, who were called “visitors,” and 
 who were more directly concerned in teaching upon the 
 occasions of the periodical visits they made to the schools. 
 In addition to this, professors were appointed, who lec- 
 tured annually on the various branches of art. And it perhaps may not be out of place to 
 refer here incidentally to those discourses by the first president, Sir Joshua Reynolds, which, 
 whether in regard to diction or the simple but noble expression of thoughtful ideas upon 
 art, have ever since been regarded as a text-book, aiding the uncertain steps of the young, 
 while they have added to the knowledge of those of more mature years. Such, in a few 
 words, were the general principles upon which the scholastic system of our leading art was 
 founded. As regards the details, it may, perhaps, hardly be necessary to say more here than 
 that there were different schools — the antique, painting, and live-model schools — while the 
 system by which admittance was obtained in the first instance to the privilege of student- 
 ship was by submission of a drawing by the candidate, which, if approved, entitled him to 
 entrance as a probationer, when, if his first work was sustained by the merit of others 
 
The Royal Academy. 
 
 119 
 
 executed within the walls of the Academy, he became a full student, and, according to the 
 ability he displayed, could pass on to the higher and more important branches of study. In 
 addition to this, rewards in the shape of gold and silver medals, and a “ traveling student- 
 ship,” enabling the successful aspirant to study art abroad for a series of years, gave further 
 substantial encouragement to those proving themselves worthy. 
 
 21 X 17. 
 
 No. 63. “ Girl reading." Mrs. A. Schenck. 
 
 Without entering upon the somewhat disputed point as to whether teaching which is 
 not paid for is of value, we may add that the whole system of art-instruction, undertaken 
 by the Royal Academy, is free of any cost or charge whatever. 
 
 The number of students admitted to the schools, for the first twelve years from the insti- 
 tution of the Academy in 1769, was three hundred and eighty-four, at a cost of no less than 
 £10,826 ijs. 6 d. As compared with this, there are, at the present time, just upon four 
 hundred students, while the cost amounts to between £5,000 and £6,000 per annum. With- 
 
I 20 
 
 English Art in 1884 . 
 
 out attempting to specify, we may here mention the fact generally, that some of our most 
 eminent artists followed out their early course of art-instruction in the schools of the 
 Academy. 
 
 In the year i860 the great principles of human progress and, no doubt, the influence of 
 public opinion, produced a remarkable event in the history of the Academy schools, and 
 female students were for the first time admitted. 
 
 There have only been two female Royal Academicians — Angelica Kauffman and Mary 
 Moser, who were foundation members. There is a feeling against the election of women 
 as members of the Academy, it being felt that in a large institution of this character many 
 of the details, such as the arrangements for studying from the nude model, and some 
 other matters, are not proper for the other sex. There is a prejudice that women art-stu- 
 dents, like female doctors, barristers, and the deaconesses whom it is proposed should read 
 the lessons in church, are really favored with more of the masculine mind than of that 
 tender modesty with which one is so proud to associate the name of woman. 
 
 Thinking this brief sketch of the art educational system of our Royal Academy might 
 prove not uninteresting, we will now return to the subject of the pictures. 
 
 No. 457. “St. Peter denying Christ',' by W. Mouat Loudan, is the work for which the 
 young artist succeeded in obtaining the gold medal in the Academy schools. The recreant 
 disciple who could so readily deny all knowledge of his Lord, sits upon a bench, looking 
 the craven coward he was for the time being, while his accuser, a young girl, utters the 
 
The Royal Academy. 
 
 121 
 
 words which may condemn him. The group is skillfully conceived, and the picture is exe- 
 cuted in a low key of color, which is in sympathy with the tale of shame. 
 
 No. 1282, “A Design for an Academy of Arts,” by Edwin George Hardy. The artist 
 is another of the successful Academy students, he having succeeded in gaining a gold medal 
 
 No. 1282 . “An Academy of Arts." Edwin G. Hardy. 
 (Royal Academy Gold Medal and Traveling Studentship.) 
 
 and traveling studentship. He is among the class of architectural students, and his design 
 is really one of very considerable merit and promise. 
 
 We hear, with much satisfaction, that, in the additions and alterations now making to 
 the premises of the Royal Academy, extended space will be given to the architectural por- 
 tion of the annual exhibitions. 
 
 A few words must be devoted to the water-colors in the Royal Academy. Aquarelle 
 art has ever been popular in this country, for the labors of men like Turner, Girtin, David 
 Cox, Dewint, and William Hunt, have served to establish work of this class in public 
 estimation ; and, at the present time, there are to be found not a few connoisseurs who 
 restrict their collections wholly to examples of water-color art. We do not look to the 
 Royal Academy Exhibition or the Grosvenor Gallery for the best specimens of the art, for, 
 
 16 
 
122 
 
 English Art in 1884 . 
 
 28 X 41. 
 
 No. 1103. “ After Dinner." ( Water-color .) A. M. Rossi, 
 
 as a rule, members of the two great water-color societies, of whom we shall speak presently, 
 restrict their attention to the periodical shows at their own institutions, with the result that 
 only as an exception are the finest specimens to be found in the galleries at the Academy. 
 
 No. 936. “ Scraping an Acquaintance." A. W, Strutt, 
 
The Royal Academy. 
 
 123 
 
 Still, the visitor to the water-color room at Burlington House will not fail to consider it 
 rich in many clever drawings. No. 1103, “ After Dinner by A. M. Rossi, is a good 
 
 No. 948. “Gossip.” J. H. Hilnshall. 
 
 example — a drawing brilliant and dashing in execution. The subject, four girls seated in 
 the corner of a drawing-room, fairly illustrates a phase of English society. 
 
 No. 936, “ Scraping an Acquaintance ,” by Alfred W. Strutt, is a stable-man engaged in 
 grooming a white horse at a stable-door. Forgiving the double entendre in the title of the 
 
124 - 
 
 English Art in 1884 .. 
 
 work, this is a capital study of both the animals and human being. The noble dog, seated 
 hard by, looks placidly content that his time for the cleansing process, to which the horse 
 submits with but an ill-grace, has not arrived ; the dog appears slightly out of scale. 
 
 10 x 8 . 
 
 No. 1156. “ A Fair Librarian." Miss Edith Gourlie. 
 
 No. 948, “ Gossip ,” bv J. Henry Henshall, pictures a couple of good dames enjoying to 
 their hearts’ content a chat by the way. One old lady, basket on her arm, is on her way 
 to market, and the other is returning to her cottage with the two pails of water she has 
 just placed upon the ground, while, with hands upon her hips, she relieves her mind of 
 burning news. 
 
 No. 1156, “ A Fair Librarian ,” by Edith Gourlie, is a single-figure study of a tall 
 
The Royal Academy 
 
 125 
 
 3(3 x 54. 
 
 No. 85. “ An English Home — Twilight." Herbert Lyndon. 
 
126 
 
 English Art in 1884 
 
 36 X 54- 
 
 No. 99. “ An Old English Inn.” Herbert A. Olivier. 
 
 (Royal Academy Creswick Prize, 1883.) 
 
The Royal Academy . 
 
 127 
 
 extremely tall — but graceful young lady standing in the library, reading the book held in 
 one hand, while the other rests upon a feather brush. An arm-chair, two portfolios, and 
 some library-steps, complete the picture. 
 
 No. 85, “An English Home — Twilight ,” by Herbert Lyndon. A homestead buried in 
 trees, with grassy fields and river seen under the influence of a light sky. 
 
 No. 1014, “ Near Raby , Cheshire ,” by Matthew Jarvis. Flat meadow scenery, with pool 
 of water and trees. 
 
128 
 
 English Art in 1884 . 
 
 In No. 1155, "Old Inn and Buildings at Hemel Hempstead by W. J. Montaigne, the 
 old roofs, the barn, the quaint-looking chimneys, and the peep of the village church, together 
 form a study which is not without a certain picturesque charm suggestive of the quiet of 
 of many a country town near London. But for a real old English inn of olden time, with 
 carved exterior timbers, such as exist in Norfolk and Suffolk and near the old seaports of 
 England, we must look next at No. 99, Mr. H. A. Olivier’s drawing. 
 
 The motive of the design is one of those large, roomy, wayside inns, now rarely to be 
 met with. As far as the idea of space gives comfort, these curious buildings were a success, 
 but modern progress and the requirements of a more advanced civilization have tended to 
 sweep away such old landmarks, their place being now gradually supplied by edifices more 
 compact, convenient, and at the same time more sightly as regards the architecture. In this 
 constantly recurring change the artist suffers as far as the picturesqueness of his subject is 
 concerned ; for, pictorially considered, the old stage-coach is but ill superseded by the loco- 
 motive or the tram-car ; the ironclad is a sorry substitute for the grand-looking, old three- 
 decker ; and the smart, formal street rows of modern London call forth no artist enthusiasm 
 as do the curious old building Mr. Olivier has placed before us. But human progress must 
 be served, and, come what may, we must move forward. Not quite so early in the history 
 of this country is the date of “ An Old Manor- House',' drawn by j. Langham (No. 1234), 
 but it is a further illustration of our remarks. Many of the noble ancestral halls, of which 
 this picture is a good example, exist in England more as curiosities, and because of their 
 antiquity or from family or other associations, than from any recognized idea of comfort or 
 other than the mere beauty of appearance. The necessity for semi-castellated buildings for 
 purposes of defense has passed away, so that such edifices under a more advanced social 
 system remain but as landmarks of a picturesque age. 
 
 It may, perhaps, be asserted, without much fear of contradiction, that the highest kind 
 of representative art is that which best reproduces human form, and expresses the passions, 
 sentiments, and mental characteristics of man. In that respect sculpture appears to stand 
 pre-eminent, for, while the art of painting has wider aims and more extended resources, it 
 lacks the simple dignity of an art which has for a leading motive the expression of perfect 
 form, without the adventitious aid of coloring or other appeals to the senses. If, therefore, 
 we may take the advance made in this, the highest of all arts, as in some sort an indication 
 of progress in the people, it will have been noticed with satisfaction that the collection of 
 sculpture this year at the Academy is better than in many previous seasons. 
 

 ' ^ 
 
 WAIFS. 
 
 T. B. Kennington. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
iSlsSfc. .. 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
The Royal Academy. 
 
 129 
 
 Among the works of the elder members of the Royal Academy we should mention first 
 No. 1688, “Egypt" by H. H. Armstead, R. A. ; a graceful, idealized female figure — statu- 
 ette — typifying that ancient and remarkable country to which now for some time past the 
 attention of European statesmen and financiers has been so strongly directed. 
 
 No. 1700, “ The Water-Lily ,” by T. Woolner, R. A., represents a bathing nymph, who, 
 before she entirely throws off her drapery, toys with her foot among the water-lilies, balanc- 
 ing her body in a position of ease, as she rests her weight upon her right hip. This, which 
 is Mr. Woolner’s only contribution, is a high-relief in bronze. 
 
 One of the most prominent and noteworthy works was No. 1856, “ The Mower ,” by 
 Hamo Thornycroft, A. R. A., a comparatively young sculptor. A young hay-maker, wearing 
 his straw hat, the upper part of his body bare, carries his shirt upon his arm, and with his 
 scythe leisurely returns from his day’s labors. The idea suggested is one of repose, this 
 rustic figure being a fine example of Mr. Thornycroft’s powers of modeling. There are two 
 or three fine views of this statue of “ The Mower'.' 
 
 Mr. Thomas Brock, one of the newly elected Associates, sent a model of the marble bust 
 of Longfellow in Westminster Abbey, and Mr. C. B. Birch the large statue of “ Lady 
 Godiva" (see page 133). Mr. Birch established for himself a reputation when he produced 
 
 17 
 
T 3° 
 
 English Art in 1884 . 
 
 the colossal statues of Lieutenant Hamilton, killed in the Indian massacre, and “ The Last 
 Call” a bugler and his charger killed by the same shot ; and this he has followed with his 
 present masterly group of “Lady Gocliva ” and her steed, No. 1823. The work, being tentative 
 
 No. 1856. “ The Mower.” Hamo Thornycroft, A. R. A. 
 
 “ A mower, who, as the tiny swell of our boat passing heaved the river grass, 
 
 Stood with suspended scythe to see us pass.” — Matthew Arnold, Thyrsis. 
 
 in character, is at present produced only in imitation bronze, but it is to be hoped the sculp- 
 tor will be asked to execute it in the genuine metal, and that it may become national 
 property. Mr. Birch has represented the beautiful spouse of rough Earl Leofric standing 
 
The Royal Academy. 
 
 I 3 I 
 
 beside her horse — a noble-looking animal. The pretty legend upon which the subject is 
 founded may or may not be true, but certainly Mr. Birch’s realization of the story could 
 hardly be better ; the figure of the self-sacrificing wife of the lord of Coventry being a 
 most graceful conception, and the face particularly pure and lovely. 
 
 Z ife-si;e. 
 
 No. 1823. “ Lady Godiva." C. B. Birch, A. R. A. 
 
 “ . . . Anon she shook her head, 
 
 And showered the rippled ringlets to her knee ; 
 Unclad herself in haste ; adown the stair 
 Stole on ; and, like a creeping sunbeam, slid 
 From pillar unto pillar, until she reached 
 The gateway ; there she found her palfrey trapped 
 In purple, blazoned with armorial gold.’’ 
 
 No. 1680, “ Linus, " the personification of a dirge of lamentation, by E. Onslow Ford. 
 The whole-length figure of this classic poet is here represented with right hand raised, while 
 in the other he holds a torch thrust downward toward the ground. He is advancing with 
 slow and solemn steps, repeating as he goes his words of grief and sorrow. It will be 
 noticed in the reproduction how excellent is the swing of the figure and learned the mod- 
 eling. 
 
x 3 2 
 
 English Art in 1884 . 
 
 In No. 1684, “ Ruth and Naomi” the sculptor, J. Warrington Wood, seeks to realize in 
 marble that most pathetic incident in which the widowed daughter-in-law elects to return 
 
 with Naomi to her native place. Naomi has lost her husband Elimelech and both her sons, 
 and now, bankrupt in everything save the love of one of her son’s widows, she seeks to 
 
The Royal Academy . 
 
 J 33 
 
 turn her weary and aged footsteps toward Bethlehem, whence she 
 came. But Ruth’s strong love will not be denied, and she sums 
 up her determination when she employed that memorable phrase : 
 
 “ Entreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee.” 
 
 The girl stands with her arms clasped lovingly round the aged 
 woman’s form, as she gives utterance to her tender appeal. 
 
 No. 1809, “ A ve, C cesar ! morituri te salutant ,” by George A. 
 Lawson. This is one of the more important statues, a Retiarius 
 who is standing with his head raised and thrown backward, while 
 he holds aloft his trident in one hand, in the other being gathered 
 the folds of his net. The figure is well balanced and good in line, 
 the muscularity being of the order which suggests proportion with- 
 out coarseness. 
 
 In the bronze statuette, No. 1746, “Hercules" by G. Natorp, 
 the celebrated hero and son of Jupiter is seen resting upon the brass club given him by 
 Vulcan. The following lines suggest the motive of the design : 
 
 No. 1684. “ Ruth and 
 
 Naomi.” 
 
 J. Warrington Wood. 
 
 “ Leaning dejected on his club of conquest, 
 As if he knew the worthlessness of those 
 For whom he had fought.” 
 
 No. 1809. “ Ave, Ccesar ! morituri te 
 
 G A. Lawson. 
 
 No. 1746. “Hercules.” 
 G. Natorp. 
 
 salutant.” 
 
J 34 
 
 English Art in 1884. 
 
 No. 1682, “ Bless me , even me also , O my Fat her l' by E. Roscoe Mullins. The group 
 here represented is very expressive. Esau, just returned from hunting, and robbed of his 
 birthright by the deceit practiced upon his father by Jacob, has approached his aged and 
 
 No. 1682. “ Bless me, even me also, O my Father .” E. R. Mullins. 
 
 well-nigh sightless father, asking for the blessing he has a right to expect. But he has been 
 forestalled, and, by words which can not be recalled, he has been given as a servant to his 
 brother, upon whom also the richness of his father’s blessing has fallen. Finding this to be 
 the case, he cries to his father, with a loud and bitter cry, also for a blessing. The parent, 
 
 while acknowledging the injustice of which by deceit he has been made guilty, endeavors 
 to supplement his former words, which, however, he can not withdraw. The subject is very 
 finely designed and rendered. 
 
The Royal Academy. 
 
 r 35 
 
 No. 1776, “A Life-Size Sketch at the Zoo',' by George Simonds, is a noble model of a 
 lion to be erected at Reading, near London, as a memorial to officers and men of the Six- 
 ty-sixth Berkshire Regiment who fell during the Afghan campaign, 1879-80. 
 
 No. 1739. “ Kassasseen." A. M. Chaplin. 
 
 (Model for silver cup.) 
 
 No. 1739, “ Kassasseen',' by Alice M. Chaplin. A spirited model of a Guardsman charg- 
 ing at the full speed of his horse, and who, as he charges, is engaged cutting down his 
 enemy. 
 
 No. 1740, “ A Study of Action',' by Arthur Clay. A cow, which has been deprived of 
 her calf, is wandering in distress. A small model, excellent in motion and action. 
 
 No. 1692 . “ Miss Mary Anderson.” No. 1747- “Fancy Head.” ( Terra-cotta .) 
 
 A. Bruce Joy. H. S. Montalba. 
 
 No. 1692, “Miss Mary Anderson',' by A. Bruce Joy. The popular and beautiful actress, 
 whose visit to England has been very like a triumphal procession, has here certainly been 
 done justice to by the sculptor. It exhibits the quiet dignity, self-possession, and singular 
 
136 
 
 English Art in 1884 . 
 
 sweetness of expression that are characteristics of the face of the fair original, without any 
 evidence of the self-consciousness which is too often present with such gifts. 
 
 A full-length portrait of “ The late Lord Frederick Cavendish ,” No. 1678, also by the 
 same sculptor, recalls the face and form of the unfortunate nobleman whose tragical fate 
 
 No. 1678. “ The late Lord Frederick Cavendish." A. Bruce Jov. 
 
