LIFE AND TIMES OP SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS: WITH NOTICES OF SOME OF HIS COTEMPORARIES. COMMENCED By CHARLES ROBERT LESLIE, R.A. CONTINUED AND CONCLUDED By TOM TAYLOR, M. A. NO w • a5 U3 l d.X IN TWO VOLUMES.— Yol. I. WITH PORTRAITS AND ILLUSTRATIONS. LONDON : JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET. 1865. The tight of Translation is reserved. London: Printed bt w. clowes and sons, stamPoiiO street, AND CHARING CROSS. _ THE GETTY CENTER LIBRARY PREFACE. In order to understand the part I have had in this book, and the circumstances under which I undertook it, it is necessary that I should inform my readers that it had been a cherished object of the late excellent and much-regretted painter, C. R. Leslie, R.A., for several years before his death, to do justice to the memory of Sir Joshua Reynolds, which he believed had suffered from the tone of Allan Cunningham’s Biography of that great painter, contained in his 6 Lives of the Most Eminent British Painters, Sculptors, and Architects.’ In the unfinished draft of a preface to his (unfor- tunately) unfinished work — written on his death-bed — I find, this statement of Mr. Leslie’s main object in writing a new Life of Reynolds : — “ As the impression made on my mind by all I have read and heard of Reynolds is very different from the estimate formed of his character by Allan Cunningham, I have endeavoured to show that he did not deserve the imputations that are dispersed through the most popular account that has yet been published of him, nor the aspersions on his character to be found in that author’s Lives of Hogarth, Wilson, and Gains- borough. “ To this end,” he continues, “ I have arranged in a 2 IV PREFACE. this volume many more particulars than have hitherto been published in any one account of Sir Joshua Reynolds. “Among these are some anecdotes which were related to me, or to others from whom I received them, by Sir George Beaumont, the Earl of Egremont, Sir William Beechy, Mr. Stothard, Mr. Rogers, Lord Hol- land, and Sir Martin Shee ; all of whom were personally acquainted with Reynolds. “ Of the materials I have used, which have appeared in print, though not in any Life of Sir Joshua, the accounts given of him in Madame d’Arblay’s Memoirs, and in the Memoirs of her father, Dr. Burney, are extremely interesting. That lady carries us into his town and country house, places us at his table, in his own drawing-room, or in the drawing-rooms of his friends, — where we see and hear him, with Johnson, Burke, Gibbon, Sheridan, Jackson of Exeter, and other people of eminence.” Mr. Leslie then refers to the Collections illustrating the Life of Sir Joshua, published by the late W. Cotton, Esq ., 1 an enthusiast on the subject, to which he had devoted many years of research, crowned by his bequest to Plymouth of the Cottonian Library. For the pur- pose of these works Mr. Cotton had had placed in his hands most of the papers left by Sir Joshua, and then in the possession of his grand-niece, Miss Gwatkin, of 1 ‘ Sir Joshua Reynolds and his Works. Gleanings from his Diary, unpublished Manuscripts, and from other Sources.’ London, Longman, Col- naghi, and Co. ; and Plymouth, Roger Lidstone, 1856. And ‘ Sir Joshua Reynolds’s Notes and Observations on Pictures, &c. &c. ; also the Rev. W. Mason’s Observations on Sir Joshua’s Method of Colouring, unpublished Letters of Johnson, Malone, and others ; with an Appendix containing a tran- script of Sir Joshua’s Account-book.’ London, John Russell Smith, 1859. PREFACE. y Plymouth, and now in that of her nephew, Mr. Rey- nolds Gwatkin. To Mr. Cotton’s extracts and tran- scripts Mr. Leslie was indebted for all he knew of these remains of Sir Joshua, except in the case of his account of his rupture with the Academy. But Mr. Leslie did not live to complete his labour of love. It soothed him under his last great grief — the loss of a beloved daughter — and it continued to occupy him till the last moment of his life. He wrote in pencil, or dictated parts of it from his death-bed ; hut with all his efforts, had only completed a small part of the biography for printing, and sketched out, or out- lined, the remainder. After his death I was asked by Mr. Murray to take up and complete Mr. Leslie’s fragment. I then found that it would he necessary to make a thorough exami- nation and exhaustive use of the Gwatkin papers and memorials. I found that Mr. Cotton had in no case given full lists of the sitters, as recorded in the pocket- books ; that he had, unfortunately, trusted a most in- accurate (so-called) transcript of Sir Joshua’s Venetian notes, and had made no use of the Note-hooks in the Soane and British Museums ; that the series of the pocket-books had since his publication been made much completer by the discovery of missing volumes ; and that a second account-book had been discovered. I had, besides this, access given to all in the possession of the Gwatkin family that Sir Joshua had left behind him of written memoranda, letters, &c. I owed other unpublished letters of his, or papers of value in con- nection with him, to the kindness of Lord Lyveden, Sir C. T. F. Bunbury, Mr. Sheridan, the Hon. G. VI PREFACE. Barrington, Mr. John Forster, Mrs. St. John, Mr. Price of Torrington, &c. ; and I had placed in my hands for reference (by Sir W. Knighton) an unpublished auto- biography of Northcote’s, (by the Rev. T. Holme) a record of Northcote’s conversations with Mr. Ward, a north-country painter, and (by Master Skardon) a commonplace-book of Sir J oshua’s, formerly in the possession of the G-watkin family. I have also been permitted access to the Archives of the Royal Aca- demy, to Horace Walpole’s Catalogues of the Royal Academy Exhibitions, containing his notes and names , 1 to the Note-books of Sir Joshua in the British Mu- seum and the Soane Museum, to the books of “ the Club,” and the records of the Dilettante Society. I have used, besides these original materials, all the printed sources of information or illustration which could help me in placing my subject vividly before the reader. By the use of these materials I have attempted to carry out Mr. Leslie’s intention of presenting Sir Joshua in his true character, as the genial centre of a most various and brilliant society, as well as the transmitter of its chief figures to our time by his potent art. I have given, year by year (with a gap here and there), a complete list of his sitters, — a work not yet even attempted by any of his biographers, but of great interest and importance, as a means of affixing the dates to pictures for family purposes, and of throwing light on changes of style and method. Information from these lists communicated by me while my MS. was In the Sheepshanks Library. PREFACE. Yll going through the press, has already, to my knowledge, led to several discoveries of portraits which had been lost sight of, or whose existence was unknown, and to the identification of others with the originals. I have preserved all of Mr. Leslie’s work that was sufficiently finished and continuous for use. My own additions are included in brackets, thus [ ]. My notion of what biography should be may be mis- taken, and is certain to be contested. I am prepared to be told that I have lugged in irrelevant matter, accu- mulated trivial details, and told a great many things bearing so indirectly on Sir Joshua that they have no business in a book even with the elastic title of a Life and Times. I can only say that I have exercised the best judg- ment I could, and told my story in my own way. It seems to me that a life can only be told by the facts out of which it is made up, and by which it is environed and influenced ; and that, as we can but imperfectly estimate the relative importance of facts, it is unsafe to disregard any that can be ascertained with reasonable certainty. Again, the life of a painter, more than most men, as a rule, derives its interest from his work, and from the people he paints. When his sitters are the chief men and women of his time, for beauty, genius, rank, power, wit, goodness, or even fashion and folly, this interest is heightened. It culminates when the painter is the equal and honoured associate of his sitters. All these conditions concur in the case of Reynolds. It is im- possible to write a Life and Times of the painter without passing in review — hasty and brief as it must be — the Till PREFACE. t great facts of politics, literature, and manners during his busy life, which touched — often very closely — the chief actors in a drama taking in the most stirring events of the last century, and containing the germs of many things that have materially operated to shape our arts, manners, and institutions. Mr. Cotton has published the fullest list yet printed of Sir Joshua’s portraits. But it is both incomplete and inaccurate, defects hardly to be avoided in the first edition of such a work. I soon found that, if my labours in connection with Sir Joshua were to be complete, it would be necessary to compile the fullest possible catalogue of his pictures. But when their number was taken into account (I' am satisfied I do not overestimate them at between two and three thousand, and I rather think the latter figure will be passed before my work is done), it became evident that a volume would be required for the catalogue aloije. I have compiled — with the aid of my friend, C. Franks, Esq. — the fullest list I could of proprietors of Sir Joshua’s pictures, and have asked of them all the latest and exactest information as to the subjects and states of these pictures. I have received, in the great majority of instances, ready and careful replies. I have made a point, for some years past, of examining all Sir Joshua’s pictures that I could get access to, and facilities for such examinations have been granted me as obligingly in every instance, as information has been supplied, in almost all, in answer to my letters. I hope that this volume, now in the press, will con- tain something as near a full catalogue raisonnee of Sir PREFACE. IX Joshua’s pictures as is to be hoped for at present. Future editions must he waited for to fill up gaps and correct errors. In sending to the printer the last sheet of ‘ The Life and Times of Sir Joshua Reynolds,’ I lay down a task which would have been delightful had I not felt so painfully my own inadequacy to complete Leslie’s un- finished work, and had I not been hampered by the sense that much which I was attempting could only be well done by a painter. I may have erred in my con- ception of the way in which the work ought to be done, but I can conscientiously say I have not spared on it either time or trouble. I love and honour both my subject and the man to whose unfinished labours I suc- ceeded too much not to do my best for the sake of one as much as the other. TOM TAYLOR. Lavender Sweep , Wandsworth . The Reynolds Family. ( * ) THE REYNOLDS FAMILY. ( Pages 3-6 . ) After this volume was worked off I received from Master J. Skardon, of Laira, near Plymouth (into whose hands it came from a servant of Miss Gwatkin’s), a commonplace-book of Sir Joshua’s (the gift of his father), kept on Locke’s principle, and containing, inter alia , a family record, evidently copied by Sir Joshua from the family Bible. This settles the disputed point as to the number of children (in favour of eleven), and shows “ Offy ” to have been about fourteen months, instead of five years old, as stated in the text, when she died by a fall from a window. It also fixes the spelling of the Plympton surgeon’s name as Ruport, and gives us, for the first time, the date of the marriage of Sir Joshua’s parents, and his own attack of small- pox, which left its marks in his face for life : — 1609, Aug. 20. — My Great Grandmother Margaret Reynolds was born. 1609-10, Jan. 2. — My Great Grandfather Joshua Reynolds was bom. 1641, Aug. 14. — My Grandfather John Reynolds was born. 1644, Oct. 24. — My Grandmother Mary Reynolds was bom. 1680-1, Jan. 31. — Monday, about 1 after 8 in the morning, my Father Samuel Reynolds was born. 1688, Jun. 4. — Whitsunday, my Mother Tkeophila Reynolds was born. „ Jun. 5. — My Great Grandmother Margaret Reynolds died, aged 79. 1692, July 16. — Died my Grandfather John Reynolds, between 9 and 10 at night. 1693, Sep. 25. — ’Squire Parker and his man were hang’d. 1 1711, Aug. 30. — Thursday night, betwixt 11 and 12, my Great Aunt Potter died. „ Dec. 9. — My Father was married to Mrs. Theophila Potter, at Monkley, by the old Mr. Ley. 1 Why? This was a time of great Jacobite excitement. Had Squire Parker been plotting against William ? ( THE REYNOLDS FAMILY. xi 1713, Feb. 2. — Monday, my brother Humphrey was born, about l of an hour before 9 in the morning. „ Feb. 24. — Humphrey was baptiz’d by Mr. Luke Glub. 1714, May 29. — Saturday, my Brother Bohert was born 1 after 2 in the afternoon, or somewhat better. „ June 2. — Tuesday, he was baptiz’d. „ July 6. — About 1 after 3 in the morning, my Grandmother died. 1715, June 20. — My Father came to Plymton. „ July 13. — My Father begun the school at Plympton. 1716, Feb. 9. — Thursday, exactly at two in the afternoon, my sister Molly was born. „ Mar. 7. — Wednesday, she was christen’d. 1718, Mar. 3. — Munday, betwixt one and two in the morning (almost 2), my mother was brought to bed of a daughter. „ Mar. 9. — She was baptiz’d by the name of Ann. 1720, Jan. 14. — Thursday, at a quarter after 6 in the morning, my sister Jenny was born. „ Feb. 10. — She was baptiz’d. „ April 7. — Thursday, a quarter before 9 in the morning, my sister Ann died. 1721, Jul. 8. — Saturday, a quarter before 6 in the morning, or some- what better, my sister Betty was born. 1723, July 16. — Thursday, about J an hour after 9 in the morning, I, Joshua Beynolds, was born. Godfathers, Uncle Joshua (Mr. Aldwyn, Proxy), Mr. Joie ; God- mother, Aunt Beynolds of Exeter (Mrs. Darby, Proxy). 1725, Feb. 4. — Bells rung for Mr. Treby’s wedding. „ Aug 14. — Saturday morning, just after the Clock had struck 9, my mother was brought to bed of a Daughter (Theophila). 1726, Nov. 8. — Tuesday morning, about 7 o’clock, Offy fell out of the window, and died between 6 and 7 at night. 1727, Aug. 7. — Munday, at a quarter past two in the afternoon, my Brother Samuel was born. „ Sep. 1. — Friday, he was baptized. Xll THE REYNOLDS FAMILY. 1729, May 10. — Saturday, just before 10 in tbe morning, my sister Frances was born. „ June 6. — Friday, she was baptized. 1731, July 5. — Munday, J before 7 in tbe morning, my brother Martyn was bom. ,, July 29. — Thursday, he was baptized. 1733, Jan. 4. — I was ill of the measles. This day the measles came out ; I went to bed. „ Jan. 7. — I was in a manner Well. „ Jan. 11. — I took Physick. 1734-5, Mar. 5. — I was seiz’d with the small-pox. „ Mar. 10. — Munday, the 6th day of the Distemper, nothing amiss in my Regimen hitherto. I had a blister at 4 this morning. „ Mar. 11. — Tuesday, the 7th day, perhaps the 8th, seems to have been the worst day : then most outragious. „ Mar. 12. — Wednesday, the 8th day, extremely low. „ Mar. 13. — Thursday, the 9th day, being low, and somewhat hungry, I had broth at night, tho’ contrary to Mr. Ruport’s express order. „ Mar. 14. — Friday, the 10th day, having slept well, I was brave. „ Mar. 15. — Saturday, the 11th, rather the 12th day, taken out of bed. „ Mar. 16.— Sunday, the 13th day, I sat up. „ Mar. 17. — I ventured down stairs. „ Mar. 18. — I staid down a long time. „ Mar. 19. — Wednesday, the 16th day, I took physic. „ Mar. 22. — Betty first seiz’d with the Small Pox. CONTENTS OF VOL L CHAPTER I. 1723—1748. 2etat. 1—25. Parentage and birth of Reynolds — His father’s character — Joshua’s educa- tion — He studies ‘ The Jesuit’s Perspective’ — Draws likenesses of several of his friends — Richardson’s * Treatise on Painting ’ — Its probable effect on young Reynolds — He is bound apprentice to Hudson — His progress under his master — Hudson dismisses him suddenly — He returns to Devonshire, where he is much employed in portraits — Is soon again in London, and on good terms with Hudson — Is recalled to Devonshire by the illness of his father — His father’s death — Reynolds takes a house at Plymouth Dock — His style formed on that of Gandy of Exeter. Page 1 CHAPTER II. 1749—1752. 2ETAT. 26—29. Reynolds is introduced to Commodore Keppel — Sails with him to the Medi- terranean — They arrive at Lisbon — Cadiz Gibraltar — Algiers — Reynolds lands at Minorca — Is kindly received there by Governor Blakeney — Paints many portraits — Meets with an accident — Proceeds to Leghorn — Arrives at Rome — Remains there two years — His studies and employments there — Leaves Rome for Florence, where he spends two months — Visits Bologna — Modena — Parma — Mantua — Ferrara, and Venice — His studies there — Notes on pictures in Venice — Returns through France to England, stopping for a month at Paris .. .. 35 CHAPTER III. 1753—1764. ^tat. 30—41. The health of Reynolds impaired — He spends three months in Devonshire — Dr. John Mudge — Return of Reynolds to London — Takes apart- ments in St. Martin’s Lane — The first drawing academy after Sir J. Thornhill’s — His sister Frances — Her character — Sketch of the times — Reynolds paints a portrait of Marchi — Hudson’s observation on it — Portrait-painters of the time — He removes to Newport Street — His prices — His great industry — Lord Edgcumbe obtains much employment XIV CONTENTS OF VOL. I. for Reynolds — His whole-length of Keppel — Liotard — Mason’s descrip- tion of Reynolds’s mode of painting — The author’s remarks on his drawing and colouring, and on his use of nostrums — Account by Reynolds of his own practice — He becomes acquainted with Johnson — Introduction of Roubiliac to Johnson — Johnson’s fondness for tea and Miss Reynolds — Public events from 1754 to 1760 — His circle in 1755 — Negotiations with the Dilettanti for the establishment of an Academy of Arts — His practice in 1755 — Sitters for 1755 — (1756) First portrait of Johnson — Portrait of young Mudge — Events of 1756 and 1757 — Byng’s execu- tion — Popularity of Italian and neglect of English art by patrons — Sitters for 1757 — Increasing practice — His visiting list — Events and engagements in 1758 — Sitters for 1758 — The Duke of Richmond’s statue gallery opened for the use of art students — Reynolds paints the Prince of Wales, afterwards George III. — He paints Kitty Fisher — Portraits of Woodward, Barry, and Garrick — Of Horace Walpole — Contributions to the ‘Idler’ — Entries in pocket-book for 1759 — Mason’s account of Reynolds painting his Venus — Sitters for 1759 — Exhibition of pictures at the Foundling Hospital — First Exhibition in the Strand, 1760 — Reynolds removes to Leicester Square — His carriage — Events of the year — Accession of George III. — Sitters for 1760 — Portraits of Lord Ligonier and of Sterne — The coronation and marriage of the King, and its beauties painted by Reynolds — Literary acquaintances : Goldsmith, M‘Pherson — Entries in the pocket-book for 1761 — Sitters for 1761 — Exhibition of 1762 — His portraits of Lady Elizabeth Keppel, and of Garrick between Tragedy and Comedy — Capture of the Havannah — The glories of the Keppels — Reynolds’s dining-houses at this time — Ramsay appointed court painter — The King of the Cherokees — Reynolds visits Devonshire in company with Johnson — Northcote, for the first time, sees Reynolds — (1763) Boswell’s introduction to Johnson — Portrait of Lord Bute — Wilkes’s committal to the Tower — Fire at Lady Molesworth’s — Exhibition of the year — (1764) Political agitations of the time — Reynolds’s studio a neutral ground — Exhibition of 1764 — The Literary Club established — Reynolds dangerously ill — Johnson writes to him — Visit to Blenheim — Death of Hogarth — Entries in the pocket-book for 1764 — Sitters of the year Page 88 CHAPTER IV. 1765—1768. jetat, 42—45. Political aspect of the year — Burke’s entry into public life — Barry — Gold- smith — Notes contributed by Reynolds to Johnson’s edition of Shakespear — A paper by him, probably intended for the ‘ Idler’ — Pictures exhibited by Reynolds in 1765 — Barry’s commendation of him — His management of costume — Exhibition of 1765 — West — Vanloo — Wilson — G. Hamilton — Zoffany — Mortimer — Wright, of Derby — Dinner-engagements of the year — Sitters for 1765 — (1766) Rockingham Administration — Burke’s advance in public life — The Club — ‘The Vicar of Wakefield’ — ‘The CONTENTS OF VOL. I. XV Clandestine Marriage ’ — Mrs. Abington sitting to Reynolds — Isaac Barre — Wilkes — Angelica Kauffman — Makes acquaintance with the Thrales — At the play — Pictures exhibited this year — West’s ‘Pylades and Orestes ’ — The Misses Horneck — Dinner-engagements and sitters of the year — Fall of the Rockingham Administration — (1767) Death of Lord Tavistock — Contrasted character of Reynolds’s sitters — * La Cecchina’ — The gay side of Reynolds’s habits and associates — His political bent and its consequences — Interview between the King and Dr. Johnson — Reading of ‘ The Good-Natured Man ’ at Burke’s — Mr. Bott — Portrait of the Speaker ; his wig — Foote — Dinner-engagements of the year —Quota- tions from letters by Burke — Portrait of Dr. Zachariah Mudge by Reynolds — Reynolds does not exhibit in 1767 — The Exhibition of that year — List of sitters for 1767 — (1768) ‘ The Good-Natured Man ’ produced — Portrait by him of Miss Ann Cholmondely — Dissensions in the Incorporated Society of Artists — Reynolds visits Paris — His diary on the road and at Paris — Formation of the Royal Academy — Earlier attempts made to establish an Academy — Claims of the Royal Academy to the gratitude of the country — Reynolds knighted by George III. — His exertions to render the Exhibitions of the Academy attractive — Four Honorary Members of the Academy appointed at the suggestion of Reynolds — He suggests the annual dinner — List of sitters for 1768 .. .. Page 242 CHAPTER V. 1769—1772. iETAT. 46—49. Sketch of Royal Academy in Annual Register — Site, &c., of the Academy — - Francklin’s Ode — The President’s First Discourse — Dinner at the St. Albans — Arrangement of the course of study — The President knighted — The first Exhibition — Its chief attractions — West’s * Regulus ’ — Sir Joshua’s pictures — Mrs. Bouverie and Mrs. GVewe — Dinner with the Hornecks at Dr. Baker’s — His circle — At the masquerade — At Vaux- hall — The Stratford Jubilee — Dinner at Boswell’s — Baretti’s trial — First distribution of prizes at the Academy — The Second Discourse analysed — Sir Joshua’s tenderness to a robber — A letter to Barry — Sitters for 1769 — - Notes of his practice at this time — (1770) Politics of the year — Resig- nation of the Grafton Administration — The authorship of ‘ Junius ’ — Sitters — Mrs. Trecothick — The ‘ Ugolino ’ begun — Death of the Marquis of Granby, Lord Ligonier, and Sir John Cust — The President in society — The Thursday night Club’s masquerade — The Exhibition — Walpole on the art-exhibition mania of the day — Sir Joshua’s pictures for the year — * The Babes in the Wood’ — Mary Moser’s critique on the Exhi- bition — Portrait of Goldsmith — Reynolds’s regard for him — The ‘ Deserted Village’ — Paints the King — Visits York and Devonshire — Brings his niece “Offy” to London — Election of Associates — Distribution of prizes — Third Discourse analysed — The Grand Style — Sitters and practice of 1770. — (1771) Decrease of sitters — Romney — Political events and con- nections — The Academy installed at Somerset House — The President at the Club — Walpole and Masaccio — Sir Joshua’s dinners — Fancy pictures XVI CONTENTS OF YOL. L — Beggar-boys — Old White — Sir Joshua’s society — Sir T. Mills — Cumberland — Struggles in Parliament — Sir Joshua’s clubs — Gambling — Mrs. Comely’s masquerades — Mrs. Abington — Mrs. Baddeley — Lady Waldegrave — The Duchess of Cumberland — Miss Polly Kennedy — Her story — The first Academy dinner — The Exhibition — Sir Joshua’s pic- tures — Barry’s return from Pome — His * Adam and Eve ’ — Earlom’s picture of the Exhibition — West’s ‘ Death of Wolfe ’ — Northcote comes up to London — Johnson’s thanks for his portrait — Installation of the Knights of the Garter at Windsor — Sir Joshua robbed of his hat and watch — Visit to Paris — Northcote’s life at Sir Joshua’s — Analysis of the Fourth Dis- course — Generality the characteristic of great art — Sitters for 1771. — (1772) Ugolino — Hebe — Portrait of Bankes — Opening of the Pantheon — Mrs. Baddeley and her escort — A Pantheon masquerade — Election of Academicians — Garrick and Mrs. Garrick sit to him — Northcote’s over- hearings — His introduction to Goldsmith — Interesting sitters — Dunning — Mrs. Crewe — The Duke and Duchess of Cumberland — The Royal Marriage Act — The Exhibitions — Sir Joshua’s pictures at the Academy — Zoffany’s picture of the Academicians — Sir Joshua at the installation of the Knights of the Bath — The Fordyce failure — Mrs. Yates sits — Mrs. Montague and the Blues — Burke offered an Indian appointment — Care-clouds at Streatham — Colonel Dow’s tragedies — Sir Joshua at Marylebone Gardens — Elected an Alderman of Plympton — A party to see the Puppets — His visiting-circle — Analysis of the Fifth Dis- course Page 313 Appendix 467 Index 481 ILLUSTRATIONS TO VOLUME I. Sir Joshtja when Young — Medallion The School-house at Plympton Colonnade under the School-house, Plympton .. Admiral Keppel Kitty Fisher Oliver Goldsmith .. Frontispiece to face page 1 „ 8 „ 104 „ 165 „ 360 ( XVII ) ERRATA, VOL. I. f Page 29, lines 4, 5, 6, 7. The persons here described as Richard first Lord Eliot and Harriet Lady Eliot, are so described in error. This Richard Eliot, who died in 1748, was not created a Peer. His son Edward was the first Lord Eliot, and he was so created in 1784. „ 92, note, for “ Dr. Hoole ” read “ Mr. Hoole.” „ 95, line 14, for “ Sir George ” read “ Sir John.” „ „ for “ Mountford ” read “ Montford.” „ 206, line 23, for “ Charlotte ” read “ Catherine.” „ 223, line 6, for “ the other ” read “ another.” „ 284, note, for “ Beasley’s ” read “ Bensley’s.” „ 291, line 28, for “capias ultagatum” read “ capias utlagatum.” „ 342, line 2, for “ Eyen ” read “ Even.” „ 360, line 3, for “ Coates ” read “ Cotes.” line 4, for “ Dancer ” read “ Dance.” „ 390, line 8, for “ Lord Buckingham’s ” read “ Lord Buckinghamshire’s.” ,, 399, note, col. 1, last line, for “ Miss ” read “ Mrs.” „ 437, note, for “ Grizzell ” read “ Grissell.” VOL. I. b . ■ ' . — t SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS’S SCHOOL. LIFE OF Shortly will he published , with Illustrations , Fcap. 4:to., A CATALOGUE RAISONNE OF THE WORKS OE SIR .JOSHUA REYNOLDS; WITH NOTICES OF THEIR PRESENT OWNERS AND LOCALITIES. By TOM TAYLOR and CHARLES W. FRANKS. The numerous inquiries necessary for careful compilation of the Catalogue Raisonne of Sir Joshua’s Pictures, and the Compiler’s desire to avail himself of any information as to pictures that the publication of the Life and Times may elicit, have rendered it necessary to postpone the publication of the Catalogue. But the main portion of the materials is ready, and it may be expected in the course of the year. JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET. Ben Jonson, Fletcher, Hobbes, Andrew Marvell, Otway, Addison, Young, Thomson, Armstrong, Gold- smith, Churchill, Cowper, and Coleridge were the sons of clergymen. So were John Wesley, Paley, and Robert Hall, Sir Francis Drake and Lord Nelson, Sir Christopher Wren, Richard Wilson, and Sir David Wilkie; and among gifted women who were the VOL. I. B LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. CHAPTER I. 1723 — 1748. JEtat. 1—25. Parentage and birth of Reynolds — His father’s character — Joshua’s educa- tion — He studies The Jesuit's Perspective — Draws likenesses of several of his friends — Richardson’s Treatise on Painting — Its probable effect on young Reynolds — He is bound apprentice to Hudson — His progress under his master — Hudson dismisses him suddenly — He returns to Devonshire, where he is much employed in portraits — Is soon again in London, and on good terms with Hudson — Is recalled to Devonshire by the illness of his father — His father’s death — Reynolds takes a house at Plymouth Dock — His style formed on that of Gandy of Exeter. In Ins Argument against abolishing Christianity , Swift asks “ whether it may not he thought necessary that, in certain tracts of country which we call parishes, there should be one man, at least, of abilities to read and write.” He goes on to show, from the temperate habits of these educated men, that their children are likely to prove healthy ; — and he might have said something more. Ben Jonson, Fletcher, Hobbes, Andrew Marvell, Otway, Addison, Young, Thomson, Armstrong, Gold- smith, Churchill, Cowper, and Coleridge were the sons of clergymen. So were John Wesley, Paley, and Robert Hall, Sir Francis Drake and Lord Nelson, Sir Christopher Wren, Richard Wilson, and Sir David Wilkie; and among gifted women who were the VOL. I. 9 LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Chap. I. daughters of clergymen, Miss Austen, I believe, de- serves the first place. To this list might be added many names of eminence in the Church. The names too of some of the most distinguished lawyers, physicians, and soldiers belong to it ; but the pre-eminent are sufficient, and I will con- clude it, therefore, with that of Sir Joshua Reynolds, who was on every side connected with the Church. His father and grandfather were clergymen, — his mother and her mother were daughters of clergymen, — and two of his father’s brothers were in holy orders. He was born at Plympton Earl, 1 in Devonshire, on the 16th of July, 1723, where his father, Samuel Reynolds, son of John Reynolds, vicar of St. Thomas the Apostle, Exeter, was master of the grammar school, founded and endowed by the celebrated Serjeant Maynard, in 1658. Samuel Reynolds married Theophila Potter, the history of whose parents is a melancholy one. Her mother, Theophila, was the only child of the Rev. Thomas Baker, vicar of Bishop’s Nymmet (or Nymp- ton), near South Molton, Devonshire, who was highly distinguished as a mathematician. She became attached to Mr. Potter, her father’s chaplain (it is said), but probably his curate, and they married without Mr. Baker’s consent, who never forgave his daughter, and left her nothing. Her husband died in a few years, leaving her, a young widow, with a son and two 1 For a very full and careful de- scription of Plympton, and all that concerns Reynolds in his connection with it, see Mr. Cotton's work, ‘ Some Account of the ancient Borough of Plympton St. Maurice,* &c. J. Rus- sell Smith, Soho Square. 1859. — Ed. 1723-1748. HIS FATHER’S CHARACTER. o O daughters ; and the tradition is that she wept herself blind for his death, though she did not long survive him. Her daughter Theophila was very young when Samuel Reynolds married her. All that I have been able to learn of her character is by incidental remarks found in letters, from which it appears she had her full share of intellect. Of the father of Sir Joshua somewhat more is known. He was a scholar, guileless as a child, and as ignorant of the world . 1 He had obtained a fel- lowship of Balliol College, Oxford, and was known to Young, the author of the Night Thoughts. From the innocence of his heart and the simplicity of his manners, and from his being withal so absent, that, riding on horseback, in a pair of gambados, he dropped one by the way without missing it, he was likened, by his friends, to Fielding’s Parson Adams. Fielding tells us that Mr. Abraham Adams “was provided with a handsome income of twenty-three pounds a year, which, however, he could not make any great figure with, because he lived in a dear country, and was a little encumbered with a wife and six children.” Mr. Reynolds had the advantage of that excellent person in the number of his children ; Northcote speaks of eleven, Mr. Cotton of ten or eleven, while 1 The portrait of him, painted by his illustrious son, now in the Cot- tonian Library at Plymouth, repre- sents a ruddy, round-faced, smooth- visaged man, almost bald, with a placid and sweet expression. The picture is of interest, not merely as the only portrait of Samuel Reynolds, but as an example of the style of Sir Joshua before 1746, when his father died. — Ed. B 2 4 LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Chap. I. another account makes it twelve. All, however, agree in stating it as reduced by death to six, while the father still lived. 1 He had also the advantage of Mr. Adams in a more handsome income. It is supposed he received 120/. a year, as master of the school, the dwelling-house attached to which was rent free. North cote and other biographers of Reynolds speak of his father as the Incumbent of Plympton, but Mr. Cotton has shown this to be a mistake. It does not appear that the grammar school was at “ any time annexed to the living of Plympton, and an inspection of the parish register proves that there is no founda- tion for the statement that Samuel Reynolds was ever the Incumbent.' ” Joshua received his name from h^ father’s brother, the Rev. Joshua Reynolds, Rector of Stoke Charity, Hants, who was his godfather by proxy. All accounts of Samuel Reynolds agree as to the goodness of his heart. His daughter Elizabeth (Mrs. 1 Tlie following is the longest ac- count of his children, in which I have adopted the dates of the baptisms of such as are registered at Plympton, from Mr. Cotton’s statements : — Humphrey, horn 1713, not regis- tered at Plympton. He was a lieu- tenant in the navy, and was drowned on the voyage from India, 174 L. Robert, born 1714, not registered at Plympton. He was an ironmonger at Exeter, and died unmarried. Mary, baptized March 7th, 1715, married John Palmer, Esq., of Tor- rington, died 1787. Ann, baptized March 9th, 1717, died 1720. Jane, baptized February 9th, 1719, died unmarried . Elizabeth, born 1721, not regis- ! tered at Plympton, married William Johnson, Esq., died 1792. Joshua, registered by mistake Joseph, baptized July 30th, 1723. Samuel, baptized September 1st, j 1727. Frances, June 6th, 1729, a died un- ! married 1807. Theophila (no date, and not in 1 Plympton register). Martin, baptized July 29th, 1731 ; and another child who died in infancy, and is not registered at Plympton. i a In the list furnished by the Johnson I branch of the family her birth is stated in 1722. 1723-1748. IIIS FATHER’S CHARACTER. 5 Johnson) remembered his giving half a guinea to the famous Bampfylde Moore Carew, when it was all the money he had in hand. This seems scarcely credible ; but the King of the Gipsies was a man of genius. He could assume the character of a shattered sailor, a dis- abled soldier, a ruined tradesman, or an unfortunate clergyman, with equal success. He did not, of course, present himself to Mr. Reynolds in his own character, for that was too well known. Mr. Reynolds was addicted to a variety of studies, among which that of medicine occupied much of his time. It was his custom to instruct his children by giving them lectures on different subjects, and it was remembered by Mrs. Johnson, that, at one of these, he produced a human skull. Among the little else that is known of him, we are told that he said to his wife, for whose name there was a choice of diminutives — “ When I say The, You must make tea ; But when I say Offy, You must make coffee.” Northcote relates this as an instance of his economy of words ; but the rhymes are proofs rather of fondness than taciturnity ; and, considering how very little we know of Mrs. Reynolds, they form no unimportant part of her history . 1 Mr. Cotton tells me, on the authority of a lady 1 This doggrel, I believe, on the was part of an effusion of playful fond- authority of Miss Gwatkin, belongs to i ness addressed to his niece, “ Offy,” Sir Joshua, instead of his father, and I which, complete, runs thus : — “ When I drink ten, I think of my ‘ The,’ And when I drink coffee, I think of my ‘ Offy ; * So whether I drink my tea or my coffee, I always am thinking of thee, my Theoffy.” Ed. 6 LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Chap. I. living at Ivy bridge, whose mother had a female ser- vant who had lived with the mother of Sir Joshua, that Samuel Reynolds was an astrologer, and spent many hours on the top of the old castle at Plympton, studying the stars. The old servant said he used to cast nativities ; and, having calculated the horoscope of one of his children, he found that, at its fifth year, very great danger was impending over its life. The child was not allowed even to leave the house, and every precaution was taken for its safety ; but at the very time predicted by its father, it fell out of an up- stairs window and was killed. The least extraordinary part of this story is corro- borated by Northcote, who says, “ Of that part of the family who died in infancy, one child, named Theopliila, lost her life by falling out of a window from the arms of a careless nurse.” Allan Cunningham supposes the education of young Reynolds to have been neglected by his father. Joshua must, however, have acquired a tolerable amount of Latin ; for we know that he was the first person to whom Dr. Johnson submitted his epitaph on Goldsmith, desiring him, if he approved of it, to show it to the club ; and, when Johnson found that Reynolds had mislaid it, he wrote to him for as much of it as he could recollect, having no other copy. Reynolds had no time to pay much (if any) attention to the study of Latin in after life, and whatever he may have known of that language must have been acquired at his father’s school . 1 1 Mr. R. Gwatkin has his school I mythological, hut some etymological, Ovid, well thumbed, with notes, chiefly | in Reynolds’s hand. — E d. 1723-1748. HIS EDUCATION. 7 The notion that his education was neglected seems to have arisen from the misspelling of a few words in his letters ; and I shall have occasion to quote some of his papers in which there are grammatical as well as orthographical errors. These papers were all, how- ever, written in extreme haste ; and with respect to the errors of orthography, it may be mentioned that the same words are more often correctly than incor- rectly spelt; a proof that the mistakes are those of carelessness, and not of ignorance, — to say nothing of the prevailing looseness of orthography in his day. He was certainly fond of literary composition, and, had not his love of art predominated, it is probable he would have become an author. The earliest accounts we have of him prove that he was a thinker. In his boyhood he composed rules of conduct for himself, one of which was, that “ the great principle of being happy in this world is, not to mind or be affected with small things.” 1 There seems, indeed, to be no good reason to charge the memory of his father with negligence. The future painter was no doubt, at times, an inattentive scholar, for the good old man wrote under a perspective drawing of a wall perforated by a window, and which was made on the back of a Latin exercise “ De labore ,” “ This is 1 Miss Reynolds, however, in one of her letters to her nephew, William Palmer, quotes this as a maxim of her lather’s. He had transmitted the lesson to Joshua — in the blood. Frances, on the other hand, was a sad fidget about trifles. Another of S. Reynolds’s wise saws, which he quoted to his daughter, as “ a noble maxim out of Mr. Mudge’s mouth,” was, “ If you take too much care of yourself, Nature will cease to take care of you.” Sir J. Reynolds had much of the wise negligence thus recommended. — Ed. 8 LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Chap. I. drawn by Joshua in school out of pure idleness .” 1 To such account, however, was this idleness turned, that when but eight years old he had made himself suffi- ciently master of perspective, from the Jesuit’s treatise, to draw the schoolhouse according to rule : no easy matter, as the upper part is half supported by a range of pillars. “ Now this,” said his father, “ exemplifies what the author of the Perspective asserts in his preface, that, by observing the rules laid down in this book, a man may do wonders ; for this is wonderful.” It has been supposed that the love of art was excited in Joshua by the example of his elder sisters, who w r ere fond of drawing ; but this, I think, proves only that it was in the blood. It is related on the authority of his sister Elizabeth that, as pencils and paper could not be afforded to the young artists, they were allowed to draw on the whitewashed walls of a long passage, with burnt sticks ; 2 and it is added that Joshua’s pro- ductions were the least promising of the set, and he 1 Mr. Cotton, in liis Gleanings , gives a fac-simile of this drawing. 2 In the autumn of 1818 I visited Plympton, and was charmed with the beauty of the scenery that surrounds it. I thought it no wonder that, born in such a spot, Reynolds had shown so much taste in landscape. I was very politely received by Mr. Phillips, who then occupied the house in which Sir Joshua was born, and learned that, not many years before that time, there were some paintings on its walls (probably they were only the charcoal drawings) supposed to be his early efforts. They had, however, been barbarously destroyed in the rage for whitewashing so prevalent in Devonshire. Mr. Phillips told me that Joshua had written his name with a glazier’s diamond on a pane of glass in the great window of the schoolroom, but that a previous master had carried it away. He sent a boy with me to the Guildhall, where I saw the por- trait of Reynolds, which he presented to the corporation on his being elected Mayor of Plympton, and which, to the utter disgrace of the corporation, has since been sold ! ! (L.) (But see my explanation post.) I visited Plympton in August, 1861 . The schoolhouse was then closed, being under repairs. The house has been transmogrified, but the arcade under the schoolhouse is still as when the boy Reynolds drew it. {See Frontis- piece.) — Ed. COLONNADE UNDER THE GRAMMAR SCHOOL , AT PDYMPTON 1723-1748. RICHARDSON’S TREATISE. 9 was nicknamed the clown . Mrs. Parker, of the family of which the Earl of Morley is now the head, gave these children the first pencil they ever possessed ; this lady was on intimate terms with the mother of Joshua, who little thought how amply her son was destined to repay the gift to the family, by his splendid whole length of Mrs. Parker’s successor at Saltram. Johnson attributed the first fondness of Reynolds for his art to the perusal of Richardson’s Treatise. But he had drawn likenesses of some of his friends and relations with tolerable success before that book was put into his hands, and he would have been a painter if Richardson had never written. Yet his heart must have burned within him when he read such passages as the following : — “ No nation under heaven so nearly resembles the ancient Greeks and Romans as we. There is a haughty courage, an elevation of thought, a greatness of taste, a love of liberty, a simplicity and honesty amongst us which we inherit from our ancestors, and which belong to us as Englishmen ; and ’tis in these this resemblance consists.” “ A time may come when future writers may be able to add the name of an English painter.” “ I am no prophet, nor the son of a prophet ; but considering the necessary connection of causes and effects, and upon seeing some links of that fatal chain, I will venture to pronounce (as exceedingly probable) that if ever the ancient, great, and beautiful taste in painting revives, it will be in England; but not ’till English painters, conscious of the dignity of their country and of their profession, resolve to do honour to 10 LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Ciiap. I. both by Piety, Virtue, Magnanimity, Benevolence, and a contempt of everything that is really unworthy of them.” “ And now I cannot forbear wishing that some younger painter than myself, and one who has had greater and more early advantages, would practise the magnanimity I have recommended, in this single instance of attempting and hoping only to equal the greatest masters of whatsoever age or nation. What were they which we are not or may not be ? What helps had any of them which we have not ? Nay, we have several some of them were destitute of : I will only mention one ; ’tis our religion, which has opened a new and noble scene of things ; we have more just and enlarged notions of the Deity, and more excellent ones of human nature, than the ancients could possibly have : and as there are some fine characters peculiar to the Christian religion, it moreover affords some of the noblest subjects that ever were thought of for a picture.” 1 1 I cannot resist quoting the fol- lowing passage also from a later work of the patriotic old painter : — “ I have said it heretofore, and will venture to repeat it, notwithstanding the national vanity of some of our neighbours and our own false modesty and partiality to foreigners, — if ever the great taste in painting, if ever that delightful, useful, and noble art does revive in the ivorld , ’ tis probable ’ twill be in England In ancient times we have frequently been subdued by fo- reigners ; the Romans, Saxons, Danes, and Normans have all done it in theirs : those days are at an end long since ; and we are by various steps carried to the height of military glory by sea and land. Nor are we less eminent for learning, philosophy, mathematics, poetry, strong and clear reasoning, and a greatness and delicacy of taste. In a word, in many of the liberal and mechanical arts we are equal to any other people, ancients or modems, and in some perhaps superior. We are not yet come to that maturity in the arts of Design; our neighbours, those of nations not remarkable for excelling in this way, as well as those that are, have made frequent and successful in- roads upon us, and have lorded it over our natives here in their own country. Let us at length disdain as much to be in subjection in this respect as in any other; let us put forth our strength and employ our national vir- tue, that haughty impatience of sub- jection and inferiority which seems to be characteristic of our nation, in this 1723-1748. HIS ADMIRATION OF RAPHAEL. 11 The most ardent hope, perhaps a firm belief, that he was destined to fulfil this prediction must have been kindled in the mind of the ambitious boy. He knew not that the exertions of a great and original painter had already been stimulated by such passages in Richardson’s book. This was Hogarth ; who, when he painted the Pool of Bethesda , and the Good Samaritan , for St. Bartholomew’s Hospital, hoped to succeed “ in what,” as he said, “ the puffers in books call the great style of History painting ” 1 Reynolds was but thirteen when these pictures were painted and presented to the hospital ; and if he had even heard of Hogar th, it was in all probability as a clever painter of familiar life only. Richardson could not have looked for the accom- plishment of his prediction to a painter either of familiar life or of portraits. But what is called a revival of art is more correctly a new birth, impressed always with the character of the age and the country in which it occurs ; and, for Hogarth and Reynolds to be the first great English painters, it was not essential that they should tread in the steps of Michael Angelo and Raphael, but it was essential that their art should be thoroughly British. Richardson no doubt expected the appearance of an English Raphael ; and Reynolds? no doubt, hoped, and resolved, if possible, to fulfil such an expectation. He told Malone that Richard- son’s treatise so delighted and inflamed his mind, “ that Raphael appeared to him superior to the most illustrious names of ancient or modern time.” That as on many other illustrious occasions, 1 Although Hogarth undervalued and the thing will be effected : the Richardson, there can be no doubt that English school will rise and flourish ! ” his ambition was excited by his books. 32 LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS, Chap. I. this was natural the reader will see from such excla- mations of the old painter as these : — “ Oh the pleasure ! when a connoisseur and lover of art has before him a picture or drawing of which he can truly say, This is the hand, these are the thoughts of him who was one of the politest, best-natured gentle- men that ever was ; and beloved and assisted by the greatest wits and the greatest men then at Rome : of him who lived in great honour and magnificence, and died extremely lamented.” Read “London” for “ Rome,” and how exactly does every word of this jiassage apply to Reynolds, when he had risen to the top of his art ! Again : “ When a man enters into that awful gallery at Hampton Court, he finds himself among a sort of people superior to what he has ever seen, and very probably to what those really were. Indeed this is the principal excellence of those wonderful pictures, as it must be allowed to be that part of painting which is preferable to all others.” “ Hampton Court is the great school of Raphael ; and God be praised that we have such an invaluable blessing ! May the Cartoons continue in that place, and always to be seen ; unhurt and undecayed so long as the nature of the materials of which they are com- posed will possibly allow ! May even a miracle be wrought in their favour, as themselves are some of the greatest instances of the Divine Power which endued a mortal man with abilities to perform such stupendous works of art !” 1 1 “ Sir J. Reynolds, when he called I looking over the elder Richardson’s on me yesterday (July 10, ,1789), on j drawings, said he understood his art 1723-1748. EARLY IMPRESSIONS. The father of Reynolds possessed a few prints, and Joshua copied such illustrations as he found in his books, particularly the engravings in Dryden’s edition of Plutarch's Lives. But Jacob Cats’ Book of Emblems , which his grandmother by his father’s side, it has been said, brought with her from Holland, delighted him the most . 1 Terrific subjects make a strong impression on young minds ; and one of the prints in this book, a shepherd consulting a witch in her cave, where she sits sur- rounded by hideous objects, remained so long in his memory as to suggest the picture he painted for Boy dell’s Sliakespear Gallery , of the caldron scene in Macbeth. Another plate, of a sorceress sitting at supper on a chair composed of a skeleton, no doubt suggested to him the similar chair on which his Hecate sits in that picture ; and his portrait of Kitty Fisher, as Cleopatra dissolving the pearl, seems also to have had its origin from the same book. When he was not more than twelve years old he painted a portrait of the Rev. Thomas Smart, who was a tutor in the family of Richard Edgcumbe, afterwards very well scientifically, but that his manner was cold and hard. He was Sir .Joshua’s pictorial grandfather, being Hudson’s master. He was always drawing either himself or Pope, whom he scarcely ever visited without taking some sketch of his face. His son was intended for a painter; but, being very near-sighted, soon gave up all thoughts of that profession. He was a great news and anecdote monger, and in the latter part of his life spent much of his time in gathering and com- ; municating intelligence concerning the I King of Prussia, and other topics of the day, as Dr. Burney, who knew him very well, informs me. His Iiichardsoniana are not uninteresting.” — Prior’s Life of Malone , p. 403. — Ed. 1 Northcote speaks of her as a Dutch- woman, and the family pedigrees state I that John Reynolds married her at I Antwerp. Her name, however, was i English (Mary Ainsworth); and her | marriage is registered at Exeter, in ! 1673. 14 LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Chap. I. the first Lord Edgcumbe. This picture, we are told, was painted in a boat-house at Cremyll beach, under Mount Edgcumbe, on a canvas which was part of a boat-sail, and with the common paint used in ship- wrights’ painting-sheds. He had no doubt made many drawings before this, which is supposed to be his first attempt in oil ; and considering the youth of the artist, and the means at his command, it is not surprising that it had little artistic merit . 1 More than four years elapsed after the painting of this picture before the profession of Joshua was deter- mined. A series of letters from Samuel Reynolds to Mr. Cutcliffe, an attorney at Bideford, carries on the narrative, and brings us more intimately acquainted than we have yet been with the father of so extra- ordinary a son. I trust these letters will not be found to occupy too much space. The peculiar characters of the father and mother of a man of genius interest us on his account, if not on their own ; and where there is genius of so high an order as that of Reynolds, it seems not in nature that the parents, certainly not that both parents, 1 The picture is now in the posses- sion of Deble Boger, Esq., of Anthony, near Plymouth, where I saw it lately. The local tradition, which carries in- ternal evidence in its favour, is, that this jolly, moon-faced tutor and parson, was a butt of young Dick Edgcumbe’s, a humorist from boyhood, and that Dick put young Reynolds (with whom he may well have been acquainted, owing to the family connection with the borough of Plympton) up to paint- ing Smart’s likeness, from a surrep- titious sketch taken in church. The boys, so runs the story, ran down from Smart’s church at Maker (the tower of which peeps from the trees above Cremyll beach, which borders the Mount Edgcumbe grounds on the sea-side), to the boat-house, and there Reynolds perpetrated the portrait. It is, as described, on a rough canvas, roughly painted, but is not without character, and a certain broad clever- ness. Mr. Boger has still a silver tankard given by Lord Edgcumbe to Mr. Smart. — Ed. 1723-1748. CHOICE OF A PROFESSION. 15 should be ordinary persons. Theopliila Reynolds may not have been living at the time at which we have arrived. The registers of her children's births prove, however, that she had lived long enough to exercise some influence on the character of J oshua ; but what that was, or how much of his mind may have been an inheritance from his mother, we have no means of knowung. The first letter to Mr. CutclifFe is a long one, in which Mr. Reynolds begins by telling his correspondent that he had been reading six political pamphlets and the sermons of Dr. Mudge. It goes far to prove that the writer was not, as he has been called, an indolent man. I shall quote only the portions of it that relate to Joshua. “ Plympton, March 17tli, 1740. “ I was last night with Mr. Craunch , 1 as he was asking me what I designed to do with Joshua, who is now drawing near to seventeen. I told him I was divided between two things : one was, making him an apothecary, as to which I should make no account of the qualifications of his master, as not doubting, if it 1 A gentleman of small independent fortune, who resided at Plympton. He was probably the first to predict the future eminence of Joshua; who, in grateful remembrance of his early kind offices, had a handsome silver cup made to present to him, but Mr. Craunch died before it was ready. He advanced Reynolds money for his visit to Italy, and the young painter brought him a set of four landscapes on his return from abroad, chosen, no doubt, to suit Mr. Craunch’s tastes, rather than his own. Three of them are now in possession of Deble Boger, Esq. Reynolds painted his picture and his wife’s. The former is now at Glynn, in Cornwall, the seat of Lord Vivian, whose ancestor, John Vivian, married Betsy Craunch, Mr. Craunch’s daughter, and an old sweet- heart of Dr. Wolcot’s (Peter Pindar), who used to describe her as “ a pretty creature.” She too sat to Sir Joshua in 1762 . — Ed. 10 LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Chap. I. please God I live, but he should be sufficiently in- structed another way : besides that, he has spent a great deal of time and pains with that view already, and to that purpose I do intend to make a proposal to Mr. Raport 1 of our town, so that I shall have an opportunity of instructing him on the spot; and if Mr. Raport is not inclined, then to make the proposal to my wife’s kinsman, Mr. Baker, of Bideford. The other is, that Joshua has a very great genius for drawing, and lately, on his own head, has begun even painting ; so that Mr. Warmell, who is both a painter and a player, having lately seen but his first per- formances, said, if he had his hands full of business, he would rather take Joshua for nothing than another with 50/. Mr. Craunch told me, as to this latter, he could put me in a way. Mr. Hudson (who is Mr. Richardson’s son-in-law) used to be down at Bideford, and would be so, he believed, within these two months ; he persuaded me to propose the matter to you, and that you should propose it to Mr. Hudson, that Joshua might show him some of his performances in drawing, and, if the matter was likely to take effect, should take a journey to Bideford himself. I mentioned this to Joshua, who said he would rather be an apothecary than an ordinary painter ; but if he could be bound to an eminent master, he should choose the latter ; that he had seen a print from Mr. Hudson’s painting which he had been very much pleased with. Now here I have given you a naked account of the matter, upon 1 In a copy of this letter by North- this name is spelt Ruport, and the cote, hut which he did not publish, name of Warmell is spelt War well. 1723-1748, CHOICE OF A PROFESSION. 17 which I must desire your judgment and advice. * I must only add that what Joshua had principally em- ployed himself in has been perspective, of which, perhaps, there is not much in face painting : his pictures strike off wonderfully, if they be look’d on with a due regard to the point of sight and the point of distance. You see how free I make with you. “ I am, “ Your most affectionate Friend and Servant, A country apothecary, it must be remembered, was in those days a general practitioner, and Samuel Reynolds possessed a few anatomical drawings, from which Joshua had made some progress (it could not be much) in the knowledge of anatomy ; and, as Mr. Reynolds no doubt dabbled in pharmacy, it is not unlikely that, by initiating his son into some of its mysteries, he may have led to his love of nostrums in art, which occasioned the injury of many, — and the destruction of some, — of the finest pictures that ever man painted. A letter, dated June 20tli, 1740, begins with an account of a treatise on gout which Mr. Reynolds had been reading, and on which subject it appears he had himself written. He speaks also of Pope’s Essay on Man , and of a Theological Chronology of his own com- position. He says, “ I shall send on Monday next to my daughter at Torrington, 1 to be transmitted to you, a specimen of Joshua’s performances in painting, which I think is his first in colours : that which Mr. Warmel VOL. i 1 His eldest daughter, Mrs. Palmer. C 18 LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Chap. I. saw was only in clialk and charcoal ; his colours hap- pened to be brought when Mr. Warrnel was with me.” In this letter there is a passage which reminds us of the sound sense of Sir Joshua. “ It is a good thing to avoid bigotry, hut a man must not therefore throw up his religion.” The next, dated August 1st, 1740, is full of medicine and metaphysics, and Joshua only comes in at the end, thus — “ I give you a great many thanks for what you intend to do on behalf of Joshua.” On the 7th of October he writes : — “ Dear Sir, “ As my son is come to wait on you and to obey orders, I have nothing to do but to thank you for your management and trouble in this affair. Everything that is necessary to be said, my son will he better able to say by word of mouth. Only one thing, lest it should be forgot, which your son may be best able to determine, whether Joshua may suffer any prejudice hereafter by being bound for four years (which un- doubtedly in itself is preferable), instead of seven ; if so, then I suppose alterations may be made without any additional charge, for Joshua’s work will then be worth his diet. I am apt to think it otherwise by my brother Potter’s case, who did not serve but a few years in London. Things are much better as they are without any alteration, unless there be a real inconvenience therein, as that he will not be able to practise his trade in London without molestation, or enjoy any other privileges which seven years ’prentices do. “ I am, with my humble service to your son, Mr. 1723-1748. APPRENTICED TO HUDSON. 19 Thomas Cutcliffe, .... and to Mr. Lantrow (though unknown), Joshua’s fellow traveller for a great part of the way (Joshua will tell you what I mean by these last words), “ Your most obliged, humble Servant, “ S. Reynolds.” u DEAR Sir, “ Plympton, October 26th, 1740. “ I think myself obliged to let you know that Joshua arrived in London with your son and Mr. Lan- trow on Saturday, October 13th, which gives me the same pleasure as when you carried your son thither. He had a most prosperous journey (which is a most pro- sperous beginning of this affair, and I pray Grod it may be as happily accomplished). His master as yet is not at home, he is at the Bath. ‘We see his wife’ (says Joshua) ; ‘ she says she will write to him about it, but I am at present at my uncle’s.’ 1 When it is ended I shall tell you you have ended one of the most important affairs of my life, that which I have look’d upon to be my main interest some way or other to bring about. And you have not (only) almost brought it about, but, as if Providence had breathed upon what you have done, everything hitherto has jumped out in a strange unexpected manner to a miracle. Nor can I see, that if Mr. Treby 2 had many children, an apprenticeship under such a master would have been below some one of his sons. As if a piece of good fortune had already actually befallen my family, it seems to me I see the good effects 1 The Rev. John Reynolds, Fellow of Eton. 2 The great man of Plympton. — E d. LIFE OF SIE JOSHUA REYNOLDS, Chap. I. 20 of it already in some persons' behaviour. This is my letter of thanks to you for what you have done, and my request of the continuance of your oversight and endeavours ’till the matter is completely ended. “ I am, &c., “ S. Reynolds. “ P.S. I do not see what is further necessary to be done, but for Joshua to wait Mr. Hudson’s coming, and by your son’s assistance, according to your directions and to Mr. Hudson’s liking, that proper measures be taken about the indentures. Upon notice I shall take care that the necessary charges shall come to his hands. At present he has enough for his pocket-money. He has behaved himself mighty well in this affair, and done his duty on his part, which gives me much more concern in his behalf than I should otherwise have had. You have hitherto done for him, as if it was your own son, and you see you must continue to do so a little longer. You have found out a means how my family will always be united to yours.” Thomas Hudson was a native of Devonshire. He was the pupil of Richardson, whose daughter he married ; and after the death of his father-in-law, to whom he was much inferior in ability, he became (for want of a better) the principal portrait painter in England. He lived in Great Queen Street, Lincoln’s Inn, in a house now divided into Nos. 55 and 56. He was to receive 120/. as a premium with his pupil. 1723-1748. APPRENTICED TO HUDSON. 21 To Mr. Cutcliffe. fc< DEAR Sir, “ Plympton, December 30th, 1740. “ In answer to yours, I accept Mr. Hudson’s proposals, and shall be always his humble servant, with abundance of thanks, as I should be yours if I could be more so than I am already, for the share you have had in this affair. Joshua is very sensible of his happiness in being under such a master, in such a family, in such a city, and in such an employment, and all by your means. As I have in a manner one half of the money ready provided, if it please God I live so long as to the end of those four years, I have writ this post to my daughter, to desire her to furnish Joshua with the other half, ’till he is able to repay her, and to write to you to that purpose, and I doubt not she will do so, because it is in a manner her own proposal ; for he said in a former letter to me that she would much rather furnish Joshua with 60/. than he should be put to a calling at which he would get 50/. a year less than he might at another that was better. I am with my hearty thanks, and hearty wishes that you may enjoy many Christmases and many happy New Years, “ Your most obliged and affectionate humble Servant, “ S. Reynolds.” u “ January 1st, 1741. “ I ought surely to have writ to you upon account of the character which Mr. Hudson was pleased to give of my son, not to inform you of anything, but to tell you that your favours were beyond thanks, and beyond expression. I ought to have informed you of my son 22 LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Chap. I. Humphrey’ s death , 1 which stuck by me very much — till it was drowned, if I may say so, in a still greater sorrow, and that was the death of my youngest son Martin, whom I cannot yet write about without hurting myself. I cannot write this little without great agita- tion of mind “ My study of physic is very much dampt by the death of my last son. And yet his mother has cured a hundred as bad as he. But there was a strange in- fatuation in his management. A series of blunders — and all occasioned by acting with precipitation . 2 “Mr. Warmel, the painter, was at my house on Sunday last ; he look’d upon two or three of Joshua’s drawings about the room ; he said not one of Mr. Treby’s rooms had furniture equal to this, that they all deserved frames and glasses. You may see some of them at Molly’s. Just now I had a letter from Joshua, wherein he tells me, ‘ On Thursday next Sir Robert 1 He was a lieutenant in the navy, and was drowned on his return home from India. His conduct had given great satisfaction to his father. 2 Mr. William Russell possesses a small pen sketch by Reynolds, washed with Indian ink, of a child leaning on the slab of a tomb, and pointing down to a scroll which lies at his feet, on which is written “ Humphry. Samuel. Martin, all. all. are gone.” (L.) It is in reference to this bereavement that the father wrote to a friend, him- self in need of comfort under affliction, the following passage, which bespeaks i sweetness and tenderness of disposi- ; tion : — “ I shall offer no arguments of consolation to yon, who wanted them i so much myself, and should still want j them, if I did not consider that it is too | apparent that all grief in these cases is to no purpose. But one thing 1 comfort myself with, which is perhaps an argument that you have omitted — that I have enjoyed them for some time, which, notwithstanding the grief of parting with them, is much better than not to have enjoyed them at all. And I think with pleasure upon some of their actions, which our Saviour points out in children, and which ’tis good always to have before our eyes. They are little preachers of righteous- ness which grown persons may listen to with pleasure. Actions are more powerful than words ; and I cannot but thank God sometimes for the benefit of their example. This is a subject I find still too tendu to dwell 1723-1748. HIS PROGRESS UNDER HUDSON. 23 Walpole sits for his picture ; master says he has had a great longing to draw his picture, because so many have been drawil, and none like.’ Joshua writ me some time ago that many had drawn Judge Willis’ picture, but that by his master was most approved of. I am glad I am able in this manner to express my thanks to you for what you have done for Joshua. You have done me a favour fit for a man of a thousand a year. “ And so I wish you and yours a merry Christmas and a happy New Year, “ And am, “ Your most affectionate and obliged, humble Servant, “ S. Reynolds.” “ April 20th, 1742. “Joshua goes on very well, which I must always acquaint you with. Dr. Huxham, who saw Laocoon, a drawing of his, said, that he who drew that would be the first hand in England. Mr. Tucker, a painter in Plymouth, who saw that and three or four more, and admired them exceedingly, as I had it from Mr. Craunch ; yet when he saw some later drawings of Joshua’s in his second year he still saw an improve- ment. I had forgot to tell you that Mr. Hudson had finished the head of the Earl of Orford 1 entirely to his satisfaction, and likewise to his own. Many gentlemen admired it, and have bespoken copies. Sir Robert asked where he lived, who was his master, and won- dered he had heard no more of him, and acknowledges no other picture to be his likeness but this ” 1 Sir Robert Walpole had been raised to the peerage. 24 LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Chap. I. “ August 3rd, 1742. “ As for Joshua, nobody, by his letters to me, was ever better pleased in his employment, in his master, in everything — ‘ While I am doing this I am the happiest creature alive,’ is his expression. How he goes on (’tis plain he thinks he goes on very well) you ’ll be better able to inform me. I do not forget to whom I owe all this happiness, and I hope he will not either.” While with Hudson, the happy boy met with an unexpected delight. He was sent, one day, to make a purchase for his master at a sale of pictures. The auction room was crowded, and he was at the upper end of it, close to the auctioneer. There was a bustle near the door, and he presently heard u Mr. Pope, Mr. Pope,” whispered through the room. The crowd opened a passage for the poet, and the hands of all were held out to touch him as he passed along, bowing to the company on either side. Eeynolds, though not in the front row, put out his hand under the arm of a person who stood before him, and the hand that had penned the Rape of the Lock was shaken by that which was to immortalize on canvas the Belindas of the coming age, as well as all Pope’s successors in genius. In relating this incident to Malone in after life, Reynolds described Pope as “ about four feet six inches high; very hump-backed and deformed. He wore a black coat, and, according to the fashion of that time, had on a little sword. He had a large and very fine eye, and a long handsome nose : his mouth had those peculiar marks which are always found in the mouths 1723-1748, HIS PROGRESS UNDER HUDSON. 25 of crooked persons, and the muscles which run across the cheek were so strongly marked that they seemed like small cords .” 1 Long after this occurrence Reynolds possessed him- self of the fan that Pope presented to Martha Blount, and on which the poet had painted a design of his own, from the story of Cephalus and Procris, with the motto “ Aura Veni.” On being asked his opinion of it, Reynolds said it was “ such as might he expected from one who painted for his amusement alone ; like the performance of a child. This must always he the case when the work is only taken up from idleness, and laid aside when it ceases to amuse. But those who are determined to excel must go to their work whether willing or unwilling, morning, noon, and night, and they will find it to be no play, hut on the contrary very hard labour.” Reynolds, by his master’s recommendation, copied some drawings by Guercino, from which he no doubt learned much more than he could learn from Hudson’s pictures. Northcote tells us that these copies were so good as to be preserved in the cabinets of the curious, most of them passing for originals. Though hound to Hudson for four years, he did not remain with him quite two. He is supposed to have excited the jealousy of his master by an admirable por- trait he painted of an elderly female servant in the house. Hudson, one evening, ordered him to take a picture to Y an Haaken, the drapery painter ; hut the weather being wet, he deferred it till the next morning. 1 This peculiarity is strongly marked ; Roubilliac, formerly in the possession in the terra-cotta head of Pope by | of the late Samuel Rogers. — Ed. 26 LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Chap. I. At breakfast, Hudson asked why he did not take the picture the evening before ? He replied that he delayed it on account of the rain ; but that the picture was delivered that morning before Yan Haaken rose from bed. Hudson said, “ You have not obeyed my orders, and shall not stay in my house.” Reynolds asked for time to write to his father, who might otherwise think he had committed some crime ; but Hudson, though reproached by his own servant for his unreasonable conduct, persisted in his determination, and Reynolds went that day from his house to his uncle’s chambers in the Temple, and wrote to his father, who, after consulting his friend Lord Edgcumbe, directed him to return to Devonshire. I have taken Farington’s account of the dismissal of Reynolds by Hudson, as the most circumstantial ; but without certainty of its truth. His father, in a letter to Mr. Cutcliffe, dated August 19th, 1743, says . . . . “ As to Joshua’s affair, he will give you a full account of it when he waits upon you, as he designs to do, and will be glad to present you with your picture, 1 who have been so good a benefactor to him. I do not know any painter who is capable of doing you justice. I don’t speak out of compliment, for a painter must have sharp eyes to see one half of that which is in you ; but I believe Mr. Mudge, who has been here this morning 1 Was this picture ever painted? Mr. Cotton writes : — “ I have made inquiries about the portrait of Mr. Cutcliffe. His great-grandchildren say they have no knowledge of it ; but they had possession at one time of the pen-and-ink sketches, which old Mr. | Reynolds brought to Mr. Cutcliffe when he came to consult him about binding his son apprentice to a painter. They were got out of their hands in some way or other, and are supposed to be at Bicton, seat of the late Lord Rolle/’ I— Ed. 1723-1748, DISMISSED BY HUDSON. 27 and has seen Joshua’s performances, will agree with me, that he is likely to do you justice if any other painter can’t. I have not meddled with Joshua’s affair hitherto, any otherwise than by writing a letter to Joshua, which never came to hand, and which I in- tended as an answer both to his letter and his master’s. This resolution of mine I shall persevere in, not to meddle in it ; if I had I should have taken wrong steps. I shall only say, there is no controversy I was ever let into, wherein I was so little offended with either party. In the mean time I bless God, and Mr. Hudson, and you, for the extreme success that has attended Joshua hitherto Joshua shall lay open the whole to you as to a father, as I know he may.” .... This letter throws great doubt on the accuracy of Farington’s account of the dismissal of Reynolds from Hudson’s house. The young painter returned to Devonshire, and commenced painting at Plymouth Dock, where he was much employed. In a letter to Mr. Cutcliffe, dated January 3rd, 1744, his father speaks of his having painted twenty portraits, among them that of “the greatest man of the place, the commissioner of the dockyard,” 1 and of his having ten more bespoke.* 2 1 Philip Vanbrugh, Esq., was the Commissioner from 1739 to 1753. 2 Six, if not seven, portraits of this period, bearing the date 1744, are in possession of Mr. Kendal, of Pelyn } M.P. for East Cornwall. I have not seen them, blit I am informed by Mr. Kendal that they are in excellent condition. They represent his great- grandfather, great-grandmother (the hitter twice over), his grandfather, and his great-uncle, and have on the back, “Joshua Reynolds pinxit (iEtatis sua? 21) 1744.” By his receipt he had 11 . for the two pictures of Mrs. Kendal. A portrait of G. Gibbon, Esq., Lieu- tenant-Governor of Plymouth (who died in 1745), belonging to the Bev. W. C. Evans (vicar of Campsall, near Doncaster), is ascribed to Reynolds at this period. 28 LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Chap. I. He was, however, soon in London again, and on the best terms with Hudson, as we learn by the following passages from his father’s letters. “ Plympton, December 7th, 1744. “ I understand that Joshua by his master’s means is introduced into a club composed of the most famous men in their profession. 1 That was the word in Bob’s 2 letter, who had it from Molly, which is exceed- ing generous in his master.” “ Plympton, May 24th, 1745. . . . . “ Joshua’s master is very kind to him ; he comes to visit him pretty often, and freely tells him where his pictures are faulty, which is a great advantage ; and when he has finished anything of his own, he is pleased to ask Joshua’s judgment, which is a great honour.” In 1746 Reynolds painted the portrait of Captain Hamilton, father of the Marquis of Abercorn, which, it is said, was the first of his pictures at this period which brought him into notice. When later in life he again saw it he was surprised to find it so well done, and, comparing it with his subsequent works, lamented that in such a series of years he should not have made a greater progress in his art. This portrait is now in the possession of the Marquis of Abercorn. 1 V cry probably the club that met at Old Slaughter’s in St. Martin’s Lane, of which an account will be found in Smith’s ‘ Life of Nollekens,’ vol. ii. p. 209. It included Gravelot, Sullivan (the etcher of Hogarth’s March to Finchley), Hogarth, McArdell (the I great mezzotint engraver), Hudson, j Roubilliac, Gardell (afterwards hanged ! for murder), old Moser, Ware, and Gwynn (the architect), &c. — E d. 2 Robert Reynolds, Sir Joshua’s brother, who lived at Exeter. — E d. 1723-1748. RECONCILED TO HUDSON. 2 !) Captain Hamilton is also introduced in a small family piece, painted by Reynolds about the same time, in the collection of the Earl of St. Germans, at Port Eliot. It represents Richard, the first Lord Eliot, with Harriet his wife, and their children, together with Mrs. Golds- worthy. Captain Hamilton, who married Lady Eliot after Lord Eliot’s death in 1748, is carrying one of the younger children on his back. 1 This was Reynolds’s first composition of several figures in a group. [It is engraved in S. W. Reynolds’s collection, and bears a strong impress .of Hudson’s manner. The com- position is scattered and unskilful, the colour in no way remarkable; but there is something more unconven- tional and life-like than Hudson would have ventured upon in the young man who is carrying the child pick-a-back. At Port Eliot, also of this period, are a portrait of Richard, the first Lord Eliot, in a red waist- coat, with a favourite dog (engraved by S. Reynolds), and a half-length of Harriet his wife, in white satin, with blue bows. Both are in the Hudsonian manner. 1 “ This Captain Hamilton was a very uncommon character ; very ob- stinate, very whimsical, very pious, a rigid disciplinarian, yet very kind to his men. He lost his life as he was proceeding from his ship to land at Plymouth. The wind and sea were extremely high ; and his officers re- monstrated against the imprudence of venturing in a boat where the danger seemed imminent. But he was impa- tient to see his wife, and would not be persuaded. In a few minutes after he left the ship the boat was upset and turned keel upwards. The captain, being a good swimmer, trusted to his skill, and would not accept a place on the keel, in order to make room for others, and then clung to the edge of the boat. Unluckily he had kept on his great-coat. At length, seeming exhausted, those on the keel exhorted him to take a place beside them, and he attempted to throw off the coat ; but finding his strength fail, told the men he must yield to his fate, and soon afterwards sank, while singing a psalm.” (From Lord Eliot.) — Prior’s Life of Malone , p. 404 . — Ed. 30 LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Chap. I. So is a portrait of Commodore Edgcumbe, also of this date, which used to hang in the corporation dining- room at Plympton, and is now in the possession of Deble Boger, Esq., of Anthony, near Plymouth, the last Recorder of the borough of Plympton.] Another of his pictures, and novel in its treatment, of a boy reading in a reflected light, dates from this period . 1 [Portraits of Mrs. Field, now at Torrington; of Mr. and Mrs. Craunch, lately in the possession of Miss Clift, at Kingsbridge, Devonshire, the former of which is now at Glynn (Lord Vivian’s) ; of Captain Chaundy, R.N., and his wife, in the possession of Mrs. Duins, at Plymouth ; 2 of Councillor Bury and his wife ; 3 of Alderman Facey, in the Plymouth Athenaeum; and the engraved portrait of the notorious Miss Chudleigh, afterwards better known as the Duchess of Kingston, are of this date. Miss Chudleigh was of a Devonshire family. Of the portrait of Mrs. Field Mr. Cotton remarks : “ The carnations are of great delicacy and clearness, and the features well defined, though not so strongly pronounced by means of that depth of shadow, which he afterwards adopted from the works of Titian and other Italian masters.” I have seen a copy of this picture, which bears out this description. To this date 1 It is in the gallery of Lord Nor- j by any picture of Reynolds’s which I manton, so rich in Reynolds’s works, know. The picture hears his name, This picture was formerly in the pos- and the date 1747. — Ed. session of Sir H. Englefield, and is not ! 2 See Catalogue, surpassed for force and delicacy, par- j 3 The Burys belonged to Exeter, ticularly in the admirable management The portraits were formerly in the of the reflected lights on the face, and j possession of the Cutclifle family, the painting of the books on the table, I 1723-1748. DEATH OF HIS FATHER. 31 also must be referred the beautiful head of himself, now in the possession of his grand-niece, Miss Gwatkin, in whose dining-room at Plymouth this, the earliest por- trait of the painter, hangs side by side with the latest which he painted of himself. It is masterly in hand- ling, and powerful — almost Rembrantesque — in chiaro- scuro, The hair flows, without powder, in long ringlets over the shoulders. The white collar and ruffled front of the shirt are thrown open. A dark cloak is flung over the shoulders. There is not a trace of Hudson in the picture.] He vras summoned back to Devonshire by the illness of his father, which terminated in his death on Christ- mas-day 1746. 1 Joshua was no doubt a great favourite of his father, perhaps the favourite son ; and the good old man had the happiness of living to know that, in so critical a matter as the choice of a profession for him, he had done wisely. Of the distinction that awaited him even a parent could scarcely dream, though he probably expected him to be at the head of his art, for Jervas 2 and Richardson had occupied that place, and Hudson now held it. But Hogarth, and Wilson who began as a portrait painter, had come into the field, and Gains- borough was about to enter it, and it was from such 1 There was no record at Plympton of this excellent and amiable man, in whom I seem to trace some of the most loveable characteristics of his placid, placable, sweet-tempered son, till Mr. Cotton, who has done so much to throw light on the history of the painter, his family, and his birth- place, erected a tablet to him in the church of Plympton, with an inser- tion, which will be found printed in his work on Plympton already referred to on p. 2 . — Ed. 2 When Miss Fanny Reynolds asked her brother how it happened that no pictures of Jervas were to be seen, he said, “ Because they are all up in the garret.’* 32 LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Chap. I. rivals as these that Reynolds was to win the crown and keep it . 