 (Model of the statue to be erected at Barrow-in-Furness.) 
 
 will remain indelibly fixed in the memory in this country. Lord Cavendish has his right 
 foot advanced, and holds his left hand upon his hip in a manner not unusual with him. 
 
 No. 1731, “Regret” by Frank Baden-Powell. A female head expressive of sorrow. The 
 sculptor in this beautiful work ventures not unsuccessfully upon delineating a class of men- 
 tal emotion which does not always tell its exact story in the human face. Direct physical 
 pain, as in “ The. Dying Gladiator ,” or in the priest of the “ Laocoon” group, is more readily 
 reproduced than are the negative emotions of our nature. But Mr. Baden-Powell has fear- 
 
The Royal Academy . 
 
 *37 
 
 lessly ventured into this more subtile and difficult region of art, and he may be congratu- 
 lated upon the result. Almost the last of the sculptors to whom we can draw attention this 
 year is Miss H. S. Montalba, one of a very gifted family, no less than live members of 
 which contributed to the present exhibition. Miss H. S. Montalba, the sculptor, is seen to 
 advantage in No. 1747, the pretty study in terra-cotta of a child. With little more scope 
 in such a subject than is afforded by an ordinary portrait-bust, Miss Montalba has managed 
 
 to invest the face with a character of childish beauty that is peculiarly charming. It is not 
 often that the artistic faculty is apparent in so many members of a family as it is in that 
 of the Montalbas. The spontaneous character and grace of style of this lady’s work are 
 very closely allied to genius. 
 
 We select from the portrait-busts (not, as a rule, a very interesting department of any 
 exhibition) the presentment of one whose name and features are very familiar in London ; 
 one whose interest in all art matters, and especially in international exhibitions, is well 
 18 
 
English Art in 1884 . 
 
 138 
 
 known. “Sir Philip Cunliffe Owen , K.C.M.G. , etc.? the head of the South Kensington 
 Museum, is a skilled administrator. He is especially interested in the dissemination of the 
 knowledge of English art in America at the present time; and, it is well known, is now 
 organizing an exhibition of American productions at South Kensington for 1886. The 
 young sculptor, Mr. R. A. Led ward, has accomplished a successful work, and has been 
 especially fortunate in his subject 
 
 Life-size. 
 
 No. I77°- “ Sir Philip Cunliffe Owen, K.C.M.G., etc.” (Bust, terra-cotta.) R. A. Ledward. 
 
THE GROSVENOR GALLERY. 
 
 The first exhibition of the Grosvenor Gallery was held on the ist of May, 1877, and 
 contained two hundred and nine works by living artists, the prominent exhibitor being Mr. 
 E. Burne-Jones, who sent the six beautiful decorative panels entitled “ The Days of Crea- 
 tion ,” now in possession of Mr. W. Graham ; 
 also “ Venus's Mirror ” and “ The Beguiling 
 of Merlin. ” In that year, also, Mr. G. F. 
 Watts, R. A., sent his well-known picture of 
 “ Love and Death” and other prominent ex- 
 hibitors were Sir Francis Grant, Sir Fred- 
 erick Leighton, J. G. Millais, L. Alma-Tade- 
 ma, Holman Hunt, W. B. Richmond, R. 
 Spencer Stanhope, Walter Crane, J. M. 
 Whistler, Professor Legros, and Richard 
 Doyle. 
 
 Since that time there have been seven 
 summer exhibitions, in which the predomi- 
 nant note has been a style of art in which 
 the works of the Italian masters had more 
 influence than Wilkie or Gainsborough. 
 
 The exhibition of 1884, although more 
 miscellaneous in character than formerly, and 
 containing some of the finest portraits of the 
 year, is still presided over, so to speak, by 
 the work of Mr. Burne-Jones. Never since 
 the exhibition of “ The Wheel of Fortune ,” 
 of “ The Days of Creation ,” and of “ The Four Seasons ,” has so great an impression been 
 made in the artistic world by any painting as by “ King Cophetua and the Beggar-Maid ,” 
 
 No. 8. 
 
 29 X 21. 
 
 “ Portrait of Signor G. B. Amendola .” 
 L. Alma-Tadema, R. A. 
 
14 ° 
 
 English Art in 1884 . 
 
 which hung in the place of honor in the large gallery. It may give the best idea of this 
 picture and of the estimation in which it was held to give an extract from a criticism 
 which appeared in the London “ Times ” on the day of the opening of the gallery : 
 
 “We are only echoing the opinion which is all but universal among those, whether 
 
 artists or not, who have seen the picture, when we say that ‘ King Cophetua and the Beg- 
 gar-Maid ’ is not only the finest work that Mr. Burne-Jones has ever painted, but that it 
 is one of the finest pictures ever painted by an Englishman. On an upright canvas, some 
 nine feet high, the artist has represented two principal and two secondary figures — the king, 
 the beggar-bride, and two chorister-boys who are making music in the gallery above. The 
 groundwork of the picture consists of a curious throne, forming a kind of alcove in the 
 palace, with steps and seats and columns in shining, beaten brass. The maiden is seated on 
 
 the purple cushion, and on the step at her feet is the king, the jeweled iron crown in his 
 
 hands, and his face fixed on hers with an expression of adoring love and wonder. She sits 
 half-dismayed and half-content, shrinking from the greatness of this new and unknown for- 
 tune, yet ready to face it, as some saint might face the Beatific Vision, in the strength of 
 her maiden purity. She is thin, as one should be who has fared poorly all her days; her 
 shoulders and arms are somewhat drawn ; even her beautiful face is a little wan with fasting. 
 She wears a single garment of some gray, felt-like substance, falling close over her knees, 
 and bound chastely across her breast and shoulders. Her feet are timorously drawn under 
 her; with her hands she presses for support upon the throne. Cophetua sits below, glorious 
 and radiant in all the colors that king may wear or painter imagine, in steel armor, plate, 
 and chain, with robe of many tints thrown over him ; the crown which he holds is resplen- 
 dent with jewels, and the brass at his feet and all around him is bright and gleaming. His 
 form and the expression of his face are singularly noble ; he is, in fact, every inch a man, 
 a true king and knight, before whose arm and lance many an enemy has gone down.” 
 
 The artist has gone for his theme to an old legend of no very wide notoriety till Ten- 
 nyson brought it back to the knowledge of mankind, and thus far, perhaps, it must be 
 
 admitted, he has chosen less worthily than when he painted his allegory of “ The Wheel of 
 Fortune ” or his “ Days of Creation .” Yet, on the other hand, it is a story which almost 
 explains itself, and even those who never heard of King Cophetua will understand that the 
 picture marks a phase of the never-ending history of beauty triumphing over strength. 
 
 The great interest attaching to this picture, apart from its general design and rich 
 qualities of color, is in the principal figure. “Mr. Burne-Jones has been commonly charged 
 with ‘ inability to paint a hero,’ but Cophetua is a hero,” says the “ Times ” ; and, as to his 
 
 beggar-bride, “ seldom has the lovely type, of which this painter has given us so many 
 
 examples, been rendered with so much tenderness, dignity, and beauty as here.” From the 
 
The Grosvenor Gallery. 
 
 H 1 
 
 last sentence we may gather the fact that the beggar-maid is painted in Mr. Burne-Jones’s 
 well-known manner, and those who have seen his idealized pictures of women in England 
 (or in America, where there are several), and know his color, will get very closely to the 
 type ; but his King Cophetua is altogether a new departure, more vigorous and original 
 than anything yet seen from his hand. 
 
 Other critics contended that, great as is the picture, “ the stickler for archaeological 
 accuracy may question the architecture and ornaments, the dress of the two pages in the 
 gallery, and the armor of the king ; and contend that these are hardly in accordance one 
 with the other.” But opinions coincided that “ on the sentiment of the story he had the 
 firmest grasp.” “The monarch,” one writes, “is undeniably enamored of the maiden in his 
 presence, and hers is just as surely, as Tennyson puts it, ‘ a lovesome mien,’ and her wan 
 beauty and delicate, fanciful grace pierce through her poor attire 
 
 ‘As shines the moon in clouded skies.’” 
 
 At this point the feebleness of mere words to describe any picture is so manifest that 
 in spite of the natural wish of the painter that no engraving should be made of a picture 
 depending so much upon color and the artist’s own handling for its ex- 
 pression, we insert a memory-note, or map of the principal lines. With 
 this key to the composition, and the statement that the canvas is nine 
 feet eight inches by four feet five, we must pass on to pictures by other 
 artists, not omitting to mention that a very decorative and harmonious 
 study in green, entitled “ A Wood-Nymph ,” a single figure in green dress 
 in the branches of a tree, also hung in the large gallery, by E. Burne- 
 J ones. 
 
 Among the followers of Mr. Burne-Jones, or at least those who work 
 in a similar spirit, we should mention Sir Coutts Lindsay, Mr. R. Spencer 
 Stanhope, Mr. J. M. Strudwick, Miss Pickering, and Mr. Walter Crane. Mr. Stanhope’s 
 picture of “ Patience on a Monument ” is a labored work, marked by considerable knowledge 
 and refinement ; the draperies are red and blue, dark brown and green, almost as simple in 
 
 scheme of color as an early Venetian fresco. In the distance there is an old-fashioned 
 
 garden with statues, which are not seen in the sketch. 
 
 Mr. Walter Crane, whose decorative work is well known both in England and America, 
 is a poet as well as a painter. “ The Bi'idge of Life ” is a picture teeming with incident 
 
 and suggestion. So complete is it as a poem of life, “ from the cradle to the grave,” that 
 
 we have thought it better to print the artist’s own description of his work. Few painters 
 in these days bestow more thought or invention on their subjects than Mr. Walter Crane: 
 
14-2 
 
 English Art in 1884 
 
 “ What is life ? A bridge that ever 
 Bears a throng across a river ; 
 
 There the Taker, here the Giver. 
 
 “ What is life ? In its beginning, 
 
 From the staff see Clotho spinning 
 Golden thread and worth the winning. 
 
 49 x 43- 
 
 No. 21 1. “ Patience on a Monument, smiling at Grief." R. Spencer Stanhope. 
 
 “ Like patience on a monument, 
 
 Smiling at grief .” — Twelfth Night. 
 
 “ Life with life, fate-woven ever, 
 
 Life the web and love the weaver, 
 
 Atropos at last doth sever. 
 
 “ What is life to grief complaining ? 
 
 Fortune, Fame, and Love disdaining, 
 
 Hope, perchance, alone remaining. 
 
The Grosvenor Gallery. 
 
 H3 
 
 “ This design is figurative of human life in its various phases from the cradle to the 
 grave. Life, in the collective sense — life in continuity — is expressed, firstly, by the marble 
 bridge spanning the stream of time, veined and shot with various dyes and stains ; viewed 
 as a compact and interdependent whole, rising to its key-stone, with its stairs and stages, 
 from the water’s edge, where its foundings are hidden. Next life, as in its individual sense 
 — the course of humanity— may be traced. Here the young mother receives her first-born 
 from the arm of the Genius of Life. The father, with one foot raised, as if about to ascend 
 the stair, and bearing the water-jar, the loaves and fishes — figuring the means for the sup- 
 
 38 X 60. 
 
 No. 206. “ The Bridge of Life." Walter Crane. 
 
 port of life — turns to look at his child. Upon the steps a mother suckles her child, and 
 above is teaching the infant to walk. As a boy he is taught by an old man from a scroll. 
 Beyond rises the figure of Clotho, spinning — the Fate presiding over the beginnings of 
 life, as living and human, but standing apart as a statue, a passionless but half-pitying spec- 
 tator. Below her a girl and boy are playing, the boy blowing bubbles, which rise in the 
 air and are lost. Next come a pair of lovers, or a bride and bridegroom, as she is crowned 
 with myrtle ; on the next step above, the little god Love, held aloft on the shoulder of one 
 of the Graces, showers roses upon them. A satyr, or we may call him Pan — as representing 
 the animal impulses — holding his pipes, clings to the man in his prime, who stands above 
 the key-stone of the bridge, half turning, with a cup of glass in his hand, which the nymphs 
 
H4 
 
 English Art in 1884 
 
 of Venus fill with wine, or make fragrant with roses. Behind him a winged genius — Fame, 
 or Ambition — holds a wreath above his head and blows a trumpet ; which things indicate 
 
 24 x 36. 
 
 No. 38. “ Aphrodite .” Philip H. Calderon. 
 
 “Fresh as the foam.” 
 
 that in life’s prime, when ‘all thoughts, all passions, all delights’ are in full stream, man is 
 stimulated by ambition to win other prizes, and reluctantly turns from the pleasures of 
 
 youth. At his side a woman halts and pensively gazes downward, seeing the corse on the 
 boat passing beneath the bridge, like those who, in life’s mid-career, are crossed by the 
 
AN UGLY CUSTOMER. 
 J. R. Reid. 
 

 
The Crowe nor Gallery. 
 
 H5 
 
 shadow of death. In front of her a man with a 
 winged helmet eagerly presses forward, and, grasping 
 by one hand the empty hand of Fortune, stretches 
 the other to reach the bag of gold she holds aloft, 
 and illustrates the well-known dictum concerning 
 Dame Fortune. Another aspirant has fallen in the 
 pursuit, and vainly stretches his hand for the unat- 
 tainable prize. A companion figure of Fortune turns 
 her wheel ; and lower down a woman half sadly and 
 regretfully gazes backward — a Lot’s wife sighing for 
 the pleasures left behind and youth gone by — while 
 her companion stoops beneath the weight of a globe. 
 
 Thus doth man win fame, and the whole world, per- 
 chance — he exchanges the glittering bubbles and dreams of his youth for solid earth, or 
 gold, or power, and has to bear the burden of it. A woman below him, with bowed head, 
 figures the despair of life — the shadow of success, the bane of wealth, the Nemesis of exist- 
 ence. An old man, leaning on his staff and on the shoulder of a youth, slowly descends 
 the steps of the bridge — age that knows his end is near, but is able calmly to meet it — 
 while the careless youth holds life like an apple to his lips. Behind these a figure of 
 
 20 X IO. 
 
 20 X 
 
 No. 07. “ Once more." W. E. F. Britten. 
 
 38 x 27. 
 
 No. 28. “ The Bath." J. R. Weguelin. 
 
 No. 24. “Soft Persuasion .” W. H. Bartlett. 
 
146 
 
 English Art in 1884 . 
 
 Lachesis holds up a veil she has woven — the web of life, wrought with the memory of 
 nights and days, with thought and action, with grief or delight, wherewith all life is clothed. 
 
 “Lower down on the steps Hope holds a lamp as she looks back on the stream of 
 humanity, while Love, frighted at the figure of Death, clings to her side. Beneath these, 
 again, a child has let fall a vessel of glass — ‘the false and fragile glass’ — which lies broken 
 upon the marble stair. He holds by the cloak of a woman bowed in grief, who is about 
 to place a wreath upon the bier as the boat with its dark freight passes, and Atropos, 
 
 41 >• 33- 
 
 No. 35 - “ The Farmer s Daughter." W. Q. Orchardson, R. A. 
 
 kneeling at her side, with her shears snaps the thin golden thread which, from the infant in 
 
 the arm of Life, can be traced all through the design till it is coiled at last in the hand of 
 
 Death as he draws the pall over his last victim, and his barge, hung with garlands of pop- 
 pies, glides on its silent way.” 
 
 In a different spirit from the foregoing, a good deal later than the Renaissance, almost, 
 
 it might be said, in the style of modern French art, is the “ Aphrodite ,” by P. H. Calderon, 
 
 which hung in the center of the great room. There is a peculiar dash and a brilliancy, apart 
 from fine modeling, about this picture; in quality of color it might have been painted by 
 Bougereau, but there is more spontaneity here. It is difficult to picture to the mind, with- 
 
The G r osve nor Gallery. 
 
 H7 
 
 out color, the brightness of the blue sea, crested with foam, the sweep of the sea-gulls 
 on the wind, the fair locks of “ Aphrodite ,” and the. beautiful form on the waves. As a 
 design it is vigorous and striking, and is, to a certain extent, a new departure for this 
 artist. The critics asked the question, “ Where, with such successes as this picture, and the 
 small study of a girl bathing of last year, is this artist to stop?” “Will he, as a member 
 of the Academy, go further in the study of the nude, and place his pictures on the walls 
 at Burlington House, where such subjects are seldom exhibited?” 
 
 Somewhat similar in aim, but quieter, more tentative, less sure of success, and, as a con- 
 sequence, perhaps, more refined, is the delicate and original study of two figures on the 
 shore of the Mediterranean Sea, by Mrs. John Collier, of 
 whose work we have spoken on page 116. This picture 
 is low in tone, with a pearly gray light over the sea and 
 sand-hills, a curious contrast in treatment to Mr. Calderon’s. 
 
 Two young artists may be mentioned together on this 
 page. Mr. W. E. F. Britten has already made himself a 
 name as a draughtsman of the figure, and has executed 
 some fine decorative studies of boys and dolphins. He 
 is at present engaged on some designs for the Earl of 
 Leconsfield’s house in London in conjunction with the 
 architect, Mr. G. Aitchison, A. R. A. Mr. Britten’s “ Flight 
 of Helen ,” a large picture, one of a series painted for Wy- 
 fold Court for the late Edward Hermon, M. P., was exhib- 
 ited in the Grosvenor Gallery in 1 88 1. His little picture 
 in the Grosvenor Gallery (No. 97) is a study of color, the 
 background, deep-blue sea melting into gray green on the 
 wet sand. 
 
 Mr. Bartlett has risen rapidly to the front as a painter 
 of sea-coast scenes in various places. In 1881 he sent a 
 study from the west coast of Ireland; last year, “ Bathing 
 and Crab-catching on the Lagoons ” at Venice. 
 
 Mr. Weguelin is an experienced painter of small classic subjects, many of which have 
 been seen in this gallery. Mr. Weguelin, Mr. Britten, and Mr. Bartlett are among the 
 artists who owe much to the directors of the Grosvenor Gallery for the early recognition 
 of their works. 
 
 No pleasanter specimen of Mr. Orchardson’s art has been seen of late than his picture 
 of “ The Farmer s Daughter ,” an unimportant subject, calling for no great effort on the 
 
 38 X 21. 
 
 No. 214. “ Far from the M adding 
 Crowd." 
 
 R. W. Macbeth, A. R. A. 
 
English Art in 1884 . 
 
 1 4.8 
 
 part of the painter, but exhibiting his skill and refinement of color — a scheme of yellow, 
 brown, and gray ; the girl in pink and white dress. But the statuesque little maiden, hold- 
 ing a pigeon on her wrist, is quite as mannered and characteristic of the artist as is Mr. 
 R. W. Macbeth’s fashionable lady in a high-crowned hat and feather in “ Far from the 
 
 No. 87. Twixt Bay atid Night.” W. J. Hennessy. 
 
 Madding Crowd'' which the artist has sketched for us. The latter is bright and sunny to 
 a degree, but, like Mr. Orchardson’s, a picture more of color than of sentiment. There is a 
 suggestive air of retrospection in the attitude of the lady, but the interest is attracted mainly 
 to the dashing painting of costume and accessories. Mr. Macbeth was seen to best advan- 
 tage in the Royal Academy. 
 
The Grosvenor Gallery. 
 
 149 
 
 There is sentiment and also truth to nature in Mr. W. J. Hennessy’s landscape, “ ’ Twixt 
 Day and Night]' with the Normandy peasants, old and young, passing through an orchard 
 under the silver light of a summer moon. The figures are the strong point in the picture. 
 All is harmonious and quiet, not to say prosaic, but the interest is great from an artistic 
 point of view. Mr. Hennessy has drawn the figures separately and in the landscape, to give 
 a better idea of the picture. 
 
 39 x 28. 
 
 No. 121. “ Caller Herrin ' .” David Carr. 
 
 “ Wives and mithers maist despairin’ 
 Ca’ them lives o’ men.” 
 
 36 x iS. 
 
 No. 151. “ Golden Hours." 
 
 J. P. Jacomb-Hood. 
 
 Mr. David Carr, the painter of “ La Force ” in 1883, is resting on his laurels. This year 
 his subject is one of the heroines of Kingsley’s poem, “ Caller Herrin",' a somewhat unusual 
 type of fisherwoman, as we are apt to picture them, but one that may be true to life, never- 
 theless. 
 
 Mr. Jacomb-Hood, like Mr. David Carr, has painted scenes from the history of the 
 French Revolution; this year to the Grosvenor Gallery he sent “ Golden Hours" ( 1 5 1 ), a 
 graceful subject, well drawn and good in color. 
 
1 5 o 
 
 English Art in 1884. 
 
 Mr. E. A. Waterlow sent a picture entitled “ A Saunter through the Fields " — a rustic 
 maiden walking through meadows, bright with poppies and white and yellow flowers ; also 
 
 “ The Shepherd's Return'd the pretty pastoral 
 sketched on page 164. Here we want color to 
 aid description ; the freshness and airy effect of 
 these landscapes are typical of much healthy Eng- 
 lish work. Mr. Haynes Williams’s two pictures 
 sketched above, if somewhat conventional in treat- 
 ment, are thoroughly well painted. One of these 
 subjects we have also reproduced as a photo-plate. 
 This artist had also a small and interesting study of 
 a table and chairs, tapestried wall and polished floor, 
 in a used apartment at Fontainebleau. Apart from 
 the skillful painting of textures, the artist managed 
 to endow the furniture with quite a living interest, 
 suggestive of former occupants and their history. 
 The pictures by Mr. E. H. Fahey, Mr. Edgar 
 No. 93c "A Love ‘ Sett : ” E. H. Fahey. Barclay, Mr. Smallfield, and Mr. Arthur Lemon 
 
The Grosvenor Gallery 
 
 151 
 
 No. 46 . “ Rescued Fruit: A Flood at Athelney .” Edgar Barclay. 
 
152 
 
 English Art in 1884 . 
 
 62 X 48. 
 
 No. 35. “ The Rival Grandfathers J. R. Reid. 
 
 little more delicacy and sense of harmony 
 Scotch painters, such as Mr. David Murray, 
 
 this year call for no special remarks. The 
 feeling of landscape is strong in Mr. Barclay 
 and Mr. Lemon. The latter has a good 
 eye for color: the blue of the highwayman’s 
 coat is well balanced against the low-toned 
 trees ; the action is good, and the story well 
 suggested. 
 
 The young Scotch artist, Mr. J. R. Reid, 
 whose work we have already seen in the 
 Academy, was well represented in the Gros- 
 venor Gallery with his “ Rival Grandfathers ,” 
 a picture which, had it been a little less 
 coarsely painted and a little less uniform in 
 its tone of blue, would have made the repu- 
 tation of many an older painter. Nothing in 
 the gallery was better than the drawing of 
 the young fisher-girl, or more natural than 
 the attitudes of the old men and child. A 
 in color seem to be the need of many young 
 whose landscape hung near the foregoing. 
 
 14 X 10. 
 
 No. 334. “ Favorites ( Water-color .) 
 Miss Lizzie Reid. 
 
 “ All is safely gathered in 
 Ere the winter storms begin.” 
 
The Grosvenor Gallery 
 
 *53 
 
 No. 185. “ The Song of the Sea-Birds.” 
 
 W. Hughes. 
 
 44 x 32. 
 
 No. 96. “ A Descent upon Italy.” 
 
 Sydney P. Hall. 
 
 The sisters of Mr. John Reid were also exhibitors this year, one in oils and one in 
 water-colors. The figure of the man in Miss Flora Reid’s “ October ” is excellent. 
 
 Thoroughly decorative in spirit and design is the large silver panel by Mr. W. Hughes, 
 which occupies a large space at the end of the East Gallery, over Mr. Richmond’s portrait 
 of “May" and Mr. North’s landscape. These harmonies have all been considered in the 
 hanging of the pictures in the Grosvenor Gallery. 
 
 17 X 24. 
 
 No. 173. “ ‘ One Good Turn deserves another.' ” J. Emms. 
 
 20 
 
!5 + 
 
 English Art in 1884. 
 
 The motive of Mr. S. P. Hall’s “ Descent upon Italy ” is best described in Plutarch’s 
 “ Life of Caius Marcius.” Speaking of the early wars of the inhabitants of the mountains, 
 he writes: “They held their enemies in such contempt, and came on with so much inso- 
 
 26 x 48. 
 
 No. 217° “ Funeral of Thomas Carlyle , at Ecclefechati." Robert W. Allan. 
 
 lence that, rather to show their strength and courage than out of any necessity, they ex- 
 posed themselves naked to the showers of snow ; and, having pushed through the ice and 
 deep drifts of snow to the tops of the mountains, they put their broad shields under them, 
 and so slid down in spite of broken rocks and vast slippery descents.” 
 
 Mr. Emms and Mr, Beadle are two of the many young artists which this gallery has 
 brought to the front, but whose pictures need no special description. More serious in mo- 
 
 8 x 12. 
 
 No. 19. 11 Tiny Elizabeth , you must not leave us." 
 
 ■ Mrs. Alma-Tadema. 
 
 street, presently to turn into the gateway of 
 was dark and drear ; a leaden sky shrouding 
 
 tive is a sympathetically painted picture by a 
 young Scotch artist, which was unfortunately 
 placed in the gallery. “ I made up my mind,” 
 Mr. Allan writes, “that Ecclefechan, the burial- 
 place of Carlyle’s own family, would be the 
 place selected for the solemn ceremony ; so I 
 made a special journey, and arrived just in 
 time to make notes of the place. No one 
 was present at the funeral save his own kin- 
 dred and the poor people of his native vil- 
 lage, as everything had been kept secret.” 
 The funeral-procession of Thomas Carlyle 
 is seen approaching along the snow-covered 
 the graveyard on the right of the picture. All 
 the muffled figures of the villagers waiting by 
 
The Grosvenor Gallery. 
 
 *55 
 
 the entrance in the wall ; the “ square, uncomely kirk,” the snow-covered street, all ending 
 in gloom, suiting well the temper of the departed. 
 
 Two little pictures, quiet in color and very carefully painted, No. 19, are by Mrs. Alma- 
 Tadema; the one sketched is taken from the story of “ The Burgomaster’s Daughter.” 
 
 On the walls of the Grosvenor Gallery, covered but a few months ago with the works 
 of Sir Joshua Reynolds, some of our greatest living portrait-painters exhibited last season. 
 
 40 x 29. 
 
 No. 106. “ Portrait of the Marquis of Lome.” J. E. Millais, R. A. 
 
 It may be that in the comparative quiet of the Grosvenor Gallery, with less crowding and 
 more care bestowed upon the juxtaposition of pictures, the Royal Academician finds a 
 better place for the display of his pictures than at Burlington House. Certain it is that 
 the spring exhibitions at the Grosvenor Gallery give the best idea of the style and quality 
 of contemporary English portraiture. Three years ago there was a memorable collection of 
 the works of G. F. Watts; and later, of those of L. Alma-Tadema. Last year there was a 
 fine portrait of a boy, by E. Burne-Jones, in fifteenth-century manner; and occasionally Mr. 
 Holman Hunt sends a portrait. This year, between the great exhibitions of the Reynoldses 
 
1 56 
 
 English Art in 1884. 
 
 and the Gainsboroughs, we have had portraits by Millais, L. Alma-Tadema, Watts, Rich- 
 mond, Boll, Herkomer, and many others. 
 
 The “ Portrait of the Marquis of Lome ,” by J. E. Millais, R. A., presented by the 
 painter to the National Gallery of Canada, which hung at the end of the large room, is, as 
 the sketch indicates, an extremely life-like presentment of the late Governor-General of the 
 Dominion, and an excellent example of the artist’s style. Two interesting portraits by the 
 
 No. 113. “ Portrait of Miss Mary Anderson." C. E. Halle. 
 
 same hand, one of Miss Nina Lehmann as a child in 1868, in white dress seated on a 
 green earthenware garden-seat, and another, of the same sitter, in white dress with golden 
 background, as Lady Campbell, married in 1884, showed Millais at his best, and afforded 
 opportunity for the comparison of his later and earlier methods of work. The “ Portrait of 
 the Marquis of Lome ” full of breadth and vigor, is rather sketchy; but here the require- 
 ments of portraiture have been more considered, and the details are put in with wonderful 
 certainty and precision. Such portraits as these might well hang side by side with the older 
 masters of the English school. 
 
The Grosvenor Gallery. 
 
 I 57 
 
 The portraits, by G. F. Watts, of Lord Salisbury and Lord Lytton, are characteristic 
 of another and altogether different style, more subtile if less powerful than the foregoing, 
 depicting the inner life rather than the outward characteristics of the man. It is said with 
 much truth of Watts, that you must know the requirements of good portraiture, and the 
 character of the sitter , to appreciate his work. 
 
 But nothing in the portraiture of the year has probably exceeded in power and unflinch- 
 ing realism the work of L. Alma-Tadema. In the Grosvenor Gallery there were three por- 
 
 59 x 32. 
 
 No. 31 . “Homeward.” Rudolf Lehmann. 
 
 traits by him, two of his friends, “ Signor G. B. Amencio/a ,” sketched at the head of this 
 section, the well-known sculptor working at a little silver statuette of Mrs. Alma-Tadema, 
 and “ Herr Lowenstam .” The third portrait, of “ Miss Lewis]' a young lady with jet-black 
 hair, seated in white dress, is a technical triumph, the most powerful and realistic portrait 
 in the room. But, in the details in the two first-named portraits, in the painting, for 
 instance, of the head in the mirror, and of the surface of the copper-plate at which Herr 
 Lowenstam is at work, and the green acid in the glass, Mr. Tadema is at his best, every 
 detail adding character to the portraits. 
 
English Art in 1884 . 
 
 158 
 
 The graceful portrait of “ Miss Mary Anderson ” 
 by C. E. Halle, which occupied one of the places 
 of honor in the large room, has especial interest at 
 present in England. She stands in easy attitude, in 
 a light dress, with a copy of “Romeo and Juliet” 
 in her hand — the play she was studying when her 
 portrait was taken. Mr. Halid has been very suc- 
 cessful in several portraits of ladies, notably one of 
 the wife of E. J. Poynter, R. A. At the time of 
 writing it was not settled whether the portrait of 
 “Miss Anderson” is to be engraved, but the hand- 
 ling and balance of light and shade would probably 
 reproduce well. 
 
 Among the most prominent portrait-painters who 
 exhibit in the Grosvenor Gallery we should have 
 mentioned W. B. Richmond. His portraits of the 
 two “ Miss Mir lees A nearly life-size — one seated, one 
 standing, in green velvet dress and hat — had great distinction ; and another, of a fair young 
 girl, entitled “May” (No. 184), seated at a piano-forte in light-brown dress (recalling the “St. 
 Cecilia” of Sir Joshua Reynolds, lately seen at Burlington House), is most delicately and 
 harmoniously painted, showing this comparatively young artist’s powers to great advantage. 
 
 36 x 27. 
 
 No. 103. “ The Little Bookworm.” 
 
 Val C. Prinsep, A. R. A. 
 
 40 x 50. 
 
 No. 86. “ Portrait of Mrs. Duff.” John Collier. 
 
The G ro see nor Gallery. 
 
 r 59 
 
 40 x 52. 
 
 No. 197- “ Portrait of Madame Bodichon." 
 
 Miss E. M. Osborne. 
 
 Near Mr. Richmond’s works, and on either 
 side of the great picture of “ King Cophetua',' 
 were the portraits by F. Holl, R. A., Hubert 
 Herkomer, A. R. A., and Rudolph Lehmann. 
 
 These, especially the “ Lord Houghton ,” by 
 Lehmann, suffered in color from juxtaposition 
 with Mr. Burne-Jones’s picture. The portrait 
 of “ Lord Brabottrne ,” by Herkomer, is a 
 powerful likeness, and there were others by * 
 him in the gallery ; but, altogether, the por- 
 traits of ladies and children may be said to 
 have been the successes at the Grosvenor Gal- 
 lery ; including the “ Queen of the May'' by 
 Herbert Schmalz, “ The Little Bookworm',' 
 
 by Val C. Prinsep, and the works of James Sant, R. A., John Collier, and James Whistler. 
 
 The work of five ladies, portrait-painters, regular contributors to the exhibitions at the 
 Grosvenor Gallery, may be mentioned together — Miss Osborne, Mrs. Jopling, Mrs. Merritt, 
 
 Mrs. John Collier, and Mrs. H. M. Paget. Miss 
 Osborne, whose well-known picture of “ The Gov- 
 erness',' in possession of the Queen, has been en- 
 graved and distributed into thousands of English 
 homes, sent a life-size portrait of “ Madame Bodi- 
 chon',' the wife of Dr. Eugene Bodichon, of Algiers. 
 Madame Bodichon, herself a landscape-artist of con- 
 siderable repute, is best known in England by her 
 philanthropic work in connection with the educa- 
 tion of women, and as one of the founders of Gir- 
 ton College at Cambridge. Miss Osborne depicts 
 her friend at work in her country home at Hast- 
 ings, in Sussex. 
 
 Mrs. Anna Lea Merritt, of Philadelphia, in her 
 new studio, “The Cottage,” Tite Street, Chelsea, 
 surrounded by a little colony of artists (among 
 them J. M. Whistler, Frank Miles, Frank Dicey, 
 and Mr. and Mrs. John Collier), is busily engaged 
 on portraits, among them one, finished but not yet 
 
 No. 160. 
 
 60 x 42. 
 
 “ Portrait of AT rs. F. E. Col man." 
 
 Mrs. A. L. Merritt. 
 
i6o 
 
 English Art in 1884. 
 
 exhibited, of “Mrs. Stirling ,” and “ Miss Ellen Terry ” 
 in “Romeo and Juliet.” Mrs. Merritt had the courage 
 last year to send a life-size nearly nude figure of “Ca- 
 milla ” to the Academy, and this year had a picture 
 (sketched on page 45) of the fair maiden and the 
 knight in armor in “La Belle Dame sans Merci ” — 
 occupying a very large space on the Academy walls. 
 The vigorous character of this artist’s work, both in 
 design and draughtsmanship, and the rapidly increasing 
 quality of her technique , are generally admitted in 
 London. 
 
 Mrs. H. M. Paget, living in Bedford Park, the so- 
 called aesthetic village at Chiswick, near London, paints 
 in the same studio with her husband, who exhibited 
 this year at the Academy. The children in red and 
 blue frocks, “ Brunetta e Biondina ,” painted by Mrs. Paget, are boldly and at the same 
 time decoratively treated in brilliant colors, well harmonized. 
 
 Among the portrait-painters we should not omit to mention Mr. Felix Moscheles, whose 
 portraits of himself and his wife in the Grosvenor Gallery are presented on this page. Mr. 
 
 20 X 16. 
 
 No. 1 12. “ Brunetta e Biondina." 
 
 Mrs. H. M. Paget. 
 
 20 x 18. 
 
 No. 176 . “Mrs. F. Moscheles." 
 
 F. Moscheles. 
 
 32 x 24. 
 
 No. 183. “ Portrait of the Artist." 
 
 F. Moscheles. 
 
GOING TO THE FOUNTAIN. 
 Haynes Williams. 
 

The Grosvenor Gallery. 
 