1 On the death of Samuel Reynolds the family was obliged to remove from the schoolmaster’s residence at Plympton. Joshua took a house at Plymouth Dock, where he resided with his two unmarried sisters. In after life he told Malone that, in Devonshire, “ lie passed about three years in company from whom little improvement could be got ; and when he recollected this period of his life, he always spoke of it as so much time thrown away — so far at least as related to a knowledge of the world and of mankind, of which he ever afterwards lamented the loss. However,” con- tinues Malone, “ after some little dissipation, he sat down seriously to the study and practice of his art; and he always considered the disagreement which induced him to leave Mr. Hudson as a very fortunate circumstance, since by this means he was led to deviate from the tameness and insipidity of his master, and to form a manner of his own.” This temporary neglect of his art 2 was the only instance of such neglect in the whole course of his life ; and when he did sit down again seriously to its study, it was most fortunate that he was in Devonshire ; for there, and there only, he had opportunities of seeing pictures by William Gandy of Exeter, from which, unquestionably, he first caught the hint of that broad 1 I cannot but consider Reynolds superior to Hogarth as a painter , though, certainly not as a poet. In the originality of his genius Hogarth is not only before Reynolds, but it would be difficult to name the painter , of any age or country who is before Hogarth. 2 I do not understand Reynolds’s remark to Malone to imply neglect of his art. — Ed. 1 723-1 74S. HIS STYLE FORMED ON GANDY’S. 33 and noble style of treating portrait which became his great distinction. The father of William Gandy was a pupil of Van- dyke, and was much employed by the Duke of Ormond in Ireland, on which account his works are elsewhere unknown. It is said the elder Gandy painted so much in Vandyke’s style, that some of his pictures have passed for works of his master. The style of his son, how- ever it is to be accounted for, was different. North cote speaks of a portrait by the younger Gandy that might be mistaken for a work of Rembrandt, and Farington describes the effects of his pictures as “ peculiar, solemn, and forcible.” I have myself seen a head of a boy by Gandy, which looked very like an early work of Sir Joshua . 1 The little that Hudson could teach Reynolds had been more than long enough in his house to learn. It was quite sufficient to enable a mind like his to profit by the sight of such pictures as Gandy’s ; and a tradi- tional observation of this painter was remembered by him to good purpose throughout the whole of his sub- sequent practice ; namely, that “ a picture ought to have a richness in its texture, as if the colours had been composed of cream or cheese, and the reverse of a hard and husky or dry manner.” A single precept like this falling into an ear fitted to receive it, is suffi- 1 I have examined the portraits by Gandy at Exeter. That of Tobias Langdon, in the College Hall, of which Sir Godfrey Kneller is said to have ex- pressed his admiration, is a broadly and forcibly painted picture. The I portrait of John Patch, in the hospital, ! is less above Hudson’s level. The portrait of Sir E. Seaward will not be found in the Chapel of St. Anne (where it is placed in Murray’s Hand- ; book), but in the Poor-house. — Ed. VOL. I. D 31 LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Chap. I. cient to create a style ; wliile upon the inapt, all the best instruction that can be given is wasted. It has been supposed that, soon after his return to Devonshire, Reynolds painted the portrait of himself formerly in the possession of Mr. Lane, of Coffleet, which represents him as a young man, with pencils and palette in one hand, shading the light from his eyes with the other. This very fine picture is now in the National Portrait Gallery, and there is a mastery in its execution that creates a difficulty in referring it to so early a period of his practice. The face is youthful, but Mr. Vm, Carpenter, who attributes it to a later time, noticed to me that the mouth is exactly as it appears in all the portraits of him painted after the accident in 1749, by which the form of his upper lip was injured. It may be mentioned that, among the advantages of his residence at this time of his life in Devonshire, he did not altogether neglect the study of landscape, where it might be studied to such excellent purpose. At Port Eliot there is a long narrow view of Plymouth and the adjoining scenery, from the hill called Catdown, painted by him in I748. 1 1 Minutely painted — in complete contrast with his later landscape style. Three pictures go far to satisfy me that the qualities in which Reynolds surpassed Hudson had become appa- rent in his work before he visited Italy. These are, the Coffleet portrait, the picture with reflected lights at Lord Normanton’s, and Miss Gwatkin's portrait of the painter in youth. At Eastnor Castle is a portrait of Elizabeth, first wife of Charles Lord Somers. She was a sister of the first Lord Eliot, and after her marriage resided at Ince Castle, in the St. Germain’s River. Here, about 1746, she was painted by Reynolds. The picture represents a young bright-eyed woman, in a turban of white flowered stuff, and a black dress, with a tucker of flowered satin, and pearl orna- ments. It is rather timidly painted ; the face has little chiaroscuro or round- ness. He must have improved won- derfully in those three years at Devonport. — Ed. CHAPTER II. 1749—1752. .ZEtat. 26—29. Reynolds is introduced to Commodore Keppel — Sails with him to the Medi- terranean — They arrive at Lisbon — Cadiz — Gibraltar — Algiers — Reynolds lands at Minorca — Is kindly received there by Governor Blakeney — Paints many portraits — Meets with an accident — Proceeds to Leghorn — Arrives at Rome — Remains there two years — His studies and employments there — Leaves Rome for Florence, where he spends two months — -Visits Bologna — Modena — Parma — Mantua — Ferrara, and Venice — His studies there — Notes on pictures in Venice — Returns through France to England, stopping for a month at Paris. Early in tlie year 1749, the gallant Keppel, though he had not completed his twenty-fourth year, was entrusted with a diplomatic mission to the states of Barbary, and appointed to the command in the Medi- terranean, with the rank of Commodore. He sailed from Spithead in the Centurion, on the 25th of April ; but the ship springing both her topmasts, he was obliged to put into Plymouth for repairs, and to this accident Reynolds owed one of those many valuable friendships he was destined to form. Keppel, while de- tained at Plymouth, visited his friend Lord Edgcumbe, at whose seat he became acquainted with the young painter, and was so much pleased with him that he offered him a passage on board the Centurion. The invitation was gladly accepted ; and Keppel and Reynolds, destined alike to rise to the highest eminence in their professions, sailed together on the 11th of May for Lisbon, which they reached on the d 2 3G LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Ciiap. II. 24tli. Here Reynolds saw, for the first time, some of the splendid ceremonies of the Church of Rome. In a week Keppel proceeded to Cadiz, and from thence to Tetuan, having heard that the British Consul there had been confined in his own house, by the Moorish governor of the town, in consequence of the non-payment of some ransom money, while several British captives had been thrown into a dungeon ; and though Keppel had no instructions relating to the State of Morocco, he thought the appearance of his squadron might assist in redressing these grievances. He arrived in the Bay of Tetuan on the 13th of June, leaving Reynolds at Gibraltar. The Commodore suc- ceeded in obtaining a more comfortable state of things for the Consul and prisoners at Tetuan, and, accom- panied by Reynolds, proceeded to Algiers, where he anchored on the 29th of June. On the 30th he had an audience of the Dey, at which Reynolds was present. Keppel’s object was to prevent the depredations of the Algerine corsairs upon English vessels ; but so many obstacles were thrown in his way by the chicanery of the Dey, that two years elapsed before his negotiations were brought to a close. Northcote has told us that in the course of these negotiations the Dey became so much incensed that he called the Commodore “ a beardless boy,” and threatened him with the bowstring. Keppel heard the threat with the utmost calmness, and being near a window from which his ships could be seen, he pointed to them, and said to the Dey that, if it was his pleasure to put him to death, there were Englishmen enough in those ships to make for him a glorious funeral pile. 1749, -ETAT. 2G. HIS STAY AT MINORCA. 37 Keppel has not mentioned this in any account of his interviews with the Dey. But other incidents, re- lating to himself only, and which are recorded by eye- witnesses, are omitted, even in his private journals ; for self was never uppermost in his mind. The story, therefore, may be true, and Northcote may have heard it from Reynolds. During the progress, or rather the no-progress of the Commodore’s mission, he was frequently at Minorca, where Reynolds went on shore at Port Mahon, on the 23rd of August, and was most kindly received by the governor, General Blakeney, who would not allow him to be at any expense for quarters, and invited him, also, to a constant seat at his own table. While he remained in this hospitable place Reynolds painted portraits of almost all the officers 1 in the garrison and on the station, equally to the advantage of his practice and his purse. He was indeed obliged to prolong his stay much beyond his first intention by a serious accident. Though he had probably been from his boyhood a practised horseman, yet, from some chance, a horse he was riding fell with him down a precipice, by which his face was so much cut as to confine him to his room, and the effect of this fall was visible ever after in a scar on his upper lip. On his recovery he proceeded to Leghorn, and from Leghorn to Rome, wdience he addressed the following letter to Lord Edgcumbe : — 1 How little some of them really appreciated the painter appears from an amusing outburst of one of these very officers in after life, recorded by Miss Burney, and quoted post. — E d. 38 LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Chap. II. “ My Lord, “ I am now (thanks to your Lordship) at the height of my wishes, in the midst of the greatest works of art that the world has produced. I had a very long passage, though a very pleasant one. I am at last in Rome, having seen many places and sights which I never thought of seeing. I have been at Lisbon, Cadiz, Gibraltar, Algiers, and Mahon. The Commodore staid at Lisbon a week, in which time there happened two of the greatest sights that could be seen had he staid there a whole year, — a bull feast, and the procession of Corpus Cliristi. Your Lordship will excuse me if I say that, from the kind treatment and great civilities I have received from the Commodore, I fear I have even laid your Lordship under obligations to him on my account ; since from nothing but your Lordship’s recommendation I could possibly expect to meet with that polite behaviour with which I have always been treated : I had the use of his cabin and his study of books as if they had been my own, and when he went ashore he generally took me with him, so that I not only had an opportunity of seeing a great deal, but I saw it with all the advantages as if I had travelled as his equal. At Cadiz I saw another bull-feast. I ask your Lordship’s pardon for being guilty of that usual piece of ill-manners in speaking so much of myself; I should not have committed it after such favours. Impute my not writing to the true reason ; I thought it impertinent to write to your Lordship without a proper reason ; to let you know where I am, if your Lordship should have any commands here that I am capable of executing. Since I have been in Rome 1749, jetat. 26. IX ROME. 39 I have been looking about the palaces for a fit picture of which I might take a copy to present your Lordship with, though it would have been much more genteel to have sent the picture without any previous intima- tion of it. Any one you choose, the larger the better, as it will have a more grand effect when hung up, and a kind of painting I like more than little. Though perhaps it will be too great a presumption to expect it, I must needs own I most impatiently wait for this order from your Lordship. “ I am, &c. &c., “ Joshua Reynolds.” Reynolds spent two years, and there can be little doubt “ with measureless content ,” at Rome. Though he was always too much devoted to his art to be a frequent letter-writer, he must, in those two years, have written at least a dozen or two of letters to Mrs. Palmer and Mrs. Johnson ; for they had not only the claim upon him of sisters, but they had advanced money for his expenses in Italy, for which he had given them a bond, still in the possession of the descendants of Mrs. Palmer. It will be recollected that she had, also, lent half the money that had been paid as the premium on his being bound to Hudson. I cannot learn, however, that any letter written by him from Italy, excepting that to Lord Edgcumbe, has been preserved ; 1 and all that we know of him while there 1 In a literary periodical, formerly published by Mr. Willis, under the title, * Willis’s Current Notes’ (No. 82, Oct. 1857), will be found, under the heading ‘ Sir Joshua Reynolds’s Love Letters,’ three letters, purport- ing to be written by Sir Joshua, while abroad, to a Miss Weston, of Great 40 LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Chap. II. is from the memoranda written in his sketch-books, and from some of his papers, written at later periods of his life. Tn one of his Roman note-books, now in possession of Reynolds Grwatkin, Esq., is the following list , 1 headed — “ Copies of Pictures I made at Rome . In the Villa Medici The vase of the ‘ Sacrifice of Iphigenia.’ In the Corsini Palace. — April 16, in the afternoon , 1750, anno JubileL 1. A study of an 4 Old Man’s Head, reading,’ by Rubens. 2. April 17 to 19. — A portrait of Philip II., King of Spain, by Titian. 3. April 20. — Rembrandt’s portrait by himself. 2 4. April 21 to 23. — ‘St. Martino on horseback, giving the Devil, who appeared to him in the shape of a Beggar, part of his Cloak.’ Captain Blackquier’s P. An ‘ Old Beggar Man.’ Queen Street. Being unable either to vouch for or verify the authenticity of the letters, I do not insert them. Even if genuine, they throw no addi- tional light on Reynolds’s occupations abroad, beyond mentioning Mr. Astley, one of his former fellow- pupils at Hudson’s, as his companion in an intended detour on his way home by Venice and Germany. There is no love in the letters, unless there be any tenderness insinuated in the remark that his lips are spoiled for kissing by the accident at Minorca. Miss Weston is described as a lady with an unrequited attachment for ! Sir Joshua, who had preserved these ! letters, and, dying in poverty, soon after the death of Sir Joshua, in 1792, ; gave them to a family which 4 had befriended her. The story sounds very i apocryphal, but there is nothing in the ! letters themselves to stamp them as forgeries. — E d. 1 These extracts have been already printed from a very incorrect and im- perfect transcript made by, or for, the late Mr. Gwatkin. I have restored the original text from the note-books themselves. 2 The copy is in the possession of R. L. Gwatkin, Esq. 1750 , 2ETAT. 27 . REMARKS ON RAPHAEL. 41 My own picture. Jacamo’s (Giacomo’s) picture. 5. Began May 30, finished June 10, in the Church of the Capuchins, ‘ St. Michael,’ 1 by Guido. A foot from my own. 6. June 13. — The ‘Aurora’ of Guido, a sketch. June 15. — Went to Tivoli. August 15. — Worked in the Vatican. “ I was let into tlie Capella Sistina in the morning, and remained there the whole day, a great part of which I spent in walking up and down it with great self-importance. Passing through, on my return, the rooms of Raphael , 2 they appeared of an inferior order.” The “ self-importance” Reynolds felt in the Sistine Chapel looks like excessive vanity: hut it was no doubt the feeling he described more clearly forty years later — a self-congratulation in knowing himself capable of such sensations as Michael Angelo intended to excite. “ Raphael,” he continues, “ in many books on Painting, is praised to the skies for being natural, and because silks and velvets are so naturally painted (by him) that they would deceive any man. This is so far from being true, that they are further from it than the draperies of any other painter ; nor ought they to be so natural as to deceive one, except in portraits, as in that of Leo X., at Florence , 3 where the drapery is 1 This copy came into the possession j 3 From the mention of this picture of George IV., and is now placed over j it seems probable that Reynolds had the altar in the Chapel of Hampton j stopped at Florence on his way to Court Palace. I Rome. — (L.) It is certain that he 2 Spelt “ Raffaele,” and sometimes | had, from many comparisons in his “ Raflaelle,” by Reynolds. I have notes on the Roman pictures. — Ed. adopted the more modern spelling. | 42 LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Chap. II. natural to the last degree, but in none of liis history pictures. “ Those pretenders to Painting think the whole art lies in making things natural. If that were the case, how many Raphaels has not Holland produced ? What I would endeavour to settle is the point to which the painter is to direct his attention, to give him an idea of what art is by the example of the Great Masters ; for young painters, as well as connoisseurs, are some- times puzzled in seeing a picture, in which there is nothing of what we call natural, preferred to another where there are satins, silks, jugs* &c., which deceive the sight.” In a paper published by Malone, Reynolds says, “ It has frequently happened, as I was informed by the keeper of the Vatican, that many of those whom he had conducted through the various apartments of that edifice, when about to be dismissed, have asked for the works of Raphael, and would not believe that they had already passed through the rooms where they are pre- served ; so little impression had those performances made on them. One of the first painters now in France told me that this circumstance happened to himself, though he now looks on Raphael with that veneration which he deserves from all painters and lovers of art. I remember very well my own dis- appointment when I first visited the Vatican ; but on confessing my feelings to a brother student, of whose ingenuousness I had a high opinion, he acknowledged that the works of Raphael had the same effect on him ; or rather, that they did not produce the effect which he expected. This was a great relief to my mind ; 1750, JETAT. 27. DISAPPOINTMENT AT THE VATICAN. 43 and, on inquiring farther of other students, I found that those persons only who from natural imbecility appeared to be incapable of ever relishing these divine performances, made pretensions to instantaneous rap- tures on first beholding them. In justice to myself, however, I must add, that, though disappointed and mortified at not finding myself enraptured with the works of this great master, I did not for a moment conceive or suppose that the name of Raphael, and those admirable paintings in particular, owed their re- putation to the ignorance and the prejudice of mankind ; on the contrary, my not relishing them as I was conscious I ought to have done was one of the most humiliating things that ever happened to me. I found myself in the midst of works executed upon principles with which I was unacquainted. — I felt my ignorance and stood abashed. All the indigested notions of painting which I had brought with me from England, where the art was at the lowest ebb, — it could not, indeed, be lower, 1 — were to be totally done away with and eradicated from my mind. It was necessary, as it is expressed on a very solemn occasion, that I should become as a little child . Notwithstanding my disap- pointment, I proceeded to copy some of those excellent works. I viewed them again and again ; I even affected to feel their merits, and to admire them more than I really did. In a short time a new taste and new perceptions began to dawn upon me, and I was convinced that I had originally formed a false opinion of the perfection of art, and that this great painter w r as 1 The matchless dramatic powers of Hogarth had evidently, at that time, made no impression on Reynolds. 44 LIFE OF SIR JOSIIUA REYNOLDS. Chap. If. well entitled to the high rank which he holds in the estimation of the world. The truth is, that if these works had really been what I expected, they would have contained beauties superficial and alluring, but by no means such as would have entitled them to the great reputation which they have so long and so justly obtained.” “ Having since that period frequently revolved the subject in my mind, I am now clearly of opinion that a relish for the higher excellences of the art is an acquired taste, which no man ever possessed without long cultivation and great labour and attention . 1 On such occasions as that which I have mentioned, we are often ashamed of our apparent dulness ; as if it were expected that our minds, like tinder, should instantly catch fire from the divine spark of Raphael’s genius. I flatter myself that now it would be so, and that I have a just and lively perception of his great powers ; but let it be always remembered that the excellence of his style is not on the surface, but lies deep, and at the first view is seen but mistily. It is the florid style which strikes at once, and captivates the eye, for a time, without ever satisfying the judgment. Nor does painting in this respect differ from other arts. A just and poetical taste and the acquisition of a nice dis- criminative musical ear are equally the work of time. 1 I believe it would be more cor- rect to say “ a developed taste, which no man ever displayed ,” &c. Rey- nolds speaks of the necessity of culti- vation ; but there must be something native in the mind to cultivate. Can we believe that any training would have made a poet of Sir Isaac Newton, | or a musician, or even a lover of music, of Dr. Johnson? Had they been men less honest than they were, they might have been led by fashion 1 to express, the one a fondness of poetry, and the other of music, as thousands do who, in reality, have no taste for either. 1750 , JET AT. 27 . HIS CARICATURES IN ROME. 45 Even the 'eye, however perfect in itself, is often unable to distinguish between the brilliancy of two diamonds, though the experienced jeweller will be amazed at its blindness ; not considering that there was a time when he himself could not have been able to pronounce which of the two was the most perfect, and that his own power of discrimination was acquired by slow and im- perceptible degrees.” Students in Italy were much employed in copying pictures for gentlemen travellers ; alluding to whom, Reynolds at a later period said, in a letter to Barry, “ Whilst I was at Rome, I was very little employed by them, and that little I always considered as so much time lost.” He made studies in the Vatican for himself only ; one of these I have seen, a group of heads from the Coronation of Charlemagne . He also painted two or three caricatures. One, which I have also seen, is a parody on the School of Athens , in which are grouped caricature likenesses of most of the English gentlemen then at Rome, in the attitudes of Raphael’s philo- sophers, but dressed in the coats, hats, and wigs they wore . 1 Nortlicote, speaking of these caricatures, says, “ I have heard Sir Joshua say, that although it was univer- sally allowed he executed such subjects with much 1 Another of these caricatures, which I saw at the British Institution in 1853, represents Viscount Wicklow getting into his carriage, while his tutor, Dr. Benson, calls his attention to a quarrel between the courier ancl innkeeper. A third, still in the pos- session of Mr. Woodyeare, of Crook- hill, Yorkshire, contains portraits of his grandfather, and his tutor Dr. Drake, with Sir Charles Turner and Mr. Cooke. It was painted in 1751. —Ed. 4G LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Chap. IT. humour and spirit, he yet held it absolutely necessary to abandon the practice, since it must corrupt his taste as a portrait painter, whose duty it becomes to aim at discovering the perfections only of those whom he is to represent.” The only mention of these pictures, in the note-book of Reynolds, runs thus : — “ Caricaturas which I did at Rome , 1751. Lord Charlemont. Sir Thomas Kennedy. Mr. Ward. Mr. Phelps. Sir W. A. Lowther. Mr. Leeson, Jun. Mr. Turner. Mr. Huet. Lord Bruce. Mr. Ward. Mr. Leeson, Jun. Mr. Henry. Mr. Cook. Mr. Woodyer. Mr. Turner ( ancora ). Mr. Drake. “ P. in the Caricatura of the School of Athens. 1 Mr. Henry. Lord Bruce. Mr. Leeson, Sen. Mr. Maxwell. Mr. Leeson, Jun. Mr. Barret. Mr. Patch. Mr. Yirepile. Sir William Lowther. Dr. Erwin. Mr. Bagot. Abbate De Bois. Mr. Bretengam (Brettingham). Mr. Murfey. Mr. Sterling. Mr. Ironmonger. Mr. Dawson. Sir Matthew Featherstone. Lord Charlemont. Mr. Phelps. Sir Thomas Kennedy. Four idea figures.” Different motives have been imagined for the pro- duction of these caricatures, while that mentioned by Farington (no doubt the true one) has been overlooked. 1 This picture is in the possession of Henry, Esq., of Straffan, in Ireland, 1751, JETAT. 23. CONTEMPORARY ITALIAN ART. 47 It was simply that some of the persons caricatured commissioned Reynolds to paint them. It is scarcely an Irishism to say that the last great Italian painters were Frenchmen; for Claude and Nicolo Poussin were so entirely Italian in their hearts, and passed so great a portion of their lives in Rome, that the French school has no more right to their names than the Architectural School of Sweden has to the name of Sir William Chambers, who was horn at Stockholm. When Reynolds visited Italy, the history of her art, for more than half a century, had presented nothing hut unredeemed mediocrity ; and the foremost of living Italian painters were Pompeo Battoni and Francesco Zuccherelli. As we are told that, if the sun were to be annihilated, he would still appear, unchanged, to us for a brief space of time, so the vision of the past glories of Italy still lingered with the connoisseurs of the day ; and English- men {especially) could not then, nor indeed long after, believe in any other than the Italian faith in matters of taste . 1 Within my own recollection, Canova received 1 The belief in the everlasting art of Italy prevailed, indeed, wherever I the English language was spoken. | Some forty years ago I knew a painter j who made a little fortune by painting j portraits of the principal people in many of the small towns of America, j It was his custom, wherever he set I up his easel, to announce himself as j Mr. from Philadelphia, New ; York, or Boston, as either of those cities happened to be the nearest. At one of his halting-places he hired a room in the house of a butcher; and | his window being open, he heard his | landlord, on the day after his arrival, recommending him to one of his own customers as a great painter from . “Let him paint your pic- ture,” said the butcher, “and he’ll give you the true Italian touch” Another proof of the existence of the Italian mania in America may be cited. The friends of West sent him to Italy to study. Had they sent him first to England, I cannot help thinking that the influence of Ho- garth, of Reynolds, of Wilson, and of Gainsborough, would have told on his practice much more to his future 48 LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Chap. II. more commissions than he could find time to execute from the English nobility, who, with one or two exceptions, did not seem to know that such a man as Elaxman existed. Canova did, however, know there was a Flaxman ; and, while generously recommending him to the notice of his countrymen, he said, “ You English see with your ears.” Lord Edgcumbe was one of the most valuable of the friends of Reynolds ; and yet so little did he know of the acquirements of his protege, and so much was he infected with the Italian mania, that, before the young- painter left England, he had strongly urged him to become, while at Rome, the pupil of Pompeo Battoni. Reynolds, however, knew himself, and Battoni, too well to follow such advice. Having served a short appren- ticeship to a commonplace English painter, he was now too wise to place himself in the hands of a com- monplace foreigner ; and, while at Rome, the masters he chiefly studied under were Michael Angelo and Raphael. Allan Cunningham’s accusation of Reynolds, that he recommended in his Discourses the masters he did not study, and said little or nothing of those he did study, is wholly groundless. He felt that, whatever might be his future career, from the frescos of these great painters he could learn best that which would most elevate his style ; and the course he pursued himself he recom- advantage than did the study of the | mediocrity of his teacher, from which old masters under the direction of j the example of the living English Mengs. It is certain that when he painters, in a great degree, enabled arrived in England his works dis- j him to release himself, played nothing beyond the learned j 1751, ;etat. ‘ 28 . HIS STUDIES AT DOME. 49 mended to others. The notion that he was incapable of appreciating Roman art sprung from that fallacy in criticism, still prevailing, which classes painting according to its subject, and not according to its own intrinsic greatness entirely apart from its subject, and from the vulgar error of supposing that a great artist cannot appreciate conceptions very unlike his own. Reynolds, in the Sistine Chapel, or in the chambers of the Yatican, though he had never seen such art before , 1 could not but feel that he, “ also, was a painter.” Paul Yeronese studied Michael Angelo and Raphael, and learned much from them, unlike as he was to either ; and Rembrandt possessed pictures by Raphael, and was by no means unacquainted with Italian art, or with the Antique. It may be urged that the genius of Reynolds was confined to portrait more exclusively than theirs ; but even so, what could he do better than study the frescoes of Raphael, full as they are of the highest order of portraiture ? To say nothing of the portrait groups in the Attila and the Heliodorus , the School of Athens and the Miracle at Bolsena , the Oath of Leo X. is entirely a portrait composition ; and, in the lower half of the Dispute of the Sacrament , every head is a portrait. I shall not here speak of what will be noticed in other pages, namely, the conceptions adopted by 1 It is here assumed that he had I left England without having seen the Cartoons of Raphael. It will be re- membered that he had passed very- little time in London while not with Hudson; and during his apprentice- ship he was probably too much em- ployed by his master to pay a visit VOL. I. to Hampton Court, then an affair of much more time and expense than it now is. Had he seen the Cartoons, he would surely have been better prepared to appreciate the Stanze of Raphael than, by his own account, he was. E 50 LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Chap. II. Reynolds from the Sistine Chapel ; hut I must remark that every one of Michael Angelo’s Prophets and Sibyls has the individuality of portrait ; the grandest style of portrait, hut still of portrait. The spaces between these majestic figures are filled with domestic compositions, exquisitely simple, which have an effect something like that produced by the prose passages which Shakespear so often alternates with his verse. Was the time of Reynolds misspent, then, in the Sistine Chapel ? The results have proved that it was not ; and have proved also the sincerity with which, in his Discourses, he dwells again and again on the genius of Michael Angelo. And yet it would seem that there was the most in common between Reynolds, so pre- eminently happy in his representations of feminine and infantine grace, and the gentle Raphael. I imagine, however, that the superior powers of Michael Angelo in colour and in breadth of chiaroscuro, combined as they are with so many other noble qualities, commanded his homage at first sight, and retained it ever after. That he made no copies from Michael Angelo may be owing to the inconvenience of copying pictures from a ceiling, and it was the eiling of the Sistine Chapel that most delighted him. In the picture he painted for Alderman Boydell, from Macbeth , he has, however, taken the attitude of one of the witches from that of a fiend in the Last Judgment . For the studies he made from Raphael he paid dearly ; for he caught so severe a cold in the chambers of the Yatican as to occasion a deafness which obliged him to use an ear-trumpet for the remainder of his life. Few artists, I apprehend, ever visited Italy more to 1751, iETAT. *28. 51 HIS STUDIES AT ROME. their own advantage than did Reynolds. Of the English Dilettanti whom he met there, he gave the fol- lowing account : — “ Instead of examining the beauties of the works of fame, and why they are esteemed, they only inquire the subject of the joicture and the name of the painter, the history of a statue and where it is found, and write that down. Some Englishmen, while I was in the Vatican, came there, and spent above six hours in writing down whatever the antiquary dictated to them. They scarcely ever looked at the paintings the whole time.” [There are two of his Italian note-books 1 in the British Museum : the largest a small quarto, in parch- ment; the other a duodecimo. They are filled with notes in pencil, and sketches both of figures and land- scapes : the former are chiefly memoranda of pictures ; the latter, rough jottings from pictures, or slight sketches from nature, evidently taken as his chaise halted on the road, or at his stopping-places for sleep or meals. More than one of the memoranda from pictures he afterwards turned to account : for example, an angel playing on the harpsichord seems to have suggested his portrait of Mrs. Sheridan as St. Cecilia ; and a female figure, in an attitude of contemplation, has evidently furnished the idea for the picture of Mrs. Crewe as St. Gene- vieve. Mr. R. Gwatkin has his Roman Note-book, which also contains many slight sketches. Two, with notes on Rome and Bologna, are in the Soane Museum . 2 It is interesting to note, from his memoranda made 1 Some others, which belonged to Mr. S. Rogers, passed at the sale of his works of art into the hands of Col. Lenox of New York. — Ed. 2 See Appendix. e 2 LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. CiiAr. II. at the time, what pictures in Rome he copied, studied, and admired. His selection for copies seems to have been quite catholic, including, between April and Au- gust, 1750, Rubens, Titian, Rembrandt, Guido, and Raphael. The pictures he notes are — in the Palazzo del Secretario, Tandy he’s Portrait of Pontius the en- graver, “ the best portrait I ever yet ” (saw of his) ; an Angel’s Head, by Correggio, “ the best likewise I ever yet saw of him ; ” and an Ecce Homo, by Guido. In the Palazzo Falconiere, three Heads, by Guido, on one cloth; two Borgognones, “fine;” a Holy Family, by Poussin, “ his very best manner, the Virgin a noble figure ;” two Conversations, over each door, by P. Veronese, the Virgin giving Suck, by Guido, an angel playing on an organ ; St. Cecilia, by Guido. In the Palazzo Borghese, iEneas and Ancliises, by Baroccio ; Domenieliino’s Diana ; Titian’s Last Supper ; Titian’s Borgia and Machiavel ; Raphael’s St. Catherine (now in our National Gallery) ; M. Angelo’s Crucifix, “ of which the story, that a porter (or malefactor) was killed to model from ;” Titian’s Schoolmaster, “ admirable ;” Titian’s own portrait ; a Magdalen, by A. Caracci ; St. Cecilia, by Domenichino, of whose colouring he notes most truly, that it is very bright, but wants the clearness and trans- parency of Correggio and Titian. Of an anonymous “Figure drinking, a young man, only the head and breast, in profile, as big as the life,” h6 says, “ This, and the profile in the Cardinal Secretary’s collection in the Pope’s palace, are the two best coloured pictures that I have seen of any master ” — owing to the changes in the Roman galleries I am unable to identify this picture by aid of any accessible catalogue ; — Petrarch’s portrait ; 1751, iETAT. 28. HIS STUDIES AT ROME. Titian’s Venus Hoodwinking Cupid (engraved by Strange) ; two Venuses, by Titian, pronounced, “ like all others in Koine, not equal to that at Florence ; lady’s portrait, in small, excellent for its colouring ; Titian and his Mistress; the Prodigal returned, — all three by Titian ; Nymph and Swain, a delicate picture by Veronese ; and some drawings by Raphael. It would be rash to infer much as to the painter’s judgments of pictures from the character of this selection. AA r onder at the omission of all reference to such pictures, now in the Borghese Gallery, as the Entombment, by Raphael ; the Danae, of Correggio ; the Sacred and Pro- fane Love, of Titian — is checked by a question, whether these pictures were then in the gallery ? Again, the painter was not bound to note the things he most ad- mired. A\ r e see he sometimes mentions only to condemn. Thus, in the Palazzo A r erospi, he writes of a Vault, by Albano, “ extremely hard, as usual ; ” but goes on, “ over the famous harpsichord, a landscape of Poussin, in his very best manner ; and indeed it is painted in the grandest style that can be conceived. ’Tis finished up at once, except the trees that have the sky for their ground ; a large, light pencil, no outline throughout ; the leaves touched in Bassano’s manner.” In the Campidoglio, he says, “ You must by no means neglect to look at the two Lions of Egyptian marble, who spout water out of their mouths. They screw up their mouths for that purpose, as a man does when he whistles : among the best antiques of their kind in Rome.” There is a careful enumeration of the objects in and about the Campidoglio. In the Palazzo Altieri he praises two Claudes, as 54 LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Chap. IT. “ much the best I have seen by this master, or indeed any other.” In the Palazzo Spada, after noticing the Statue of Pompey, “at the foot of which Caesar fell,’’ he passes to Guido’s Pape of Helen : “ the airs of the ] leads of the women wonderfully fine.” Of “ Dido Transfixed with the Sword of iEneas,” he says, “ She is fallen upon a pile of wood on her face, with a long sword through her body — no very agreeable picture. A woman on the left side of the picture, with her hand- kerchief to her eyes, is a wonderful genteel figure ; by its side a Portrait, by Titian, the face wonderfully coloured.” As Reynolds himself afterwards painted the same subject, his remarks on this Dido have special interest. In the Rospigliosi he notes (besides portraits by Rubens, Yasari, Maratti, Yandyke, Yeronese, and Da Yinci) the famous Aurora of Guido, and Domenichino’s David, Samson, and Adam and Eve. In the Church of S. Jacopo delli Spagnuoli he is carried away by the clever naturalism of Bernini’s bust of Montoja. “ The marble is so wonderfully managed that it appears flesh itself : the upper lip, which is covered with hair, has all the lightness of nature. . . . This bust certainly yields in no respect to the best in the antique. Indeed, I know none that, in my opinion, are equal to it. ’Twas said to be so won- derfully like (and, indeed, from that strong character of nature which it has one easily believes it to have been like) that those who knew him used to say it was Mon- toja petrified.” He notices, also with strong praise, the Anima beata and Anima damnata of the same sculptor in the sacristy of the same church. 1751, JETAT. 28. HIS STUDIES AT ROME. 55 Reynolds’s stay at Rome included the jubilee year, 1750, when the concourse of travellers to the Eternal City was greater even than usual. His list of caricatures 1 gives us the best insight we are likely to get into his Roman circle. We may safely conceive of it as made up of young noblemen and gentlemen of fortune, with their bear-leaders ; 'some painters,’ engravers, doctors, virtuosi, and antiquarians ; and of his brother-students, conspicu- ous among whom are the dashing, reckless, out-at-elbows Astley ; 2 Nathaniel Hone, afterwards his bitter assailant ; Dalton, a protege of the Prince of Wales, and Lord Charlemont. Richard Wilson, too, was in Rome at this time ; and the French painter Doyen, in a letter written many years after, alludes to the vows of friendship inter- changed between him and his young friend “ Reinols ” in the presence of the statue of Marcus Aurelius. Among the men of rank at Rome with Reynolds were several who were afterwards his friends and patrons, as Lord Charle- mont, Sir W. Lowther, Lord Downe, and Lord Bruce. If in the note-books of Reynolds at this time undue space appears to be given to painters of the class of Baroccio and Gfuercino, it should be remembered that Reynolds was still young, and that his taste was still dominated by the fashions of his day ; but even at this stage of his progress his remarks on pictures are emi- nently to the purpose. He seems always to observe them with an eye to the leading sources of effect, — com- position, balance of light and shade, and relief. He seldom notices sentiment or expression, or positive qualities of colour. 1 See ante, p. 46. 2 Who probably accompanied him on liis return. — E d. 56 LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Chap. II, Reynolds left Rome for Naples on April 5, 1752, by way of Marino and Castel Gandolfo ; lay at Yelleti i that night ; on the 6th slept at Piperno, noting in his ride the desolation of the Pontine Marshes ; and on the 7th passed Sezza. 1 On the 3rd of May, 1752, at eleven o’clock, he left Rome, and proceeded by short and easy stages to Flo- rence. He slept the first night at Castel -Nuovo, eighteen miles from Rome, and the second at Narni, where, as his journal tells ns, he saw the Augustan Bridge. That day’s dining place had been Castellano, where he notes the fine fortress. On the 5th of May he dined at Term, saw the Cascade, and lay at Spoleto, where he saw the aqueduct. On the 6th he dined at Fuligno, and “ saw the picture by Raphael, representing’ the Virgin and Bambino.” It is singular that Reynolds makes no remark on this beautiful early work, beyond a description of the arrangement of the figures in the composition. He reached Perugia on the 7th, after visiting the church of the Madonna delli Angeli, on the plain below Assisi, where he notes the picture of St. Francis in Glory, and Baroccio’s Salutation. He stopped at Assisi and sketched one of the gates. Not a word is given to 1 In his short note on Naples he notices the works of L. Giordano, Domenichino, Lanfranco, and Vasari, in the Duomo, and the fresco of Heliodorus, by Solimene, in the Gesu Nuovo (Soane MS.). In all the extracts here given I have corrected the many inaccuracies of the published extracts (so called) from Reynolds's Journals, which, in some cases, quite reverse the sense of the MS. Thus, at p. 29, in the re- marks on the Marriage of St. Cathe- rine, in the church of that saint, Reynolds writes : “ ’Tis not in his very best taste of colouring,” where the transcript has, “ this is his very best,’’ &c. So in page 34, on the ‘ Conviti d* Paolo Veronese,’ in SS. Giovanni e Paolo, for “ the flesh of none of the figures lighter than its ground,” the transcript reads, “ the flesh of one of the figures lighter than tlie ground.” — i Ed. 1752, .32 tat. 29. AT PERUGIA — AREZZO — FLORENCE. kU tlie early works of Cimabue, Giotto, and tlieir scholars, in the Church of St. Francis, which however he men- tions as containing the body of the saint. He describes, too, the antique temple of Minerva, in the Piazza, as “ fine taste.” The only pictures he notices at Perugia are Baroccio’s Descent from the Cross, in San Lorenzo, Perugino’s Marriage of the Virgin — adding, “ an infinite number of his pictures about Perugia ” — and a Riposo of Baroccio. On the 9tli he was at Arezzo, where he dined, and notices as the best of Baroccio’s works, his Virgin Inter- ceding, “ some angels and women wonderfully genteel, the Virgin a fine figure and praises, as extremely well painted, and with good kee23ing in them, some of Vasari’s works in the Church of Sta. Maria della Pieve and the Scuola of the Confraternity of St. Roch. Cross- ing the Arno, or rather its confluent the Ambra, he spent the night of the 9th at Levano, and thence, jour- neying by Monte Varchi, Figline, and Incisa, and dining at Pian-del-Fonte, arrived late on the 10th at Florence. Santa Croce is the first church noticed in the journal, and the pictures observed in it are a Descent from the Cross by Salviati (? Bronzino), a Christ delivering souls out of Limbo — probably an early picture — and a work in sculpture by Settignano. Without knowing if the fine frescoes by Giotto, lately laid bare of whitewash in the chapels at the east end of Santa Croce, were visible in 1752, it would be unfair to express surprise that Reynolds says nothing about them. But, even if they had been visible, it is quite intelligible that the journal should be silent about works the interest of which is 58 LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Chap. II. derived rather from their sentiment and historical bear- ing, than from their technical qualities. Beynolds notes everywhere chiefly that which was likely to he useful to himself — as hint of expression or effect, as rule or warning. He had now set his face homewards.] His Florentine journal contains, among its remarks on pictures, part of the draft of a letter, in which he mentions the probability of his getting “ a considerable sum of money at ( Weissenbourg ?) and “if so,” he writes, “ I shall have that to lay out at Brussels for my sisters.” Some of his friends were extremely anxious that he should stay a month longer at Florence than he had purposed ; and to this he alludes in the same draft : — “ I remember, whenever my father discoursed on edu- cation, it Avas his constant practice to give this piece of advice — ‘ never to be in too great a hurry to show yourself to the world ; but lay in first of all as strong a foundation of learning and knowledge as possible.’ This may very well be applied to my present affairs, as, by being in too great a hurry, I shall perhaps ruin all, and arrive in London without reputation, and without anybody’s having heard of me ; when, by staying a month longer, my fame will arrive before me, and, as I said before, nobody will dare to find fault with me, since my conduct will have had the approbation of the greatest living painters. Then again, on the other hand, there are such pressing reasons for my returning home, that I stand as between two people pulling me different ways ; so I stand still and do nothing. For the moment I take a resolution ) HIS STAY AT FLORENCE. 50 1752, .ETAT. 20. to set out, and in a manner take leave of my friends, they call me a madman for missing those advantages I have mentioned.” 1 We have seen that Reynolds, at this time, considered (however erroneously) the art of his own country to he in the lowest possible condition. He speaks, there- fore, of the Italian painters as the greatest alive ; and though he no doubt valued them at no more than their true worth, he was fully sensible how much their approbation would conduce to his advantage on his return to England, where the opinions of native talent were in conformity with his own. While at Florence 2 he painted a portrait of Joseph Wilton, an English sculptor, who afterwards became keeper of the Royal Academy. This picture, Faring- ton says, was much admired as “ a brilliant display of those qualities in which he so eminently excelled.” 1 On the verso of folios 9 to 17, j forming part of his Florentine journal, ; are the most finished pencil sketches ! to be found in Reynolds’s note-books. | On folio 14, a lady seated, with a I very graceful turn of the head; her j bosom covered ; one foot displayed, j partly out of the slipper ; a nosegay 1 at the breast. (15.) A lady in un- j dress, tying her garter, the foot raised j on a cushioned stool. (16.) A lady reclining with uncovered bosom, appa- j rently the same as on folio 15. (17.) , A slightly draped figure. — E d. 2 His note-books show that he had , examined the pictures in the Pitti ' Palace ; but he contents himself with j a mere mention of certain pictures — j including works of Raphael, Titian, j Del Sarto, Fra Bartolomeo, Rubens, j M. Angelo (the Fates), Correggio, I Annibale Carracci, Guido, Baroccio, Cigoli, Rossi, Farini, Borgognone, Cas- tiglione, Carlo Dolce, and Salvator Rosa. In the Painters’ Room he notices Rembrandt’s portrait as the best coloured ; Vandyke’s as “ green- ish and Rubens’s, “ two, both fine.” He had gone the round of the churches. In that of San Marco he notices two altar-pieces by the Frate (Fra Barto- lomeo) ; but I find no mention of the works of Fra Angelico in the Convent. In Santa Maria Novella, he notes “ the first picture ever Cimabue painted in colours,” and adds, “in the cloister the works of the Grecian painters ” — referring, doubtless, to the pictures of Gaddi and Memmi in the Capella delli Spagnuoli. But not a word of the Paradise of Orcagna, or the fres- coes of Ghirlandajo. — Ed. GO LIFE OF SIB JOSHUA KEYNOLDS. Chai\ II. At Florence too he was on very intimate terms with Nathaniel Hone, destined, like Wilton, to he one of the members of the future Academy, but who is now only remembered for the jealous malignity he dis- played towards Sir Joshua in later life . 1 The concluding passage of the Journal kept by Reynolds at Florence, as is fitting, concerns Michael Angelo : — “ Capella di S. Lorenzo. “ The four recumbent figures by Michael Angelo, with a Great Duke likewise by him. u When I am here, I think M. Angelo superior to the whole world for greatness of taste — when I look on the figures of the fountains in the Boboli, of which I have seen the models, I think him ( J ohn di Bologna) 2 greater than M. A., and I believe it would be a difficult thing to determine who was the greatest sculptor. The same doubt in regard to the Vatican and the Capella Sistina.” 3 1 At the end of the smaller note- book I find a malicious little sketch of a pair of knock-kneed, splay-footed legs, surmounted by a large sketching- board and a cocked hat, and opposite written, “ Master Hone.” By the side of.it I find the rule for painting heads, which Beynolds followed in a great measure, at least in his earlier practice. “ The ground colour, blue-black and white. Light : first sitting the features, marked firm with red : next sitting the red colours. Blue-black, vermilion, lake, carmine, white, drying oil.” In this scale I remark the absence of yellows and the presence of ver- milion, which he afterwards, though for a time only, rejected, telling North- cote he could not see any in flesh. Here, too, is a mention of the frescoes in the Annunziata ; but, strange to say, the indifferent frescoes of Pocetti, Salimbeni, Boselli, and Mascagni, are dwelt upon more than those of Andtea del Sarto. Pocetti, especially, is highly praised. — Ed. 2 He says of him in another note, after mentioning that the ancients seldom observed grouping, — “John of Bologna has been superior to the whole world, ancient and modern, in that respect at least, as well in statues as in basso-relievos. ” — Ed. 3 He means, evidently, a doubt as to the relative greatness of Michael Angelo and ltaphael. HIS FLORENTINE JOURNAL. Cl 1752 , jetat. 29 . [The only laudatory mention of any work in Florence earlier than Raphael relates to the frescoes in the Brancacci Chapel. It is remarkable that he does not here notice the resemblance of Lippi’s (or Masaccio’s) St. Paul to the Paul preaching of Raphael’s Cartoon. This tends to confirm the notion that he had not seen the Cartoons before leaving England.] “ Church of the Carmine. “ A Chapel (the Brancacci) painted by Masaccio. Raphael has taken his 4 Adam and Eve driven out of Paradise ’ from hence. The heads, according to the ancient custom, are portraits, and have a wonderful character of nature.” That Reynolds could appreciate one leading merit of the earlier painters, notwithstanding his rare mention of them, appears from such passages of his writing as the following : — “ It must be confessed that simplicity and truth, of which we are now speaking, is oftener found in the old Masters that preceded the great age of painting, than it was ever in that age, and certainly much less since. We may instance Albert Durer and Masaccio, from the latter of whom Raphael borrowed his figure of St. Paul preaching. “ The old Gothic artists, as we call them, deserve the attention of a student much more than many later artists. In other words, the painters before the age of Raphael are better than the painters since the time of Carlo Marratti. The reason is, the former have nothing but truth in view ; whereas the others do not even 62 LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Chap. II. endeavour to see for themselves, but receive, by report only, what has before passed through many hands, and consequently acquired the tinge of a mannerist, or, as a poet would say, mixed with fable, having no longer the simplicity of truth. As we say of wine, it has lost its raciness.” 1 From Florence, 2 Eeynolds proceeded, on the 4th of July, to Bologna, where he remained till about the 16th. 3 * * By aid of his note-books we trace him to Modena — where he praises as “ admirable ” a Circumcision by Guido in the Duomo — Reggio, and Parma. His notes on the master (among all the Italian painters) with whose style his own had the most affinity, are these : — “ The Duomo . — ‘ The Cupola,’ by Correggio, and Angels in stone colour by ditto.” “ You must ask to see the 6 Holy Family with St. Jerome.’ It gave me as great a pleasure as ever I received from looking on any picture. The airs of 1 Cotton’s * Reynolds and liis Works,’ pp. 228, 229. 2 It helps ns to a notion of the living Reynolds, to read on the last leaf of the book containing his Flo- rentine notes . (the smaller of the two in the British Museum), the jottings and memoranda of the young tra- veller, now on the wing for Venice. Thus : — “ Buy chalk. — Chest. — Voyages and maps ( Struck out , when bought , or he had found them unnecessary '). — Take the flowers from Dogana and the por- traits. (That of Wilton?) — Ultra- marine. — Send for my things from Piti (sic). (No doubt his sketching or painting materials.) — Pay Wilton for Gallery. (Some fee for permission to make studies ?) — Ultramarine (re- peated). — Receive from Hone. (Had Hone been borrowing ?) — Breeches made. — Not forget sheet. — Breeches mended. — Pay washerwoman. — Pay Wilton for Verpili. (Virtuoso in Rome had paid Reynolds some debt he owed Wilton at Florence?) — Hat. — Spada. — Capella. — Bianta Scatola. — Stivali. — Canistra. — Umbrella. — Fabry, per- ruquiere in Piazza di San Marco, Venice. (No doubt a hairdresser re- commended from Florence.) — 4 shirts; 1 pair of stockings ; handkerchiefs ; 2 stocks.” And opposite is a sketch of four men in cloaks and cocked hats, at a table with bottles and glasses. — Ed. 3 Soane MS, > 1752, 2ETAT. 29. HIS APPRECIATION OF OLD MASTERS. 63 the heads, expression, and colouring, are in the utmost perfection. ’Tis very highly finished : no giallo in the flesh. The shadows seem to be added afterwards, with a thin colour made of oil, ultramarine, and sometimes oil and red. Outline to the face, especially the Yirgin’s, the lips, &c., not seen. The red mixed with the white of the face imperceptibly — all broad.” In a paper among the Palmer MSS. he says, “ Well-coloured pictures are in more esteem, and sell for higher prices than in reason they appear to deserve, as colouring is an excellence acknowledged to be of a lower rank than the qualities of correctness, grace, and greatness of character. But in this in- stance, as in many others, the partial view of reason is corrected by the general practice of the world : and among other reasons which may be brought forward for this conduct is the consideration, that colouring is an excellence which cannot be transferred by prints or drawings, and but very faintly by copies. “ The justly celebrated picture of the 6 Holy Family,’ by Correggio, at Parma, was offered to Lord Orford for 3000 /. ; but judging only from the print, which was shown him at the time, he declined the purchase ; although I, who have seen the picture, am far from thinking the price unreasonable. Yet Lord Orford cannot be blamed for refusing to give such a price for a composition which promised so little from the appearance of the print, though it was engraved by no less a man than Agostino Caracci.” 1 1 Further references to the pictures at Parma are, — “ St. Joanna (Gio- vanni). In this chapel on the righ hand, a Pieta by Correggio. Opposite, LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Ciiap. II, (14 Reynolds appears to have visited Genoa, 1 by some cpiotations printed by Northcote from ‘ his papers ; among which are the following : — “ In the Palazzo Durazzo I saw an admirable portrait of a man by Rembrandt, his hands one in the other ; a prodigious force of colouring. “ But the picture which should be first mentioned is very large, and the most capital one I have seen by Paul Veronese, of Mary Magdalen washing the Feet of Christ, containing about ten figures as large as life, admirably finished. “ July 21 (1752). Arrived at Mantua. “ 22. Departed from Mantua, and arrived at Ferrara 2 same day. “ 23. Departed thence. the Martyrdom of two Saints, the ex- pression of the woman as that of an angel in bliss. The colouring divine, white and oil transparent, shadows greyish. A copy of the Notte, better than that in the Falace at Modena. A fine copy of the Holy Family and St. J erome, by Correggio. The cupola : Angles (? angels.) Friese quite round the church is by Correggio’s scholars. In the cupola, Christ crowning the Virgin. St. John Baptist (of which a copy in the Palazzo Pitti), St. John Evangelist, with many angels, all by Parmigiano. A St. John over the door by Correggio, with the eagle picking his wings.” On the following page a sketch — The Eagle of St. John clean- ing his feathers. — Ed. 1 It is probable that this was on his way to Rome. The references to pic- tures at Bologna are contained in one of the note-books in the Soane Mu- seum (see Appendix). — E d. 2 At Ferrara there is no mention of Garofalo, Dossi, Bon one, or any of the Ferrarese school. He notes Guer- cino’s Martyrdom of St. George, in the Church of that Saint, and his St. Francis receiving the Stigmata, in San Spirito ; and an Interment of Christ, by Caravaggio : “ the lowest ideas of character possible to imagine, otherwise not ill-executed.” In the large Piazza he mentions the bronze statue of Pope Alexander VII., seated in a chair raised on a pillar of the Corinthian order, which was re- moved in 1796, to make room for a statue of Napoleon, whose name the Piazza bore till 1814, when the statue was removed, and the square christened Piazza d’ Ariosto. — E d. I 1752, 2etat. 29. HIS STAY AT VENICE. 65 “ 24. Arrived at Venice. “ 25. Entered my lodgings. “ 26. The boy (? Giuseppe March!) began to eat at my lodgings.” It was his custom to procure the usual printed descriptions of every city he passed through, on which he made memoranda of what was best worth seeing, and he repeated his visits to such objects at times most convenient for close examination. At Venice he remained from the 24th of July to the 16th of August. It is probable that the low state of his finances prevented his longer stay in a city which had so many and such peculiar attractions for him. 1 Speaking of the Venetian painters, he says, “ The method I took to avail myself of their principles was this : — When I observed an extra- ordinary effect of light and shade in any picture, I took a leaf out of my pocketbook, and darkened every part of it in the same gradation of light and shade as the picture, leaving the white paper untouched to represent the light, and this without any attention to the subject, or to the drawing of the figures. A few trials of this kind will be sufficient to give their conduct 1 It is quite evident that, whatever might have been the influence of Michael Angelo’s grandeur and Ra- phael’s grace and dignity, on the ma- turer mind of Reynolds, the Bolognese and Venetian masters were those from whom he gathered most enjoyment and instruction in the material part of his art. While Roman and Florentine pictures are merely noted in his Italian memorandum books, the observations on pictures in Venice are full and detailed, and all of the strictly prac- VOL. I. tical kind ; notes of their balance of light and shade, warm and cold colour, methods of laying-in and finishing, leaving the ground, scumbling, glaz- ing, &c. &c. ; in a word, the remarks of an observant workman upon per- fect workmanship. But he made no finished copies in Venice ; no sketches, even in colour. He has himself told us how he studied these mighty masters of the art. For the notes on Bolognese pictures, see Appendix. — Ed. F 66 LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Chap. II. in the management of their lights. After a few experi- ments I found the paper blotted nearly alike . 1 Their general practice appeared to be, to allow not above a quarter of the picture for the light, including in this portion both the principal and secondary lights ; another quarter to be kept as dark as possible; and the remaining half kept in mezzotint or half shadow. Rubens appears to have admitted rather more light than a quarter, and Rembrandt much less, scarcely an eighth ; by this conduct Rembrandt’s light is extremely brilliant ; but it costs too much ; the rest of the picture is sacrificed to this one object. That light will certainly appear the brightest which is surrounded with the greatest quantity of shade, supposing equal skill in the artist. “ By this means you may likewise remark the various forms and shapes of those lights, as well as the objects on which they are flung ; whether a figure, or the sky, a white napkin, animals, or utensils, often introduced for this purpose only. It may be observed, likewise, what portion is strongly relieved, and how much is united with its ground ; for it is necessary ' that some part (though a small one is sufficient) should be sharp and cutting against its ground, whether it be light on a dark, or dark on a light ground, in order to give firmness and distinctness to the work ; if, on the other hand, it is relieved on every side, it will appear as if inlaid on its ground. “ Such a blotted paper, held at a distance from the 1 In this passage we should, no ! of dark and middle tint in all ; and doubt, read papers. He means to say not that the forms of the darks were he found nearly the same quantity j the same in any two. HIS VENETIAN NOTES. 67 » 1752 , jet at. 29 . eye, will strike the spectator as something excellent for the disposition of light and shadow, though it does not distinguish whether it is a history, a portrait, a landscape, dead game, or anything else ; for the same principles extend to every branch of the art.” [His Venetian notes are here printed in full, as they may be of use to future painters who may wish to follow in Sir Joshua’s footsteps, to compare his observations with the pictures to which they refer, or to see how and for ichat Eeynolds looked at pictures.] Chiesa dei Carmelitani. 4 The Last Supper/ by Tintoret. The napkin the principal light, divided by a dark figure. A figure at one end of the table in white satin divided from the white principal mass by a dark figure ; a light figure at each end of the picture. A dog sitting on his tail, as begging. A fine picture. Opposite, ‘Washing the Feet.’ Ditto. The ground and background white. In the Carmelitani Scalzi at Venice an artificial light that is let in at the top of an altar, and rays made of yellow tubes, have an extraordinary effect. Gregorio . 4 Presentation of Virgin/ by Jordano. Another, where an Angel awaking an Old Man. 4 The Descent/ by Titian. A figure dressed in white, flowered with gold lightly; a fine effect. 1. 4 The Descent/ of Titian : all the colours broken — no strong ones, the three Maries make the principal light. — Sacristy : 4 Supper/ The woman that leans over the table strong drapery, rough form : but her handk : (ercliief) shadows strong blue, lights quite white to harmonise with the tablecloth. San Giovanni e Paolo . (Larger book, folio 5 b.) Observations an the 4 Pietro MartireJ di Titiano. The trees harmonise with the sky, that is, are lost in it some F 2 LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Chap. II. 08 place, at other places relieved smartly by means of white clouds. The angels’ hair, wings, and the dark parts of their shadows, being the same colour as the trees, harmonise — the trees of a brown tint. The shadows of the white drapery the colour of the light ground. The light the colour of the face of the saint. The landscape dark. Trees opposed to campo (i.e. expanse) of light ; behind that, dark trees ; behind that again, blue scumbled mountains. The drawing, in general, noble, particularly of the right leg of him that flyes — His head, &c., the shadows of his eyes and nostrils determined, and a beautiful shape. Church of S. Greorgio Maggiore . (Folio 7 a.) By the great altar, two pictures of Tintoretto : one ‘ Last Supper,’ and the other ‘ The Manna.’ On the right hand, as you enter, 6 The Nativity,’ by Bassan. The Child painted in the great style. It seems to be painted first without shadows at all, and after the shadows are made by washing lake, made very thin with oil. The colour of the Child is lakey and oily. In the Befettorio is the famous ‘ Banquet,’ by Paolo, repre- senting the Marriage of Cana in Galilee. Among the musicians, the principal is Paolo himself, with a viola ; the second, with a violonone, is Titian ; the third, with a violine, is Tintoret ; he with the flute, Bassan Vecchio. In the Befettorio Vecchio, the famous 4 Banquet ’ of Paolo. The master of the feast, in red, under the middle arch, looking at the figure drawn from Vecellius. He on the left, using his knife and fork, is the father which employed Paolo. A print. (Larger note-book, folio 6, verso.) Observations on the 4 Marriage of Cana' by Paolo. — The principal light in the middle Paolo himself, dressed in white, and light yellow stockings, and playing on a violino; the next is his brother going to taste the liquor : he is dressed in white, but flowered in various colours. The table-cloth, the end on the other side, with the lady, makes a large mass of light. Almost all the other figures seem to be in mezzotint ; here and there a little brightness to hinder it from looking heavy, all the banisters are mezzotint ; between some of them, on the right side, is seen the 1752 , astat. 29 , HIS VENETIAN NOTES. 69 light building to hinder the line of shadow, so as to make the picture look half shadow and half light. The sky blue, with white clouds. The tower in the middle, white as the clouds ; and so all the distant architecture, which grows darker and darker as it approaches the fore figures; between the dark architecture in the foreground and the light behind, are placed figures to join them, as it were, together. St. Maria della Salute. The ‘ Descent of the Holy Ghost/ by Titian. In the soffitto of the high altar, three fine pictures by Salviati. The middle one the 4 Manna in the Desert/ the other repre- sents the Angel which conducts Abaduch to help Daniel in the den, the other the 4 Angel giving succour to Elias / prints by Lovisa. Around these are the Evangelists, in Tondo (i.e. circular compartments), by Titian. Three pictures by Luca Jordano, the ‘Birth/ ‘Presentation/ and ‘ Assumption of the Virgin/ In the Sagristy, the ‘Marriage of Cana in Galilee/ by Tin- toretto: a print by Odoardo Fialotti, painter and disciple of Tintoret. On each side is one of three pictures, which ought to make but one : ‘ Saul throwing the lance at David/ by Salviati ; other works of Salviati, as ‘ David with Goliah’s head in triumph met by young men playing on musical instruments/ Ditto. The ‘ Supper of Christ/ Ditto. 4 Samson and Jonas/ by Palma. ‘Aaron and Giosue/ by Salviati. ‘ St. Mark/ and below, ‘ St. Sebastian, Rocko (St. Roch), Cosmo, and Damiano/ by Titian. In soffito, three most admirable pictures of Titian, the ‘ Death of Abel/ the 4 Sacrifice of Abraham/ and ‘ David cutting off the head of Goliali/ All three in print by Eebre. Scuola di S. Grirolamo, near St. Faustino. Above stairs the altar, Virgin above and Angels below. ‘ St. Jerome looking up/ by Tintoret : a print by Agostino Carracci. 70 LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Chap. IL In the sacristy, ‘ The Marriage of Cana in Galilee,’ by Tinto- retto. One sees by this picture the great use Tintoretto made of his pasteboard houses and wax figures for the distribution of his masses. This picture has the most natural light and shadow that can be imagined. All the light comes from the several windows over the table. The woman, who stands and leans forward to have a glass of liquor, is of great service : she covers part of the table-cloth, so that there is not too much white in the picture, and by means of her strong shadows she throws back the table, and makes the perspective more agreeable. But, that her figure might not appear like a dark inlaid figure on a light ground, her face is light, her hair masses with the ground, and the light of her handkerchief is whiter than the table-cloth. The shadows blue ultr. strong. Shadows of the table-cloth, blueish ; all the other colours of the draperies are like those of a washed drawing. One sees indeed a little lake drapery here and there, and one strong yellow, he that receives the light. This picture has nothing of mistiness : the floor is light, and oily grey ; the table-cloth in comparison is blue ; and the figures are relieved from it strongly, by being dark ; but of no colour scarce. The figure of the woman who pours out liquor, though her shadows are very dark, her lights, particularly on the knee, are lighter than the ground. All the women at the table make one mass of light. The Last Supper, of him [Tintoretto] in S. Georgio, is managed something in the same, only the Apostles are all on one side. The light is behind them, and throws their shadows on the table. Scuola di S. Marco. (P. 70 MS. reversed.) Ob : Scola of St. Marco. Obs . — Where S. Marco relieves one of his followers — the hands of some of the figures fine. The buildings behind quite light ; the shadows oily yellow scumbled on it. The upper part of the sky dark, the lower white, to mass with the building. Trees by the side pretty dark, to mass with the figures, which are dark; but little lights here and there. The dead figure 1752, jetat. 29. HIS VENETIAN NOTES. 71 principal light, being in the middle of this darkish mass. Some of the draperies painted black and white, and then oil is scumbled on it, has a rich effect. Hatchet, and other tiling- lying on the ground, are only scumbled, as it were, and sometimes only outlines. A light pedestal and pillar, but broke by a figure on the left ; behind them darker pillars ; and then the distant light ones. Every here and there the mezzotint mass enters into the light ground, by means of white turbans strip’d, flesh, light reds, &c. No mistiness. The light buildings at a distance have likewise some dark doors, so as to mass with the foreground. The dark building^ on the left hand, the upper part lost in as dark a sky. The tyrant’s drapery on the other side the same. Sometimes on a dark dead colour white scumbled, and the ground left here and there for the partitions between stone, bricks, &c. Flesh, the whole laid in soft and broad in the dead colour, and then the shadows added by scumbling. (At p. G9 of MS.) Observations . — That (of) the carrying away the body of S. Marco, lightish ground — a group of mezzotinto figure, a camel, &c., which indeed receive jx light on one side, but in the middle is the body, light, all soft against the ground. The camel, oil. The body of the figure recovering himself, fine. This light body issues out of a mezzotint mass, which masses with the ground at the bottom, which is dark; the ground to separate upper part of the figure is light. In painting architecture, &c., after having dead-coloured it blue, when you would have it shine, scumble white and much oil. ; S. Zaccheria, not far from St. Mark . In the sacristy, a most admirable picture, of Paolo Veronese, ‘ The Virgin and Bambino, with St. John Baptist,’ on a pedestal; below SS. Jerome, Francis, and Catherine. A print by Ant. Luciani, drawn by Tiepolo. The V. (Virgin) and B. (Bambino) make one mass, St. John another. The pedestal is light, and the fluted pillar. This picture is painted in a very large manner ; large bold features, and wonderfully well coloured. It looks very much as if it 72 LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Chap. II. were painted on a Jess priming (i.e. gesso — priming of gypsum), and then smoothed with the finger. ’Tis the best preserved of any picture I know of his. The flesh of an Indian red, purply. A print, by Wagner. A fine picture, by Salviati, representing a 4 Miracle of SS. Cosmo and Damiano.’ St. Maria Guibenicco. Christ in the air, below, St. Giustina and Francesco di Paolo, Tintoret ; over the door, 4 Conversion of St. Paul,’ Tintoret ; the 4 Soffito,’ and many others, by Palma. II Redemtore. 4 Ascension of Christ,’ Tintoretto ; and another by F. Bassan. The Christ of the latter has a fine sweep. 4 Christ carrying to the Sepulchre,’ a fine picture by Palma. 4 Scourging of Christ,’ by Tintoret ; the 4 Baptism of Christ,’ begun by Palma, finished by somebody else. St. Anna , MonacJie. A 4 St. Francis,’ by Guido ; the same as that in the Colonna, and at Bologna in the Public Palace. School of St. RocJc, by Tintoret. In the ground floor, 4 The Annunciation.’ A print of it by Sadeler. The angel has just entered in at the window; a whole troop of boy-angels are likewise just entered. 4 The Magi,’ 4 Flight.’ Near seventy pictures by Tintoret. 4 The Salutation,’ where a whole string of angels are rushing in at the window. Fine effect. 4 St. Agnes,’ of Tintoretto, in Madonna del Orto. She in the middle, in white. The lamb’s head on the white. This mass is surrounded by figures in dark colours, but on each side towards the edges is a little light. A white cap or a shoulder with a bit of linen ; and, that the bottom of the picture may not be heavy, the legs of the figure lying are lightish. Two women’s heads and breasts over St. Agnes are light, to join the architecture behind, which is light on a light sky. A 1752 , JETAT. 20 . HIS VENETIAN NOTES. mass of dark architecture on one side near the eye. The angels above are dressed only in sky blue; lights white, the same as the sky, which is white and blue. On the 4 Presenta- tion of the Virgin ’ she is dressed in a dark colour on a light ground ; but her flesh, and some lights on the drapery, harmonise. The ground she stands on harmonises with the dark drapery ; as the upper part, being light, harmonises with the light ground ! A General Rule . — Ven. A figure or figures on a light ground ; the upper part should be as light if not lighter than the ground, the lower part dark, having lights here and there. The ground (properly) dark. When the second mass of light is too great, interpose some dark figure, to divide it in two. A white drapery edged and striped, or flowered with blue, as the bride in the 4 Marriage of Cana/ or the Venus in the Colonna, on a mellow oily ground. Goddiliers (so I read it — (?) 4 Cordeliers' referring to some picture in a church of that fraternity) are so. Zuccarelli (sic) says Paolo and Tintoret painted on a gess ground. He does not think Titian did. I am firmly of opinion they all did. A portrait — putting on a morning gown, one sleeve on only, the figure of Paolo in the Library at V enice — the figure relieved on one side only. If dark figures on a light ground, not relieved quite all round. Obs. — ‘Venice on the Throne/ &c. Her face, &c., in mezzotint shadow with reflections. The white petticoat with gold flowers, and a piece of white ermine, make the white mass against a light blue sky with flesh-colour clouds. The figure under Peace (has) her upper garments very dark, the under light being flesh-colour heightened with yellow. The curtain soft against the ground. No strong shadows at all. Justice rather darkish ; hands, linen, and head, lighter than the ground. Some touches of the drapery ditto, light on dark. The light drapery of Venice (is) darker towards the edges than the ground. 71 LIFE OF Sill JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Chap. II. A General Rule. A light sky of angels, the light by means of clouds, &c., and goes off by degrees ; but on one side a dark figure must come smart against the light, to give the picture a spirit. Titian’s 4 Salutation.’ If two figures, one overshadowed on a light ground, the other must be light on a dark ground. Laky garments, the lake scumbled on the gess ground, warm the lights, and if need be, glazed afterwards. 4 Ascension of the Virgin,’ in Giesu, by Tintoret. The sepulchre white marble surrounded with dark figures, tints, flesh, &c., little lights here and there, the Virgin above. A dark mass on light ground, her head, hands, and some of the angels, light to mass with the ground. S. Catarina. 4 The Marriage of St. Katherine in her Church.’ A gay, light picture. The upper part of the figures, light on a light ground ; pillar light, St. Catherine rather light ; the angel light under the light pillars. ’Tis not in his very best taste of colouring. Refettorio of St. Sebastian. Obs . — ‘The Woman washing Christ’s Feet,’ (by) Paolo (Vero- nese). The table-cloth, the principal light, divided by means of dark figures into many compartments. The nearer pillars oiled ’till they are yellow. Dogs painted, &c., on a gess ground. The 4 Purification.’ Ditto, on the organ (in the Church of S. Sebastian). This principal light is a changeable piece of silk, flesh colour, heightened with yellow ; a boy with a yellow drapery on his breast comes on it. No other light but what the flesh makes, and indeed a dog, which is inclinable to flesh colour. A square pillar, light. The principal light of the picture, where the two saints are going down steps to be martyred, is the same colour on a woman kneeling. This is a very good manner ; it makes the principal (light) of the flesh. If the drapery was flesh colour, like that in the 4 Transfiguration,’ it might be still better. The buildings of this last picture are all white. 1752 , -33TAT. 29 , HIS VENETIAN NOTES. 75 Obs. — ‘St. Sebastian before the Tyrant.’ All dark figures on a light ground (a pretty building), except him who holds a horse : he is pink-colour, sleeves of the same tone as the ground ; the sky originally was blue with white clouds ; the blue is now turned black. The St. Sebastian a fine figure. The buildings are only two tones, one lightish, the other a degree lower to smart (i.e. give vivacity to) shadows. Chiesa dell’ TJmilta. Pieta, with the three Maries, angels by Tintoret, large Car- racesco. A print by Sadeler. St. Peter and Paul ; admirable picture by Bassan, superior to anything I ever saw of his ; more grace ; the background and the whole enlightened, and the feet of the figure are seen. The soffito is all painted by Paulo. ‘ The Assumption of the Virgin,’ with (Step?) the ‘Adoration of the Shepherds,’ with the 4 Annunziata.’ Ornaments likewise by him. Chiesa de Frari . On the right as you enter the great door, after you are past the altar of the Crucifix, is the ‘Presentation,’ with many saints ; below, an admirable picture of Salviati, as fine as Titian or Paulo ; ’tis in their style. The ‘ Martyrdom of St. Katherine,’ by Palma. The great altar, ‘The Assumption of the Virgin,’ by Titian. Most terribly dark ; I saw it near ; ’tis nobly painted. The Virgin, with Christ, on a pedestal, below St. Peter and St. Francis directly under, and under him many portraits, profile most, incomparably well painted, without shadow. On the side (where) St. Peter is, lower is a warrior with a standard, perhaps St. George. This picture is very dark, except the heads of the portraits, and those are almost covered with pots of arti- ficial flowers and candles. A print by Fevre. S. Agostino. ‘ Ecce Homo,’ with Pilate and others, a good picture, by Paris Bordone, in the style of Titian. Chiesa di San Nicolo de Frari. High Altar — The Virgin with Angels above; below, St. 76 LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Chap. IT. Nicholas, Catherine, Anthony of Padua, Francis, and St. Sebas- tian. ’Tis so dark that you see nothing but the body of the St. Sebastian ; and he looks as if he had lost his head, ’tis so dark. No doubt it was painted so a little at first, to preserve the mass of his body [interlined] of a beautiful shape. S. Nicolo is said to be from the head of Laocoon, which Titian much admired. A jjrint by Febre ; and another in wood by Titian himself, a little different from this picture. On the right hand of this chapel is the ‘ Last Supper,’ by Benedetto Caliari, according to Boschini. Bidolfi says ’tis Paolo. Under the ‘ Baptism of Christ,’ and at a distance, the ‘ Tempta- tion,’ by Paolo. The other side, the ‘ Resurrection,’ by Carlotto. Ridolfi says Paulo. Under, ‘ Christ in Limbo,’ by Palma. Two Profets and two Sibils by Paulo. The ‘Resurrection,’ and ‘ Christ before Pilate,’ by Benedetto. Ridolfi says Paulo. ‘ Christ on the Cross,’ Paulo. Soffitto, all by Paolo. In the middle the ‘ Visit of the Wise Kings,’ St. Nicolas, St. Francis receiving the Stigmata, a print by Lovisa. In the corners the four Evangelists : two of which, Matthew and Luke, prints by Febre. St. Maria Formosa. The door of the church pretty architecture; an Altar, by Palma Vecchio, divided into many compartments ; in the middle, Sta. Barbara, a very good figure. St. Francesco della Vigna. 6 The Virgin and Bambino,’ with many saints below, as St. Joseph, John, Catherine, and Ant. Abbate, by Paolo. A print by Agostino Caracci. In the sacristy, painted in oil on the wall, the colours scaled off in several places, and otherwise much damaged, ‘ The Virgin and Christ,’ and two angels below playing on musical instru- ments. St. J. Baptist and Girolamo, by Paulo. Opposite is a copy, in little, of the ‘ Supper,’ of Paolo, where the woman is drying Christ’s feet, and a man offers a napkin. The original is in France. 1752, uETat. 29. HIS VENETIAN NOTES. 77 Obs. ‘ The Banquet of Paolo' a little Copy in the Sacristy at S. Francesco della Vigna. The distant building, white on a blue sky, with white clouds. The shadows of the buildings the same tone as the blue sky, the lights the same as the white clouds. The figures, in strong colours, encompass the two table-cloths ; that on the right side (is) the principal, and is enlarged by some of the furthermost figures at the table being clothed in white, and another in light yellow. A man with a table-cloth, the white cloth hinders the two table-cloths from appearing spots. The line of the other table is broke by a boy, which comes very soft upon it. Another figure light towards the cloth, to make the light go off by degrees. The near pillar light, a woman’s head and back light on it ; lower part, red darkish. The 4 Christ in the White Sheet,’ in the School of St. Mark, will serve extremely well for the apparition that comes to Brutus ; the upper part may be kept in shadow, like those fryars at the Church at San Gregorio. The Brutus, the man holding the possessed child in the 4 Transfiguration.’ Obs. on the 4 Conviti ’ di Paolo , in John and Paul. The mass of light is the table-cloth in the middle, the Christ with the figures on each side tender. The whole distant build- ing and sky light, as usual. The building on the foreground, light and dark. Two pedestals on each side the table-cloth, a little distant, light. The flesh of none of the figures lighter than its ground ; at the most ’tis only the same tone, sometimes darker. No broad light, but this middle tablecloth, unless you will except the two pedestals before mentioned. Scola della Caritd. Adam and Eve (after Tintoretto). His back a mass of light, his thigh lost in the ground ; the shadows in general of all the pictures are the colour of the ground, sometimes a little greyer, sometimes warmer. The landscapes all mellow, except a little blue, distant hills and sky ; black trees ; on others more yellow. The nearer hills are painted slap-dash with white, and grey, and flesh tints. The leaves of the trees ditto, then scumbled over with a mellow 78 LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Chap. IL colour. The shadow of Eve grey, a mellow colour scumbled oyer, or oil. ‘ Cain and Abel.’ The shadows of Abel a grey colour, without white, scumbled. The shadows painted last. Old Man’s Portrait. All the shadows, the marking of the nose, the eyes, and mouth, entirely painted af (after) the flesh was dry. They all appear to be painted on a gess priming, at least a white one. A very light figure on a light ground, with dark hair, Ac., and other little strengths, must have a fine effect. ‘ The Presentation,’ by Titian. Principal light (is) the profile woman in the middle. The old woman underneath has nothing light but the linen on her head and breast. The woman holding the child, light. Santa Maria Mater Domini. The ‘Finding the Cross,’ by Tintoret. A print by Giuseppe Maria Metelli ; commonly on red paper. Saint Salvatore. High Altar — The ‘ Transfiguration,’ by Titian. Christ in white, only, on the same-coloured ground, relieved by his hair being black, and a shadow on thigh, which goes off by degrees. The figures on each side enlightened. The ‘Salutation,’ ditto. On it is writ, Titianus pinxit. The angel a mass of light. The glory, dove, and angels, the principal. The white of the angel seems to be painted grey, and then run over with very yellow oily white in the lights. On the Virgin, nothing light, but head, breast, and hands. Tutti li Santi. The ‘ Salutation of Mary and Elizabeth,’ by Cavalier Kidolfi. An imitation of Paolo. A large ‘ Crucifixion,’ by Pietro Vecchia. An admirable picture ; the whole is Avell composed, and the particularities are nobly painted, a large, broad manner. There are heads in this picture equal to any masters whatsoever. Over Christ on the cross is the Padre Eterno. An angel directs the 1752 , iETAT. 29 . HIS VENETIAN NOTES. 79 g-ood thief to Christ, whilst devils are very busy with the other. A figure on a white horse, on the fore-ground, leans forward and looks up with great expression. The horse’s head light, darker and darker towards his breast. A dark boy covers his legs. A whole-length figure another mass of light ; dark figures about them ; some have breeches and stockings all in one, striped with red — slashes in sleeves. /S'. Gervaso (S. Trovaso). The ‘Last Supper,’ by Tintoret; fine picture. Prints by Sadeler and Lovisa. Opposite is N. S. (our Saviour) washing his disciples’ feet, dark manner. A print by Lovisa. ‘St. Anthony tempted by the Devil and some handsome Women; N. S. (our Saviour) descending to succour him.’ A good picture, by Tintoret. The upper part of the saint, the same colour (as) the ground. Christ descending comes dark oil the light ground ; his legs, &c., lost in the dark sky. The Great Altar — A most pompous ‘ Slaughter of the Inno- cents.’ A deal of merit, but the subject does not require so much magnificence. In the sacristy a Madonna. Portrait, life, in crayons, by llosalva. Near this church is ‘ Casa Tofietti,’ painted in fresco by Tinto- ret, with friezes of boys and naked figures, admirably drawn and coloured. Below, Aurora and Titan ; on the other side, ‘ Cybele in a Car.’ Prints of these two last by Lovisa. This is esteemed the best fresco in Venice; much decayed. /S'. Maria Maggiore. A large picture : a woman who is delivered in the sea. A woman on horseback, a fine picture. A Boy with a Dog. I have seen a drawing in England. Varottari. Altar maggiore — An ‘ Assumption,’ by Paolo. The principal light is very strong. A kneeling figure in the middle of the picture, his back towards you — a white loose dra- pery on him. On the sides are the ‘ Visit of the Wise Kings,’ by Tintoret. The two opposite by Domenico Tintoret. 80 LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Chap. IT. The chapel, on the left, the fine 4 St. John Baptist, by Titian.’ In perfect preservation, admirably drawn and coloured. The flesh on a blue sky, with white clouds ; the breast forms the principal mass of light ; the mass of the face separated by a black beard ; the thigh, by the skin he holds in his hand ; the legs of a low tint ; the right thigh quite lost ; shadow of drapery ditto ; veins marked, but not blue, have the same effect as those in the Laocoon. The whole finely drawn. The lamb another mass ; the white clouds, another ; waterfall, another ; scarce anything seen but the white of the waterfall; three or four trees; those behind the gess ground oiled, with touches of shadow ; those before dotted dark : the back, the light gess. Hung up in the church, a picture of Noah’s Ark. The 4 Seasons, and others, by Bassan. 4 Christ in the Garden,’ little, by Paulo ; fine clair-oscure. An 4 Ecce Homo,’ by Paris Bor- done. A 4 Madonna,’ on board, with cherubims and angels ; a picture of much merit, by Giovanni Bellini. ( Chiesa di S.) Pantaleone. St. Pantaleone, that recovers a boy supported by a priest ; and a portrait, by Paolo. The soflitto of all the church is by (J. Ant.) Fumiani. 4 St. (Bernardino) curing in a Hospital,’ by Paolo (in his old age). 4 St. Bernardino and Paolo,’ ditto. Scuola della Carita, by the Salute . Thirteen pictures by Tintoret. 4 Padre Eterno creating the World.’ The ‘Formation of Eve,’ a fine picture. As is also ‘Eve tempting Adam,’ and 4 Cain and Abel:’ all finely drawn, and coloured, and composed. Prints by Lovisa. The 4 Coronation of the Madonna,’ and the 4 Trinity ’ are not by him. Two fine portraits by Tintoret. Giovanne Elemosinario, di Rialto. The altar- (piece), representing 4 St. Gio. Elemosinario giving Alms to the Poor,’ is a fine picture of Titian. 1752 , jstat. 29 . HIS VENETIAN NOTES. 81 Obs . — The white rochet shadow dark to mass with the ground, the short cloak being dark, the upper part of the rochet is like- wise so, to mass with it. The left arm in shadow. The Cupola is by Pordenone, but damaged so as scarce any- thing to be seen. S. Polo. The ‘ Marriage of the Virgin’ (on the left), by Paolo. The lower part of St. Joseph catches a little light, otherwise they are both in a mezzotint on a light sky. High Altar — The ‘ Conversion of St. Paul,’ but half covered by things before it, by Palma. Four pictures on the sides of the altar, by Palma. The chapel on the left, four pictures by Salviati, the history of Christ. 6 Assumption/ by Tintoretto, covered by a jointed baby. On the left of the principal door, is the ‘Last Supper/ of Tintoret, where there is a figure leaning back, reaching bread to a beggar, who lies along. Christ, with both hands, giving bread to the Apostles. In the middle isle (aisle) the two middle pictures above are very good ones of Cav. Bambini. On one side the ‘ Conversion of St. Paul/ on the other the ‘Preach- ing at Athens.’ There are many other good pictures dispersed about it. S. Sebctstiano . Paolo’s monument in this Church. The soffitto is painted by Paolo, in three compartments, and some long slips with boys and festoons of fruit. The first com- partment is Easter (Esther) in the presence of King Ahasuerus, and Mordecai by : in the middle, the same queen : in the third, the ‘ Triumph of Mordecai ;’ with subjects from the history of Esther. The High Altar — the ‘Virgin and Bambino/ above; below, St. Sebastian, St. Catherine, John Baptist, Pietro, and St. Fran- cis ; and a Padre, a countryman of Paolo, and promoter of this work, by Paolo. A print by Alessandro della Via. On each side (of the high altar) is a fine picture by Paolo, on the right St. Mark and Marcelliano condemned, and going to VOL. I. G 82 LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Chap. II. suffer death. They are met by their father, who is sustained by servants, who prays them to live. The mother follows in tears. The wife (of Marcelliano) meets him with his little Children ; St. Sebastian, on their side, encourages them, showing them an angel with the book of life. This is one of Paolo’s best pictures. On the other side is St. Sebastian about being (fastened) to a piece of wood to be martyred with clubs. There are many heathen priests about him, endeavouring (to persuade him) to idolatry. A print by Metelli. Over the pulpit, a small 4 Holy Family,’ by Paolo. On the organ, outside, the 4 Purification ;’ a print by Febre. Within, the 4 Paralytic healed,’ by ditto. On the Pergolato (on the body of the organ) — The 4 Nativity,’ ditto. In the Sacristy — Some of his first works, a ceiling, but indif- ferent ; Moses, serpent, &c. In the Coro — 4 St. Sebastian before the Tyrant.’ Fine, ditto. Opposite, in fresco, his martyrdom ; no dogs ; fine ornaments, columns, &c., about these. Isold Murano. Pietro Martire . The High Altar — A most capital picture of Salviati, the 4 Descent from the Cross.’ As well as I remember, the Christ is a good deal the same as that (in St. Croce, I think it is) in Florence. The Christ crosses the picture. The Virgin swoons, and in as fine an attitude as was ever invented; the figures around her are all fine. Four pictures by Paolo, two on each side the door. Burano. St. Mauro Monache . The High Altar — The Martyrdom of that Saint, by Paolo. Torcello St. Antonio. The right side of the church, looking towards the high altar, is all painted by Paolo. The high altar, three saints sitting, by ditto. 1752, iETAT. 29. HIS VENETIAN NOTES. The organ is the best part of this work ; inside is a fine 4 Salutation ;’ on the outside, the 4 Adoration of the Magi and all the little ornaments in chiaroscuro are likewise of him. St. Angelo. On the right of the high altar, a Pieta, with St. John Evange- list, St. Jerom, two statues, a sepulchre in the middle. This was began by Titian and finished by Palma. The statues are entirely of Titian, and are very fine and mellow. The lightest part is little more than the colour of Jess (gesso). S. Stefano. The Cloister, by Pordenone, much decayed. St. Cassiano. Saints John Baptist, Jerom, Mark, Peter, and Paul ; the best picture I ever saw of old Palma. The organ, by Tintoret. Capella Maggiore, all by Tintoret. The altar, 4 Kesurrection ;’ one side the 4 Crucifixion ;’ other, 4 Limbo.’ In the Befettorio, the ‘Banquet of Simon Leproso.’ This is the second picture he made in Venice on this subject. The woman washing Christ’s feet, at the end of the picture, the right side. ’Tis much decayed. A print, in two sheets, by Metelli. Padri Gesuiti. The 4 Martyrdom of St. Lorenzo at Night,’ by Titian. ’Tis so very dark a picture, that, at first casting my eyes on it, I thought there was a black curtain before it. He painted this same subject for ‘Philip King of Spain, but somewhat dif- ferent from this : this (picture) having in the background archi- tecture, and figures, particularly one with a torch coming out from between the pillars; the other has smoke clouds, and two boys above. Of this latter is a print (by) Corn. Cort. The ‘Assumption of the Virgin,’ by Tintoret. A print by Lovisa. St. Ermagora , detto S. Marcuola. The High Altar — On one side, the 4 Last Supper,’ by Tintoret. Opposite, 4 Washing the Feet,’ ditto. G 2 84 LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Chap. IT. Obs. on the ‘ Last Supper ,’ of Tintoret. — The table-cloth, as usual, the principal light, but divided by a dark figure, so as to make a secondary light ; then comes a dark figure which covers entirely the end of the table. Then comes a figure in white satin. At the other end of the table there is likewise another light (on) one of the figures, in this manner (a sketch), and a light figure on each end of the picture. On the steps, a dog sitting on his tail, as begging. Obs. on ‘ Washing the Feet.’ — The ground and back white ; a dark colonnade, with banisters, runs across the picture. Corpus Domini. ‘St. Domenico throwing the Book in the Fire.’ A good picture of Seb. Ricci. S. Mareilian. In the sacristy is an admirable picture, by Titian, well pre- served, only too yellow, of ‘ Tobias and the Angel.’ The heads are remarkably fine. A print by Lovisa. S. Fustacio. The 4 Flagellation of Christ,’ by Giorgione. Another picture joined to it of another hand. St. Lucia ; the architect Palladio. After so long an absence Reynolds, no doubt, longed to be at borne again. North cote tells us, as on Sir Joshua’s own authority, in illustration of his yearning for England, that while at Venice, being at the opera with some other English gentlemen, a ballad was played or sung which had been popular in London when he was last there, and that it brought tears into his eyes and the eyes of his companions. [On the 1 6th of August he left Venice, and the same day arrived at Padua; on the 19th he slept at Torre Confini ; on the 20th he passed Peschiera and Lago di Garda, slept at Osteria del Papa, and on the 21st 1752, iETAT. 29. HIS ADMIRATION OF HUDSON. 85 arrived at Brescia ; on the 22nd at Bergamo ; on the 23rd at Milan ; and on the 27th he left Milan on his journey home. No remarks on any of the pictures in these places are to be found in his note-books. ] Between Turin and the foot of the Alps he met his old master Hudson, who, in company with Boubiliac, was hurrying to Rome merely to say he had been there. Hudson travelled, indeed, so rapidly, that he met Rey- nolds again in Paris, and they returned to England together. Reynolds seems never to have entirely lost his early admiration of Hudson ; and, indeed, the feeling of a modest mind towards its first instructor is not to be eradicated. We know with what respect Raphael, when commissioned by the Pope to cover the entire walls of the Yatican with his works, treated those of Perugino, a man with whose sordid nature his own had nothing in common ; and we know, also, that Hogarth always spoke in much higher terms than we should confirm of Sir James Thornhill, notwithstanding the harsh treatment he received from him when he did Sir James the honour to marry his daughter. 1 That Reynolds and Hudson should have travelled from Paris to London together, could scarcely have been a matter of necessity ; and we may, therefore, suppose they found it agreeable to do so. Many years later, when Reynolds had built a house on Richmond Hill, and Hudson occupied one on the opposite side of the Thames, the latter made some remark on the cir- 1 The reader may perhaps smile at finding Hogarth classed with modest painters. But I am not inclined to retract the classification, of which I shall have something to say in a future page. 86 LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Chat. II. cumstance, and Sir Joshua replied, “ I never expected that I should look down on you , Sir.” At Rome Reynolds had taken under his care a young Italian, Giuseppe Marchi, his first pupil. In his future career Marchi did not succeed as a painter, hut he became a very good engraver. He was a man of sense and integrity, of an excellent temper, and great sim- plicity of character. On reaching Lyons, Reynolds found his purse nearly empty. He had only six louis left , 1 two of which he gave to Marchi with orders to proceed as he could and meet him in Paris. When he had been eight days there, Marchi joined him, having walked from Lyons. Reynolds saw everything most remarkable in Paris, and found time also to paint portraits of Mr. Gauthier , 2 and of Mrs. Chambers, whom he met there with her husband, the distinguished architect, afterwards Sir William Chambers. She was a beautiful woman, and he made a beautiful picture of her. He painted her in a straw hat shading the upper part of her face. He did not form a high opinion of the existing state of the French school. Watteau had been dead more than thirty years, and all that w~as excellent in French art, indeed in the art of the whole Continent, had died with him. He observed of French art, — “ The French cannot boast of above one painter 3 of a truly just and correct 1 This was evidently only a tem- ' been assisted with loans by his old porary embarrassment. He had pro- ; friend Mr. Craunch, and his sisters Mrs. bably no letter of credit on Lyons, | Palmer and Mrs. Johnson. — Ed. and was unable to replenish his purse j 2 Engraved in an oval. — Ed. till he reached Paris. Besides Key- | 3 Le Sueur doubtless. — Ed. nolds’s own Devonport savings, he had J 1752, jEtat. 29. IIIS OPINION OF FRENCH ART. 87 taste, free of any mixture of affectation or bombast, and he was always proud to own from what models he had formed his style — to wit, Raffaelle and the Antique ; but all the others of that nation seem to have taken their ideas of grandeur from romances, instead of the Roman or Grecian histories. Thus their heroes are decked out so nice and fine, that they look like knights- errant just entering the lists at a tournament, in gilt armour, and loaded most unmercifully with silk, satin, velvet, gold, jewels, &c., and hold up their heads, and carry themselves with an air like a petit-maitre with his dancing-master at his elbow ; thus corrupting the true taste, and leading it astray from the pure, the simple, and grand style, by a mock majesty and false magnificence. Even the rude uncultivated manner of Caravaggio is still a better extreme than those affected turns of the head, fluttering draperies, contrasts of attitude, and distortions of passion.” These remarks are just as true of French sculpture : Roubiliac, who was a thoroughly honest man, told Revnolds, that when he went to look at his own works in Westminster Abbey, on his return from Rome, “By God ! my own work looked to me meagre and starved, as if made of nothing but tobacco-pipes.” After spending a month in Paris, Reynolds arrived in London October 1G, 1752. CHAPTER III. 1753_1764. ^Etat. 30—41. The health of Reynolds impaired — He spends three months in Devonshire — Dr. John Mudge — Return of Reynolds to London — Takes apart- ments in St. Martin’s Lane — The first drawing academy after Sir J. Thornhill’s — His sister Frances — Her character — Sketch of the times — Reynolds paints a portrait of Marchi — Hudson’s observation on it — Portrait painters of the time — He removes to Newport Street — His prices — His great industry — Lord Edgcumbe obtains much employment for Reynolds — His whole-length of Keppel — Liotard — Mason’s descrip- tion of Reynolds’s mode of painting — The author’s remarks on his drawing and colouring, and on his use of nostrums — Account by Reynolds of his own practice — He becomes acquainted with Johnson — Introduction of Roubiliac to Johnson — Johnson’s fondness for tea and Miss Reynolds — Public events from 1754 to 17G0 — His circle in 1755 — Negotiations with the Dilettanti for the establishment of an Academy of Arts — His practice in 1755 — Sitters for 1755 — (1756) : First portrait of Johnson — Portrait of young Mudge — Events of 1756 and 1757 — Byng's execu- tion — Popularity of Italian and neglect of English art by patrons — Sitters for 1757 — Increasing practice — His visiting list — Events and engagements in 1758 — Sitters for 1758 — The Duke of Richmond’s statue gallery opened for the use of art students — Reynolds paints the Prince of Wales, afterwards George III. — He paints Kitty Fisher — Portraits of Woodward, Barry, and Garrick — Of Horace Walpole — Contributions to the Idler — Entries in pocket-book for 1759 — Mason’s account of Reynolds painting his Venus — Sitters for 1759 — Exhibition of pictures at the Foundling Hospital — First Exhibition in the Strand, 1760 — Reynolds removes to Leicester Square — His carriage — Events of the year — Accession of George III. — Sitters for 1760 — Portraits of Lord Ligonier and of Sterne — The coronation and marriage of the King, and its beauties painted by Re} r nolds — Literary acquaintances; Goldsmith, M‘Pherson — Entries in the pocket-book for 1761 — Sitters for 1761 — Exhibition of 1762 — His portraits of Lady Elizabeth Keppel, and of Garrick between Tragedy and Comedy — Capture of the Havannali — The glories of the Keppels — Reynolds’s dining-houses at this time — Ramsay appointed Court painter — The King of the Cherokees — Reynolds visits Devonshire in company with Johnson — Northcote, for the first time, sees Reynolds — 1763 : Boswell’s introduction to Johnson — Portrait of Lord Bute — Wilkes’s committal to the Tower — Fire at Lady Moleswortli’s — Exhibition of the year — 1764 : Political agitations of the time — Reynolds’s studio a neutral ground 1753, .setat. 30. HIS HEALTH IMPAIRED. 89 — Exhibition of 1764 — The Literary Club established — Reynolds dan- gerously ill — Johnson writes to him — Visit to Blenheim — Death of Hogarth — Entries in the pocket-book for 1764 — Sitters of the year. The time spent by Reynolds abroad was no doubt passed in much enjoyment. He had, however, his anxieties for the* future, of which a portion of his Florence journal has given us a glimpse, and he had no doubt worked hard. Northcote tells us that, on his return, “ he found his health in such an indifferent state as to judge it prudent to pay a visit to his native air but this he would naturally do, whether well or ill. He remained three months in Devonshire ; and while at Plymouth painted a portrait of Dr. John Mudge, 1 an eminent physician ; a man of great abilities, and not more esteemed for the variety of his knowledge than loved for his amiable manners. He was a son of the Rev. Zachariah Mudge, Prebendary of Exeter, to whose eloquence, learning, and virtues, we have the testimony of Johnson and Burke. He told Burke that he owed to Zachariah Mudge his first disposition to generalize and to view things in the abstract. His price for a head was at this time but five guineas, and the portrait of Dr. Mudge, and one of a young 1 This portrait is now at the resi- | dence of Mr. Mudge, at Buckland, not ' far from Plympton. It represents ' Dr. Mudge almost in profile, he wears ! a reading cap, and is turning over the leaves of a folio. The head is a very noble one, with marked and regular ieatures. But owing, I have no doubt, to an injudicious removal of the var- nish which locked up the glazing j colours, the carnations have utterly disappeared, leaving the head as modelled in the first stage of painting in little more than tones of black and white. Both the doctor’s portrait — still in possession of the family — and two of his father, have been engraved ; the former by Grozier, Dickenson, and S. W. Reynolds, the latter by Watson. —Ed. 90 LIFE OF Sill JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Chap. III. lady, were all that he undertook while at Plymouth, being strongly urged by Lord Edgcumbe to establish himself as soon as possible in the metropolis. In com- pliance with this advice he returned to London, and took handsome apartments in St. Martin’s Lane, at that time the fashionable residence' of artists. Here he was joined by his youngest sister, Frances, who took charge of his household. [The house was No. 104, and had been successively occupied by Thornhill, Van Nost the sculptor, and the friend of Hogarth, Hayman, now painting his- torical pictures and portraits in London. “ Just behind the house,” says Smith, “ upon the site of the present meeting-house for Friends, vulgarly called Quakers, in St. Peter’s-court, stood the first studio of Roubiliac. There, among other works, he executed that famous statue of Handel for Vauxhall Gardens. Upon his leaving this studio it was fitted up as a drawing academy, supported by a subscription raised by numer- ous artists, Mr. Michael Moser being unanimously chosen as their keeper. Hogarth was much against this establishment, though he presented to it several casts and other articles which had been the property of his father-in-law Sir James Thornhill. He declared that it was the surest way to bring artists to beggary, by rendering their education so easy as one guinea and a half and two guineas per quarter ; since it would induce hundreds of foolish parents to send their boys to keep them out of the streets, whether the y had talent or not. However, the school com- menced. Reynolds, Mortimer, M ; Ardell, Nollekens, Spang, Taylor, so frequently mentioned in this work, 1753, JETAT. 30. CHARACTER OF MISS REYNOLDS. 91 and my father, with numerous others, became mem- bers ”] 1 Frances Reynolds, though she lived with her brother many years, was certainly not his favourite sister. Madame d’Arblay, who became acquainted with her at a much later period, may enable us to understand why. She describes Miss Reynolds as “ a woman of worth and understanding, but of a singular character ; who, unfortunately for herself, made, throughout life, the great mistake of nourishing a singularity which was her bane, as if it had been her greatest blessing It was that of living in an habitual perplexity of mind, and irresolution of conduct, which to herself was restlessly tormenting, and to all around her wtis teasingly wearisome. “ Whatever she suggested or planned one day, was reversed the next ; though resorted to on the third, as if merely to be again rejected on the fourth ; and so on almost endlessly ; for she rang not the changes on her opinions and designs in order to bring them into har- mony and practice, but wavering to stir up new com- binations and difficulties ; till she found herself in the midst of such chaotic obstructions as could chime in with no given purpose, but must needs be left to ring their own peal, and to begin again just where they began at first.” This lady painted miniatures, and copied her brother’s pictures. Of these 'copies he said, “ They make other people laugh, and me cry .” 2 1 Life of Nollekens, vol. ii. p. 230. | that the brother and sister were evi- 2 It may be as well to say here | dently unsuited to each other. Madame 92 LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Chap. III. [A few words may be given to the state of England and the capital at the moment of Reynolds's return. cVArblay’s character of Miss R. enables ’ us to see clearly enough how antago- j nistic she must have been to her placid, ! even-tempered brother, whose leading principle of life was to overlook petty annoyances, and never to worry him- self about anything in which regret was unavailing and remedy out of the question. Miss Reynolds, after pre- siding over her brother’s house for many years, left it, and, after trying Devonshire, which she seems to have found intolerable, with her experience of London and the society of her brother’s circle, and Paris, where she was in the autumn of 1768, finally established herself as a lodger in the house of Dr. Hoole, the translator of * Ariosto,’ whose portrait, prefixed to the first edition of his transla- tion, she painted. She seems from her letters, and from verses and passages in a commonplace book of hers in possession of Miss Gwatkin, to have suffered from an unrequited attachment, and to have considered herself hardly used by her brother. Thus I find her lamenting the stag- nation of her powers in the countiy. “ I am incapable of painting ; my faculties are all becalmed in the dead region of Torrington. I want some grateful gale of praise to push my bark to sea, some incentive to emulation to awake my slumbering powers. I thank my God who put it in my head to acquire this de- lightful art, and in a manner called my light out of darkness, for necessity struck the hot spark, that as the world recedes I may have something to fill up the vacancies in my heart made by ungrateful returns to the most unfeigned fraternal love and purest friendship.” Again, in a rough draft of one of her letters, without date or address, we may read the perplexed, self-tonnenting, and painfull}’ consci- entious character, which perfectly bears out what Madame d’Arblay says of the writer: — “As the mind must have some pursuit, and I unhappily have none that is so satisfactory, or that appeal’s to me so praiseworthy, as painting, and having been thrown out of the path nature had in a peculiar manner fitted me for,” — poor woman ! she means that of ministering to her brother, — “ and as it is natural to endeavour to excel in something, I confess I can’t help pleasing myself with the hope that I might arrive at a tolerable degree of perfection in these little pictures [fancy subjects of chil- dren and landscapes], could I refresh imagination and improve my ideas by the sight of pictures of that sort, and by the judgment of connoisseurs. But I must beg you to believe that nothing but the greatest necessity should prompt me to make any advantage of them in a manner unsuitable to the character of a gentlewoman, both for my own sake, as well as for my brother’s.” She then adverts to the income allowed her by her brother, as sufficient to keep her within the sphere of gentility, “ without pecuniary schemes to raise it higher.” She con- cludes, “ The height of my desire is to lie able to spend a few months in the year near the arts and sciences, but if you think that it will rather bring my character in question, for my brother to be in London, and I not at his house, I will content myself with residing at Windsor. It would give me the sincerest satisfaction to have his opinions and advice in this, as well as in every action of my life ; 1753, 2ETAT. 30. SKETCH OF THE TIMES. 93 It is true that the painter s connection with the public life of his time is indirect. We only catch glimpses of the outer world as it is given back to us from the looking-glass of his painting-room. But the yearly list of Sir Joshua’s sitters, from 1753 to 1789, supplies, to those who can read it aright, at once a running commentary and an index to the history of the period. The leading actors in the dramas of politics, fashion, and literature saunter into the fashionable studio, sit down, rest themselves, chat over the incidents of the performance, the look of the house, the gossip of the green-room, and, before they quit the place, have left their faces reflected for all time in the faithful mirror of Sir Joshua’s canvas. So numerous are these visitors that it is hardly possible in the limits of this Life even to record their names. To label them, — to give the distinctive anec- dote, or incident, or point of celebrity to each, — would of itself require another volume as large as this. We have no lists of sitters for 1753-4. But the loss is the less to be regretted, since the time was a singularly dull one. There was, as Horace , Walpole writes in 1753, — “no war, no politics, no parties, no madness, and no scandal. In the memory of England there never was so inanimate an age : it is more fashionable to go to church than to either House of Parliament. Even the era of the Gunnings is over : both sisters have lain in, and have scarce made one but he is so much engaged in busi- ness, that I fear I should receive no answer. However, I should not think it right to draw so near to him as Windsor, without first acquainting him of it.” — E d. 94 LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Chai\ III. paragraph in the newspapers, though their names were grown so renowned that in Ireland the beggar- women bless you with, 6 The luck of the Gunnings attend you ! ’ ” In fact, no public event of the time filled half as much space in the mouth, eye, and ear of London as those lovely Irish sisters who had been married at the beginning of 1752, the younger to the Duke of Hamilton, “ hot, debauched, extravagant, and equally damaged in his fortune and his person and the elder to Lord Coventry, “ a grave young lord, of the remains of the patriot breed,” as Walpole describes him, who seems to have been a pedant, but passionately attached to his beautiful young wife. Lady Coventry died in 1759, and had the seeds of death in her when she married. Reynolds painted them both, in the year in which the elder and lovelier sister died of consump- tion. Walpole is our great authority for the strange furore excited by their surpassing loveliness. He tells us how even the noble mob in the drawing-room clam- bered upon chairs and tables to look at them ; how their doors were mobbed by crowds eager to see them get intc* their chairs, and places taken early at the theatres when they were expected ; how seven hundred people sat up all night, in and about a Yorkshire inn, to see the Duchess of Hamilton get into her post-chaise in the morning; while a Worcester shoemaker made money by showing the shoe he was making for the Countess of Coventry. These reigning beauties had a rival in Lady Caroline Petersham, who, with the Yiscountess Townsliend and the Duchess of Devonshire, kept the town in talk ; SKETCH OF THE TIMES. 95 1753 , 2ETAT. 30 . the first by lier beauty and oddity; the second by her cleverness ; and the third by her meanness and vulgarity. The manners of the town at that time are best reflected in the letters of Walpole and in the pictures of Hogarth. They were coarse, rollicking, hearty times, with strongly-marked demarcations of classes; times of great relish for material pleasures, eating, drinking, talking, and merry-making at clubs, taverns, and tea-gardens. Faro and hazard flourished’ at White’s and the other fashionable clubs in St. James’s street and Pall-Mall. George Selwyn was the reigning wit, and Lord March, Sir George Bland, and Lord Mountford the boldest punters. The grand tour was still a part of every gentle- man’s education ; a varnish of connoisseurship was thus acquired by the few, and it was thought an absolute canon of good taste to profess the most sovereign con- tempt for native art. The pretentiousness and utter hollowness of this connoisseurship was of course intole- rable to such a genuine man as Hogarth ; and Reynolds, in his heart, must have laughed at it, though he “ shifted his trumpet,” and “ only took snuff” instead of doing fierce battle with the connoisseurs, like his more pugna- cious contemporary. He painted down the sneerers, instead of writing and talking at them. The Dilettanti Society included the best of the connoisseurs, and their Sunday dinners were a favourite resort of Reynolds, after he became a member of the Society, in 1767. Murders and crimes abounded, and the law still resorted to the gallows as the great means of repression. 96 LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Chap. III. Highwaymen infested our roads, and cried “ Stand and deliver ! ” even in the streets of London. Seventeen wretches were turned oft' in a morning at Newgate, where gaol-fever decimated prisoners and counsel. Miss Jefferies, murderess of the uncle who had debauched her, and Miss Blandy, poisoner of the father whose dying efforts were all to save the life of his destroyer, were almost as great nine-days’ wonders as the Gunnings. Politics this year, as a witty woman of the time said, took rank after the two young ladies who were married, and the two young ladies who were hanged. Henry Pelham, and his brother the Duke of Newcastle, still retained, as Ministers, that absolute empire which the Government owed mainly to its successful suppression of the Jacobite attempt of the ’45, and to Hawke’s naval successes. The power of the Pelhams had been consolidated by the withdrawal of the Bedford section of the ministry in 1751. The 4 per cents, had been reduced in 1750. The peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, con- cluded in 1748, inglorious as it was, was not yet unpopular. Pitt and Fox were both muzzled by office. The death of the Prince of Wales, in March, 1751, had greatly checked the hopes and intrigues of the Oppo- sition, which had made its head-quarters in Leicester House. The only stir on the languid surface of public affairs was in Ireland, where the Duke of Dorset, as Lord Lieutenant, was at loggerheads with the Irish Parliament ; 1 and at Kew, where a struggle was going- on between the contending elements of Jacobitism and Whiggery, in the persons of the governors and tutors 1 Walpole to Mann, May 13, 1752. 1753, jEtat. 30. CONTEMPORARY ENGLISH PAINTERS. 97 of the young Prince of Wales, afterwards George III., now eleven years old. That struggle ended in the resignation of Lord Harcourt, and the substitution of Lord Waldegrave as chief governor. The field of arts and letters was as dull as that of politics. Hogarth had touched his highest point of art some years before. He now rarely worked at portraits. He had lately attempted the “ grand style ” in his 4 Paul before Felix,’ and was on the eve of publishing his c Analysis of Beauty.’ Of all his great satirical pictures only the Election series dates after this year. Ramsay, it is probable, was still in Scotland. Hudson was the fashionable face-painter. Cotes came nearest to him. Wilson, if employed at all, had now given up portrait-painting for landscape. He had probably left Rome at about the same period as Reynolds. Such artists as Ellis, Hayrnan, Highmore, and Pine scarcely deserve mention. They are mere shadows of names to us ; all memory of their works has perished. Astley, who had been one of Reynolds’s fellow-students at Rome, a clever, conceited, out-at-elbows, and reckless fellow, came to London this year, and by his first per- formances greatly delighted Walpole, for whom he had painted, while at Florence with Reynolds, a portrait of Walpole’s friend and correspondent, Mr. Horace Mann, then our Minister at that capital; but marriage with a rich wife 1 soon removed him from the practice of the art. 1 Lady Duckenfield Daniel, who fell in love with the flashy, handsome young painter at the Knutsford As- sembly, at which Astley was figuring, VOL. I. while painting his way up to London from Dublin, where he had made a ! large sum in three years of portrait painting, on his return from Italy. H 98 LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Chap. III. All these portrait-painters were following a dull routine at the heels of Hudson. Even the elder Richardson, with all his fire and passion as a writer on art, had not lifted the portrait-painter’s practice out of the dead level, from which people looked up to Sir Godfrey Kneller as a great painter. Everybody who is conversant with English country houses knows Hudson’s style — his inanimate, wooden men, in velvet and embroidery, and periwig or bob, one hand on the hip, the other in the waistcoat; the ladies almost as unvarying, generally half-lengths, in white satin, with coloured bows and breast-knots, or in flounced brocades, with deep lace ruffles. Hudson painted solidly and simply, however, and his men and women, if tame, are correctly drawn . 1 Good examples of Richardson’s work may be seen in the hall of Trinity College, Cambridge. It, too, is tame ; and both he and Hudson were utterly devoid of that life which Reynolds gave to portraiture by availing himself of all such accidents of light, pose, and gesture, as helped out character and gave indivi- duality to his work. It is this which, with his intense He married in 1760, but bis wife, and her only daughter by Sir William Daniel, dying soon after, Astley in- herited a Cheshire estate and 5000Z. a year. He purchased Schomberg House, Pall-Mall, and occupied the centre compartment himself. He was a gasconading spendthrift, and a beau of the flashiest order. When the Dublin ladies sat to him, he is said, by way of flourish, to have used his unsheathed sword as a maulstick. The stoiy of his unguardedly taking off his coat at a picnic near Rome, and displaying a waistcoat-back made up of one of his own canvases, with a magnificent waterfall, has often been reprinted. Sir Joshua Reynolds might have been of the party. — E d. 1 The best works of Hudson’s I have seen are a portrait of Lady Mary Coke, in the Bute collection, a not unworthy version of its beautiful sub- ject ; a portrait of,' Charles Duke of Marlborough at Blenheim ; and a vigorous full-length of one of the Parker family at Saltram, a lady with a feather in her hand. He was certainly a good mechanical painter, but had not a spark of genius, fire, or invention. — E d. 1753, ^:tat. 30. HIS LITERARY CONTEMPORARIES. 99 sentiment of grace, and his fine feeling for colour, crowns him — probably for all time — king of English portrait-painters, and certainly the founder of a new dynasty. Roubiliac was the great sculptor of the day. His monument of John Duke of Argyle was already erected. His Newton, at Cambridge, had not yet set the crown upon his fame. After him came Wilton, Scheemakers, and Rysbrack. Garrick was in the zenith of his immense popularity. Burke was at the Middle Temple, nominally reading for the bar, but already contributing to the newspapers and periodicals of the day, and casting about for settled employment ; at one moment meditating emigration, at another entering the lists for a consulship at Madrid. Goldsmith, in disgrace at home, was leaving his uncle Contarine’s, to study medicine at Edinburgh. Johnson was drowning his grief for the death of his wife in hard labour on his Dictionary, and putting the finishing touch to the ‘ Rambler,’ of which the last paper appeared in the March of this year. Richardson was on the pinnacle of his fame : ‘ Clarissa Harlowe ’ had been finished for two years ; and ‘ Sir Charles Grandison ’ was on the eve of publication. Fielding had produced his ‘Amelia’ the year before, and was now beginning to sink under the complication of ailments which carried him off in 1754. Smollett was resting his pen after the publica- tion of ‘ Peregrine Pickle,’ and trying, without success, the experiment of a return to practice. Gray was en- joying the reputation of his ‘Elegy,’ published in 1749, and on the point of breaking into what Walpole called his “ three years of flower.” h 2 100 LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Chap. III. Such were the salient features of the London world of politics, fashion, arts, and letters when Reynolds appeared on the scene.] The first picture Reynolds painted, after his establish- ment in London, was a head of Marchi in a turban . 1 Hudson, on seeing it, said, “ Reynolds, you do not paint so well as you did before you went to Italy.” For this Hudson has been accused of jealousy. The world is prone to attribute every uncomplimentary remark of an artist on a contemporary (and sometimes even his compliments), to that passion. What Hudson said was, at any rate, not expressed behind the back of his former pupil, of whose previous practice, if Hudson was right, it was great praise. Reynolds found, as Constable did on coming to London, that “ there was room enough for a natural painter.” He thus described the portrait-painters of the time : — “ They have got a set of postures which they apply to all persons indiscriminately : the conse- quence of which is that all their pictures look like so many sign-post paintings ; and if they have a history or family piece to paint, the first thing they do is to look over their commonplace book, containing sketches which they have stolen from various pictures ; 2 then they search their prints over, and pilfer one figure from one print and another from a second ; but never take the trouble to think for themselves.” Hogarth, to 1 This head belongs to the Royal Academy. The Earl of Leven has a duplicate. 2 Sir Joshua himself, it is well known, freely resorted to this practice. I have already noticed the sketches in 1 one of his Italian note-hooks which | have suggested his charming pictures of Mrs. Crewe as a shepherdess, and of Mrs. Sheridan as Saint Cecilia, to say nothing of other instances mentioned by Leslie. — E d. 1753, iETAT. 30. REMOVES TO NEWPORT STREET. 101 whom these remarks could never apply, had long ago relinquished portraiture for the subjects he was born to paint. The reputation of Kneller was then higher in Eng- land than that of Vandyke ; and the wide departure of Reynolds from the style of Sir Godfrey could not but meet with opposition. Ellis, a portrait-painter, eminent at that time, said “ Ah ! Reynolds, this will never answer. Why, you don’t paint in the least like Kneller.” The innovator attempted to defend himself ; but Ellis would not stay to hear him, and exclaiming “ Shakespear in poetry, and Kneller in painting, damme ! ” walked out of the room. Reynolds soon, however, triumphed over all rivals. Among the portraits he painted shortly after his return to London were those of Sir James Colebrooke, 1 Sir George Colebrooke, their w T ives, Lord Godolphin, and Lady Anna Dawson (Lord Pomfret’s sister) as Diana. From St. Martin’s Lane lie removed to No. 5, Great Newport Street, where he commenced housekeeping, and raised his prices to a level with Hudson’s. These prices were, for a head twelve 2 guineas, for a half- length twenty-four, and for a whole-length forty-eight. A few years afterwards they both raised them to fifteen, thirty, and sixty guineas; by which it would appear 1 Then Mr. Colebrooke. It appears miming with the skies.” The Cole- from .the pocket-books that this was in : brooke pictures are now, or were lately, October, 1755. George Colebrooke was in the possession of Lady Littler, at painted in November, 1759, and his Bigadon, Devon. — Ed. wife in February, 1761. She appears 2 While at Devonport, before his in the picture as a very lovely woman, j visit to Italy, his price had been three of an elevated and contemplative cast guineas a head. — Ed. of countenance — “ with looks com- 102 LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Chap. III. that Hudson’s business was not destroyed even by the immensely superior powers of his pupil. The industry of Keynolds was extraordinary, and his success rapid, and long unchecked by the caprices of fashion. He received, says Farington, five, six, or seven sitters daily, and some of these as early as six or seven o’clock in the morning. [This is an exaggeration. The entries in his pocket-books (the series of which begins in 1755) give in 1755 and 1760 about 120 sitters ; in 1759, 148 ; and in 1758 as many as 150 ; the greatest number in any one year ; but very few appointments are for an earlier hour than nine o’clock. 1 ] His niece, Mrs. Gwatkin, told Haydon that he often took a walk round the Park before breakfast. Among the pictures he painted in Newport Street, a whole-length of the Duchess of Hamilton (formerly the beautiful Miss E. Gunning), 2 and a smaller picture of her sister, the Countess of Coventry, are mentioned by Farington, who says, “ He also began a portrait of Charles Duke of Marlborough, but the head only was finished when the Duke was ordered to join the army in Germany, whence lie never returned.” He now employed an assistant, Peter Toms, 3 an 1 There is one with Garrick, in 1761, at eight, and another in 1766, at half-past eight ; and others with other sitters at nine, hilt the usual hour is ten or eleven. — Ed. 2 Her portrait was painted in 1759, and exhibited in 1760. He painted her again in 1764, and again in a red habit and hat, on horseback, with the Duke standing near her, in a fine pic- ture now at Hadzor, near Droitwicli. Lord Coventry’s name occurs in the pocket-book for 1760, and the Coun- tess’s in that for 1759 (January). — Ed. 3 Toms had been a pupil of Hud- son, and worked as “ drapery man,” not only for Reynolds, but for Cotes and West. Edwards mentions, among whole-lengths of Sir Joshua’s to which Toms had painted the draperies, the Woburn whole-length of the March- ioness of Tavistock, when Lady Eliza- beth Keppel, in her dress as one of 1753, .ETAT. 30. HIS GREAT INDUSTRY. 103 artist of mucli ability, in addition to Mar clii ; and about the same time he received Thomas Beach and Hugh Barron 1 as pupils. Yet he did not in the least become, like Hudson, a manufacturer of portraits. “ The evident desire which he had,” wrote North- cote, “ to render his pictures perfect to the utmost of his ability, and in each succeeding instance to surpass the former, occasioned his frequently making them •inferior to what they had been in the course of the process ; and when it was observed to him, 6 that probably he had never sent out to the world any one of his paintings in as perfect a state as it had been,’ he answered, ‘ that he believed the remark was very just; but that, notwithstanding, he certainly gained ground by it on the whole, and improved himself by the experiment adding, ‘ if you are not bold enough to run the risk of losing, you can never hope to gain.’ “ With the same wish of advancing himself in the Queen Charlotte’s bridesmaids. For this Toms only received, says Edwards, 1 twelve guineas. The drapery and ac- j cessories are certainly very finely painted. Toms fell into drink, and died by his own hand in 1776. He was one of the original members of the Royal Academy, and Port-Cullis Pursuivant in the Heralds’ College. — Ed. 1 Of all Sir Joshua’s pupils North- cote was the only one who ever attained any distinction. Yet Barron had con- siderable success at Rome, as we learn from a letter written thence by Bankes, the sculptor, in July, 1773 : — “ Little | Wickstead has had most of the por- traits to paint last season, owing to the endeavours of Messrs. Norton and Byres to carry every gentleman they j could get hold of to see him ; but ! Barron, arriving here the beginning of i the season, and having great merit in the portrait way, and a good corre- spondence with the gentlemen, got so many portraits to paint as proved no small mortification to the aforesaid gentleman, as well as his helpers. Bar- ron is a young man of very con- spicuous merit ; has the most of Sir Joshua’s fine manner of any of his pupils ; and it is beyond a doubt that when he returns to England he will cut a great figure in his way.” After spending five years in Rome, Barron set up in London, where he died in 1791. He was considered the best amateur violinist of his time, but was a feeble painter. — Ed. 104 LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Chap. III. art,” continues Northcote, “ I have heard him say that whenever a new sitter came to him for a portrait, he always began it with a full determination to make it the best picture he had ever painted ; neither would he allow it to be an excuse for his failure to say 6 the subject was a bad one for a picture there was always nature, he would observe, which, if well treated, was fully sufficient for the purpose.” His early friend, Lord Edgcumbe, we are told by Mason, “ persuaded many of the first nobility to sit to him for their pictures ; and he very judiciously applied to such of them as had the strongest features, and whose likeness, therefore, it was the easiest to hit. Most of them also had, but a little time before, sat to Yanloo, a Dutchman, who, while he remained in Eng- land, was in high fashion, though a dirty colourist, and whose only merit was that of taking a true but tame resemblance of features. Amongst those personages were the old Dukes of Devonshire 1 and Grafton ; 2 and of these the young artist made portraits, not only exj)ressive of their countenances, but of their figures, and this in a manner so novel, simple, and natural, yet withal so dignified, as procured him general applause, and set him in a moment above his old master, Hudson, and that master’s rival, Yanloo. But the portrait which tended most to establish his reputation was a whole-length of Captain Iveppel (afterwards Ad- miral) on a sandy beach, the background a tempestuous sea. A figure so animated, so well drawn, and all its accompaniments so perfectly in unison with it, 1 Engraved in 1755 . — Ed. 2 Now in the picture-gallery at Oxford. — E d. 1753 , iETAT. 30 . HIS WHOLE-LENGTH OF KEPPEL. 105 I believe never was produced before by an English pencil.” 1 In the conception of this fine picture he availed himself of an event that had occurred before the com- mencement of his acquaintance with the Commodore. Keppel, when but twenty-one years of age, had been appointed to the command of the Maidstone, a fifty- gun ship , 2 and in the following year was wrecked in her on the coast of France, while in the pursuit of a large French vessel. By great exertion he saved most of his crew; and, on his return to England, was honourably acquitted of all blame by the unanimous resolution of a court-martial, that “ the loss of his Majesty’s ship Maidstone was in no manner owing to Captain Keppel or any of his officers, but to the thick- ness of the weather at the time the Maidstone was chasing in with the land , and the ledge of rocks she struck upon being under water, and therefore not perceived, and trusting to the ship the Maidstone was chasing, which had the appearance of being a large one, and drawing near as much water as the Maid- stone.” In the picture Keppel appears on a rocky shore ; the breakers are around him, and he is stepping forward 1 It. was painted in 1753 . — Ed. 2 Family influence would suffi- ciently account for the early promotion of the son of an Earl ; but Keppel earned his position. He entered the navy at the age of ten years, and at eighteen he had been round the world with Anson, on that voyage, so re- markable for its perils, as well as for the energy and endurance with which they were surmounted by the officers and men of a squadron which the Go- vernment of the country had done everything it could do to render in- efficient, except in its appointment of those officers. Keppel’ s first promotion to the rank of a lieutenant came from Anson, who had witnessed his gallantry dur- ing a successful action with a Spanish galleon. 106 LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Chap. HI. to give his orders with an energy and an expression that tell the story, though no other figure is seen. Light, spare, and active, and with a quick eye of great intelligence, he looks the very beau ideal of a sailor. When the Maidstone was wrecked there was no such thing as a naval uniform. Every officer wore what he pleased ; and Keppel, while with Anson, had part of a jockey cap shot away from his head in the attack on Payta. When the picture was painted, however, uni- forms were worn, and Reynolds committed the justi- fiable anachronism of dressing his friend as he then dressed . 1 Keppel was the first of many heroes painted by Rey- nolds, who was never excelled, even by Velasquez, in the expression of heroism. So anxious was he to do all possible justice to his gallant friend, and so difficult did he find it to please himself, that after several sittings he effaced all he had done, and began the picture again. And yet, in this admirable portrait, which cost him so much pains, the attitude is taken from that of a statue, of which a drawing by Reynolds is in the possession of Mr. William Russell ; and of which he again made use in a whole-length of the Earl of Carlisle, making the picture very unlike that of Keppel, not only by its background, but by dressing the Peer in the robes of the Thistle. I have been unable to ascertain the subject of the statue, or to what period it belongs. The 1 There are not fewer than nine portraits of Admiral Keppel claiming to be from the hand of Reynolds ; and there are, no doubt, many more from those of his pupils and copyists. The finest picture of his life-long friend, above referred to, in fine preservation, is now with the other Keppel portraits at Quiddenliam. — Ed. 1753, jetat. 30. ADOPTION OF HINTS FROM PREVIOUS ART. 107 figure is youthful, and Apollo-like, and seems to hold a lyre in the left hand, or it may he a fiddle, for Reynolds’s sketch is very slight. He condemned, as we have seen, other painters for pilfering “ one figure from one print and another from another hut no artist more often adopted hints from previous art, and in his Twelfth Discourse he not only excuses hut recommends the practice. “ A readiness,” he says, “ in taking such hints, which escape the dull and ignorant, makes, in my opinion, no inconsiderable part of that faculty of the mind which is called genius.” The remarks of Fuseli on this, as on most subjects connected with art, are conclusive. He says : — “ An adopted idea or figure in a work of genius is a foil or companion of the rest ; but an idea of genius borrowed by mediocrity, tears all associate shreds ; it is the giant’s thumb by which the pigmy offered the measure of his own littleness. We stamp the plagiary on the borrower, who, without fit materials or adequate conceptions of his own, seeks to shelter impotence under purloined vigour ; we leave him with the full praise of invention, who, by the harmony of the whole, proves that what he adopted might have been his own offspring, though anticipated by another. If he take now, he soon may give.” The most lovely of all the early works of Raphael, the Graces , in the collection of Lord Ward, is from an antique group ; but Raphael has made it entirely his own, and we cannot be sufficiently grateful for a trans- lation so far above the original . 1 So with respect to 1 At Siena. There is a photograph I graved ; and though the photograph of it, and Raphael’s little gem is en- | may not adequately represent the an- 108 LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Chap. III. the statue, the attitude of which Reynolds adopted, but much improved in energy, for his sailor hero : to judge from his drawing, it would scarcely attract notice in a gallery of sculpture, while the portrait of Iveppel would command attention among the finest Vandykes. Having triumphed over his English competitors, Reynolds was now to have a short contest with a foreigner. Liotard, a native of Geneva, who had been to Constantinople, and had adojited the Levantine dress, came to England , 1 where he attracted as much notice by the singularity of his costume and habits as by his skill in painting, which consisted in what was con- sidered high finish. He was immediately much em- ployed. “ The only merit,” said Reynolds, “ in Liotard’s pictures is neatness, which as a general rule is the characteristic of a low genius, or rather no genius at all. His pictures are just what ladies do when they paint for amusement ; nor is there any j)erson, how poor soever their talents may be, but in a very few years, by dint of practice, may possess themselves of every qualification in the art which this great man has got.” The reign of “ The Turk,” as Liotard was called, was short, and that of Reynolds was again completely established. Mason , 2 speaking of the impression the tique group, as the print certainly does not (for no print can) express all the charm of Raphael, yet a comparison even of these will show that the modern painter has far exceeded the ancient sculptor in grace and senti- ment. 1 He came to London in 1753, and stayed two years on his first visit to England, returning in 1772 for the same period. According to Walpole (March 4, 1753) he exacted extrava- gant prices, and was “ avaricious be- yond imagination.” He worked in crayons, water-colours, and enamel. —Ed. 2 In his 1 Observations on Sir Joshua Reynolds’s Method of Colour- ing,’ published by Mr. Cotton in 1859. Mason was himself an amateur painter, and was always admitted, he says, to Sir Joshua’s painting-room, unless he 1754, astat. 31. EFFECT OF HIS PORTRAIT OF KEPPEL. 1C9 portrait of Keppel made in his favour, says, “ His business increased rapidly upon it, and chiefly among persons of the first rank. The young Lords Hunting- don and Stormont, 1 just arrived from their travels, sat to him for two whole-lengths on one canvas ; and here his merit in drawing complete figures and setting them well on their legs, in the attitude most natural to them, was equally conspicuous. “ It was upon seeing this picture that Lord Holder- ness 2 was induced to sit for his portrait, which he was afterwards pleased to make me a present of, on which occasion he employed me to go to the painter, and fix with him his Lordship’s time of sitting. Here our acquaintance commenced ; and, as he permitted me to attend every sitting, I shall here set down the observa- tions I made upon his manner of painting at this early time, which, to the best of my remembrance, was in the year 1754. 3 “ On his light-coloured canvas he had already laid a ground of white, where he meant to place the head, and which was still wet. He had nothing upon his had a lady or gentleman sitting for a portrait. When not so occupied, Mason says Reynolds was always either retouching an old master, or had some heggar or poor child sitting to him, “ because he always chose to have nature before his eyes.” This whole paper of Mason’s is worth reading. — E d. 1 “ There are new young lords, fresh and fresh : two of them are much in vogue, Lord Huntingdon and Lord Stormont. I supped with them t’other night at Lady Caroline Petersham’s. The latter is most cried up ; but he is the more reserved, seems shy, and to have sense, but I should not think extreme ; yet it is not fair to judge a silent man at first. The other is very lively and very agreeable.” — Walpole to Montague , Dec. 6, 1753. Lord Stormont was nephew of the great Lord Mansfield. His distinguished parliamentary career is familiar to all students of the history of George III.’s reign. — Ed. 2 At this time holding the office of Home Secretary. — E d. 3 Mr. Cotton says 1755, but the first sitting may have been in 1754. 110 LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Chap. IK. palette but flake-white, lake, and black ; and, without making any previous sketch or outline, he began with much celerity to scumble these pigments together, till he had produced, in less than an hour, a likeness suffi- ciently intelligible, yet withal, as might be expected, cold and pallid to the last degree. At the second sitting, he added, I believe, to the three other colours, a little Naples yellow ; but I do not remember that he used any vermilion, neither then nor at the third trial ; but it is to be noted that his Lordship had a countenance much heightened by scorbutic eruption. Lake alone might produce the carnation required. However this be, the portrait turned out a striking likeness, and the attitude, so far as a three-quarters canvas would admit, perfectly natural and peculiar to his person, which at all times bespoke a fashioned gentleman. His drajoery was crimson velvet, copied from a coat he then wore, and apparently not only painted but glazed with lake, which has stood to this hour perfectly well, though the face, which, as well as the whole picture, was highly varnished before he sent it home, very soon faded , and soon after the forehead particularly cracked, almost to peeling off*, which it would have done long since, had not his pupil Doughty repaired it.” We see by this account that from an early period Reynolds adopted what he strongly recommended in his Discourses, the practice of drawing with the hair pencil instead of the port-crayon ; and this constant use of the brush gave him a command of the instru- ment, if ever equalled, certainly never exceeded ; for there are marvels of delicacy and of finish in his execution, combined with a facility and a spirit unlike 1754, JET AT. 31. HIS DRAWING AND COLOURING. Ill anything upon the canvases of any other painter. I am far from meaning that in the works of other great masters there are not many excellences which Reynolds did not possess ; but what I would note is, that though he was all his life studying the works of other artists, he could not, and it was fortunate that he could not, escape from his own manner into theirs. No original painter, indeed, can do this ; while many, without originality, and with but little perception of the beauties of nature, have often mimicked the art of their betters in a manner to delight judges of their own order. There have been “ English Claudes” and “English Cuyps,” as they were called by way of commendation, but they are now forgotten. In the colouring of Reynolds it must be admitted that his experiments in vehicles , 1 and his use of fugitive pigments — however the consequences may generally be lamented — have, in many instances, produced effects so singularly beautiful as in a degree to atone for the ruin they have caused in other cases . 2 At a much later period of his practice he said to Northcote, “ There is not a man on earth who has the 1 In painters’ language, the oils, compounds of oils and varnishes, or whatever fluids they mix with their colours, are called vehicles. 2 Opie used to say that the faded pictures of Reynolds were finer than those of most other painters in a per- fect condition. From an anecdote pre- served by J. T. Smith, in his amusing ‘ Life of Nollekens ’ (vol. ii. p. 294), it seems that in one instance, at least, this fading had maintained a curious parallelism between the fate of the pic- ture and its original : — ■“ The Marquis of Drogheda was painted in early life (January, 1761) by Sir Joshua Rey- nolds. His lordship shortly after went abroad, and remained there between twenty and thirty years, during which time he ran into excesses, became bilious, and returned to Ireland with a shattered constitution. He found that the portrait and the original had faded together, and corresponded, per- haps, as well as when first painted/’ — En. 112 LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Chap. III. least notion of colouring ; we all of us have • it equally to seek for and find out, as at present it is totally lost to the art.” He could hardly mean that the power of producing true and beautiful effects of colour was lost ; for, even if his modesty prevented a just estimate of his own excellence, he could not be blind to the excel- lence of Wilson and of Gainsborough as colourists. What he meant was, most likely, that the art of pre- paring the palette, and mixing the colours with such oils, varnishes, &c., as would produce brilliant and at the same time lasting effects, was lost. He believed as confidently in the Venetian secret as ever alchymist did in the philosophers stone ; and so intense was his love of colour, that he would always hazard the durability of his works rather than give up any chance of attaining its truth and beauty. He would not, however, allow his pupils and assistants to work with any other than the ordinary materials ; and he condemned in others that which he practised himself. He said of a young painter who had been trying experiments, “ That boy will never do any good if they do not take away from him all his gallipots of varnish and foolish mixtures.” When Northcote recommended to him the use of vermilion instead of such fleeting preparations as lake and carmine, he said, looking on his hand, “ I can see no vermilion in flesh.” — “ But did not Sir Godfrey Ivneller always use vermilion ?” — to which he answered rather sharply, “ What signifies what a man used who could not colour ? But you may use it if you will.” He once said to Sir George Beaumont (who amused himself with painting), “ Mix a little wax with your 1754, iETAT. 31. HIS DRAWING AND COLOURING. 113 colours, but don’t tell anybody and at another time, when Sir George observed that some vehicle he recom- mended would crack, he said, “ All good pictures crack.” 1 It was not from any narrowness of mind that he kept his experiments secret. Could he have become certain that he had discovered a process by which the closest possible imitation of the beauty of Nature’s colour might be united with durability, he would, no doubt, have given it as readily to other painters as he gave to them, in his Discourses, the result of all his thinking on art. His great excellence as a colourist, though not fully admitted while he lived, will not be disputed now. Whatever portion of this may be attributed to “ well- directed industry,” there can be no question that he was gifted by nature with what is called a fine eye ; and not for colour only, for his natural perception of shapes seems to have been as accurate, and the power he had acquired of drawing them as enviable, as his power of colouring. The occasional incorrectness of his human forms is simply the result of his ignorance of anatomy, for nobody can draw truly the varying forms of an 1 I think it will he found generally true that Reynolds’s pictures during the eight or ten years after 1752 are more simply and safely painted than his later ones. In many of his portraits of this period which I have examined the impasto is thin, the finish smooth, and where the varnish has remained untouched by the cleaner, the colour, even of the fleeting carnations, is well preserved, with no breaking of the surface. In other portraits of this vor.. 1. period said to have escaped the cleaner, the carnations have flown, and left little more than the black, or blue, and white of the first painting. As among the finest examples of this period which I know, I should select the portrait of the Countess of Albemarle and her two lovely daughters, the Ladies Caroline and Elizabeth Keppel, at Quiddenham, Norfolk, the seat of the Earl of Albe- marle. — Ed. I 114 LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Chap. III. elaborately constructed machine without a competent knowledge of its contrivance . 1 He was never sur- passed in the drawing of the face; in which an ac- quaintance with anatomy may be dispensed with, as the muscles that move the features, unlike those that cause expression and the varieties of form in other parts of the figure, are not seen in their own shapes, but in the lines and forms of the surface, the shape of which is generally the reverse of that of the actual muscles. The following remarks of Reynolds on some of the peculiarities of his practice will not be out of place here : — “ Not having the advantage of an early academical education, I never had that facility of drawing the naked figure which an artist ought to have. It appeared to me too late, when I went to Italy and began to feel my own deficiencies, to endeavour to acquire that readiness of invention which I observed others to possess. I consoled myself, however, by .remarking that these ready inventors are extremely apt to acquiesce in imperfections ; and that, if I had not their facility, I should, for this very reason, be more 1 Constable said, and I believe it, that no painters excepting Rembrandt and himself (who were both the sons of millers) ever drew a windmill cor- rectly. It is certain that no painter ever drew a ship rightly who had not been much at sea; and even though Turner had been often at sea, the ships in his Battle of Trafalgar at Green- wich afford a constant topic of ridi- cule to the old pensioners. In justice to Turner, however, I must add — and I do so on the highest authority, that of Mr. Stanfield — that the class to which the vessels in his pictures belong is always admirably characterised, even when they are re- presented as far distant, and that British ships are always to be distin- guished in his pictures from foreign ones. So with Reynolds ; in the occa- sional inaccuracy of his drawing cha- racter is never lost. 1754, 2ETAT. 31. HIS REMARKS ON HIS OWN PRACTICE. 115 likely to avoid the defect which too often accompanies it, — a trite and commonplace mode of invention.” In another part of the same paper he says : — “ I considered myself as playing a great game ; and, instead of beginning to save money, I laid it out faster than I got it, in purchasing the best examples of art that could be procured ; for I even borrowed money for this purpose. The possession of pictures by Titian, Yandyck, Rembrandt, &c., I considered as the best kind of wealth. By carefully studying the works of great masters, this advantage is obtained ; we find that certain niceties of expression are capable of being executed, which otherwise we might suppose beyond the reach of art. This gives us a confidence in our- selves ; and we are thus invited to endeavour at not only the same happiness of execution, but also at other congenial excellences. Study, indeed, consists in learn- ing to see nature, and may be called the art of using other men’s minds. By this kind of contemplation and exercise we are taught to think in their way, and sometimes to attain their excellence. Thus, for instance, if I had never seen any of the works of Correggio, I should never, perhaps, have remarked in nature the expression which I find in one of his pieces ; or, if I had remarked it, I might have thought it too difficult, or, perhaps, impossible to be executed . 1 1 The use of other men’s minds is of little worth unless made by those who have minds of their own, and even by such may be carried too far. That simpering expression which Reynolds adopted from Correggio is, if I mistake not, the only instance of affected ex- pression in his pictures. It occurs in some, of his fancy subjects of children, in which the lips are pinched by a smile into something of the shape of the letter V. It is conspicuous in two of the child angels that bend over the Infant in his Nativity , a work entirely/ounded on Correggio ; but I do not recollect it in any of his portraits of children. . i 2 116 LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Chap. III. “ My success, and continual imjDrovement in my art, if I may be allowed that expression, may be ascribed in a good measure to a principle which 1 will boldly recommend to imitation ; I mean a principle of honesty ; which, in this, as in all other instances, is, according to the vulgar proverb, certainly the best policy, — I always endeavoured to do my best. Great or vulgar, good subjects or bad, all had nature ; by the exact repre- sentation of which, or even by the endeavour to give such a representation, the painter cannot but improve in his art. “ My principal labour was employed on the whole together ; and I was never weary of changing, and trying different modes and different effects. I had always some scheme in my mind, and a perpetual desire to advance. By constantly endeavouring to do my best, I acquired a power of doing that with spontaneous facility, which was, at first, the whole effort of my mind ; and my reward was threefold : the satisfaction resulting from acting on this just principle, improve- ment in my art, and the pleasure derived from a con- stant pursuit after excellence. “ I was always willing to believe that my uncer- tainty of proceeding in my works — that is, my never being sure of my hand, and my frequent alterations — arose from a refined taste, which could not acquiesce in anything short of a high degree of excellence. I had not an opportunity of being early initiated in the principles of colouring: no man, indeed, could teach me. If I have never been settled with respect to colouring, let it at the same time be remembered that my unsteadiness in this respect proceeded from an 1754, ^etat. 31. HIS REMARKS ON HIS OWN PRACTICE, 117 inordinate desire to possess every kind of excellence that I saw in the works of others ; without considering that there is in colouring, as in style, excellences which are incompatible with each other : 1 however, this pur- suit, or, indeed, any similar pursuit, prevents the artist from being tired of his art. We all know how often those masters who sought after colouring changed their manners ; while others, merely from not seeing various modes, acquiesced all their lives in that with which they set out. On the contrary, I tried every effect of colour ; and leaving out every colour in its turn, showed every colour that I could do without it. As I alternately left out every colour, I tried every new colour ; and often, it is well known, failed. The former practice, I am aware, may be compared, by those whose chief object is ridicule, to that of the poet mentioned in the Spectator, who, in a poem of twenty- four books, contrived in each book to leave out a letter. But I was influenced by no such idle or foolish affecta- tion. My fickleness in the mode of colouring arose from an eager desire to attain the highest excellence. This is the only merit I assume to myself from my conduct in that respect.” When other painters complained of the unfitness of 1 Certain combinations of colour may be incompatible, as the grave with the gay ; but excellences of colour can never be so ; and Reynolds could not help admitting, when he visited Holland, that the colour of Jan Steen might become the design of Raphael. On this subject he often expresses his doubt of a previous conclusion. At one time he thinks that, if Julio Romano had painted his Horses of the Sun as naturally as Rubens painted horses, he would have brought them down from their “ celestial state but he adds, “ In these things, how- ever, there will always be a degree of uncertainty. Who knows that Julio Romano, if he had possessed the art and practice of colouring of Rubens, would not have given to it some taste of poetical grandeur not yet at- tained?” 118 LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Chap. III. tlie dresses of the time, — the coats, wigs, hats, bonnets, &c., — for pictorial effect, Reynolds answered, “ Never mind ; they have all light and shadow .” In these few words he expressed one great secret of his art, which no other portrait painter of his time excepting Gains- borough fully comprehended, namely, the management of chiaroscuro. It was by this secret that Rembrandt and the best of the Dutch painters of the 17th century gave beauty to the most homely objects ; and in this secret lay the charm of Correggio. It was while Reynolds lived in Newport Street that he became acquainted with Johnson, 1 who then lived in Gough Square. They met for the first time at the house of two ladies, who lived opposite to Reynolds in Newport Street, the daughters of Admiral Cotterell. Reynolds had been prepared to admire Johnson from having read his Life of Savage ; and Johnson, at their first interview, was struck with a remark of Reynolds which showed a knowledge of nature and a degree of courage above the average. The ladies were regretting* the death of a friend to whom they were under great obligations, on which Reynolds observed, — “ You have, however, the comfort of being relieved from the burthen of gratitude.” They were shocked at the sug- gestion of comfort in so selfish a form, but Johnson defended the feeling as natural; he was pleased with the close observation of life it discovered, and compared 1 Reynolds is mentioned by Barber, I This cannot be exact. It was in 1753 Dr. Johnson’s black servant, as one of that Reynolds removed to Newpoi t his master’s intimates, soon after Mrs. j Street ; and his acquaintance with Johnson’s death, which occurred in ! Johnson probably dates from that year. March, 1752. (See Boswell, sub anno.) — Ed. 1754, iETAT. 31. INTRODUCES ROUBILIAC TO JOHNSON. 119 it to some of the reflections of Roche foncault. He went home with Reynolds, and supped with him. At another meeting in the same house it was Johnson’s turn to shock the ladies. The Duchess of Argyle, with another lady of rank, came in. Johnson, thinking that their hostesses paid too much attention to the great ladies, and neglected Reynolds and himself as low company of whom they were rather ashamed, grew angry, and assuming the suspected imputation, said to Reynolds, in a loud tone, “ How much do you think you and I could get in a week if we were to work as hard as ice could?" [He soon became a frequent visitor at the house of his new friend, and Reynolds returned his visits in Gough Square. He once brought Roubiliac with him, the sculptor wishing to be introduced to Johnson — already the great master of stately dedications, whether of books or tombstones — that he might get from him an epitaph for a monument he was executing for West- minster Abbey. Johnson received the sculptor with civility, and took his visitor into what Nortlicote describes as u a garret, which he considered his library.” Probably it was the room he had fitted up for his dictionary copyists, where the two Macbeans, Shiels, W. Stewart, Maitland, and Peyton — Scotchmen all but one — had transcribed and extracted, under the eye of the lexicographer. Besides the books, all covered with dust, there was a crazy deal table, and a still crazier elbow-chair with only three legs. Johnson, seating himself in this with a dexterity showing practice, took pen in hand, and asked what the sculptor would have him write. Roubiliac began in his full-blown French 120 LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Chap. III. style. “ Come, come, Sir,” sternly broke in the awful dictator on the three-legged throne, “ let us have no more of this bombastic ridiculous rodomontade, but let me know in simple language the name, character, and quality of the person whose epitaph you intend to have me write.”] Johnson was no respecter of time in his visits. The dinner hour of Reynolds was four o’clock, and imme- diately after dinner tea was brought in. Tea was also served later, and again after supper. Johnson partook plentifully of it every time, and generally prolonged his visits far into the night. However desirous of cultivating the friendship of so extraor- dinary a man, Reynolds could not give up all other society for that object; and, as Johnson’s visits were often without invitation, on one of those occasions Reynolds unceremoniously walked out of the room. We are not told, however, that Johnson was offended with this. Miss Reynolds, who was one of his greatest favourites, was, no doubt, at home ; and he was content to be left at her tea-table. The reader will recollect his Touchstonean parody on Percy s Ballads . “ I therefore pray thee, Renny dear, That thou wilt give to me, With cream and sugar soften’d well. Another dish of tea. “ Nor fear that I, my gentle maid, Shall long detain the cup, When once unto the bottom I Have drunk the liquor up. “ Yet hear, alas ! this mournful truth, Nor hear it with a frown, Thou canst not make the tea so fast As I can gulp it down.” 1754, .ETAT. 31. JOHNSON AND MISS REYNOLDS. 121 He always spoke and wrote to Miss Reynolds in the most endearing manner. He considered her, indeed, as a being “ very near to purity itself/’ The only severe thing he is recorded to have said to her was occasioned by a portrait she painted of him. He called it “ Johnson’s grimly ghost and, as the picture was to be engraved, he recommended for a motto the line in which such an expression occurs, from the old ballad of William and Margaret . Northcote tells us that Miss Reynolds, fancying her brother had treated her unkindly, thought of writing him a letter of expostulation. She consulted Johnson, who either wrote the letter for her, or transformed it so entirely into his own style, that she could not send it to her brother, well knowing that he would instantly detect Johnson’s hand in it. This lady seems to have written better than she painted ; 1 for, of an Essay on Taste , which she printed privately, Johnson wrote, “ There are in these few pages or remarks such a depth of penetration, such nicety of observation, as Locke or Pascal might be proud of.” The following is a favourable specimen of the little book so highly praised by him : — “ A family reared in indigence is often rich in reciprocal affections ; but affluence gives to hirelings those tender offices which endear parents, children, brothers, and sisters to each other.” 2 1 And yet her engraved portraits are very characteristic, and anything hut the sort of works either to laugh or cry over. I would instance the engraved portrait of Johnson’s blind friend and dependent, Mrs. Williams, and that of Hoole, prefixed to his ‘ Ariosto.’ — Ed. 2 Frances Reynolds affected the sen- tentious style, which rather possessed 122 LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Chap. III. Among the names of sitters entered in the pocket- books of Reynolds, that of his sister occurs at intervals from May, 1755, to April, 1759. Once only he calls her “ Sister Fanny,” the other entries are all “ Miss Reynolds.” The result of these sittings was probably a portrait I remember to have seen in the collection of Mr. Phillips the Academician. It is a head and bust only, the face in profile, and, excepting the cheek, entirely in shadow. She is in black, and wears a gipsy hat. Her face is round, the features small, and the resemblance to her brother striking. As a work of art the picture is beautiful and original. 1 [Few periods of our history of the same length embrace more stirring incidents — parliamentary, social, and national — than the interval between 1754 and the whole Johnsonian circle. Thus, among other extracts from her com- monplace book already referred to, I find — “ The first step to be despised is to be pitied.” “ Cheap and humble blessings I have always found to be the sweetest and sincerest, being in unison, as it were, with the sober sense of the soul.” “ The cord breaketh at last by the weakest pull.” “ Dr. Johnson was leaving a family where he had been made very welcome at dinner, and on his friend saying that he liked to be often in such company with plain people, better than with greater geniuses, I said, Yes, in the same manner that you like for a con- stancy meat rather than sauce.” — Ed. 1 Now in the possession of Mr. Monro. Northcote quotes from Sir Joshua’s memoranda for December of this year the following notes on his practice at this time : — “ For painting the flesh : black, blue-black, white, lake, carmine, orpi- ment, yellow-ochre, ultramarine, and varnish. “ To lay the pallet : first lay carmine and white, in different degrees ; second lay orpiment, and white ditto ; third lay blue-black and white ditto. “ The first sitting : for expedition, make a mixture on the pallet as near the sitter’s complexion as you can. “ On colouring : to preserve the colours fresh and clean in painting, it must be done by laying on more colours, and not by rubbing them in when they are once laid ; and, if it can be done, they should be laid in their proper places at first, and not any more be touched, because the freshness of the colours is tarnished and lost by mixing and jumbling them together; for there are certain colours which de- stroy each other, by the motion of the pencil, when mixed to excess.” — Ed. 1755, 2ETAT. 32. PUBLIC EVENTS. 123 1760. A brief enumeration of the leading occurrences of the time is necessary to connect the painter and his works with the out-door world. These incidents com- prise the death of Pelham, in 1754, after an unexampled lease of power ; the Duke of Newcastle’s impotent attempt to conduct affairs against the opposition of Pitt and Fox, both still holding office under him, the former as Paymaster of the Forces, the latter as Secre- tary at War ; Fox’s elevation to the Secretaryship of State and the lead of the House of Commons in the next year ; Pitt’s appearance as leader of opposition in November, 1755 ; his resistance to the system of sub- sidies, and dismissal from office ; the declaration of war against France, speedily followed by the loss of Minorca ; the subsequent popular discontents, and the resignation of the Duke of Newcastle in November, 1756; the short-lived Devonshire administration, with Pitt for its Secretary of State and leader of the Commons, and — as the leading event of its brief tenure of office — the execution of Admiral Byng, in spite of Pitt’s resistance and the court-martial’s unanimous recommendation to mercy, in March, 1757 ; the interregnum of eleven weeks following the break-up of the Devonshire administration in April, closed by the return of Pitt to office in July, with the Duke of Newcastle at the Trea- sury, and with the adhesion of Fox purchased by the lucrative office of Paymaster of the Forces; the inau- spicious inauguration of the new Cabinet by the defeat of the Duke of Cumberland at Hastenbeck, and the ignominious capitulation of Kloster Severn, in Sep- tember ; the turn of the tide, by the taking of Louis- burg and the islands of Cape Breton and St. John, in 124 LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Chap. III. July, 1758, and the defeat of the French fleet by Boscawen ; the still more brilliant exploits, by sea and land, of 1759, including the conquest of Goree, the capture of Martinique, Guadaloupe, Ticonderoga, Ma- jorca; the defeat of the Toulon squadron, off Cape Lagos, by Boscawen ; Wolfe’s glorious victory and death at Quebec ; the defeat of the Brest fleet, under Conflans, by Hawke, and the conquests of our ally, the King of Prussia, aided actively by the Minister both with men and money ; the still unchequered successes of the following year ; the subjugation of Canada, the crowning of our East Indian triumphs of the last three years by the King’s gracious reception of Clive at Kensington ; and, lastly, the sudden death of George II., at the pinnacle of all this glory, on the 25th of October, 1760. The distinguished part borne in these achievements by the three Keppels, both on sea and land, must have given Reynolds even a deeper interest in the marvellous tidings of our successes — as victory followed victory, acquisition acquisition — than he would have felt as a patriotic Englishman merely. We may now turn to the details of the painter’s pro- fessional life during this eventful period. To those who are familiar with the public and private history of the time — for the latter of which we have the invalu- able letters of Horace Walpole as our guide, besides other collections only second in interest to Walpole’s, of which the Selwyn correspondence may stand as the type — the list of Reynolds’s sitters will a have special interest ; for they will find there the names of the men most distinguished in Parliament or in war, the 1755, .etat. 32. HIS CIRCLE IX 1755 123 heroes of fashion, the popular authors, doctors, actresses and actors, the beauties, the queens of society, the blue- stockings, and the demireps of the day. Indeed, to insure the full enjoyment of a collection of Reynolds’s pictures, there is nothing like a diligent course of Horace Walpole, and the other letter and memoir writers of his time, as Wraxall, Selwyn, Cumberland, Cradock, Lord Auckland, Lord Malmesbury, and others. For all this period, it may be added, Reynolds’s sitters cannot be said to belong to any one party. The words Whig and Tory did not then mark the same sharply- drawn party-divisions which they designate during the reign of George III. Reynolds was from the first thrown among the Whigs by his friendship for the Keppels ; but the Whiggishness of his connection is far more distinctly traceable from the period of Burke’s rise in public life, than at the time now under consideration. The pocket-book for 1755 — the first of the series — throws considerable light, here and there, on the painter’s private life and associates. Of acquaintance with Burke — who in March this year was only debarred from accepting a colonial appointment by his father’s rage on hearing of his intention — I find no trace. It would have been pleasant to have been authorised by the pocket-book to infer that Reynolds and Burke had been acquainted in these years of Burke’s early studies and first literary achievements ; that the enthusiastic law-student, historical inquirer, Robin-Hood-orator, metaphysician, of twenty-seven, and the successful painter of thirty-two had discussed together those theories of the beautiful which Burke gave the world next year, within a few months of his admirable imitation of Bolingbroke, 6 The 126 LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Chap. III. Vindication of Natural Society.’ One would like to think of Burke interesting Reynolds in the fate of Emin, the friendless Armenian wanderer, whom he had with such tender humanity rescued from starvation and despair. 1 It is likely enough that Burke and Reynolds may have met, either this year or next, through the intro- duction of Johnson ; with whom I should think either Dodsley or Garrick must have made Burke acquainted. The absence of Burke’s name in Reynolds’s engage- ments would not be incompatible with acquaintance ; for Burke’s dinners at this time would be at a tavern. The poor rooms over the bookseller’s shop, at the entrance of the Temple, were not suited for giving dinners in, even had the slender purse allowed of such entertaining. The acquaintance of whom traces first appear in the pocket-book are Reynolds’s fellow-apprentice at Hudson’s, and fellow-student at Rome — John Astley, and the three brothers, Israel, John, and Heaton Wilkes. Astley was now in London, and seems to have been drawing from time to time on Reynolds’s purse, better filled now than in the old days of their dinners at the Cafe Inglese, and their picnics at Tivoli. I find this note on the first page for January, 1775, as if Reynolds had been posting up his card accounts for 1754 : — £. «. d. Mr. Ashley (debtor) 7 70 Do., cards at Mr. Wilkes’s 016 0 Do., cards at Mr. E. (Heaton) Wilkes’s ..200 Ashley at Charlton 2 20 Do., at my house 010 6 £12 15 6 1 See MacKnight’s ‘ Life of Burke,’ | Burke’s noble and self-sacrificing virtue pp. 77-86, for this episode, showing | in so clear a light. — E d. 1755, iETAT. 32. HIS INTIMACY WITH WILKES. 127 The acquaintance with the Wilkes family — if Miss Weston’s letters can he trusted — had dated from the days of apprenticeship with Hudson. I observe that even thus early, in writing the names of the brothers, he gives Israel, though the eldest, and Heaton, the youngest brother, their Christian names. John is entered as Mr. Wilkes ; it is to be presumed he had already shown his metal. The elder brother was a thriving London merchant, who married a fortune and never meddled with politics. John Wilkes was not yet in Parliament, but had contested Berwick unsuccessfully at the last general election. In 1749 he had married Miss Mead, a Buckinghamshire heiress, who was now sitting to Reynolds. The union was not a happy one ; but, thanks to the fortune and position brought him by his wife, Wilkes had been high sheriff of Buckinghamshire in 1754, and was now an active county magistrate and model country gentleman. This intimacy between Reynolds and Wilkes at first surprised me, and will probably surprise others ; the more so as it will be found to have been closely kept up through all the fierce political heats of the time, when Wilkes was to the one side a martyr, a patriot, and an idol, to the other a swindler, a satyr, a traitor, and a blasphemer. It fits in so ill with our preconceptions to find a man so placid, sensible, and measured as Reynolds, intimate with one so much the opposite of all this as Wilkes, that we must be prepared to admit in the demagogue more than merely the wit and good humour which all allowed him, and in the painter to bate something from our estimate of his placidity and political poco-curantism. Other rea- sons for this abatement will appear as the Life goes on. 128 LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Chap. III. It is striking at this early period of the painters life to find how his sitters become his friends. His modesty, unaffectedness, information, and intelligence must have so showed themselves in the painting-room, in spite of his deafness, that the painter was soon invited by the sitter, and, if the acquaintance were mutually agreeable, grew to be a regular guest and family friend. In this way I account for his frequent engagements this year at the houses of Lord Cardigan and Lord Scarborough, and others of his sitters. But the Iveppels, with all of whom he dined often, and several of whom sat to him at this time, were already old friends. So were his special Devonshire circle — Lord Edgcumbe, the Bastards, and the Molesworths ; at all of whose houses he is a very frequent guest. His portrait of a Devonshire beauty, Mrs. Bonfoy — daughter of the first Lord Eliot — whom he had painted as a young girl in 1746, and whose name occurs in the pocket-book for this year as having sat, not as sitting — was, I have little doubt, painted in 1754. It is one of his most beautiful female portraits, and in perfect preservation. The lady is painted as a half-length, in a green dress, with one hand on her hip, and the head turned, with that inimitable ease and highbred grace of which Reynolds was master beyond all the painters who ever painted women. 1 Then there are frequent engagements with brother- artists — Wilton, Hayman, Hudson, Ramsay, and Cotes. These might have been visits of business as well as good-fellowship ; for the project of an Academy was now again under discussion. 1 The .picture, which is at Port-Eliot, hears a wrong date on the frame. 129 1755, vETAT. 32. EFFORTS TO ESTABLISH AN ACADEMY. During the first year of Reynolds’s establishment in London, an effort had been made to develope into an Academy of Arts the drawing-school in Peter’s Court, St. Martin’s Lane, immediately behind the house first occupied by Reynolds. It is probable that he took part in this project ; which seems, however, never to have got further than a meeting of artists at the Turk’s Head in Gerrard Street — a house destined to become classical eleven years later as the first quarters of the Club. Francis Milner Newton, afterwards the first Secretary of the Royal Academy, signed the circular calling this meeting for the 13th of November, 1753, at five in the evening, “ to proceed to the choice of thirteen painters, three sculptors, one chaser, two engravers, and two architects (twenty-four in all), to make regulations, take in subscriptions, erect a building, provide for the teach- ing of students, and otherwise act in setting on foot a public academy for the improvement of the arts of paint- ing, sculpture, and architecture.” The election of this committee or directorate was to be by marked lists, including all the artists of repute in London. Not one of these lists has survived. Paul Sandby’s copy of the circular convening the meeting, from which Edwards printed, was in 1808 supposed to be unique. Of course the name of Reynolds was included in the list, and stood high in it, young as he was. He had already painted several distinguished people, and his style had a vigour and freshness which, — when it did not disgust, as it disgusted the Kneller-worshippers, — must have attracted. The meeting was held, but the project dropped for the VOL. I. K 130 LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Chai\ III. time. It was revived again this year (1755), under fashionable auspices. Connoisseur ship stepped in to help struggling Art. The Dilettanti Society had been founded some twenty years before this by a set of young noblemen and gentlemen, hot from the grand tour, who had brought back from Italy a more durable and deep-seated relish for art and virtu than such travel, in most cases, left behind it. Good-fellowship was at first as much their object as high art, and for a long time the Sunday dinners of the Society, with their arch- master of the ceremonies in crimson taffeta robe, rich hussar cap, and Toledo rapier, and their secretary in the grave garb of Machiavelli, together with certain mysterious rites, round a box crowned with a figure of Bacchus — which some people whispered were political, and others shook their heads over as profane — were more conspicuous than their patronage of the Arts. Still from time to time the Dilettanti have nobly asserted the higher purpose of their Society by their promotion of the artistic and archaeological inquiries of Chandler and Gell in the East, and their outlay on such publications as Stuart’s 4 Athenian Antiquities,’ the 4 Roman Antiquities,’ and the 4 Select Specimens of Ancient Sculpture,’ and their purchase of the bronzes of Siris for the British Museum in 1833. Their first effort in Art had been in the cause of music. They had attempted in 1743 to get up subscriptions for carrying on operas, but the scheme fell through. Reynolds at this time had many friends and acquaintances among the Dilettanti — the Earl of Holderness ; Lord Gowran, afterwards Earl of Upper Ossory ; Sir Everard Fawkener, father of the beautiful Mrs. Bouverie ; the 1755, ;etat. 32. THE DILETTANTI. 131 Marquess of Granby, Lord Eglinton, Lord Anson ; Stuart the painter, who had been with Reynolds during the latter part of his stay at Rome ; Sir Charles Bun- bury, Lord Euston, the Marquis of Harrington,* and, above all, a friend of his boyhood — now divided between the studio and the hazard-room at White’s — Dick Edg- cumbe, with whom he had bird’s-nested in Maker Woods, and who stood by as Reynolds, a boy between twelve and thirteen, painted the broad face of Parson Smart in Cremyll boat-house. Captain George Edgcumbe, another of the Dilettanti, had been one of the painter’s first Devonshire sitters, on his settlement at Plymouth Dock, after leaving Hudson. The Dilettanti “ kept a painter.” It was a rule that every member of the Society should present his portrait, done by the painter of the Society, or forfeit what was called “ face money ” every year till the neglect was repaired. Knapton was at present painter to the Society — to be succeeded by Athenian Stuart, and, later still, by Reynolds and Lawrence. Already in 1748 the Dilettanti had had under con- sideration a scheme, drawn up by one of the members, Mr. Dingley — afterwards an intimate of Reynolds’s — for the establishment of an Academy. When, in 175.5, the Artists were at the same work, it was natural that they should communicate their design to the Dilettanti. They did so this year, in a paper which I believe to have been the composition of Reynolds. The introduc- tion is marked by that generalisation which Burke considered the peculiar characteristic of Reynolds. The writer professes to take for granted the utility of the Arts, but “ as they have hitherto been more admired 132 LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Chap. ITT. than cultivated amongst us, as there is something- ridiculous in sharpening the appetite and refining the taste without showing any regard to the means of grati- fying the one or the other,” he recapitulates briefly the reasons why the Arts are to the full of as much import- ance to society as they have been represented to be. He goes on to show how the Arts gratify our natural love of pleasure, and our curiosity ; how, as the sphere of the operations of this faculty is enlarged, the opera- tions themselves will enlarge with it, 'till gradually from architecture, painting, sculpture, graving and chasing, planting and gardening, down to utensils, plate and cabinet work, patterns of silk, jewellery, garniture, carriage-building, toys and trinkets, cultivated taste will exercise its influence, and the employment of industry and ingenuity will thus be extended, till all England becomes in some degree “ self-supplying ” in Art and its pleasures. And here the paper touches on that silly, shallow connoisseurship which more than any errors in theory had hitherto dwarfed our native Art : — “ The prodigious sum England has laid out at foreign markets for paintings, is but a trifle to the more pro- digious sums expended by English travellers for the bare sight of such things as they despaired of ever seeing- at home. But the loss in point of money is not so much to be regretted, perhaps, as the loss in point of character ; for in this one particular, at least, we voluntarily yield the palm to every petty state that has happened to produce a painter ; and by the language generally used on this subject by our own countrymen, as well as others, one would think this was the only country in the world incapable of producing one : as if the genius of a painter 1755, xt at. 32. SCHEME FOE AN ACADEMY. 133 was one kind of essence, and the genius of a poet another ; and as if the air and soil which had given hirth to a Shakspere and a Bacon, a Milton and a Xewton — names which the proudest writers of the Con- tinent dare not mention without a note of admiration — would he deficient in any species of excellency what- soever. “ Whereas the whole secret lies in this : when princes for their grandeur, or priests for their profit, have had recourse to painting, the encouragement given to the profession gave spirit to the art, and others thought it worth their while to distinguish themselves in 1 lopes of obtaining the like reward. “ On the contrary, those who set their hearts on making collections only , instead of advancing the art they profess to love, or animating the professors of it, have actually helped to create the very deficiency they complain of ; for, in order to justify the excessive prices they have been artificially induced to give for names and characters, they are insensibly led to decry and undervalue every modern performance. And as a collection alone is, too often, sufficient to create a taste- less connoisseur, — and connoisseurs are received in the gross as the only competent judges, — it will necessarily follow that it must be with a painter as with the Roman Catholic saints, who are never beatified till a hundred years after they are dead, nor canonised till after a hundred years more : a consideration, which in the pre- sent undervalued, if not derided, state of fame or glory, cannot be esteemed a very powerful incentive. “ If thus a national character is a matter of any concern to individuals, and if to be complete it ought 134 LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Chap. III. to be sound, consistent, and of a piece, the present neglected state of the Arts, and of painting in particular, is worthy both of attention and concern.” The design of a public Academy is then broached. The good done by the private Academy, supported by the private subscriptions of the artists and students, had already produced in a few years so many able draughts- men, and had so improved the arts of design, as to justify the best hopes from a more extended scheme. The plan proposed is very much that afterwards realised in the Royal Academy Schools, for working from casts and from the life, collections of examples, professors, lectures, instruction in drawing from the model, the presentation of one of his works to the Academy by every professor, annual medals, travelling fellowships. The scheme comprehended, besides, some features of a national School of Design, as professorships of orna- mental and other branches of study inferior to that of the figure ; the appointment, under the seal of the Academy, of masters for provincial schools of design ; the purchase of specimens of tasteful and elegant manu- factures, and giving premiums for such productions : and last, but not least, an annual exhibition of pictures, statues, models, and architectural designs by the Fellows of the Academy. The abstract of the proposed charter follows. The King was to be patron. The Society was to consist of a President, Y ice-President, Directors, Fellows, and Scholars ; the Directors to be thirty in number, includ- ing the President, Vice-President, Secretary, and Trea- surer, who were to choose the Fellows ; the President to be for life, the Directors to be in office for three years. 1755, iETAT. 32. SCHEME FOR AN ACADEMY. 135 Francis Hayman was the Chairman of the Committee of Artists, from whom the scheme emanated, consisting of Moser, chaser, medallist, and enameller ; Roubiliac ; Hudson ; George Lambert, scene and landscape painter ; James Paine, architect ; Francis Milner Newton, painter ; Joshua Reynolds ; Wale, historical painter and hook illustrator ; Samuel Scott, marine and land- scape painter ; Robert Strange, engraver ; John Shackleton, Court painter ; William Hoare, portrait painter ; Grignion, chaser, engraver, and watchmaker ; Ellys, portrait painter ; Cheere, sculptor and lead-figure maker ; Ware, architect ; Dalton, landscape painter and topographical draughtsman ; Gavin Hamilton, historical painter; John Gwynn, architect; Robert Taylor, en- graver ; Sandby (Tlios.), landscape painter ; Richard Yeo, medallist and modeller ; Thomas Carter, engraver ; Ashley, portrait painter ; and John Pine, engraver. The Society of Dilettanti approved the project and promised assistance, and at a meeting in May, 1755, resolved, as a condition of their participation in the scheme, 1st. — That the President of the Academy be always chosen from the Dilettanti Society. 2nd. — That all the Society of Dilettanti be members of the Academy, but only the twelve seniors present at any meeting to have votes. 3rd. — That any artist may be chosen a member of the Academy ; but only twelve, to be chosen annually, to have votes. The Artists’ Committee had been prepared before- hand for the swamping of the painters by the patrons, and had given a modified consent to it by a letter of the 2nd of April, in which they profess their willingness to enlarge their plan so as to include non-professional 136 LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Chap. III. members, declare they will think themselves highly honoured and extremely happy in receiving the number which may be proposed from the Society ; and submit to the Society the nomination of their first President. Colonel Gray, who was directed to procure the opinion of the Artists on the Society’s resolutions of May, does not seem to have obtained that opinion ; at least he never reported it to the Society. The Committee of Artists wrote again on the last day of the year, begging to know the determination of the Society as to their plan. But whether it had been ascertained that the claims of the painters and patrons to authority and influence in the proposed Academy were incompatible, or for whatever reasons, certain it is that no further trace appears in the Society’s records of any progress with the design of an Academy of Arts. Hayman, the Chairman of the Artists’ Committee, had one special claim on Reynolds’s regard which was always honoured by him. He was a Devonshire man ; of no great note as a historical or portrait painter, but more famous for the conversation pieces in the manner of Hogarth, with which he ornamented the alcoves and supper-boxes of Vauxhall. He was the Master of Gainsborough, and the intimate friend and associate of Hogarth and Quin ; had often made one with the former at the Cockpit, or Southwark Fair, and “ beaten the rounds ” of Covent Garden in his company. It was at Moll King’s “ Finish ” that Hogarth, in company with Hayman, saw the incident he has intro- duced into the bagnio scene of the Rake’s Progress, of the woman squirting a mouthful of wine into the face of the sister drab she is quarrelling with. 1755, jstat. 32. HIS PRACTICE IX 1755. 107 lo { Hayman was a straightforward John Bull, rough in his manners, blunt in speech, more at home over his bottle and pipe at the Artists’ Club, at Slaughter’s, than in more refined haunts and more highly bred company. Smith tells a story of him rolling drunk in a Covent Garden kennel with Quin. Hayman kicked. “ What are you at now ?” asked Quin : “ Trying to get up,” stuttered Hayman.” “Pooh!” was Quin’s rejoinder, “ lie still : the watch will be round shortly ; they’ll take us both up.” I find, in this year’s pocket-book, one entry “ Slaugh- ter’s,” which probably refers to a rendezvous given to Reynolds at that famous coffee-house in St. Martin’s Lane, where was held the club to which Reynolds had been introduced by Hudson, and of which Roubiliac, Hogarth, and Hayman, McArdell, Gravelot, and Sullivan, the engravers, Ware and Gwynn the archi- tects, with other artists of the time, were members. Among Sir Joshua’s sitters and entertainers this year, besides men remarkable for social and official rank, and ladies distinguished for fashion and beauty, occur two names at that time of literary and controversial note, Archibald Bower and Dr. Armstrong. Bower’s had been a strange life. Born at Dundee, of Scotch parents, he had left Scotland for Italy, while a child : had been educated by the J esuits, had become a priest, Professor of the Humanities, and finally Coun- cillor to the Inquisition at Macerata, where becoming convinced of the errors of the Church of Rome, and being suspected and imprisoned on a charge of heresy, he made his escape to England, and made public pro- fession of Protestantism. I11 this country he supported 138 LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Chap. III. himself as an antiquarian and historical writer for the booksellers ; for whom he wrote the Roman portion of the ‘Universal History,’ and a ‘Historia literaria,’ in four volumes. In 1748 he was made librarian to Queen Caroline. Having, while a priest, been intrusted with materials for a Romanist ‘ History of the Popes,’ he turned them to use for a Protestant one ; and was fiercely attacked by the Romanists as a rogue and renegade. The truth of his narrative was fiercely contested ; and as late as February, 1756, the town was stirred, even amid the terrors of the expected earthquake and invasion, by news that Bower had been discovered and arrested in the act of treasonable cor- respondence with the Jesuits. When Reynolds knew and painted him, he vras the object of interest and admi- ration to the Protestant and antigallican Whigs, of suspicion and denunciation to the Romanising Jacobites, who were still a party. Dr. Armstrong, who ten years before, had won a reputation by his dull didactic poem on the ‘ Art of Preserving Health,’ was now husbanding a small practice and a narrow income with Scotch frugality in London. At his house Reynolds met some of the best literary society of the time ; but I observe the Doctor’s invitations are always for evening parties, never for dinners. In June I find Reynolds in company with Mr. Knight, an original member of the Dilettanti Society, visiting James, afterwards better known as Athenian, Stuart, now newly returned with his companion Revett from a three years’ residence in Attica, with the drawings, which subsequently appeared in his trustworthy and 1755 , jetat. 32 . HIS FONDNESS FOR CARDS. 139 valuable work, 4 The Antiquities of Athens.’ In Stuart Reynolds found a man after his own heart. By the most determined energy and industry he had raised himself first from destitute orphanhood, to employment as a fan-painter under Goupy, thence to sufficient occupation as a painter to amass the means of travelling to Rome. There he worked and studied for years, mastering Latin and Greek, writing an archaeological dissertation, which had the honour of publication at the Pope’s expense, and finally breaking ground as an accurate archaeologist and architectural antiquary, in his investigations, measurements, and drawings at Pola, and Athens. Besides dinners and evening assemblies, there are re- peated notes of suppers and card-parties, with families unknown to fame, the Misses Smyth, Mr. Willson, Mr. Nesbitt, and others. Reynolds was fond of cards to the last, and, after the Academy was founded, on council nights used to hurry his guests from their wine to snatch a rubber before he was obliged to leave for Somerset Plouse. He passed for a bad player in later years among his fashionable friends of the Pall Mall clubs and choco- late-houses in St. James’s Street, where play never ran higher or was the cause of more startling tragedies than this year. The Lord Montford, who sat to Reynolds in June, came into the title in consequence of the suicide in January of the greatest gambler of his time, Henry Bromley, Lord Montford of Horseheatli, in Cambridge- shire. He had reduced life to a calculation of chances . 1 Looking over his hand at the end of the year, he found 1 Walpole says that being asked soon I was with child, he answered, “ I really after his daughter’s marriage if she don’t know, I have no bet upon it.” 140 LIFE OF Sill JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Chap. III. the odds so dead against him that he determined to throw up the cards for good and all. He went about suicide like a man of business ; inquired the easiest mode of death; and ordered a supper at White’s, where he played whist till one on the New Year’s morning. Lord Robert Bertie drank “ a happy New Year ” to him. His guests observed him put his hand strangely to his eyes. In the morning he had a lawyer and three witnesses ; executed his will and made them read it over twice, paragraph by paragraph, asked the lawyer if that will would stand good, though the testator were to shoot himself ; being assured it would, he said “ Pray stay till I step into the next room,” went into the next room and shot himself. One proximate cause of Lord Montford’s suicide had been the loss of twelve hundred a year consequent on a death, which at once bereaved and well-nigh beggared Reynolds’s staunch friends the Keppels. Their father, the second Lord Albemarle, was the most magnificent spendthrift in his time. He stood high in the favour of the King. His public employments brought him in (says Walpole) 15,000/. a year ; he had inherited a noble landed estate and 90,000/. in the funds ; and had married a daughter of the Duke of Richmond with 25,000/. Yet at his death (while ambassador in Paris), thanks to high play and profusion of all kinds, he left vast debts, deeply mortgaged estates, and a family without a shilling. Two of his beautiful young daughters were sitting to Reynolds within a month of their father’s death. Reynolds was on intimate terms with the three eldest brothers; the new Lord, who was the most trusted 1755, jEtat. 32. NECESSITIES OF JOHNSON. 141 friend and Lord of the Bedchamber to the Duke of Cumberland, Augustus, the naval Captain, and William, Colonel of the Guards and aide-de-camp to the Duke. Through them Reynolds was introduced to the Duke Of Cumberland, whom lie soon afterwards painted. Another mad gambler of the time was Sir John Bland, a Yorkshire baronet, who after flirting away the whole of his large fortune at hazard — losing two-and- thirty thousand pounds in one night to Captain Scott, — blew his brains out, in a post-chaise between Calais and Paris, in September of this year. But though Reynolds — with Shafto and the Vernons, General Guise, and Sir John Ligonier, among his sitters, and Wilkes and the Keppels among his friends — must have heard enough of the play at White’s and the fate of its victims, it is pleasanter to think of him in company with McArdell and Hogarth, Gravelot and Roubiliac, Hayman and Hudson, discussing the estab- lishment of an Academy of Arts at Slaughter’s Coffee- house, or dining in company with lords and wits, with Garrick in his new villa at Hampton, or in Gough Square, receiving the modest hospitalities of Johnson, who had launched his Dictionary in April, and was now resting from his great labour of years, poorly repaid by the 157 5/. which had been advanced to him during its progress. He was still obliged to meet the day’s wants with the day’s work. Within less than a year of the publication of the 6 Dictionary,’ he was applying to Richardson to relieve him from an arrest for 5Z. 18s. ; and there is reason to believe that Reynolds’s purse was opened to him in more than one difficulty of the same kind. 142 LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Chap. III. The politics of the year were personal ; their interest centering in the rivalry of Pitt and Fox for the lead of the Commons, under the Duke of Newcastle, and in the bitter opposition of the country to the King’s Prussian and Hessian subsidies for the defence of his Hanoverian dominions, which he visited this year, in spite of the French war and threats of invasion. War with France, though not yet formally proclaimed, had already begun in North America with the capture of two French men-of-war by two of Boscawen’s captains off Cape Race. A French invasion was generally expected during the autumn, when the defeat of Braddock, at Fort Duquesne, had depressed English spirits and proportionably elated the enemy. The news of this defeat was brought home by Commodore Keppel, who had been superseded in the naval command of the North American Station by Admiral Boscawen. The pious prophesied judgments upon the godless town, which, in defiance of threatened invasions and earth- quake, danced, masqued, played, and squandered its money on kept mistresses. Reynolds’s pictures of this period which I have seen are carefully and smoothly painted, with no great body of colour, and are, as a rule, in good preservation, where the cleaner has not been allowed to tamper with them. In most, however, the lights have darkened, owing to the use of orpiment with the white, and the carnations, made with lake and carmine, have too often flown, especially where the varnish has been interfered with. We know from one of Reynolds’s notes published by Northcote, that the colours he used for flesh-painting at this time were black, blue-black, lake, carmine, 1755, jet at. 32. HIS MODE OF FAINTING. 143 orpiment, yellow ochre, ultramarine, and varnish : for laying the palette his rule was, first lay carmine and white in different degrees ; second, lay orpiment and white ditto ; third, lay blye, black, and white ditto. At the first sitting, for expedition, his practice was to make a mixture as near the sitter’s complexion as possible. His pictures were laid in with white, black, and cool red, and over this dead-colouring the richer and warmer colours were applied with varnish. To the use of orpiment, lake, and carmine, there are grave objections, as the first destroys other colours by intermixture, and the others are highly fugitive. But in other respects his practice at this time appears to have been safe and cautious. His use of varnish with his colour was in accordance with the practice of the Flemish school, and gives that mixture of substance and transparency which Reynolds especially aimed at and generally attained. From entries in the pocket-book for 1755 it appears that not fewer than 120 persons sat to Reynolds in the course of that year. He had been only two years established in London, but already his list of sitters includes persons of the highest distinction for station, beauty, literary and political eminence, wealth, and prowess by sea and land. The sitters enumerated 1 are, — 1 In this and all the lists of sitters I put down the name under the month of the first sitting, and enter every name of a sitter that occurs in each year. Names will thus appear in successive years, when the pictures were long in hand. The number of sittings for a portrait varies exceed- ingly, from five or six to sixteen or eighteen ; evidence, I think, of an un- certain and tentative practice. — Ed. 144 LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Chap. III. January. Mrs. and Master Woollery; 1 Mrs. Wilkes ; 2 Captain Hale (probably a sitter of 1754); Mr. Brett ; 3 Mr. Sbaftoe ; 4 Lady Juliana Penn ; 5 Dr. Chauncey ; 6 Ladies C. and E. Keppel ; 7 Lord Stormont ; 8 Mrs. Morris. 9 February . 10 Mr. Haywood; Lord Holder- ness ; 11 Lord Anson ; 12 Lord 1 There is an engraving from a picture of a mother and child, called Mrs. Woolridge. Is it from this pic- ture? Sir Joshua’s names are often imperfectly caught and carelessly spelt. 2 The wife of John Wilkes, the demagogue, already one of the painter’s intimates. — Ed. 3 Charles Brett, Esq., of the Navy Office, a Lord of the Admiralty under Howe, and Member for Sandwich in the parliaments of 1776 and 1784. Ilis wife was a Miss Hooker, of Crome Hall, Greenwich, one of the painter’s intimates. — Ed. 4 Of the county of Durham ; one of the most determined turfites of his time. — Ed. 5 Fourth daughter of Lady Pomfret, married in 1751, to Thomas Penn, Esq., of Stoke Pogis, “ the wealthy sove- reign of Pennsylvania.” (Walpole.) Rey- nolds afterwards painted her children in the famous Penn family picture.— Ed. 6 Nathaniel, brother of Charles Chauncey, M.D. and F.R.S., an able scholar and bibliomaniac. He died in 1799, and his library was sold by Leigh and Sotheby in April of that year. 7 Sisters of his fast friend, the Cap- tain. These pictures are still at Quid- denham — Lord Albemarle’s seat — exquisite in beauty and perfect in preservation. See post sub ann. 1762, 1764, 1768. — Ed. Euston ; 13 Mr. and Mrs. Douglas ; the Duchess of Norfolk; Mr. Mangles ; Mr. Philip Yorke ; 14 Mr. Plumer; Mr. Ludlow (and liis dog) ; Mr. and Mrs. Cadogan ; Lady 15 and Miss Cathcart. March. Colonel Prideaux ; Mr. Knight (probably a sitter of 1754) ; Mr. and Mrs. Ayrc; Admiral Bos- j cawen (had probably been sitting j in 1754); Lord Hillsborough; 18 8 Nephew to the great Lord Mans- field ; afterwards ambassador to Vienna and Paris; Secretary of State (1779), and President of the Council (1783). He succeeded to the Earldom of Mansfield in 1793. — Ed. 9 Perhaps the wife of Valentine Morris, Esq., of Piercefield, Mon- mouth. For the fall of the family fortunes, and her daughter’s sad end, see jwst 1770. — Ed. Perhaps the mother of the Misses Morris, of Swan- sea, one of whom afterwards married Mr. Des Enfans. 10 “ Mem. — Send home Miss Fen- wick.” 4th Feb. 11 Secretary of State in 1751 . — Ed. 12 The circumnavigator, now First Lord of the Admiralty. — E d. 13 The Duke of Grafton of the Grafton administration. 14 Afterwards second Earl of Hard- wickc. — E d. 15 Daughter of Lord A. Hamilton. An engraved picture, rather Hudson- esque in character, now in the collec- tion of Lord Cathcart. She died at St. Peteisburgh in 1771, while Lord Cathcart was ambassador. The child in this picture was afterwards the dovely Mrs. Grahame, painted so ex- quisitely by Gainsborough. 16 Made Treasurer of the Chambers this year. Afterwards Secretary of State under Lord North. — Ed. 1755, iETAT. 32. SITTERS, 1755. 145 Mr. 1 and Mrs. Bastard ; 2 Mr. and Mrs. Molesworth ; 2 Lord Scarborough ; Miss St. Leger ; Mr. Westley ; Lord Kilwalin ; Miss Freeman ; Mr. Charles Townshend ; 3 Mr. Fleming (pro- bably a sitter of 1754). April. Sir R. Atkins ; Master Nicol ; | Lady Scarborough ; Lady Car- digan; Lady Harriet and Mrs. Vernon ; Mr. Churchill ; 4 Mrs. Ross ; Miss S. Stanley ; Miss I Wynyard ; 5 Miss Russell ; Miss ■ Compton ; Lord Eglinton ; 6 i Colonel Haldane ; 7 Lord Har- court ; 8 Lord Malpas ; 9 Sir | Ralph 10 and Lady Milbanke ; I Lady Strange. 11 after- j Orford, Lady Mary was allowed to take of | precedence as an earl’s daughter. From 1 The member for Devon, wards prominent in the House Commons. — Ed. 2 Devonshire and Cornish couples. The Bastard pictures are at Kitley, South Devon. Mrs. Bastard is painted (three-quarters) as a beautiful young woman, with rather a long face, dressed in a sacque and stomacher edged with ribbons. The Molesworth pictures are at Pencarrow, in Cornwall. Mrs. Moles- worth, a young and lovely brunette (half-length), in one of the quaint, every-day dresses of the time, closely copied, without the least attempt at “ idealizing ” or “ generalizing,” with flowers in her hand, a little cap on her head, a prim apron and a lawn kerchief closely covering her shoulders. It is one of the most attractive of his female portraits, and especially valu- able for its literalness. It has been engraved by S. W. Reynolds. — E d. 3 The wit and statesman, to whom we owe the resolutions that lost us America ; at this time a Lord of the Admiralty. He this year married the Countess of Dalkeith. — E d. 4 Colonel Charles Churchill, M.P. for Great Marlow, was a natural son of General Charles Churchill, by Mrs. Oldfield, the actress. He married Lady Mary Walpole, a natural daughter of Sir Robert Walpole, by Maria Skerrett, whom Sir Robert subsequently married. When Sir Robert was created Earl of | the identity of the name, it has some- times been supposed that Sir Joshua painted a portrait of Charles Churchill, the satirist ; and in the collection of en- gravings after Sir Joshua, in the British Museum, there is a small one of the satirist, which is erroneously ascribed to him by the engraver or publisher. — Ed. 5 As a sibyl wearing a turban, and holding an inscribed scroll. 6 Shot in 1770 by Mungo Campbell, an excise officer, whom he attempted to disarm of his gun, as a poacher. 7 M.P. for the Stirling Burghs, and highly distinguished for his services in the West Indies in 1759 . — Ed. 8 Late Governor to the Prince of Wales, a marvel of pomposity and propriety. “ Sir, pray hold up your head ! Sir, for God’s sake turn out your toes ! ” Such, says Walpole, are Mentor’s precepts to the Prince. — Ed. 9 M.P. for Bramber, and Treasurer of Ireland. A note in the pocket-book, apropos of the sending oft* his picture, will show the sort of perils pictures must have run in their transit in those days : — “ To the Right Honourable Viscount Malpas : to go by Goswell, the Walton bargeman, from the Globe, Hungerford Market.” The waggon is the most common mode of transport. —Ed. 10 M.P. for Scarborough. 11 Wife of Lord Strange, M.P. VOL. I. L 146 LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Chap. III. May. Lord Cardigan ; Mrs. Curedill ; Mrs. Harris ; Miss Dasliwood ; Mr. Butler ; Miss Stuart ; Mr. Medlicot ; 1 Mr. Ramsden ; Dr. Armstrong ; 2 Mrs. Quane ; Colonel Elliot ; Colonel Geakle (? Jekyll) ; Lady F. Ludlow. June . 3 The Duke of Grafton; Lady Kildare ; 4 Lord Monford ; 5 Colonel Griffin ; 6 General Guise ; 7 Mrs. Boscawen ; 8 Mrs. Trevor ; 9 Miss Shepherd ; Miss Cartwright. for Lancashire, son of the Earl of Derby. 1 M.P. for Milborn Port, Somerset- shire (probably a sitter of 1754). 2 The Scotch physician, and author of * The Art of Preserving Health,’ Satires, &c. — E d. 3 “ Mem. — A case to be made for Lord Greville.” He had probably been sitting in 1754. 4 Afterwards Duchess of Leinster, sister of the Duke of Richmond, Lady Holland, and Lady Sarah Bunbury, and one of the loveliest women of her time. — Ed. 5 Of Horselieath, Cambridgeshire. The successor of the coolest and cle- verest gambler of his time, who shot himself in the early part of this year. (See in Walpole, the curious account of his suicide.) — Ed. 0 M.P. for Andover. He esta- blished his claim to the Barony of Iioward-dc- Walden in 1784, and in 1788 was created Lord Braybrooke. Died in 1797. — Ed. 7 Celebrated for drawing the long bow : an eccentric, but very brave officer, who served in the disastrous expedition to Carthagena. He was a picture collector, and left a collection of what is now sad rubbish, whatever July. Captain Blackwood ; Col. or Mr. (?) Witchell . 10 August. Lord Bath ; 11 Colonel Pearson ; Mr. and Mrs. Groves ; Captain Smelt ; 12 Mr .Clerk; Miss Jones. September. Sir John Ligonier ; 13 Lady Ann Hamilton ; Dr. Lucas ; 14 Colonel Sandford. October. Mr. and Mrs. (afterwards Sir it may once have been, to Christ- church, Oxford. (See, for anecdotes of him, Walpole to Mann, July, 1742.) —Ed. 8 Anne, wife of General Boscawen. —Ed. 9 Of Glvnd, in Sussex ; mother of Mrs. Boscawen and Mrs. Rice. Her husband was son of Lord Trevor, the descendant of Hampden. — Ed. 10 “ Mem. — Mrs. Yorke’s picture to be finished.” 11 The retired minister. This pic- ture is now in the National Portrait Gallery. It was painted for a great friend of Lord Bath, good old Mr. Tolcher, a Plymouth alderman, the friend of Reynolds and of Northcote, whom he introduced to Reynolds, and always befriended in the kindest manner. — Ed. 12 Leonard Smelt, Esq., afterwards sub-governor to the sons of George III. 13 Commander-in-Chief. — Ed. 14 A man of note at this moment. He was an Irishman; originally an apothecary, became a physician (an honour of which he shows himself proud by making Reynolds put into his hand in this portrait the thesis for his doctor’s degree); distinguished him- self by his vehement opposition to the 175G, iETAT. 33. SITTERS, 1755, 147 George and Lady) Colebrook ; ; December. Lady C. Murray ; Mr. Bridgman ; Miss Crook ; Mr. Compton ; Mr. Hopkins, and Mr. Hopkins j Miss Deck, or Degg; Alderman jun. | Beckford , 2 and his Wife ; Cap- November. I tain Wliitwell ; Miss Gardiner ; Mr. Seymour ; Mrs. Hope ; ! Mrs. Sloper ; the Countess of Mrs. and Miss Macartney ; Lord I Essex.] Brooke ; Mr . 1 and Mrs. Wliitshed. i In 1756 Reynolds painted the half-length of Johnson, with a pen in his hand, sitting at a table, on which are books, ink, and paper. 3 Employed as he was by people Government and the Duke of Dorset, the Viceroy ; was accused, and com- pelled to leave Ireland, and was now regarded by the opponents of the Ad- ministration as a martyr to liberty. Johnson, in a review of his Essay on Waters in 1756, says of Lucas: — “ The Irish ministers drove him from his native country by a proclamation in which they charge him with crimes of which they never intended to be called to the proof, and oppressed him by methods equally irresistible by guilt and innocence. Let the man thus driven into exile for having been the friend of his country be received in every other place as a confessor of liberty ; and let the tools of power he taught in time that they may rob, but cannot impoverish.” In 1758 Lucas edited ‘ Swift’s History of the Last Four Years of Queen Anne;’ w T ent back to Ireland, where he was re- turned member for Dublin; died in 1771, and was honoured by a statue in the Dublin Exchange. His portrait represents a young and handsome man, but with an unmistakeable ex- pression of vanity. 1 M.P. for St. Ives. 2 Now one of the members for London — already a determined ad- herent of Pitt, but not yet arrived at the height of his popularity as a demagogue. His noble seat at Font- hill was burnt in February this year, with pictures and furniture of great value. “ He says , 1 Oh, I have an odd 50,000?. in a drawer; I will build it up again. It won’t be above 1000?. apiece difference to my thirty chil- dren ’ ” (Walpole to Bentley, March, 1755 ). — Ed. 3 The first portrait of Johnson, now in Mr. Morrison’s gallery, at Basildon. Another, without a wig, and with the hands raised, was painted about 1770, and is now in the Duke of Sutherland’s gallery. The Knole pic- ture is a repetition of this. A third is of the date 1773. It has the hand on the waistcoat, was originally painted for Bonnet Langton, and was several times repeated. The original was in the . possession of P. Massingberd, Esq., but was removed from his house by Sir G. Lewin for cleaning, and by some acci- dent was sold at Sir G. Lewin’s sale ' in May, 1846, at Christie’s, where it was bought by Mr. Norton for 41 guineas. Sir Robert Peel has the repetition | painted for the Streatham Gallery. | A fourth bears date 1778. Johnson holds a book close to his eyes ; it was I painted originally for Malone, but re- | peated. There is, besides, the curious little Scherzo at Bowood — the infant Johnson — in which, for a joke, Rey- L 2 148 LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS, Chap. Ill, of the highest fashion, this portrait must have been painted by Reynolds for himself, for he afterwards gave it to Boswell, who published an engraving from it, with his Life of its illustrious subject. But it was not only to indulge himself with the portrait of a friend that he could spare time. A young lad, the son of Dr. Mudge, the physician, then employed in the Navy Office in London, was verv anxious to visit his father on his sixteenth birthday ; but unfor- tunately he was confined to his room by illness. He expressed his disappointment to Reynolds, who said, “ Never mind, I will send you to your father,” and accordingly sent a portrait of the youth, in which he represented him as peeping from behind a curtain. This portrait was, of course, a gift ; though the painter was somewhat chary of making presents of his pictures. He used to say he found they were seldom highly valued unless paid for. 1 [The pocket-book for 1756 is lost. But it could hardly have been a profitable year for the Arts. T1 irough the winter and spring political and fashion- able heads were filled with the dread of a French inva- sion, with the earthquake, to which even masquerades were sacrificed, and the recruiting, in which all the young lords, who furnished so important a part of the painter’s sitters, were actively engaged. But even nolds painted Johnson as he supposed him to have been at two years old — a preternaturally heavy-headed child, with a brow bent forward, “ prone with its weight of mind.” This little picture is beautiful in colour, and in fine preservation. — E d. 1 Mr. Cotton points out the pro- bability that the arrangement of the picture was suggested by a mezzotint by B. Lens. Master kludge’s portrait was painted in February, 1758. (See list of sitters for that year, post.} Mr. Tom Mudge was painted in the same year. — Ed. 175G, iKTAT. 33 DEATH OF SIR W. LOWTHER. 110 among these fears and occupations, Loth Houses of Parliament, and the leaders of fashionable society, were fighting hard over the Bill for the construction of the New Road, which the Duke of Bedford and his faction opposed, because it would raise a dust before Bedford House and spoil the prospect, and the Duke of Grafton and his followers as fiercely supported. At this dead time Reynolds had a singular stroke of good fortune, in consequence of the death of Sir William Lowther. This amiable and accomplished young millionaire had known Reynolds at Rome, and had sat to him soon after his first settlement in London. In April tliis year he died of a fever, at twenty-six, leaving 20,000/. a year in land, of which the bulk descended to his imperious and morose cousin Sir James, afterwards the first Earl of Lonsdale, already enormously rich, and the tyrant of Cumberland and Westmoreland. But Sir William, generous in death as he had been in life, left out of his personal estate thirteen legacies of 5000/. each to as many friends. Most of the legatees commissioned Reynolds for copies of Sir William’s portrait, and for two years afterwards he was busy with these profitable commissions, executed under his own eye, but principally painted no doubt by Marclii, Barron, and Berridge, his pupils, or by his drapery-men. The original picture belongs to Mr. G. Bentinck. In June all England was convulsed with news of the loss of Minorca, and of Byng’s having retreated from the French squadron. The popular feeling in London was raised to madness. The shops were filled with caricatures — “ Hang Byng, or take care of your King,” the walls covered with placards, demanding vengeance on the coward and traitor who had disgraced LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Chap. III. 150 the British flag. The comities sent up addresses to the throne ; the towns instructed their representatives to stop the supplies till inquiry was granted. We know now how unjust this fury was — that Byng was at worst guilty of an error of judgment in adhering too closely to the fighting instructions then in force ; but for the moment all fair consideration of the case was drowned in the blindness of public rage. Reynolds had many special motives for interest in this startling news. He knew Minorca well ; had been the guest of its garrison, and had painted the old General, Blakeney, now besieged by the Marechal de Richelieu. His early acquaintance Commodore Edg- cumbe brought the tidings to England. His friends Keppel and Saunders were among the officers designated by the public voice to retrieve the tarnished honour of our flag. The winter was as distracted by political disarrange- ments as the spring and summer by the, fear of invasion and the disastrous news from the Mediterranean. The King bad managed to patch up a ministry by means of the Duke of Devonshire and Pitt, to the exclusion of the Duke of Newcastle and Fox. This administration lasted for five months, of which the principal event was the execution of Admiral Byng in March, 1757. As Reynolds's intimate friend, Captain Keppel, was on the court-martial, and exerted himself earnestly, both in and out of Parliament, to save the life of this unfortunate victim to Draconian articles of war and a popular cry, Reynolds must have been warmly inter- ested in the event, independently of any part he might have taken in the passionate public excitement about IToO, jEtat. 33. PUBLIC EVENTS. 151 Byng. His friend, Captain Edgcumbe, moreover (whom lie painted in 1758), had borne a command under Byng in the squadron of Minorca, and, as I have said before, brought home the news of the Admiral’s retreat. Other names connected with the event occur among the painter’s sitters about this date, as that of James O’Hara, Lord Tyrawley, the blunt, outspoken veteran, and in- veterate enemy of Lord George Sackville. He super- seded General Fowke in the command of Gibraltar, when the latter was dismissed in consequence of his slackness in supplying Byng with men. In April, Pitt — racked by gout, hated by the King, without credit at Court, without influence in the House of Commons, undermined everywhere (except in the estimation of the public) — was dismissed, and the Duke of Newcastle recalled to power. The popularity of the dismissed minister at once manifested itself in the fall of the stocks and the rain of gold-boxes and addresses from the city and principal boroughs, upon him and Legge his Chancellor of the Exchequer. Pamphlets, caricatures, lampoons, swarmed again. The House of Commons commenced its ineffectual inquiry into the causes of the late disasters, in the midst of which the Duke of Cumberland, with Lord Albemarle and Colonel Keppel in his suite, left England to assume the chief command of the army defending Hanover. At the height of these complications, Reynolds had the mortification of seeing another added to the many evidences of the exclusive faith of the nobility of that day in Italian painters. The Earl of Northumberland opened his great gallery in Northumberland House, 152 LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Chap. III. which he had adorned, to his own great contentment, with second-rate works on a large scale and at large prices, by Mengs and Battoni. There had been no thought of employing an English painter or decorator in the work, from first to last. After a two months’ interregnum, filled by vain efforts on the King’s part to avert the recall of Pitt to office, the Duke of Newcastle and the Great Commoner con- cluded the terms of a coalition, with Lord Holderness as Secretary of State and Fox as Paymaster. In August came the ill news of the Duke of Cumber- land’s defeat by the Marechal d’Estrees at Hastenbeck, followed by the Convention of Ivloster Severn, which must have been especially mortifying to one on such riendly terms as Reynolds with the Keppels, the principal members of the Duke’s “ family.” This disgrace was but poorly compensated in September by Sir Edward Hawke’s abortive raid on the French coast, in which Commodore Keppel bore a distinguished part. Here the gallantry of the sailors was neutralised by the blunders and irresolution of Sir John Mordaunt, who commanded the troops. The country was disaffected and depressed ; the exe- cution of Byng had whetted the appetite for blood : the mob would fain have had Sir John Mordaunt treated in the same way, and with better reason. To add to the public despondency, with the winter came our losses in America, the capture of Fort William Henry, the resignation of the Duke of Cumberland, the dearness of corn, and the unpopularity of the ballot for the militia. 175G, ,etat. 33. PREFERENCE FOR ITALIAN PICTURES. 153 Still through all this unlucky year Reynolds was closely employed, and, if general popularity and large earnings had been all he sought from his calling, they flowed in upon him in an ever-increasing tide. But with his aspirations after an English school of Art, he must have been deeply mortified by the scorn of the patrons and connoisseurs of the time for every form of painting and sculpture, in English hands, except portraiture. While Hogarth was reduced to engraving for a livelihood, and Wilson was starving, Italian pictures, especially of the later and weaker schools, were eagerly bought at high prices. It was about this time that many of the great English galleries were begun. “ At Henry Furnese’s auction,” says Walpole, “ a very small Gaspar sold for seventy-six guineas, and a Carlo Maratti, which I am persuaded was a Guiseppe Chiari, Lord Egremont bought at the sale for 260/., and Spencer 1 gave no less than 2000/. for the Andrea Sacchi and the Guido from the same collection. The latter is of very dubious originalty. . . . There is a pewterer, one Cleeve, who some time ago gave one thousand pounds for four very small Dutch pictures.” At Sir Luke Schaub’s sale, a collection not worth 4000/., in Walpole’s opinion, went for double the money. The Duchess of Portland paid 700/. for a copy after Raphael. A Sigismunda, by Farini, to the wrath of Hogarth, fetched 400/. “ In short,” says Walpole, 1 Afterwards first Earl Spencer. 154 LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Ciiap. III. “ there is a Sir James Lowther, Mr. Spencer, Sir Richard Grosyenor, boys with twenty and thirty thousand a year, and the Duchess of Portland, Lord Asliburnham, Lord Egremont, with nearly as much, who care not what they give.” Walpole admits, as a set-off, that the publication of the * Palmyra ’ and ‘ Baalbec,’ by Mr. Robert Wood, Under-Secretary of State, Mr. Dawkins, and Mr. Bouverie, the husband of Reynolds’s beautiful sitter, are noble works to be carried out by private men. He also praises the establishment of the Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Sciences, and Commerce, which was now about to give premiums for pictures — and the grand seigneural design of the Duke of Richmond, more fully described hereafter. But all this could not, in the opinion of Reynolds, make up for the advantages to be hoped from a well- regulated Academy of Arts — such as he lived to preside over eleven years later. For this he was still labouring through this year, and the frequent engagements with his brother painters, recorded in the pocket-book, I have no doubt were connected with this object. The only conspicuous person added this year to the painter’s circle was Lord Charlemont, now newly returned from his travels, and already one of the very few enlightened patrons who appreciated the thoroughly English art of Hogarth. To the names in the list of sitters for this year I have appended the number of sittings, as an illustration of the extraordinary amount of work got through by Reynolds. SITTERS, 1757. 155 1757, jEtat. 34. L ist of Sitters for 1757. January. “ Mem. — Send home Sir H. Wil- liams.” “ Mem. — Send home Mr. Walpole to Mr. Churchill.” “ Mem. — Send Ad. Boscawen.” “ Mem. — Send home Gen. Guise.” “ Mem. — Copy of Sir Wm. Lowther and Mr. Grey.” “ Mems. — Send home Mr. Bridg- man. Copy Lady Dartmouth. Send home Mr. and Mrs. Pelham.” Mr. Pelham 1 (6) ; Lord North 2 (5); Lady North (4); Miss Day ; 3 Mrs. Pelham 4 (4) ; Mr. Colwer (? Calvert) (4) ; Mrs. Walter (4) ; Mr. Hunt ; Sir G. Lee 5 (4); Mr. Charlton (8); Mr. and Mrs. Grey (10) ; Master Holbourne 6 (2); Colonel Mont- gomery (2) ; Mr. and Mrs. Buller 7 (8) ; Mr. Townsend ? (6) ; Colonel Earl (7); Mr. Haldcn (Haldane) 8 (7); Mr. Johnson 9 (6) ; Lord Bruce (5) ; Miss Bad- cliff (5) ; Mr. Fitzroy (8) ; Lord and Lady Dartmouth (6). February. “ Mem. — Mr. and Mrs. Gray to finish.” “Mem. — Mr. Reynolds’s Sir W. Lowther.” Lord Dalkeith ; Mrs. Hesketli (7) ; Lord Plymouth (3) ; Duke of Marlborough 10 (6) ; Colonel Honey wood (2) ; Lord Grey (12) ; Mrs. Bouverie 11 (7) ; Lady Pem- broke (4) ; Master Bouverie (4) ; Lord B. Manners (2) ; Mr. Bower (3) ; Mr. Bouverie ; Duke of Grafton ; Lord Charlemont ; Mr. Hunt (2) ; Lord Sutherland 12 (8) ; Mr. Millbank (3) ; Mr. J ames ; Mr. Chartres (?) (5). 1 Thomas, afterwards Lord Pelham and Earl of Chichester. 2 He had married, in 1756, Anne, the daughter and heir of George Speke, Esq.. 3 Afterwards Lady Fenliouillet. A pretty woman in a flat Woffington hat, with her hands in a muff. 4 Wife of Thomas Pelham, daughter of Charles Frankland, Esq. : married in 1754. 5 An eminent civilian : treasurer to the Princess of Wales; spoken of this year for Chancellor of the Exchequer. He died in 1758. 6 Son of Admiral Holbourne, who this year commanded a squadron on the North American station. 7 Of King’s Nympton, Devon. 8 George Haldane, in August this year made Governor of Jamaica. 9 Dr. Johnson — the first portrait — with a pen in his hand, in a chair covered with chequered stuff. 10 Charles Spencer, second duke. The picture remained unfinished in | consequence of the Duke’s taking the ' command in Germany, where he died in 1758. 11 Daughter of Sir Everard Fawk- ener, lately married to Mr. Edward Bouverie, a great patron of the arts and a friend of Reynolds. 12 The Right Hon. William Earl of i Sutherland, Lord Strathnaver, one of | the sixteen peers of Scotland, Lieut.- j Col. Commandant of a battalion of ! Highlanders, died the beginning of | June, 1766. 156 LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Chap. III. March. “ Mem.— 6, Society” (i. e. Royal). “ Mem . — Lady Middleton’s picture and child, 3 ft. 5 in. high, by 4 ft. 3f in. wide.” Mrs. West (2); Col. Griffin; Mr. Darby (5) ; Col. Vernon (3) ; Mrs. Morris (3) ; Miss Pelham (6) ; Mrs. Watson (5) ; Lord B. Bertie 1 (9) ; Duke and Duchess of Ancaster (9) ; Mrs. Charlton ; Mr. and Mrs. Jubb (10); Mr. Hayward ; Lord Guildford 2 (4) ; Lady C. Fox 1 2 3 (6) ; Capt. Tryal (?) (3) ; Lord Middleton (4) ; Mrs. Lethulier (4) ; Mrs. Douglas ; 4 Lord Abergavenny (2) ; Mr. Lloyd (8) ; Mrs. Lloyd (8) ; Sir J. Ligonier ; 5 Col. Trapaud ; 5 Sir H. Grey (2) ; Mrs. Phillips (4) ; Lord Pembroke (3). April. “ Mem. — Mrs. Sneyd, in Hart Street, Bloomsbury Square.” “ Mem . — To finish a copy of Sir W. Lowther for Mr. T. Wilson : to be finished by the beginning of June.” Lord Middleton (4) ; Miss Townsend (4) ; Mr. Thomas (2) ; Capt. Hamilton; Mr. Wood’s Lady ; Mrs. Sneed (Sneyd) ; Miss | Sneyd (2) ; Mrs. Charlton ; Miss M. Pelham (5); Mrs. Tliorrold (4) ; Miss Morris 6 (10) ; Lord Hyndford ; Mrs. Iremonger (6) ; Mrs. Maynard (6) ; Miss Tliorrold (5) ; Mr. Phillips ; Lady Hyndc- ford (3) (or 4 ?) ; Lady McDaniel ; Mr. and Mrs. Wood (11) ; Miss K. Hunter (13) ; Mr. Tliorold (3). May. “ Mem . — Send home Lord Hynde- ; ford in Savil Row’ with a receipt.” “Mem. — Copy of Lord Dart- j mouth.” I “Mem . — To Mr. Richardson about Milton’s head : to Mr. Ryder about I Pope’s.” (Sir Joshua had probably i bought these drawings, which had I belonged to Gervais the painter.) Lady Fortescue (7) ; Mr. King ; Miss West ; Lord Brook ; Lady Brook ; Capt. Millbank (3) ; Lady E. Keppel (5) ; Mrs. Porter (?) (7); Dog (2); Sir M. Fether- stone (2) ; Miss Ingram (6) ; Mr. Jennings (6); Miss Ashton ! (6) ; Mr. and Mrs. Bastard (10) ; Master Featherstone (4) ; Lady Tliorrold (6) ; Sir J. Tliorrold (6) ; Mr. Carter (3) ; Mrs. Panton, Mr. Panton 7 (8); Mrs. North. 1 Brother to the Duke of Ancaster, a great caYdplayer and turfite. He took part in the council of w’ar off Minorca under Byng, and was involved in the popular discredit of that affair. 2 Father of Lord North. 3 Wife of the great debater, now Paymaster of the Forces ; daughter of the Duke of Richmond, afterwards the first Lady Holland. 4 Wife of Dr. Douglas, afterwards Bishop of Salisbury. 5 See 1758. 6 The Misses Morris sat this year, daughters of Mr. Morris, a gentleman of near Swansea, of whom one was afterwards Mrs. Des Enfans, the other died unmarried. A third sister, after- wards Mrs. Lockwood, also sat. The two pictures of this year are still in the possession of Colonel Morris, C.B., in very good preservation : one lady is in white satin, with rose-coloured ribands- the other in blue, w 7 ith pearls. 7 The father and mother of the j Duchess of Ancaster. Walpole calls 1758, 2ETAT. 35. SITTERS, 1757. 157 June. “ Mem. — Mr. Cambell (sic), in Hanover Square, to send the copy of Sir W. Lowther.” “ Mem . — Lord Fortescue at Caple Hill, near South Mol ton, to deliver the picture to the porter in town, and write my Lord word.” “Mem . — A copy of Sir William Lowther for Major Kinnear to be ready within six weeks.” Mrs. Turner (6) ; Sir J. St. Aubyn (2) ; Mrs. Wetham ; Lady Granby (5) ; Sir Edward Thomas (2) ; Mrs. Vaughan (5) ; Miss Wombwell (2) ; Mr. Luard (?) ; Master Phipps (5) ; Miss Bishop 1 (4) ; Lady Caroline Keppel (3) ; Mr. Copin (2) ; Lady Trevor ; Capt. Banks. July. Mr. Brudenell (6) ; Capt. Hale ; Admiral Knowles (3). August. Mr. and Mrs. Long (6) ; Cole Barrington (5) ; Mr. Charlton (8) ; Dr. Nicols (5) ; Mr. Clark (4) ; Mrs. Wynyard (4). September. Mrs. North ; Mr. Sedge wick (4) ; Mr. Vassall, jun. (5) ; Mrs. North (2) ; Miss North ; Mrs. Vassall (5) ; Mr. and Mrs. Jack- son (4) ; Mr. Vernon (4) ; Mrs. Arnold (4) ; Lady Albemarle (3) ; Mr. Arnold (3) ; Master Heiliger (3) . October. Col. Sandford (2) ; Mr. Rad- cliffe (4); Mr. Williams (4); Dr. Edmond Thomas (2); Mr. Nugent 2 (3) ; Miss Weston ; Mrs. Cottcrell 3 (7); Mr. Clarke. (N.B. — Here two pages are torn out.) November. Mrs. Barrington (4) ; Mr. Brett (4) ; Lord Northumberland (5) ; Mr. Edging (2) ; Mr. Delaval (7). December. Mr. Fore (3) ; Master Honey- wood (6) ; Miss Pains (2) ; Mrs. Hill (4) ; Col. Colleton (4) ; Mr. Hill; Mr. Andrews (6); Mrs. Hillison (2) (Ellison?); Mr. Hope (2) ; Mr. Southern (2 ?) ; Miss Grimston ; Lord Morpeth ; Lady Betty Montague ; 4 General Guise ; Mr. Bootliby ; Duchess of Grafton ; Mr. Elliot (2) ; Mrs. Grimstone. The year 1758, according to Northcote, was the very busiest time of Reynolds’s whole life, and the pocket- book completely confirms him. It contains the startling number of one hundred and fifty sitters. Fanton a “ horse-jockey.” He was a 1 Sir Cecil Bishop, gentleman, but a notorious turfite, and j 2 Afterwards Lord Clare, keeper of the king’s running-horses at i 3 The widow of Admiral Cotterell, Newmarket, a post of 500?. a year : at whose house he made Johnson's under the Master of the Horse. ! acquaintance. 1 One of the pretty daughters of j 4 Afterwards Duchess of Buccleugh. 158 LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Chap. III. The Duke of Richmond — who sat to Reynolds in October — eager to distinguish himself at once in arts and arms — this year erected and opened his Statue Gallery in Privy Gardens, under the superintendence of Wilton the sculptor, and Cipriani, as a place of study for artists. The gallery contained about thirty casts from the best antiques. All “ settled ” artists were admitted, to draw or model, and students above twelve, by recommendation from any known artist to Mr. Wilton. Wilton and Cipriani attended on Satur- days to correct the drawings and give instruction. Premiums were promised at Christmas and Mid- summer : two silver medals for figures, and two for bas-reliefs. All this was absolutely gratis, even fees to the servants in attendance being strictly for- bidden. In consequence of the Duke going abroad to join his regiment in Germany the premiums were not dis- tributed, when some of the students posted up this notice on the door : “ The Right Honourable the Duke of Richmond, being obliged to join his regiment abroad, will pay the premiums as soon as he comes home.” When the Duke returned he found, to his disgust, another paper stuck up, apologizing for his poverty, and expressing his regret at having offered premiums. He shut up the gallery for a while in disgust, but seems to have transferred the contents of it to the Society of Artists, on their incorporation in 1765. They sent him a letter of thanks at their last general meeting on August 9, 1770, by Mr. Woollett, the engraver, their secretary. Some of the casts after- wards became the property of the Royal Academy, 1758, aetat. 35. PUBLIC EVENTS. 159 and may still be in the cast-room there, for students to draw from in 1861 . The winter had been inactive both in Parliament and in the .field, but by the summer the spirit of Pitt had made itself felt in the public counsels, and in the conduct of the war. Before the end of May the painter had to hurry many portraits to an end, or to turn them to the wall unfinished. An expedition of eighteen ships of the line, and fourteen thousand men, was assembled in Cawsand Bay, for a descent on the French coast. Many young men of fortune and fashion, then sitting to Reynolds, were ordered off on service, or joined their friends of the army and navy, as volun- teers. Among them were Sir James Lowtlier, Sir John Armitage, Lord Downe, and Mr. Delaval. Lord Anson took the command of the fleet in person, with Com- modore Howe under his orders. Keppel, not yet well cured of the wound received in capturing the Godichon , joined him in the Torbay . The Duke of Marlborough left his picture unfinished, to put himself at the head of the land-forces, with Lord George Sackville as his second in command. Prince Edward, who sat to Reynolds on his return, distinguished himself by his spirit in this his first service afloat, as a midshipman on board the Essex under Howe. If the expedition did no real service by its descent on St. Maloes, its burning a few ships at Rochefort, and its destruction of the basin at Cherbourg, these successes revived the public spirit of England, and paved the way for the more solid triumphs which rapidly succeeded — the capture of Louisburg in July, and the reduction of Cape Breton in August. The painter must have heard 100 LIFE OF Sill JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Chap. III. every detail of that somewhat farcical and resnltless foray on the French coast, from his many soldier and sailor-sitters who took part in it. Prince Edward may have repeated to him, with all the glee of his frank and joyous temperament, how he had kissed the ladies all round at the ball he had given them at St. Helens, or how the Due d’Aiguillon had sent a cartel-ship after the expedition, with the Duke of Marlborough’s tea-spoons, accidentally left behind. Reynolds doubtless saw the French flags borne in triumph from Kensington Palace to St. Paul’s with military pomp, amid the acclamations of the multitude, and the cannon of Cherbourg dragged into Hyde Park to the delight of a crowd who a year ago had been expecting the arrival of invaders, instead of trophies, from France. In 1758 and 1760, as well as in 1759 — “the great year,” the year of victories par excellence — it is worth pointing out how Reynolds’s lists of sitters reflect the warlike complexion of the times, by the large propor- tion of naval and military officers included in them. There are few of the men most distinguished in our conquests in Africa, North America, and the West Indies, or in the campaigns under Prince Ferdinand in Germany, but will be found figuring in the lists for one of these years. List of Sitters for 1758. January. The Duchess of Grafton ; the Duchess of Hamilton ; Lord Straf- ford ; Mr. Fitzroy ; Mrs. Barring- ton ; Mr. Bower ; Mr. Winyard ; Mrs. Grey ; Colonel Colleton ; Lady Townsend ; Baron Hope ; Admiral Hughes ; Colonel and Lady Elizabeth Keppel ; Mrs. and Master Methuen ; Lord Morpeth ; 1758, jetat. 35. SITTERS, 1758. 161 Mr. Pigott ; Lord Tyrawley ; Mrs. Moore ; Miss Warren ; the Duke of Devonshire. February. Lord Digby ; Lady Aberga- venny and child ; Lady Strafford ; Miss Hunter ; Mr. and Mrs. Morris ; Mrs. Southern ; Lady Mary Coke ; 1 Master Mudge ; Mr. (afterwards Sir William) Boothby ; Mrs. Bale ; Mrs. Pitt ; Miss Delaval ; Miss Paulet ; Miss Blackman ; Mr. and Mrs. Chaun- cey ; Lady Betty Hamilton ; Mr. and Mrs. Partheridge ; Mr. Digby; Sir Harry Grey; Miss Shirley ; Lady Phipps ; the Duke of Somerset; Lady Plymouth: Miss Shepherd. March . The Duke of Cumberland ; Mr. Manley; the Duke of An- caster; Mrs. Shirley; Miss Payne ; Mrs. Southwell ; Captain Otway ; Lord Cardigan ; Captain Tash ; Mr. Thomas ; Mrs. Southern ; Captain Calcraft ; Captain Yaughan; Lord Wey- mouth ; Lord Dartmouth ; Cap- tain Phillips ; Lady Louisa Gre- ville. April. Lord Beauchamp ; Lord Sand- wich; Lady Caroline Fox; the Duke and Duchess of Richmond ; Col. Haldane ; Miss Watson ; Mr. Shafto ; Lord Brook ; Lady Ludlow; Mrs. Hunter; Prince Czartoryski ; Lady Raymond ; Miss Thomicroft ; Sir Conyers D’Arcy ; Captain Walker ; Lady Scarborough ; Miss More ; Miss Clark; Sir Matthew Feather- stone ; 2 General Howard. May. Miss Boothby ; 3 General Dury ; Mr. and Mrs. Hewgill ; Miss , Orby Hunter ; 4 Lady Stanhope ; Mr. Wynn ; Lord Robert Spencer ; | Miss Walker ; Col. Barrington ; | Lady Standish ; Lady Betty Spencer ; Lady Caroline Sey- mour ; Miss Williams : Mr. Con- greve ; Mr. Iremonger ; Lady Lepel Phipps ; Master Moore ; | Lady Charlotte Johnston ; Lady Head. June. Lady St. Aubyn ; Master Smith ; 1 Daughter of John Duke of Argyle, sister of the Countess of Dalkeith (lately married to Charles Townshend), and wife of an ill-conditioned husband, Viscount Coke, who died inl759. Lady Mary survived her husband fifty-eight years. She was a beautiful and fasci- nating woman, the intimate friend of Walpole, and was believed to have been secretly married to the Duke of York, brother of George III., who died at VOL. I. Monaco, in September, 1767. She wore widow’s weeds after his death. — Ed. 2 He, like Mr. Iremonger, had made Reynolds’s acquaintance at Rome.— Ed. 3 Not to be confounded with his pretty little sitter of 1788, Penelope Boothby, the delicate child in a large cap and black ribbon, sitting with folded arms; now in Lord Wards collection. — Ed. 4 Noteposf. — E d. 31 162 LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Chap. III. Mr. Tudway; Lady Granby; Lady Coventry ; 1 Miss Turner ; Mr. Meynell ; Mr. Wynell ; Mrs. Warren ; Lady Halkerton. July. Mr. Barry ; 2 Sir John St. Aubyn; Mrs. Johnson; Captain Smith ; 3 Lord Coventry ; Lord Granby ; Mr. Townsend. August. A Stranger three times ; Captain Torryn; Commodore Edgcumbe . 4 September. Mrs. Robinson; Sir Thomas 5 and Lady Harrison ; Mrs. Hor- neck . 6 October. Captain (afterwards Admiral Viscount) Hood ; Lord Port- more ; Captain Skene ; Miss Owen ; Lord Portland ; the Duke of Richmond. November. Miss Coke ; Miss Davis ; Mr. Ellis ; Captain Hamilton. December. Mrs. Walpole; Mr. and Mrs. Knapp ; Miss Cumberland ; Mrs. Smith; Prince Edward; Mr. Delaval ; 7 the Bishop of Killala (Dr. Synge).] In 1759 Reynolds enjoyed the full favours of Leicester House. [The Duke of Cumberland — William of Culloden — and Prince Edward, had sat to him the year before. The great intimacy and regard which existed between the Duke and the painter’s friend 1 The beautiful Maria Gunning — then dying. 2 Spranger Barry, the distinguished actor, who at one moment was the rival of Garrick in public favour. — Ed. 3 In pencil, “ Captain Smith, to be sent to Lord G. Sackville.” This is the Captain Smith who was aide-de- camp to Lord George at the battle of Minden, and figured in Lord George’s court martial. He was father of Admiral Sir Sydney Smith, the hero of Acre. — Ed. 4 Fresh from the triumphs of Louis- burg. — Ed. . 5 Chamberlain of London. One of his finest and most characteristic pic- tures. 6 The Plymouth beauty, and ; I mother of “the Jessamy Bride” and ! “ Little Comedy,” Goldsmith’s favour- ites. The portrait is at Barton, Sir C. Bunbury’s. It is a very pretty picture of a pretty woman. She wears a lawn veil, from imder which her hair flows down on one side; her arm, which supports her head, rests on a book. The likeness to her charming daugh- ters is apparent. — Ed. 7 Afterwards Sir Francis, celebrated as a Maccaroni now, and later as an amateur singer and actor. He went on the expedition to France in May this year as a volunteer, with other young men of fashion, and is painted musket in hand. (Picture at Ford Castle). — Ed. 1759, jetat. 36. KITTY FISHER. 103 Lord Albemarle was a ready passport to the Duke’s favour. Reynolds produced many repetitions of this Duke’s portrait. Several copies of it too were executed under his eye for friends of his Rtfyal Highness and officers who had served under him.] He now first painted the Prince of Wales, afterwards George III. In this year also Kitty Fisher 1 sat to him for the 1 The most celebrated Travicita of the time (daughter of a German stay- maker), who in 1766 married Mr. Norris, a young gentleman of good Kentish family, son of the Member for Rye. There are seven portraits of her by Sir Joshua. One of these portraits was painted for Sir Charles Bingham. Another was bought by Mr. Crewe. There is a beautiful portrait of her as Cleopatra dissolving the pearl, at Sal tram. Some one wrote under it : — “ To her famed character how just thy right ! Thy mind as wanton, and thy form as bright.” Kitty is recorded to have got through 12,000Z. in nine months. She was at this time about twenty, and under the protection of Captain Keppel, which probably accounts for her first sitting to Reynolds. She afterwards lodged opposite to him near Cranbourne Alley. Kitty was a constant sitter to Reynolds from this year till 1767, when she appears for the last time, as Mrs. Norris. She died before Septem- ber, 1771, “ a victim to cosmetics,” says a writer in the 1 Town and Country Magazine.’ Lord Ligonier was one of her many admirers, through whom also Reynolds might have made her acquaintance. “ There is a fashion in intrigue as well as in dress ; and a debauche , upon the bon ton, considers it as great a disgrace not to have had an alliance with the prevailing Thais, as he would to wear a Kevenhuller hat when the Nivernois are so much in vogue. To this cause we may * ascribe Lord Ligonier’s connexion with the celebrated Kitty Fisher, at a time that she was kept by subscription of the whole club at Arthur’s. It must, however, be acknowledged, in justice to departed beauty, that Kitty had many attractions; for, besides a very agreeable, genteel person, she was the essence of small-talk, and the magazine of temporary anecdote : add to this that she spoke French with great fluency, and was the mistress of a most uncommon share of spirits. It was impossible to be dull in her com- pany, as she would ridicule her own foibles rather than want a subject for raillery. Her constant associate, Miss S — mm — rs, afterwards Mrs. Sk — ne, whom she introduced into all her parties, was another great source of entertainment in Kitty’s alliances, as this lady was not only a professed satirist, but a woman of learning, and an excellent companion. Lord Ligo- nier frequently made up the trio, and some of the merriest hours of his life he acknowledges to have passed with these two ladies of genuine pleasure. At this time Kitty was scarce twenty.” (‘ Town and Country Magazine,’ April, 1770.) Kitty protested in 1759, by advertisement in the ‘ Public Adver- tiser ’ (March 30), against the libevtics taken with her name, in language M 2 164 LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Chap. III. first time. Of this celebrated beauty I have seen no fewer than five portraits, which he must have painted at short intervals of time, as she appears in all to be that reads like a parody on Dr. John- son. Kitty had been within arm’s- length of the great Doctor. He told Miss Burney that Bet Flint had once brought Kitty Fisher to call upon him, but that he was unluckily not at home. The advertisement may have been the composition of Kitty’s accomplished companion, Miss Summers. Thus runs this sententious composition : — “ To err is a blemish entailed upon mortality, and indiscretions seldom or never escape from censure ; the more heavy as the character is more re- markable ; and doubled, nay trebled, by the world, if the progress of that character be marked with success : then malice shoots against it all her stings; the snakes of envy are let loose: to the humane and generous heart, then, must the injured appeal, and certain relief will be found in impartial honour. Miss Fisher is forced to sue to that jurisdiction to protect her from the baseness of little scribblers, and scurvy malevolence : she has been abused in public papers, exposed in print-shops ; and, to wind up the whole, some wretches, mean, ignorant, and venal, would impose upon the public, by daring to pretend to publish her memoirs. She hopes to prevent the success of their endea- vours by thus publicly declaring that nothing of that sort has the slightest foundation in truth.” I find this anecdote of Kitty and the Great Com- moner : — “ Mr. Pitt being one day at a review in Hyde Park with the King, some of the courtiers, seeing the celebrated Kitty Fisher at a dis- tance, whispered his Majesty that it would be a good joke to introduce Mr. Pitt to her. The King fell in with it ; and soon after, looking towards Miss Fisher, purposely asked who she was ? ‘ Oh, Sir,’ said Lord Ligouier, ‘ the Duchess of N , a foreign lady that the Secretary should know.’ ‘ Well, well,’ says the King, 1 introduce him.’ Lord Ligonier in- stantly brought Mr. Pitt up, and opened the introduction by an- nouncing, 4 This is Mr. Secretary Pitt, — this is Miss Kitty Fisher.’ Mr. Pitt instantly saw the joke, and, without being the least embarrassed, politely went up to her, and told her how sorry he was he had not the honour of knowing her when he was a young man, — ‘ for then, Madam,’ says he, ‘ I should have had the hope of succeeding in your affections ; but old and infirm as you now see me, I have no other way of avoiding the force of such beauty but by flying from it ;’ and then instantly hobbled off. ‘ So, you soon despatched him, Kitty?’ said some of the courtiers, coming up to her. 4 Not I, indeed,’ says she : * he went off of his own accord, to my very great regret ; for I never had such handsome things said of me by the youngest man I ever was acquainted with.’ ” — (‘ European Magazine ’ for 1793.) Whether the story be true or not, it illustrates the times it was written in. If we think of the rank and functions of the per- sonages, we may measure the differ- ence a generation has made in respect for decorum at least. For more anec- dotes of Kitty, see Walpole’s Letters, hi. 227, 252 (Cunningham’s Edition). In her later days she lived at Turnbam Green. — Ed. KITTY FISHER. ( From the pictures in the possession of H Munro, F.st-, and Lord Crewe ) 1759 , jetat. 36 . PORTRAITS OF KITTY FISHER. 165 very nearly of the same age. The most interesting is that in which she holds a dove in her lap, while another is about to descend to its mate from the back of the sofa on which she reclines. Of this composition there are three repetitions ; one is in the possession of Mr. Munro, another belongs to Lord Crewe, and the third is in the collection of Mr. Lenox of New York. They are all very lovely; and the lady looks innocent as her doves — as she no doubt could look. It is very strange that there is no contem- porary engraving of any one of these charming pictures. Of the two others, the one at Petworth, and that in which Kitty personates Cleopatra dissolving the pearl, there are engravings. The Petworth portrait of Kitty Fisher must have been the first painted, as the dressing of the hair in it is of an earlier fashion than in the others. In this picture a letter lies open on the table on which she rests her arms; and the date on the letter, which is very indistinct, looks like “ 1759.” 1 [Among his sitters this year are three actors — Garrick, Woodward, and Barry. Both Barry and Woodward were excellent actors, and the painter has well expressed the characteristic points of each. Woodward, the best Petruchio, Copper Captain, Captain Flash, and Bobadil of his day, had brisk and genuine, if rather brassy humour. In spite 1 There is a charming portrait of her in Lord Lansdowne’s Gallery, in profile, with a parrot on her fore-finger. But the loveliest, perhaps, of all the portraits of Kitty is an unfinished head in powder, and a fly cap, in Lord Carysfort’s possession. — E d. 1GG LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Chap. III. of liis sense and with the best intentions, he never could utter a line of tragedy. His face, for all its regular and handsome features, the moment he spoke beamed somehow with irresistible mirth, and seemed to carry a laugh in every line. In Barry, on the other hand, Reynolds had to paint a man so gifted by nature, and so formed by study, for heroes and lovers, that his charm seemed almost to defy time. On his last appearance in 1776, he was so infirm that before the curtain rose it was thought he could not support himself through the play, but in spite of decay lie played Jaffier with such a glow of love and tender- ness, and such a heroic passion, as thrilled the theatre, and spread even to the actors on the stage with him, though he was almost insensible when, after the fall of the curtain, he was led back to the Green-room. There was, we are told, in Barry’s whole person such a noble air of command, such elegance in his action, such regularity and expressiveness in his features, in his voice such resources of melody, strength, and tender- ness, that the greatest Parliamentary orators used to study his acting for the charm of its stately grace and the secret of its pathos. ‘Butin Garrick Reynolds had to express something far subtler, more impalpable and evanescent than the bold humour of Woodward or the pathetic dignity of Barry. lie had to light the eyes with that meteoric sensibility, and to kindle the features with that fire of life, which could deepen into the passion of Lear, sparkle in the vivacity of Mercutio, or twinkle in the fatuousness of Abel I) rugger. He had to paint the 1759, jetat. 36. GARRICK. 167 man who of all men that ever lived presents the most perfect type of the actor : quick in sympathy, vivid in observation, with a body and mind so plastic that they could take every mould, and give back the very form and pressure of every passion, fashion, action ; delighted to give delight, and spurred to ever higher effort by the reflection of the effect produced on others, no matter whether his audience were the crowd of an applauding theatre, a table full of noblemen and wits, a nursery group of children, or a solitary black boy in an area ; of inordinate vanity ; at once the most courteous, genial, sore, and sensitive of men ; full of kindliness, yet always quarrelling ; scheming for applause even in the society of his most intimate friends ; a clever writer, a wit, and the friend of wits, yet capable of mutilating ‘ Hamlet,’ and degrading 4 The Midsummer Night’s Dream ’ into a ballet opera. There is not so curiously complex a personage as Garrick in all that half-century, rich as it was in character. If the man be admitted less worthy of love than Goldsmith or Reynolds, of respect than Johnson or Burke, it is, I suppose, because of his mobility, his mirror-like, glancing mind, which could reflect and dazzle, but neither originate nor retain. Such as he was, Reynolds has painted immeasurably the best portraits of him. There are seven of them ; that of this year was the first. To paint Garrick was to come into direct competition with all the notable portrait- painters of the time. Everybody painted Garrick — Reynolds, Gainsborough, Hayman, Dance, Cotes, Hone, Zoffany, Angelica Kauffman. His London house in Southampton Street, and afterwards in the 168 LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Chap. III. Adelphi, was full of portraits of himself, gifts or purchases. But for’ the world Garrick is immortalised by the pencil of Reynolds ; and chiefly by that happy allegory of him between Tragedy and Comedy, painted two years after this. It is pleasant to think what a heavy debt of pleasure Reynolds w^as repaying in those pictures. He had, no doubt, seen and admired Garrick in the actor’s primes! days, while himself working under Hudson between 1742 and 1744. Cumberland’s vivid account helps us, better than any other description, to understand what a revelation Garrick’s acting must have been to the young- men of that day. The play he describes was the Fair Penitent : Quin was the Horatio, Ryan the Altamont, Mrs. Cibber the Calista, Mrs. Pritchard the Lavinia, Garrick the Lothario. “ Quin presented himself upon the rising of the curtain in a green velvet coat embroidered down the seams, an enormous full-bottomed periwig, rolled stockings, and high-heeled square-toed shoes. With very little variation of cadence, and in deep full tone, accompanied by a sawing kind of action, which had more of the senate than the stage in it, he rolled out his heroics with an air of dignified indifference, that seemed to disdain the plaudits bestowed upon him. Mrs. Cibber, in a key High-pitched but sweet withal, sung, or rather recitatived, Rowe’s harmonious strain, somewhat in the manner of the improvisators. It was so extremely wanting in contrast, that, though it did not wound the ear, it wearied it ; when she had once recited two or three speeches, I could anticipate the manner of every succeeding one : it was like a long- legendary ballad of innumerable stanzas, every one of 1759, iETAT. 30. GARRICK— HORACE WALPOLE. 1(59 which is sung to the same tune, eternally chiming to the ear without variation or relief. Mrs. Pritchard was an actress of a different cast, had more nature, and of course more change of tone, and variety both of action and expression ; in my opinion the comparison was decidedly in her favour. But when, after long and eager expectation, I first beheld little Garrick, then young and light and alive in every muscle and in every feature, come bounding on the stage, and pointing at the wittol Altamont and heavy-paced Horatio, Heavens, what a transition ! It seemed as if a whole century had been stepped over in the changing of a single scene ; old things were done away, and a new order at once brought forward, bright and luminous, and clearly destined to dispel the barbarisms and bigotry of a taste- less age, too long attached to the prejudices of custom, and superstitiously devoted to the illusions of imposing declamation.” Might it not have occurred to both painter and actor that Reynolds was bringing into his art much of this very freshness and new natural life which Garrick had imparted to the stage ? I cannot ascertain precisely when Sir Joshua painted the portrait of Horace Walpole, but I think it probable that he sat in 1756. In May of this year the picture was in the hands of M‘ Ardell, the engraver, who was engraving it privately. Walpole writes to Grosvenor Bedford, in a huff with the engraver for having told people of the print, and to request him to bring away the picture, unless M‘Ardell locks up the print, and denies to everybody that there is any such thing. The picture was repeated. The Marquis of Hertford has 170 LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Chai\ III. the original, and the Marquis of Lansdowne the dupli- cate. The time is gone by when Walpole’s judgments in art carried weight, hut it is still interesting to read his opinion of the comparative merits of Reynolds and Ramsay, as reflecting the estimate of both by the guiding connoisseurship of that day. “ Mr. Ramsay and Mr. Reynolds,” he writes to Dalrymple, in February of this year, “ are onr favourite painters, and two of the best we ever had. Indeed, the number of good has been very small, considering the numbers there are. A very few years ago there were computed two thousand portrait-painters in London. I do not exag- gerate the computation, but diminish it ; though I think it must have been exaggerated. Mr. Revnolds and Mr. Ramsay can scarce be rivals, their manners are so different. The former is bold, and has a kind of tem- pestuous colouring, yet with dignity and grace ; the latter is all delicacy. Mr. Reynolds seldom succeeds in women ; Mr. Ramsay is formed to paint them.” The two latter sentences are hardly less startling to the opinion of the present day, than the enormous exag- geration in the statistics of portrait-painting which precedes them. 1 The painter’s intimacy with Johnson now r brought him into close relations with the labours and sorrows of that remarkable man, wdio in his turn exulted in his young friend’s success, though he was utterly without perception of what is good in pictures. “ Reynolds,” he writes to Langton on January 9th, “ has within 1 In Ivearsley’s ‘ Gentleman’s and j and landscape painters in or near Tradesman’s Pocket Ledger ’ for 1777 ' London, with their places of abode, is given a list of the principal portrait | The number is 196. — Ed. 1759, je tat. 3G. JOHNSON. 171 these few days raised his price to twenty guineas a head, and Miss is much employed in miniatures.” Johnson had lately given up his house in Gough Square, finding the cost of housekeeping beyond his means, and had taken chambers, in Staple Inn first, then in Gray’s Inn, and, lastly, in Inner Temple Lane. Within a fortnight of writing this letter his mother died ; and in the course of a week, as he told Reynolds, he had written ‘ Rasselas ’ to pay the expenses of her funeral, and discharge the few debts she had left. Knowing this, there is something inexpressibly touching in the passage where Imlac says, “ I have neither mother to be delighted with the reputation of her son, nor wife to partake the honours of her husband.” The regard of such men as Reynolds was henceforth the best comfort of that great solitary heart, and the painter’s purse and house and pen were alike at his friend’s service.] For example, in this year Reynolds wrote three papers for the Idler , Numbers 76, 79, and 82} “ These papers,” observes Northcote, “ may be considered as a kind of syllabus of all his future Discourses ; and they cer- tainly occasioned him some thinking in their composi- tion. I have heard Sir Joshua say that Johnson required them from him on a sudden emergency, and on that account he sat up the whole night to complete them in time ; and by it he was so much disordered, that it produced a vertigo in his head. I may here add, that, at the time when he contributed to the Idler , 1 The first, on the extent of Con- noisseurship, and the true place and use of Rules ; the second, on the Imita- tion of Nature ; the third, on Beauty. I have examined the theory put for- ward in these papers in my remarks on Sir Joshua’s Discourses. — Ed. 172 LIFE OF SIK JOSHUA KEYNOLDS. Chap. III. lie also committed to paper a variety of remarks which afterwards served him as hints for his Discourses/' [From the pocket-book for 1759, besides its list of sitters, may be gleaned a few particulars worth noting. There are sundry engagements to cards ; several at 4 Club ’ on Mondays and Fridays ; and a “ dance at the Crown and Anchor ” in January : dinners with the lovely Lady Coventry, now fast sinking in hopeless decline, and with La Rena, the Italian mistress of Lord March, whom Walpole describes as decidedly passee , but who had at least the art to enchain her sated admirer for a long time. There are also dinners with his friends Nesbitt and AVilkes, and the Edgcumbes, Lord and Commodore. One Sunday’s engagements begin with a breakfast with AVilkes, followed by an afternoon appointment with Dr. Markham (Master of AVestminster), and wind up with an evening in the company of Ramsay the painter. There is a dinner with one of his sitters, Colonel Owen, at Chelsea, by the College, and a reminder to receive Air. Johnson and Air. Clarke at dinner in December. There are various memoranda as to pictures to be finished and sent home (as “ Airs. Hunter and Airs. Fortesque to be sent to AVaverley Abbey, Farnliam;” “Dutchess of Ancaster to be sent home;” “Air. Haldane’s pictures to be finished ”) ; others to be framed ; others to be copied (as “ Copy Lord Granby, half-length, for Lady Aylesford ; ” “ Copy Duke of Richmond, for General Conway “ Send Mrs. Fortescue to be copied “ Send Airs. Shirley, do. “ Duke of Devonshire an- other (3rd) coj>y “ Copy Master Pelham ”). How many of these copies may now be passing as originals ? 1759 , jetat. 36 . LADY WALDEGRAVE— VENUS. 1 170 Under Kitty Fisher’s name, on Sunday, the 9th of April (the date of her first sitting), is written, “ Miss Fisscher,” in Sir Joshua’s hand. The entry for her next sitting is in a different hand (conjectured by Mr. Cotton to be her own), “ Miss Kitty Fisher,” with an N.p., “ Miss Fisher’s picture is for Sir Charles Bingham.” Then comes a memorandum : “ Call on Mr. Morin, in Grosvenor Square, to see the picture of Rubens and a list of pictures, bought of Mr. Seal, with their prices. The list includes two Hemskirks ; two Sebastian Concas ; an anonymous “ Moonlight;” “ Finding of Moses;” “ Hare, &c. “ Holy Family;” and a Yandevelde, — costing in all 84/. 135., and showing the appropriation of some of the money which was now flowing in so fast. In the side-pocket of this year’s book I found a deli- cate golden-brown tress, in a paper inscribed “ Lady Waldegrave,” never disturbed till now, I dare say, since the painter laid it there, after comparing it, for the last time, with the colour in his picture of the beautiful Countess. Has any lock of her hair, I wonder, been as carefully preserved in a lover’s keeping as this in the painter’s ? The last entry in the pocket-book for December, 1759, is “ Yenus.” This was the first Yenus painted by Sir Joshua. She reclines in a wooded landscape ; only an armlet breaks the nude beauty of her rounded form : Cupid peeps in on her through the boughs. A red curtain overhead interrupts the sun. The picture lias been well engraved by Raimbach. Mason, the poet, says of the picture : — “ I have said that Sir Joshua had always a living archetype before him when- 174 LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Chap. III. ever lie painted what was not a mere portrait. In this practice he imitated Guido, of whom, in one of his excellent notes in Du Fresnoy, he says that he would make a common porter sit to him while he was painting a Madonna, merely to have that nature before him which he might depart from. But Sir Joshua did not imitate him to this extreme. I remember, however, an anecdote not quite dissimilar to it. When he was painting his first Yenus, I was frequently near his easel ; and although before I came to town his picture was in some forwardness, and the attitude entirely decided (which, however, I rather believe he designed from a plate of some Leda, or like subject of some old master, than from real life), yet I happened to visit him when he was finishing the head from a beautiful girl of sixteen, who, as he told me, was his man Ralph’s daughter, and whose flaxen hair, in fine natural curls, flowed behind her neck very gracefully. But a second casual visit presented me with a very different object : he was then painting the body, and in his sitting-chair a very squalid beggar-woman was placed, with a child, not above a year old, quite naked upon her lap. As may be imagined, I could not help testi- fying my surprise at seeing him paint the carnation of the Goddess of Beauty from that of a little child, which seemed to have been nourished rather with gin than with milk, and saying that 4 1 wondered he had not taken some more liealthy-looking model but he answered, with his usual naivete , that, 4 whatever I might think, the child’s flesh assisted him in giving a certain morbidezza to his own colouring, which he thought he should hardly arrive at had he not such 1759, iETAT. 36. THE VENUS. 175 an object, when it was extreme (as it certainly was), before his eyes.’ “ Upon this picture he bestowed much time, in- tending, as I suppose from the subject, to emulate the Venus of Titian. I have seen it, during its progress, in a variety, of different tones of colouring ; sometimes rosy beyond nature, and sometimes pallid and blue, and these differences throughout the whole form. On his table I observed at the time there always stood two large gallipots of colour under water ; one of a deeper, one of a lighter, tinge, composed of vermilion and wdiite, which proved to me that he had now laid aside his first favourite lake ; and indeed he, about that time, told me he had done so, preferring Chinese vermilion to it ; of the durability of which he, however, after- wards doubted, and used in its stead the best he could find of English manufacture. By repeated glazings he, as I imagine, brought the figure to that perfection which it certainly had when finished. Yet, when he first saw it after it was hung up in the exhibition-room at the Academy, he told me he felt much surprise, and a little temporary chagrin, to see its effect so much lessened from that which it had on his easel. 6 But on reflection,’ he said, ‘ I was soon reconciled with my work. I concluded that the more fiercely- coloured paintings which surrounded it made it appear so faint as it seemed to do ; for I know,’ and he might say so without vanity, 4 that it was the precise hue of nature.’ ” Lord Coventry purchased the picture. The pocket-book for 1759 records not fewer than 148 sitters. They are in 17 G LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Chap. III. January. Tlie Duke of Buccleugh ; Mr. Delaval ; the Prince of Wales ; 1 Prince Edward ; Mrs. Day ; Mr. and Mrs. Cleveland ; Mrs. Angelo ; the Duchess of Hamilton and Lady Coventry ; 2 Mr. Bridges ; Lady M. Coke ; Mrs. Moore ; Lady Louisa Greville ;* Duchess of Grafton; Mr. Winter;* Mr. Smith ; Sir J ohn St. Aubyn ; Lord G. Sackville ; Lord Straf- ford ; Mrs. Pelham (feeding chickens) ; Col. Keppel ; Miss Cumberland ; Duke of Portland ; Miss Hoare ; General Howard ; Mr. Mordaunt. February. Commodore (afterwards Lord) Edgcumbe ; Mrs. Price ; Mr. Strode ; Master Pelham ; Lady Francis Scott ; Mrs. Proby ; Lady Caroline Seymour ; Mr. Gifford ; Col. Townshend ; Mr. Smith ; Miss Powis ; Miss Miller ; Lord Edgccumbe ; Mr. Astley. March. Captain Byron ; 3 Lord Boyle ; Lord Charlemont ; 4 the Duke of Grafton ; 5 Mr. and Miss Thorold ; Mrs. Trollope ; Mr. Sedgwick ; Master Methuen ; Miss Reynolds ; Mr. and Mrs. Knapp; Mr. Jef- fries ; Duchess of Ancaster ; Lady M. Bertie ; Lady Strafford ; Mr. Haldane ; Mr. Langton ; Admiral Knowles. April. Lady Albemarle; Lady Caro- line Adair ; 6 Mrs. Bassett ; Lady Collier ; Mrs. Hewgill ; Mrs. Hewitt; Kitty Fisher; 7 General Whitmore ; Comm. Keppel ; Mrs. Methuen ; Lady Eliz. Keppel ; Lady Thorold; 8 Mr. Sayer; 1 Afterwards George III. 2 Elizabeth and Maria Gunning, of whom the former married Colonel Campbell, in March this year, and by that marriage ultimately became Dficliess of Argyle ; the latter died in October, 1760. — Ed. * Lady Louisa’s picture is in the possession of Mr. Munro. It is a Kitcat of a pretty young woman in a blue dress and pearls, and a close cap, with a pearl trimming, and is in ex- cellent preservation, with the carna- tion unimpaired. Mr. Winter was a captain in the Guards. His picture, less than life-size, and full-length, standing by his horse, with a battle in the background, was lately in the hands of Mr. Bryant, the picture- dealer of St. James’s Street. 3 Foul-weather Jack. 4 The wit ~ and friend of wits, scholars, and artists, the suggester of the Gerrard-Street Club in 1764, and the patron of Hogarth. — Ed. 5 “ D. of G. Copy in an undress for Mr. Alion”(? Alleyn). 6 Lady Caroline Keppel, now mar- ried to Mr. Adair, a surgeon of emi- nence. 7 Her sittings run over several months of this year, and are very frequent. She often sat on a Sunday, and twice in May sits at half-past eight. 8 “Mem . — Sir John Thorold and Lady Thorold and Mr. Thorold to be sent to the Castle in Wood Street, by the Stamford carrier, directed to Grantham, to be left till called for. Mr. Ingram, Wakefield, to be sent to the Swan with Two Necks, in Ladd Lane.” 1759, .etat. 36. SITTERS, 1759. 177 Mrs. Ingram ; Lady Granby ; Duke of Devonshire ; Mr. and Mrs. Grey ; Lord Dartmouth ; Lady Lepel Phipps ; Lady Caro- line Russell ; Miss Crokatt ; Lady Fortescue ; Mrs. Woodley ; Miss Poyntz. May. Master Cox (as the Young Han- nibal) ; the Duke of Roxborougli ; Lord Lauderdale ; \ Lord North- ampton ; Mr. Selwyn (George) ; Miss Car ; Mr. Williams ; General Cholmondeley ; 1 2 Duchess of Richmond ; Mrs. Hugh ; Mr. Phipps ; Duke of Bedford ; Duke of Marlborough ; Miss Warren ; Col. Champness ; Miss Rolts ; Mrs. Spencer : Mr. Paunceford (in small for Col. Keppel). June. 3 Lord March ; 4 the Countess Waldegrave ; 5 Lady Maynard and Dog ; Miss Spencer ; Sir Walter Blackett and Dog; Mrs. Shirley ; Mrs. Hays ; Mrs. Mey- nell ; Lord C. Spencer ; Mrs. James (as a Madonna) ; Miss Dawson ; Mr. and Mrs. Lloyd. July. Sir Archer and Lady Croft ; La Rena ; 6 Sir R. Grosvenor ; Mr. Nesbit ; Mr. James ; Mrs. Bathurst. August. Mrs. Ashley or Astly ; David Garrick ; Mr. Townsend ; Mr. Morant ; Lady Lyttelton ; Capt. Hale. September. Harry Woodward ; 7 Mr. Barry 1 In Nov., “ Copy of Lord Lauder- dale, 4 ft. I high, by 3 ft. 7 in., 20 guineas.” 2 Distinguished for his services in Flanders in 1744-45, and in the Scotch campaign against the rebels in the ’45-46. • 3 “ Mr. Trollope’s, Mr. Thorold’s, and Miss Thorold’s pictures to be sent by the Louth waggon, at the .Red Lion, Aldersgate Street, directed to Mr. Trollope, at Billingborough, Lincolnshire.” 4 Afterwards Duke of Queen sbuiy ; the “ Old Q,” of profligate notoriety. In July, “ Rich frame with an earl’s coronet for Lord March.” — Ed. 5 Afterwards Duchess of Gloucester. The Earl, one of the honestest men of liis time, was the most trusted friend of George II., and in 1757 had been for a few days prime minister, much against his will. The Countess was Horace Walpole’s beautiful niece Maria. She was at this time a young bride, having been married ip. May. The Countess Waldegrave was one of the loveliest women of her time. Wal- pole mentions her being mobbed in the park one Sunday in this same month of June, when in company with Lady Coventry ; the next Sunday Lady Coventry had two sergeants of the guards to march before her with their halberds, and twelve guards behind her, to keep off the admiring crowd. (Walpole, June 23, 1759, Cunning- ham’s edition.) She sat very often to Reynolds, and there are at least four portraits of her from his hand. This year’s portrait of her was the one in a turban exhibited in 1760. — Ed. 6 An Italian mistress of Lord March. Is this the picture of a dark woman in a fly cap and purple dress, with a sheet of music in her hand, exhibited at the British Institution in 1862 ? — Ed. 7 The comedian. He gave the por- N YOL. I. 178 LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Chap. III. (the actor) ; Colonel Lindsey ; Lord Newbattlc ; Lady Selina Hastings. October. Dr. Markham ; 1 Colonel Cla- vering ; 2 Sir Harry Ecklin ; Lord Milsington ; Master Morant ; Mr. Cruttenden ; Lady Berkley ; Mr. Dawkins ; Mr. Vaughan. November . 3 Lady Ecklin ; Mr. Malone ; The first public exhibition of the pictures of living artists in England originated in charity. Hogarth’s munificent gifts of his fine whole-length portrait of good old Captain Coram, and of his Moses before Pharaoh’s Daughter , to the Foundling Hospital, and his presentation to the same institution of a great number of tickets in the raffle for the March to Finchley , — by which means that picture also became the pro- perty of the Hospital, — induced gifts to the same charity by other painters, and the collection, thus originated, was thrown open to the public . 4 Colonel Bradsliaw ; Mr. (after- wards Sir) George Colebrooke ; Mr. Gwilt ; Miss Lawson ; Miss Eore (Faure ?) ; Mrs. Morris ; Lady Charlotte Johnston. December. Mrs. Bradshaw ; Mrs. Wilson ; Lord Beauchamp ; Mr. Dyson. (Lord Sussex to be finished in three weeks.)] trait to Stacey, an ex-jockey, the land- lord of the Bedford Arms, a famous wliist-player, with whom he lodged. It is now at Pet worth. — Ed. 1 Now head-master of Westminster, afterwards Bishop of Chester, and finally Archbishop of York. He was at this time a warm friend of Burke, whom he afterwards broke with on account of his liberal and constitu- tional predilections in politics. The picture is at Christchurch. — Ed. 2 “ Your friend, Colonel Clavering, is the real hero of Guadaloupe ; he is come home covered with more laurels than a boar’s head. Indeed he has done exceedingly well.” (Walpole to Mann, June 22, 1759.) — Ed. 3 “ Mr. James, white coat (Bath cloth), blue lapels, blue waistcoat, embroidered button-holes.” A por- trait, with this dress, is in possession of William Russell, Esq., Chesham Place. — Ed. 4 Among the painters who pre- sented pictures may be mentioned Hayman, Wills, Highmore, Hudson, Ramsay, Lambert, Wilson, and Pine. Hogarth first conceived the design of ornamenting the hospital, by a com- bination of painters, sculptors, and architects. A committee was formed for the purpose, to meet annually on the 5th of November. — The committee- meeting drew on an annual dinner, which was, in little, what the Academy 1760 , M TAT. 37 . ARTISTS’ ACADEMIES. 179 In consequence of the great interest excited by this display, a public exhibition of pictures by living dinner is now. Out of this gathering grew not only the annual exhibitions, as mentioned below, but, as a conse- quence of their success, the incorpora- tion of a Society of Artists in 1765, by secession from which, finally, was constituted the Royal Academy. As some perplexity may be caused to those who may wish to follow the successive steps which led to the esta- blishment of the Royal Academy, by the names and exhibitions of the various Societies of Artists between 1760 and the end of the century, I subjoin a synopsis of these, compiled from Edwards, the catalogues, &c. A.D. 1711. — An academy formed by several artists, with Sir Godfrey Kneller at their head, for instruction in drawing. Vertue the engraver studied there. 1724 to 1734. — Sir James Thorn- hill formed an Academy for drawing in his own house, in the Piazza, Co vent Garden. Between 1734 and 1739. — Life school held in Greyhound Court, Arundel Street, under G. M. Moser, in the house of Mr. Peter Hyde, a painter, afterwards a Moravian mis- sionary in Philadelphia. 1739. — The Greyhound - Court School was augmented by the addi- tion of Hogarth, Wills, Ellis, and others, and emigrated to Peter’s Court, St. Martin’s Lane. Hogarth presented them with Sir James Thornhill’s casts. An English Academy founded at Rome, May, 1752, the very month that Reynolds left it on his return to England. I find in a letter from Rome in a contemporaneous perio- dical, “ The Lords Bruce, Charle- mont, Tilney, and Kilmore, Sir Tlios. Kennedy, Messrs. Ward, Iremonger, Lethulier, Bagot, Scroop, Cook, Lypeat, and Murphy, Esqs., have began a subscription for an Academy in this city, in which English students in painting and sculpture, whose circum- stances will not permit them to pro- secute their studies at their own expense, will receive all the advan- tages that foreigners, especially the French , derive from such loundations, — a subscription which it is hoped all the lovers of polite arts will concur to promote. Mr. John Parker, history- painter, is appointed receiver and director.” Most of these founders had been friends of Reynolds at Rome, and sat to him in London afterwards. In October, 1753, a scheme was started for “ Erecting a public Aca- demy for the improvement of the Arts ” of Painting, Sculpture, and Architecture, and a meeting con- vened by circular at the Turk’s Head, Greek Street, Soho, for November 13th, “to elect 24 — 13 painters, 2 sculptors, 1 chaser, 2 engravers, and 2 architects, — for making regulations, taking subscriptions, erecting a build- ing, instructing the students, and con- certing all such measures as shall after- wards be thought necessary.” (F. M. Newton, Secretary.) Nothing effectual came of this meeting. 1755. — Abortive consultations on the foundation of an Academy — among the painters themselves and with the Dilettanti Society. 1757. — Removal of the Peter’s- Court School to Pall Mall. 21st April, 1760. — First exhibition opened at the Great Room of the Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures, and Commerce, in the Strand. Admission free, Cata- logues 6c?. N 2 180 LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Chat*. III. painters was opened on the 21st of April, 1760, at a large room in the Strand, belonging to the Society 9th May, 1761. — Second exhibition I at the Society of Artists’ Rooms, in j Spring Gardens. Admission by cata- logue, price Is. 17th May, 1762. — Third exhibition. Admission Is., catalogue given gratis, with preface by Dr. Johnson. Plan for selling pictures sent. “ Prices to be secretly fixed by the committee and registered: if picture sold for more than committee’s valuation, the whole price to be the artist’s ; if for less, the deficiency to be made up to the artist out of the profits of the ex- hibition.” The Society of Arts’ exhibitions, in the Great Room in the Strand went on, simultaneously with those in Spring Gardens, till 1764. The artists, chiefly the younger members of the profession, who had been accustomed to exhibit in the Room of the Society of Arts, then hired a room in Maiden Lane, where they exhibited in 1765 and 1766, calling themselves the Free Society of Artists. They then hired the use of Mr. Christie’s Auction Room, near Cumberland House, Pall Mall, for a month every spring, and exhibited there, feebly, till 1774. In 1775 they exhibited for the last time in a room in St. Alban’s Street. 26th January, 1765. — The Spring- Garden Society was incorporated by Royal Charter, under the name of The Society of Artists of Great Britain ; with 24 directors, including a presi- dent, vice-president, treasurer, and se- cretary, to be annually elected on St. Luke’s Day, who were to choose fellows. George Lambert ( principal scene- painter at Drury Lane, and founder of the Beefsteak Club) was the first president ; Francis Hayman, vice- president ; Richard Dalton, treasurer ; and Francis Milner Newton, secretary. James MacArdell (engraver), George Barrett, William Chambers (archi- tect), William Collins, Francis Cotes, Charles Grignion (engraver), John Gwynne (architect), Nathaniel Hone, Jeremiah Meyer, George Michael Moser, James Paine (architect), Ed- ward Penny, Edward Rooker (water- colour painter), Paul Sandby (water- colour painter), Christopher Seaton, William Tyler, Samuel Wale (sign and historical painter, and book- illustrator), Richard Wilson, Joseph Wilton (sculptor), and Richard Yeo, directors. It is remarkable that Reynolds, who had exhibited with this society since 1760, and was so distinctly recognised as the most fashionable, as well as the best portrait-painter of his time long before this, does not appear in this list ; neither does Ramsay, his most formidable rival. The charter conferred arms on the society : Upon a field azure, a brush, a chisel, and a pair of compasses, com- posed fretty, or ; over them in chief, a regal crown proper. Supporters, on the dexter side, Britannia; on the sinister, Concord. Crest, on a wreath an oak branch, and a palm-branch in saltire ; in the centre of which a chap- let of laurel. In December, 1768. — Present Royal Academy constituted by secession from the Incorporated Society. Their first quarters were in Pall Mall, at Dalton’s Picture Auction Rooms, next Old Carlton House. Thence their schools were removed to old Somerset House in 1771, by permission of the king, but their exhibitions were still held in Pall Mall till the completion of the 1760, 2ETAT. 37. FIRST EXHIBITION OF PICTURES. 181 for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures, and Commerce. [The Catalogue enumerates seventy-four pictures, and includes, as its most noticeable works for us, Hayman’s portrait of Garrick as Richard the Third ; Richard Wilson’s Niobe, with two other landscapes by him ; landscapes by the three Smiths, of Chichester ; and Roubiliac’s Shakespeare, executed for Garrick’s villa at Hampton, and by him bequeathed to the British Museum, where it now is. Hogarth did not contribute to this exhibition.] Reynolds sent four of his works : — A whole-length portrait of Elizabeth, Duchess of Hamilton . 1 A three-quarter of Lady Elizabeth Keppel, after- wards Marchioness of Tavistock . 2 A three-quarter of a gentleman ; and Lord Charles (? George) Yernon, in armour, the attitude (according to Horace Walpole) taken from Vandyke. new buildings at Somerset House, where they first exhibited on May 1st, 1780. The Incorporated Society continued to exhibit simultaneously with the Royal Academy, but latterly with some irregularity, till 1783, viz. : — at the Spring-Garden Rooms till 1771 ; at the room they had erected (by Jas. Payne) on the site of the present Lyceum Theatre till 1777, in which year they exhibited at Mr. Phillips’s new great room, near Air Street, Pic- cadilly. From 1777 to 1780 they did not exhibit, but in the latter year they exhibited at their old room in Spring Gardens : again intermitting their ex- hibition till 1783, when they returned to the Lyceum room. The latest catalogue of theirs which I have seen is for 1790-91. The earliest water- colour exhibitions were held in the Spring-Garden room. Oil pictures were occasionally introduced. For instance, Hayaon’s Solomon was exhibited there in 1814.— Ed. 1 The beautiful Elizabeth Gunning, at this time the wife of General Camp- bell, afterwards fifth Duke of Argyll. —Ed. 2 A sister of Commodore Keppel. This picture is now at Lord Albe- marle’s, Quiddenham, Norfolk. It is one of the painter’s loveliest and best- preserved female portraits. The dress is -white, with a rose in the bosom, and the expression inimitably maidenly and gentle. Sir Joshua’s full-length of the same lady as Marchioness of Tavistock (now at Woburn), painted in 1761-62, is one of his finest pictures for silvery sweetness. 182 LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS, Chap. III. His sitters and liis gains still increasing, Keynolds this snmmef removed to a house in Leicester Square, where he remained to the end of his life. 1 To this house, which stood in the centre of the west side of the square, No. 47, he added a gallery, painting-rooms for himself, his pupils, copyists, and drapery-men — a considerable staff — and other conveniences. 2 [His own painting-room, Nortlicote tells us, was octagonal, “ about twenty feet long and sixteen in breadth. The window which gave the light to the room was square, and not much larger than one half the size of a common window in a private house; whilst the lower part of this window was nine feet four inches from the floor. The chair 3 for his sitters was raised eighteen inches from 1 The father of Geo. Morland, the painter, had previously occupied the house. It is now occupied by the lite- rary auctioneers, Puttick and Simpson. The passage to Sir Joshua’s painting- room remains intact, but the painting- room has been transformed. — Ed. 2 In the pocket-book for the year is recorded, under July 3rd, “ House bought;” and under September 11th, “ Paid the remainder of the purchase- money, 1000Z.” — Ed. 3 His favourite easel, a mahogany one, handsomely carved, given him by Mason the poet, is now in posses- sion of the Royal Academy. A chair with gilt cane back and sides, and a cushion covered with crimson silk damask, catalogued as “ The state chair of the late Sir Joshua Reynolds, in which his distinguished sitters were placed, and which he bequeathed by will to Mr. Barry, R.A.,” was put up, but not sold, at Christie’s sale of Lord De Tably’s collection, July 7, 1827. Smith (‘ Life of Nollekens,’ ii. 164) pronounces this chair an impostor, and says that, on Sir Thomas Lawrence telling Christie so, the honest auc- tioneer at once informed the company, and passed the lot. The true chair (which was given to Barry by Lord and Lady Inchiquin, after Sir Joshua’s death), at the sale of the furniture of Dr. Fryer, Barry’s biographer, to whom it had passed, was on the point of being knocked down for 10s. 6c?., when Smith entered the room, and secured it for Sir Thomas Lawrence. This historic seat, which is a plain mahogany arm-chair, covered with leather, was subsequently Sir M. A. Shee’s, and was sold at the sale of the latter’s col- lection, March 25, 1851, for 51. 15 s. 6c?. ; when, also, one of Sir Joshua’s palettes, presented to Sliec by Turner, was sold for 4Z. 4s. The chair is now in the hands of Sir Charles Eastlake, P.ll.A. ; and this palette (with several others of Reynolds’s — one with the colours set by himself for the Countess of Buckingham) is in the possession of the Royal Academy. Mr. Cribb, of King Street, Covent Garden, son of 1760, 2etat. 37. REMOVES TO LEICESTER SQUARE. 183 the floor, and turned round on castors. His palettes were those which are held by a handle, not those held on the thumb. The stocks of his pencils were long, measuring about nineteen inches. He painted in that part of the room nearest to the window, and never sat down when he worked.” This painting-room was made comfortable with sofas. The gallery leading to it was adorned with the most important pictures he had on hand, and in the winter made cheerful by the blaze of a large fire.] On opening his new mansion to the public he gave a ball to a numerous and, no doubt, splendid company. For a forty-seven years’ lease of this house he gave, according to Farington, 1650/., and his additions to it cost him 1500/. more. This expenditure swallowed up nearly all his savings. But these he felt confident of replacing in no long time, and, indeed, he was soon in the receipt of 6000/. a year. He had already raised his prices to twenty-five, fifty, and one hundred guineas for the three classes of portraits, — head, half-length, and full-length. He now set up a carriage, which Northcote, in his unpublished autobiography, describes as “ A chariot on the panels of which were curiously painted the four seasons of the year in allegorical figures. The wheels were ornamented with carved foliage and gilding ; the liveries also of his servants were laced with silver. But having no spare time himself to make a display of this splendour, he insisted on it that his sister Frances Sir Joshua’s frame-maker, has an- other, given to his father by Sir Joshua in 1790. It has a handle, made by prolonging one side : others of Sir Joshua’s are spade-shaped, with the handle in the middle. — E d. 184 LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Chap. IIL should go out with it as much as possible, and let it he seen in the public streets to make a show, which she was much averse to, being a person of great shyness of disposition, as it always attracted the gaze of the popu- lace, and made her quite ashamed to be seen in it. This anecdote, which I heard from this very sister's own mouth, serves to show that Sir Joshua Revnolds knew the use of quackery in the world. He knew that it would be inquired whose grand chariot this was, and that, when it was told, it would give a strong indica- tion of his great success, and by that means tend to increase it.” The panels of this carriage were painted by Catton, afterwards a Royal Academician ; 1 and it is possible that Reynolds may have had other motives than those attributed to him by Northcote ; or other motives in addition to those, supposing Northcote in the right. The wish, jierhaps, to help Catton to notice, and the belief that the employment of art in every sort of decoration might tend to awaken the taste of the public, may have had something to do with this appa- rent ostentation. When Miss Reynolds complained to him that the chariot was too fine, he said, “ What ! would you have one like an apothecary’s carriage ? ” He allowed his coachman to show it. Northcote adds the following note to his description of it, and it is very characteristic of himself : — “ I have been told that it was an old chariot of a Sheriff of London, newly done up.” 1 And subsequently Master of the ' well in 1784. There is said to be Paper-stainers’ Company, in whose some of his work on the panels of the hall he entertained Reynolds and Bos- i present city state-coach, built in 1757. 1760, iETAT. 37. PUBLIC EVENTS. 185 I had noticed a disposition in Northcote to disparage Reynolds ; never, certainly, as a painter, but sometimes as a man ; 1 and this, not so much in anything he has published, as in what I have heard him say ; and I think I shall be able, in another page, to account for it. [This year the Society of Arts awarded their premium of one hundred guineas for the best original historical picture to Mr. Pine, for his picture of Edward the Third and the Burghers of Calais ; their second premium of fifty guineas to Signor Casali for his picture of Gunhilda ; their premiums of fifty and twenty-five guineas for landscape to George and John Smith. The court-martial on Lord G. Sackville, for his conduct at Minden, the trial and execution of Lord Ferrers for the murder of his steward, and Clive’s return with fabulous wealth, were the great topics of town-talk. Thurot’s defeat on the coast of Ireland ; the successes of the Canadian campaign, under Amherst ; and the gallantry of our force in Germany, crowned by the heavy losses at Kempen, where more than one of Reynolds’s sitters was killed or wounded ; besides our numerous successes in individual encounters with the French at sea, were the leading naval and military incidents. The death of George the Second, on 1 And yet on tlie point of excessive | permit his friends to ash a pecuniary love of money, Northcote does not swell j favour ; his purse and heart being the cry against Reynolds. Writing , always open.” I find in the pocket- under this date (1759), and referring ! book lor 1757 an entry in January, to Reynolds’s papers in the ‘ Idler,* he | “ Bill — Johnson,” which may refer to says, “At that time, indeed, Johnson some money transaction between them, was under many obligations, as well | and Johnson died 30/. in Reynolds’s as these literary ones, to Reynolds, I debt. — Ed. whose generous kindness would never ! 186 LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Chap. III. October 25, and the accession of George the Third, mark the year as memorable in our annals. Johnson drew up — probably at the request of Reynolds — the address of the painters to the king on his accession. The pocket-book for 1760 contains the names of not fewer than 120 sitters. January. Colonel Fitzroy ; 1 Colonel L. Hall ; Colonel Amherst ; 2 Lady Caroline Curzon; Lady Juliana Dawkins; Lady Berkeley; Miss Day ; Mrs. Andrews ; Master Payne ; 3 Mr. Dyson ; 4 Mr. Kyn- aston; Mr. Garrick . 5 February. The Duchess of Richmond ; Lord and Lady Shaftesbury Lady Grey ; Lady Gower ; Lady Wharton ; Lady Folkstone ; Miss Faure ; Mrs. Calvert ; Mrs. Boyle ; Mrs. Angelo ; 6 Miss St. Aubyn ; 7 Miss Hunter ; Colonel Vernon; General Townson; Mr. Phipps ; Sir R. Grosvenor ; 8 Sir Nathaniel Curzon ; Mr. Walsing- ham ; Captain Lockhart . 9 1 The officer who took the orders of j Prince Ferdinand to Lord G. Sack- ville at Minden. He was elevated to the Peerage as Baron Southampton in 1780.— En. 2 Brother of the conqueror of Louis- burg and Montreal, who this year re- ceived the thanks of Parliament and the Order of the Bath for his services in the reduction of Canada. — Ed. 3 Son of James Payne, the architect. — Ed. 4 One of the best known, if not most respected, officials of his time. The Mungo of later lampoons, and one of the leading “ King’s friends ” ; Secretary of the Treasury under Lord North — Akenside’s patron. — Ed. 5 Several times, and generally on a Sunday. — Ed. c Wife of the celebrated riding and fencing master. — E d. 7 Of the St. Aubyns of Clowance in Cornwall. — Ed. 8 Created Baron Grosvenor, of Eaton, in the following year, and Earl Gros- | venor in 1784. “ The new peers Earl ! Talbot and Earl of Delawar ; Mr. Spencer Lord Viscount Spencer; Sir Richard Grosvenor, a Viscount or Baron, I don’t know which, nor does he ; for yesterday, when he should ' have kissed hands, he was gone to j Newmarket to see the trial of a horse- j race.” (Walpole to Mann, March 17, ' 1761.) Sir Richard combined love of the arts with his taste for the turf. He was a picture-buyer — the purchaser of Sir Luke Schaub’s Sigismunda, in rivalry of which, only the year before, Hogarth had painted his Sigismunda for Sir Richard, who deeply hurt the feelings of the painter by declining the picture. 9 Afterwards Admiral Sir John Lockhart of Lee, one of the most gal- lant naval officers of the time. His action with seven French privateers in the ‘ Tartar,* in 1757, had been rewarded with a salver by the mer- chants of London, and 1007. cup by those of Bristol, in January, 1758. — Ed. 1760, iETAT. 37. SITTERS, 1760. 187 March. Admiral Saunders ; 1 Mr. and Mrs. Buller ; 2 Lady Hume ; Lady Fortescue; Mrs. Hussey; Miss Goddard ; Mr. Croft ; Captain Porter ; Colonel Bobinson ; Cap- tain Duncan ; Mrs. Bouverie ; General Kingsley ; 3 Master Cur- zon ; Master Bouverie ; 4 Lord Downe ; 5 the Eev. Lawrence Sterne ; c La Eena ; 7 Garrick . 8 April. Lord G. Lenox ; Mr. Con- 1 “ Yellow-Jack,” the life-long friend of Keppel. He carried Wolfe to Quebec and aided in the capture of that fortress, and was now commander-in-chief in the Mediterranean. His picture is at Quiddenham in excellent preservation, like most of the uncleaned pictures of this period which I have seen. — Ed. 2 Of King’s Nympton, Devonshire. — Ed. 3 Of Kingsley’s Foot — so distin- guished in the campaign of 1759, and one of the commanders of the secret expedition assembled at Portsmouth this year, but disbanded without ac- tion. — Ed. 4 As a baby in the picture with his beautiful mother. 5 He must have been painted just before starting for the campaign on the Rhine. He was mortally wounded at the battle of Kempen in October of this year. — Ed. 6 On Sunday the 6th. At this moment the lion of the town ; engaged fourteen deep to dinner, “ his head topsy-turvy with his success and fame,” consequent on the appearance of the first instalment of his 4 Tristram Shandy.’ (See Walpole, April 4, 1760, and Sterne’s own letters.) — Ed. 7 Lord March’s cliere amie. — Ed. 8 Another Sunday, the 20th. way ; 9 Lord Edgcumbe ; 10 Mr. Dodsley (the bookseller) ; Lady Sussex ; Lady Gresley ; Mrs. Ais- labie ; Mrs. Aston ; u Mrs. Hew- gill ; Mrs. Hewitt ; Miss Wylde ; Miss Crokatt ; Mr. Eay ; Mr. Jones ; Mr. Vaughan. May. Lord Granby ; 12 Lord Gower (Privy Seal) ; Lady Ward ; Lord Coventry ; Mr. and Mrs. Ger- main ; Mr. More ; Mr. Colman ; 13 Sir Walter Blackett ; 14 Lord 9 Horace Walpole’s friend and cor- respondent. — Ed. 10 The second baron, who succeeded to the title in 1750, and died in 17G1. He is Horace Walpole’s Dick Edg- cumbe. — Ed. 11 The friend and correspondent of Dr. Johnson. — Ed. 12 Now in the full flush of his popu- larity and renown — a sign-post hero — for his brilliant services with the allies in Germany. His wife died this year. — Ed. 13 The elder, who produced his first piece, ‘ Polly Honeycombe,’ at Drury Lane this year. — Ed. 14 M.P. for Newcastle. The fine full- length of this stalwart baronet is now in the Infirmary of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, of which city he was mayor as well as M.P. He wears his civic robe of office (red and black) over a rich suit of greenish blue spotted with black. He has a white wand in his hand. The balance of the cool underdress and the rich civic robe is very skilfully managed. The background is a curtain of reddish purple, with pillars of cool gray and warm sun-lighted stone, through which are glimpses of a light sky. The picture is on a gray tempera ground, and is said to be in good preservation. Sir W. Trevelyan has a duplicate. 188 LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Chap. III. Stirling; Miss Pcnnyman; Miss Owen ; Miss Roberts ; Mrs. Brown ; Mrs. Nutt ; Mrs. Thorn- hill ; Mrs. Douglas ; Mrs. Martin ; Miss Anna Germain; Lord and Lady Waldegrave . 1 July. The Duke of Beaufort; Lord Ligonier (the veteran) ; Signor Giardini (the violinist and opera- manager) ; Mr. Hunter, Miss Charlotte and Miss B. Hunter ; 2 Mr. Woodward (the actor) ; Mr. White ; Mrs. Brown ; Mr. Drum- mond; Mr. Gifford. August. Mr. Foote ; 3 Mr. Stewart ; Lady Lauderdale ; Lady Maynard . 4 September. Miss Grevillc and Master Gre- ville ; Lady Charlotte J ohnson ; 5 Miss Hobart. October. Captain Buckle ; Miss Gifford, &c. November. Colonel Trapaud ; 6 Mr. Tal- bot ; Miss O’Brien . 7 1 The lovely Maria, Horace Wal- pole’s niece, afterwards Duchess of Gloucester. — En. 2 Were these the father and sisters of the more celebrated Miss Catherine Hunter, who eloped with Lord Pem- broke (see post, 17G2)? 3 The dramatist, now in full swing of popularity at the little theatre in the Haymarket. “ The Minor ” was produced this year. 4 Wife of Sir William Maynard, a turfite of the time. She was a beauty and favourite of Prince Edward’s. (Walpole for Jan. 14, 1760.) Not to be confounded with the more famous Lady Maynard, who was ori- ginally Nancy Parsons, the Duke of Grafton’s mistress, and a favourite mark for the satire of Junius. Sir Joshua painted her too. — Ed. 5 Sister of the Earl of Halifax ; wife of Col. James Johnston, better known as Irish Johnston, who was wounded at the battle of Kern pen, this year. Lady Charlotte died in 1762 ; when the Colonel married Horace Walpole’s friend, Miss West. — Ed. 6 Col. Trapaud was the officer whose lucky hand stopped the charger of George the Second, when, with the bit in its teeth, it was carrying him into the French lines at Dettingen. lie was then a friendless subaltern. The king took charge of young Tra- paud’s military fortunes. He married a beautiful woman, also painted by Reynolds, and lived to be a general. — Ed. 7 Nelly, a rival to Kitty Fisher. This is not the loveliest portrait of her, which was painted in 1763, and is now in Lord Hertford’s gallery. That exquisite picture represents the frail beauty in full sunlight, in an atti- tude of lazy enjoyment, sitting, her hands crossed, with a pet spaniel in her lap. Her voluptuous face, which is raised as if at the approach of one for whom she has been waiting, is lit up, under the shade of the flat Wof- fington hat, by the reflected lights from her dress, a quilted rose-coloured slip with lace over it, a black lace apron and mantilla, and a sacquc of blue-striped silk. She was a chere amie of Lord Bolingbroke, as well as everybody else. (See Walpole’s letter to George Montague, of March 29, 1766.) A noble duke, lately deceased, 1761, JETAT. 38. SITTERS, 1760. 189 December. Master Mayo ; Mr. Bennet ; Mrs. Prado ; 1 Mrs. Brudenell ; Miss Holditcli ; Lady Collier and her sister Lady J. Dawkins ; Admiral Boscawen ; 2 Mr. Robert Palk ; 3 General Lawrence. 4 ] The experiment of a public exhibition having suc- ceeded, the artists determined to repeat it ; 5 but wishing to be entirely independent in their proceed- ings, they engaged for their next exhibition a room in Spring Gardens. told Mr. Monckton Milnes he remem- bered driving to Newmarket, in an open carriage, between his father and Nelly O’Brien. She died in Park Street, Gros- venor Square, in 1768, when the mag- nificent full-length portrait of her, now in Lord Hertford’s collection, is said to have been sold at Christie’s for three guineas. I am unable to verify this, nor do Christie’s books confirm it. A portrait of her did sell for that price in the very same year that Alderman Boy dell paid Sir Joshua 500 guineas for his Puck ; but it may have been one of the many repetitions of the sitting half-length now in the possession of Charles Mills, Esq. — a picture which when in a perfect state could only have been surpassed by the full-length above described. There is also a more refined portrait of her in profile, her cheek resting on her hand, belonging to Lady Dover. — Ed. 1 There was a Mr. Prado, a foreign merchant, a neighbour of Horace Wal- pole’s. I thought at first this might be a misprint for * Prideaux.* Sir Joshua’s spelling of his sitters’ names is very loose. His deafness may have | led to this. — Ed. 2 The conqueror of the French in the action off Lagos, on the 18th August, 1759. He died in January, 1761 . — Ed. 3 Appointed Governor of Madras in i 1763.— Ed. 4 One of the fellow-heroes of Clive in the East Indies, associated with him and Admiral Pocock in the vote of thanks by the East India Company, and presented by them with 500Z. a year for life in September of this year (1761 ).— Ed. 5 Johnson composed the preface of the third catalogue. But though he did this probably at Reynolds’s re- quest, his letter to Baretti on the subject of the exhibition illustrates the lexicographer’s well-known insen- sibility to the claims of art on the attention of rational men. “ The artists have instituted a yearly exhi- bition of pictures and statues, in imi- tation, I am told, of foreign academies. This year was the second exhibition. They please themselves much with the multitude of spectators, and ima- gine that the English school will rise much in reputation. Reynolds is without a rival, and continues to add thousands to thousands, which he de- serves, among other excellences, by retaining his kindness for Baretti. . . . This exhibition has filled the heads of the artists and the lovers of art. Surely life, if it be not long, is tedious ; since we are forced to call in the assistance of so many trifles to rid us of our time, — of that time which never can return.'” — Ed. 190 LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Chap. III. [The room was close to the entrance from Charing Cross to the Park. The second catalogue contains 229 works of art, and hears the significant motto, “ Esse quid hoc dicam — vivis quod fama negatur.” Hogarth contributed a frontispiece — Britannia watering three young trees, inscribed “ Painting,” “ Sculpture,” “Archi- tecture ” — the first, a sickly sapling with the branch of portraiture only flourishing ; the other two luxuriant : the water flows into her watering-pot from a lion’s head, above which, in a niche, is a bust of George the Third, surmounted by a crown — and a tailpiece — a monkey, in a fashionable suit, eye-glass in hand, watering three dead and naked stumps, set in pots marked “ Obit 1502,” “ Obit 1600,” “ Obit 1604 ; ” and by them, on a scroll, “ Exotics.” The satire was to the point, and well deserved, at a time when there was no disposition to do justice to native art, and an immense amount of empti- ness and ignorance in the pretended admiration of the Old Masters. Hogarth contributed to this exhibition his Sigismunda ; the Gate of Calais ; Picquet, or Virtue in Danger, commonly called “ the Lady’s last Stake,” painted in 1755 for Lord Charlemont, and for which Miss Salusbury, a pretty, forward girl of fourteen — afterwards Mrs. Thrale — sat to the painter ; his Election Entertainment ; and three portraits. Portraits form the staple of the exhibition. Mr. Dance, jun., sends a Virginia, which is thought remarkable enough to be headed “ an historical picture.” There are a few sub- jects from Shakspere ; some landscapes by Lambert, Smith of Derby, and Paul Sandby ; and six by Eichard Wilson, including his Rimini, Nemi, and Clitumnus.] To this exhibition Reynolds sent his large picture of 1761, JETAT. 38. PORTRAIT OF LORD LIGONIER. 191 tlie Commander-in-Chief, Lord Ligonier, on his charger, now in the National Gallery, and his portrait of Sterne. With these he exhibited — A three-quarter portrait of Lady Waldegrave, in a turban . 1 A whole-length of the Duke of Beaufort, in his college robes ; and A whole-length of Captain Orme, with a horse . 2 Were we to be guided by internal evidence alone, we should find it difficult to believe that the heads of Lord Ligonier and of Sterne were by the same hand ; so inferior, in every respect, is the former to the latter. The old nobleman is probably represented as at Det- tingen, where he commanded a division of the army. In the management of the background, the workman- ship of Beynolds is sufficiently apparent; but Lord Ligonier was in his eighty-second year when the picture was painted, and this may perhaps account for the inferiority of the head. It was necessary to ante-date the features, and such a proceeding could not but intimidate the painter; for Reynolds seems never to have been truly himself when he was obliged to depart from the model before him. He could bring out all that was finest in what he saw, and could add some- thing to it still finer ; but when it was required that he should make the head he was looking at twenty years younger, and light it up with an imaginary expression, his confidence in his own power must have been shaken, and the result that the picture presents naturally followed. The face is finished 1 At Strawberry Hill. 2 Purchased last year (1862) for the National Gallery. 192 LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Chap. III. with great care, but the genius of the painter is not seen in it . 1 And now for Sterne, who when he sat to Reynolds had not written the stories of Le Fevre , The Monk , or The Captive , but was known only as “ a fellow of infi- nite jest, of most excellent fancy .” 2 In this matchless portrait, with all its exjiression of intellect and humour, there is the sly look for which we are prepared by the insidious mixture of so many abominations with the finest wit in Tristram Shandy and the Sentimental Journey , so different from the openness of Swift’s obscenity, and so much more detestable. Nor is the position of the figure less characteristic than the expres- sion of the face. It is easy, but it lias not the easiness of health. Sterne props himself up. His wig was subject to odd chances from the humour that was uppermost with its wearer. When by mistake 1 Mr. William Russell possesses the original sketch of the whole compo- sition, which is much richer in colour than the large picture. “ At this sale ” (of Richardson’s drawings) “ Mr. Nollekens was a constant attendant, and he generally took me with him. I recollect Sir Joshua Reynolds — who was present one evening when a drawing was knocked down to his pupil and agent, Mr. Score — after he had expatiated upon the extraordinary powers of Rembrandt, assuring a gen- tleman with whom he was conversing that the effect which pleased him most in all his own pictures was that dis- played in the one of Lord Ligonier on horseback, of which there is an engraving by Fisher ; the chiaroscuro of which he conceived from a rude woodcut upon a halfpenny ballad which he purchased from the wall of St. Anne’s church in Prince’s Street.” (Smith’s ‘ Life of Nollekens,’ vol. i. p. 35.) Angelo, in his rambling ‘ Re- miniscences,’ says it was the portrait of Lord Granby for which the ballad- cut furnished a hint, and this seems more probable, judging from the pic- tures themselves, though when one has seen Mr. W. Russell’s sketch, the reference to the Lord Ligonier becomes intelligible. — Ed. 2 Sterne sat for his portrait in March, 1760. He had then produced the first and second volumes only of ‘ Tristram Shandy.’ The portrait was painted for Lord Ossory, then passed to Lord Holland, and is now in the gallery of the Marquis of Lansdowne, by whom it was purchased on the death of Lord Holland, in 1840, for 500 guineas. — E d. 1761, A3TAT. 38. PORTRAIT OF STERNE. 103 he had thrown a fair sheet of manuscript into the fire instead of the foul one, he tells us that he snatched off his wig, “ and threw it, perpendicularly, with all imaginable violence, up to the top of the room.” While he was sitting to Reynolds, this same wig had contrived to get itself a little on one side ; and the painter, with that readiness in taking advantage of accident to which we owe so many of the delightful novelties in his works, painted it so, for he must have known that a mitre would not sit long bishop- fashion on the head before him, and it is surprising what a Shandean air this venial impropriety of the wig gives to its owner. We may look at the picture till we fancy we discover in it “ a hair-brained sentimental trace, and we may well believe that the face before us does not mask an ungentle heart ; but any certain indication of Sterne’s mastery over our feelings, of his power of moving us to tears, was not to be expected. Ilis serious moods were exceptional ; and Reynolds, in this as in all his portraits, gave the prevailing character. 1 Captain Orme had been aide-de-camp to Braddock, in America, during the ill-starred campaign of 1755. The picture excited great attention from the boldness of the treatment : the captain is preparing to mount his charger, orders in hand ; he was a hero of fashion- 1 Was Sterne romancing when he writes to a friend who wished for his portrait : — “ You must mention the business to Reynolds yourself ; for I will tell you why I cannot. He has already painted a very excellent por- trait of me, which, when I went to pay j VOL. I. him for, he desired me to accept as a tribute (to use his own elegant and flattering expression) that his heart wished to pay to my genius. That man’s way of thinking, and manners, are at least equal to his pencil.” — I Sterne’s Letters . — Ed. 0 194 LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Chap. III. able gossip, thanks to his runaway match with Audrey, sister of Lord Townshend. [The year 1761 was a busy one for the world of fashion, and for Reynolds, as one of that world’s chief chroniclers. There was the excitement of a new reign, with its prospects, uncertainties, and possibilities. Even the artists had their hopes. It was reported that the young King, unlike his grandfather, loved the arts. Then, for the larger world outside the narrow pale of art, there were political and personal ambitions, eager and hopeful. The King had to choose a policy and a wife. Before the year was out, Lord Bute was a Secretary of State, and already labouring under the first pressure of that unpopularity which culminated two years later. Reynolds’s friends, the Whigs, how- ever, were still really omnipotent in public opinion, in spite of the influence of the favourite first, and the parliamentary majority against them afterwards ; and their reign only ceased on the elevation of Lord North to the head of the administration in 1770, when the anti-ministerial and anti-regal excitement out of doors gradually calmed down, and the Opposition had much ado to hold together their small minority in the House of Commons. But the chief interest of this year for the painter and his patrons centred in the marriage and coronation of the King. The first took place on the 2nd of September, the second on the 22nd. We have the ceremonial described in Walpole’s letters, and can trace its reflection, as usual, in Reynolds’s painting-room. Of the ten beautiful bridesmaids — daughters of dukes and earls — who bore the train of the Princess, three 1761, ,etat. 38. THE QUEEN’S BRIDESMAIDS. 195 of the most beautiful were painted by Reynolds this year. One was Lady Elizabeth Keppel (full-length) in her state costume, decorating the statue of Hymen with flowers, while a negress, whose dark face serves as a foil to the delicate carnations of her mistress, holds up to her the massive wreaths. The picture is of the pearliest colour, warmed by wreaths of clustering flowers, the sheen of satin and silver ribbons, the sparkle of diamonds against the white neck and in the soft hair and rose-tipped ears of the beautiful bridesmaid, the dusky upturned face of the negress, the crimson awning pendant from the tree that over- hangs the statue, the reflected lights in the bronze tripod crowned with its flickering flame. Reynolds had painted Lady Caroline in 1758 in the maiden- loveliness of seventeen, with her muslin kerchief crossed close over her graceful shoulders, and no orna- ment but a single rose in her bosom. He seems to have revelled in the contrast of this year’s splendour with that simplicity, and to have put his heart as well as his hand to the work ; for he had known his sweet sitter from a child, and she was as good as beautiful. The hand of Toms may have wrought upon the acces- sories, but it was under the guidance of Reynolds’s taste and feeling. Lady Caroline Russell, in half- length, is painted sitting on a garden-seat, in a blue ermine-bordered robe over a close white satin vest. 1 She is very lovely, with a frank, joyous, and inno- cent expression, and has a pet Blenheim-spaniel in her lap — a love-gift, I presume, from the Duke of Marlborough, whom she married next year. The 1 Both pictures are at Woburn Abbey. — E d. 196 LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Chap. III. Holland-House picture of Lady Sarali Lenox (the third grace of this lovely group) and Lady Susan Strang- way s, daughter of the Earl of Ilchester, with her cousin young Charles James Fox, was also begun this year. 1 * * Lady Sarah — whom George the Third had loved, and would have married, hut for the negative put by his Council upon his proposition of such an alliance — leans, in a morning neglige, from a low window, in Holland House, to take a dove which Lady Susan holds up to her ; while young Fox, with a paper in his hand (the part of Hastings, perhaps, in 4 Jane Shore,’ about to be 2 )resented in the Holland House private theatre), urges his pretty cousins to come to their rehearsal. Horace Walpole (to Montague, May 22, 1761) tells us how bewitching the two young beauties were in the play. Lady Susan dressed from Jane Seymour, and Lady Sarah in white, on the ground, with her hair about her ears, looking more lovely than any Magdalen of Cor- reggio’s. The fates of both girls were singular. Lady Sarah, in June, 1767, married Sir Joshua’s friend, Charles Bunbury, — was subsequently divorced from him, and, marrying General Napier, became the mother of two illustrious sons, Sir William and Sir Charles. Lady Susan, three years after this, eloped with O’Brien, the actor, a man of good family and education, in whom she found a kind and worthy husband. Lady Ann Hamilton, another of the royal bridesmaids, Bey- nolds had painted some years before. He had also finished in 1760 the stately full-length of the beautiful 1 “ The bridesmaids, especially Lady Caroline Russell, Lady Sarah Lenox, and Lady Elizabeth Keppel, were beau- tiful figures.” (Walpole to Conway, Sep. 9.) — Ed. 1761, .ETAT. 38. NAVAL AND MILITARY EXPLOITS. 197 Mistress of the Robes, the Duchess of Ancaster, and the picture of her husband, the Lord High Chamberlain, with the portrait of Lady Selina Hastings, one of the Earl’s daughters who bore her Majesty’s train at the coronation. Among other leading beauties painted by Reynolds in this year of ceremonial may he mentioned, as the most distinguished, Lady Northampton, Lady Spencer, and Lady Pembroke , 1 Mrs. Brudenell, Mrs. Fitzroy, and — loveliest of all — Maria Countess Waldegrave, whom Reynolds seems never to have been tired of painting, nor she of sitting to him. Among the male figures of that stately pageant painted by Reynolds, the most conspicuous, perhaps, is the commanding figure of Lord Errol, in his suit of cloth of gold, to whom Lady Sarah Lenox had just refused her fair hand. Horace Walpole irreverently com- pared him to one of the giants in Guildhall, new gilt. Another important figure in the royal solemnities who this year takes his place in Reynolds’s chair is Sir Septimus Robinson, Usher of the Black Rod. His unusually early sittings (at half-past eight, nine, and half-past nine) are, no doubt, to be explained by the press of business, which one can well conceive that a royal funeral, a royal marriage, and a coronation, in quick succession, must have thrown upon Black Rod. Besides its royal ceremonials, the year was memorable, too, for our naval exploits at Belleisle, in which Keppel won conspicuous honours ; for our triumphs in the East Indies, where Pondicherry fell to our forces under Coote; and for the victory gained over Marechal de 1 “ Lady Pembroke alone, at the I ture of majestic modesty.” (Walpole bead of the Countesses, was the pic- | to Montague, Sep. 4, 1761.) — Ed. 198 LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Chap. III. Broglie and De Soubise by Prince Ferdinand and the Allies at Kirkdenckirk, where the Marquis of Granby, who had sat to Sir Joshua in 1755, commanded the cavalry, and one of Sir Joshua’s sitters of 1760, Colonel Townshend, was wounded. Among the painter’s conspicuous sitters of this year was the grave, sleepy, but genuine humourist and wit, George Selwyn, probably for the last touches of his portrait in a group with Gilly Williams and Richard Edgcumbe, 1 begun for Horace Walpole some time before. Reynolds’s friend Burke this year took his first step towards public life as private secretary to Single-speech Hamilton, under the lord-lieutenancy of Halifax. 2 In May of this year, Goldsmith, still struggling on the threshold of literature as a starving essayist, met Johnson for the first time. Percy brought them toge- ther. It is certain that the essayist’s intimacy with Reynolds began not long after. Reynolds must have taken his part in the discussions which followed the appearance of Macpherson’s second instalment of Celtic 1 A small picture in excellent pre- j servation, now in Lord Taunton’s collection. Engraved for the Selwyn Correspondence, and Mr. Cunning- ham’s edition of Walpole’s Letters. “ I have been my out of tovm with Lord Waldegrave, Selwyn, and Wil- liams ; it was melancholy the miss- ing poor Edgcumbe, who was con- stantly of the Christmas and Easter parties. Did you see the charming picture Reynolds painted for me of him, Selwyn, and Gilly Williams? It is by far one of the best things he has executed. He has just finished a pretty whole-length of Lady Elizabeth j Keppel, in the bridesmaid’s habit, i | sacrificing to Hymen.” (Walpole to Montague, Dec. 30, 1761 .) — Ed. 2 Walpole gives us a glimpse of the young and still undistinguished Irish- man, “ I dined with your secretary (Hamilton) yesterday. There was Garrick and a young Mr. Burke, who wrote a book ” (‘ The Vindication of Natural Society,’ published in 1756) “ in the style of Lord Bolingbroke, that was muoh admired. He is a sensible man, but has not worn off his authorism yet, and thinks there is nothing so charming as writers and to be one. He will know better one of I these days” (to Montague, July 22, I 1761). 1761, iETAT. 38. ENGAGEMENTS IN 1761. 199 poetry, under the title of ‘ Fingal.’ He knew Mac- pherson, and painted his portrait ten years after this. Johnson, as is well known, pooh-poohed the pretensions of these poems to a high place, either on the score of subject or treatment; but his strong sense seems to have guided him to the truth of the matter, — that Macpherson had pieced genuine fragments into a whole, which as a whole no more belonged to any Celtic bard than the “junctures” of the Scotch editor. What view Reynolds took of the question, I know not. He does not figure in any record of the controversy. By help of the pocket-book for 1761 we can follow Sir Joshua to dinner, now and then, at club, public institution, or private house. I find records of his visits to a club — it may have been the one held at the Devil Tavern, the precursor of the club founded at the Turk’s Head three years later ; dinners at the Royal Society (of which he was already a member and frequent attendant), the Society of Sons of the Clergy (whose festivals he attended, and whose funds he subscribed to every year), and with the artists who gathered every 5th of November at the Foundling Hospital. There are dinner-engagements, too, with Akenside and Wilkes, who was this year returned for Aylesbury, and who, as we have seen, had from the first been intimate with Reynolds and his circle. Indeed, if the letters to Miss Weston (see ante ) be genuine, Reynolds knew him while he was studying under Hudson. Writing to that lady from Rome, he says, “ Give my service to Mr. Charlton and Mr. Wilks, and tell them that if it was possible to give them an idea of what is to be seen here, — the remains of antiquity, the sculptures, paint- 200 LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Chap. III. ings, architecture, — they would think it worth while, nay, they would break through all obstacles, and set out immediately for Rome.” An entry, in December, “ Hardham, by Fleet Ditch, 37 : snuff,’’ is interesting for its connection with the anecdote of Garrick’s ingenious device for serving his friend Old Hardham, 1 and illustrative of Reynolds’s inveterate habit of snuff-taking. He had been painting Garrick just before this, and the actor had, no doubt, recommended Hardham and his “ 37.” List of Sitters for 1761. — (Pocket-book.) January . 2 General Lawrence ; 3 Mr. Ben- nett, Sen. ; Mr. Hillyard ; 4 Mr. Holditck ; the Duke (of Cumber- land) ; Master Curzon ; Lord Drogheda ; Master Amyand ; 5 Captain Tash ; Mrs. Martyn ; Colonel Montgomery ; 6 Mrs. Cocks ; Mr. Stewart ; Mr. J ones ; Mrs. Lennox ; Mrs. Calvert ; Miss Rayne ; Mr. Wynn ; Lord Gower ; Mrs. Crawford ; Mr. and Mrs. Colebrooke ; Miss Vansittart ; Lady Monson ; Lord Strafford ; Lord and Lady Waldegrave ; Miss Johnson ; 7 Mr. Chancy (9J) ; Mrs. Harland ; Miss Gifford ; Mrs. (Colonel) Fitzroy; Captain Dimcombe. 1 Hardham was a snuff-seller who had done Garrick good service as his under- treasurer and as “numbercr,” i. e. counter of the house, as a check on the money-takers. For this purpose he had a circular seat in a projecting box on the gallery tier, called “ the numberer’s box.” Garrick promised to bring his shop into fashion, and, with this intention, offering a pinch from his box in one of his favourite parts, he made “ a i gag ” in praise of the snuff, as “ Hard- ham’s 37, the only snuff for a man of fashion.” The vogue of “ Hardham’s 37 ” continued to our own time. — Ed. 2 Tuesday 20th, club ; Thursday 22nd, Royal Society Dinner. Aken- side, Craven Street; all the Sundays of January are without appointments. —Ed. 3 “ Captain Martyn, in Harley Street, Cavendish Square. To measure the space where General Lawrence’s pic- ture is to hang.” — p. 6. 4 Afterwards Sir Robert Hildyard. 5 Son of the distinguished capitalist and M.P. for Barnstaple, who was this year made Commissioner of the Customs, and married the Dowager Lady Northampton, also one of Rey- nolds’s sitters this year. — Ed. 6 One of the heroes of the Canadian campaign. — E d. 7 From the frequency of this lady’s sittings I should think she must have been a model. She is the girl sketch- ing, sold at Miss Rogers’s sale, and now the property of Miss Burdett Coutts. 1761, ^:tat. 38, SITTERS, 1761. 201 ' February } Mr. Smith ; Mr. Vansittart ; Mr. (Colonel) Fitzroy ; 1 2 Master Neville ; Mr. Nevil ; Lord Abing- ton; Mrs. Gosling; Lord Dart- mouth ; Dr. Hay ; 3 Mrs. Herbert ; Captain Foot ; Mrs. Fortescue ; Colonel Vernon ; 4 Mrs. Way ; Duke of Ancaster ; Mrs. Lee ; Mr. Digby ; Mrs. Nutt ; Mrs. Trapaud ; Mrs. Hodges. March. Mr. Garrick (Sunday, 1st ;) Captain Blair ; Duchess of Beau- fort (Sunday, 8th) ; Mr. Fane ; Lady C. Bussell ; Mrs. Talbot ; Lady Pembroke ; Mr. Coning- ham (at 9£); Miss Koberts ; Sir John and Lady Anstruther; Mrs. Palk ; Captain Hood ; Duke of Gordon ; Lord Pulteney (Sunday, 2*2nd, and his dog, several times) ; Miss Carr ; Captain Caulfield ; Mr. Pigot ; 5 Mr. Clark ; Miss Hunter ; Mr. Franks ; Lady Mary Somerset ; Lady Laura Walde- grave ; Lord Ossulstone ; Colonel and Mrs. Irwin. April. Mr. Anderson ; Lady North- ampton ; Miss Wyld ; Mr. Slater ; General Townshend ; Mr. Crew ; Lord Lauderdale; General Lam- bert ; Colonel Maitland ; Mr. Davies ; Mrs. Mills ; Mr. Pawlet ; Miss Beddell ; 6 General Knapper (Gerard Napier) ; Mr. and Miss Kelly ; Admiral Bodney ; Captain or Mr. Crawford ; Mrs. Hunt. May. Mr. Mudge ; Mr. Gell ; Lord Brome (?) ; Admiral Broderick ; Mrs. Cholmondeley 7 (Chumley, Ckolmley ) ; Lady Monoux 8 1 “Lord Sandwich’s account to be sent to Mr. Green, No. 18, New Crown Court, Bow Street, by to-morrow morning. Tuesday 12th. — Dine with the Sons of the Clergy.” 2 Brother of the Duke of Grafton, created Lord Southampton in 1780. 3 A learned civilian, and one of the Lords of the Admiralty. 4 In Cork Street, 10, on Sunday (15th). Tuesday 10th. — Mr. Wilks’s, dine at four. Engagements at Royal Society. Club (Saturday). Dinners at Lord Temple’s and Mr. Christy’s, the picture-auctioneer. 5 Mem. in June, “ to write on Mr. Bigot’s picture a?t. 89.” This old Mr. Pigot lived to be ninety-nine, and was the subject of a celebrated action in 1771, between Lord March plaintiff, and Mr. Pigot defendant, to recover 500 guineas on a wager whether Sir W. Codrington or old Mr. Pigot should first die. Mr. Pigot died of the gout in his head the morning be- fore the bet was made. The question was, “ Was the bet off? ” Lord Mans- field charged for the plaintiff, who recovered. 6 In May. — “ For Captain Reddell, at Eversholt, near Woburn, Bedford- shire ; to be sent by Rock, the Woburn carrier, from the Windmill Inn, in St. John Street.” 7 Sister of Peg Woffington. Cele- brated for her humour and originality. (See Miss Burney’s Diary.) — Ed. 8 “ Lady Monoux, in Argyle Street, at five o’clock.” “ Any time in June, Lady Moneux — white satin the inner garment, blue the outside, and blue ribbons, laced tucker.” Was this the wife of Sir Capel Molyneux ? 202 LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Chap. III. (? Molyneux) ; Mr. Selwyn ; Ad- miral Hood ; Mrs. Montgomerie. 1 June . 2 Lord Darnley; (Sat. 13. — To wait on General Cornwallis in St. James’s Place) ; Lady Cun- liffe ; Mrs. Gore ; Sir Eoger Mos- tyn ; Lady Jolmstone ; Mrs. Fleetwood ; Mr. Ashley ; Mr. Drummond ; Lord Stirling ; 3 4 Mr. Halsey ; Lord Cathcart. July.* Mrs. Wolseley; Mr. Paice; Lord Coventry ; Mr. Lloyd ; Mr. Baker. August . 5 6 Mr. and Mrs. Grant ; Mr. Durant ; Captain and Mrs. For- dyce ; Lord Charlemont ; Sir Septimus Eobinson (always very early) ; Lord Batli ; Miss Fisher. 0 September. Mr. Johnson; Lady and Miss 1 The 27th, 28th, 29th, and 30th of May have very few appointments, and none in the afternoon. Was Reynolds at the exhibition ? — Ed. 2 June. — “ Mr. Walpole’s picture to be finished.” 3 “ Lord Stirling’s picture to be sent to Mr. Drummond, Spring Gardens.” 4 Friday, July 10. — “ Send the Venus to Lord Coventry.” 5 Thursday, August 27th. — Dinner at Mr. Rogers’s, in Lawrence Pountney Lane, Cannon Street. This was the well-known virtuoso and collector, who published a set of fac-similes of drawings from the old masters, and a part of whose books, prints, and draw- ings, form the Cottonian Library given to the Plympton Library by Mr. Cotton, of Ivy bridge, a descendant of Mr. Rogers. 6 She sits eight days in this month, Spencer; Contessa della Eena; Lady Mornington ; Mr. Nesbit; Mr. Wood; Lady Elizabeth Kep- pel ; 7 Mr. Langton ; Mr. Wood- ward ; Miss Charlotte Fish. October . 8 Mr. and Mrs. Hammond ; Lord and Lady Dartmouth ; Miss Gresley ; Mrs. Collingwood ; Lord Lewisham ; Lord Middleton ; Master Lee ; Mr. Willoughby ; Lord an4 Lady Warwick. November . 9 Lord and Lady Pollington ; Mr. Welby. December. Miss Clements ; Miss Went- worth ; Miss O’Brien ; Mrs. Gould ; Mrs. Mordaunt ; Lady Beauchamp (Peacham) ; Lord Edgcumb ; Dowager Lady North- ampton ; Captain Faulkner ; 10 Mr. Woodcock. 11 ] and generally on days when no other sitter comes after her. From a note, it seems one of her portraits was to be sent to M. Breitenhagh, in Scotland Yard, the Secretary of the Dutch Embassy, “ when the print is finished.” — Ed. 7 For the noble full-length as one of the bridesmaids to the Queen. The negro who sits in December is pro- bably the one in this picture. — Ed. 8 Tuesday, Oct. 13th, lli, Boy. 9 November 5 (3). — Foundling Hos- pital. One of the annual dinners held there by the Artists (see ante). — Ed. Tuesday, 15th, 10, Negro. Friday, 18th, 11, Negro ; 12, Boy. 10 Who, when commander of the ‘ Bellona,’ in August of this year, took the French 74, Courageux, off Finis- terre. — Ed. 11 The eminent conveyancer. En- graved. 1761, jEtat. 38. EXHIBITION CATALOGUE. 