 161 
 
 Moscheles, the son of the well-known composer, is himself a musician, and in the London 
 season his studio is crowded with musical celebrities as well as artists. When on a recent 
 visit to New York, where he had a studio at the Park Avenue Hotel, Mr. Moscheles made 
 the experiment of giving a practical lesson in portrait-painting, and illustrating his remarks 
 by painting a portrait before an audience of about fifty persons. Those who were near 
 enough, both to hear and to see Mr. Moscheles at work, 
 gained a certain amount of knowledge of the methods 
 and technique of the art ; but it is open to question 
 whether, excepting in art-schools, such teaching can be 
 of much practical benefit. Mr. Moscheles is skillful in 
 the art of sketching in a portrait in oils in an hour 
 and a half, and has much to say that is of interest on 
 the subject, but of the requirements of portraiture, and 
 of the serious and arduous nature of the work, these 
 sketch-lectures give little idea ; and it is possible that a 
 non-critical audience, attracted by such a tour de force 
 as a life-size head growing upon the canvas before their 
 eyes in less than two hours, may go away with the 
 idea that portrait-painting is a rather overrated and 
 overpaid profession. But Mr. Moscheles is serious in 
 his art, and in his object of giving information to stu- 
 dents by the eye as well as by the ear. The portraits 
 of himself and Mrs. Moscheles are two out of many 
 lately painted by this artist. 
 
 Other portrait-painters, exhibitors in the Grosvenor Gallery in 1884, whose sketches 
 appear on these pages, were Mr. Edward Hughes, Mr. Herbert Schmalz, Mr. Julian Story, 
 and Mr. Weedon Grossmith. 
 
 The landscapes in the Grosvenor Gallery are seen to so much better advantage than in 
 the Academy that critics may be apt to attach too much relative importance to them. 
 But, just as certain figure-subjects, which we have admired here, would have been crowded 
 out of sight in the great throng at Burlington House, so there are certain landscapes which 
 it would have been impossible to appreciate or examine in the Academy. Among these we 
 should mention first the work of Mr. J. W. North. “ Our Hedges and Ditches ,” by this 
 artist, is an elaborate study of the undergrowth of early spring, a tangle of branches and 
 blossoms, with innumerable varieties of twig and flower; a delicate net-work of Nature’s 
 weaving put on canvas with a loving hand. Such painting we seldom see attempted in 
 
 46 X 28. 
 
 No. 257- “ Dulcie, Daughter of Philip 
 
 Water low, Esq." 
 
 Weedon Grossmith. 
 
 21 
 
1 62 
 
 English Art in 1884 . 
 
 oils; and the composition of it can not, as Mr. North says himself, be indicated in any 
 sketch in black-and-white. But, unpretending as the subject is — the only human interest 
 
 being in one or two girls gathering the last winter’s sticks, painted on a very small scale — 
 we are taken to it again and again as a rare bit of nature. 
 
 Much more obvious, both in motive and in handling, and as strong a contrast as we 
 could find easily in one gallery, is the work of Miss C. Montalba. The glowing red-tiled 
 roofs of the old Flemish town of Middelburg, the aspect of quiet and calm at the old sea- 
 
 27 x 49- 
 
 No. 224. “ The Port of Middelburg." Miss Clara Montalba. 
 
 port, with the craft waiting for wind and tide, take us to another atmosphere than Eng- 
 lish fields. Miss Montalba succeeds in giving us an exact indication of her picture, which 
 is true in local color, and composed, as we see, with great breadth and skill. 
 
 Two pictures by Associates of the Academy must be mentioned with the landscapes. 
 Mr. Boughton’s scenes in Holland have the advantage of figures in quaint costumes, but, in 
 a “Quiet Corner of a Garnered Field the interest and beauty are in the treatment of the 
 landscape; so, also, in Mr. Gregory’s, entitled “ Startled ” — a little picture of a bank near a 
 wood, with a child startled by a hare — the painting of the bank and the wood must be first 
 considered. 
 
 The large landscape (No. 60) sent by Mr. Parsons, studied near Stratford-on-Avon, 
 formed one of the features of the main gallery. The style of the illustrator of so many 
 
The Grosvenor Gallery 
 
 publications is well known in black-and-white, but here we have a study of color; sunset 
 light streaming across the meadows, and, in the river on the left, the moon’s reflected light. 
 There is a touch of sadness in the picture, as in Mark Fisher’s quiet landscape with cattle 
 following a peasant carrying an armful of fresh cuttings through an orchard in Normandy; 
 very natural in action, and harmonious with the blue of the old peasant’s dress against the 
 foliage and gray sky. 
 
 No. 213. “Homeward." Mark Fisher. 
 
164 
 
 English Art in 1884 
 
The G ro see nor Gallery 
 
 165 
 
 1 
 
 36 x 54- 
 
 No. 29. “ Tipping a Shrimp -Trawl.” C. Napier Hemy. 
 
 Sketches of four fine landscapes are placed together on page 164; of Mr. Henry Moore, 
 Keeley Halswelle, E. A. Waterlovv, and Mr. W. S. Jay. The first three of these artists we 
 have seen in the notice of the Royal Academy. 
 
 Two regular contributors to the exhibitions at the Royal Academy make their appear- 
 
 37 X 73. 
 
 No. 170. “ Coral- Fishing in the Gulf of Salerno.” Hamilton Macallum. 
 
1 66 
 
 English Art in 1884 
 
 60 x 40. 
 
 No. 40. “ ‘ Leaves have their Time to fall.' ” David Murray, A. R. S. A. 
 
 ance this year only at the Grosvenor Gallery. Mr. Hemy paints on the coasts of Devon- 
 shire and Cornwall, but Mr. Hamilton Macallum chooses more sunny scenes on the coast 
 of Italy. These painters know the sea, and their pictures are very little idealized. Mr. 
 Macallum, as a rule, waits and observes until the picture is before him, and studies with 
 great success the effect of rippling, luminous sea, which he has given us in “ Coral-Fishing 
 
 22 X 30. 
 
 No. 32. “ Gathering Fuel — Sestri Levante." F. W. W. Topham. 
 
The Grosvenor Gallery 
 
 167 
 
1 68 
 
 English Art in 1884 . 
 
 in the Gulf of Salerno'.' It is no secret that this fine picture was rejected at the Royal 
 Academy. But sea-painters like Hamilton Macallum, C. N. Hemy, and Henry Moore are 
 assured of success, no matter what may befall their works at the hands of the hanging 
 committee, who (in the multitude of pictures sent in every year) sometimes omit important 
 works like the foregoing. 
 
 Mr. David Murray’s “ Leaves have their Time to fall" and Mr. Topham’s “ Gathering 
 Fuel" were prominently placed in the Grosvenor Gallery. The subjects are similar, but 
 nothing could be more dissimilar than the treatment of the two pictures : the former, liter- 
 
 30 X 20. 
 
 No. 144- “Music and Moonlight — Venice .” T. C. Farrer. 
 
 ally, rather coarsely painted, but good in color and drawing; the latter, a picture of Italy in 
 the old familiar colors, with blue distance and picturesque peasantry. 
 
 Other landscapes, sketched on page 167, are, “ Resting the Drove ” (No. 157), by J. 
 Smart, a prominent member of the Royal Scottish Academy ; a bit of old Lambeth Palace 
 (No. 1 37), by C. E. Holloway, a good painter of the Thames; “ Three Fishers ,” by E. H. 
 Fahey ; and “ The Old Orchard" by I. Hetherington. 
 
 Mr. T. C. Farrer has painted a view of Windsor Castle in sunset glow, and another of 
 Venice by moonlight ; of the latter he writes : “ Every one who has been in Venice will 
 remember the barge that goes out every moonlight night with its load of musicians, and 
 
The Grosvenor Gallery . 
 
 169 
 
 traverses the Grand Canal, stopping at the different hotels and well-known places of resort 
 for foreigners, making the night gay with the sound of music and the flash of the gondo- 
 liers’ oars.” Of the innumerable artists who have chosen this subject, few — from Canaletto to 
 
 24 X 28. 
 
 No. 313. “Off the Coast of Portugal Tristram Ellis. 
 
 Mr. Farrer — have quite succeeded in drawing a gondola; but the main interest here is in 
 the beautiful moonlit sky and the movement on the waters of the Adriatic. 
 
 The water-colors at the Grosvenor Gallery never form a very important part of this 
 exhibition. During the lifetime of Richard Doyle, and until last year, this part of the 
 gallery was enlivened with many of his fairy legends and drawings, always full of fancy and 
 humor. Mr. Walter Crane and other water-color artists have contributed, and there are 
 always some interesting examples of the art. Mr. Tristram Ellis sent three drawings this 
 
 14 x 30. 
 
 No. 363. “Antwerp." A. B. Donaldson. 
 
 year, one of which he has sketched; Mr. Donaldson’s “Antwerp" is a wonderfully airy view 
 across the Scheldt a little after high water. True in tone and good in perspective, this little 
 drawing brings the city before us with great reality. 
 
 22 
 
English Art in 1884 . 
 
 170 
 
 13 X 19. 
 
 No. 342. “ By the Wayside." David Bates. 
 
 It is difficult to indicate any of the studies of “still life” in a sketch, but Mr. David 
 Bates has shown us his “By the Wayside” near a wood in an English country lane; 
 “ Meadow-Sweet ,” by Edith Berkley, is a graceful and pretty bit of color; and the 
 “ Twins” by S. Berkely, both truthful and humorous : the latter would make a good en- 
 graving. There was a small, unimportant portrait in water-colors of Dante Rossetti as a 
 young man, by Holman Hunt; and works by Professor Legros, Stuart Wortley, J. M. Jop- 
 lin, R. R. Holmes, W. E. F. Britton, Edgar Barclay, Arthur Hughes, Gerald Robinson, 
 Mrs. Stillman, Mrs. Gosse, Mrs. Cecil Lawson, and Mrs. Joplin. 
 
The Grosvenor Gallery. 
 
 171 
 
 Hamo Thornycroft, A. R. A. 
 
 The sculpture-gallery included works by J. E. Boehm, R. A., Hamo Thornycroft, A. R. A., 
 Professor Legros, G. B. Amendola, Count Gleichen, T. N. MacLean, E. Onslow Ford, E. 
 R. Mullins, R. B. Browning, Waldo Story, T. S. Lee, Miss Chaplin, Miss Montalba, and 
 
 T. Nelson Maclean. 
 
 R. Barrett Browning. 
 
.172 
 
 English Art in 1884 . 
 
 No. 4*9- “ Una Sevillana {Terra-cotta statuette .) Peploe Brown. 
 
 many others. Mr. R. B, Browning’s large bronze statue of Dryope was the prominent object 
 in the gallery — an unpleasing work, but full of promise and power; and Mr. Thornycroft’s 
 marble statuette of Miss Sassoon one of the best pieces of sculpture of the year. 
 
 No, 397- “Ethel." {Terra-cotta bust.) 
 Miss Henrietta Montalba. 
 
 No. 407 . “ Dryope fascinated by Apollo in the Form of a 
 
 Serpent." {Life-size bronze .) R. Barrett Browning. 
 
THE INSTITUTE OF PAINTERS IN 
 
 OIL-COLORS. 
 
 The Institute of Painters in Oils, which is 
 an entirely new institution, opened its first exhi- 
 bition on the 17th of December, 1883, at the 
 new galleries in Piccadilly, with a collection of 
 some eight hundred works in painting and sculp- 
 ture. This exhibition is annual, and open to all 
 artists, subject to the selection necessary in order 
 to obtain the best works. Mr. J. D. Linton is 
 the president, and there are a hundred and five 
 foundation members. 
 
 That there is no feeling of antagonism be- 
 tween the Royal Academy and this society is 
 shown by the number of Academicians and 
 Associates who are either members of the Insti- 
 tute or who contributed to the exhibition. We 
 have selected a few illustrations to give a gen- 
 eral idea of the strength of the collection, com- 
 mencing with a good genre picture by Frederick 
 Brown, an artist who made a mark in the Acad- 
 emy in 1883. 
 
 Our second sketch (No. 21 1), “ A Young Tramp]' is by Henry Wells, R. A., one of the 
 elder members of the Royal Academy, the painter of a very large picture of men and horses, 
 “ Loading at a Quarry]' in the Academy, and of several portraits this year. The artist has 
 here found as an excellent subject for his pencil the head of some wild, untutored, but intelli- 
 
r 74 
 
 English Art in 1884 . 
 
 gent-looking young savage, whose face might well arouse the benevolent feelings of the phi- 
 lanthropist. It requires no seer to predict that a mind like that of this poor lad’s might, 
 with proper cultivation, produce the fruits of a great and noble life. There is little exaggera- 
 
 No. 211 . “A Young Tramp." Henry T. Wells, R. A. 
 
 non of refinement in the presentment of this London “gamin,” one of the “waifs and strays” 
 of cities ; from a philanthropic point of view, we should be disposed to pronounce this “ one 
 of the best portraits of the year.” 
 
 Mr. J. E. Hodgson, R. A., is another member of the Academy whose work does not 
 
 appear in the early part of this book, but it would not be complete without one of Mr. 
 
 Hodgson’s Eastern studies. Here is an incident in the late war in the East — a group con- 
 sisting of three Turks, in their Eastern home, entertaining a couple of “Jack Tars.” The 
 
 sailor’s habit of making himself at home under all circumstances is amusingly depicted in 
 
 two “ man-of-war’s men ” : one is seen seated crossed-legged upon a divan, holding in one 
 hand a long Turkish pipe, and in the other a cup of sweet coffee, while his comrade 
 endeavors to look as little like “ a fish out of water ” as circumstances will permit ; the 
 staid, sober-minded Easterns listen with dignified courtesy to the remarks of their novel 
 guests. The design is full of quiet humor, the painting firm, and the details are given with 
 great accuracy. Looking at this sketch, we are brought very closely to the spirit of Mr. 
 
The Institute of Painters in Oil-Colors. 
 
 1 75 
 
 Hodgson’s work; imagination must picture the rich yet subdued colors of the robes of the 
 Turks and their surroundings. 
 
 Mr. Pettie’s larger works we have already noticed, but the sketch of this single-figure 
 subject will give an idea of another phase of his art, in which quality and finish are more 
 considered. No. 474, “ Sweet Seventeen ,” by John Pettie, R. A., is evidently the artist’s beau- 
 iddal of fair girlhood — one in whom the light of life and happiness is bright. In color, this 
 was a charming picture, graceful and easy in posture, the white neck-handkerchief with its 
 adornment of a simple red rose, and even her powdered tresses, giving a piquant freshness 
 to the face and form. We imagine this is one of those fancy portraits Mr. Pettie has more 
 than once painted with marked success, and which have been afterward engraved ; but it is 
 not equal in interest to “Her Grace ,” painted in 1881, and now familiar as an etching. 
 
 No. 441. “ East and West.” J. E. Hodgson, R. A. 
 
 No. 446, “ Well-known Footsteps ,” by Alma-Tadema, R. A. With this artist’s name 
 appended to the picture, it is hardly necessary to add that the treatment of the subject is 
 classical. Seated upon a cushioned bench, in an apartment leading to the entrance to her 
 mansion, a fair Greek girl rests with her arm upon a leopard’s skin, while she leans forward, 
 
176 
 
 English Art in 1884. 
 
 listening for the familiar foot-fall of one who is expected. In the open doorway, through 
 which the sun is shining brightly, some one is advancing, laden with a magnificent offering 
 of roses, and beyond is a bright peep of garden-ground. The picture is quite a little gem, 
 
 the girl’s expectant figure gracefully posed, while her form is hidden in semi-shadow, which 
 makes the peep of sunlight more tellingly effective. The sketch indicates well the type of 
 faces and the curious treatment of the subject — a style and period with which Mr. Tadema 
 has made us all familiar. 
 
The Institute of Painters in Oil- Colors. 
 
 177 
 
 Mrs. Alma-Tadema paints in the same studio, but it can not be said that she borrows 
 her art from her husband. In No. 196, “A Bible-Lesson',' the style she has struck out for 
 herself is peculiarly her own, and her designs, while they often convey a lesson, are generally 
 happy combinations of domestic and picturesque life. In the daintily painted little genre pict- 
 ure before us, a handsomely dressed old lady is seen engaged in teaching her little grand- 
 daughter Scripture lessons in the stories represented on the blue tiles with which the walls 
 
 No. 446. “Well-known Footsteps." L. Alma-Tadema, R. A. 
 
 are adorned. Mrs. Tadema is more reticent in color than her husband, but, like him, she 
 spares no pains in the execution of her work, and considers no detail or accessory too 
 insignificant to be painted with care. Note, for instance, the introduction of the grand- 
 mother’s chair and foot-stool in the distance, how it adds to the interest of the picture and 
 balances the composition. 
 
 No. 61 1, “I\llca,” by Edwin Long, R. A. One of the Eastern figures which this artist 
 has now for some years made his more particular study. (See page 12.) 
 
 No. 101, “ The Blue Girl',' by P. R. Morris, A. R. A. This artist, who has been very 
 successful in his treatment of portraits of children, here pictures a funny little figure of a 
 
 23 
 
178 
 
 English Art in 1884 . 
 
 girl in blue hood and dress, seated in a wood with a half-peeled orange in her lap. Upon 
 her right is an object not indicated in the sketch — a rabbit seated at the entrance of its 
 burrow, the timid animal apparently not at all frightened at her little ladyship. The origi- 
 nal is remarkable for pretty expression and childish character ; the scheme of color blue, 
 orange, and black. 
 
 No. 329, “Dog-Days" by R. W. Macbeth, A. R. A. Two young ladies seated at table, 
 and apparently wholly free from fear of that terrible bugbear, “ hydrophobia,” for the name 
 
 
 mm,,, 'Aatmimunn :ii|iiiiiiiiii"- . JBga \ \\\\ \ 
 
 'mm ! ''»■ d 
 
 'flu 'iiilui/H •1//1111UH1J1 ,ifi i) <• •, n-K.i m,. »i,. ui ■ ’ 
 
 No. 196. “ A Bible- Lesson." Mrs. Alma-Tadema. 
 
 of their canine favorites arranged before them is legion. The artist’s sketch indicates the 
 central group. We have spoken of Mr. Macbeth’s art elsewhere. 
 
 No. 447, “ The Rialto Market ,” by Henry Woods, A. R. A. This artist, who is brother- 
 in-law to Luke Fildes, A. R. A., : s one of that little coterie, Van Haanen, De Blaas, Logs- 
 
The Institute of Painters in Oil- Colors. 
 
 179 
 
 dail, and a few others, who have taken up their residence in Venice, where they appear to 
 be founding what may be considered a new modern school of art. As far as Mr. Woods 
 is concerned, the Venetian scenes, which he is constantly reproducing, are really Venice of 
 
 No. 6ll. “ Klea.” Edwin Long, R. A. 
 
 the present day — Venice in all her brightness and beauty, painted in a conscientious spirit, 
 and with the thoroughness and skill which have earned for him a reputation in a few years, 
 and his election to the rank of an Associate of the Academy. In the ‘ Rialto Market ,” the 
 girl seated on the right is just one of dozens of such figures one sees daily in the city; and 
 
English Art in 1884 . 
 
 1 80 
 
 the bridge itself, the awning over the figure of the girl, etc., are photographically accurate. 
 It will be seen at once by the sketch what a chance for a painter there is here, in sunny 
 
 No. 329. “Dog-Days." R. W. Macbeth, A. R. A., R. I., M. 
 
The Institute of Painters in Oil- Colors. 
 
 181 
 
 effects and variety of rich colors. No wonder English artists linger in Venice, painting 
 subjects of which the art-world seems never to have enough ! 
 
 No. 227, “ Caterpillars ,” by E. J. Gregory, A. R. A. This study is principally an exercise 
 in color, as we observe in the little girl’s red velvet frock, the brick wall, and in the vari- 
 ous shades of leafage, in which the young lady is industriously engaged catching caterpillars. 
 
 No. 447 * “ The Rialto Market." H. Woods, A. R. A. 
 
 A trivial subject and without much grace, but the touch of genius is here, as in all of Mr. 
 Gregory’s work. The natural attitude of the child is expressed exactly in the artist’s 
 sketch. 
 
 The next two clever genre pictures indicate a style of art much in repute at the gal- 
 leries of the Institute: the first, No. 152, “ The Pride of her Heart'' by Hugh Cameron, 
 a young mother delightedly playing with her little son upon her lap; and No. 749, “A 
 Portrait by E. Lintz — a capital picture of a little girl seated upon a chair, holding a 
 dreadfully fat, over-pampered pug-dog on her lap. It may be hard to say which of the pair 
 is the “ Portrait" alluded to in the title of the work, but one is quite sure which portrait 
 will be preferred. 
 
iimm 
 
 182 
 
 English Art in 1884 
 
 No. 227. “ Caterpillars." E. J. Gregory, A. R. A., R. I., M. 
 
 Jo. 152. ''''The Pride of her Heart." 
 
 Hugh Cameron, M. 
 
 No. 749 - A Portrait." 
 E. Lintz. 
 
The Institute of Painters in OH- Colors. 
 
 i8 3 
 
 No. 672, “ In the Nick of Time]' by R. C. VVoodville. Our illustration gives the princi- 
 pal figure in one of this artist’s usually stirring vvar-suhjects. It is an incident in the recent 
 Egyptian war. Some of Arabi’s soldiers have laid a train to blow up a bridge by which 
 the communications of the army were maintained, and, while just in the act of putting a 
 fuse to the powder, they are disturbed by a patrol of troopers, who, galloping down to the 
 
 No. 672. “In the Nick of Time." R. C. VVoodville, R. I., M. 
 
 spot, discover the enemy in the act. The saber makes short work of the offenders, who 
 attempt to flee in different directions, some boldly taking to the river with their horses, 
 while one man still persists in his attempt to fire the train, and the trooper in the sketch 
 is defeating the effort. There is always plenty of dash and “go” in Mr. Woodville’s work, 
 and lovers of military incidents will be delighted with this spirited sketch. 
 
184 
 
 Engiish Art in 1884 
 
 No. 122, “ The Daylight dies',' by Alfred Parsons. As is the case with much of this 
 artist’s work, his picture here is a poem. The subject is simple enough— a river with sedgy 
 banks, a peep of meadows, and a few trees and shrubs, but the scene is lighted with that 
 
 No. 122. “ The Daylight dies.” Alfred Parsons, R. I., M. 
 
 mystical, half-defined light which just precedes the time when the setting sun leaves Nature 
 to the reign of another luminary, and to the darkness which is in harmony with the idea 
 of rest. We really know of no landscape-painter who more faithfully or fully interprets 
 

 FRIENDLY ADVANCES. 
 J. P. Beadle. 
 
The Institute of Painters in Oil- Colors. 
 
 185 
 
 Nature in her various times and moods than Mr. Parsons. He ignores, as in the work we 
 are referring to, all attempts at dramatic display or picture-making, and, with the simple 
 purpose of realizing Nature in the mood in which she is presenting herself to his mind, he 
 transfers with peculiar power that mental vision to canvas. There is no need of Mr. 
 Abbey’s figures to aid the sentiment of this picture. 
 
 No. 508. “ The Window-Seat." Francis D. Millet. 
 
 Another artist, perhaps better known in America than in England, is Francis D. Millet. 
 “ The Window-Seat ” (No. 508) is rich in the charm of light and graceful movement. It is 
 almost the invariable rule that an artist is in after-life influenced by the art of his master ; 
 but this is not so with Mr. Millet, who is certainly original in his method of work. In 
 
 24 
 
i86 
 
 English Art in 1884 
 
 the picture vve are commenting upon, one finds no trace of the manner of either De 
 Keyser or Van Lerins, and there is something peculiarly happy in the thought of this fair 
 
 No. 26 i„ “A Yorkshire Fisher-Girl." W. Small. 
 
 young figure seated, bathed in sunshine, as she plies needle and thread. There is a style 
 about this picture which the artist has made his own. 
 
 One of the most able draughtsmen in England, one whose work is too seldom seen on 
 canvas, is Mr, William Small. In 1876 he made an impression by a large and powerful 
 
The Institute of Painters in Oil-Colors . 
 
 187 
 
 figure-picture entitled “ The Wreck'' sent to the Royal Academy. Since that time he has 
 exhibited smaller paintings, generally of sea-coast scenes, but is best known by his numerous 
 illustrations on wood. Like his contemporaries, Charles Green, F. Barnard, and E. A. 
 Abbey, his time is nearly all taken up with drawings in black-and-white. No. 261, “A 
 Yorkshire Fisher-Girl',' a study of a north-country lassie with a basket of fish balanced on 
 her head, knitting as she goes, is as bright, fresh, and airy as anything from his hand, but 
 the exigencies of book-illustration in England take from us probably many good painters, 
 such as Mr. Small and Mr. Randolph Caldecott. 
 
 No. 375, “ The Humming-Top',' by Joseph Clark. Two cottage children watching a top 
 spin. The artist here exhibits, as usual, much insight of childish character. This little pict- 
 
 No. 375* “ The Humming-Top .” J. Clark, M, 
 
 ure, like Mr. Clark’s former works, “ The Bird's Nest'' “ The Empty Cradle',' and “ The 
 Sick Child',' is treated with feeling and skill, redeeming the subjects from any charge of 
 puerility. Thus M. Edouard Frere has painted in France for forty years. 
 
 No. 532, “Mrs. Betsy Criddle's School',' by Frederick G. Cotman. A dame’s school, 
 with the old schoolmistress teaching a little boy his letters. There is always something 
 suggestive when old and young are brought together, and never more so than when obey- 
 ing a first principle of nature, such as age imparting instruction to youth. Mr. Cotman’s 
 design is distinguished for unity of purpose, and for a realization of character that is both 
 interesting and impressive. 
 
i88 
 
 English Art in 1884.. 
 
 No. 187, "She loved him for the Perils he had passed',' by Charles J. Staniland. Stories 
 of dangers by flood and field have always been dear to maiden heart ; and the tall soldier 
 seated on the window-sill, recounting his adventures to the comely but rather Puritan-look- 
 ing lass before him, gives point to his history in that he himself is wounded. A stray 
 bullet or well-aimed sword-cut has injured his right arm, so that his account of bloody 
 fights and hair-breadth escapes has illustration in his own maimed person. The subject, it 
 
 No. 532. “ Mrs . Betsy Criddle's School.'’' F. G. Cotman, R. I., M. 
 
 is true, is but a love-story ; still, it is love founded on admiration of courage and acts of 
 personal valor, qualities which should have some weight as an assurance of future happiness 
 for the young couple. 
 
 The four pictures sketched on page 190 are by skilled artists. Mr. Ernest Crofts is a 
 battle-painter, lately elected to the rank of Associate of the Academy. No. 251, “ The Old 
 Home',' by G. G. Kilburne, pictures some wanderer in the rough ways of life, who, carrying 
 her sorrow huddled up in her shawl, returns in the winter snows, to peep in at the warmly- 
 lighted rooms of the old home. No. 687, “ Cromwell at Bootham Bar',' by Ernest Crofts, 
 A. R. A. The Protector, with a knight and armed train, filing from the castle. No. 479, 
 Taken to the Road',' by Charles Cattermole. A study of a young man, mounted on a 
 
The Institute of Painters in Oil- Colors. 
 
 189 
 
 useful-looking hack, who, whether from folly, fate, or misfortune, has betaken himself to 
 the disgraceful life of a highwayman. No. 714, “For whom, and from whom?" by Haynes 
 Williams. A highly-finished sketch of the cavalier in the artist’s picture of this subject. 
 
 No. 187. “ She loved him for the Perils he had passed .” C. J. Staniland, R. I., M. 
 
 No. 178, “ The Marsh-Kings Daughter ,” by John Scott. The artist, who is fond of 
 the mysticism of legendary lore, has here another illustration of the subject he exhibited in 
 the Royal Academy. The incident is taken from one of Hans Andersen’s charming fairy- 
 tales. The stork recounts the scene: “This evening,” he says, “I went among the rushes, 
 and while I was there three swans came ; one of them threw off her plumage, and I 
 immediately recognized her as one of the princesses of our home in Egypt. There she sat 
 
190 
 
 English Art in 1884. 
 
 No. 251. “The Old Home." No. 687. “Cromwell at Bootham Bar.” 
 
 G. G. Kilburne, R. I., M. Ernest Crofts, A. R. A. 
 
 No. 479. “ Taken to the Road.” No. *]lt[. “ For whom , and from whom 2 ” 
 
 Charles Cattermole, R. I., M. Haynes Williams, M. 
 
The Institute of Painters in Oil- Colors . 
 
 191 
 
 without any covering but her long black hair. The two swans rose up with her plumage.” 
 Mr. Scott represents the marsh-king’s daughter seated, with a regal air, upon the roots of 
 a tree, below her a pool covered with water-lilies, and at her side the curious, councilor-like- 
 looking birds. 
 
 No. 197, “ Highland Eagles and Red-Deer Calf l' by Samuel Carter. Since the death 
 of Sir Edwin Landseer, Mr. Carter has certainly proved himself to be one of our best 
 
 painters of deer. Keeping these animals constantly about him at his own home, he is 
 enabled to study closely their habits and daily life. The subject of our illustration tells its 
 
192 
 
 English Art in 1884 . 
 
 own story. By some mischance a young deer has, all untimely, met with death. It may 
 have slipped and fallen from some mountain-height ; or, it may be possible that 
 
 “. . . a shot, at random sent, 
 
 Found mark the archer little meant ” ; 
 
 but, be that as it may, the graceful animal now forms a prey for that king of birds, the 
 eagle. Two of these birds have swooped down from their lofty flight, and wait but a 
 moment ere they commence their meal. Not only has Mr. Carter pictured with power the 
 birds and animal, but one feels also a sense of the desolate grandeur of the mountain- 
 heights. 
 
 No. 197 . “ Highland Eagles atid Red-Deer Calf.” Samuel Carter, M. 
 
THE WATER-COLOR SOCIETIES; 
 
 The art of water-color painting is essentially of English practice, but it is not, as many 
 people suppose it to be, of English origin. Few, indeed, have been the arts that have 
 leaped complete into life. Generally the development has been gradual, and the progress 
 slow. And this has been the case with water-color. It was practiced, tentatively, even as 
 long ago as in the day of Albert Dtirer. It was brought in a measure to perfection in the 
 
 seventeenth century in Holland, but the method of its 
 employment there was limited. It was used chiefly, 
 and used beautifully, in the rare drawings by Adrian 
 van Ostade and Cornelius Dusart, which record a vul- 
 gar life with delicate brush. And the French gouache 
 of the eighteenth century— the gouache of Baudouin 
 and Lavreince — has something in common with the 
 
 English art of water-color which was practiced con- 
 temporaneously with it. These things it is fair to 
 recall and chronicle, though the mention of them 
 detracts in no wise from the merit of the English 
 school. For, after all, however important be the lan- 
 guage of an art, far more important is the message 
 which sooner or later that language is trusted to de- 
 liver. And, if the formation of the language of water- 
 color is in truth but in part ours, its message is wholly 
 our own. It is as practiced by the greater English 
 masters — by Turner, by Girtin, by Cotman, by David 
 
 No. 228 . “Is the Change right V 
 E. Buckman. 
 
 * The sketches interspersed over the following pages will serve to remind the reader of some water-color artists, of whom 
 it has been impossible to speak in this year’s English art. On the other hand, some important paintings are mentioned, 
 and not sketched, it being impossible to render the effects of some water-colors in a sketch in black and white in line. — E d. 
 
 25 
 
194 - 
 
 English Art in 1884. 
 
 Cox, by Devvint — that water-color has contributed so much to the pleasures of the draw- 
 ing-room and the picture-gallery, and has furthered and widened our interest in the world 
 of nature. 
 
 In England, too, as elsewhere beforehand, the beginnings were tentative and timid; hut 
 in England the result was to be a success, not only assured, hut of long duration and of 
 wide extent. 
 
 No. 194. “ The Sisters." E. K. Johnson. 
 
 It is said that the demand, early or in the middle of the eighteenth century, among us 
 for views of English castles, country-houses, and cathedral towns, stimulated our practice of 
 water-color. Capable draughtsmen visited town after town, country-seat after country-seat, 
 and to the accurate work of the - pencil added washes of color. The color at first was 
 
The Water - Color Societies. 
 
 l 9 5 
 
 hardly more than neutral tint. Local hues were at first avoided. But gradually they crept 
 in ; and presently, too, the impression of atmospheric effect — the changes of the light and 
 air — came to be added to the record of permanent form. Thus did pure topographical art 
 give place to art proper. Thus was Sandby succeeded by Turner. Marlow by Girtin. 
 
 No. 88. '''’The Morning Chat: on the Seme , Paris." Basil Bradley. 
 
 At last English water-color art was so far developed that its practitioners — very few of 
 whom were likewise painters in oil — resolved and were able to found a society which should 
 invite the public to annual exhibitions. And thus, in the year 1805, there came to be 
 established that Society of Painters in Water-Colors which continues to this day its honor- 
 able or respectable career. To it, almost at the beginning, belonged John Varley, an artist 
 always learned and at first simple. He did much for the development of the art. To it 
 belonged, before the society had existed many years, painters as different and as eminent as 
 Prout and William Hunt. And in 1818 there was experienced the need of a second soci- 
 ety, and thereupon what was then called the “ new ” society came to be founded. That 
 society is now the “ Institute,” and of it and of its exhibition I shall speak further on. We 
 will first, however, visit the older gallery in Pall Mall East. Upon both bodies royal favor, 
 as well as popular appreciation, has been bestowed. They are, of late, the “Royal” Society 
 and the “Royal” Institute. 
 
196 
 
 English Art in 1884. 
 
 The Royal Society of Painters in Water-Colors is presided over by the veteran artist, 
 Sir John Gilbert, whose one contribution this year is sketched by himself in this work. 
 
 This exhibition is held in a single convenient gallery, approached by entrance through 
 the pretty stone frontage designed by the late Mr. Cockerell. It is confessedly a close 
 body : that is, to its recurrent shows none but members and associates may contribute. It 
 has thirty-five members and about as many associates. The members govern the whole 
 action of the society ; the associates are in a sense probationers ; from their ranks members 
 are chosen, and, until an associate becomes a member, his function is but to exhibit. Then, 
 of course, there are a few honorary members, of whom Mr. Ruskin is one. And Mr. Ruskin 
 sometimes annoys the over-sensitive critic by the exhibition of that which the critic is sorry 
 to see; and sometimes Mr. Ruskin delights alike the critic, the artists, and the cultivated 
 public by the exhibition of an architectural study wrought with singular refinement of hand, 
 in obedience to the dictates of a delicate and a subtly observant eye. But of course it is 
 
 not upon the honorary members that there falls the heavy business of assuring the main 
 interest of the show. Certain of the elder regular members have long been able to take 
 that burden on their shoulders with fair chance of success. There is George Fripp, for 
 instance; there is Alfred Hunt; there is G. P. Boyce; and there is Carl Haag. Still, it has 
 to be allowed that at least one or two of these gentlemen — all of whom have reached, and 
 
The Water - Color Societies. 
 
 *97 
 
 some of whom have passed, late middle life — have waxed a little indolent or a little weary. 
 Mr. Boyce, whose drawings of old buildings (notably one called “ Where Bridewell stood,” 
 exhibited many years ago) gave him a great and deserved reputation, puts in an appearance 
 — or at all events a prominent appearance — but rarely. 
 
 Of the men I have thus far named, Carl Haag is, at this moment, the surest pillar of 
 the house. He is, as his name implies, by birth a German, but he came to England now 
 
 No. 109. “ Silk and Calico Bazaar, Cairo.” E. A. Goodall. 
 
 very many vears ago, loving the country and loving its practice of water -color. He is 
 Hofmaler to the Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, and a deserved favorite of English 
 royalty. He exhibited in Pall Mall the records of his travels in the East. He had 
 explored Egypt before Gerome. He had followed in the steps of William Muller, an artist 
 of extraordinary vigor, especially in landscape. But Carl Haag is a more elaborate painter 
 and a finer draughtsman of the human frame than Muller ever was. And he has never 
 been seen in greater perfection than in the exhibition of 1884. His chief work is his most 
 
198 
 
 English Art in 1884 . 
 
 realistic vision of one stage of the long journey which the faithful Eliezer took with 
 Rebecca when he brought her on a camel’s back to be the bride of Isaac. Eliezer has 
 been a successful man. He marches solidly along, full of the consciousness of Abraham’s 
 approval when he reaches home. And the young woman — those gold coins pendent above 
 the forehead (they are the "engaged ring” of Eastern society, Mr. Haag tells me, the coins 
 
 No. 47 . “ But the Word of the Lord endureth forever." R. Barnes. 
 
 that mark her betrothal) jingle pleasantly in her ears, and she knows that she is not likely 
 to be disappointing. Never did camel step so delicately, yet with proper pride in the triumph 
 he shares ; never were Eastern textures and gay trappings richer or more rare. 
 