203 When the artists exhibited their works in the Strand, no admittance money was required, but six- pence was charged for the first catalogue. The second year the price of the catalogue, with Hogarth’s two illustrations, was doubled. Encouraged by their extra- ordinary success, they now demanded a shilling at the door, and sixpence for the catalogue, which had a preface written by Johnson, to reconcile the public to the charge. [“ When the terms of admission were low,” 1 wrote Johnson, u our room was thronged with such multitudes i\s made access dangerous, and frightened away those whose approbation was most desired. Yet, because it is seldom believed that money is got but for the love of money, we shall tell the use which we intend to make of our expected profits. Many artists of great abilities are unable to sell their works for their due price ; to remove this inconvenience, an annual sale will be appointed, to which every man may send his works, and them, if he will, without his name. Those works will be reviewed by the committee that conduct the exhibition ; a price will be secretly set on every piece, and registered by the secretary ; if the piece is sold for more, the whole price shall be the artist’s ; but if the purchasers value it at less than the committee, the artist shall be paid the deficiency from the profits of the exhibition.” Gainsborough contributed to the exhibition this year, for the second time. He had removed from Ipswich to 1 The first year admission was free, remembered, in explanation of this The smallness of the room and the stress laid on the inconveniences of novelty of the exhibition must be over-crowding. — Ed. 201 LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Chai*. III. Bath in 1760, and had achieved as rapid a success there as Reynolds in London ten years before. The picture now exhibited, from the description in the catalogue — 44 a whole length of a gentleman with a gun ” — was no doubt the portrait of Mr. Poyntz. Portrait still claims the lion’s share of the walls of the Spring-Gardens exhibition. Mr. Dawes sends some of his insipid sub- jects from Shakspere ; Gavin Hamilton one of his cold classicalities, 4 Andromache weeping over the dead body of Hector and a Chevalier Manini, besides a Boadicea and a Caractacus, contributes a picture under the odd title 4 The Sun enters Leo.’ Mr. Lambert’s now for- gotten landscapes, which vied in even the cultivated estimation of that day with Wilson’s, and were more saleable, are six in number, and Wilson’s as many, including a Tivoli, a Yiew on the Dee, a Yiew on the Thames near Richmond, and 4 a Yiew of a Ruin in her Royal Highness the Princess Dowager’s Garden at Ivew ’ ! Besides portraits of actors and actresses — the only personages whose names, as a rule, appear in these early catalogues, except here and there a character (e. g. Sir John Fielding) almost as much public property as the actor — the times are reflected in Mr. Wright’s 4 Yiew of the Storm, when the Queen was on her passage to England, painted from a sketch drawn on board the Fubbes yacht,’ and in subjects from the battle of Minden, the action off Lagos, and the taking of the Foudroyant. Zoffany (Zaflfanii in the Catalogue) exhibits Garrick in 4 The Farmer’s Return ;’ MacArdell two mezzotints after Reynolds; and Fisher his fine mezzotint from Reynolds’s Garrick.] Reynolds sends three pictures : — 1762, iETAT. 39. HIS PICTURES IN THE EXHIBITION. 205 Garrick between Tragedy and Comedy . 1 Lady Elizabeth Keppel 2 as one of Her Majesty’s bridemaids adorning a statue of Hymen with flowers, and Maria, Countess Waldegrave, as Dido embracing Cupid. The thought of placing Garrick between Tragedy and Comedy was a happy one. The great actor, who began his career in the service of the Tragic Muse, seems unable to resist the allurements of her rival. He throws an appealing, half-ashamed look towards his first love, who, it must be confessed, is a very inade- quate personification of Tragedy. Reynolds did not paint the Tragic Muse till she sat to him, herself, in the form cf Mrs. Siddons. Mr. Cotton tells us, on the authority of Miss Gwatkin, that Sir Joshua’s niece, Theophila Palmer, sat for the face of Comedy. It is probable that the playful, child- like attitude of the Comic Muse may have been sug- gested by “ Offy,” as her uncle called her ; but as she was only five years old when the picture was painted, and had not then been in London, she could not have been his model either for the face or figure. [The picture of Lady Waldegrave represents her clasping her own child, as Cupid, to her bosom. It is a most graceful composition. The mother’s head enables one to understand the Countess’s reputation for beauty better than the turbaned head in profile exhibited in 1 Now at Knole. 2 See 1761 for a description of the picture. Her pretty sister Caroline, not quite two years her senior, whose portrait hangs with hers at Quidden- ham, died in the same year as Lady Elizabeth (1768). She made a mesal- liance with Mr. Adair, an eminent surgeon, to the horror of the great wvrld. — Ed. 206 LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Chap. III. 1760. The sly expression of the crouching child is admirable. 1 ] Reynolds contemplated a group in which every figure should be a portrait, in a different character, of Garrick, who was delighted with the notion, and said it was the only way in which he could be handed down to posterity. Northcote thought such an attempt would be a failure, but it might have been a signal triumph. Harlow succeeded in a little picture of Mathews in three or four characters ; and as we may be sure that Reynolds would have painted the subject con amove , his success can scarcely be doubted. Northcote, when thinking of such a composition, formed in his mind a group of unconnected figures ; but Reynolds would have found expedients for giving unity to the subject ; and how thankful to him should we feel, if, instead of the por- traits of scores of people for whom we care nothing, he had left us such a picture ! [Before the exhibition opened, between Thursday the 18th and 25th of February, there must have been as much excitement in the Leicester-fields’ studio as was compatible with the placidity of Reynolds. On the former day Miss Charlotte Hunter (daughter of Mr. Orby Hunter, M.P. for Winchelsea, and a Lord of the Admiralty), a frequent sitter in 1761, had eloped with my Lord Pembroke, another of the painter’s sitters and acquaintance. Lady Pembroke had been sitting to him at the same time that Miss Hunter’s* portrait was in progress. Miss Hunter was already in the mouth of the town, if Walpole is to be trusted. He calls her 1 There is a fine engraving of it by R. Houston. The picture is now at Strawberry Hill. 1762, jETAt. 39. MISS CHARLOTTE HUNTER. 207 44 a miss,” and speaks of her as 46 Kitty Hunter.” This elopement created what Walpole describes as 44 an enragement.” 44 In all your reading, true or false,” he asks Montague, 44 have you ever heard of a young Earl married to the most beautiful woman in the world, a lord of the bed-chamber, a general officer, and with a great estate, quitting everything, resigning wife and world, and embarking for life in a pacquet-boat with a miss ? ” Almost as strange as this act was the explanation of it, according to Walpole, given in Lord Pembroke’s letters , — 44 having long tried in vain to make his wife hate and dislike him, he had no way left but this.” Lord Pembroke’s face in Reynolds’s portraits 1 of him is that of a handsome sensualist ; his wife’s, one of the purest and sweetest that even Reynolds has painted. They were living together again in less than a year . 2 I find an entry of the pocket-book for Thursday, just a week after the elopement : 44 Send Miss Hunter, packed up, to the Admiralty.” The picture was going home to her father, who, if he gave house-room to the picture, refused it to his daughter, when the runaways were cap- tured on their way to France. This may have been the fine picture now in Mr. Craufurd’s possession, — a seated half-length of a bright-eyed brunette, with a winning smile on the lips. She is dressed in blue, and holds a 1 At Wilton, and at Lord Norman- ton’s. — E d. 2 Walpole to Montague, March 20, 1763: — “Mr. Hunter would have taken his daughter too, but upon con- dition she should give back her set- tlements to Lord Pembroke and her child. She replied nobly, that she did not trouble herself about fortune, and would willingly depend on her father ; but for her child, she had nothing left to do but to take care of that, and would not part with it.” This child was the Colonel Montgomery who was afterwards shot in a duel by Captain Macnamara. — E d. 208 LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Chap. III. mask in her hand. Miss Hunter was afterwards the wife of a gallant officer, who rose to the rank of field- marshal. The story attached to the picture is, that it was painted after the elopement, and that the mask is an allusion to the masked-ball at Lord Middleton’s, on the day before the elopement, when the arrangements for it may have been settled. She is said to have given the picture to the grandfather of its present possessor. This she may have done ; but the legend attached to the picture is not confirmed by the pocket-books. I do not find Miss Charlotte Hunter’s name among Sir Joshua’s sitters after 17G2. 1 It is true that, as the books for a year here and there are missing, this is not abso- lutely conclusive. Besides its scandals, the year had its triumphs, in one of which Reynolds must have heartily and peculiarly rejoiced. This was the capture of the Havannah in August, in which the Keppel family was so singularly distinguished. Lord Albemarle commanded in chief. A second brother, General Keppel, directed the siege of the Moro ; and the third, Commodore Augustus, Reynolds’s intimate friend and old travelling com- panion, shared with Admiral Pococke and Captain Harvey the honours of the naval services which contri- buted so much to the capture. Colonel Keppel had sat to Reynolds in February, before the expedition sailed. Captain Hervey sits to him, for the first time, on the 10th of October, within a fortnight of his return with 1 There is another picture of the lady, very beautiful, and the face younger than in Mr. Craufurd’s pic- ture, which may have been the picture for which a Miss Hunter sat in 1758. This picture is now (Dec. 1861) in the possession of Beriah Bot field, Esq. —Ed. 1762, jEtat. 39. THE KEPPEL FAMILY. 209 the despatches announcing the capture. One can well conceive what a pleasant sitting that must have been, how much Harvey must have had to tell Reynolds of his good friends the Keppels, above all, of the frank and gallant commodore. May we not follow the painter, in imagination, on his visit to congratulate their Spartan mother, whose hereditary 1 beauty and stateliness we may still admire in the noble portrait of her at Quidden- ham ? She is painted sitting upright in her high-backed chair, her fine face well displayed by the drawing of the grey hair from the temples, where it is put - up under a fly-cap with a hood of black lace ; her dress is a rich blue and white brocade, and the shapely hands are winding silk. She sits, surrounded, as such a mother should be, by her three brave sons and her two sweet daughters. She looks brave enough to be the mother of such sons — beautiful enough to be the mother of such daughters. One can well understand the feeling which prompted the outspoken Duke of Cumberland (Lord Albemarle’s bosom-friend) to say to her when she first appeared in the presence-chamber, after the arrival of the glorious tidings of the Havannah, “ By God, my lady, if it wasn’t in the drawing-room, I should kiss you.” Reynolds must indeed have felt a special interest in all our conquests and campaigns at this time ; in the recapture of St. John’s, the taking of Martinique and Santa Lucia, the Grenadas and St. Vincent . He had sitters among the most distinguished of the gallant soldiers and sailors who did these deeds. Colonel Win. VOL. I. 1 She was a Lady Anne Lenox. — E d. P 210 LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Chap. III. Amherst and Admiral Rodney were still recent occu- pants of his mahogany chair, to say nothing of less well-known colonels and captains. As usual, the pocket-book, on a close inspection, yields scattered evidences of Sir Joshua’s goings in and out — his dinings and sight-seeings. If space and leisure served, it would be easy to eke out the hints supplied by names and dates. When I find a dinner at five, on Saturday the 27th of March, at Tom Davies’s, the thea- trical publisher and small critic, I feel tempted to fill up . the table with Johnson, lavish of uncouth attentions to pretty Mrs. Davies; with Beauclerk and Langton; and perhaps Goldsmith, awkward and threadbare, not yet quite at home with Reynolds, who had probably made his acquaintance this year. “ With the Beefsteak Club at Mr. Wilks’s,” on Saturday, November 13, is a very suggestive entry. It is true, the engagement does not absolutely prove that Sir Joshua was of u The Steaks,” — that noble society, founded by George Lambert and Rich together, which expanded from a meeting of casual visitors, admitted to share the scene-painter’s beefsteak in his Co vent Garden painting-room, to a weekly dinner, first in “ the thunder -and -lightning room ” at the theatre, then, — by gradual descent down- wards as the club rose in numbers and consequence, — in a room level with the two-shilling gallery, afterwards in an apartment even with the boxes, and, later still, in a lower room, till the club was burnt out in 1808. Among all the valuables which perished in that fire, including Handel’s organ and the manuscripts of Sheri- dan’s comedies, there are few more to be regretted than the original archives of the Steaks, in which we might 1762, ;etat. 39. THE BEEFSTEAK CLUB. 211 have found recorded, perhaps, this dinner at Wilkes’s. It was, however, not a regular club-dinner, hut an en- tertainment given to the members by a leading member, to which outsiders might have been invited. Lord Sand- wich might have been of the party ; for Jemmy Twitcher had not yet turned upon his friend. Churchill was there, no doubt, and very probably Arthur Murphy, for all the paper war he was carrying on in the Auditor against Wilkes in the North Briton ; and jolly John Beard the singer, and Hayman, and Lambert, and Garrick, if engagements at the theatre left him free. Hogarth, once a regular member, must have been kept away, if not by his declining health, by his quarrel with Wilkes, which was now at its height. The print of ‘ The Times,’ with its satire on Pitt and Temple, had appeared in the spring ; and in May came out the well- known 6 North Briton’ (No. 17), attacking Hogarth, “ sunk to a level with the miserable tribe of party etchers,” “ in his rapid decline entering into the poor politics of the day, and descending to low personal abuse, instead of instructing the world, as he could once, by manly moral satire.” Hogarth .retorted with his inimitable portrait of Wilkes, as “ a Patriot,”- — • Churchill envenomed the dispute by his 6 Epistle ’ to Hogarth ; and Hogarth, stung to the quick, put in but a feeble rejoinder in his caricature of Churchill, as a bear, with a pot of porter in his paw, and by his side a knotted club, labelled “ Lies, lies, lies.” Then we may trace the painter more than once to the hospitable table of jolly, loud-voiced, red-faced Mr. Nugent, afterwards Lord Clare, the friend of Goldsmith (who addressed to him his famous Epistle, with the p 2 212 LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Chap. III. story of the Haunch of Venison) ; to Mr. Nesbitt’s and Charles Lloyd’s ; to Mrs. Horneck’s (the Plymouth beauty), and Mr. Brett’s, at the Navy Office ; and to Holland House, where he was now painting the lovely Lady Sarah Lenox and Lady Susan Strangways, as well as Mr. Fox, and his second son, Charles James, now an Eton hoy of fourteen, but already initiated into the mysteries of the green table at Paris and Spa, where his father himself put the rouleaux into the boy’s little hand to punt with. There are frequent entries of appointments with Johnson, who in July of this year was pensioned by Lord Bute. Reynolds had to set the Doctor’s pension against his own disappointment when Ramsay was appointed King’s painter. The choice of Ramsay could hardly be complained of. To say nothing of the overwhelming influence of Lord Bute, he had no common merits of his own to stand on. He was a highly accomplished, indeed a learned man, an admirable talker, and a considerable writer on politics as well as on art. Reynolds was on friendly terms with Ramsay, and used to quote him as a proof that to be a good painter it was not enough to be a sensible man : — “ There’s Ramsay, a very sensible man, but he is not a good painter.” But if not a “ good,” he was a sensible painter, without a spark of genius, it is true, but turning out faithful likenesses and respectable pictures . 1 Besides, Reynolds already belonged to the opposition. He was the friend of Wilkes and his circle ; and his connection lay among the Bedfords and Keppels. These were no 1 One of the most agreeable I have j must he several years earlier than seen is the Princess of Wales, a full- this. — Ed. length in the Bute collection, which ; 1762, jEtat. 39. ENGAGEMENTS IN 1762. 213 recommendations at Buckingham House, though as yet the fierce struggle between the Whig families and the King and the King’s friends was but in its infancy. I find other dinner-engagements : at Mr. Hillier’s, in Pancras Lane, Queen Street, Cheapside ; at Mr. Rogers’, of the Custom House, in Lawrence Pountney Lane — a well-known collector and dilettante of the day ; and one (July 17, at six) “with Miss Nelly O’Brien, in Pall Mall, next door this side the Star and Garter.” 1 This frail beauty was a constant visitor to Reynolds’s painting-room this year, as well as her rival, Kitty Fisher. I presume — from the frequency of their visits, which is far greater than can be accounted for, on the usual allowance of sittings, by the number of portraits he is known to have painted of either — that they sat to him as models for the necks, busts, hands, and arms of his portraits, as well as for his nymphs and Yenuses. Then there are visits to brother artists ; dinners with Rysbrack, Frank Hayman, and Newton : evening parties at Moser’s and Wilton’s ; and a dinner one Saturday at “ Twitenham,” with his old master, Hudson, who had built a house in the meadows there. On July the 9th, Reynolds, like all the rest of the town, pays his respects to the “ King of the Cherokees and his ministers ” — the three deputies from the Red Indians of South Carolina, who this year arrived to make a lasting peace with this country. Reynolds visits them on the 1st of July, and again on the 7th, the very day on which these 1 In October is a list of guests at Miss Williams, Mr. Wool comb, and a dinner at Mrs. French’s, which in- Mr. Brent — old Devonshire friends, eludes Mrs. French, Mr. and Mrs. most of them, brought together per- Brady, Captain Vincent, Mr. Johnson, I haps to meet Johnson. — Ed. 214 LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Chap. III. blanketed and moccassined braves had been honoured by an audience of the King. They had a house in Suffolk Street, where they were visited by the nobility and gentry, dined, feted, and lionised to their hearts’ content. Unluckily their inter preter had died on the voyage. His substitute was so confused, on the occasion of the audience, that the King could ask but few ques- tions ; and in society the distinguished strangers had no way, we are told, of communicating their sentiments but by gestures. It is sad to think that these poor Indians, after all these dinners and royal audiences, came to sad grief when the first rage for them had passed away. They fell among thieves, were shown for money, ill-treated, starved, and finally rescued from this ignominy by the benevolence of Lord Hillsborough, who had them taken back to Carolina at the public expense. Keynolds spent part of this year out of town, which was rare for him. Besides giving a day to the Duke of Bedford’s portrait at Woburn 1 (July the 19th), his health having suffered from his unremitting occupation, he paid an autumn visit of some weeks to Devonshire, accompanied by Dr. Johnson. The pocket-book enables us to follow the travellers stage by stage. On Monday the 16th of August they set out from London at two o’clock, and arrived at Winchester that night, spending Tuesday at Winchester. On Wednesday they left Winchester at half-past two, and arrived at Salisbury at half-past seven. Here they visited Harris 1 He went, under pressure, no doubt, I plenipotentiary for the conclusion of to finish the portrait of the Duke of the peace with France. — Ed. Bedford, about to start to Paris as I 1762, astat. 39. VISIT TO DEVONSHIRE. 215 (the author of 6 Hermes ’), Wilton (Lord Pembroke’s), and Longford Castle (Lord Folkstone’s), with their magnificent galleries of pictures. At Longford Castle they slept, and proceeded by Sturminster-Marshall to Blandford ; thence by Dorchester to Exeter, which they reach on the 23rd. The next day they start for Tor- rington, and spend the next two days with Reynolds’s brothers-in-law, Mr. J ohnson and Mr. Palmer ; thence by Okehampton to Plymouth, on the 29th. Monday the 30th is devoted to Mount Edgcumbe, the next day they take up their quarters at Plymouth with Mr. Mudge, the panels of whose parlour in St. Nicholas Yard are duly measured for future pictures by his friend. From Mr. Mudge’s they make excursions in the neighbourhood — to Mr. Lloyd’s, Mr. Yeal’s of Cof- fleet, Mr. Bastard's, Mr. Mangles’, Mr. Robinson’s. On the 8 th of September a party is made for the Eddy stone lighthouse, still a recent wonder, scarce three years finished. But the sea was so rough that the Commis- sioners’ yacht, which had been placed at the disposal of Reynolds and his illustrious friend, could not land. Captain Foote, Mr. Woolcomb, Dr. Blackett, Miss Howe, Mr. Mangles, and Mr. Lloyd, the family at Mount Edg- cumbe, the Parkers at Saltram, fill up every day with hospitalities. Wednesday the 23rd is devoted to home- scenes, old haunts, and old friends at Plympton. On the 24th they start from Plymouth on their return, and at two o’clock on the 26th have arrived in London. Either Johnson or Reynolds had been pushing the sub- scription (now in progress) for poor blind Miss Williams among their friends in Devonshire, and the pocket-book records donations to her. 210 LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Chap. III. Northcote tells us of Johnson’s excesses in new honey, new cider, and clouted cream, at one of the hospitable Devonshire tables on this excursion. They alarmed his entertainer much. He did not know the strength of his guest’s constitution. Boswell, too, has recorded an anecdote of this journey, which he says he had from Reynolds. Having observed that in consequence of the dockyard a new town had sprung up about two miles off as a rival of the old one, Johnson, assuming that, if a man hates at all, he is very likely to hate his next neighbour, concluded that this new town could not but excite the jealousy of the old one ; in which conjecture, it is said, he was very soon confirmed. He asserted it to be his duty to take the side of the old town, “ the established town, in which his lot was cast and affecting to enter warmly into its interests, he talked of the Dockers (as the inhabitants of the new town were called) as upstarts and aliens. Plymouth was plenti- fully supplied with water from a river, brought into it from a great distance, which even ran to waste in its streets. The Dock, or New-town, being wholly desti- tute of water, petitioned Plymouth that a portion of the conduit might be allowed to go to them, and this was, at that time, under consideration. Johnson, pre- tending to entertain the passions of the place, was violent in opposition ; and exclaimed, “ No, no ! I am against the Dockers ; I am a Plymouth-man. Rogues ! let them die of thirst. They shall not have a drop ! ” It was to humour old Mr. Tolcher, an early friend of Reynolds, and an alderman of Plymouth, that the Doctor thus affected to throw himself into the heat 1762 , astat. 39 . VISIT TO DEVONSHIRE. 217 of local squabbles. For himself, lie seems to have been * in high good-humour, pleased with everything and everybody. “ Ignorance, Madam, — pure ignorance ! ” was the reason gaily given to a young Devonshire blue, who ventured to ask him how he had come to define u pastern ” wrongly in his Dictionary. Miss Reynolds cherished among her recollections of Johnson on this excursion a queer picture of him joy- ously racing with a young lady on the lawn at one of the Devonshire houses, kicking off his tight slippers high into the air as he ran, and, when he had won, leading the lady back in triumphant delight.] “ It was about this time,” says Northcote, “ that I first saw Sir J osliua ; but I had seen several of his works which were in Plymouth, and those pictures filled me with wonder and delight, although I was then very young ; insomuch that I remember when Reynolds was pointed out to me at a public meeting, where a great crowd was assembled, I got as near to him as I could from the pressure of the people, to touch the skirt of his coat, which I did with great satisfaction to my mind.” [One is irresistibly reminded by this of Reynolds’s own boyish delight, when, in just such a crowd, he was enabled to touch the hand of Pope.] In the illustrated copy of Northcote’s Life of Reynolds in the possession of Mr. Edward Foster, an engraving, from a profile by Falconet, is pasted, under which Northcote has written with a pencil — “ Like Sir J. R. when I first saw him.” The pocket-book gives us the following list of sitters for 1762 : — 218 LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Chap. III. January. Mrs. Hunt ; Lord Monteaglo ; Lord Middleton; Mrs. Martyn; Miss Fislier; Miss Johnson; Miss O’Brien (Nelly) ; Captain Lockhart, R.N. ; Lady Eliz. Keppel ; Lady Caroline Russell ; Lady Beachey; Sir Ellis Cun- liffe ; Mr. Ogleby ; Captain Dal- lison ; Princess Amelia ; Mr. Blair ; Lord Pembroke ; Mr. and Miss Ratcliffe ; Miss Fane. February . 1 Mrs. Rice ; Miss Bain ; Miss Powis; Governor Pownal; Mr. Drummond ; Mrs. Harland ; Colonel Keppel ; Colonel Philips ; Lady Waldegrave ; Mr. Nugent ; Mrs. Oxendon ; Lord Allan ; Mrs. Mordaunt. March. General Howard; Miss Ding- ley; Lady Northampton; Mr. Ingram ; Lord Portsmouth ; Mrs. Gosling ; Lord Errol ; 2 Colonel Leigh; Mr. Caswell; Lady Pol- lington; Mrs. Dingley; Master Purcell ; Mr. Panton ; 3 Mr. Wray; Mr. Paulet; Mr. Wood- ley; Lord F. Campbell; Miss Cleaver; Colonel Maitland; Mr. Hadley; 4 Mr. Johnson; General Napier. April. Captain Fordyce ; Lord Ilches- ter ; Lady Emma Edgcumhe ; Lady Sarah Lenox ; Admiral Coates; Lord G. Lennox; Lady Susan Strangways ; Lord Charles Spencer ; Duke of Bedford ; Major Hamilton ; Lord Shaftes- bury; Lord Pulteney; Lord Eglintoun. May. Mr. Cotton ; Mrs. and Miss Brown ; Mrs. Blundell ; “ My Lady O’Brien ” 5 (14th) ; Mrs. Stokes ; Mr. Darner ; Duke of Marlborough ; Lady Mary Coke ; Mr. Smith ; Mr. Mudge ; Mr. Wynn ; Mr. Hay ; Mr. Townsexyl ; Sir Walter and Lady Barbara Bagot ; Lady Halkerton ; Mrs. Basset. 6 June. Mr. and Mrs. Bagot ; Colonel Montgomery ; Miss Hurrell ; Mrs. Ryder ; Mr. Langton ; Sir Walter Blackett ; Captain Cotton ; Lady Poynter ; Mr. Major ; the Provost (of Eton, Dr. Barnard) ; Colonel Molesworth ; Miss Fordyce ; Mr. Haldane; Lady Egremont; Mrs. Wilkes ; Lady Colebrook. July. Mr. Foot ; Miss Chaloner ; Sir Philip Musgrave ; Mr. Fox ; 7 Miss Guildford (?) ; Mr. Harenc ; Lady Guildford; Mrs. Musgrave; Mr. Charles James Fox. 1 “ Mem . — Lady Waldegrave to be sent to Lord Farnham’s, in Hill Street.” 2 A magnificent full-length of a magnificent Colossus, in cloth of gold, as he appeared at the coronation. 3 Father of the Duchess of Ancaster. 4 March 30, at nine, “ children.” 5 A playful entry for Nelly. 6 She had sat to Reynolds as Miss St. Aubyn, and was afterwards Lady De Dunstanville. 7 Afterwards Lord Holland. 1763, jetat. 40. BOSWELL INTRODUCED TO JOHNSON. 219 August. Sir W. Baker ; 1 Mr. Baker. 2 September. Duchess of Douglas; Captain Hamilton; on 29th, at nine, a Lady ; and again on October. 1st, at nine, a Lady (anony- mous). Miss Craunch ; 3 Mr. Pennyman ; Mr. Fowke ; Lord Barrington ; Lord Northumber- land ; Miss Gammon ; Captain Harvey. November. Mr. Woodward; Mr. Moor; Mrs. Metham ; Mr. Coombes ; Master Bradshaw ; Mr. Cheap ; Mrs. Ogilvie; Mr. Collick; Sir Gerard and Lady Napier; Dr. Markham. December. Mr. Chamier ; 4 Mr. Brian ; Miss Davison ; Mr. Conolly ; Mr. Woodcock; Captain and Mrs. Pownal ; Mr. Partridge ; Lady Yarmouth ; Mr. and Mrs. Las- celles ; Mr. Lane ; Mrs. More. ^The year 1763 must always be noteworthy in the biography of any member of the Johnsonian circle. In it Boswell achieved the object of his long-clierished ambition, — an introduction to Johnson. It was on the 16tli of May, in Tom Davies’s back parlour, in Great Russell Street, that Boswell, on Davies’s stage exclama- tion, “ Look, my lord : it comes ! ” saw through the glass door a majestic figure approaching. He knew it to be Johnson (he tells us) by the portrait of him painted by Reynolds in 1756, which the painter afterwards presented to the biographer. Quite uncon- sciously, in the first few sentences of this description, the biographer has stamped himself and his subject. “ Mr. Davies mentioned my name, and respectfully 1 M.P. for Sir Joshua’s birthplace, Plympton, and an Alderman of Lon- don. His son succeeded him in both dignities. 2 Son of Sir William, afterwards Sheriff of London. 3 The old sweetheart of Dr. Wolcot, afterwards Mrs. Vivian. This was the | daughter of his earliest friend and patron. 4 No doubt, Mr. Chamier, of the | War Office. Reynolds’s spelling of j names is of the wildest. Mr. Chamier : for a long time is “ Sliamee.” He : was afterwards Under-Secretary of i State. — Ed. 220 LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Chap. III. introduced me to him. I was much agitated, and recollecting his prejudice against the Scotch, of which I had heard much, I said to Davies, 6 Don’t tell him where I come from.’ 4 From Scotland! ’ cried Davies, roguishly. 4 Mr. J ohnson,’ said I, 4 1 do indeed come from Scotland ; hut I cannot help it.’ I am willing to flatter myself that I meant this as light pleasantry , to soothe and conciliate him , and not as an humiliating abasement at the expense of my country . But, however that might be , the speech was somewhat unlucky ; for, with that quickness of wit for which he was so remarkable, he seized the expression, 4 come from Scotland,’ which I had used in the sense of being of that country, and, as if I had said that I had come away from it, or left it, retorted, 4 That, Sir, I find, is what a very great many of your countrymen cannot help ! ’ This stroke stunned me a good deal.” 1 It should be remembered, to give full effect to this scene, that it occurred at the height of Lord Bute’s unpopularity, which extended to all Scotch- men. A year before Lord Bute had been appointed First Lord of the Treasury. In vain he attempted to support himself against the determined opposition of the public by a packed and purchased parliamentary majority and the personal favour of the King. On the 1 It was in this year too that Madame de Bou filers paid that memo- rable visit to Johnson at his Chambers in Middle Temple Lane. No one who lias read Beauclerc’s account of it, as given by Boswell, can ever forget the scene : — The purblind scholar, in his rusty brown morning suit, old shoes by way of slippers, a little shrivelled wig sticking on the top of his head, the sleeves of his shirt and the knees of his breeches hanging loose, rolling down his staircase and rushing be- tween the dainty figures of the English beau and the French belle to repair his oversight, in not attending the lady to her coach. — Ed. 1763. uETAT. 40. EVENTS OF THE YEAR. 221 8th of April, 1763, he had suddenly resigned office, and withdrawn, — for ever as it proved, — into private life. It must have been before April this year that Reynolds painted that fine full-length picture, still in the Bute Gallery, which represents the Earl, in a suit of blue velvet, richly laced with gold, receiving papers from one of his under-secretaries, Charles Jenkinson — the successor to much of Bute’s unpopularity, as the wielder of that influence from behind the throne which was so telling a force in the great parliamentary fights of which the Bute administration was the prelude. The picture *s pne of the painter’s finest works, for its size and style of subject. 1 On the papers which the under-secretary hands to the Earl is the date 1763. That month of Lord Bute’s resignation was crowded with incidents which must have ruffled even the tranquil studio-life of the painter. His friend Wilkes, on the 30th of May, was arrested as the author of the famous 45th number of the 4 North Briton,’ and committed to the Tower under Lord Halifax’s general warrant. On the 6th of June the house of Lady Molesworth, in Upper Brook Street, was burnt, and herself, with her brother, two of his five daughters, a governess, and six servants perished. Of the other daughters, two, leaping from the windows, escaped with broken limbs ; the fifth was much burnt. Dr. Molesworth and his wife, then on a visit to the house, were saved as by miracle. Members of this family had been among Reynolds’s first patrons. Colonel Molesworth had sat to him only a few months before the fire, and the painter must have been on 1 I find, from an entry in the painter’s price-list, that the King paid for the picture. — E d. 222 LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Chap. Ill, intimate terms with the whole household on which this terrible visitation fell. Besides the picture of Lord Bute and Mr. Charles Jenkinson, an anecdote in Walpole 1 enables me to refer to this year a portrait of Lady Bolingbroke, the lovely sister of the beautiful Lady Pembroke (who was now reunited to her unfaithful husband), and the portrait of the Princess Augusta, the King’s eldest sister, who was, in January, 1764, married to the Hereditary Prince of Brunswick.] To the Exhibition of this year Reynolds sent four pictures. The Ladies Henrietta and Elizabeth Montagu, daughters of the Earl of Cardigan, which Walpole criticises as too chalky. The sitting sister, however, is one of the stateliest young beauties ever painted by Reynolds. John Earl of Rothes, half-length, — a noble picture of a stern, unbending soldier, with his breastplate under his laced coat, and his right hand resting on his basket-hilted broad-sword : an action is going on in the background. A Gentleman, three-quarters, and a half-length of Nelly O’Brien, 2 noted by Walpole as 44 a very pretty picture.” 1 “ The other sister has been sitting to Reynolds, who, by her husband’s direction, has made a speaking picture. Lord Bolingbroke said to him, ‘You must give the eyes something of Nelly O’Brien, or it will not do.’ As he has given Nelly something of his wife’s, it was but fair to give her something of Nelly’s, and my lady will not throw away the present.” (Walpole to Montague, March 29, 1763.) When Lord Bolingbroke made this speech it must be remembered that the portrait of Nelly O’Brien, exhibited this year, must have been standing in the painting-room, and might have been referred to, without any impropriety, by way of helping Lord Bolingbroke in his directions to the painter about Lady Bolingbroke’s portrait. — Ed. 2 I am unable to determine which 1763, JSTAT. 40. THE EXHIBITION. 223 [This year’s catalogue indicates an exhibition rather below the average in interest. Wilson sends only two landscapes : Phaeton, and a Yiew from Tivoli ; — Gains- borough three portraits : one of Mr. Medlicott, the gay and gallant cousin of Richard Lovell Edgeworth (also painted by Reynolds), the other of Quin. The actor objected to sit. “If you will let me take your like- ness,” said the painter, “ I shall live for ever.” Quin is sitting in an arm-chair, with a playbook in his hand. The light from an open window falls full upon his face. 1 Stubbs sends a Horse and a Lion, a Zebra, and “ a Horse belonging to the Right Hon. Lord Grosvenor, called Bandy, from its crooked leg.” There are the usual number of naval actions ; some half-dozen drawings by Paul Sandby ; three historical pictures by Mr. Wale — more eminent as a sign-painter and book-illustrator than in this elevated walk ; four portraits by Cotes, one of O’Brien the actor ; 2 a ‘ Peter Denying Christ,’ by Hayman ; Garrick and Mrs. Cibber, as Jaffier and Belvidera (now in the Garrick Club) ; two portraits, and a family piece by Zoffany (spelt Zaffanii in the catalogues of this time). The pictures are 140 in number, and all the works exhibited, including sculpture, architectural and other drawings, models, and engravings (whether by honorary or pro- of the three or four half-lengths bear- ing her name and Sir Joshua’s this is. It may have been the beautiful front- face portrait in a brown dress, leaning forward, with clasped hands, now in the possession of C. Mills, Esq., Bryan stone Square. — Ed. 1 Fulcher’s Life of Gainsborough. This picture is now in the possession of John Wilshire, Esq., of Shocker- wick, near Bath. 2 The best fine-gentleman of the stage. Lady Susan Strangways, daughter of Lord Ilchester, eloped with him within a year of this time. 224 LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Chap. III. fessional exhibitors), 217. They had risen to this total from 130 in 1760. The pocket-book for 1763 is wanting. Reynolds had now once more raised his prices. On the fly-leaf of the pocket-book for 1764 I find, in his own hand, the dimensions and prices of his pictures, as follows : — The whole length, 7 ft. 10 in. by 4 ft. 10 in. .. 150 guineas — 75 The half-length, 4 ft. 2 in. by 3 ft. 4 in. .. 70 „ 35 The Kit-Kat, 3 ft. by 2 ft. 4 in 50 „ 25 The 3-quarter, 2 ft. 6 in. by 2 ft. 1 in 35 „ 17J The teller de teste (tela di testa , or head) — canvas 2 ft. 4 in. by 1 ft. 6J in. 1 30 „ 15 Of these prices the half was required to be paid at the first sitting: a practice said to have been first intro- duced by Sir Joshua. 2 This was a period of vehement struggles in Parlia- ment and strong excitement and unruliness out of doors. It was the year of the great Wilkes agitation and of the famous debate on the legality of general warrants, 3 so graphically described by Walpole; when the House sat, on successive nights, eleven hours, seventeen hours, thirteen hours ; when “ votes were brought down in flannels and blankets, till the floor of the House looked like the Pool of Bethesda when the “ patriotesses ” of the anti-Bute party and the great 1 Next year he dropped the dis- tinction of price between three-quarter and head sizes. — E d. 2 Angelo’s Reminiscences, vol. L, 355. 3 Under the date of March the 8th is the entry, “ Common Council.” Sir Joshua was doubtless present in the Council Chamber to hear read Lord Chief Justice Pratt’s acknowledgment of the freedom of the city, presented to him the day before by the Cham- berlain Sir Thomas Harrison, and to receive the order of the corporation for his Lordship’s portrait, still in the Guildhall Library. 1764 , ,ETAT. 41 . EXTREMES OF PARTY-SPIRIT. 225 ladies of the Court faction sat out those protracted fights night after night till the March daylight peeped in at the windows ; or, when they came in such shoals that admission to the pigeon-holes was denied them, established themselves in one of the Speaker’s rooms, dined, and stayed there till twelve, “ playing loo while their dear country was at stake.” We find the leaders of these Amazonian cohorts, both on the Opposition and the Court side, among Reynolds’s sitters for this year, or the year immediately preceding — the Duchess of Richmond, Lady Sandes, Lady Rockingham, and Mrs. Fitzroy, on the side of the Opposition ; Lady Mary Coke and Lady Pembroke on that of the Court. The case is the same with the leading men of the time. The Leicester Fields painting-room was neutral ground, where as yet all parties might meet. If Reynolds had planned his list of sitters for 17G4 to illustrate the catholicity of his own popularity, he could hardly have chosen them better. To his painting-room comes the Minister who granted the general warrant, and the Chief Justice who received the freedom of the City as a tribute of grateful respect for his judgment de- claring general warrants illegal, 1 unconstitutional, and altogether void ; George Grenville, Lord Bute’s Chan- cellor of the Exchequer, crosses Sir W. Baker, the stout alderman and member for Plympton, who, as Walpole describes it, “ drove the Chancellor of the Exchequer from his entrenchments;” witty and versatile Charles Townshend brings his last bon-mot on the stout heiress Miss Draycote, who has just left the painting-chair; 1 If Wilkes does not sit to Rey- | once, before and after Lis flight to nolds,he has him to dinner more than | France. VOL. I. Q 226 LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Chap. III. Lord Granby, gallant, frank, and fearless, half-ashamed of serving with an administration which takes away their regiments from his best friends for a vote, maj r break his griefs to the Keppels, promoted to General and Admiral since their exploits at the Havannah, notwithstanding their sturdiness in Opposition; Shel- burne, still holding office, but chafing against the collar, may here take counsel about the policy of resigning with Lord Holland, cynical, but always good-tempered ; young Charles James Fox, just entered at Oxford, can find time to sit to Reynolds between play and politics, which already divide the empire of his vigorous and versatile mind with art and letters. Here, too, classes and callings cross each other as oddly as opinions. The Archbishops of York and Canterbury take the chair just vacated by Kitty Fisher or Nelly O’Brien ; and Mrs. Abingdon makes her saucy curtsy to the painter as the august Chief Justice bows himself in. This arch and lively actress, so long the petted favourite of the public, and the torment of Mr. Garrick, was this year in her flush of London popularity, after having won all the honours of the Dublin stage, to which she had retired after her successful London debut some years before as Miss Barton. Capricious and wilful as she was , 1 she seems to have been a special favourite with Reynolds. He painted her con amove y and always brought a strong muster of the Club to her benefits. He has never expressed sly archness better than in her sidelong face, as the Comic Muse ; and 1 For anecdotes of her, see Smith’s ‘ Book for a Rainy Day,’ p. 199, edit. 1861. There is also a capital sketch of her in Lichtenherg’s letters on Gar- rick and the leading players of the time, written from London in 1774, and published in his works. — Ed. 1764, 2ETAT. 41. MRS. ABINGDON— LADY WALDEGRAVE. 227 for hoydenish simplicity, the Saltram portrait of her, as Miss Prue, with her arms leaning on the hack of her chair, and her thumb at her lips, is a master- piece. Any other painter but Reynolds would have been in danger of falling into coarseness or ungrace- fulness in treating such a subject. He has managed to keep face and figure most attractive, with all their school-girl wilfulness and gauclierie . It is one of his most exquisite pictures for colour, and is happily in perfect preservation. 1 ] To the Exhibition of this year Reynolds contributed a Lady, whole-length (Lady Sarah Bunbury), and A three-quarter portrait of the Countess Dowager of Waldegrave, in mourning. Her husband had died the year before. [Walpole notes the first portrait as “good,” and the second as “ one of his highest coloured pictures and it is, indeed, worthy of its lovely original, whom Sir Joshua seems to have painted with peculiar enjoyment. The fair widow leans her head upon her hand and looks upwards, as if for consolation and strength. Her arm is supported on her knee. She is in mourning, with a black veil over her head. The three names that occur most frequently in his sitters’ list for the three years before this are certainly this lady’s, Nelly O’Brien’s, and Kitty Fisher’s. Nelly O’Brien had a son born to her this year. From an allusion in one of Whitehead’s letters to Lord Harcourt, the father (whom I cannot identify) seems to have been of noble family, and there 1 Sir Joshua presented her with his picture of her in the part of Roxalana, and she had great difficulty in reco- vering it from the hands of Slier win the engraver. See Smith’s ‘ Book for a Rainy Day,’ p. 205. Q 2 228 LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Chap. III. were doubts whether or not he had been secretly mar- ried to Nelly. Sir Charles Bunbury, the wit, turfite, and maccaroni, who had the year before married the beautiful Lady Sarah* Lenox (and who was one of Reynolds’s intimates), was one of the sponsors.] In this year the Literary Club was formed, at the suggestion of Reynolds. 1 The number of members was originally limited to twelve. 2 They met once a week, on Monday evenings, at the Turk’s Head in Gerrard Street, until 1775, when, instead of supping together, they agreed to dine once a fortnight during the sitting of Parliament ; and the number of members was suc- cessively increased to thirty-five and forty. The object of Reynolds in the establishment of this 1 “ It is rather remarkable that this celebrated social assemblage of talent might almost ascribe its origin to the Irish peer (Lord Charlemont). Some words had dropped from him on the subject to Reynolds. The latter men- tioned it to Johnson, proposing his lordship as one of the first members. * No,’ was the reply, * we shall be called Charlemont’s Club ; let him come in afterwards.* ” (Prior’s ‘ Life of Malone,’ p. 88 .) — Ed. 2 Hawkins says the original inten- tion was to confine it to nine. The original members were Reynolds, John- son, Burke, Dr. Nugent (his father- in-law), Topham Beauclerc, Bonnet Langton, Dr. Goldsmith, Mr. Chamier, and “ unclubbable ” Hawkins, who was soon cold-shouldered out, after a violent attack on Burke. In 1791 it numbered thirty-five members, and now stands at thirty-seven. A list of the members, from its foundation to June, 1792, will be found in Bos- well under the year 1764 ; and a list of the members in 1857, in an article of the ‘National Review’ for that year, p. 322. Soon after the insti- tution of the Club, Sir Joshua was speaking of it to Garrick. “ I like it much,” said Garrick ; “ I think I shall be of you.” “ He be of us !” said Johnson, when Reynolds re- peated the actor’s phrase to him ; “how does he know we will 'permit him ? The first duke in England has no right to hold such language.” In fact, Garrick was not elected till March, 1773. The Society still exists and bears the proud title of The Club. From its seat in Soho it migrated (1783) to Prince’s, in Sackville Street; to Le Teller’s (afterwards Baxter’s, afterwards Thomas’s), in Dover Street ; (1792) to Parsloe’s, in St. James’s Street ; and (1799) to the Thatched House in the same street, where it held its meetings till the tavern was pulled down a few years ago. It now meets at the Clarendon. In 1764 Burke lived in Gerrard Street. — Ed. 1764, J5TAT. 41. LITERARY CLUB FOUNDED. 229 club was to give Johnson undisturbed opportunities of talking ; and to procure for himself and his friends such opportunities of listening to his wisdom and wit, as did not often occur in the accidental intercourse of mixed society. “ Our evening toast,” says Sir John Hawkins, “ was Esto perpetua . A lady distinguished by her beauty and taste in literature (Mrs. Montague) invited us two suc- cessive years to a dinner at her house. Curiosity was her motive, and possibly a desire of intermingling with our conversation the charm of her own. She affected to consider us a set of literary men, and perhaps gave the first occasion for distinguishing the society by the name of the Literary Club , a distinction which it never assumed to itself.” In the summer of this year Reynolds was attacked with a dangerous illness , 1 which, however, was of short duration. His recovery was cheered by the following letter from Dr. Johnson, then on a visit in Northampton- shire : — “ Dear Sir, — I did not hear of your sickness till I heard likewise of your recovery, and therefore escaped that part of your pain which every man must feel to whom you are known as you are known to me. Having had no particular account of your disorder, I know not in what state it has left you. If the amusement of my company can exhilarate the languor of a slow recovery, I will not delay a day to come to you ; for I know not how I can so effectually promote my own pleasure 1 I do not know whether the un- usual number of blank days in the sitters’ list for the last three months of the year is to be explained by ill- ness. — E d. 230 LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Chap. III. as by pleasing you ; in whom, if I should lose you, I should lose almost the only man whom I call a friend. Pray let me hear from yourself, or from dear Miss Reynolds. Make my compliments to Mr. Mudge. “ I am, dear Sir, “ Your most affectionate and most humble Servant, “ Sam. Johnson. “ August 19, 1764.” The same year in which the life of Reynolds had been in peril, proved fatal to Hogarth, who died* on the 2Gtli of October. He lived on the opposite side of Leicester Square, but it does not appear that there was much intercourse between these great contemporaries. 1 1 Reynolds only refers to Hogarth once in his Discourses. After the panegyric on Gainsborough, which fills so much of the 14th Discourse, ap- plauding him for never attempting that style of historical painting for which his previous studies had not prepared him, he goes on : “ And here it naturally occurs to oppose the sen- sible conduct of Gainsborough in this respect to that of our own excellent Hogarth, who, with all his extraordi- nary talents, was not blessed with this knowledge of his own deficiency, or of the bounds which were set to the extent of his own powers. After this admirable artist had spent the greater part of his life in an active, busy, and, we may add, successful attention to the ridicule of life ; after he had in- vented a new species of dramatic painting, in which probably he will never be equalled, and had stored his mind with infinite materials to explain and illustrate the domestic and fami- liar scenes of common life, which were generally, and ought to have been always, the subject of his pencil ; he very imprudently, or rather presump- tuously, attempted the great historical style, for which his previous habits had by no means prepared him : he was, indeed, so entirely unacquainted with the principles of this style that he was not even aware that any arti- ficial preparation is at all necessary. It is to be regretted that any part of the life of such a genius should be fruitlessly employed. Let his failure teach us not to indulge in the vain imagination that by a momentary reso- lution we can give either dexterity to the hand or a new habit to the mind. I have, however, but little doubt that the same sagacity which enabled these two extraordinary men to discover their true object, and the peculiar excel- lence of that branch of art which they cultivated, would have been equally effectual in discovering the principles of the higher styles, if they had inves- tigated those principles with the same eager industry which they exerted in their own department.” I find two records of sales of “ Hogarth’s works,” in Sir Joshua’s price-lists. — E d. 1764 , iETAT. 41 . REYNOLDS AND HOGARTH. 231 Never were two great painters of the same age and country so unlike each other ; and their unlikeness as artists was the result of their unlikeness as men ; their only resemblance consisting in their honesty and ear- nestness of purpose. It was not to be expected that they should do each other justice, and they did not ; Hogarth being the most unjust, for he ranked Reynolds below Cotes, a now forgotten portrait-painter . 1 How much of jealousy may have existed between them it is impossible to know. Distaste among painters for the works of their contemporaries is always construed into a bad passion, and often unjustly. An exact esti- mate of genius is never arrived at till the possessor is gone from the world. Johnson said, “ Tristram Shandy did not last;” and Goldsmith noticed the faults of Sterne only. They may each have looked with some feeling of envy to the far greater immediate success than either of themselves had enjoyed ; but it does not follow that Hogarth, Johnson, or Goldsmith were so dishonest as to deny the existence of the excellence they saw. I believe they saw it not. Mr. Forster thinks Reynolds “ overrated the effects of education, study, and the practice of schools he says, “ It is matter of much regret that he should never have thought of Hogarth but as a moral satirist and a man of wit , 2 or sought a closer alliance with such 1 There cannot fairly be said to be anything in Sir Joshua’s mention of Hogarth quoted in a former note depre- ciatory of Hogarth’s merits within the limits of his class of subjects. What Reynolds fails in is just appreciation of that class of subjects when treated by such hands as Hogarth’s. — Ed. 2 But observe the language of Rey- nolds, already quoted : “ Admirable artist ” — “ a new species of dramatic painting, in which, probably, he will never be equalled.” Nowhere is there any depreciation of Hogarth as a paintei ' — of common life. — Ed. 232 LIFE OF SIR JOSHCJA REYNOLDS. Chap. III. philosophy and genius. But the difficult temper of Hogarth himself cannot he kept out of view. His very virtues had a stubbornness and dogmatism that repelled. What Reynolds most desired, to bring men of their common calling together, and by consent and union, by study and co-operation, establish claims to respect and continuance, Hogarth had been all his life opposing . 1 44 4 Study the great works of the great masters for ever/ said Reynolds. 4 There is only one school/ cried Hogarth, 4 and that is kept by Nature .’ 2 What was uttered on one side of Leicester Square was pretty sure to be contradicted on the other ; and neither would make the advance that might have reconciled the views of both. Be it remembered, at the same time, that Hogarth, in the daring confidence of his more asto- nishing genius, kept himself at the farthest extreme .” 3 If t ever pictures could be called books, Hogarth’s were especially such pictures; and the best writers of the time were consequently his warmest eulogists, as all the best writers since his time have been. Hogarth numbered among his friends and admirers, Fielding, Johnson, Goldsmith, and the Iloadleys. It was impos- sible that a great actor could be insensible to his merit, and Garrick not only thoroughly appreciated him, but was the most liberal of his patrons. With the praises 1 And yet lie was tlie main, if in- he studied nature, as his own great direct, agent in founding the Society technical excellence proves ; to say of United Artists, the precursor of nothing of his Analysis of Beauty , the Royal Academy. See post . — Ed. which displays as much acquaintance 2 They agreed in practice, if not in with art as with nature. theory ; for Reynolds did not neglect 3 ‘ Life and Times of Oliver Gold- the school of Nature for that of Art ; smith.’ and Hogarth studied art as closely as . 1764 , ^2TAT. 41 . HOGARTH. 233 of such men, Hogarth could afford to be considered a painter of low subjects by most of the aristocracy, who had another reason for disliking his art : he had exposed their vices and their follies with a truth not to be forgiven. The friendship and admiration of literary men were accorded to Reynolds, not so much for his excellence as a painter — of which, indeed, Johnson, Goldsmith, and Burke were no judges — as for the charm of his manners and his admirable sense. These indeed drew all classes together round his table ; and as he had never satirized any class, but had made himself inva- luable to all as a portrait-painter, he had the patronage of all. He never spoke of other living artists or of himself. It was not natural to him to do the last, and he pro- bably would have been silent on his own merits had they been neglected. Hogarth’s powers as a painter were not then felt. He lived by the sale of his engravings. It was natural to him to speak of his works, and this brought on him the charge of vanity, which he thus repelled : — “Vanity, as I understand it, consists in affirming you have done that which you have not done, not in frankly asserting what you are convinced is the truth.” “ A watchmaker may say, 4 The watch I have made for you is as good as Quare, or Tompion, or any other man could have made.’ If it is really so, he is neither called vain, nor branded with infamy, but deemed an honest and fair man for being as good’ as his word. Why should not the same privilege be allowed to a painter ?” 234 LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Chap. III. It is singular that the inaccuracy of the analogy between a machine and a work of taste should have escaped his notice. The maker of a watch is as capable of testing its value as any other person. But the painter of a picture can never be an exact judge of its merit. He may indeed underrate it ; and there seems to me every reason to believe that Hogarth did not rate his own inimitable representations of life at near the value that is set on them now that almost a century has elapsed, during which nothing approaching to his in- ventive power has appeared . 1 He was accustomed to say “ I never was right until I had been wrong.” These are not the words of a vain man. There were (and they may possibly still be seen), in an alcove at the end of the garden of Hogarth’s little villa at Chiswick, two small graves ; the one of a bull- finch and the other of a dog. The inscription on the first is, or was, “ Alas, poor Dick!” on the second, a parody of Churchill’s epitaph on himself : “ Life to the last enjoyed, here Churchill lies." Hogarth had substituted the name of Pompey for Churchill , thus giving the last blow to his powerful adversary. Soon after my arrival in London, nearly half a cen- tury _ ago, being at Chiswick, I was struck with the appearance of the house, and the style of the windows, 1 Northcote, who was, perhaps, the last of that class of critics who con- sidered him a vulgar painter, tried an imitation of him. He painted a series of pictures (the histories of two house- maids), founded on the Industrious and Idle Apprentices , and partly on Pamela. There could not be a more lamentable failure ; and Northcote never forgave Hogarth. 1764, -iETAT. 41. MRS. HOGARTH— CHUECHILL. 235 so like such objects in his pictures that I almost ex- pected to find the windows and the walks alive with men in bag-wigs and women in hoops. In the garden there was a large mulberry-tree. I was told by an old person who remembered Mrs. Hogarth, that she regu- larly invited the children of the village every summer to eat the mulberries; a custom established by her husband, and probably not discontinued by Mr. Cary? the translator of Dante, who afterwards occupied the house for some years. 1 It is a curious circumstance that Mrs. Hogarth, for the two last years of her life, was supported by an annuity from the Royal Academy, the establishment of which her husband had always opposed. She had out- lived him so long that the means he had left for her maintenance were exhausted. [Within little more than a month of Hogarth’s death his bitter assailant the satirist Churchill died, at the premature age of 33, worn out with excess and tortured by remorse. He died at Boulogne, in November, while on a visit to Wilkes, still an outlaw. From his long intimacy with Wilkes, Reynolds must have known Churchill well.] In November, 1764, as appears by the entries in the pocket-book, Reynolds painted his whole-length of Count Lippe-Schaumbourg. 2 For a military portrait he never had a nobler subject. The Count, though 1 Hogarth and his wife loved child- ren. When Hogarth died, in 1764, they had two of the little foundlings from Captain Coram’s Hospital, under their care, at Chiswick ; and the j Foundling Hospital still preserves the I bill paid by Hogarth for the nursing of the little ones from October, 1760, to October, 1762, and for their shoes and stockings. — Ed. 2 Lippe-Buckebourg he is called in the books of the time. — Ed. 236 LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Chap. IIL born in London, was the Sovereign of a German Prin- cipality. He was every inch a soldier, and lie stands forward on the canvas of Reynolds — “ No carpet knight so trim, But in close fight a champion grim, In camps a leader sage.” To illustrate his entire character, however, would require another and very different picture, in which he should be surrounded with books, objects of science, pictures, and statues; for he cultivated the arts of peace as well as of war, and not from ostentation, but from love. At the head of an English army he had saved Portugal from a combined attack of France and Spain. As a statesman, also, he had conferred many political benefits on that country; and these things done, he turned his attention, as Washington did, to the improvement of agriculture among his own people. Such a man must have interested Reynolds greatly, and in no male portrait is the painter seen to more advantage. The Count stands on an eminence with a soldierly erectness, his hands crossed over the head of his long walking-cane. Near him is a mortar, and below an orderly reins in his horse. The face is long and grave, and the pose firm and commanding. The picture is in the Royal collection. It is to be hoped, for the credit of George the Third, that it was a Royal commission. This would do something — but only some- thing — towards relieving the memory of that King from the reproach of having neglected the greatest of English painters. [From the engagements noted in this year’s pocket- book, Sir Joshua seems to have been much in society 1764, JETAT. 41. ENGAGEMENTS IN 1764. 237 at this time, except when prevented by the illness which has left large gaps between his working- days, not only in June, but in September, October, and November. There is a blank, too, in July, ac- counted for by his visit to Blenheim, where he was at the time painting the young Duke and Duchess, and where he twelve years afterwards painted that noble family piece which is still one of the chief glories of the Blenheim Gallery. I note this, as the practice of painting out of his own studio was quite exceptional with Reynolds. There are dinners with Mr. Warton and Dr. Blackett; with Mrs. Horneck, several times, and Mr. Chamier ; with Mr. Walpole, Lord Ligonier, Mr. Nesbitt, Mrs. French, Mr. Rogers (the connoisseur and collector), Mrs. Clive (the greatest comic actress of her time, trembling for her laurels now that Mrs. Abingdon had taken the town by storm), Mr. Nixon (Secretary of the Beef-steak Club?), Mr. Brett (of the Navy Office), and Lady C. Murray ; one, on the 9th of June, with Sterne, who was in London for a month at this time between his return from France and his journey to Italy ; many at Lord Edgcumbe’s — one of them to meet his old Plymouth friend Mudge ; and one, in September, with Wilkes, which it is impossible to account for, except by supposing that daring agitator to have paid a flying visit to London sub rosa , though he had been outlawed on the 5th of August on account of his non-appearance to receive the judgment of the King’s Bench for sedition and obscenity, as the author of the 4 North Briton,’ No. 45, and the 4 Essay on Woman.’ There are frequent records of dinners at the Turk’s Head, as well as of Monday meetings of 238 LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Chap. III. the Club at the same tavern ; of a dinner with Lord Charlemont in December; and frequently, throughout the year, of evening assemblies at great houses. I find one note of a dinner in Dartmouth Street, Westminster, on Sunday, March the 11th, when his host, I have little doubt, was Dr. Adam Smith, 1 then in London, preparing to start for the Continent as travelling tutor to the young Duke of Buccleuch. He had been selected for the post by Charles Townshend, who had married the Duke’s mother. Not less interesting is a note of a dinner engagement with Mr. Burke, on Friday the 19th of October. Burke had given up his private secretaryship under Gerard Hamilton the year before, and was now in London looking for an introduction to public life, which he obtained next year by his appoint- ment as private secretary to Lord Rockingham. Among the memoranda is one for November 5tli : “ Mr. Carlo Vanloo, at 11,” and a little farther down, “ copy Vanloo.” Carl Andre Yanloo, the* Director of the French Academy, who two years before this time had been appointed principal painter to Louis the Well-beloved, was in England this year, and visited Reynolds more than once. On one of these visits, when Yanloo had been boasting of his knowledge of the great masters, and the impossibility of takingjiim in with a copy, Reynolds showed him a study of his own, after Rembrandt, of an old woman’s head, and had the pleasure of hearing Vanloo pronounce it an un- 1 I arrived at this discovery in an interesting way. Closely examining the pocket-book for 1764, I found in one of the pockets, where it had in all probability remained undisturbed from that time to this, a tiny old-fashioned card, bearing the name of “Mr. Adam Smith,” and the address “ at Mrs. Hill’s, Dartmouth Street, Westmin- ster.” — Ed. 1704, iETAT. 41. SITTERS, 1764. 239 doubted original. This anecdote is in Northcote, and may explain the “copy Yanloo ” in the pocket-book.] List of Sitters for 1764. January . Duchess of Hamilton ; Duchess of Ancaster ; Miss Langton ; Mr. Pitt ; Mr. Payne ; Lady Stanhope and Child ; Mr. Townshend ; Mrs. Hews; Lady Mary Lesly, and Lady Jane Lesly ; Mr. Ben- net ; Miss Montague ; Lady Pem- broke ; Duke of Bolton ; Captain and Mrs. Brice ; Bishop of Clon- fort (Dr. Marlay) ; Lord Holland ; Lord Westmoreland; Miss Dra- court (Draycote) ; 1 Mrs. Spry ; Mrs. Gomm; Captain Duff; Mr. Conolly ; Miss Leigh ; Miss Wriothesley. February . Lady Shaftesbury; Lady Wil- loughby ; Mr. and Mrs. Lascelles ; Mrs. Collyear ; 2 Duchess of Graf- ton ; 3 Mrs. Harland ; Master Penn; Miss Taylor; Mr. Frank- lin ; Miss Penn ; Duchess of Man- chester; General Keppel; Lady Guildford ; Mr. Hallet ; Lady Juliana Penn ; Lady Rothes ; Miss Harriet Bouverie ; Lady Fife ; Miss Murray. March. Archbishop of York ; 4 Lord Shelburne ; 5 Lord Digby ; Miss Davies ; Duke of Marlborough ; 6 Miss Cox; Lord Chief Justice Pratt ; 7 Sir Septimus Robinson ; Miss Horneck ; 8 Mr. Selwyn ; Mr. Willson ; Lady Tyrconnel ; Mr. Phipps ; Miss Phipps ; Mr. 1 A great fortune of the day, who married' Lord Pomfret this year. “ Before I have done I must tell you one of Charles Townshend’s admirable bon-mots. Miss Draycote, the great fortune, is grown very fat. He says ‘ her tonnage has become equal to her poundage.'' ” (See Walpole to Lord Hertford, February, 1764.) — Ed. 2 Painted as Lesbia weeping over her swallow. The wife of Captain, afterwards Admiral, Sir George Coll- year, and sister of Colonel Gwynn, who married the younger Miss Horneck, Goldsmith’s “ Jessamy Bride.” The picture, very beautiful in sentiment, and delicate in colour, passed from Mrs. Gwynn’s possession into Sir W. Knighton’s. — Ed. 3 Horace Walpole’s duchess — this year separated from her husband, really in consequence of the latter’s infatuation for the notorious Nancy Parsons, but on the alleged ground of incompatibility of temper. She after- wards married the Earl of Upper Ossory, one of Sir Joshua’s intimate friends. — Ed. 4 Dr. Drummond. Both Arch- bishops sat to him this year. 5 Now a Commissioner for Trade. 6 George, the brother of Lady Pem- broke. There is a fine portrait of him at Blenheim, and another is in Lord Normanton’s Gallery. He was now Privy Seal. 7 Afterwards Lord Camden. Rey- nolds’s picture was painted for the Com- mon Council, in commemoration of the judgment in the matter of general warrants. Another and better portrait is at the Moat, Lord Camden’s. — Ed. 8 Goldsmith’s “ Little Comedy,” afterwards Mrs. Bunbury. 240 LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Chap. III. Blair ; Master Cholmondely ; Dr. Hay . 1 April. Mr. Elliott; Miss Windsor; Mr. Oxenden ; Mrs. Ackland ; Captain Pownall ; Duke of Leeds ; Lady C. Murray ; Master Lister ; Mrs. Turner ; Sir Win. Bunbury ; Mr. and Mrs. Blake ; Mr. Finch ; Mrs. and Miss Adams ; Lord Arundel ; Mrs. Boothby ; Lord Warwick ; Mr. Digby ; Lady Charlotte Fitz william. May. Sir Wm. Gage ; Mr. Rothes ; Lord Halifax ; Mr. Lascelles, sen. ; Mrs. North ; Mr. South- well ; 2 Lord George Lennox ; Lord Dudley ; Miss O’Brien ; 3 Miss Dash wood ; Lady Sondes ; Lady Pomfret . 4 June . 5 Lord Granby ; 6 Sir Thomas 1 ALord of the Admiralty (engraved). 2 Afterwards corrected into Sothe- ron. 3 Very often through the summer. 4 She began her sittings in January as Miss Draycote; she now continues them as Lady Pomfret. — Ed. 5 There are blanks in June from the 16th to the 23rd. 6 At this time Master General of the Ordnance. 7 The beautiful wife of Col. Tra- paud. One of his sweetest portraits. 8 Sunday, July 1st, Sir Joshua went to Blenheim. No entries until July 20th, on which day Miss Fisher sits. —Ed. 9 George, now head of the adminis- tration. The picture is at Petvvorth. 10 On August 21st, an entry, “ Mr. Reynolds has promised Colonel Keppel Wentworth ; Mr. Rolls ; Lady Bolingbroke ; Mr. Foot ; Mrs. Trapaud ; 7 Mr. Lane ; Mr. Ogilvie ; Lady Waldegrave. July 5 Mr. Woodcock ; Marquis of Carmarthen ; Mr. Grenville ; 9 Mr. Haldane ; Miss Kitty Fisher ; Archbishop of Canterbury (Dr. Tucker). August } 5 Mrs. Hales ; Mrs. Abington ; 11 Mrs. Hope ; 12 Lord Fitzwilliam ; Colonel Hale ; Admiral Keppel ; Lady Winterton ; Lord Winter- ton; Mr. Bagot; Mrs. Gosling; Miss Richmond. September , 13 Miss St. John ; 14 Mr. Cotton; General Sandford ; 15 Miss Keppel ; Mrs. Woodcock. October. Lord Ossulstone ; Mr. Fox ; to send the Duke of Cumberland’s picture home to-day.” 11 The actress. He painted her at least five times : au naturel in her cardinal — the picture of this year — as Roxalana, as Miss Prue, as Lady Teazle, and as the Comic Muse, now at Knowle — full-length, with a mask in the hand, and a sly, sidelong humour in the expression. 12 Wife of the great capitalist, money-merchant, and banker. 13 From the 4th to the 1 1th there are no appointments. Again the 12tb, 14th, and 15th, are blank. 14 She began her sittings as Miss St. John, but finishes them as Lady Coventry. 15 “ Mem. — General Sandford’s mare at Mr. Doggen’s, in North Audley Street.” 1764, JETAT. 41. SITTERS, 1764. 241 Mr. O'Hara : Mr. Macartney ; 1 Lady Coventry ; Sir Samson Gideon . 2 November . 3 Connt Lippe ; 4 Governor Boone : 5 Duchess of Bichmond. 1 Afterwards corrected into Sir G. Successively Russian Minister, Go- vernor of Grenada and Madras, and Ambassador Extraordinary to China. 2 Afterwards Lord Eardlv, son of the great loan-contractor, the Roths- child of his day, who died in 1762. 3 In November some of the ap- pointments are struck out. I retain December * Mr. Lowten; Lord Cardross : Dnchess of Marlborough; Miss Griffin. only those which were kept. — E d. * Connt of La Lippe-Buckebourg. commander of the troops sent to Por- tugal to aid that country against the Spaniards and French in 1762. * M.P. for Castle Rising, and Go- vernor of South Carolina. 6 Copy of Mr. Grenville. Copy of Lord Chief Justice Pratt. YOL. I R CHAPTER IY. 1765—1768. JEtat. 42—45. Political aspect of the year — Burke’s entry into public life — Barry — Gold- smith — Notes contributed by Reynolds to Johnson’s edition of Shakespear — A paper by him, probably intended for the Idler — Pictures exhibited by Reynolds in 1.765 — Barry’s commendation of him — His management of costume — Exhibition of 1765 — West — Yanloo — Wilson — G. Hamilton — Zoffany — Mortimer — Wright, of Derby — Dinner-engagements of the year — Sitters for 1765 — (1766) Rockingham Administration — Burke’s advance in public life — The Club — 4 The Vicar of Wakefield’ — 4 The Clandestine Marriage ’ — Mrs. Abingdon sitting to Reynolds — Isaac Barre — Wilkes — Angelica Kauffman — Makes acquaintance with the Thrales — At the play — Pictures exhibited this year — West’s ‘ Pylades and Orestes ’ — The Misses Horneck — Dinner-engagements and sitters of the year — Fall of the Rockingham Administration — (1767) Death of Lord Tavistock — Contrasted character of Reynolds's sitters — ‘ La Cecchina’ — The gay side of Reynolds’s habits and associates — His political bent and its consequences — Interview between the King and Dr. Johnson — Reading of 4 The Good-Natured Man ’ at Burke’s — Mr. Bott — Portrait of the Speaker ; his wig — Foote — Dinner-engagements of the year — Quota- tions from letters by Burke — Portrait of Dr. Zachariah Mudge by Reynolds — Reynolds does not exhibit in 1767 — The Exhibition of that year — List of sitters for 1767 — (1768) 4 The Good-Natured Man ’ produced — Portrait by him of Miss Ann Cholmondely — Dissensions in the Incorporated Society of Artists — Reynolds visits Paris — His diary on the road and at Paris — Formation of the Royal Academy — Earlier attempts made to establish an Academy — Claims of the Royal Academy to the gratitude of the country — Reynolds knighted by George III. — His exertions to render the Exhibitions of the Academy attractive — Four Honorary Members of the Academy appointed at the suggestion of Reynolds — He suggests the annual dinner — List of sitters for 1768. [This year was prolific of public events : some — like the Colonial Stamp resolution, which was the tocsin of war in America — hardly noted at the moment ; 1 others, 1 Horace Walpole says, 44 There has been nothing of note in Parlia- ment but one slight day on the Ame- rican taxes, which Charles Townshend supporting, received a pretty hearty thump from Barrti.” (To the Earl cf Hertford, Feb. 12, 1765.) 1765, astat. 42. BURKE’S ENTRY INTO PUBLIC LIFE 243 — like the Regency Bill — of purely personal and tem- porary interest, but which changed the fates of ministers, and at the time convulsed the capital. The political history of the year is chiefly connected with the painter by the death of his steady patron the Duke of Cumber- land, and the entrance into public life of one of his dearest, most intimate, and most valued friends, Edmund Burke. When the Grenville ministry fell, and the ineffectual combinations which followed its dissolution were closed by the establishment of the Rockingham administration, Burke, who had already established a reputation for singular capacity in public business, as well as for conversational and literary powers, was, in July, appointed private secretary to Lord Rockingham, on the introduction of his friend Fitzherbert, one of the new Commissioners for Trade. There was an under- standing at the time that the private secretary should have a borough ; but he did not take his seat for Wendover till the next year. But even in 1765 we know from his letters that he was a busy, unseen influ- ence in the Cabinet. It is easy to conceive how the Club must have rejoiced in the opening of this oppor- tunity to their most brilliant member, — the one man who could contest the supremacy in talk with the great Johnson. Reynolds was, of all Burke’s non-political associates, the man likeliest to be chosen as his con- fidant and adviser at this turning-point of his fortunes. Burke had, besides, made a claim about this time upon Reynolds’s professional aid in favour of James Barry, an uncouth, enthusiastic, passionate young Irish painter, the son of a Cork coasting skipper, whom Burke had first befriended in Dublin and now invited to London. R 2 244 LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Chap. IV. Barry was there copying pictures under the direction of Athenian Stuart, and bringing his work to Reynolds for his judgment and advice. Another member of the Club whose fortunes were on the rise was Dr. Gold- smith. The ‘ Yicar of Wakefield ’ was written and sold, the ‘ Traveller ’ had appeared. Gradually working up from the squalor of Green- Arbour Court and the com- parative decency of Mrs. Fleming’s Islington lodgings (where however he could not sport his oak against the bailiffs), Goldsmith had this summer reached his second stage in the Temple. HeTiad left the shabby chambers which he shared with Jeffs the butler on the library staircase, for rooms in 3, King’s Bench Walk, where I find Reynolds engaged to dine with him in July. Johnson was now fighting off the pressure put upon him by the publishers for his edition of ‘ Shakspere.’ He had iiublished proposals for the work in 1756, with the promise that it should be completed by Christmas, 1757. Three years after that time he was satirized by Churchill for the delay of a publication for which he had taken subscriptions. Reynolds and others of his friends were alarmed for his reputation, and endea- voured by every means to induce him to fulfil his engagement. They entangled him in a wager for its performance within a given period, — and Reynolds, as an additional stimulus, offered to furnish him with some notes. The edition was published in October this year. In the preceding July the University of Dublin had bestowed on Johnson the degree of Doctor of Laws, but he is “ Mr. Johnson ” to the last in Reynolds’s pocket-book.] Among the manuscripts of Reynolds that have been 1765, iETAT. 42. NOTES FOR JOHNSON’S SHAKESPEAE. 245 placed in my hands by Miss Gwatkin, are the following fragments, which he may have intended to shape into a note on Shakespear, in addition to those which he actually contributed. 64 Whatever is expressed in common words, colloquial language, is never, nor can be, forcibly expressed to the imagination. Indeed, a very little reflection will show this ever must be the case ; the mode of expres- sion which you hear every day and on every occasion must in its nature be feeble ; that is, from its frequency must have lost the power of* touching and affecting us. 44 To express an immense space of uncultivated country, to call it 4 a waste desert,’ excites no particular impression of its being not used for the advantage of man, for no other reason but because it is a common expression. Its beauty and excellence is lost in its familiarity. But when Shakespear , 1 instead of 4 deserts waste,’ calls them 4 deserts idle,’ he immediately excites a fresh (idea) ... of their being useless to mankind.” . . . . 44 Does not wit likewise often consist in using the second word, — not that which first occurs, and has been worn out ? ” Reynolds liked to exchange the pencil for the pen ; and it is probable that, when not engaged in company, he often spent his evenings in writing. His mind was one that could not endure inactivity. Among his manuscripts are two rough draughts, 1 Reynolds always spells the name thus, making its heroic derivation plain, according to modern ortho- graphy. Burns was thinking of Shakespear when he said of Bruce that he “ shook the Carrick spear.” Why then obscure its meaning be- cause the poet wrote it Shakspere ? His editors might as well restore his orthography throughout, and we should then have dolphin for dauphin. 246 LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Chap. IY. evidently intended to be polished into a letter for some periodical work, most likely the Idler . The first of these sketches begins thus : “ I am the daughter of a person of considerable rank in this country, of rank sufficient to call together the wits and men of talents in whatever wav, and they were proud of the invitations. Our general dinners were made up of what I believe were very sensible men. They were certainly men who had distinguished themselves either in the House of Lords, Commons, or at the Bar.” 1 • The imaginary writer goes on to say, that among these, a man “ not young nor handsome,” so captivated her with his wit, that she conceived no life could be so happy as to dine every day with such a man. She made advances which were responded to, and she became his wife contrary to the advice of her parents and friends. “ I determined,” she writes, “ to prefer sense (and) mind to personal accomplishments, and every other ex- ternal consideration. That I do not absolutely repent yet is certain ; and it is certain my husband is not the man I took him for. I do not insinuate that he wants understanding, (and) good nature, or is a bad man in any respect ; but he is the dullest creature I ever knew. He talks of news and family affairs as insipidly, as clear of all wit and imagination, and is as great a mopus in his own family, when we have no company, as my poor old father, or any other honest plain gentleman.” “Now, my question to you is this: — Whether you 1 These two last sentences are ad- mirable. She only believes they were sensible men ; but it is certain they had distinguished themselves, &c. 1765, ^etat. 42. HIS PICTURES OF 1765. 247 do not think my husband does not in some measure come under the denomination of a swindler ; from his having procured a very agreeable wife with a very good fortune upon false pretences?” In the other fragment the same story is told with a difference merely in the language. Reynolds, no doubt, intended to show that men distinguished for conversa- tional powers are apt to prepare themselves for a din- ner party, to dress their minds as well as their persons, and to exert all their powers of pleasing ; while, in their families, they take no such trouble. The lady, it will be observed, accuses her husband of dullness only when there is no company. [To the exhibition of 17G5 Reynolds contributed only two pictures : a second one of Lady Sarah Bun- bury, this time represented as sacrificing to the Graces, 1 and an anonymous female portrait, Kit-kat size. Lady Sarah had been one of the painter’s favourite sitters for the last three years. Her name occurs very often n his pocket-book, and his visits to Holland House, where she lived, before her marriage, with her sister and brother-in-law, are frequent. This is the state- liest picture he has painted of her. She kneels at a footstool before a flaming tripod, over which the triad of the Graces look down upon her as she makes a libation in their honour. A kneeling attendant behind, only less beautiful than her mistress (and painted, probably, from Lady Susan Strangways), pours wine from a flagon. Lady Sarah was still in the full 1 “ She never did sacrifice to the Graces,” remarks Mrs. Piozzi: “her face was gloriously handsome, but she used to play cricket and eat beefsteaks on the Steyne at Brighton.” — E d. 248 LIFE OF SIB JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Chap. IY. glow of that singular loveliness which, it was whis- pered, had four years ago won the heart of the King, and all hut placed an English queen upon the throne. Though the colouring has lost much of its richness, the lakes having faded from Lady Sarah’s robes, and left what w r as once warm rose-colour a cold faint purple, the picture takes a high place among the works of its class — the full-length allegorical. To me these pictures are indescribably inferior in charm to those in which Reynolds has painted the women of his time, in the clothes they usually wore, and engaged in everyday occupations or amusements, however commonplace — playing with their babies, feeding their chickens, or caressing their lapdogs. The most trivial of these occu- pations has at least reality about it, and accommodates itself to the air and dress of the woman. Not so with his Junos and Hebes, filling Jove’s cup or reaching down the cestus, his Thaises with their torches, and Dianas with their crescents and javelins. With all the painter’s feeling for colour and grace offline, he failed in inventing any costume which satisfies the eye as well as even the ugliest of the many ugly fashions of his day. This point of costume gave him great trouble. The late Duchess Dowager of Rutland told Mr. F. Grant, R. A., that Sir Joshua made her try on eleven different dresses before he painted her “ in that bedgown.” No doubt the “bedgown” was the dress with the least marked character about it, — the nearest to that “ generalized ” drapery which Reynolds’s theory required him to seek, though his natural inclination or the happy obstinacy of the ladies forced him, in so many cases, to paint the fashions of the time. In the eighteenth century there 3 765, ^etat. 42. EXHIBITION OF 1765. 