 Mr. Alfred Hunt deserves mention next, I think, and not because he is an Oxford 
 man of mark, a scholar, a philosophical Liberal, interested genuinely in politics and social 
 progress, a member of the Athenaeum Club. All that must be very interesting and satis- 
 factory to Mr. Hunt and his friends, but it has little bearing on his work as an artist. As 
 an artist he has studied two things — not necessarily incompatible. He has studied nature 
 and Turner. He is Turner’s disciple. Rarely does he produce a single delicate drawing 
 which does not display the influence to which he has mainly leaned. No one is more 
 industrious, no one more patient, no one more enamored of the beauty of his subjects or 
 more aware of their inevitable difficulties. Alfred Hunt is perhaps, above all things, a painter 
 
The Water - Color Societies . 
 
 x 99 
 
 of atmosphere. In this year’s exhibition, his “Deserted River-Bed" portrayed, indeed, no 
 land of exceptional charm, but a sky crowded with interest, and dealt with by the hand of 
 a poet. 
 
 Mr. Albert Goodwin, a younger artist, but a worker in the same field, is one of the 
 most rising members of the Royal Society. He is one of those men to whose work we 
 look first for the charm of originality, freshness — poetry combined with power. He is faulty 
 — sometimes apt to be exaggerated in the rendering of effects that stir him — but he is 
 almost always impressive. The seaboard town of Whitby, which Mr. Hunt has painted so 
 often with exquisite refinement, Mr. Goodwin painted last year with extraordinary vigor. Mr. 
 Hunt achieved subtiltv and the rendering of many facts; Mr. Goodwin’s was the more 
 direct and decisive record of a prompt vision. And this year his “Sunset in the Manufact- 
 uring Districts" is as fine as his “ Whitby ” and as fine as his “Last of the Armada — the 
 
 No. 28. “ Fighting the Sea : Yarmouth Tug saving a Dismasted Fishing- Smack." Oswald W. Brierly. 
 
 skeleton of the last ship, the bare ribs on the wild coast. Poetry of a grim and potent and 
 portentous sort is in this “Sunset in the Manufacttiring Districts'.' Before us lies the 
 desolate, spoiled country that a feebler artist would avoid, because it has lost its prettiness; 
 that the more vigorous artist would enjoy, because it has gained its sentiment and its 
 experience. A deserted house, the ruin of a modern builder, is quite in the foreground, and 
 
200 
 
 English Art in 1884 . 
 
 waste land that was country once and is hardly yet town. “The grass grows scant as hair 
 in leprosy,” writes Mr. Browning of some such place. Beyond lie the houses closely packed, 
 and the smoky steamers of a tidal river ; then the flats, and then perhaps the sea. But 
 over all this, which is so sordid and squalid and yet so pathetic besides, the weird drama 
 of sunset is enacted in the sky. Great wreaths of cloud, strange in color and savage and 
 
 No. 95 . U A Dorsetshire Stream." Wilmot Pilsbury. 
 
 threatening in form, are dragged over the placidness of the upper heavens. A fine imagina- 
 tion dictated this work, and dictated it with all the more of clearness and of force because 
 its subject was of no remote origin, but was found at our very doors, in the work-a-day 
 England which we know. 
 
 Mr. Herbert Marshall— with his “ From Hyde Park Corner , looking west ,” and his 
 “ And all that Mighty Heart is lying still" — is likewise a painter of the modern world, 
 of modern cities. And so sometimes is Mr. Hale. And Mr. Hale is truly refined. 
 His observation is subtile ; it is not mechanical and photographic. I can not myself 
 assign to Mr. Marshall quite so high a place. Still, the “ From Hyde Park Corner , 
 looking west" is undoubtedly striking. I wish only that the painter’s vision of the mod- 
 ern world, to which he wisely betakes himself, were in itself more artistic. He paints skill- 
 fully what he sees, but he sees too much what everybody sees. An artist of mark must 
 be fresh. 
 
The Water -Color Societies 
 
 201 
 
 Now, Mr. Thorne Waite — another of the younger men — brings a certain amount of 
 freshness to the treatment of themes in the original choice of which he had doubtless felt 
 the influence of Dewint. Mr. Thorne Waite’s “ Loiterers ” is by no means the largest, but 
 it is assuredly the most perfect and most harmonious drawing in the exhibition. If, like a 
 new associate, Mr. Pilsbury, Mr. Waite here recalls Mr. Birket Foster — that veteran minia- 
 turist in water-color, who is still almost a leading man in the Royal Society — it is but for 
 a moment. Generally Mr. Waite is either wholly original or wholly a follower of Dewint; 
 and, like Dewint, he paints the English lowlands, or, like Hine of the Institute, the Downs 
 of Sussex. 
 
 Another painter of pure landscape should perhaps be mentioned here, before we pass 
 on to those who paint chiefly the shore and sea, or chiefly the figure, draped or undraped, 
 and that is Mr. J. W. North. He is, perhaps, our most delicate painter of delicate foliage 
 
 No. 40. “ Clearing the Wreck: Tide rising.” R. Beavis. 
 
 — and of the play of atmosphere upon it, in limited spaces — and “My Garden Hedge , my 
 Orchard Fence ” (a study of nasturtium and apples) is certainly a quite lovely rendering of 
 a tangle of greenery and full-colored blossom. 
 
 Miss Clara Montalba’s “ Souvenir of Middelburg ” — golden and red — reminds us that she, 
 who is perhaps the most gifted member of an unquestionably gifted family, is, in a sense, a 
 
 26 
 
202 
 
 English Art in 1884. 
 
 painter of landscape. But it is the waters, and especially the Venetian waters, and the wide 
 sky that is seen from the gondola shooting over the lagoon, that is her proper province, 
 and so Miss Montalba may be fairly mentioned now that we have come among the paint- 
 ers of the coast and sea. The essential quality of her work is perhaps the quality of spirit- 
 
 No. 140. “ The Deserter." Charles Gregory. 
 
 edness. It is so far vigorous that it is almost masculine; nay, it may be pronounced mascu- 
 line without any qualification of the word. But it is a little wont to be sketchy, not alone 
 in touch but likewise in conception. Its composition is sometimes incomplete, and it is 
 never intricate. Still, it is remarkable work, so vivid, fresh, and free. Unity of impression 
 is at all events never sacrificed in it to the accumulation of detail. 
 
 Among the most notable painters of coast and ship and sea are Mr. Henry Moore, Mr. 
 Powell, and Mr. Oswald Brierlv. Mr. Brierly is essentially a draughtsman of all the detail 
 of ships, a naval rather than a true marine painter, and bold rather than subtile or various. 
 Henry Moore is devoted to the record of the waves as they beat upon the shore. He is 
 an artist more careful to preserve refinement than to display strength. He is various, but 
 most interesting to us when he betakes himself to the Mediterranean blue. Mr. Powell, 
 whose large drawing of waves and sky occupied one of the places of honor in this gallery, 
 has for years been a great yachting-man. Round the Scottish coasts, where his home is, he 
 
The Water - Color Societies. 
 
 203 
 
 has been everywhere and he has seen everything. And he has seen the world at unusual 
 hours. He has caught Nature unawares. He paints the sea in days of endless mist, when 
 nothing seems to change, and when all is harmonious and placid. He paints effects which 
 before him have had no charm for any one — effects which escaped not, perhaps, the observa- 
 tion but certainly the interested observation of Turner. But of the marine painters of the 
 day he is certainly one of the most valuable. 
 
 It is generally agreed that the Society of Painters in Water-Colors is least strong in 
 figure - painters ; but it has had, and still has, many notable men as members. It is now 
 many years since young Burne-Jones was practically excluded (the council of the year 
 
 No. 24. “ A Capture." Norman Tayler. 
 
 declining some of his works) ; and, since Sir Frederick Burton seceded in consequence of 
 that decision, a little of the Philistine spirit must surely have existed in a society which could 
 take exception to the refined and poetical drawings of Mr. Burne-Jones. But in those days 
 the landscape-painters had the strongest voice at the council, and the figure-painter was at 
 a discount. The old society is still faithful to its traditions, but there is certainly an increase 
 in the encouragement which the Royal Society affords to figure-painters. The recent elec- 
 tions of Mr. Albert Moore, Mr. Du Maurier, and Mr. Henshall prove this unmistakably. 
 And the popularity of Mrs. Allingham’s pretty work is noteworthy. It is true that Mr. 
 Du Maurier could hardly paint a figure when he was elected, but he could, at all events, 
 
204 
 
 English Art in 1884 
 
 No. 30- “ From Hyde Park Corner , looking west." Herbert M. Marshall. 
 
 draw one, And the society was right to give him welcome, and he has justified what I 
 may call the eagerness, if I may not call it the prematureness, of his choice. For, since 
 then, the fashionable artist of “ Punch ” — the elegant and piquant draughtsman with pen and 
 
 “ The Corn-Market, Abbeville." Samuel J. Hodson. 
 
The Water - Color Societies . 
 
 205 
 
 ink — has labored much at water-color. A certain art of comedy attends his performances 
 generally, but in this year’s picture, “ The Peacock and the Nightingale ,” the comedy is 
 slight. It is rather a moral tale — the tale of the triumph of simple charm over much- 
 
 adorned and self-conscious beauty. The scene is “in society”; London society in our own 
 day spreading pretty widely, and the fashionable young man no longer bound by the 
 restrictions laid upon him in the days of Mr. Thackeray. He may venture, now, “ north of 
 
 No. 100. 
 
 “ The Cid and the Five Moorish Kings ” ( vide Lockhart's “ Spanish Bal/ads"). W. E. Lockhart, R S. A. 
 
206 
 
 English Art in 1884. 
 
 Oxford Street,” without fear of losing his way. This time, in Mr. Du Maurier’s drawing, 
 he is quite at home at Hampstead, four miles north of London. I think he is in Mr. Du 
 Maurier’s own abode ; for there is the manly figure of a young gentleman, with whom 
 Mr. Du Maurier is very intimately connected, and there, too — not to speak of the ladies — 
 is Mr. Henry James, surely; and there, too, a neighbor, Mr. Alfred Ainger, the “reader” at 
 the Temple. Others, likewise, of the Hampstead world. All is graceful, full of character, 
 full of social charm, and the charm of simplicity is not wholly wanting. 
 
 No. 157 . “ Signals of Distress." A. Hopkins. 
 
 Mr. Arthur Hopkins’s very powerful drawing, called “ Signals of Distress , ” is a replica 
 of his picture exhibited in the Royal Academy in 1879, and also recalls another picture 
 entitled “ The Wreck" by Mr. William Small, in the Academy in 1876. Neither Mr. Small 
 nor Mr. Hopkins has yet distinguished himself as a colorist, but both are most skillful 
 draughtsmen, and have seized the dramatic element with great force. Such work appeals 
 powerfully to islanders whose shores are strewed with wrecks. 
 
 What a different world is that of Mr. Albert Moore — the world of vivified Greek 
 sculpture, of lovely fabrics laid over noble forms, as the figures stretch themselves with 
 splendid insouciance or repose in a quietude on which “ society ” makes no claims, and with 
 
The Water -Color Socieites. 
 
 207 
 
 which it has nothing to do! Mr. Albert Moore is quite fresh to water-color, but his fresh- 
 ness is that of a master — his work has none of the heaviness or of the over-precision which 
 is sometimes to be traced in the drawings of an artist in oil betaking himself for the first 
 time to water-color. He affords us no surprise, and, if he does not fall below his habitual 
 level in technique , it will hardly be asked of him that he shall rise above it And, in sub- 
 ject, too, if his ideal is a limited ideal (generally that of a single female figure in repose), 
 it is yet perfectly attained. Here are the pretty draperies again, and the flower-pots in 
 
 No. 59. 
 
 which the flowers are ever fresh, and the young women who lounge to right or to left, and 
 are ever indolent yet ever robust. Of the imitation of an every-day nature there is almost 
 nothing; but what an admirable art supplants the every-day nature Mr. Moore contentedly 
 banishes ! 
 
 We will go back for a moment to some of the elder painters — proficient in styles 
 brought to perfection now many years ago. There is Mr. Frederick Tayler, for instance, 
 and there is the president, Sir John Gilbert. Mr. Frederick Tayler’s treatment of the figure 
 
208 
 
 English Art in 1884 . 
 
 No. 286. “ Ladies' Tresses. 
 
 F. Smallfield, 
 
QUEEN OE THE MAI 
 H. SCHMALZ. 
 
The Water - Color Societies. 
 
 209 
 
 is pretty much confined to the hunting-field, but his figures in their association with the 
 horses and the dogs give us the quaintest and the most spirited pictures of one side of 
 English rural life. Nor, of course, is Sir John Gilbert exclusively a figure-painter. He is 
 
 No. 247. “A Street Altar!' L. Alma-Tadema, R. A. 
 
 skilled in the art of placing his noble troopers or his ragged camp-followers — the van and 
 rear of a great army, chiefly of Puritan and Cavalier times — in the midst of a savage and 
 impressive country, a land of riven oak-tree and blasted heath, and over that country sweeps 
 a wind from the west. If the landscape is a little less natural than David Cox’s — if it is 
 
 27 
 
2 IO 
 
 English Art in 1884 . 
 
 less truly studied— it sometimes, for awhile, is as impressive. But this year Sir John Gilbert 
 is, perhaps, hardly at his strongest; and Mr. Frederick Tayler — well, vivacious as he is, we 
 might have said before that he has long been a veteran. 
 
 Hardly among the elders, yet not among the juniors, we must name Mr. J. D. Watson, 
 Mr. Smallfield, Mr. E. K. Johnson, and Mr. Henry Wallis. Mr. J. D. Watson has been an 
 excellent character-painter, and this year three drawings prove him to have lost much less 
 of his art than there had lately been some cause to fear. I do not know that Mr. Small- 
 field’s “ Ladies Tresses'" is very characteristic, but the reproduction here shows it to be at 
 
 least decidedly attractive. Mr. E. K. Johnson can be just 
 as immediately attractive as Mr. Smallfield, and perchance 
 he is more deeply refined. He is the painter of many 
 
 that is prettier than his blonde, square-cheeked damsels 
 dressed in white. What more charming, for instance, 
 than his “ First Spring Flowers ” — the girl bending over 
 the table with primroses? Mr. Wallis — whom I some- 
 how named with this group — is noticeable not alone for 
 the qualities of color and of grace which he gets into 
 his work in water-color, but also because he is quite an 
 exception to the usual rule, by which — at least from 
 David Cox’s days to J. D. Linton’s — a painter painting 
 both in oil- and water-colors has generally begun with 
 water-colors and taken subsequently to oils. Mr. Wallis, 
 . beginning with oils, has now for some years taken to 
 water-colors. His “ Death of Chatter ton" was famous 
 long before he dreamed of being elected an Associate of 
 the Society of Painters in Water-Colors. 
 
 Mr. E. J. Poynter, R. A., and Mr. Edward Radford represent well enough by “ Psyche ” 
 and by “ Tympanistria ” the tendency of certain men of taste still to seek classic themes in 
 their treatment of the figure. They are never encumbered nor attracted much by acces- 
 sories. The figure is their proper function. Mr. Poynter does not often depart from his 
 legitimate business of drawing it well, and Mr. Radford draws it seductively. Mr. Alma- 
 Tadema is a classic likewise, and in his “ Street Altar" the sobriety of the antique street is 
 made only the more pleasantly evident by the permitted but limited inroad of blue skv and 
 blinding sun. Mr. E. F. Brewtnall is another figure-painter whose work in this gallery should 
 be mentioned. 
 
 pretty things (see sketch on page 194), but of nothing 
 
 No. 142. “ Tympanistria." 
 
 Edward Radford. 
 
The Water - Color Societies . 
 
 2 I I 
 
 Mr. Buckman treats his figure subjects with humor, if not precisely with beauty, and is 
 a student of character, a fresh observer of the every-day world, more than a great colorist. 
 “Is the Change right?'" which is sketched on the first page of this chapter, gives a good 
 
 No. 203. “Thoughts." J. H. Henshall. 
 
 idea of his style. But Mr. Henshall, with his large drawing called “ Thoughts ,” No. 203, 
 makes a good display, in the present exhibition, of what can be done with modern dress when 
 it is seen by an artistic eye. He paints a very real young woman, seated in a free-and-easy 
 way on a tall stool in a library. She is not very pretty — not prettier than you ought fairly 
 
2 12 
 
 English Art in 1884 . 
 
 to be when a girl is seventeen, and has nothing to trouble her — but he has taken careful 
 
 note of her points, and he spares us no engaging turn of the arm, no line that can be 
 
 caught in the flow of the shapely figure. A poorer painter would have made the thing 
 meretricious. Mr. Henshall has so much enjoyed the flexibility of the model, the opportu- 
 nity she has afforded him for the tracing of a subtile contour, and the play of light and 
 
 shade about her dress, that the consequent excellence of his workmanship has given the 
 picture dignity. It is exactly the kind of work that is certain to appear vulgar and com- 
 monplace to spectators on whom the Fates have not bestowed the power to observe, but 
 in truth it addresses itself with dexterity to some of the most difficult and some of the 
 most pressing of the problems of art. 
 
 Some sixty years ago there was founded the second English Water-Color Society — the 
 “new society," or, as it is now called, the Royal Institute. It was for many years distinctly 
 inferior to the elder body, and, under various vicissitudes of fortune, it occupied, until a 
 year or two since, a somewhat undignified, not to say tunnel-like, gallery, opposite Marlbor- 
 
 N°. 550. “ A Thrilling Dra?nal' William L. Thomas, R. I. 
 
 ough House. Of late, however, its affairs have been administered by able and spirited men, 
 so :hat in the last days in the old gallery one was certain to see an interesting exhibition 
 representing the most modern side of English water-color, and especially rich in drawings of 
 
The Water - Color Societies. 
 
 213 
 
 the figure. And the spirit of its administration has been as modern as the style of its work. 
 It conferred, a few years since, upon the whole of its associates the full privileges of mem- 
 bership — including, I believe, for a while, the privilege of paying for its support. For the 
 Institute was a good deal deserted of the public. Its best artists could always sell their 
 
 pictures, but they could sell better, perhaps, in their studios than in their gallery. The 
 popular shilling tinkled with rarity into the money-box. It was time that something was 
 done. The members of the Institute were men of initiative. They devised a scheme by 
 aid of which long life, as a corporate body, could be guaranteed them, and a service ren- 
 dered to the art of water-color. The funds were forthcoming with which to build a sump- 
 tuous gallery in Piccadilly. Space, it was decided, should be allotted with a liberal hand to 
 outsiders ; and, moreover, the number of members, whose works were shown inevitably, 
 
English Art in 1884 . 
 
 2 14 
 
 should be appreciably increased. This has been done with success, and the present year 
 witnessed the second exhibition of the new “ Royal Institute,” in the palatial yet appro- 
 priate abode designed by Mr. Robson, the distinguished architect, which is now one of the 
 features of Piccadilly. 
 
 The Institute has, during the last few years, been rich in figure-subjects. Its president, 
 Mr. James Linton, is one of the most eminent figure-painters of the English school. He 
 
 
 No. 613. “ Priscilla." James D. Linton, President. 
 
 is an exquisite draughtsman, but above all a draughtsman of the figure in picturesque cos- 
 tume, and he is a most rich and harmonious colorist. Some appreciative critics ol his 
 work like him best when he is devoted to a single figure. It is then, perhaps, that his 
 touch is most faultless, and his expression of textures, including the lovely texture of the 
 flesh most irreproachable. And this year he is represented by a single figure — the Puritan 
 “ Priscilla ,” in a long gray cloak, and holding in her hand what the Germans call Andachts- 
 
The Water - Color Societies 
 
 215 
 
English Art in 1884 
 
 216 
 
 No. 736. “ Kilchurn Castle , Loch Awe." 
 
 Keeley Halswelle. 
 
 No. 223 . “A Sluice-Gate , Walberswick.” Thomas Pane. 
 
The Water - Color Societies 
 
 217 
 
 buck — a book of piety. Alas! the maiden herself by temperament is less pious, or, at all 
 
 events, less austere than her guise. Like Mr. Abbey’s heroines, she is Puritan more by 
 
 No. 848. “A Shattered Veteran .” J. W. Whymper. 
 
 raiment than by blood. In her temperament there is the love of this life. But who shall 
 say that her character is not natural ? This beautiful little drawing hung, in the exhibition, 
 almost on the spot where hung last year the president’s greater design — the now famous 
 “Admonition'.' 
 
 No. 1032. “ Yeldham Hall , Essex.” Charles Earle, R. I. 
 
 Opposite to it, and, like it, almost in the center of a wall of the middle room, one saw 
 what is almost, if it is not quite, the greatest of contemporary landscape-work in water-color 
 — Mr. Thomas Collier’s contribution, “ The New Forest .” T he forest, as Mr. Collier loves 
 
 28 
 
English Art in 1884 . 
 
 218 
 
 it, is not a mass of closely planted trees, but rather a stretch of upland and open country, 
 with the heather upon it, and, down away in the hollow, a few writhing oak-trees and 
 some squatters’ cottages, and over all the passing clouds, gray and silvery, of a sky, of 
 wind, and of shower. Mr. Thomas Collier is a man of middle age, who, in the eyes of 
 those who understand art best, has reached the summit of his profession. He is one of the 
 purest of water-color painters, and the seeming economy of his method is an economy that 
 is sparing only of touches, and is never sparing of time. For in truth he is a slow worker. 
 
 No. 683. “The Queen of the Night." G. S. Walters. 
 
 He exhibits but few drawings, and the subjects of these are generally confined to the open 
 country. If it is not a heath, it must be a flattish shore; it must be somewhere where the 
 sky is wide and the air infinite. 
 
 Mr. Harry Hine is a landscape-painter, not less eminent than Mr. Collier. He is a 
 veteran, and was already in manhood when David Cox and Peter Dewint were doing their 
 best work. But his own labor, unlike that of Thomas Collier, betrays little of their influ- 
 ence. If he was influenced at all, he was influenced by Copley Fielding, whose subjects, 
 like his own, were subjects of Sussex — who, like Hine, was a painter of the Downs. Mr. 
 Hine had six drawings in the gallery of the Institute this year, but none of them easily 
 
The Water -Color Societies 
 
 219 
 
220 
 
 English Art in 1884 
 
The Water - Color Societies. 
 
 22 1 
 
 reproduced in a sketch in black and white. One was a vision of the stormy sea, as unlike 
 his habitual themes as was his “ Front of Old Brighton ” in the show of last season. He is 
 fond of displaying variety and versatility. But it is upon the Downs — the chalk Downs of 
 a golden September — that he is in truth most at home. “ Lewes from the London Road ” 
 was his great Down-drawing this year. “ Evening ” and “Dawn" were also studies in the 
 country that is most truly his. In his work all is harmony, unity of impression. The 
 
 I 
 
 No. 230. “Encore.'' G. G. Kilburne. 
 
 objects represented are few. There are a flock of sheep, a shepherd, perhaps, a track over 
 the grass, and a wind-bent thorn-tree ; further, a turn and fold of the Downs, and an always 
 placid and spacious sky. 
 
 Mr. Whymper and Mr. Keeley Halswelle are painters of a landscape that is more dra- 
 matic and more immediately striking; Mr. Mogford is picturesque, Mr. Orrock sturdy and 
 downright ; and the Institute has lately been joined by younger men — some of them paint- 
 
222 
 
 English Art in 1884 
 
 ers in oil for the most part — who contribute to the variety and popularity of the exhibition. 
 But many of these men— Mr. Colin Hunter is a type of them — are more properly discussed 
 in the section devoted to the Royal Academy, where their most important labor makes its 
 appearance. The Institute has several spirited painters of the sea, or of marine and river 
 
 No. 1073 . “ The End of the Skating." Towneley Green. 
 
 subjects. Mr. Hayes is one of the elder of these, and Mr. Wyllie one of the younger. 
 Edwin Hayes has long been a painter of “dirty” weather, of a troubled sea in autumn, of 
 luggers finding it hard to make for a port, and of bulky and weighty waters that might 
 shatter feeble craft. The barge and the bargee are favorite themes of Mr. Wyllie’s, and the 
 
The Water -Color Societies 
 
 223 
 
 waters of the Thames near London and the flat shores — the horizontal line broken here 
 and there by the tall chimney of a cement-works. But a characteristic drawing, too, is that 
 which is reproduced in the sketch, “ The Funeral March of a Hero ” (page 219). There is 
 
 No. 22. “ The President of the Royal Institute of Painters in Water-Colors.” T. Walter Wilson, R. I. 
 
 little fault to find with it, but that it recalls too closely the famous Turner, “The Fighting 
 Temeraire tugged to its Last Resting-place.” 
 
 Generally speaking, it is a merit of Mr. Wyllie’s to have discovered the picturesque ele- 
 ments in subjects we often deem commonplace. With that keen vision and firm hand of 
 
224 
 
 English Art in 1884 
 
 No. 1071. '"He giveth his beloved sleep ” ( Psalm cxxvii, 2). Henry J. Stock 
 
The Water - Color Societies. 
 
 225 
 
 his he can make such subjects interesting ; but of course he can never give them distinction 
 and elegance. He is a painter of the work-a-day world. Now, a contemporary of his 
 comparatively young— both men would seem to be between thirty and forty — is a painter, 
 above all things, of subjects which are elegant and distinguished to begin with, but upon 
 which his art of composition and his magic of color can bestow an added grace. This is 
 Mr. John Fulleylove, whose “ Three Graces" and “ The Dial" are sufficiently characteristic 
 examples of his drawings of quaint or stately gardens — Renaissance gardens in which the 
 forms of nature are subdued to the service of art. He is the painter of the statue, the 
 terrace, and the fountain ; of the row of garden-lilies and of the clipped yew-trees. Such 
 
 No. 571 . “ The Garland." Edith Martineau. 
 
 work has the poetry, not indeed of passion any more than of simplicity, but at least of 
 quietude and dignity. And Mr. Elgood, who is Mr. Fulleylove’s kinsman, follows Mr. 
 Fulleylove in the themes of his work. But his method is less severe ; he condescends more 
 to detail ; he is more obviously pretty. The influence of the smaller designs of Frederick 
 Walker, and of certain dainty labor of Mrs. Allingham, is perceptible. 
 
 A year or two ago Mr. Walter Langley, a young Birmingham artist, who had hardly 
 before that time been heard of, sent to the Dudley Gallery in London some drawings of 
 Cornish peasantry and fisher-folk which arrested much attention. Until just now, in the pict- 
 ure before us, Mr. Walter Langley has continued in the pursuit of the same theme; but this 
 year he is more dramatic, and “ Among the Missing ” has made a distinct mark. It is one 
 
 29 
 
226 
 
 English Art in 1884.. 
 
 of the merits of the picture that it tells its own story with directness and intelligibility. 
 A crowd — they are all that are left at home in the fishing-village — gather round the post- 
 office for news, after stormy weather, of those that put to sea. For some the news is reas- 
 suring — their friends will return — but the man who is dearest to this one in the foreground 
 will never come back. The young wife, or the sweetheart, is led away by some elder com- 
 panion, but the tempest of her grief has broken upon her. 
 
 The expression of passion lies perhaps at Mr. Walter Langley’s command. Let us hope 
 that he will exercise his gift with discretion as well as with sincerity, for English art has 
 
 No. 636. U A Fairy Tale." G. A. Storey, A. R. A. 
 
 need of the presence of it. It is a gift that is hardly so much as sought for by several of 
 the most accomplished of our figure-draughtsmen — by Mr. Charles Green, for instance, and 
 Mr. E. J. Gregory. Charles Green, like William Small, is known best of all as an illus- 
 trator. The London illustrated newspapers owe much of their charm to these artists’ 
 designs. Charles Green draws correctly and with dainty expressiveness, and he has an 
 almost unexampled command over the quaintest and sometimes the simplest types of Eng- 
 lish middle-class character. “ Tom Pinch and Riith" shows, I hope, to the reader of these 
 
The Water - Color Societies 
 
 227 
 
 No. 679. “ Returning from Market , Connemara .” W. Small. 
 
 No. 570. '"Pigtails and Powder." Frank. Dadd, R. I 
 
 ■ ' 
 
228 
 
 English Art in 1884 . 
 
 lines something of his charm. But many of the designs of Mr. Green, exhibited from year 
 to year at the Institute, are not illustrations at all, but are pure inventions. Like most 
 artists of costumed figure, Mr. Green has a period which he particularly affects. He knows 
 the whole of the eighteenth century, from the youth of Hogarth to the old age of Sir 
 
 Joshua. But the time that he has “invented,” so to say — the time that he has brought into 
 fashion — is that of the Directory and of the First Empire. He has an equal feeling for 
 humor and for grace. His humor is never exaggerated, and his grace is never softened to 
 effeminacy. 
 
 To turn to Mr. E. J. Gregory', my own view of him — and I have had the opportunity 
 of expressing it at length in a recent article in “The Magazine of Art” — is that he is one 
 of the very foremost of the artists of our day, and a man who has accepted his own time 
 frankly and with heartiness. Like Mr. Wyllie, he is possessed by the charm of the actual. 
 He calls nothing common nor unclean — hardly even does he call anything commonplace. 
 He makes the commonplace interesting. And he is even modern of the moderns. He 
 does not disdain the house-boat nor the tricycle, and the flounced modern figure lies beau- 
 
The Water -Color Societies. 
 
 229 
 
 tifully for him in the garden hammock. This year the Institute shows three quite charming 
 and widely varying works from his hand. One of them is a portrait of himself, called “ A 
 Look at the Model'.' It is painted for Mr. C. j. Galloway, of Manchester, who is the fortu- 
 nate owner of a whole gallery of Gregorys. Then there is the tricycle-drawing and the ham- 
 mock-drawing. A very favorite little model of this artist’s — Mr. Gregory’s own sister-in-law — 
 rides on the tricycle, in one, and, in the other, rests in the hammock. The hammock-drawing 
 has the finish of a Meissonier; yet no one can be bolder than Mr. Gregory when he chooses. 
 Gregory is very great in the arts of composition. He can see the artistic aspect of com- 
 
 No. 677* “ Captain Absolute and Lydia Languish." H. R. Steer. 
 
 monplace material, or just what it wants to give it charm. He has an extraordinary power 
 of painting what he sees. The question of interest, as concerns his future, is, whether he 
 will continue to paint (for the pleasure of those few who can appreciate them) the artistic 
 aspects of modern life; or whether, at some moment in his career, he will see modern life 
 
230 
 
 English Art in 1884.. 
 
 rather from the dramatic than the purely artistic side, and so will paint a picture which 
 shall compel the attention of the large public. 
 
 Mr. Kilburne — the author of the “ Encore ,” sketched on page 221 — is Mr. Gregory’s 
 senior by some ten or a dozen years, yet he is but a middle-aged man, and, if his work were 
 generally or even often conceived in a modern spirit, one might expect very much from him 
 still. I do not say he is old-fashioned, and 1 appreciate the daintiness of his execution and 
 the delicacy of his sentiment. He paints, generally, the discreet “interiors” of the well-to- 
 do or of the rich. But in an “ Encore ” he passes a little beyond his usual themes. The 
 scene is, of course, a public concert, and Mr. Kilburne’s heroine is before the world. The 
 conception of the work shows the refinement and good taste of the agreeable artist to 
 
 No. 45. u An Untidy Corner." Miss Marion Chase. 
 
 whom it is due. And the drawing is very graceful. Yet Mr. E. J. Gregory certainly — and 
 perhaps Mr. Henshall too — would have somehow found the occasion for displaying, in the 
 treatment of that theme, a more learned art of composition. Like Mr. Henshall’s somewhat 
 kindred drawing at the gallery of the society — which I have already spoken of — the scale 
 is unusually large for work in water-colors. 
 
 Another large and in some respects important drawing in the same room as Mr. Kil- 
 burne’s — the first of the three rooms which the Institute employs — was Mr. Towneley 
 Green’s “Good-by” Towneley Green is Charles Green’s younger brother, and an artist of 
 less marked individuality, of less piquant humor, than the painter of “ Tom Pinch and 
 Ruth ,” in the exhibition under notice, and of the yet more admirable “ Oranges , Apples , and 
 
The Water - Color Societies 
 
 231 
 
 No. 176. “ The Old Wellesley.” C. E. Holloway. 
 
 Bill o' the Play',' of last year’s show. But Towneley Green has nevertheless a quiet indi- 
 viduality of his own, and, if he is a less certain and a less subtile draughtsman than his 
 brother, he is at times a sweeter colorist. A good example of his style is shown in the 
 
 accompanying sketch (No. 1073, page 222). His other picture, “A Good-by',' depicts the 
 parting between guests and hostess at the gate of a country house. 
 
 Perhaps the last figure-picture of modern life which it is necessary to speak about is 
 
232 
 
 English Art in 1884 . 
 
 Mr. Walter Wilson’s portrait of the president in his studio (page 223). It is a present 
 from the artist to the body of which he is a member, and is a most worthy and refined 
 record of the painter whom it celebrates. The gesture is extremely characteristic, and the 
 likeness excellent. The unobtrusiveness of the method of treatment is as memorable as the 
 
 No. 516. “ The Lord of the Glen." J. MacWhirter. 
 
 verisimilitude of the portrait. All is in a low key: the studio, with its little gallery, the 
 suits of armor — for Mr. Linton is a connoisseur and a collector of armor — the gray tapes- 
 tries, the easel, and the picture thereupon. It would have been very easy to make a draw- 
 ing ffiat would be more striking ; but difficult, perhaps, to produce a portrait that would 
 
 be more satisfactory,, 
 
The Water - Color Societies 
 
 233 
 
 No. 880. “ Highland Drovers resting after the Day's Journey." 
 
 John J. Richardson. 
 
 30 
 
2 3 \ 
 
 English Art in 1884. 
 
 A little group of painters belonging to the Institute— Mr. Walter Crane, Mr. Spencer 
 Stanhope, and Mr. II. J. Stock, are among them — are faithful generally to the “ideal” and 
 the symbolic. But Mr. Crane’s “ A Diver" is this year a frank vision of a nude male figure 
 plunging into the transparent depths, and it is drawn with greater force and with greater 
 spirit than Mr. Crane is apt to bestow on his habitually tender design. Mr. H. J. Stock 
 
 No. 248. “ Tour d' Horloge, Place de 1 ' Hotel de Ville, Auxerre.” L. J. Wood. 
 
 exhibits four pictures, one of which we have sketched (No. 107T, page 224). In No. 399 
 he has engaged in the extraordinary task of attempting to realize with the brush and the 
 sponge the following not very intelligible passage from the “ Sartor Resartus " : “Thus, in 
 the conducting medium of Fantasy, flames forth that fire — development of the universal 
 Spiritual Electricity — which, as unfolded between Man and Woman, we first emphatically 
 denominate Love.” There are those, no doubt, who can follow his interpretation of this 
 obscure text. For me, the text and the interpretation are alike too elevated. I can not 
 grasp, I can not attain unto them. Nor is the uncontrolled idealism of Mr. Spencer Stan- 
 hope — and his equally uncontrolled draughtsmanship — any more engaging. There is here, 
 indeed, an amiable persistency in feebleness — a perseverance in unwarranted ambition — which 
 ends only by irritating. 
 
The Water - Color Societies. 
 