249 is no separating of people from their clothes; no pos- sibility of successfully “ idealising ” high tetes and long stomachers, sacques and cardinals. Another reason which, to my thinking, greatly impairs the value ot Reynolds’s full-lengths is, that so much of them de- volved on the drapery-man. Peter Toms, and Reynolds’s pupils, Marchi , 1 Berridge, and Baron, were now work- ing for him in this capacity. Gainsborough, if I may judge from what I know of his pictures, painted his ladies with a certain generalizing management of their actual dresses, invariably reducing the circum- ference of petticoats, and getting rid of buckram gene- rally, but never mythologizing his sitters. He was an exhibitor this year of a fine full-length equestrian por- trait of General Honey wood, which the King was anxious to buy, and which is marked in Walpole’s catalogue as “ very good,” and of a portrait of Colonel Nugent (a son of Lord Clare), killed in the West Indies some time before. West exhibits, for the second time, a Jupiter and' Europa, a Venus and Cupid, and two portraits. The Chevalier Vanloo, too, was now living in Jermyn Street, trying in vain to draw away sitters by the attraction of his foreign order and his smooth, characterless pencil. He died this year. Wilson ex- hibits three landscapes. Barry appreciated them, if the connoisseurs and purchasers turned coldly away. “ The colouring of Wilson,” he says in one of his letters of this date, “ is very masterly ; his style of design is more grand, more consistent, and more poetical than 1 1 find in one of Reynolds’s MS. books, “ Nov. 22, 1764. Agreed with Giuseppe Marchi that he should live in my house and paint for me for one half-year from this day ; I agreeing to give him fifty pounds for the same. Joshua Reynolds. G. Marchi.” — E d. 250 LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Chap. IY. any other person’s amongst ns.” But Barry praised Gavin Hamilton’s 64 Achilles and Patroclus,” also exhi- bited this year, and maintained his opinion in its favour with heat against older painters, — Beynolds, perhaps, among the number . 1 Zoffany exhibits Garrick as Sir John Brute. Mortimer, and Joseph Wright of Derby, are among the few other exhibitors whose names have survived to this day. By help of the pocket-book of this year we may trace Sir Joshua in his dinners and card-parties among old friends and new acquaintance. His visits to the Club are often noted. We know from Johnson’s correspond- ence that he was one of its most regular attendants. Mr. Anthony Chamier’s and the Hornecks’ seem still to have been his favourite dinner-houses. I find several Sunday engagements with Mr. Walpole and Mr. Wilkes. I infer, from the very intricate and careful directions as to the whereabouts of the latter, that Wilkes must, during the latter part of this year, have secretly run over from Paris, whither he returned from Naples near the close of September, and lain perdu at a farm-house near Teddington . 2 There are also Twickenham dinners 1 The passionate young Irish painter, at this time, was fervent in his admira- tion of Reynolds. He writes to Dr. Sleigh, this year, “We have had two exhibitions since I wrote to you : the pictures that struck me most were Lady Sarah Bunbury sacrificing to the Graces, and Lady Waldegrave. They are some of Mr. Reynolds’s best works, which is the highest praise they can have.” He is struck (he tells the friendly Doctor) “ with the great ad- vance of portrait-painting since it got into the hands of Mr. Reynolds,” and dwells upon “ the greatness and deli- cacy of his style, the propriety of his characters, his great force of light and shadow, and taste of colouring.” 2 Thus in September occurs, “ Mr. Wilkes : first to go to Teddington church, and, turning to the right after passing the church, 2nd house on the right, Stephen, farmer and maltster, at Bolston, Hampton-Wick.” I refer these entries to John Wilkes, as the entries referring to his brothers give their Christian names, Israel or E. for Heaton. DINNER ENGAGEMENTS. 251 1765, iETAT. 42. with Hudson and “ unclubbable ” Hawkins, that pompous attorney and Middlesex magistrate, who seems to have held a place of such unaccountable prominence in the best literary society of the day ; with Owen Cambridge, in later years the friend of Fanny Burney, one of the liveliest contributors to ‘The World,’ a man of great attainments and universal popularity; with Garrick and Penny the painter, and Chambers the architect ; with Dr. Markham and the Bishop of Bristol ; with Lord Egremont, Lord Tyrconnel, and Mr. Fitzherbert : the last within a fortnight of Burke’s appointment as Private Secretary to Lord Rockingham, to which Fitz- lierbert’s recommendation had powerfully contributed. We may conceive how cordially the young Secretary’s health was drunk, what auguries were indulged in, what friendly wishes reciprocated. One dinner, at Mrs. Cholmondeley’s, is emphasized by the addition “ turtle.” I have already mentioned his dinners with Goldsmith in the Temple. There are records, too, of engagements at picture auctions, and at the festival of the Sons of the Clergy, in which society Sir Joshua always took a warm interest. There is a Sunday visit to Guildhall, probably to fix a place for his portrait of Chief Justice Pratt, who, under his new title of Lord Camden, this year sat for the finishing touches of his portrait. The list of sitters for 1765 is smaller than for any preceding year, and the gaps in the appointments more numerous. The lady who sits on Tuesday October 1st, and who has entered herself under the name of “ Cla- rinda,” I am unable positively to identify. The name may be a playful entry by Kitty Clive, or Mrs. Abingdon, 252 LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Chap. IY. both of whom played Clarinda in the 6 Suspicious Hus- band or by lively Miss Pope, who, about that date, had appeared as Clarinda in a comedy long since forgotten. January. Duchess of Aiicaster ; Mr. : Parker ; Captain Foot ; Mr. Fox ; Lady Waldegrave ; SirW. Booth- by ; 1 Sir J. and Lady Hodges ; ! Lady Coventry ; Captain Pownall; Lady Sarah Bunbury ; Duchess of Bichmond ; Lady Bolingbroke ; Colonel Keppell ; Governor Boone; \ Mr. O'Hara ; Lady Boynton. February. Miss Macgill ; 2 Mr. Hoggett j (Hagget) ; Lord Kilbrazil (Clan- brassil) ; Captain (afterwards writ- ten Mr.) Matheson, Mr. Elliot . 3 4 March? Mr. Blake ; 5 Lord Chief Jus- j 1 A member of the household of the Duke of York. A leading maccaroni and man of pleasure. 2 Afterwards Countess of Clan- william. 3 Copy of Lord Holland for Mr. Taylor. 4 No sitters from 4th to 10th ; from 11th to 17th only Lord Chief Justice Pratt. ? Afterwards Sir Patrick Blake, hus- band of Lady Blake (Annabella Bun- bury). He was a famous Newmarket man. It was not he, but his brother, who made a great noise in 1774, by his bet of 1000 guineas that he would find a man to live under water for 12 hours. The wager came off at Plymouth : the man was thought to have gone down in a vessel constructed for the purpose, and never reappeared ; but there seems to have been some tice Pratt ; Duchess of Marl- borough ; Dr. Smith ; Miss Bou- verie ; Lady Stanhope ; Lady Eliz. Lee ; Mrs. Watson . 6 April . 7 Lady Catherine Beauclerk ; Lady C. Dundas ; Lord Bruce ; Mr. Greenway ; Archbishop of York ; Lord Dunmore ; Miss Greenway ; Mr. Sedgwick ; 8 Lord Herbert ; 9 Mrs. Abingdon. May . 10 Dr. Gisbrough ; Miss Murray ; 11 Miss O’Brien (Nelly) ; Lady Fife ; Admiral Keppell ; Mrs. Croft ; Lord Arundel ; Miss Lister ; Miss doubt about the fact of his having been in the submarine boat at the time she sunk, and she was never got up to verify the fact. Mr. Blake’s portrait — a full-length, in a red coat with blue lapels, white waistcoat, breeches, and gaiters, and a hawk on his wrist — is at Barton, the seat of the Bunburys, in very good condition. — Ed. 6 On a Sunday, and again in April. ? A model. 7 Mem. — Bambino. 8 Solicitor and Clerk of the Reports to the Commissioners of Trade. 9 Son of the Earl of Pembroke, for the picture of him standing with his book at his mothers knee. 10 Mem. — Lord Holland’s picture for Mr. Powel. 11 A little Scotch girl with a dog ; now in Lord Normanton’s gallery. 1766, iETAT. 43. SITTERS, 1765. 253 Popham ; Sir Geoffrey Amherst ; 1 Capt. Duncombe. June , 2 Mr. Thompson ; Lord Pem- broke ; Mr. Lascelles ; Lord Ca- rysfort ; Lord Halifax ; Master and Miss Proby ; Lord Eglinton ; Mr. Angerstein ; Miss Cells . 3 July. Miss Montagu ; Lord North ; Mr. Wright ; Mrs. Paine ; Miss Paine ; Miss Polly Paine ; Lady Wordon (Warden). August. Mrs. Cholmondely ; Lord Tavi- stoke ; Mrs. Hancock ; 4 Lord Camden ; Mr. Stuart. September. Mr. Fitzroy ; Sir Charles Saun- ders ; Mr. and Mrs. Roffey ; Miss Oliver; Archbishop of Canter- bury. October . 5 Mrs. Cowley; Mr. Mitchell; Mr. Bourdieu ; Sir Gervase Clif- ton ; Duchess of Douglas ; Mr. Hopkins ; Mr. Roffey, jun. November. Mr. Bunbury; Captain Hart- well ; Mr. Townsend ; Mr. Chas. Price ; Lady Broughton ; Mr. Bowlby ; 6 Lord Hardwick ; Sir Bryan Broughton. December.. Lord Erwin (Irwin) ; Miss Hornecks ; Miss Jones; Lord Albemarle ; Mr. Cholmondely ; Lady Arundel ; Mr. Greville. The impress of the Rockingham administration is apparent on the painter’s sitters for 1766. Lord Albe- marle and Sir Charles Saunders, the Dukes of Portland and Devonshire, Lord Hardwicke, General Conway, Mr. Burke, and Lord Rockingham himself, successively took their seats in Reynolds’s chair — all holders of high office — some during, and some after the close of, that briefest, but immeasurably most creditable, administra- tion of the distracted ten years which followed the accession of George III. 1 Afterwards Lord Amherst, the conqueror of Canada. 2 Mem . — Lord Granby’s horse, on June 3rd, at 11. 3 Entered as Mrs. Cells on 2nd Sept. She seems to have been a model. 4 Once entered Miss, but apparently a mistake. 5 Tuesday, October 1, “ Clarinda.” From 21st to 29th October a blank. 6 A protdgti of the Duke of Northum- berland’s, held a commissionership of excise, was a member of the Dilettanti ! Club, and married a sister of the first j Duke of Montague. 254 LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Chap. IY. This year saw the first commanding strides of Rey- nolds’s greatest and closest friend Edmund Burke on that public career which opened when he took his seat for Wendover on the 14th of January. He was not long silent. On the 26th of the same month his maiden speech in favour of receiving the petition of the Ame- rican Congress extorted from Pitt congratulations on the acquisition the Ministry had made in such a sup- porter. But it was not till seven days after his debut that Burke really showed the power that was in him, in his speech in support of General Conway’s motion declaring the power of the King and Parliament over the colonies in all cases whatsoever. A fresh triumph awaited him in the decisive debate of the 21st of Feb- ruary, which ended in the one great triumph of the first Rockingham administration — the repeal of the Ame- rican Stamp Act. Throughout all the other struggles of that brief but most gallant ministry, Burke was the foremost man — as orator, as writer, as counsellor, and guide. Never, in all parliamentary experience before or since, was such a position so taken by storm. The mutual regard of Reynolds and Burke was so strong that it is impossible not to believe that every one of these triumphs had its separate joy for the quiet painter in Leicester Fields. All his parliamentary sitters must have been sounding Burke’s praises, or grumbling at his audacity. We may easily conceive how Reynolds shifted his trumpet when some old courtier or place- man, like Halifax or Carysfort, some thick-and-thin King’s Friend, like Dyson or Selwyn, or some maccaroni, like Sir Charles Bunbury or Mr. Crewe, took up the fashionable sneer against “ the Irish adventurer.” Out- 1760, iETAT. 43. BURKE— GOLDSMITH. 255 side of the studio, the houses Sir Joshua most fre- quented were houses where Burke was known, loved, and welcomed, — Mrs. Horneck’s, and Chamier’s, Fitz- herbert’s, and Thrale’s. At the Club, Burke’s mag- nificent success was a matter of pride and rejoicing even to Johnson, his bitter political opponent. He laments, in a letter to Langton, 1 “ the loss of Burke’s company since he has been engaged in public business;” and tells of his two speeches, which have been publicly commended by Pitt, and have filled the town with wonder. The same letter gives us a peep into the dingy little upstairs parlour at the Turk’s Head, where Dyer is constant ; Hawkins remiss (and no great loss) : Johnson himself not over diligent; Dr. Nugent, Dr. Goldsmith, and Reynolds very constant. There were new glories too this year for other friends of the painter besides Burke. Goldsmith published the 4 Vicar of Wakefield, 5 that sweetest and freshest of prose idylls, with conspicuous success. Garrick and Colman — both intimates of the Leicester Fields circle — obtained a joint triumph in the 4 Clandestine Marriage.’ They afterwards contested their respective contributions to the play with not a little jealousy ; and Reynolds more than once acted as peacemaker between them. There are engagements for dinners with Goldsmith, to provide which some of Newberry’s scanty payments for the 4 Vicar 5 may have been melted. An engagement is noted for 44 the play ” on Thursday, March 6th, when the 4 Clandestine Marriage ’ was commanded by their Majesties. The comedy was then in the flush of its 1 Of March 9. 256 LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Chap. 1Y. first success, having been produced on the 20th of February. Mrs. Abingdon was sitting to Reynolds at this time, and he was, no doubt, destined to hear many a complaint of the shameful way she had been treated by Garrick in casting her for the trifling part of Betty in the new play. “ She could not keep her name out of the bills ; but she would not have it printed in the play, which Tom Davies was publishing, — and so she had told Garrick.” Mrs. Abingdon was one of those women who have their way. In the cast prefixed to Tom Davies’s edition of the 6 Clandestine Marriage ’ there is a blank opposite the name of Betty. The very day after his visit to the theatre Reynolds has an engagement to tea and cards with Mrs. Clive at her lodgings in Jermyn Street. Here the jovial, ugly, witty, sensible actress (who by her bustle and humour is recorded to have saved the fifth act of the new comedy, endan- gered by want of sufficient rehearsal) may have ac- cepted, in her hearty way, a compliment on her acting of Miss Heidelberg from the courtly painter, who, with all his blandness, had a keen sense of the humorous : so keen, indeed, that it is one of the very points in his character noted by Burke in his remarks on Sir Joshua, written for Malone, a short time after the painter’s death, in ink blotted as if by the writer’s tears. 1 Among the actresses and beauties, Peers, Generals, and Admirals, members of the House of Commons, Ministers and maccaroni — whose names make the 1 This interesting paper is in the possession of Mr. John Forster. — Ed. 1766, .£Tat. 43. ISAAC BARRE. 257 pocket-book for 1766 (like all the series, indeed) tlie most vivid reflector of the time, in which pass before us, still and quiet as in a camera obscura, the figures of those who are moving, working, bustling in the outer world — is the name of an orator little less audacious and impassioned, if less profound, than Burke himself. This is Isaac Barre, the son of the Dublin grocer, first a strug- gling soldier of fortune, — one of those who supported the dying Wolfe on the Heights of Abraham, — now the mem- ber for High Wycombe, the fast friend and most trusted aide-de-camp of Lord Shelburne, a speaker formidable even to the Great Commoner himself. He sits to Sir Joshua as “ Col. Barry.” I suppose Sir Joshua’s spelling is the Dublin grocer’s, which the Colonel abandoned for the more foreign-looking “ Barre.” We hardly need the note on the fly-leaf of the pocket-book to tell us that “Col. Barry’s picture is for Lord Shelburne.” We may still see in this picture, now in Lord Camden's 1 possession, how vigorously Reynolds’s pencil, though always favouring beauty, has dealt with that strongly- marked physiognomy which Walpole has j>ainted with the harsh colours he never failed to apply to any friend of Lord Shelburne : “ A black, robust man, of a military figure, rather hard-favoured than not ; young, with a peculiar distortion on one side of his face, which, it seems, was a bullet lodged loosely in his cheek, and which gave a savage glare to one eye.” Reynolds painted Barre again, in a group with 1 Lord Shelburne’s pictures were dispersed at the death of the 1st Mar- quis of Lansdowne. The late revered and lamented Marquis had himself been the acquirer of every picture in ! VOL. I. his noble gallery; and, what is still rarer in his class, was always his own buyer, never having surrendered him- self to the dictation of the professional “ Entremetteurs des beaux arts." — E d. S *258 LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Chap. 1Y. Dunning, Lord Ashburton, and his friend Lord Shel- burne (now in Sir Francis Baring’s collection). In both cases he has turned the wounded side of Barre’s face away from the spectator. Another conspicuous though sinister figure of the time comes upon us in Beynolds’s pocket-book, — a fre- quent shifter of his addresses, so that the painter, in noting his several engagements with him, generally appends the direction : at one time (Friday, March 21st) in St. John’s Square (at the house probably of his brother Heaton), at another (Thursday, August 28tli) in an out-of-the way lodging, “ the second turning past Teddington Church.” The eyes have a portentous squint, the lips wear a Mephistophelic grin, and yet there is a charm in the acuteness and humour of the physiognomy, in spite of the uneasy, sidelong, glancing look, as of one who fears pursuers. It is Wilkes : still an outlaw, but braving the chances of arrest for the purposes of political intrigue or personal pleasure. We know from other sources that he was in London this year, in violation of his promise given to [Ministers, and that he went to see Garrick in Kitely. 1 We know, too, that in November he openly returned and addressed a letter to the Duke of Grafton, hoping that the rigour of long, unmerited exile was past, and that he might be allowed to continue in the land and among the friends of 1 This was early in May. He had ' come over with Mr. Lachlan Macleane, determined either to make his fortune out of the fears of the Rockingham Administration, or to annoy it to the utmost. Burke, at Lord Rockingham’s request, saw him, in company with Fitzherbert. Wilkes demanded a free pardon, a sum of money, and a pension of 1500/. Burke at last induced him ] to compound for a handsome douceur of 300/. or 400/., from Lord Rocking- ham’s private purse, and to return to Paris. — E d. 1766, .etat. 43. WILKES— ANGELICA KAUFFMAN. 259 liberty. I find in the course of this year not fewer than seven engagements to Wilkes, either for dinner or the evening. 1 Reynolds’s attraction to the society of Wilkes must have been personal, not political. If, as there is every reason to believe, the painter agreed in opinions with Burke, he could have felt a very im- perfect political sympathy with the intriguing, though determined demagogue, whose wit, good humour, and keen observation of human weaknesses and follies, were all needed to reconcile his decent friends to his coarseness and ridicule of most things respectable or venerable. Still it must not be forgotten, that, besides being the most agreeable of companions, Wilkes was the champion of a good fight, and that he could not have maintained his battle with more unflinching courage, had his motives been as pure as his cause was sacred. The pocket-book calls up a pleasanter recollection by its frequent entries of “ Miss Angelica.” This is the pretty and graceful Angelica Kauffman, whose pictures, feeble as they are, were thought wonderful in her own time, and procured her a place on the original roll of Academicians in 1768. Her name in the pocket-book is sometimes contracted into “ Miss Angel,” and once has the suggestive addition “ Fiori.” Had Reynolds been reminding himself to buy her flowers ? She had come to London only the year before, under the pro- tection of Lady Wentworth, and had appeared as an exhibitor for the first time, in 1765, among the Asso- ciated Painters, at “ Mr. Moreing’s great room in Maiden Lane,” with that never-failing contribution of this date, 1 They are for January 13, February 2 and 22, March 11 and 21, August 28, and December 6. s 2 260 LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Chap. IV. a portrait of Garrick. This year she had sent to the same exhibition a “ Shepherd and Shepherdess of Ar- cadia moralizing at the side of a sepulchre, while others are dancing at a distance a subject used originally by Guercino, and imitated from him by Sir Joshua in his picture of Mrs. Bouverie and Mrs. Crewe a few years later. 1 Report gave Reynolds out as an admirer of the accom- plished Angelica. He painted her portrait twice ; and she painted his for his friend Mr. Parker of Saltram. Smith declares she was a sad coquette. “ Once she professed to be enamoured of Nathaniel Dance ; to the next visitor she would disclose the great secret that she w^as dying for Sir Joshua Reynolds.” This year the names of Mr. and Mrs. Thrale occur in the pocket-book for the first time. Johnson had made their acquaintance the year before, and now their kindness had cheered him under the fits of despondency which clouded part of this spring and summer. There are engagements with the Thrales for Saturday the 12th and Thursday the 17th of September, when Johnson was at Streatham, and Reynolds, no doubt, made one of the party. There are two visits to the play recorded, besides that of March: one, which I think must have been to see Garrick in Sir John Brute, and his favourite Mrs. Abingdon in Lady Fanciful ; another, in December, to see his friend Dr. Franklin’s dull tragedy of the 4 Earl of Warwick,’ in which Mrs. Yates then, and Mrs. Siddons afterwards, showed the town how grand a great actress can be in a part which in weaker hands would infallibly betray its own poverty and commonplace. I 1 I find a sketch of Guercino’s picture in Reynolds’s Roman note- book. — E d. 17G6, .etat. 43. EXHIBITION OF 1766. 261 have been told by a most competent critic 1 that, in the Margaret of Anjou of this feeble and stilted tragedy, Mrs. Siddons produced even more effect than in Lady Macbeth. Mrs. Yates, in 1766, was the rage in the same character, and “ drowned the pit,” in spite of that “ too much tottering about and too much flumping down” complained of by Kitty Clive, in one of her most amusing, oddly-spelt letters. Sir Joshua contributed four pictures to the year’s exhibition : Mrs. Hale, as Euphrosyne (from 4 L’ Alle- gro ’) ; a half-length of the Marquis of Granby ; another of Sir Geoffrey Amherst ; and a group of Mr. Paine, the architect, and his son. Of these, I cannot but class the Euphrosyne among his few ungraceful pictures. 2 * When Reynolds failed, it was always in the allegorical and mythological ; and in this instance, though dealing with a beautiful woman, he has not to my mind been at all fortunate. The disposition of the hair, streaming upwards, is singularly unlovely, and this is the stranger with a painter who has made even the yard-high 44 tetes ” and yard-wide 44 frisures ” of his own time toler- able to us by the exquisite taste of his treatment. Sir Geoffrey Amherst, in armour, looking up from the study of his campaign map, is one of his manliest and most powerful male portraits. The same praise is due to his well-known Marquis of Granby, so often repeated by Reynolds and his copyists. Who that knows Reynolds’s pictures at all can fail to remember that shining bald 1 F. Fladgate, Esq., Treasurer of Drury Lane Theatre, and the most trustworthy custodian I know of re- miniscences of the great Kemble family. — Ed. 2 Now at Lord Harewood’s. Mrs. Hale had been Miss Challoner, and was sister of Anne, Countess of Hare- wood. 262 ' LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Chap. IV- head, that bluff kindly face, with the bright cuirass under the loose coat of the Blues, and the arm flung across the withers of his charger ? It adds much to the interest of this particular picture that it was painted, as I learn from Horace Walpole’s note in the catalogue of this year, for the Marechal de Broglie, one of the commanders so handsomely beaten by the Allies at Kirckdenckirk, when the Marquis of Granby, in command of the English cavalry, contributed mainly to the defeat of the Marechal and the Prince de Soubise. The group of Mr. Paine and his son is now in the Bodleian collection, and is one of the painter’s masterpieces. The father, in a dark riding-coat, is sitting at a table giving direc- tions about an architectural design, while his son, in a light satin vest, leans over his father’s shoulder, with an attentive eye fixed on the plan. The light and shade are singularly effective ; the faces, in the highest degree manly and expressive, have the look of excellent like- nesses. Gainsborough had four pictures in this year’s exhi- bition : portraits of Garrick and Dr. Charlton of Bath, a family group, and a landscape. Three of Reynolds’s pupils — Mr. Barron, Mr. Berridge, and Mr. Parry — figure in the catalogue for a portrait apiece. Marclii, too, who accompanied Reynolds from Rome as a boy, has a kit-kat ; but he has left his master’s house, and is now lodged at Mrs. Maberly’s, Maiden Lane. Mr. Hudson sends four portraits, like Reynolds ; Mr. Kettle as many ; Mr. Robert Pine three ; and Mr. Francis Cotes six. Mr. William Coply — a self-taught American painter, afterwards to be better known as John Singleton Copley — from “ Boston, New England,” contributes ‘ A 176G, 2ETAT. 43. WEST’S PICTURES. 263 Boy with a flying squirrel but the great crowd of the year is round Mr. West’s pictures, 4 The Continence of Scipio ,’ 4 Pylades and Orestes, its companion 4 Cymon and Iphigenia,’ 4 Diana and Endymion, its companion and 4 Two Young Ladies at Play.’ Of the Pylades and Orestes, Northcote 1 tells us, 44 As any attempt in history was at that period an almost unexampled effort, this picture became a matter of much surprise. West’s house was soon filled with visitors from all quarters to see it ; and those amongst the highest rank who were not able to come to his house to satisfy their curiosity desired to have his permission to have it sent to them ; nor did they fail, every time it was returned to him, to accompany it with compliments of the highest com- mendation on its great merits. But the most wonderful part of the story is, that, notwithstanding all this vast bustle and commendation bestowed upon this justly- admired picture, by which Mr. West’s servant gained upwards of thirty pounds by showing it, yet no one mortal ever asked the price of the work, or so much as offered to give him a commission to paint any other subject. Indeed, there was one gentleman so highly delighted with the picture, and who spoke of it with such praise to his father, that he immediately asked him the reason he did not purchase, as he so much admired it, when he answered, 4 What could I do, if I had it ? You surely would not have me hang up a modern English picture in my house unless it was a portrait ? ’ ” Among the prettiest occupants of Reynolds’s chair this year were the two Miss Hornecks, now girls of Life of Reynolds, vol. i. 142. 204 LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Chap. IV. sixteen and fourteen. 1 The eldest — three years after to become famous as Goldsmith’s Little Comedy — may have formed an acquaintance this very year through Reynolds — perhaps even in his painting-room — with Mr. Henry Bunbury (Sir Charles’s younger brother, who applied to caricature very rare powers as a fantastic designer), who was now sitting to the painter, and whom she married a few years later. Goldsmith did not become acquainted with the Hornecks, in Mr. Forster’s opinion, till three years after this. But Burke had known them for some years (probably through Rey- nolds, who was one of their Devonshire acquaintances), and was now trustee for them under their father’s will. Hickey, the “ special attorney ” of 4 Retaliation,’ is another figure of Goldsmith’s particular circle who turns up in this year’s pocket-book. Reynolds dined with him on Saturday the 6th of August. Hickey was Sir Joshua’s legal adviser as well as Burke’s, for whom his portrait was painted. He appears to have been respected and liked in that circle, and to have been a plain, hearty, jovial man, of no great polish, or pretension to culture. 2 * There are dinners, too, with J. Warton, now in town, whipping up support as a candidate for the head-mas- tership of Winchester ; with Dr. Markham, still the fast friend of Burke, and master of Westminster School ; 1 The original (and unfinished) j study for the heads of these charming | sisters is at Barton. It is exquisitely | refined in drawing, and delicate in pearly gray half-tones. There is a j finished replica in Lord Normanton’s j gallery. — Ed. 2 “ Here Hickey reclines, a most blunt pleasant I creature, And slander itself must allow him good nature; ! He cherished his friend, and he relished a bumper, Yet one fault he had, and that was a thumper. Perhaps you may ask if the man was a miser, I answer, No, no ; for he always was wiser. Too courteous, perhaps, or obligingly flat?' His very worst foe can’t accuse him of that. Perhaps he confided in men as they go, And so was too foolishly honest ? — Ah, no ! Then what was his failing? Come, tell it, and bum ye — He was — could he help it? — a special attorney.” Goldsmith’s Retaliation.— Ed. 1766, .ETAT. 43. SITTERS, 1766. 265 with Burke himself frequently, and his friend Fitzher- bert ; with noblemen, — the Duke of Marlborough, Lord Hillsborough, and the Marquis of Granby ; with wits and maccaronis, as Selwyn and Sir Charles Bunbury ; with agreeable and vivacious women, as Mrs. Cholmon- deley and Mrs. Clive ; with scholars and litterateurs, as Dr. Lye, the editor of the 4 Etymologicon of Junius,’ Percy, the compiler of the 4 Reliques,’ Johnson and Goldsmith ; with artists, as Hayman, West, and Nixon ; and, to wind up the list, with one whose strange experiences of life were inferior to none of these — Sir John Fielding, the blind Bow Street magistrate and half-brother of the author of 4 Tom Jones.’ I append the list of sitters for the year, which is less numerous than usual.] January. Miss Hornecks : 1 Lord Albe- marle ; Mr. Parker ; 2 Lord and Lady Arundel ; Lady Walde- grave ; Mr. Roffey ; Mr. Chol- mondeley ; Mr. Dallison ; Mr. Fitzherbert ; 3 Lord Camden ; 4 Sir Charles Bunbury (on a Sunday) ; Mr. Bunbury. February . 3 Mrs. Hancock ; Lord Tavistock; Lady Rothes ; Mr. Selwyn ; Col. Molesworth ; Lord Barrymore ; Sir Walter Blacket . 6 March. Mr. Hastings ; 7 Miss Wilmot ; Lord and Lady Downe ; Miss Crewe ; Master Tufton ; Mrs. > Franks ; Miss Franks ; Duchess I of Richmond ; Mrs. Southwell ; Miss Montagu ; Mr. Fane ; Mr. ! Pelham . 8 1 Two in one picture. 2 Afterwards Lord Boringdon. 3 Burke’s friend, now at the Board of Trade. 4 Late Chief Justice Pratt, ennobled in 1765 : now at the Moat. 5 Mem ., under Feb. 17. — “ Mr. Hop- kins’ picture to be sent to the Rev. Dr. Plumtree, Queen’s College, Cambridge.” 6 M.P. for Newcastle and the chief magnate of that town. The picture is in the Infirmary there. 7 Warren Hastings. In 1764 he had returned to England with a moderate fortune from Calcutta, where he had been member of council for nearly three years, after holding the Com- pany’s Agency at the Court of Meer ! Jaffier, nabob of Bengal. The picture I is at Lord Northwick’s. 8 Mr. Pelham, painted with lake and white, and black and blue, var- nished with green mastic dissolved in oil, with sal saturni (sugar of lead) and rock alum ; yellow lake and Naples black mixed with the varnish, July 266 LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Chap. IV. April. Colonel Barre ; l Lord Coventry ; Master St. John; Lord Dudley; Mrs. Blake ; Master Bunbury ; 2 Lord Bruce ; Lady Charles Spen- cer ; Lady Egremont ; Lord Hard- wick ; Sir J ohn Palmer. May. 3 Lord Halifax ; Mr. Mudge ; Mr. Chambers ; Lord Granby ; General Burgoyne ; 4 Lord Shel- burne ; Mrs. Sparrow ; Miss O’Brien (? Nelly) ; Mr. Lascelles ; Sir T. Acland ; Duchess of Man- chester. June. 5 Mrs. Luther; Duke of Port- land ; Lord Herbert ; Mr. Price ; General Conway ; Mr. Conway. July. 5 Mrs. Abingdon; Lady Mary Fox . 7 August. Sir Charles Saunders ; Mr. Hor- neck ; Mr. Boothby ; Beggarman ; Miss Morrison ; Dr. Goldsmith ; Lord Lisbume. September. Miss ^Fisher \ (in Hambleton Street) ; Miss Morris. October. Miss Cells ; Miss Angelica Kauffmann ; Mrs. Martin ; Gene- ral Sandford ; 9 Duke of Devon- 7th, 1766. Sir C. Eastlake remarks : “This portrait was therefore laid in with white and black and blue, as Sir Joshua supposed Correggio’s * Leda’ and some other pictures which he saw in Rome were begun. Lake was the only red admitted in this pre- paration, over which was passed a yel- low varnish. The varnish itself, with the exception of the dryer (sugar of lead), corresponds with one described by Armirfini.” — (‘History of Oil- Painting,’ 539.) 1 Spelt “ Barry.” Already risen into distinction as an orator. 2 This was Henry, who afterwards married Miss Horneck. The picture has disappeared, but the engraving exists, as well as a small coloured drawing at Barton. 3 Mem., under May 26. — “ To send Sir S. Molesworth to Bodmin, in a Carlo-Maratti frame.” 4 Afterwards General : more favour- ably known as dramatist than as soldier. 5 Mem., under June 30. — “To Duke of Marlborough, carry the Duchess and cloths (i. e. canvases) for the two children.” 6 “ Copy of Duke of Portland for Mrs. Price only.” 7 This was the beautiful and amiable Lady Mary Fitzpatrick, the daughter of the late Earl of Ossory, who in April of this year had married Stephen Fox, Lord Holland’s eldest son. 8 In Sir Joshua’s notes on his own practice, — “ Miss Kitty Fisher : face cerata (i.e. rubbed with wax), drapery painted with wax and afterwards var- nished.” This refers to the present picture : from about this time he be- gan to note his experiments, and, I think, to indulge in more latitude in making them, choosing for this pur- pose, however, pictures he did not care much about , as he told Mr. Cribb, his frame-maker, from whose son I have the information. — Ed. 9 “ Gen. S. to be sent, when finished, to Mrs. Crawfurd, in Merrion Street, Dublin. To write to her to know if she would have it framed.” 1767, jstat. 44. LORD EDGDUMBE. 267 shire ; Miss Wynyard ; Mrs. Hut- chinson ; Mr. Alexander. November . Captain Kingswell ; Colonel Maitland ; Mr. Hinchcliffe ; Lady Tavistock. December. Lord Rockingham ; Mr. Craunch . 1 2 [The close of 1766 brought to a focus the opposition to the Ministry which, under the nominal headship of Lord Chatham, had succeeded to the brilliant but brief administration of Lord Rockingham. Reynolds had a special personal interest in the growth of this opposition, besides that which he must have felt in all political changes at this moment, as the intimate friend of Burke, and, through him, of most of the prominent members of the late administration. Lord Edgcumbe, one of the most prominent figures at this particular juncture, was the familiar friend of the painter. Reynolds was born within visiting distance of Mount Edgcumbe, and in one of the Edgcumbe boroughs. It was in company with his playfellow Dick Edgumbe, a boy of twelve, that he had painted his first head — that of the fat tutor at Mount Edgcumbe — in the boat-house on Cremyll Beach. It was the first Lord Edgcumbe who, by introducing the young painter to Commodore Keppel, had opened to him the road to Italy. He had painted the three Lords of the name in their rapid succession, and no house appears oftener on his Sunday-dinner-list than Lord Edgcumbe’s. Lord Edgcumbe, like many of the subordinate officeholders in the Rockingham administra- 1 Who first recommended him to Hudson. Now in Lord Vivian’s gallery. 2 In the pocket-book of this year is the note : “ Lake, yellow oker, and ult. (ultramarine). Lead col. without lake. Probatum, Sep. 1766.” And again, with the date of Oct. 9, “ Old Beggarman, yellow oker, lake, and black and blue. Drapery varnished with oils. Head, &c., with wax.” 268 LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Chap. IV. tion, had retained his post of Treasurer of the House- hold after the retirement of his chief. In November, 1766, he was summarily and offensively dismissed on his refusal to exchange his office for a Lordship of the Bedchamber. This dismissal led to a general resigna- tion of all Lord Rockingham’s friends who still remained in office. The spirit which prompted Lord Chatham to require or provoke these resignations was but a declara- tion of that hostility between him and Lord Rocking- ham which was apparent during the whole session of 1767, — in the division on the Land-Tax, when Ministers were defeated on a Money Bill, for the first time since the Revolution ; in the discussions on the American Taxation Bill, introduced with unusual levity by Charles Townshend, now Chancellor of the Exchequer, and resisted with such determined eloquence by Burke ; and in the contest on the Bill restraining the East India Company from declaring dividends, on which the Cabinet itself was at variance, and which was most strenuously opposed in the Commons by Burke and the Rock- inghams. At the meeting of the Rockingham party, which preceded the parliamentary campaign, Alderman Sir W. Baker — an early sitter to Reynolds, and one of the members for his native place Plympton — and Burke, were two of the four commoners present. During the year, Reynolds’s friends, Keppel and Admiral Saunders, resigned their posts at the Admiralty. Reynolds, in all probability, was the confidant of Burke’s political diffi- culties, both at this period and after the conclusion of the session, when Lord Rockingham’s efforts to recon- stitute an administration w T ere foiled by the selfishness 1767, ^:tat. 44. LORD TAVISTOCK. 269 of the Bedford party — the Bloomsbury Gang, as they were called — and by the exigencies of the Grenville following. Burke was urged by Lord Rockingham to close with the overtures of the Duke of Grafton, but declined, and cheerfully condemned himself to years of opposition with his noble leader. Lord John Cavendish is another of the leading Rock- ingliams who sits to Reynolds this year, with his nephew the young Duke of Devonshire. The Bedford family, if not the Bedford party, has its representative in the studio in the amiable, gentle, and accomplished Lord Tavistock, who finished his sittings with the close of 1766. His beautiful wife (Reynolds’s early friend as Lady Elizabeth Keppel) had been sitting at the same time, probably for the last touches to the full-length of her as a bridesmaid sacrificing to Hymen. In the pocket-book for 1767 I find a sitting fixed for her on the 1 1th of March: another on the 18th. Both are struck out — for a sad but sufficient reason. At the end of the first week of March, Lord Tavistock had left, for a few days’ limiting, his happy home, his beautiful young bride, with her two infant children and a third in her bosom, young, strong, rich, amiable, in the en- joyment of great honours, and with the prospect of still greater- — as happy a man, and with as much happiness apparently in store for him, as any man in England. On the 10th the meet was at Dunstable. He had ridden well forward, as his habit was ; the run was nearly over : he put his jaded horse at a low fence ; it fell ; as he held the reins, the horse, in its efforts to rise, struck him repeatedly on the head, and he was brought home senseless and speechless. Well might 270 LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Chap. IY. tlie Marchioness’s sitting for the 11th he put off! Rigby had probably broken the news to her 1 on that very day. The Marquis lingered till the 17th, when he died in the 28th year of his age, and in the spring of his rare promise. His portraits at Quiddenham and at Woburn represent a young man of gentle, thoughtful expression, leaning on his arm at a table covered with books and articles of virtu. His sweet wife never reco- vered the shock of this sudden bereavement. She died of decline at Lisbon in the following November, in her 29th year. Her beauty, her amiability, her long acquaintance with Reynolds — who loved all the Keppels — must have given him a deep sympathy with her in her great sorrow. So, gloomy or gay, the figures in the studio-camera pass on in their grotesque contrasts : the blushing bride, and the hardened demirep, the actor and the divine, the ministerialist and the member of Opposition, Nelly O’Brien and the Provost of Eton, the millionaire Duke of Devonshire and the struggling man of letters Goldsmith. Reynolds might have heard from that unwearied intriguer Lord Temple, who was sitting to him in February, his ideas as to the possibility of an accommodation, before the year was out, between the Grenvilles and the Rockinghams. Lord John Cavendish, who sat a day or two after, might have proved to him the impossibility of any arrangement with Squire Gawky — as his opponents had nicknamed Temple, from his long ungainly figure. Charles Townshend comes in to be painted during his brief tenure of the Chancellorship of the Exchequer, and the picture, in his robes of office, 1 Crawford to Selwyn, March, 1767, ‘ Selwyn Correspondence.’ 1767 , jetat. 44 . GOLDSMITH AND GARRICK. 271 still attests the height to which wit and intelligence without wisdom could carry the most reckless and un- principled politician of his time. 1 Stout Whig county members, like Sir Roger Mostyn, Sir Walter Blackett, and Sir Thomas Acland, might have given the painter, during their sittings, the country gentleman’s reasons in favour of the reduction of the land-tax from four shil- lings to three, as proposed by Dowdeswell, Lord Rock- ingham’s Chancellor of the Exchequer. Garrick had to confide to him, while sitting, his quarrel with Colman touching the authorship of the c Clandestine Marriage,’ which ultimately led to his angry collaborateur’ s taking a share in the lesseeship of Covent Garden with Harris and Powell. Reynolds, always kindly and disposed to peacemaking, was the channel of communication be- tween the self-important but kindly manager of Drury Lane and Goldsmith, who had just finished ‘ The Good- natured Man,’ and now wished to place it in Garrick’s hands. We know that the interview, at which the manager strove in vain to make the author feel the favour he was conferring in accepting his play, and at which Goldsmith indignantly refused to submit his comedy to any third judgment, took place this year at Reynolds’s house ; and both Garrick and Goldsmith figure often in Reynolds’s dinner-lists for 1767, as well as among his sitters. An entry that puzzled me for some time occurs in April. In a very bad, and evi- dently foreign hand, on two successive mornings, is written “ Cichina.” I have no doubt that the Italian name in such bad writing records the butterfly appari- 1 In the collection of the Marquess Townshend. 272 LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Chap. IV. tion in the painting-room of a pretty little coquettish wanton of fifteen, La Zamperini, opera singer and dancer, who was just now the rage as “ Cecchina,” in Piccini’s opera 4 La Buona Figliola Maritata.’ She was a cliere amie of Lord March’s (who was much perplexed, in the height of this new fancy, by a threatened visit from La Rena, his old mistress), and either he, Selwyn, or Gilly Williams may have brought her to Reynolds. Whether he painted her or not I am not aware. The engraved portrait of her is by Dance , 1 and has just the wicked, wanton, witching look that should belong to the heroine of such a history. This appearance of La Zamperini in Reynolds’s painting-room this year, along with such sitters as Lord Carlisle, Sir Charles Bunbury, Lord Ossory, Sir John Delaval, and other bloods about town, introduces us to another side of the painter’s life which his biographers hitherto have kept out of sight. Reynolds was not merely at home in the literary society of the 4 Turk’s Head,’ in the Green-room at Drury Lane, among the politicians of the Opposition at Lord Edgcumbe’s, or in Burke’s quiet parlour in St. Anne’s Street. He was a member, too, of the 4 Thursday-night Club,’ at the Star-in-Garter, in Pall-Mall, composed of the men of 44 wit and pleasure about town,” like Gilly Williams, Selwyn, Topliam Beauclerk, Lord March, Lord Carlisle, Sir Roger Mostyn, old Simon Fanshawe, Cado- gan, and Lord Bolingbroke, where they played high, drank hard, and gave subscription masquerades at Car- 1 Those who wish to know more of her and “ the rascally garlicky tribe ” — of father, mother, and brother — who traded on her beauty, and swelled the train of her noble protector, on his visits to Newmarket, may find ample details in the ‘ Selwyn Correspond- ence ’ for this period. — E d. 1767, je tat. 44. HIS SOCIETY. lisle House»and the Pantheon. I gather from allusions in the letters of Gilly Williams and Lord Carlisle that the painter was famous in this society for his had whist-playing, and for a ceremonious politeness little in keeping with the club manners of the West End at that day. He is as constant to the Thursday club din- ners at the Star-in-Garter as to the Monday nights at the club in Gerrard Street. Another haunt, for the Whig Club perhaps, is the Crown and Anchor. His election to the Dilettanti dates from May, 1766, when he was proposed by Lord Charlemont, and there are regular entries of attendance at the Sunday dinners of that joyial association of connoisseur ship with good eating and drinking. This year Reynolds has two engagements at the Queen’s house (on July 26th and 28th). These appointments may have been connected with the portrait of Coimt La Lippe, who sat to him again this year, and whose picture seems to have been a Royal order. He had had no commission at the palace since the sad one of last year, when he painted the ill-starred Caroline Matilda, the King’s youngest sister, before her unhappy marriage with the King of Denmark. He told Northcote he could not make a good picture of her, as she was in tears almost all the time she was sitting. Among the reasons which have been given for the small share of royal favour enjoyed by Reynolds, I am surprised that more prominence has not been given to his political opinions and associations. Though the appointment of Ramsay to the post of King’s painter was no doubt owing to Lord Bute’s desire to help a brother Scotchman ; and though, as we have seen, Lord VOL. I. T 274 LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Chap. IV. Bute himself sat to Reynolds in 1763, it is impossible but that by this time the political bent of Reynolds, his friendship with the leading Rockinghaims, no less than his intimacy with Wilkes, must have been re- marked at Court, and must have tended permanently to confirm that exclusion which was due in the first instance to Bute’s clannishness. From this time, indeed, the political character of Reynolds’s connexion will be found more and more marked. He was already rapidly growing to be what he soon became — the Whig or Opposition painter. Among his literary friends of the Club, the year is marked principally by that great incident in Johnson’s career, the interview between the Doctor and the King in the royal library at Bucking- ham House. Boswell has given us at length Johnson’s details of the interview, as he repeated them to a party at Reynolds’s, where Bennet Langton, Joseph Warton, and Goldsmith, with others, were present. 1 The Doc- tor, Boswell tells us, “ loved to relate the incident with all its circumstances.” Who that has once read can ever forget that meeting of two great sovereigns — the King of Literary Society and the King of Great Britain and Ireland ? The former — conscious that he too had his dignity — in spite of all his respect for crowned heads, never bated his firm manner, or lowered his sonorous voice before the anointed sovereign in all that long conversation, ranging over a variety of subjects which quite inspires one with respect for George III.’s reading. If the rusty uncouth scholar accepted in silence the King’s compliments on his writing, it was, he said 1 See Boswell’s ‘Life of Johnson,’ sub. an.; and Forster’s ‘Life of Gold- smith,’ vol. ii. p. 49. 1767, je tat. 44. HIS SOCIETY. 27 because he felt it was not for him to bandy compliments with his sovereign, while he protested that, let them talk as they would, the manners of the King were those of as fine a gentleman as Louis XIV. or Charles II. How characteristic of the honest, child-like vanity of Goldsmith is his remark, after long sitting apart, “ Well, you acquitted yourself in this conversation better than I should have done, for I shoul bowed and stam- mered through the whole of it.” Reynolds must have made one in the circle assembled at Burke's, 1 in November, to hear the eloquent young statesman read his friend Goldsmith’s comedy, now withdrawn from the hands of Garrick, and at length definitely accepted at Covent Garden. I find an engage- ment to Burke for Saturday the 21st of November, which, comparing dates, may have well been the day of this reading. Among Reynolds's dinner engagements of this year is one to Mr. Bott, the barrister, who occupied the rooms opposite to Goldsmith’s, in Brick Court, lent the needy author money, drove him in Ins gig to the “ Shoemakers' Paradise,” eight miles down the Edge- ware Road, and occasionally perilled both their necks in a ditch. Reynolds painted this good-natured barrister, who runs a better chance of reaching posterity in that gig of his, alongside of Goldsmith, than by virtue of the Treatise on the Poor Laws which Goldsmith is said to have written up for him. Reynolds this year painted the Speaker, Sir John Cust, whose short nose was a fertile subject of ridicule 1 Cumberland's Memoirs, i. 364, quoted by 3Ir. Forster, ‘Life of Goldsmith,' toI. ii. p. 111. T 2 *276 LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Chap. IT. to the small wits of the time. The Speaker's peruke has the honours of a morning sitting entirely to itself. As if that gaiety and gravity, in their most solemn and broadest forms, might be brought into contact in Leicester Fields, Samuel Foote’s sittings closely succeed the Speakers. 1 Foote was now in the height of his popularity, and, two months before he sat to Reynolds, had opened his little theatre in the Haymarket, by vir- tue of the patent granted him in compensation for the leg broken in a frolic across country with the Duke of York at Lord Mexborouglfs. Though Ramsay was the Court favourite, there does not seem to have been any coldness between him and Reynolds. I find one of many appointments with Ramsay, in August this year, on a Sunday : but whether for dinner, or for a visit to discuss the position of the Incorporated Society of Artists and the design for a Royal Academy, which was now again reviving after the abortive essay at founding such an institution in 1755, I have no means of knowing. Reynolds this year dines more than once with Dr. Markham, still Dean of Westminster ; often with the Burkes; and very frequently, as usual, with Wilkes, who seems now to have made his appearances in Eng- land almost without the affectation of concealment, and who was only waiting the expiration of the moribund 1 From Sir Joshua’s notes on hfs painted in magylp, then scumbled over practice we learn that in Sir J.'s portrait with colour mixed in the powdered the colours of the face were applied in state with varnish, without oil or ma- oil, mixed with magvlp, and then a grip. The picture is in possession of coat of varnish. The tackground — the family, and is in excellent condi- which is important (a hall, with a tion. Foote’s portrait is at the Garrick table and the Speaker’s insignia) — was Club, in good condition. — Ed. 1767, jETat. 44. HIS SOCIETY. 277 Parliament to come forward for Middlesex, in defiance alike of the King’s Bench and of the House of Com- mons. Another frequent Sunday-dinner-house is Mr. Owen Cambridge’s pleasant villa at Twickenham, as favourite a resort of the wits of Reynolds’s circle as Garrick’s neighbouring villa at Hampton itself. Rey- nolds was now meditating the purchase of a villa of his own. He had already fixed on Richmond, attracted, no doubt, both by the beauty of the site, and by the neigh- bourhood of his friends Cambridge, Colman, Mrs. Clive, and Horace Walpole. I find an excursion on Sunday, Nov. 15, to “ Richmond to see a h(ouse),” followed by a dinner with the Duke of Marlborough. There are several dinners with the Thrales, and one engagement on Sunday (December 27th) at Nelly O’Brien’s, Park Lane, near Dover Street ; others with Dr. Hawkeswortli, the imitator of Johnson as an essayist, afterwards author of the letterpress of Cook’s Voyages ; with Dr. Baker, the physician, an old Devonshire friend ; with the Nesbitts ; the Hornecks ; Bennet Langton ; and Mr. Chambers, the architect. There is an evening given to Mr. Charles Rogers, the virtuoso and connoisseur, in Lawrence Pountney Lane, where the attraction is noted as the “ drawing-book of Palma,” a treasure which I suppose Mr. Rogers had become possessed of ; and there are several evening engagements to his fair and witty favourite Mrs. Cholmondeley, and Mrs. Percy, the gentle and amiable wife of the editor of the 6 Reliques,’ now a King’s Chaplain, and afterwards Bishop of Dromore. Reynolds paid a visit this year to Easton Lodge, the residence of Lord Maynard, where he spent the last week of August. Lord Maynard, though now in his 278 LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Chap. IV. 75th year, was still a bon vivant and connoisseur, fond of pictures, and himself an amateur animal-painter of con- siderable merit. It was his successor who, a few years later, made the name, for the time, notorious by his marriage with Nancy Parsons, the well-known mistress of the Duke of Grafton, an amiable and accomplished woman. She was afterwards painted by Sir Joshua, under her less familiar name of Mrs. Horton. The Duke was this year outraging the proprieties of a not very straitlaced time by parading his mistress on his arm at the Opera and on the driving-box of his chaise at Newmarket.] Barry, who was at Rome, and who had not yet begun to feel jealous of Reynolds, wrote in November, 1767, to his friend Dr. Sleigh : — “ I shall with a heartfelt satisfaction say, that Rey- nolds and our people at home, possess, with a very few exceptions, all that exists of sound art in Europe.” In this year Reynolds did not send anything to the exhibition. Burke, writing to Barry, says : “ The exhibition will be open to-morrow. Reynolds, though he has, I think, some better portraits than he ever before painted, does not think mere heads sufficient, and, having no piece of fancy finished, sends nothing this time.” In the same letter he says : “ Jones, 1 who used to be Poet Laureat to the exhibition, is prepared to be a severe and almost general satirist upon the exhibitors. His ill behaviour has driven him from all their houses, and he resolves to take revenge in this manner. He has endeavoured to find out what pictures they will Was this Griffith Jones, editor of the ‘ Public Ledger’ ? — Ed. 1767, jEtat. 44. DR. MUDGE. 279 exhibit, and, upon such information as he has got, has beforehand given a poetic description of those pictures which he has not seen. I am told that he goes so far as to abuse Reynolds, at guess, as an exhibitor of several pictures, though he does not put in one.” In a subsequent letter of the same year Burke writes, — “ As to Reynolds, he is perfectly well, and still keeps that superiority over the rest, which he always had from his genius, sense, and morals.” Of the heads which Burke speaks of as so fine, one may have been the portrait of Dr. Zachariah Mudge, whose name occurs as a sitter in the pocket-book of Reynolds for 1766. In a letter written to Malone after the death of Rey- nolds, Burke says. — “ I have myself seen Mr. Mudge, the clergyman, at Sir Joshua’s house. He was a learned and venerable old man ; and, as I thought, very con- versant in the Platonic philosophy, and very fond of that method of philosophizing. He had been originally a dissenting minister ; a description which at that time bred very considerable men, both among those who adhered to it, and those who left. He had entirely cured himself of the unpleasant narrowmess which in the early part of his life had distinguished those gen- tlemen, and was perfectly free from the ten times more dangerous enlargement which has since then been their general characteristic. Sir Joshua had always a great love for the whole of that family, and took a great interest in whatever related to them.” The admiration of Reynolds for Dr. Mudge seems to have inspired him to surpass himself (if possible) in the Doctor’s portrait. It is a noble head, painted 280 LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Chap. IV. with great grandeur, and the most perfect truth of effect. The chin rests on the hand ; and Chantrey, who carved the whole composition in full relief, told me that, when the marble was placed in the right light and shadow, the shape of the light that falls behind the hand, and on the band and gown, was exactly the same in his bust as in the picture. [It is likely enough that Reynolds’s disgust with the quarrels and intrigues of the two parties in the Incor- porated Society of Artists — the faction of the Directors and the faction of the Fellows — the “ ins” and “ outs” in fact — might have been, in part at least, the cause of his sending no picture to this year’s exhibition. In his absence the honours of portraiture were carried off by Gainsborough, who sent up from Bath, where he was carrying all before him as decidedly as Reynolds in London, portraits of Lady Grosvenor, the Duke of Argyle, Mr. Yernon, and a landscape and figures. Mr. Francis Cotes, too, exhibited his portrait of Her Majesty with the Princess Royal, which we may still criticize at Hampton Court, and five other portraits, including one of Knapton, who had, the year before, been succeeded by Athenian Stuart as painter to the Dilettanti Club. Mr. Copley, of Boston, New England, exhibits a young lady with a bird and dog, whole-length. Other names of interest are Cosway, who exhibits for the first time, sending three portraits : Nathaniel Dance, a sub- ject from Timon of Athens : Mr. Barron, Sir Joshua’s late pupil, now established for. himself in Panton-street, two small whole-lengths, and a half-length : Mr. Ber- ridge, another pupil, still at Mr. Reynolds’s, a three- quarter portrait : Hayman, a Cymon and Iphigenia, and 1767, -3CTAT. 44. THE EXHIBITION. 281 an Abraham offering Isaac : Mr. Marchi, first Sir Joshua’s Italian servant, afterwards his friend and pupil, a Kit- kat of a lady : Mr. Mortimer, an Historical picture, and a Conversation : Mr. Parry (the son of a famous blind Welsh harper, and a protege' of Sir Watkin Williams s), at Mr. Reynolds’s, two small whole-lengths in one pic- ture : Mr. West, Castle-street, Leicester Fields, Venus and Adonis ; Jupiter and Semele ; Pyrrhus, when a child, brought to Grlaucus for protection ; the fright of Astyanax ; and Elisha restoring to life the Shunamite’s son : Richard Wilson, a view from Moor-Park, towards Casliiobury and St. Albans, and another “ landskip and figures : ” Joseph Wright of Derby, a whole-length, and two candlelights : Zoffany, a scene from Love in a Vil- lage, and a family piece : and Zuccarelli (his first year of exhibiting), Macbeth meeting the Witches, and Jacob’s Journey. Wilton exhibits a busto of Lord Camden and one of Lord Bacon ; Fisher, S. Okey, junr., Watson, and Ra- venet, send mezzotints after Reynolds ; the Cozenses, the Rookers, Paul and Thomas Sandby, exhibit draw- ings, chiefly of subjects about London and Windsor. The number of pictures exhibited continues about the same — 197 pictures (a large majority of them portraits), 218 works in all. List of Sitters for 1767. January } Miss Horneck ; Mr. Cranch ; Mr. J olinson ; Mr. Parker ; the Primate of Ireland (Dr. Robin- son) ; Lord Pembroke ; Duke of Buccleugli ; Lord and Lady Arun- del ; Lady Tavistoke ; Duke of Devonshire ; Mr. Chamier ; Miss Houghton ; Captain Foot. 1 A blank till Wednesday, 7th. 282 LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Chap. IY. February . Mr. Aufrere ; Master Tufton ; Sir Thomas Acland ; Duchess of Marlborough; Lord Temple; Lord Ossory ; Miss Cells (? model) ; Sir Walter Blackett ; Lady Julia- na Penn ; Lord John Cavendish ; Mrs. Horton 1 2 (?) ; Mrs. Abingdon. March ? Lord Down ; Mr. and Mrs. Blake ; Duchess of Manchester ; Mr. Way ; Miss O’Brien (Nelly) ; Mrs. Lee ; Dr. and Mrs. Barnard ; Miss Crewe. April. Lady Elizabeth Capel and her brother Lord Malden ; Miss Smith; Mr. Simpson; Cecchina; Mrs. Crewe ; Mrs. Bouverie ; Frank 3 (? Barber, Johnson’s black servant) ; Lady Wray ; 4 Miss T. Cholmondeley ; Mr. Boothby. May. Lord Villars ; Mrs. Smith ; Mr. Norris ; 5 Mrs. Merchant ; Mr. Jones; Mr. Lambton; Sir Roger Mostyn ; Mr. Garrick ; 6 Lord Herbert; Miss Grimston; Miss Grant. June. Sir John Chichester ; Mr. Drummond; Mr. Amyott; Lord Carlisle ; Duchess of Richmond. July. Sir W. Maynard ; Lady Brough- ton; the Speaker, Sir J. Cust ; 7 Mr. Sutton; Mr. Cruttenden. August. 8 Count La Lippe ; 9 Miss 1 This may have been either Nancy Parsons, or the handsome widow who afterwards became Duchess of Cum- berland. 2 “ Mrs. Morris’s picture and the other to be directed to Val. Morris, Esq., Piercefield, Monmouthshire.” “ Mr. Hagley’s small portrait to be sent to Mr. Davies, at Highbury, near Newbury, Berks.” 3 There was a head of liim exhibited at the British Institution in 1760. Mr. Frederick Byng has another. 4 “ Lady Wray to be framed in oval, and sent to Sir Cecil Wray, at Sommer Castle, near Lincoln, May 18.” The pictures are now at Sleninford, near Ripon, the seat of Captain Dalton, whose family intermarried with the Wrays. In his notes of his methods at this date, I find, “ Lord Villars given to Dr. Barnard (of Eton), painted with vernice fatto di cera & Venice turp (entine), mesticato con gli colori, maci- nati in olio (i.e. t colours were ground in oil, and applied with wax and Venice turp. as a medium). Carmine in vece di lacca. Lady Wray, ditto.” Lady Wray’s picture is in fair condi- tion. — Ed. 5 The husband of Kitty Fisher. 6 Once at 8. 7 “ July 20-26. — The Speaker’s wig at Theed’s, peruke-maker, Middle Temple.” “ Mr. Steevens, housekeeper of the House of Commons, to send a day or I two before for the mace.” “ Speaker, j The face colori in olio mesticato con j magilp, poi verniciato ; telo (back- I ground) magilp, e poi per tutto verni- ciato con colore in pulvere senza olio o magilp ” (a dry-scumble). — Ed. July 26. — At the Queen’s House. 8 Aug. 17, at Easton Lodge (Lord Maynard’s). No entries till 22nd, when “ child ” entered. 9 In his notes of practice, I find for 1767, — “ Count Lippe, senza olio; in finishing my own, ditto. Mrs. Godde, 1768, ^:tat. 45. SITTERS 1767. 283 Godde ; Lord Townshend ; 1 Mr. Grimston; Mrs. Burke. September . Mr. Foot; Mrs. Morris; Sir Charles Saunders ; Master Burke ; 2 Miss Yansittart ; 3 Dr. Arm- strong ; 4 Lady Amherst ; Master Vansittart. October. Sir George Yonge ; Mr. Towns- hend; Miss Halsey; 5 Saturday, 19th, Peruke of the Speaker; Mr. Burke. November 6 and December. Mr. Walpole ; General Law- rence; Sir John Delaval; Mr. Home (Hume ?) ; Miss Wray ; the Lord Chancellor ; Mr. Humphrey; Mr. Yansittart. On Friday, the 29th of January, Reynolds has made the entry — 44 Dr. Goldsmith.” This Friday was eventful in the Doctor’s life — the day of the production of his first comedy, 4 The Good-Natured Man,’ whose struggles to the stage have already been referred to. Reynolds seems to have dined with the anxious author, whom he was always ready to support and encourage ; and we may he certain that, whether he made one of the first- night audience or not, he was one of the group assembled at the 4 Turk’s Head ’ to receive the flurried author on his return from the theatre ; nor, we may be equally sure, was his congratulation the least cordial or ditto. Miss Cholmondeley, con olio e vemicio di cera, poi veraiciato con yeo’s lake e magylp ” (i.e., glazed with lake applied with magylp). — E d. 1 “ Lord Townshend, prima con ma- gylp, poi olio, poi magylp senza olio, lacca, poi vemiciato con vermilion.” The picture seems in good condition. 2 “ Master Burke, finito con vemice senza olio o cera. Nov. 10, carmine.” 3 For a family picture, apparently meant to include husband, wife, and several children. 4 Dr. Armstrong, painted “1st in olio, poi vemiciato, poi cera solo, poi cera e vemicio.” 5 “At Mendham Hall, near Harls- don, Norfolk ; 10 o’clock, by the waggon, from the Saracen’s Head, Snowhill.” 6 “ Sunday, Nov. 15. — Richmond to see a h.” (? house). I believe this entry to refer to the house he after- wards bought on Richmond Hill. It still stands, on the Terrace, next the Star and Garter, commanding the beautiful view, which Reynolds painted, of the Twickenham meadows, the placid reaches of the Thames, and the woodland distance, bounded by the blue Surrey hills. 284 LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Chap. IV. comforting. He certainly saw the play on the 3rd of February, the author’s night. 1 ] In 1768 Reynolds exhibited a whole length of Miss Jessie Cholmondely (one of the daughters of his witty friend, the sister of Peg Woffington), carrying a dog over a brook. This fine picture was exhibited at the British Gallery in 1858, and must be fresh, therefore, in the recollection of many of my readers. Nothing- can be more natural and childlike than the manner in which the little girl lugs the dog across the stream. The colour of the landscape is subdued to set off her head and figure to the greatest advantage ; and they well deserve the sacrifice. This was the last picture he sent to Spring Gardens. 2 Concord was one of the supporters of the coat of arms of the Society. But whatever influence this goddess may have possessed, at first, in the councils of its members, was now at an end. The Society was, indeed, torn to pieces with dissensions. The most insignificant 1 Of the circumstances attending tlje production of the play — Gold- smith’s anxiety — Beasley’s solemn delivery of Johnson’s somewhat lugu- brious prologue — Powell’s tameness in Honey wood — Shuter’s admirable impersonation of Croaker, which saved the play, and Goldsmith’s passion- ately-expressed gratitude to him — a very full account will be found in Mr. Forster’s Life of Goldsmith. North- cote has recorded that “ the bailiff- scene was thought to be vulgar by the company in the galleries, who vio- lently testified their disapprobation of dialogue so low ; and when the speech in that scene was uttered, containing the words ‘ That ’s all my eye,’ their delicacy was so much hurt, that it was apprehended the comedy (which in other respects was approved of) would have been driven from the stage for ever.” Goldsmith’s celebrated “ Tyrian-blue satin-grain and Garter- blue silk breeches” were ordered of Mr. Filby for the first night, but came a day too late. — Ed. 2 He contributed, however, to the extraordinary exhibition which was got up by the Society of Artists in September — on the occasion of the visit of the King of Denmark to Eng- land — his portrait of Lawrence Sterne ; his group of James Paine, the archi- tect, and James Paine, jun. ; and a full-length portrait of a lady. — Ed. 1768, -etat. 45. RICHARD BURKE. 285 men belonging to it, forming a majority, had wrested the government from the Directorate, which included the most distinguished members of the Society. 1 Reynolds, with most of the other eminent artists, had gradually withdrawn from its meetings ; 2 from which, indeed, he had absented himself for some time before he ceased to contribute to its exhibitions. [In the autumn of this year Reynolds made a trip to Paris in company with Mr. Richard Burke, Edmund’s younger brother, that most joyous and frolicsome of companions, immortalised in Goldsmith’s picture of him : — “ What spirits were his ! what wit, and what whim ! Now breaking a jest, and now breaking a limb ; Now wrangling and grumbling to keep up the ball ; Now teasing and vexing, yet laughing at all ! In short, so provoking a devil was Dick, That we wish’d him full ten times a-day at Old Nick ; But missing his mirth and agreeable vein, As often we wish’d to have Dick back again.” Dick’s proverbial ill-luck, in tumbles, did not, it will be seen, abandon him on this tour. The travellers have two breakdowns between Calais and Chantilly. But Dick Burke’s whim and frolic, and Reynolds’s keen observation and imperturbable good-humour, must have made up an excellent travelling duet. The following memoranda of this journey are tran- scribed from the pocket-book : — u September 9th. Friday. Set out for Paris, arrived at Canterbury. 1 At the same time it should be remembered that the constitution of the Society (right or wrong) autho- rised its members to elect their direct- the directors in their attempt to keep the government to themselves. — Ed. 2 But he had not countenanced the directors any more than their anta- ors annually, and did not authorise ' gonists. — Ed. 286 LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Chap. IV. “ Saturday. Dover, sailed at eleven in the morning. “ Sunday the 11th, two in the morning, Calais. Boulogne, axletree broke. Beds of mussels. “ Monday, dined at Abbeville. Lay at Amiens, saw the Water Tower. 1 “ Tuesday, dined at St. Just ; the axletree broke. Lay at Chantilly. 2 In the palace are two pictures of Tandy ck, a man in armour (of which there is a print by Pontius), and a lady; and the allegorical portrait of the Prince of Conde, mentioned by the Abbe de Bois, painted by Corneille. Saw Cham- platrier at Ecouen. Saw another hotel of Prince Conde. 3 “ Saturday, dined at St. Denis. In the Cathedral or Domo is an excellent statue of an angel, in the act of writing with his finger, something in the attitude of the slave with the thorn. Lay at Paris. Hotel Platier, Hue Platier. “ Thursday, dined at Mr. Panchaud’s, 4 saw the Palais Royal. Drank tea at Mr. Flint’s, after which the Italian Opera. “ Saturday, dined with Lord Mulgrave, saw the Luxem- burg, and the French comedy, * the Misanthrope — Preville, lady ; Physician, (?) ; Mole, Coxcomb. 5 1 Strange that there is no mention of the cathedral. I remember many water-wheels but no water-tower at Amiens; but I presume it was for raising the water of the Somme. — Ed. 2 Then still in all its splendour, as it was when, a hundred years before, the great Conde received the great monarch, and the great Vatel ran himself through the body because the fish had not arrived in time. Only the stables now remain. The Grand Chateau was destroyed in the Revo- lution. The Petit Chateau, however, is still inhabited — the present occu- pant is the British Ambassador. — Ed. 3 This must have been the Chateau de Montmorency. — Ed. 4 The Englishmen’s banker at Paris. 5 This must have been in the ‘ Petit Piece ’ — the farce which succeeded the comedy. Mole acted in the ‘Misan- 1768, j:tat. 45. VISIT TO PARIS. 2S7 “Sunday, Mr. and Mrs. Flint dined with us. The Italian comedy. Carlini.” 1 Miss Fanny Reynolds was at this time on a visit to Miss Flint , 2 a young lady who translated Johnson’s remarks on Shakespear into French, and who was then in Paris. We learn from the note-book how works of art. were then to he seen in Paris — not as now, gathered into great public galleries, hut scattered through private collections, picture-dealers’ shops, churches, and hotels of the noblesse in the Isle St. Louis, the Marais, and the Faubourg St. Germain. Everywhere Reynolds would find traces of the luxury of the Pompadour, who had so lately been succeeded by her coarser rival, the Du Barry. The king was putting down his parliaments, and struggling with the Jesuits on the one hand, and the Encyclopaedists on the other. But in outward tlirope lie was admirable in Alceste, but “ Coxcomb ” could never have been applied to him in that part. Preville might have been the Celi- mene, but there is no 44 physician ” in the 4 Misanthrope.’ In Madame Pre- ville and Mole Reynolds saw two of the best French actors of the time : Mole, as much the darling of Paris as Garrick of London, was equally ad- mirable in the younger parts of tragedy and high comedy ; he might be com- pared at once with Powell and O'Brien ; Madame Preville with Mrs.Pritchard. —Ed. 1 This was the celebrated Carlo Bertinazzi, who for forty-two years was the delight of Paris as the * Arlec- cliino’ of the Italian comedy in its French dress. Bertinazzi was a re- markable man. He had been educated for the Church, and was the seminary- friend of Ganganelli, with whom he maintained the kindliest relations, even when the one was Cardinal and Pope, and the other stroller and harle- quin. There is a pleasant picture of 4 Carlino * in the bosom of his family, at Chaillot, in the 4 Memoires de Fleury,’ who declares that he was the original of Florian’s 4 Bon Pere,’ and Goldoni’s 4 Borboro Benefico.’ His pantomime was so admirable, that he seemed to put expression, it was said, even into his black mask. He had been attacked with a severe illness a short time before this, and all Paris was in agitation and concern about him. — Ed. 2 She married a French nobleman, M. de Reveral, and was guillotined with her only son in the Reign of Terror. — E d. 288 LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Chap. IY. appearance the Paris of this time was quieter and more loyal than the London the painter had left ; and revo- lution, to superficial observation, must have seemed more imminent in England than in France. The note-hook continues : — “Monday, 19th. Saw pictures. “ Tuesday, 20th. The collection of Monsieur L’Em- pereur 1 — about six Teniers ; two small sketches of Rubens; a Boor saying grace, Rembrandt — at 12, Mr. Panchaud. “ Wednesday, 9. Mr. Panchaud. 2 “ Thursday, 10. Mr. Collins. “Friday, 11. To go with a picture-dealer to see Mr. Bern way. 3 “ Saturday, 10. Mr. Ramee ; 2, Miss Flint ; Versailles. “Thursday, 29th. Invalides. Dined in company with a vie . . . “ Friday, 30th. Abbe at the Sulpice ; 4 Hotel de Toulouse. Gallery. Pietro da Cortona and Guido. 3 “ October 2nd, Sunday. Sceaux ; Choisy. 6 1 An engraver as well as a col- lector. — E d. 2 Evidently the banker undertook the task of “ lionizing ” his distin- guished correspondent. — E d. 3 This picture-dealer seems to have j been M. Menageot, of the Rue St. Martin. Reynolds bought a Poussin of him for 153L — Ed. 4 A collector, for the purchase of some of whose pictures Sir Joshua left a commission with his old friend and quondam fellow-student at Rome — Doyen, the painter. I found on a ! folded paper, in a pocket of the pocket-book for this year : — “ II Gio- vanni di Guido, 300 ; Farrocell, 50 ; Due Mole (two pictures by Mola), 80 ; Paiessi (Paese, landscape) di Rem- brant, 20. A copy of a paper I gave to Mr. Doyen to buy those pictures at the Abbe Renoux at St. Sulpice.” — Ed. 5 This gallery is described in D’Ar- genville’s ‘Voyage Pittoresque.’ — Ed. 6 Choisy le Roi. The chateau must at this time have been as it was when fitted up by Louis XV. for Madame de Pompadour, who was attacked with her mortal illness there some four years before. Only a fragment of the chateau now remains, converted into a china-manufactory. The splendour of its interior fittings and the beauty 1768, ^etat. 45. VISIT TO FARIS. 289 “ Monday. La Muette ; St. Cloud ; Bellevue ; Meudon ; the extensive banister 1 (?) ; the prospect ; Sevres manufactory of porcelain. “ Tuesday. St. Benoit ; a Pietk of Seb. Bourdon ; Enfants Trouves ; Sorbonne ; Monument of Richelieu. “ Wednesday. To breakfast with my sister. “ Thursday. Mr. Drumgold. 2 “ Friday. Baron Tier ; 3 at home. “ Saturday, 3. Lord Fitzwilliam.” Sunday and Monday are blank. “ Tuesday. Nelson. “ Wednesday the 12th, 10 to 1. Luxembourgh (on opposite page) “ Minerva instructing a girl, by Tre- molie. L’Hotel de Bretonvilliers, 4 en St. Louis; Gallery of Seb. Bourdon. “ luesday, 18th. Set out from Paris 1 o’clock ; lay at Senlis. “ Wednesday. Lay at Peronne. of the view, probably, are referred to in Sir Joshua’s note : — “ Table ; the watered tabby (tabinet) painted ; the river.” — El). 1 Can this be a reference to the balustraded terrace ? 2 I suppose the Colonel must have been the descendant of a Scotch refugee. He was soldier, diplomatist, wit, and poet, and had been secretary to the Due de Nivernois, when ambassador in England in 1763. Dr. Johnson told Boswell, & propos of his visit to Paris in 1775, — “ I was just begin- ning to creep into acquaintance by means of Colonel Drumgold, a very high man, Sir, head of l’Ecole Mili- taire, and a most complete character ; for he had been first a professor of VOL. I. rhetoric, and then became a soldier.” He was the author of ‘ La Gaiet<5,’ a poem, and other pieces. (See Walpole, Oct. 3, 1765.)— Ed. 3 He was connected with the admi- nistration of the Opera. 4 This is written in a different and evidently foreign hand, as a direction for him. This fine old hotel, in the Isle St. Louis, Bourdon had decorated with some of his best-known works. In nine compartments of a roof were painted the fables of Phaeton and Phoebus, and in fourteen squares of a wainscot the Virtues and the Arts. They have been described and en- graved by De Vaurose, Bourdon’s favourite pupil. The stately hotel has long since disappeared. U 290 LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Chap. IY. “ Thursday. Dined at Arras ; the Cathedral not worth seeing ; lay in the Fauxburg of Betlmne. “ Friday. Arrived at Calais at 5 in the afternoon. “ Saturday. Set out at 1 o’clock at noon. Arrived at Dover at 5 ; lay at Sittingbourne. “ Sunday 23rd, at 10 in the morning, arrived in London. 1 “ Monday, 24tli. Dined with Dr. Goldsmith.” This dinner with Goldsmith is followed next day by another ; and during the remainder of the year there are frequent engagements with the Doctor, now living in his new rooms in Brick Court, the purchase and furnishing of which had quickly absorbed most of the 500Z. which his comedy had produced him. One of these engagements for Wednesday, the 23rd of November, must have been just after Reynolds had been made President of the new Academy ; and it may have been at this very party that Dr. Johnson departed from his vow against wine, to celebrate his friend’s accession to new honour. There is one 6 o’clock engagement, too, to Mr. Bott, Goldsmith’s opposite neighbour in Brick Court, already mentioned ; and traces — in the shape of an entry in July, “ Devil Tavern ” — of a visit, doubt- less with Goldsmith, to the Shilling-Rubber Club, held at that ancient tavern, once the scene of rare Ben Jonson’s canary-bouts and wit-combats. There are engagements, too, with Colman, Mrs. Clive, and the Bastards ; with Mr. Hickey, and the Nesbitts ; 2 the 1 The total outlay on this journey, from the entries, appears to have been 447?. 10s. 6c?., which sum includes 35?. to a tailor, 153?. for a Poussin, and 50?. given to Miss Reynolds. 2 Mr. Nesbitt was brother-in-law to Thrale. — E d. 1768, jet at. 45. WILKES IN THE KING’S BENCH. 291 Bunburys, Dr. Baker, Dr. Barnard, and Dr. Percy. He is often dining with the Thrales at Southwark and Streatham, with Bennet Langton, and with Burke. It is highly probable that, in the purchase of his Beacons- field estate and the house of Gregories made this year, Burke was indebted for advances to Reynolds, amongst other friends. It may be to these advances that Barry refers when he speaks of having made the discovery that, while Burke was supporting him at Rome, he was himself under money-obligations to Reynolds. Reynolds dines with Wilkes on the 2nd of December, when his entertainer must have been a prisoner in the King’s Bench ; but very likely as good company in prison as out of it. Why not ? He was now at the very top of the tide. This was the year of his successive triumphs over the Crown, the Commons, and the Courts of Law. He had returned to England openly, in defiance of his outlawry, at the beginning of Match ; had on the 10th presented himself as a candidate for the City, where he had the show of hands in his favour, though unsuc- cessful at the poll ; had been elected triumphantly for Middlesex on the 28th ; had appeared in the Court of King’s Bench on the 20th of April, and retired un- molested, on Lord Mansfield’s admission that the Court had no power to commit him on his voluntary appear- ance ; and had finally, on the 5tli of September, been arrested and committed to the King’s Bench on a writ of “ capias ultagatum ,” afterwards reversed, on grounds well known to Wilkes to be fatal before the motion was made. His name was chalked on the dead- walls for fifty miles round London, and his portrait printed on pocket-handkerchiefs. He was the demigod of the 292 LIFE OF SIR JOSUHA REYNOLDS. Chap. IY. great Beckford, ex-Lord Mayor and millionaire, and the idol of the mob, who called for illuminations, and broke heads and windows in his honour on his birthday, the 28th of October. Gifts were showered upon him, City electors forced twenty-pound notes into his pockets, and the booksellers offered him his own terms for anything he chose to write. This was incense to turn a stronger head than Wilkes’s, and never, we may be sure, did his daring wit burn brighter than in the midst of this blaze of popularity. By the side of the rampant, rollicking, sinister satyr-mask of Wilkes — so strikingly contrasted with the serene face of the painter, his guest in the King’s Bench — a figure of blended humour and pain rises to the imagination as we read, in the old pocket-book, under the dates of February 22 and March 4, the entry “ Dr. Sterne.” The second entry is an engagement to a four o’clock dinner. The hand of death was on the host at that dinner. A fort- night later, to a day, he lay dying, in his lodgings, “ at the Silk-bag Shop, in Old Bond-street,” without a friend to close his eyes. No one but a hired nurse was in the room, when a footman, sent from a dinner-table where was gathered a gay and brilliant party — the Dukes of Roxburgh and Grafton, the Earls of March and Ossory, David Garrick and David Hume — to inquire how Dr. Sterne did, was bid to go up stairs by the woman of the shop. He found Sterne “ just a dying. In ten minutes, 4 Now it is come,’ he said, put up his hand as if to stop a blow, and died in a minute.” 1 His laurels — such as they were — were still green. 1 ‘ The Life of a Footman,’ quoted in Forster’s ‘ Life of Goldsmith,’ vol. ii. p. 150. 1768, jetat. 45. DEATH OF STERNE. 293 The town was ringing with the success of the 6 Senti- mental Journey’ just published. The great and gay, we see, were concerned about him. He did not choose, perhaps, that his brilliant London acquaintance should be with him at that encounter with the grim sum- moner, whom he had laughed at in his time, as at most things awful or venerable. Sterne’s funeral was as friendless as his deathbed. Becket, his publisher, was the only one who followed the body to its undistinguished grave, in the parish burial-ground of Marylebone, near Tyburn gallows-stand. Nor was this ungraced funeral the last indignity of that poor body, over whose in- firmities Sterne had alternately puled and jested. The graveyard lay far from houses : no watch was kept after dark ; all shunned the ill-famed neighbourhood. Sterne’s grave was marked down by the body-snatchers, the corpse dug up and sold to the professor of anatomy at Cambridge. A student, present at the dissection, recognised under the scalpel the face — not one easily to be forgotten, as we know from Reynolds’s picture — of the brilliant wit and London lion of a few seasons before . 