 2 35 
 
 It seems a relief to pass from a presentation of unpresentable things to the Old-World 
 grace of Mr. Abbey, as it was shown in “A Bible- Reading'.' Never surely was there 
 depicted, with more of tranquil humor, or with keener sense of the picturesque and the 
 delicate, a Puritan household in which there is a mingling of the comely and the quaint. 
 It is a pious exercise, but gloom by no means envelops the family circle. Mr. Abbey has 
 but to acquire a more complete command of the resources of color to insure for the origi- 
 nal drawing, as well as he may now insure for the black-and-white of the reproduction, a 
 wide popularity for such design as this. 
 
 We need not mention in much detail the drawings of Mr. Small and Mr. Staniland, but 
 their names can hardly be omitted. Mr. Staniland is very unequal. He is apt now to 
 
 No. 365 . “A Glimpse of the Clyde from above Helensburgh.''' Alfred East. 
 
 attract and now to repel, and what would probably be accounted his most important con- 
 tribution to this summer’s exhibition of the Institute was a drawing in which the Gretchen 
 of “Faust” was presented without refinement or poetry: 
 
 “ Bin weder Fraiilein, weder schon , 
 Kann ungeleitet nach Hanse gehen ” — 
 
236 
 
 English Art in 1884. 
 
 Gretchen says, undoubtedly, but she need not have been wanting in attractiveness because 
 she was not a lady, nor in refinement because she did not reckon herself beautiful. Mr. 
 Small, who, like Mr. Staniland, was not seen quite at his best, is a very successful illus- 
 trator. His illustrations have bestowed a momentary interest on more than one impossible 
 story in the “ Cornhill Magazine,” and his designs for the edition de luxe of Fielding — 
 whatever they have lacked— have shown fertility of resource and freedom of handling in 
 water-color. 
 
 Mr. Clausen, again, is another artist who has before now pleased us more thoroughly 
 than during the present year. This year he has been, perhaps, a little deficient in individu- 
 
 No. 748. “Waiting.” C. J. Lewis. 
 
 ality. Mr. Bastien-Lepage has influenced him too much. But Mr. Clausen is dexterous, 
 and he has feeling and subtilty ; he is ingenious as a follower of other men’s ways, but he 
 is most interesting when he is himself. 
 
 Mr. Frank Dadd and Mr, Steer are young contributors; the one attracting attention by 
 an almost audacious humor, in which somehow art has not been forgotten ; and the other 
 winning notice as a painter of the picturesque interior, as an artist alive to the charm of 
 dignified line and of passing light. His “ Captain Absolute and Lydia Languish” shows, 
 
The Water - Color Societies. 
 
 237 
 
 moreover, a measure of the dramatic faculty, if he has invented quite all that he has por- 
 trayed. But the illustration of English classic drama — and Sheridan is a classic indeed ! — 
 may now gain much from the spectacle of the theatre, and, with the best intentions of 
 originality, it is hardly possible to avoid deriving some inspiration from the ever-changing 
 pictures which pass before the foot-lights. The actor is confessedly indebted to the painter 
 for something of his knowledge of the outward aspects of the past world, and he repays 
 the debt when the rapid succession of his significant gestures passes before the eye of the 
 painter, making him acquainted with the aspect of emotions he can hardly profess to have 
 experienced. 
 
 F. W. 
 
 No. 712 . “ Days of my Girlhood." Edith Berkley. 
 
INDEX TO ARTISTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Alma-Tadema, L., r. a 4 
 
 Alma-Tadema, Mrs 53 
 
 Ansdell, R., r. a 85 
 
 Archer, James 69 
 
 Armitage, E., r. a 13 
 
 Armstead, H. H., r. a 129 
 
 Baden-Powell, F 137 
 
 Baird, W. B 90 
 
 Barclay, Edgar 52 
 
 Barnard, Frederick 114 
 
 Barrable, G. H 1 16 
 
 Bayes, A. W 71 
 
 Beavis, R. . 88 
 
 Bell, J., a. r. a 109 
 
 Bigland, Percy.... 79 
 
 Birch, C. B., a. r. a 13 1 
 
 Blinks, Thomas xiii 
 
 Boughton, G. H., a r. a. . . 18, 19 
 
 Boyle, G 102 
 
 Bradley, Basil 102 
 
 Bridgman, F. A 53 
 
 Britten, W. E. F 49 
 
 Brooks, Maria 61 
 
 Burgess, J. B., a. r. a 24 
 
 ROYAL ACADEMY 
 
 Calderon, P. Ft., r. a 1 
 
 Calderon, W. F 80 
 
 Carrington, J. Yates 92 
 
 Carter, Hugh 116 
 
 Chaplin, A. M 135 
 
 Chevalier, Nicolas 66 
 
 Clark, Joseph 32 
 
 Clay, Sir Arthur 105 
 
 Cole, Yicat, r. a 94 
 
 Collier, John 1 14 
 
 Collier, John, Mrs 112 
 
 Collinson, R 64 
 
 Colls, Harry 109 
 
 Compton, E. T 100 
 
 Cotman, F. G 1 15 
 
 Cox, E. M 93 
 
 Cox, F. E 83 
 
 Craft, P. R 68 
 
 Crowe, Eyre, a. r. a 23 
 
 Davis, H. W. B., R. A 85 
 
 Davis, Val 98 
 
 Detmold, H. E 62 
 
 Dicey, F 54 
 
 Dicey, Frank 91 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Dicksee, Frank 
 
 . . . . . 28 
 
 Dillon, Frank 
 
 I0 5 
 
 Dollman, J. C 
 
 47 
 
 Dixon, A 
 
 6 3 
 
 East, Alfred. 
 
 103 
 
 Emms, John 
 
 89 
 
 Fildes, Luke, a r. a. . . . 
 
 2 5 
 
 Fletcher, Flitcroft 
 
 98 
 
 Forbes, Stanhope A 
 
 55 
 
 Ford, E. Onslow 
 
 13 2 
 
 Fowler, R 
 
 
 Frith, W. P., r. a 
 
 »3 
 
 Gilbert, Sir John, r. a... 
 
 
 Glendening, Alfred, Jr.. 
 
 75 
 
 Goodall, F., R. a . 
 
 ii 
 
 Gourde, Edith 
 
 
 Graham, Peter, r. a. . . . 
 
 . 107, 108 
 
 Grossmith, Weedon .... 
 
 . . 64, 1 14 
 
 Hacker, Arthur 
 
 49 
 
 Halswelle, Keeley. ..... 
 
 95 
 
 Hardy, Edwin G 
 
 
24-0 
 
 Index to Artists 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Hardy, F. D. 70 
 
 Helmich, H 60 
 
 Henshall, J. H 123 
 
 Herkomer, Hubert, a. r. a. . . 26 
 
 Hey wood, Hardy 86, 87 
 
 Hill, Thomas 84 
 
 Hillingford, Robert 51 
 
 Hindley, G. C 81, 82 
 
 Hipkins, E 75 
 
 Horsley, J. C., R. a 10 
 
 Horsley, Walter C 39 
 
 Hunt, Walter 91 
 
 Hunter, Colin v 
 
 Hutchison, G. W. C 47 
 
 Hutchison, R. G . . . . 75 
 
 Jacomb-Hood, G. P 36 
 
 Jarvis, Matthew 125 
 
 Johnson, C. E 100 
 
 Joy, Bruce A 135, 136 
 
 Joy, G. W 52 
 
 Kennedy, E. S 56 
 
 Langdale, M. A 106 
 
 Langham, J 127 
 
 Lawson, F. W 58 
 
 Lawson, G. A 133 
 
 Leader, B. W., a. r. a 96 
 
 Ledward, R. A 138 
 
 Lee, Sidney W 59 
 
 Lehmann, R hi 
 
 Leighton, Sir Frederick, p.r. a. 2 
 
 Leighton, E. Blair 50 
 
 Linton, J. D 34 
 
 Long, E., R. a.. ... 12 
 
 Loudan, W. M 120 
 
 Lucas, Seymour 30 
 
 Lyndon, Herbert 125 
 
 Macbeth, Robert W., a. r. a.. 29 
 
 Macgregor, Jessie 67 
 
 McLachlan, T. Hope 106 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Macnab, Peter 
 
 41 
 
 McWhirter, J., a. r. a.. . . 
 
 . . . . 99 
 
 Marks, H. S., r. a 
 
 14 
 
 Martin, F 
 
 
 Merritt, Anna Lea 
 
 • • • • 45 
 
 Merrick, E. M 
 
 ■ ■ • 59 
 
 Millais, 1 . E., R. a 
 
 3 
 
 Moore, Henry 
 
 
 Montaigne, W. 1 
 
 
 Montalba, H. S 
 
 • • *35 
 
 Montalba, Hilda 
 
 • • ■ 33 
 
 Montefiore, E. B. S 
 
 .... 89 
 
 Morgan, Frederick 
 
 36, 112 
 
 Morris, P. R., a. r. a. . . . 
 
 . . . . 20 
 
 Muckley, M. J 
 
 . . . . xi 
 
 Mullins, E. R 
 
 . . . . 134 
 
 Murray, David 
 
 . ... 105 
 
 Natorp, G 
 
 •••• *33 
 
 Noble, J. S 
 
 . . . . 90 
 
 Olivier, Herbert A 
 
 
 Orchardson, W. Q., r. a.. 
 
 7 
 
 Osborn, E. M 
 
 
 Paget, H. M 
 
 78 
 
 Partington, J. H. E 
 
 . ... 76 
 
 Parton, Ernest 
 
 . . . . 97 
 
 Peckitt, T 
 
 117 
 
 Pedder, John 
 
 
 Perugini, C. E 
 
 ■ • ■ • 33 
 
 Pettie, John, r. a 
 
 • • i 5 » 16 
 
 Pittard, C. W 
 
 .... 65 
 
 Pott, J. L 
 
 • • • • 37 
 
 Prinsep, Val, a. r. a 
 
 . ... 27 
 
 Rainey, William 
 
 . . . . 43 
 
 Riviere, Briton, r. a 
 
 ■ • 84, 85 
 
 Robinson, G. C 
 
 72 
 
 Rossi, A. M 
 
 
 Rouse, R. W. A. 
 
 i °3 
 
 Sainsbury, Everton 
 
 •••• 55 
 
 Sant, James, r. a 
 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Schafer, H. T 42 
 
 Schenck, Mrs. A 119 
 
 Schloesser, Carl 46 
 
 Schmalz, Herbert 34 
 
 Scott, John 37 
 
 Sealy, Allen C 103 
 
 Sidley, S 1 13 
 
 Simonds, G 134 
 
 Solomon, S. J 84 
 
 Stocks, A 38 
 
 Stokes, Adrian 104 
 
 Stone, Marcus, a. r. a 21 
 
 Storey, G. A., a. r. a 22 
 
 Strutt, A. W 122 
 
 S winstead, G. H 77, 7 8 
 
 Symons, W. C 40 
 
 Thorburn, Robert, a. r. a.. . . 22 
 
 Thornycroft, Hamo, a. r. a. . . 130 
 Tuck, H 80 
 
 Vernon, A. L 74 
 
 Walker, F. S 73 
 
 Waller, S. E 88 
 
 Walton, F. 104 
 
 Warren, Knighton in 
 
 Waterhouse, J. W 31 
 
 Waterlow, Ernest A 44 
 
 Watson, C. J 74 
 
 Weguelin, J. R 54 
 
 Weigall, Arthur H 56 
 
 Weir, A 57 
 
 Wetherbee, G. F. . . 44 
 
 White, John 67 
 
 Williams, Haynes 46 
 
 Wills, Edgar 71 
 
 Wood, J. Warrington 133 
 
 Woolner, T., r. a 129 
 
 Wyllie, W. L 105, 107 
 
 Yeames, W. F., r. a 9 
 
 Yglesias, V. P 101 
 
Index to Artists. 
 
 241 
 
 Allan, Robert W 154 
 
 Alma-Tadema, I, 139 
 
 Alma-Tadema, Mrs 154 
 
 Barclay, Edgar 151 
 
 Bartlett, W. H 145 
 
 Bates, David 170 
 
 Berkley, Edith 170 
 
 Berkley, Stanley 170 
 
 Britten, W. E. F 145 
 
 Brown, Peploe 172 
 
 Browning, R. Barrett.... 171, 172 
 
 Calderon, P. H 144 
 
 Carr, David 149 
 
 Collier, John 158 
 
 Collier, Mrs. John . . . . 144 
 
 Crane, Walter 143 
 
 Donaldson, A. B 169 
 
 Ellis, Tristram 169 
 
 Emms, J. 153 
 
 Fahey, E. H 150, 167 
 
 Farrer, T. C 168 
 
 Fisher, Mark 163 
 
 GROSVENOR GALLERY. 
 
 Grossmith, Weedon 161 
 
 Hall, Sidney P 153 
 
 Halle, C. E 156 
 
 Halswelle, Keeley, a. r. s. a. 164 
 
 Henry, C. Napier 165 
 
 Hennessy, W. J 148 
 
 Hetherington, 1 167 
 
 Holloway, C. E 167 
 
 Hughes, W 153 
 
 Jacomb-Hood, J. P 149 
 
 Jay, W. S 164 
 
 Lehmann, Rudolf 157 
 
 Lemon, Arthur 15 1 
 
 Macallum, H 165 
 
 Macbeth, R. W., a. r. a 147 
 
 Maclean, T. Nelson 171 
 
 Merritt, A. L., Mrs 159 
 
 Millais, J. E., a. r. a 155 
 
 Moore, Henry 164 
 
 Montalba, Clara 162 
 
 Montalba, Henrietta 172 
 
 Moscheles, F 160 
 
 Murray, David, a. r. s. a. . . . 166 
 
 Orchardson, W. Q., r. a 146 
 
 Osborne, Miss E. M 159 
 
 Paget, Mrs. H. M 160 
 
 Parsons, Alfred 163 
 
 Prinsep, Val, a. r. a 158 
 
 Reid, J. R 152 
 
 Reid, Miss Flora M 152 
 
 Reid, Miss Lizzie 152 
 
 Smallfield, F 15 1 
 
 Smart, J 167 
 
 Stanhope, R. Spencer 142 
 
 Thornycroft, Hamo, a. r. a. . 171 
 Topharn, F. W. W 166 
 
 Waterlow, E. A 164 
 
 Weguelin, J. R 145 
 
 Williams, Haynes 150 
 
 INSTITUTE OF PAINTERS IN OIL-COLORS. 
 
 Alma-Tadema, L., r. a 177 
 
 Alma-Tadema, Mrs 178 
 
 Brown, Frederick 173 
 
 Cameron, Hugh, m 182 
 
 Carter, Samuel, m 192 
 
 Cattermole, Charles, r. i., m. . 190 
 
 Clark, J., M 187 
 
 Cotman, F. G., r. 1., m 188 
 
 Crofts, Ernest, a. r. a 190 
 
 Gregory, E. J., a. r. a., r. i., m. 182 
 
 Hodgson, J. E., r. a 174 
 
 Kilburne, G. G., R. 1., m 190 
 
 Lintz, E 182 
 
 Long, Edwin, r. a 179 
 
 Macbeth, R. W., a. r. a 185 
 
 Millet, Francis D 185 
 
 Morris, Philip, a. r. a 180 
 
 Parsons, Alfred, R. 1., M 184 
 
 Pettie, J., R. a 176 
 
 Scott, John 19 1 
 
 Small, W 186 
 
 Staniland, C. J., R. 1., m 189 
 
 Wells, Henry T., r. a 174 
 
 Williams, Haynes, M 190 
 
 Woods, H., a. r. a 181 
 
 Woodville, R. C., R. 1., m. . . . 183 
 
 31 
 
242 
 
 Index 10 Artists. 
 
 THE WATER-COLOR SOCIETIES. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Alma-Tadema, L., r. a. . 
 
 209 
 
 Barnes, R 
 
 
 Beavis, R 
 
 
 Berkley, Edith 
 
 2 37 
 
 Bradley, Basil 
 
 *95 
 
 Brierly, Oswald W 
 
 : 99 
 
 Buckman, E 
 
 19S, 207 
 
 Cattermole, Charles . . . . 
 
 213 
 
 Chase, Marion 
 
 . ... 230 
 
 Collier, Thomas, r. 1. . . . 
 
 215 
 
 Crane, Walter 
 
 
 Dadd, Frank, r. 1 
 
 2 0 *1 
 
 Dadd, S. T 
 
 231 
 
 Earle, Charles, r. i 
 
 
 East, Alfred . . , 
 
 235 
 
 Fulleylove, J., R. 1 ..... . 
 
 219 
 
 Gilbert, Sir John, r. a . . 
 
 196 
 
 Goodall, E. A 
 
 197 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Green, Charles.... 220 
 
 Green, Towneley 222 
 
 Gregory, Charles 202 
 
 Halswelle, Keeley 216 
 
 Henshall, J. H 21 1 
 
 Hodson, Samuel J 204 
 
 Holloway, C. E 231 
 
 Hopkins, A 206 
 
 Huson, T 233 
 
 Johnson, E. K 194 
 
 Kilburne, G. G 221 
 
 King, H 228 
 
 Langley, Walter 220 
 
 Lewis, C. J 236 
 
 Linton, J. D 214 
 
 Lockhart, W. E., r. s a 205 
 
 MacWhirter, J 232 
 
 Marshall, Herbert M 204 
 
 Martineau, Edith 225 
 
 Montalba, Clara. 205 
 
 Orrock, James 215 
 
 Pilsbury, Wilmot ... 200 
 
 Pyne, Thomas. 216 
 
 Radford, Edward 210 
 
 Richardson, J. J 233 
 
 Small, W 227 
 
 Smallfield, F 208 
 
 Steer, H. R 229 
 
 Stock, Henry J 224 
 
 Storey, G. A., a. r. a 226 
 
 Tayler, Frederick 208 
 
 Tayler, Norman 203 
 
 Thomas, W. L., r. 1 212 
 
 Walters, G. S 218 
 
 Whymper, J. W 217 
 
 Wilson, T. Walter, r. 1 223 
 
 Wood, L. J 234 
 
 Wyllie, W. L 219 
 
 No. 215. “ Alice in Wonderland." Patnick W. Adam. 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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