1 From this year Mr. Reynolds becomes Sir Joshua. It was the year of the establishment of the Royal Academy, which was closely followed by his Knighting as its first President. All honours fell to him, as it were, naturally, and without effort or solicitation on his part. As Burke said, his name seemed to be made for its knightly addition. The Society of Artists had been long a scene of precisely such feud, intrigue, and cabal, as were most repugnant to Reynolds’s equable and just character. At 1 Maloniana. 294 LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Chap. IV. last the malcontent Fellows had procured the rejection, at the general meeting, on St. Luke’s day, of sixteen of the twenty-one Directors, and had filled up their places from the ranks of the outsiders. The eight Directors who -were left resigned on the 10th of November. But already the best men of the Society had agreed that its constitution required radical alteration, and that* failing a reform from within, which they despaired of, an 'altogether new body must be established, from whose constitution the provision for annual election of the Directorate by the Fellows must be excluded. It was, in short, determined to substitute an aristocratic scheme of Art Government for a democratic one.] During the absence of Reynolds from England, Sir William Chambers, West, Cotes, and Moser, formed an outline of the constitution of an academy, and peti- tioned the King to adopt it. [Chambers in person had waited upon the King towards the end of November, to explain the design of the proposed institution, and to present the memorial praying for the sanction of the King. Reynolds’s name was not appended to this memorial, though he was then in London.] No doubt the seceders would have been glad of the co-operation of Reynolds from the first ; and I think his withholding it can only be accounted for from the circumstance of his never having received any personal patronage or notice from George III. He had painted the King, it is true, when he was Prince of Wales ; but it does not appear that the commission was from the Prince ; and he probably felt that to join the memorialists might be construed into a wish to attract the attention of the Sovereign. It will be seen, on another occasion, SCHEME FOR AN ACADEMY. 295 1768, iETAT. 45. liow reluctant he felt to appear as a voluntary candidate for court favour. The circumstance also of Kirby, who had been the King’s instructor in perspective, having, at the last St. Luke’s day, been elected (in place of Hayman) President of the incorporated society, might, probably, have led him to doubt the success of the new plan, which the King had required of its promoters should be carried on in the strictest secrecy, fearing (it is said) that it should be turned to political purposes. 1 Before the constitution of the Academy was settled, the admission, among its members, of some of the nobility, patrons of art, was suggested ; but to this the King had the good sense at once to object, foreseeing that no institution for the instruction of art could ever be efficiently managed, except by artists solely. 2 [On the 7tli of December Chambers had a second interview with the King, at which a definite scheme of the new Academy was submitted and approved. All that now remained was the selection of the members and officers.] .A list was made out of thirty names, including that of Reynolds, to be submitted to the King with a list of officers. A meeting of the artists was appointed for 1 In the pamphlet containing the case of the Incorporated Society against the Academy (see post), it is suggested that the hope of knighthood was held out as a bait to Reynolds, who is represented as having dis- approved of the proceedings of the seceders, and as having declared that he would not act or exhibit with them. The Society’s pamphlet complains of this inconsistency on his part, but does not venture to attribute it to any unworthy motive, though there is a hint that the suggested knighthood may have had something to do with his change of purpose. — E d. 2 The same intention, as we have seen, had been entertained when in 1755 the question of the constitution of an Academy was discussed at great length between the Dilettanti Society and a Committee of the Society of Artists (see ante , s. a. 1755). 296 LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Chap. IV. the 9th, to take place at the house of Wilton the sculptor, the King having named the next morning to receive the lists. 1 Penny and Moser called on Reynolds, but failed in securing his attendance at the meeting. West then went to him immediately, and informed him of the arrangements that were in progress for constituting an academy, and that thirty artists named by the King, of the forty members of which it was intended it should consist, were to assemble on that evening at Wilton’s. Reynolds was still slow of belief. He told West that Kirby had assured him in the most decided manner that there was no truth whatever in the rumour of such a design being in agitation ; and that he thought it would be derogatory to attend a meeting constituted, as Kirby represented it, by persons who had no sanction for doing what they had undertaken. To this West, answered, “ As you have been told by Mr. Kirby that there is no intention of the kind, and by me that there is, that even the rules are framed, and the officers con- descended on, 2 yourself to be President, I must insist on your going with me to the meeting, where you will be satisfied which of us deserves to be credited in this business.” In the evening, at the usual hour, West went to take tea with Reynolds, before going to the meeting ; but either from design or accident, tea was not served till an hour later than usual — not, indeed, till the time 1 The dates of these proceedings I have taken from the original Minute- books of the Royal Academy, most obligingly opened to me by the Council, find in the pocket-book for the year, on the 9tli, the entry “ Mr. Wilton’s at 6.”— Ed. 2 I quote the exact words; and con- descended seems to imply that the King himself had named the officers. 1708, m TAT. 45. FOUNDATION OF THE ACADEMY. 297 fixed for the artists to assemble at Wilton’s ; so that, when they arrived there, the meeting was on the point of breaking np, conceiving that, as neither Reynolds nor West had come, something extraordinary had hap- pened. But on their appearing, a burst of satisfaction manifested the anxiety that had been felt, and without any farther delay the company proceeded to carry into effect the wishes of the King. The code of laws was read, and, the gentlemen recommended by the Sove- reign being declared officers, the laws were accepted. A report of the proceedings was made to His Majesty next morning (Saturday the 10th), who gave his sanc- tion to the selection, and the Academy was thus insti- tuted, 1 its first general meeting being held on the 14th of December. I have made use of the account given by West to his biographer Galt, of these transactions; conceiving. 1 List of Academy : — “ Sir Joshua Reynolds, Knt., President ; Sir Wm. Chambers, Knight of the Polar Star, Treasurer ; George Michael Moser, Keeper ; Francis Milner Newton, Secre- tary ; Edward Penny, Professor of Painting ; Thomas Sandby, Professor of Architecture ; Samuel Wale, Pro- fessor of Perspective ; William Hunter, M.D., Professor of Anatomy ; F rancis Hayman, Librarian (Tan-Chet-Tua, a Chinese modeller, not one of the Academicians) ; George Barrett ; Fran- cesco Bartolozzi ; Edward Burch ; Agostino Carlini ; Charles Cotton ; Mason Chamberlin ; J. Baptist Cipriani; Richard Cosway ; JohnGwynn ; Wil- liam Hoare ; Nathaniel Hone ; Mrs. Angelica Kauffman ; Jeremiah Meyer ; Mrs. Mary Moser ; Joseph Nollekens ; John Richards ; Paul Sandby ; Do- menick Serres ; Peter Toms ; W illiam Tyler ; Benj. West ; Richard Wilson ; Joseph Wilton; Richard Yeo; John Zoffanii ; Francesco Zuccarelli.” (Seven of these are foreigners.) From the first Catalogue of the R.A. Exhibition. Of these names, Burch, Cotton, Cos- way, Hoare, Nollekens, and Zoffanii, with the two ladies, were not included in the list first approved by the King. It is curious that Gainsborough’s name appears in neither list, though R.A. is appended to his name in the first cata- logue. It is evident that there was a determination to secure him for the new Academy, and that he let him- self be secured, but he seems never to have taken any part whatever in the work of the Academy ; and his mem- bership is hardly traceable in the Aca- demy records, except by a quarrel, occasionally, about the hanging of his pictures. — Ed. 298 LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Chap. IY. it more likely to be the true one, as it is certainly more probable than that given by Northcote. The latter, after telling us that, immediately on the entrance of* Reynolds, the company assembled at Wilton’s house “ with one voice hailed him as President,” adds, “ He seemed much affected by the compliment, and returned them his thanks for the high mark of their approba- tion, but declined the honour till such time as he had consulted with his friends Dr. Johnson and Mr. Edmund Burke. This demur greatly disappointed the company, as they were expected to be with the King next day by appointment; but -Messrs. West and Cotes avoided going to the King next day, as they could not present him with a complete list of officers, for the want of a President; and it was not till a fortnight after that Reynolds gave his consent.” [This account is inconsistent both with the Academy’s records and the entries in Reynolds’s pocket-book. On Sunday the 18th (better day, better deed) the President formally submitted to the King the list of officers, council, visitors, and professors, which was approved under the sign-manual. At the council meet- ing of the 27th it was decided that the students who had already been subscribers to the Old Academy (i.e. the drawing-school, removed in 1757 from St. Martin’s Lane to Pall Mall) should be admitted to draw for the winter-season in the New Academv, without any test. The winter-season was fixed from Michaelmas to the end of April, work to begin at six in the evening ; the summer-season from May the 26th (then the contem- plated day for closing the exhibition) to the end of August, work to begin at four.] 1768, jETat. 45. THE ROYAL ACADEMY. 299 The plan of an Academy, as we have seen, had been suggested in 1753 and 1755 ; and one of its modes of instruction was to consist in sending students abroad for the purpose of study, as we learn from Hogarth, • who was opposed to the whole scheme. The delibera- tions which then took place are thus alluded to by Reynolds in his first Discourse : — “ The numberless and ineffectual consultations which I have had with many in this assembly to form plans and concert schemes for an Academy, afford sufficient proof of the impossibility of succeeding without the influence of Majesty ” However opinions may vary as to the usefulness of the Royal Academy, its establishment was inevitable. It was proposed by Sir James Thornhill in the reign of George I. ; and if either that Sovereign or his son had taken any interest in the Arts, it would not have been reserved for George III. to place himself at the head of an institution to which nearly all the British painters, sculptors, and architects who have since risen to emi- nence are indebted for so much of an artist’s education as it is possible for an Academy to give. As one of its members, I must here take leave to say something of the character of an institution of which the public know very little. I am well aware of the disadvantages a witness labours under who speaks in favour of a society to which he belongs ; yet, if he can obtain credit for honesty, his membership at least enti- tles him to be heard, however partial his evidence may be considered. Sir Martin Shee, when asked if he considered Aca- demies of Art useful, said, “ An Academy is a school, 300 LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Chap. IV. and I think a school is a good thing.” It has often, however, been triumphantly noticed that our greatest painters, Hogarth, Wilson, Reynolds, and Gainsborough, . preceded the formation of the Royal Academy. They did so ; but Hogarth and Gainsborough learned to draw in the Academy in St. Martin’s Lane, where we have no proof that Wilson did not also study; while Reynolds lamented that he had not had such an advantage, and with great reason, for a knowledge of the human figure, which Hogarth and Gainsborough had acquired, was the only knowledge of importance to a painter that he did not possess. By the constitution of the Royal Academy the students enjoy the advantage of advice from the greatest artists of the country. Under no other system would it be possible to procure the services of such men as Banks, Fuseli, Opie, Flaxman, Stotliard, Law- rence, Smirke, Turner, Wilkie, Chantrey, Constable, and Etty, as schoolmasters. It would not indeed be desirable that a government school, even if it could secure the services of such artists, should rob the country of their valuable time ; while, as members of the Academy, by a division of labour, a month in every year, with the addition of a few days, perhaps, in the case of a painter, is the only sacrifice required. The duties of the Keeper form the one exception ; and he has the advantage of residing in the Academy. It has been said that the best artists are generally not the best teachers ; that they either have not patience for the drudgery of teaching, or have not the knack of conveying instruction often possessed by less gifted men. It is true they are not the most loquacious 1768, 2ETAT. 45. THE ROYAL ACADEMY. 301 teachers; they have no infallible rules, no certain methods by which, in a given number of lessons, and by a certain number of diagrams, they can make their pupils masters of composition, colouring, and chiaro- scuro. Indeed, it must be owned that the greatest artists are too apt, in their own practice, to violate the most approved principles laid down in the most popu- lar treatises on art. How unsafe then, it may be thought, to trust the student to guidance so unorthodox ! To speak seriously, however, I have always found that those among us who undertake to teach everything in art, or who think that everything may be taught, are precisely those who know the least ; generally those who know nothing as it should be known. Though a great artist may feel there is very little he can teach, a single word from him is often worth hours of instruction from a commonplace plausible talker. Indeed, the com- monplace plausible talker not only fails to do good, but often does much harm. Nothing more frequently happens than for such guides to object to passages of the highest excellence in the works of great masters, and to suggest improvements that would bring them down to the level of their own conceptions. Those among my readers who have not given much time to the study of pictures will understand this, when re- minded how Thomson (the Edinburgh publisher) did what he could to make Burns spoil the noblest of war- songs, by substituting “ Now prepare for honour’s bed,” in place of the heroic “ Welcome to your gory bed.” 302 LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Chap. IV. If the having mixed "with artists of all sorts for half a century gives me any right to an opinion on the subject, that opinion is entirely in favour of the teaching of those who have themselves achieved the highest excellence, and against the teaching of all others, not only as productive of no good, but as productive of all that is tame and insipid in practice. I may be told that Richardson, an indifferent painter, wrote well on art. But Richardson did not undertake to teach principles. He wrote generally of the dignity and value of art, as any man of sense who feels inte- rested in the subject may write without being a painter. Richardson’s object was to call public attention to the arts, not to furnish rules to students. An objection has been made, by foreigners, to the multiplicity of teachers in our Academy, as tending to confuse the students and hinder them from an early attainment of fixed principles; and no doubt, if the object of such an institution were but the training of the greatest number of artists in a certain routine of practice in which the hand is more engaged than the head, the teaching of one master, who would save the students the trouble of thinking, might be the best. But the aim of an Academy of Art should be some- thing very different from this. It should be, not to make respectable draughtsmen and tolerable colourists of a large number of young men (and a large number can never be anything more), but it should be to give the greatest help to natural abilities. A boy of genius, though he may at first be somewhat puzzled by the various opinions he may hear from various authorities, will sooner be taught to think for himself, or sooner 1768, . ’ x : 7 — 7 ' - — ' — Ibbbk btiF tike Skf — £ nir as. Uoa — Qnt- 7 : :rr .. " ~- . — i _ - _ ' ^ ... 7 -Xr~. - - — ri zi - : ^ ; >-- t_ 7. ' E--r ■ .r ‘ . .- . — - 1— r ' - 1 - 7~_ 7 * . 1 ITUf, £2^. 4- — " 7 zi 7 Off zie czl- ' _ _ x_~ :: : I^fcfrzrj I incv nc* koer anawy i hast zixz pxf - Kh lexiixx:. ~ Tie Tixm-xis! ;^sd cr zii? imiitliiM 5 e i: te lie csfaUsb- zxxx x' ~*e_-xcr ;iz-_ =* x ies^zri- vier r zz zl lt: tt. > ~r 5n£ tt.-?. ~ jusswmS^Ml wi_ix '».£.- Vr- :e-i xd£ ~ L»nr ir zl zi_e :«nfer. Fcr zix exl lierekev. zxer- vi~ :e z vtt^ a^jeasn* of _xzzzr zxeee :•: xzxzxzz Tx- ZTk Z-Xr z: ZX1 .V XXX. LZjL . ^ZTLZIHfr U r ^fcQ-^LJ of ZTTZZT Zj 777 ft xferxG: ■uiKTbms z: xitziz *zzzz : ziere -*zZ tko ie iijnetL. ttxl feZ aifc x xzs.zeree :»rd x t-ex eie xeexx lz-z zm^ - x iZ tie - jt ; :ix*.Z--z izzD^nt szazies. giau ^ *ziz hfcsBD- rtZe^us. izt -x zie fc :es aSfc zenarsLie. xe>?ie7 x-Tzik" ~ ztihl ol>zlzx zze z ztt. Er z; izzxliZ zzix- f-zi>:Z br - azi^x z: tie irz css. *:• -x t-nzie Hit zere rr iuxife ■*: zze ?m:e5Xr- uzxise ae zLecmx Tien, trii *5 zzzzl ziezz gzei.zfriL ahF zxe: irgrrii cc lie etx inr ~rii:Z ziey 2ZZI z: iZ- E &Zt*- - • ^ - ♦~^n zZezr ZiSiz x zesxx lzj! • xr’ rre . z: z»: ~^en zze :etzzze f--.Tr ~m ' TT.^j- e - Tgy *: :exniafc%s. j-.Tiz zze zszrzj/Zxr -EtxZtSLi-*^ LZii x zr^tz z: zz zzeiL i:c tx irnr-r-zriii — : szxx :z :om lzj! z e*»i zieiL zx: zz^ LZii ziijsz ene,b r ZiXe z;azi.r :c 51x17- zierz lt- tzt#:czzei z jr- r le ZiLzixxx- t :ri^=»z x 1 iiMiii mi zne x l:.l:x~. LZii :ne x zezsieitx^ vin izx ixxziiTlj i-; r^i 2. zerzxzz zzczziier x ztlzl_ii ^xztzx? zx zze »iii>ZLX i^iiz-zzei izr t_xr z*irz*xee rziziz^x ~ t rrzieriii : zx_ ziere vzi ie t _:cizrj ot zoitE^ x’ i^xzz^nizrr. r-xzzuiz-' zuzzzz x: __ zxr ezezi-z— rz^zzxx zze^ez; : 1769, jETAT. 46. THE ROYAL ACADEMY. 315 of prints of bas-reliefs, vases, trophies, ornaments, ancient and modem dresses, customs and ceremonies, instruments of war and arts, utensils of sacrifice, and all other things useful to stu- dents in the arts. “ The admission of all these establishments will be free to all students properly qualified to reap advantage from such studies as are there cultivated. The professors and academicians, who instruct in the schools, have each of them proper salaries annexed to their employment ; as have also the treasurer, the keeper of the Royal xYcademy, the secretary, and all other persons em- ployed in the management of the said institution ; and his Ma- jesty hath, for the present, allotted a large house in Pall Mall for the purpose of the schools, &c. “ And that the effects of this truly royal institution may be conspicuous to the world, there will be an annual exhibition of paintings, sculptures, and designs, open to all artists of dis- tinguished merit, where they may offer their performances to public view, and acquire that degree of fame and encourage- ment which they shall be deemed to deserve. “ But as all men who enter the career of the arts are not equally successful, and as some unhappily never acquire either fame or encouragement, but, after many years of painful study, at a time of life when it is too late to think of other pursuits, find themselves destitute of every means of subsistence ; and as others are, by various infirmities incident to man, rendered incapable of exerting their talents, and others are cut off in the bloom of life, before it could be possible to provide for their families, his Majesty, whose benevolence and generosity over- flow in every action of his life, hath allotted a considerable sum, annually to be distributed, for the relief of indigent artists and their distressed families.” From the time the Academy was established the President took the most active part in its organization and guidance, both in the council and the schools. The pocket-book for 1769 bears evidence to Sir Joshua’s constant attendance at the seat of the institu- tion. The new Academy was not magnificently lodged. Its first quarters were in Dalton’s print-warehouse, for- 316 LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Chap. Y. merly Lamb’s auction-rooms, in Pall Mali, 1 immediately adjacent to Old Carlton House, afterwards occupied by Christie, the picture-auctioneer. It was not till 1771 that the King granted to the Academy the use of apartments in Old Somerset Palace for the lectures and library. In 1773 the keeper was lodged there, but the exhibitions continued to be held in Pall Mall till 1780, when the installation of the Academy in Chambers’s renovated Somerset House was completed. One of the charges, as we have seen, brought by the Incorporated Society against the Academy, was that of having, by some sharp practice on Moser’s part, tricked the Society out of the casts that had belonged to the St. Martin’s Lane Drawing-school, which included those belonging to Sir James Thornhill, from which Hogarth and his contemporaries had studied. The new, or Royal Academy, was thus at once engrafted, as it were, on the old, or Private one. The casts belonging to the Duke of Richmond also found their way to the Academy schools. In vain the Society complained and protested ; charged the Academicians — whom they refer to as “ the Junto” — with intriguing, caballing, and de- ception ; and went through the form of expelling them from their body after they had left it. 2 In vain they opened a private Academy of their own, 3 and petitioned 1 A print of the exterior, from a drawing in the British Museum, ap- peared in ‘ The Illustrated London News’ for May 1, 1861. Dalton was the King’s librarian and print-keeper. He had been educated as an artist, was patronized by Lord Charlemont, with whom he travelled in Greece, and had been in Rome with Sir Joshua in 1751. He had bought the lease of these rooms for a print- warehouse, but is said in the Society’s pamphlet to have found the speculation “ heavy on his hands,” and thereupon, after in vain offering his rooms to the Society for their ex- hibition, to have joined the seceders, and disposed of his premises to them. — Ed. 2 In June, 1769. See their pamphlet referred to in a former note. — Ed. 3 In rooms over the Cider Cellar, Maiden Lane. 1769 , .etat. 46 . DR. T. FRANCKLIN’S ODE. 317 the King for his protection and patronage. The King replied that he did not mean to encourage one set of men more than another ; that his royal favour should be extended to both the Society and the Academy ; and that he would visit the exhibitions of both, which he did. The new Institution carried off the brains from the old one, and thrived as that decayed. The first visitors — i. e. artists taking it in turns to visit schools, and overlook the performances of the students — were Carlini, Cotton, Cipriani, N. Dance, Hayman, Toms, West, Wilson, and Zuccarelli. 1 The new year and the opening Academy were saluted with a fire of good old lyric commonplaces from Dr. Thomas Francklin, now King’s Chaplain, the dull trans- lator of Sophocles, and the author of tragedies — one of which, 4 The Earl of Warwick,’ we have seen Reynolds patronizing in 1766 — and even a comedy — now for- gotten. Quarrelsome and touchy among his literary rivals, he w r as an intimate of the President’s ; and this tribute — “ among modern odes,” says Northcote, stimulated into a pun, “ not the most odious ” — was due, no doubt, as much to the writer’s friendship for Reynolds as to his feeling for the Arts. Alecto, Britan- nia, Chaos, George, the Augustan age, and the Muse, are duly trotted out ; and the latter, rapturous and prophetic, “ Her country’s opening glories views ; Already sees with wond’ring eyes Our Titians and our Guidos rise : Sees new Palladios grace the historic page, And British Raffaelles charm a future age.” More to the purpose was the President’s first Dis- 1 He is called Zuccares in the first list of the R.A. 318 LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Chap. V. course, delivered on the 2nd of January. That love of generalizing and systematizing which Burke noted as the leading tendency of Reynolds’s mind had now full, if not dangerous scope ; and we may well believe that the President considered his own Discourses as not the least important element in the teaching of the new Academy. He was right in this, for, apart from the soundness or unsoundness of their positive teaching, these Discourses all tend to do what was then most needed for Art — to liberalise the theory of it, at once to make and prove it a matter fit to occupy cultivated and serious minds. The Discourses should be considered quite as much pleas for the intellectual claims of Art, urged before audiences which included many of the most distinguished men of the time, as lectures for the instruction of students. Such pleading was eminently required at a time when the tone and habits of painters, and the shallow affectations and coxcombries of connois- seurs, were little calculated to prepossess intelligent or refined minds in favour of the Arts. Whatever we may think of the road into which the President’s Dis- courses directed the student, there can be no doubt it led upwards. The first Discourse was introductory. It enumerates the advantages to be hoped from the institution of a Royal Academy, which, besides furnishing able men to direct the student, would be a repository for great examples of the art. To the objection that Raffaelle never studied in an academy, it is answered that all Rome was an academy. One advantage the lecturer claims for an Academy in this country — that our artists had nothing to unlearn. Then he recommends (as hints to the professors and visitors of the new schools) 1769, -dtat. 46. HIS FIRST ‘DISCOURSE.’ 319 certain principles, — the first of them, the enforcing of implicit obedience on the part of the young students to the rules of Art as established by the practice of the great masters. Buies, he remarks, are not the fetters of genius ; they are fetters only to men of no genius. When the pupil becomes a master he may consider what liberties he will take with the rules which he has heard inculcated. The stage when the student is passing into the painter is the one, in the Presidents view, most carefully to be watched. Then, more than ever, the importance of “ scrupulous labour ” above “ fallacious mastery ” is to be impressed upon the aspirant. He is to be told again and again that labour is the only price of solid fame. But his industry must be rightly directed. He must be taught to strive for purity of outline rather than readiness of hand — to think more of the disposi- tion of drapery than of the imitation of its texture : above all, absolute exactness in drawing the model must be insisted on. The lecture closes with the ex- pression of a wish and hope that the present age may vie in Arts with that of Leo X., and that the dignity of the dying art (quoting from Pliny) may be revived under the reign of George III. That the substance of these thoughts was the Presi- dent’s, I have no doubt. That he may have submitted his drafts to the criticism and correction of such friends as Burke, Johnson, William Jones, or even Dr. Franck- lin, I think very probable. We have indeed his letter of a later date so submitting one of them to Malone. But this in no way diminishes his claim to property in the ideas expressed, and in the conception and con- duct of the whole argument. :.;rr ;r >: >er r::- :ir«s Oela?. t. TWs gncdol and practical introduakn to the work of the new Academy — far wliidi the body Toted its thanes to the President at its general on the T :h of Jammy — did not derive any great advantage from the mode of its delivery. The President's voice •vis indistinct. His horror of affectation, and ids deaf- ness ccfld ined. led him — as men who Lave beard him ieenne have told ns — into muteness and slovenliness : rlecericn. in the desire :: avoir anvti inn that might am Hho an o ver ■ emph a tic or oratorical manner, M;.:nn Jm;h- : rl . : ns- i : .is. tile much Si: ;ehn:ds indistinctness to the mutilation of his lip by the accident at Minorca, The delivery of the President's first Discourse was fallowed by a dinner at die St Albans tav ern , at — hi:h S n s: . . t resile: The retires in restive iyrics may find in Xoriheote's Life of Sir Joshua the sent: written in h rncnx the onaskm, I v ** the good id Mr. Held the comedian." and sting by Mr. Vernon, celebrated as a Maeheath in Lis time. Each verse ring's the changes on a burden. — Tru Ars T^r>fcZ~iai stag rsiifz, WVttf Geoese Trxfcs pccsiec znzzJ~ The Acaiemv Lost no time in tcgizming its labours. At the oougI meeting on the 3«>th of January, the mrsrribers to the cld Draving-acijcd were admitted to the new one, without subscription or probationary test, till the end :f the winter-seamen. New students were repaired to prove their proficiency by a ‘drawing. The ronrae : f lectures — cm pain ring, on architecture. an d on ersn-ecfivr — was fined to begin in October. Arrange- 17C&, jetjlt. 45. THE EXfflETIIOV. 321 merits were made for preparing the Catalogue, with a preface,, to be drawn op by the President. On the 20th of April a li«i was made our of distmgirebed [icarm and great officers of state, to whom tickets were sent for the opening of the exhibition. On Friday the 21st the President was knighted at the levee.' He left a sitter to go to St. James's, and came Wk to a sitter after receiving' the atttAadt. He was the first painter who had teen thus honoured since Sir James Thornhill. The Exhibition was opened on the 26th of April and dosed on the 27th of May. The King visted the r terns ;n the I'm . _• _rt .ear- me - priate motto — ~ Xova rerura nasritnr ordo.~ In all. 136 works were exhibited : and it may re interesting to know that the receipts at the deer were 6£ hi 1" . fo T . The moot attractive pictures, lesides Sir kishna’s. were, according to Xorthcote, West s Reguius. and Ventis lamenting the death of Aionis: Angelica Kanfimann s Hector and Andrrmnme. ani Venn- directing ~~ and Achates; Dances portraits of me King ani Qneen ; Gainsborough’s Lady Melyneux: Hcne’s Pit mg B j ; Cipriani’s Annunciation ; Cotesh Erie. Dnke of Glou- cester. and Boy playing Cri ket : Penny- * Smith s~h- lowing a Tailors news * {from John : ani Barett s Penton Lynn. West’s * Regmrs ’ w^ not only a Royal commissi but a R yh ailject The Bishcr^ were alwavs zealzeis patrons of West’s fiat the first. They liked the piety and parity of the young painter. 1 h Ae |fti I hmt k esaeni — JaaTz. LL X __ lf~ ~1-|. K_:' * Ltrrie. KmdmrdiiSn Scniic^* — Hi- VOL. I. T LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Ciiap. V. and tlie classicality of his subjects. Drummond, the Archbishop of York (whom we have seen sitting to Sir Joshua in 1764), had commissioned the rising Pennsyl- vanian artist to paint him a picture from Tacitus, of Agrippina landing with the ashes of Germanicus. When the sketch was brought to him, the Archbishop not only encouraged the artist to proceed with the picture, but gallantly set on foot and headed a subscription to raise 3000/., in order that the painter might be enabled to devote himself to history. The subscription failed ; but the Archbishop, foiled in his appeal to the patrons, determined to approach the throne ; and accordingly, at his next audience, brought before his Majesty the story of the devout young Quaker painter, of so mar- vellous a genius, and such lofty aspirations. The Bishop was not singular in his belief in West’s genius, though the word reads to us like satire in its applica- tion to that painter. George III. was interested in the Archbishop s account, and bade him send the painter and his 6 Agrippina ’ to the Queen’s House. West arrived with his picture, was presented to the King, who called in the Queen, admired the picture, told her the subject, and then suggested another fine subject from the Roman history — Regulus ; adding, “You shall paint it for me.” And then, not sorry to dis- play his knowledge of Latin to the Queen, he went on : — “ The Archbishop made one of his sons read Tacitus to Mr. West, but I will read Livy to him myself — the part where he describes the departure of Regulus and so read the passage very gracefully. Hence the picture, which was one of the attractions of the first Academy exhibition ; and we may be sure 1709, JETAT. 40. GEORGE III. AND WEST. 323 the story of the King’s reading of Livy was not for- gotten in the room. 1 ] To this first exhibition of the Royal Academy Rey- nolds contributed four pictures : — The Duchess of Manchester and her son, as Diana disarming Cupid. Mrs. Blake (the sister of his friends Sir Charles and H. Bunbury) as Juno receiving the cestus from Venus. 2 Miss Morris as Hope nursing Love. 3 1 Joshua Kirby, the director of the Society of Artists, and the King’s teacher of perspective, was at the palace when the picture had been brought there. He heard and echoed the King’s praises of it, complimented the young painter, and expressed liis hope that his Majesty would graciously allow his subjects to see the picture at the exhibition. “ Certainly, certainly,” said the King. “The exhibition of the Incorporated Society of Artists,” added Kirby. ** No, no, no ! ” ex- plained his Majesty, “ the exhibition of my own Academy. 1 ’ Kirby was thunderstruck, and is said never to have got over the mortification. He died soon after, blighted, it was whis- pered, by this dreadful withdrawal of the royal countenance from the So- ciety. — E d. 2 Both pictures are in his mytholo- gical manner. Horace Walpole (though I hardly know why his criticisms de- serve to be recorded) has put down, in , his catalogue, a propos of the former, “ bad attitude,” and of the latter, “ very bad.” I am afraid I must agree with him as to the Duchess of Manchester, who is painted as she stoops to disarm the sleeping Cupid. Mrs. Blake’s atti- tude is well enough, if we can admit the treatment of the subject. But this is evidently a mistake. Portraiture is not to be dignified by transforming ladies of the eighteenth century into heathen goddesses, and investing them with the attributes of the Pantheon, as is done in this case. Mrs. Blake liad been a Miss Bunbury, and was the wife of a wealthy, sporting gen- tleman of Irish family, and large West India and Suffolk property, Mr. (afterwards Sir Patrick) Blake. The marriage was an unhappy one. The picture, irreparably injured I am sorry to say, is at Ashfield, near Barton, in Suffolk, the seat of Sir Henry Blake. 3 This young lady’s history was a very touching one. She was the daughter of Valentine Morris, governor of one of our West India islands, on whose death his widow returned to this country in impoverished circum- stances, with a son and two daughters. Miss Morris, the eldest, was very beau- tiful, and, having shown a talent for acting, was induced, by the advice of friends, to try the profession of the stage. In November, 1768, she ap- peared as Juliet at Covent Garden, but was so overpowered by timidity, and probably by bodily weakness, that she fainted on entering the stage, and with difficulty got through the part. It was her first and last appearance ; for she fell into a rapid decline, and died on May-day, 1769. The picture at Bowood y 2 324 LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Chap. Y. Two ladies (half-length), Mrs. Bouverie and Mrs. Crewe. [Mrs. Crewe, the lovelier of these two lovely ladies, was the daughter of Fulke Greville, already noted for her amiability and fascination, as well as her Opposition principles. By and bye she grew to be the Whig toast — not inferior in charm, or in the stanchness of her political attachments, to the famous Duchess of Devon- shire herself. Like her, she did not shrink from ex- erting her charms to witch butchers and bakers out of votes for Fox at the Westminster elections. It was at her house in Lower Grosvenor Street that the great Whig triumph at the Westminster election of 1784 was celebrated by a splendid entertainment, at which, on the Prince of Wales giving the toast “ True blue, and Mrs. Crewe,” the lady in reply gave “ True blue, and all of you.” Amiable, pure, and good as she was beau- tiful, Mrs. Crewe was the fast friend of Reynolds, as of Burke, Fox, and Sheridan. She cheered the later years of the former, and the two latter wrote verses in her honour. 1 She was united with Mrs. Bouverie, daughter of Sir Everard Fawkener, by a romantic friendship. Sir Joshua had painted her as a girl of sixteen, grouped with her infant brother,. as Cupid and Psyche ; and three years after this painted another and perhaps more beautiful picture of her, as St. Genevieve reading indicates the delicate character of her beauty. Reynolds had painted mother and daughter in the days of their splendour. Johnson, Reynolds, and others of their society, took a great interest in the family. Corbyn Morris, this young lady’s uncle, was a Commissioner of Customs. — Ed. 1 Fox’s lines may be found in Wal- pole’s Letters, vol. vi. p. 498 : Sheri- dan’s accompanied a presentation-copy of the ‘ School for Scandal.’ 17G9, jetat. 46. DINNER-PARTY AT DR. BAKER’S. 325 in the midst of her flock. All three pictures are at Crewe-Hall . 1 On a tomb in this year’s picture of the two beautiful friends was written, “ Et in Arcadia ego.” When the Exhibition was arranging, the members and their friends went and looked the works over. “ What can this mean ? ” said Dr. Johnson ; “ it seems very non- sensical — I am in Arcadia.” “Well, what of that? The King could have told you,” replied the painter. “ He saw it yesterday, and said at once, 4 Oh, there is a tombstone in the background. Ay, ay, Death is even in Arcadia ! ’ ” The thought is borrowed from Guercino, where the gay frolickers stumble over a death’s-head, with a scroll proceeding from his mouth, inscribed, “ Et in Arcadia ego.”] W e get a pleasant glimpse of Reynolds in social life about this date , 2 * at a dinner-party given by his phy- sician, Dr. Baker, in honour of the beautiful Devon- shire sisters, the Hornecks, who, inviting Goldsmith at the last minute, received his merry doggrel answer : — “ Your mandate I got ; You may all go to pot : Had your senses been right, You’d have sent before night. . . So tell Homeck and Nesbitt, And Baker and his bit, 1 That* of the two friends is exqui- Greville, in consequence of a quarrel site for the delicacy of the sentiment j with his son, had the Cupid cut out of and the beauty of the heads, to which 1 Sir Joshua’s picture of his children, the engraving does very imperfect jus- and a tripod stands where the Cupid tice. Its carnations have flown, but originally stood. — Ed. otherwise it is in good condition. The | 2 Forster’s ‘Life of Goldsmith,* St. Genevieve has kept its colour bet- ; vol. ii. p. 174. The original letter is ter, but is cracked in the darks, where , at Barton, asphalt has been too freely used. Mr. | 326 LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Chap. Y. And Kauffmann beside, And the Jessamy bride : 1 With the rest of the crew, The Reynoldses too, Little Comedy's face , 2 And the Captain in lace. . . 3 Tell each other to rue Your Devonshire crew, For sending so late To one of my state ; But ’tis Reynolds’s way From wisdom to stray, And Angelica’s whim To be frolic like him ; But, alas ! your good worships, how could they be wiser, When both have been spoil’d in to-day’s Advertiser ? ” 4 There are several engagements with Dr. Baker this year, which, indeed, seems to have been one of unusual gaiety with the diligent painter. His sitters are less numerous. His dinners more frequent with old friends and new : the Hornecks, Dr. Goldsmith and Wilkes very often ; the Nesbitts, Dr. Francklin (at the King’s Chap- lain’s table, then kept at St. James’s), the Bastards, Lord Charlemont, Mr. Hoole, Mr. Cambridge, Mr. Percy, Bickerstaffe (the dramatist and essayist), Mr. Nugent 1 Miss Mary Homeck, afterwards Mrs. Gwvn. 2 Miss Catherine Homeck, after- wards Mrs. Bunbury. 3 Charles Homeck. 4 An allusion to lines on Reynolds and Angelica Kauffmann, in the Ad- vertiser newspaper. She had just painted Sir Joshua’s portrait. The picture, now at Saltram, is likely to be pronounced weak and uncharacter- istic by most critics now-a-days ; but the poet of the Advertiser sings of it — “ When the likeness she hath done for thee, 0 Keynolds, with astonishment we see. Forced to submit, with all our pride we own, Such strength, such harmony, excelled by none, And thou outrivall'd by thyself alone,” — meaning, I suppose, that Sir Joshua’s portrait by Angelica could be equalled only by Sir Joshua himself. The report was, that Reynolds, who had placed her on the list of Academi- cians, admired the woman as well as the artist. He was her steady friend, and had lately aided her in procuring the dissolution of her marriage with a swindler — the valet of Count Horne, who, arriving in Loudon with his mas- I ter’s stolen wardrobe and credentials, ! had figured successfully for a time in I the character of the Count, and as ' such had wooed and won the fair An- | gelica. — Ed. 17G9, ^.tat. 46. IIIS SOCIETY. 327 (Burke’s father-in-law), Mr. Brett, the Burkes, Lord Ossory, the Duke of Grafton, the Dean of Christchurch (Dr. Markham), the Master of Trinity (Dr. Hinch- cliffe, who had married one of Mr. Crewe’s sisters ), 1 Dr. Hawkesworth, and Lord Robert Spencer. There are frequent dinners, too, at the houses of his- brother Aca- demicians, Penny, Chambers, Hayman, and Hone — and with Hudson and Ramsay, who had held aloof from the Academy, but had not ceased their friendly intercourse with the President. All this dining out was, no doubt, compatible with many club and tavern entertainments, and frequent engagements at his own house. Then there are ventures into new scenes of gaiety — of which I have found no trace in the pocket-books till now — e.g . a masquerade in February, perhaps at Mrs. Comely’s in Soho Square, whose rooms were now in all their splendour, and frequented by the best company, perhaps at the Opera-house ; visits to the Richmond Assembly, where, I imagine, Sir Joshua had now purchased his villa ; 2 and three parties to Vauxhall — at this time a very different place from the smoky, sooty, dilapidated combination of leafless trees, tumble-down sheds, dripping canvas, and disreput- able entertainments which the pleasure-seekers of our own time have known it . 3 Its decoration had employed 1 The fine picture of the two sisters, grouped in a sisterly caress, is at Crewe- Hall. Unluckily the carnations have faded. — Ed. 2 Some entries in the pocket-book of “ Noverre ” may perhaps refer to dancing lessons for these occasions. Noverre was the great dancer and dancing-master of the time. — Ed. 3 A contemporary description (ab- breviated) will help us to*see Vauxhall as Sir Joshua saw it in 1769 : — “ As you enter the great gate is a Doble gravel-walk about 900 feet in length, bordered with a row of stately trees, which form a fine vista, termi- nated by a landscape of the country, a beautiful lawn of meadow-ground, 328 LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Chap. Y. the pencils of Hogarth and Hayman, the scenic art of Lambert and De Loutherbourg, and the chisel of Holl- and a grand Gothic obelisk, all which so forcibly strike the imagination that a mind scarce tinctured with any sen- sibility of order and grandeur cannot but feel inexpressible pleasure in viewing it. At the corners are painted a number of slaves chained, and over them this inscription : — * SPECTATOR FASTIDIOSVS SIBI MOLESTVS.’ “ Advancing a few steps within the garden, we behold, to the right, the grove ; in the middle of it is a superb orchestra, of Gothic construction, cu- riously ornamented with carvings, niches, &c., the dome of which is sur- mounted with a plume of feathers, the crest of the Prince of Wales. The concert is opened with instrumental music at 6 o’clock, which having con- tinued about half an hour, the com- pany are entertained with songs, with sonatos or concertos between each, till the close of the entertainment, which is generally about ten o’clock. “ In a hollow on the left hand, about half-way up the walk already described, by drawing up a curtain is shown a most beautiful landscape in perspective, of a fine open hilly country, with a miller’s house and a watermill, all illuminated by concealed lights ; but the principal object that strikes the eye is a cascade or waterfall. About nine o’clock the curtain is drawn up, and at the expiration of ten or fifteen minutes let down again, and the company return to hear the re- maining part of the concert ; the last song is always a duet or trio, accom- panied with a chorus. “ Fronting the orchestra a consider- able number of tables and benches are placed for the company, and at a small distance from them (fronting the or- chestra) is a large pavilion, of the composite order, built for his late Royal Highness Frederick Prince of Wales, who frequently visited these gardens. There are put up in it four large paint- ings, done by the ingenious Mr. Hay- man, from the historical plays of Shakespeare. “ The first, the storm in King Lear. “ The second, the play in Hamlet. “ The next, a scene in Henry the Fifth, before Henry’s tent, where Mountjoy, the French herald, attended by a trumpeter, demands of Henry whether he will compound for his ransom. “ The last is a scene in the Tem- pest : Miranda startled at the sight of Ferdinand ; Prospero, with great ex- pression in his countenance of sternness and affected anger, is represented in his magic robes. “ The space between this pavilion and the orchestra may be termed the grand rendezvous of the company, who constantly assemble in this part, if the weather be fine, to hear the vocal per- formers. “ The grove is beautifully illumi- nated in the evening with above 2000 glass lamps ; in the front of the orchestra they are contrived to form three triumphal arches, and are all lighted as it were in a moment, to the no small surprise of the spectator. “ In cold or rainy weather the musi- cal performance is in a great room 70 feet in diameter, where an elegant orchestra is erected. In the roof are two little cupolas, adorned with paint- ings ; Apollo, Pan, and the Muses in one, and Neptune with the Sea Nymphs in the other. Above each cupola is 1769, ,etat. 4G, YAUXHALL IX 1769. 329 biliac. In its orchestra Mrs. Billington did not disdain to sing, nor Arne to conduct. The most brilliant an arch divided into compartments ; from the centre of each, which is a rich Gothic frame, descends a large chandelier, in the form of a basket of flowers. “ Between the columns supporting the roof are four elegant frames and panels, wherein the ingenious Mr. Hay- man was employed in 1760 to celebrate some of the most glorious transactions of the late war. The first picture repre- sents the surrender of Montreal. On a commemorating stone, at one corner of the piece, is this inscription : — * POWER EXERTED, CONQUEST OBTAINED, MERCY SHOWN! MDCCLX.’ “ The second represents Britannia, holding in her hand a medallion of his present Majesty, and sitting on the right hand of Neptune in his chariot drawn by sea-horses, who seem to par- take in the triumph for the defeat of the French fleet (represented on the background) by Sir Edward Hawke, Nov. 10, 1759. The third represents Lord Clive receiving the homage of the Nabob ; and the fourth, Britannia distributing laurels to Lord Granby, Lord Albemarle, Lord Townshend, and the Colonels Monckton, Coote, &c. “ The entrance into this saloon from the gardens is through a Gothic portal, on each side of which, on the inside, are the pictures of their Majesties in their coronation robes. “ The first walk, as far as the great room, is paved with Flanders bricks or Dutch clinkers. In all other places the grove is bounded by gravel-walks, and alcoves, with tables, ornamented with paintings from the designs of Mr. Hayman and Mr. Hogarth. “ 1. Two Mahometans, gazing in wonder and astonishment at the many beauties of the place. “2. A shepherd playing on his pipe and decoying a shepherdess into a wood. “3. New Iliver-head at Islington, with a family going a- walking, a cow milking, and the horns archly fixed over the husband’s head. “ 4. The game of quadrille, and the tea-equipage. “ 5. Music and singing. “ 6. Children building houses with cards. “ 7. A scene in the Mock Doctor. “ 8. An archer, and a landscape. “ 9. The country dancers round the maypole. “ 10. Thread my needle. “11. Flying the kite. “ 12. A story in Pamela, who reveals to the housekeeper her wishes of re- turning home, while Mr. B., behind a curtain, overhears her sentiments. “ 13. A scene in the Devil to Pay; the characters are Jobson, Nell, and the Conjuror. “ 14. Children playing at shuttle- cock. “ 15. Hunting the whistle. “ 16. Another story in Pamela — Pamela flying to the coach. “ 17. A scene in the Merry Wives of Windsor, where Sir John Falstaffis put into the buck-basket. “18. A sea - engagement between the Spaniards and the African Moors. “Here the paintings end; but the pavilions continue in a sweep which leads to a beautiful piazza and a co- lonnade, 500 feet in length, in the form of a semicircle, of Gothic archi- tecture, embellished with rays. In this semicircle of pavilions are three 330 LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Chap. Y. beauties and the leaders of ton were not too proud to eat cold chicken, and drink rack punch and Frontiniac, large ones, called temples, the middle one decorated with a piece of painting in the Chinese taste representing Vul- can catching Mars and Venus in a net ; that on the right represents the entrance into Vauxhall, with a gentle- man and lady coming to it ; and that on the left friendship on the grass drinking. “Having traversed this semicircle, we come to a sweep of pavilions that leads us into the great walk ; the last of these is ornamented with a painting representing Black-Eyed Susan re- turning to shore, having been taking leave of her Sweet William, who is on hoard one of the fleet in the Downs. “ Returning to the grove, the pa- vilions are decorated with the follow- ing pieces : — “ 1. Difficult to please. “ 2. Sliding on the ice. “ 3. Players on bagpipes and haut- boys. “4. A bonfire at Charing Cross, and other rejoicings; the Salisbury stage overturned, &c. “ 5. The play of blindman’s buff. “6. The play of leap-frog. “ 7. The Wapping landlady and the tars who are just come ashore. “8. The play of skittles, and the husband upbraided by the wife, who breaks his shin with one of the pins. “Proceeding forward, we see an- other range of pavilions, in a different style, adorned with paintings, forming another side of the quadrangle. In the first pavilion is, — “1. The taking of Portobello, in 1740, by the late Admiral Vernon. “2. Mademoiselle Catherina, the famous dwarf. “ 3. Ladies angling. “ 4. Bird-nesting. “5. The play at bob-cherry. “ 6. FalstafTs cowardice detected. “ 7. The bad family ; with the par- son coming in to make peace ; the husband has the tongs ready lifted up to strike his wife, who is at his feet kneeling and supplicating mercy, and their three children are crying. “ 8. The good family ; the husband is reading, the wife with an infant in her arms, and the other children are listening ; the rest are spinning, and the maid is washing the dishes. “ 9. The taking of the St. Joseph, a Spanish register-ship, in 1742, by Cap- tain Tucker, in the Fovvey man-of-war. “ Next is a piazza of five arches, which open into a semicircle of pa- vilions, with a temple and dome at each end, and the space in front deco- rated with trees. Under the centre arch, on a pedestal, is a marble statue of the famous Mr. Handel, as Orpheus playing on his lyre, done by the cele- brated Mr. Roubiliac. “In the pediment above is repre- sented St. Cecilia, playing on the vio- loncello, which is supported by a Cupid, while another holds before her a piece of music. The remainder of the paintings in this range are : — “ 1. Bird-catching, by a decoy with ' a whistle and net. “2. The play of see-saw. “ 3. The fairies dancing on the green by moonlight. “4. The milkmaid’s garland, with ! its usual attendants. “5. The kiss stolen. “Here ends the boundary of the ! grove on this side ; but, turning on | the left, we come to a walk that runs along the bottom of the gardens ; on I each side of this walk are pavilions, | those on the left hand are decorated j with the following paintings : — “ A northern chief, with his princess jti ax. 4**. -331 tatxha" ix in its sapper-boxes; while Blue Ribbons and E-val Dukes delighted to figure in its tails and lidot!:^. - i _er i2_ :_zr_ ll l 5_e*ize, azi dawn horse. * cc “ 2. r^e :ar of bcs cdis. “3. An old ziurr tdlin* :: TTQ. xl'Tc to fZVT TT-|- — , se:ce of i r^ g fe iLti-jG, to hszeG to the dissGt nzse in tbs ^hesrra. a- view the fi hr the ox "4. hie :.zz: ■:■: fez. : 7 r > mas g (which is by raring & Hole tali ax the top of a cere of &xr, into which all are to cat whs a kr fee, and whoever ckscs the tail to fall their teeth, which is rezreseztei. is thepaimg). e 5. The way of cidtL “ On the offoshe side is * row of ravOkcs, with a Gothic rahisg is feet of t has : as-d at the eisesiy of this walk is iittbe etsu-or into the gardens ivoa the mai. At the other end of the walk, ife iiist to the Prince's pavfekn, is a ssiZi sezi- dide of janlxcs. “ We will now take a szrrey of the c4her puts of the zanies. “ Pkq the cfper cad of the walk list described, where we aochh: the list of the paintings, we may see a lmy narrow visca rzss to the ic<:- of the garden ; this is caikd the Druid’s or Lovers’ walk, as l vL toth sides of it are rt*w? of lofty trees* wide:, meeting at tie wt' and inter- «h»ngry tfe.Z boughs. form a de light- ful verdant caacyy. Among these trees bail! a number of fee sizzr.g-kcrds. 55>:ii as n^umsiies, blackbirds, thrushes* vfese swfe: hazrxnv ires SOcSr. eassie * Hsv snrruf Xcnrf f ~nn: vii mHf rrur Effuse* irZsa* bfaa~p** . sr fie pi*K_' ^This which res* *" Eerzizizz to the aw e, asi id rear the sase of Hl-, : , we may, by Inb^ nr the zardrm behidi a r*:ck Tisza. ferm=>l ly kfry tzees cm each side : let a reefeiar air of grazoeur 5s added to it ty three itorafid trizrzrhii arthss. The irss- * Xear the ceztre (fi the gar is 5s a gob grxvel-walk, iawi by sznteiy trees :s fas size. »’t the fezht hazi it 5s itp rrr : .-:fL~^ z by the trees whiis shade the Lords’ walk: and at the enrEcitj. the kn, 5s a beurifal si fe;.:_- - - ' . risg ware-, wii_h, wzh great jnsfere to the arfesz is reckoned a psdf. “Frrcz :«zr sitsarzs to view iris laistfr.g is slather grsTf-i-wnik that icads nr* the garde-z. fecund on the right side by a wfedsrress. asi cq the deftly rural dawns, as they are tamed, is the then « a izzz s:sare. fecei it after the isarser cf a Eccgel T bae are likewise several -sirs. fr.Zl ’ ' ' Ir • •' Kcr»d {rqahod to the izsrrrz. s r is. or-wss are oomtil with tun. azz ly iztcssrerseh with cyrress. tr, yew, cedar, az*d tulip trees. On ece of the «zis*crjoes is a stotne of cox zreat ice: ILzg seariy szr- eshe^ iz*i seateh :g a :t mere azreealve to r; 332 LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Chap. Y. On the Gtli, 7th, and 8th September, Garrick, who had in vain tried to induce Sir Joshua to quit his easel for the pleasure of hearing him recite an Ode of his own composition in honour of Shakespere, and seeing stage-faces and stage-finery in a daylight procession, celebrated his ill-advised Jubilee at Stratford-upon- Avon. Gray was more justified than those who affix satirical nicknames generally are, when he called it ‘Vanity Fair;’ and Foote’s pointed description of the failure was hardly a caricature. “ A Jubilee, as it hath lately appeared, is a public invitation circulated and urged by puffing, to go post without horses to an obscure borough without representatives, governed by a mayor rock, in an attitude listening to soft ] music. “ At the upper end of these downs is a gravel-walk, formed on each side * by lofty trees, which runs across the : gardens, and terminates them this way. I “ In this walk is a beautiful prospect j of a fine meadow, in which the obelisk ; stands. This prospect is made by the trees being opposite the grand walk i (which runs from the entrance into the j gardens), and a ha-ha is formed in the j ditch to prevent the company going into the field. At each end of this walk is a beautiful painting ; one is a building, with a scaffold and a ladder before it, which has often deceived the ( eye very agreeably ; the other is a view in a Chinese garden. “The principal part of all these charming walks form the boundaries of wildernesses composed of trees which shoot to a great height, and are all enclosed with a beautiful espalier, somewhat in the Chinese taste. “ When the music is finished, great numbers of the company retire to the pavilions to supper, and some are at- tended with French horns and other music. A curious and contemplative spectator may at this time enjoy a par- ticular pleasure in walking round the grove and surveying the brilliant guests ; the multitude of groups vary- ing in figure, age, dress, attitude, and the visible disparity of their humours, might form an excellent school of painting : and so many of our lovely countrywomen visit these blissful bowers that, were Zeuxis again to attempt the picture of Venus, it is from hence, and not from Greece, that he would borrow his image of perfect beauty. Nothing is wanting that can contribute towards the convenience of this entertainment ; everything is served in the best manner, and with the greatest readiness.” In excuse of so long a note on such a subject, I would plead the place Vauxhall filled among the amusements of that day, and the degradation into which it had fallen long before our own time. — Ed. 1769, jEtat. 46. THE STRATFORD JUBILEE. OQO ooo and aldermen who are no magistrates, to celebrate a great poet whose own works have made him immortal, by an ode without poetry, music without melody, dinners without victuals, and lodgings without beds; a mas- querade where half the people appeared bare-faced, a horse-race up to the knees in water, fireworks extin- guished as soon as they were lighted, a gingerbread amphitheatre, which, like a house of cards, tumbled to pieces as soon as it was finished.” Sir Joshua, at the Turk’s Head Monday evenings, had doubtless his sly quiet laugh at the Jubilee, which Boswell, now in the height of his Corsican fever, had attended in full Corsican costume, with Paoli and Liberty in gold letters in front of his cap. But the only actual member of the club who appeared at the Stratford mumming was Colman, who had been this year elected, with Percy, Chambers, and Topliam Beau- clerk (whose membership had lapsed from non-attend- ance, since his intrigue and subsequent marriage with Lady Bolingbroke after her divorce in 1768). Johnson, like Reynolds, had declined to attend the Jubilee, greatly to Boswell’s regret. On the 16th of October his pocket-book has the entries, “4 Mr. Boswell, 5^- Academy, 8 Club.” This was the dinner at Boswell’s lodgings, in Old Bond-street, of which the host has left us a detailed record in his Life of Johnson. The party included, besides Sir Joshua, Johnson, Goldsmith, Garrick, Murphy, BickerstafT, and Tom Davies. Boswell was still a-flutter with the delight of lionizing his hero, Paoli, who had arrived in London on the 21st of September. On the 29th he had been presented to the King; on the 10th of October Boswell 334 LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Chap. Y. had been able to gratify his cherished hope, by present- ing his Corsican to his English idol. Johnson had exchanged compliments in English against the General’s compliments in Italian, while Bozzy eagerly interpreted between them, comparing himself the while, 66 to an isthmus that joins two great continents.” At Boswell’s dinner, six days after this memorable interview, Sir Joshua figures in the recorded conver- sation only once, and then as lion’s provider to John- son. He is made to praise Mrs. Montague’s Essay on Shakspere, that Johnson may give the Queen of the Bluestockings a royal setting down, and, in this case, a well-deserved one — “ I will venture to say there is not one sentence of true criticism in the book.” But when we remember that, in the same after-dinner conversation, the great dictator maintains that the description of the temple in Congreve’s ‘ Mourning Bride ’ is finer than any passage in Shakspere, we feel forcibly how much better he was fitted to pass sentence on Mrs. Montague than to judge Shakspere, and may fairly question whether the Johnsonian contribution to Shaksperian criticism be worth more than that of the learned lady. At this dinner, for which Sir Joshua seems to have done what he seldom did — sacrificed an Academy lecture - — Goldsmith — now breaking out into great gorgeousness of feather — made his appearance (to be playfully roasted by Garrick) in the never-to-be-forgotten bloom-coloured rateen suit, with satin lining, by which Mr. John Filby, at the Harrow in Water-lane, not in vain hoped to make his name widely known. There is no hint in Boswell that reference was made in the lively talk round his table either to the Jubilee, or to Baretti’s 17G9, iETAT. 46. BARETTI’S TRIAL. 335 committal for trial at the Old Bailey on a charge of murder, though the startling incident was then but ten days old. But three days later, at Boswell’s lodgings, the Doctor, then under subpoena to attend Baretti’s trial, declared, in talking of our feeling for the distresses of others, that, though friends had risen up for Baretti on every side, not one of them would eat a slice of pudding the less if he should be hanged. The day after, Sir Joshua attended the sessions at the Old Bailey, with Dr. Johnson, Goldsmith, Garrick, Burke, and Beauclerk, to give evidence to the character of Baretti. The studious and sober Italian, who was hot and hasty, being accosted in a rude and indecent manner by a prostitute in the Haymarket on the night of the 6th, pushed the woman away. She called her bullies, who hustled the foreigner ; on which he drew a small knife, in self-defence, and warned them to keep off ; but as they pressed on him, he struck two of them, and one afterwards died of his wound. Baretti at once submitted to the constables, and was taken before Sir John Fielding. Goldsmith, who was the first of his acquaintance to learn the catastrophe, hurried to the magistrate’s office, with characteristic kindliness, to press his purse on the man who had always treated him with studied rudeness, and to accom- pany him to Tothill Fields Bridewell. Keynolds, Fitz- herbert, Burke, and Garrick, were accepted as his bail, a few days later, by Lord Mansfield. Malone tells us that, when the party went to Lord Mansfield’s house for this purpose, his Lordship, without paying much attention to the business, immediately and 336 LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Chap. Y. abruptly began with some very flimsy and boyish obser- vations on the contested passage in 4 Othello,’ “ Put out the light,” oet, provided he considers it as a school by which he is to acquire the means of perfection in his art, and not as the object of that perfection. It was practical knowledge of the world which gave the poetry of Homer and Shakspeare that supe- riority which still exists over all other works of the same kind ; and it was a philosophic attention to the imitation of common nature, which portrait- painting ought to be, that gave the Roman and Bolognese schools their superiority over the Florentine, which excelled so much in the theory of the art.” 2 Opposite Monday, January 2nd, — “ Opening of the Royal Academy ;” the first Discourse ; Tuesday, 7, Academy ; Thursday, 7, Academy ; Monday, 30th, Academy, 6. 3 To be finished, framed, and packed up. 4 Afterwards Sir Patrick, of Irish family, and large property in the West Indies and Suffolk, and a neighbour of Sir Charles Bunburv, whose sister Arabella he married. His picture is at Barton HaU ; a full-length, in red. 1769, .etat. 46. SITTERS 1769, 347 Tlr. Crottenden ; Mrs. Blake ; Mrs. Horton. February. 1 Mr. Jones ; Mr. Yonge ; Mrs. Bouverie ; 2 Miss Grimston ; Mr. Garrick ; Mr. Croft : Mrs. Croft ; Miss Newnham ; Miss Price ; Mrs. Earl ; Lady Molyneux ; Lady Mary Fox ; Miss Hickey ; Sir Watkin Williams Wynne ; Lady Ancram. March. Miss Harriet (Bouverie) ; Mr. Hope ; Lady Delawar ; 3 Mr. Conway ; Mr. Cox ; Lady Harriet Somerset ; 4 Mrs. Wilson ; Mrs. Crewe ; Mr. J ones ; Miss Fox ; Miss Harriet Powell . 5 April. 6 Mr. Burke ; 7 Miss Xorcliffe : the Duke of Dorset ; the Duchess of Douglas ; 8 Miss Gell (model) ; Lady Innis ; Mrs. Pownall ; Cap- tain Pownall ; Miss Luttrell ; * Mr. Simmons (Simmonds). May. 10 Sir James Xorcliffe (and dog) ; Lady Xorcliffe ; 11 Lady Gideon ; Lord Carlisle ; Mrs. Burke. with a hawk on his wrist, and the picture is well preserved. 1 Tuesday, 14th, 7, Academy. Sun- day, 19th, Preface (of his first Dis- course) or the catalogue. Saturday, 25th, Academy, 7. Tuesday, 2Sth, Academy. 2 For the full-length picture of her tossing her child, still at Delapre Abbey. The robe, which was once warm rose, is now chilly purple. In other respects the picture is in good condition. It has been well engraved. It is graceful in composition, though the mother’s figure is unnaturally long. 3 Mem . — “ Mr. Tomkins, landscape- painter, in Margaret Street, Cavendish Square. Lord Delawar’s lodge in the New Forest.” Was this for a picture of the lodge to be copied into the back- ground of her ladyship’s picture ? 4 Xow on the point of marriage with Sir W. W. Wynne. She is repre- sented with Sir Watkin in a full- length group. They both wear Italian costumes with masks in their hands. The picture is rather feebly painted, or may have suffered in the fire at Wynnstay. It looked flat and in- effective when I saw it in Januarv, 1862. 5 The actress, with a bird on her hand, as Leonora in the ‘ Padlock.* 6 Tuesday, 4th, 7, Academy. Satur- day, 13th, 7, Academy. Sunday, 23rd, (9) King ? 7 On a Saturday, and at one. 8 Mem. — “ To be sent to Leith by sea, care of Mr. Foot, directed to Mr. Charles Brown, writer, at Edinburgh. 9 “ When Miss Luttrell is finished, to write Mr. Luttrell, Dunster Castle, Somersetshire.” Miss Luttrell was the sister of Mrs. Horton, afterwards Duchess of Cumberland. They were sisters of Col. Luttrell, who at the time Miss Luttrell was sitting was in the full flush of his notoriety as the opponent of Wilkes at the Middlesex election on the 13th of April. Their father was Simon Luttrell, Lord Car- hampton, an Irish peer. 10 Monday, 15th, 7, Academy. Opp. Monday, May 22nd, premium, — 1st for pictures ; 2nd for Aeademys ; 3rd for plaster study. (Arrangements mak- ing for prizes at the Academy.) 11 The copy of Lady Xorcliffe is to be kept till called for. LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Chap. V. 348 June . 1 Mr. Colman ; Mr. Vansittart ; 2 Mr. Chambers ; Mr. Eoffoy ; Miss Toms ; Miss Cell (models V). July. Lady Broughton ; Lady Coni wallis ; Mr. Whetham. August . 3 Areliers ; 4 Mr. Crawford ; Sir Watkin Williams Wynne . 5 September. Lady Kerry ; Miss Goddo Miss Storr; Dr. Hawkesworth. October . 8 Mr. Professor Watson . 7 1 “ Wednesday, June 19, Foot, Dr. Last.” A visit to the Ilaymarkct to enjoy Foote’s play of ‘ The Devil on Two Sticks,’ brought out in May, 1708, but repeated this season. 2 Who sits to him at the India House. Mr. Yansittart, Mr. Scrafton, and Col. Ford were this month aj)- pointed by the East India Company Supervisors of their establishments in India, with very large authority to examine, remodel, and rectify what- ever they found amiss. They sailed in the Aurora frigate. She was wrecked off the Azores, when all on board perished. 3 Captain Torryn’s picture by the Kingston carrier in Oxford Street, that calls at the Green Man and Still, Oxford-Road; to be directed to him at Radnage, by High Wycombe, Bucks. 4 Several times. Models for his picture of Lord Sidney and Mr. Acland as archers. Now at High Clere, the Earl of Carnarvon’s. These gentle- men, when thus painted, were close friends. They had made the grand tour together, and wished to have their intimacy recorded by being thus painted on one canvas. Alas for mor- tal friendships ! They quarrelled be- fore the picture was well finished, and each declined paying for it and taking it home. Thus it came into the hands of the Earl of Carnarvon. 6 At this time a disconsolate widower. He had married on April 13th of this year Henrietta, daughter of the Duke of Beaufort, and had lost her on July the 24th. Sir W. W. was now in his 20th year, a gay, ac- complished bon - vivant, loving the arts, the friend of Garrick and Rey- nolds, and a king in his own county. He came of age in 1770, and in the ‘ Annual Ilegistcr ’ for that year (April) will be found the bill of fare for the Gargantuesque banquet at Wynnstay that celebrated the event, when 15,000 people were feasted in the park. He married again in 1771, Charlotte daughter of the Hon. George Grenville, a beautiful and accomplished woman, twice painted by Sir Joshua. 6 The following engagements, ex- tending over three months, show how much time Sir Joshua was now devot- ing to the Academy : — Monday, Oc- tober 2nd, 3, opening of the lectures. Wednesday, 4th, 7, Academy. Mon- day, 9th, 5}, lectures at the Academy. Friday, 13th, 7, Council. Monday, 16th, 5£, Academy. Monday, 23rd, 5 J, lecture ; 7, Council. Monday, Nov. 27th, Council. Wednesday, 29th, 7, Academy. December 1st, 1, pre- miums. Monday, December 4th, the King, I haveTittle doubt on Academy business ; 5£, lecture. Tuesday, 5th, Council. Saturday, 9th, Council. Mon- day, 11th, 5£, lecture (his second Dis- course) ; 7, election ; 9, student, to give the medal. Friday, 15th, 7$, Council. 7 Watson, afterwards Bishop of Llandaff, now Professor of Chemistry 1769, jetat. 46. SITTERS 1769. 349 November. Lord Robert Spencer ; Mr. Lethbridge ; Mr. Parker. December. Miss Hunter ; Miss Angelica (Kauffman) ; Lord Hardwick . 1 1770, a^tat. 47. — The political agitations of this year affected many of Sir Joshua’s friends too closely at Cambridge ; to which chair he had altogether to internal decay, been unanimously elected in 1764, “ July 10, 1769. My own picture, when he knew nothing whatever of the painted first with oil, aft(erwards) science. He was now in London, a glazed, without white, with capivi (co- ne wly elected Fellow of the Royal paiba), yellow ochre, and lake — no Society. The picture is in possession varnish.” Part of this, after “ oil,” is of his descendant, Mr. Watson, Sec. struck through with the pen, and the of the Antiquarian Society. memorandum runs, “ painted with 1 The following notes on Sir Joshua’s lake, yellow ochre, blue aud black, capi practice belong to this year : — (copaiba), and cera vem.” “April 3rd, 1769. — Per gli colori The “wax varnish” was made by cinabro (vermilion) biacca, Ultramar in dissolving wax in spirit of turpentine, e nero, senza giallo. Prima in olio ; and then used with the colours ground ultima con vernice solo e giallo.” in oil. The correction was necessary, “ The colours just named,” remarks as he had added this varnish with blue Sir C. Eastlake, “ (without yellow) and black. were mixed with oil for the first sit- 1 This is the head given to Mrs. ting(s) ; yellow afterwards added with Burke, and was the same, I believe, as mastic varnish alone.” the head at the Dilettanti, and the one On May 17 he gives what seems a in the Cottonian Library, Plymouth, minuter description of this method : — which belonged to his nephew the Dean “ On a grey ground : First sitting, of Cashel, vermilion, lake, white, black; second, “ Dr. Johnson and Goldsmith : first, ditto : third, ditto, ultramarine ; last, olio ; after, capivi with colour, but senza olio, yellow ochre, black, lake, without white ; the hand of Gold- vermilion, touched upon with white.” smith with copaiba and white.” “ Senza olio,” says Eastlake, “ is This is the head of Johnson without equivalent to with varnish only.” This his wig in the Duke of Sutherland’s last painting was a glaze. collection, of which there is a duplicate “ Mrs. Bouverie ” (finished this year), at Knole. The carnations have gone. The face senza olio, and the boy’s The Goldsmith is at Knole, and has head ; the rest painted con olio, and stood well. afterwards glazed with varnish and Mrs. Horton, con copaiba senza colour, except the green, which was giallo : giallo quando era finito de pin- glazed with oil, and then varnished, j gere, con lacca, e giallo quasi solo, e The vail (sic) and white linnen (sic) poi glaze with ultramarine, painted senza (olio). ! Here successive glazings had been The lake * in the draperies of this 1 employed, first with yellow alone, picture has flown, and the heads have then with lake, then yellow' again, lost most of their carnation. But it is then ultramarine, impossible to say -whether this is due 350 LIFE OF SIE JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Chap. V. for him to have remained indifferent to what was passing in Parliament and in the streets, even if we suppose his constitutional moderation to have extended, as it probably did, to his political opinions. Long before January the Grafton administration had begun to totter under the effect of dissensions within and assaults from without. Rockingham addresses and petitions, promoted and presented in almost every case by friends and sitters of Sir Joshua’s, praying for a dis- solution of Parliament, kept pouring in from the counties ; London mobs ran riot to the cry of “ Wilkes and Liberty the debts of Wilkes were paid by the Society of the Bill of Rights and by public subscription ; he was elected alderman for the ward of Farringdon Without in April, and entered upon his functions on his release from the King’s Bench the same month. On the 23rd of May William Beckford, the Lord Mayor, another of the painter’s early acquaintances and patrons, had startled the Court from its propriety by presuming to answer the King, after the monarch had replied to the address of the City praying for a dissolution. The terrible pen of Junius, from lacerating the minister, had in December of the preceding year been turned, for the first time, against the King in person. Most of Sir Joshua’s friends in the Grafton adminis- tration were included in the resignations of January — the Duke of Beaufort, the Earl of Coventry, the Marquis of Granby, the Duke of Manchester, Camden the Lord Chancellor, and Dunning the Solicitor-General. This defection was followed by the resignation of the Duke of Grafton before the close of the month, and the installation of Lord North in his place. 1770, yETAT. 47. POLITICAL EVENTS. 351 The session was memorable for the reconciliation of the Rockinghams, Chathams, and Grenvilles, in a united opposition against the King, his subservient Cabinet, and their venal majority, on the great consti- tutional question of the Middlesex election. The very decided preponderance of the Opposition — both in Lords and Commons — among Sir Joshua’s patrons, is curiously proved by comparing with his lists of sitters the signa- tures to the famous Peers’ protest of this year, and the names of the guests at the Lord Mayor’s Opposition balls and banquets in Guildhall. Sir Joshua could not have escaped from the question of the day, however indisposed to face political heats or to take part in political quarrels. He was the intimate, and frequent guest, as well as host, of Wilkes, the hero of the strife. At the Club he sat between Johnson and Burke. The former had lately turned pamphleteer, and in his 4 False Alarm,’ published this year, maintained the soundness of the doctrine held by Ministers and their majority, — that Wilkes’s expulsion from the house carried with it incapacity for re-election to the same Parliament. Burke was the champion of the opposite view in the House of Commons, and the author of the ‘ Thoughts on the present Discontents,’ which, after careful cor- rection and revision at the hands of the leaders of his party, saw the light in April this year. Then, too, the authorship of Junius was a question in which “ The Club ” was especially interested, and which its members must, almost perforce, have frequently discussed at their meetings. Sir Joshua was too inti- mate with Burke to share the very prevalent belief which identified him with the masked assailant of the 352 LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Chap. Y. King and the King’s friends in the ‘ Public Advertiser.’ But he himself told Malone 1 that he believed the author of the famous letters was a member of the Club — Samuel Dyer (whose portrait he painted 2 ) — and that he was assisted by both Edmund and William Burke in the composition of his letters. Sir Joshua was dili- gent, as usual, at the Councils of the Academy from the beginning of the year. At the meeting on the 9th of January, Johnson was elected Professor of Ancient Literature, Goldsmith Professor of Ancient History, and Dalton Antiquarian. On the 15tli the subjects for the gold medals were selected. 3 Whether or not the poli- tical bitterness of the period had anything to do with the absence of politicians of mark from Sir Joshua’s painting-room this year, it is certain that the number of such sitters in 1770 is unusually small. Ladies and children principally occupied his pencil. Among them was Mrs. Trecothick, wife of the intrepid alderman who succeeded Beckford, at his death on the 21st of June in this year, during his second Mayoralty. A statue was voted in Beckford’s honour, which still stands in Guildhall, with his memorable answer to the King — spoken less than a month before his death — engraved on the pedestal. The design was by Carlini, member of the Royal Academy. We know that long before 1 Prior’s ‘ Life of Malone,’ pp. 418- 419. 2 It was painted for Burke. There is a mezzotinto from it, which has been copied for the ‘ Lives of the Poets,* by mistake, for the portrait of John Dyer, author of ‘ The Fleece.’ Samuel Dyer was a man of mark even among such men as Burke, Johnson, and Reynolds. Educated for the dis- senting ministry, he was an excellent scholar and mathematician. He died in 1772 . — Ed. 3 For oil painting, HCneas stopped on the threshold by Creusa ; for bas- relief, the Rape of Proserpine; for architectural design, a nobleman’s villa. 1770, iETAT. 47. THE ‘ UGOLINO.’ 353 the close of the year Sir Joshua was already at work on his Ugolino, and the public was informed of the great work in hand. The 4 Annual Register ’ of this year contains a statement to that effect, and a translation of the passage from the ‘ Inferno ’ on which the picture is founded. But there is, further, the direct evidence of the pocket-book, which con- tains numerous entries, beginning in June, and running to the end of the year, referring to the subject by name, — sometimes “ Beggar, Hugolino,” sometimes “ Hugolino ” alone. Northcote is therefore certainly wrong in stating that the picture had been begun as a historical composition not long before it was exhibited in 1773. It may be true that the choice of the subject was determined, as Northcote says, by an observation of Burke or Goldsmith, that the head of the old model, White, which Sir Joshua had painted on a half-length canvas, was exactly suited, in expression, to the Ugolino of Dante. But I should be inclined to think that Sir Joshua had long meditated a picture on this subject, and that the idea may have been first suggested by a passage in Richardson's 4 Discourses/ the perusal of which, he used to say, made him a painter. In this pas- sage, Richardson, after giving a translation of Dante’s terrible episode and a description of Michael Angelo’s bas-relief of the scene in the dungeon, suggests that a great painter might carry the subject still further, and expatiates eloquently on its sources of effect. 1 Death was busy this year among Sir Joshua’s kindest 1 See his 4 Discourse on the Dignity, I the Science of a Connoisseur,’ p. 263 Certainty, Pleasure, and Advantage of | (edition of 1773). — Ed. VOL. I. 2 A 354 LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Chap. V. and earliest patrons. Besides Alderman Beckford, who had sat to him in 1758, the Marquis of Granby, who had abandoned all his posts and even his colonelcy of the Blues on his resignation of the Ordnance in January, died on the 11th of October; Lord Ligonier had pre- ceded him to the grave in April, light-hearted to the last moment of his long life. The same month was fatal to Sir John Oust, whom Sir Joshua had so lately painted in all the pomp and pride of the Speaker- ship ; the Duke of Argyle and George Grenville died in November. From a society vexed with political heats and struggles Sir Joshua must have been glad to with- draw to harmless gallantry and pleasant tea-table hours with the Hornecks, or Mrs. Cholmondeley, or to shilling whist and literary discussion with Colman and Goldsmith, whose portraits, as well as Johnson’s, he exhibited this year It was probably either in company with Goldsmith, or with Sir Charles Bunbury, Topham Beauclerc, Lord Robert Spencer, and others of his gayer associates of the Dilettanti Society and the Star and Garter Club, that Sir Joshua showed himself at Mrs. Cornely’s brilliant rooms in Soho Square, for which I find him noting an engagement on Friday the 30th of March ; and again for the masquerade of April 26th. On the 26th of February the Thursday Night Club, of which Sir Joshua was the most constant of members, had given a masquerade at the same rooms, which was the town’s talk for the splendour of the dresses and the beauty and distinction of the company ; but Sir Joshua 1770, jetat. 47. MASQUERADE AT MRS. CORNELY’S. 355 has not entered in his pocket-book any engagement for that night . 1 1 Here is the account of the prin- cipal characters from a magazine of the time : — “ The masquerade at Mrs. Cornely’s on Monday night, the 26th of Feb., was perhaps the most brilliant and characteristic of any ever known in this kingdom, arising from the tickets not being made transferable. The populace were so anxious to see the persons that appeared there, that several people of some credit, under the stale pretence of ‘ Wilkes and 45,’ made a point of there exhibiting them- selves in their carriages. Though the newspapers had it that their Majesties were present, we can assure the public they were not. “ The Duke of Cumberland in the character of Henry VIII. “ Lord Carlisle in the Running Footman. “ Mr. Garrick in the character of a celebrated doctor at the Maccaroni. “ Mrs. Garrick in an Italian shep- herdess. “ Lady G in the character of Night. “ A Highlander, Mr. J. R. Conway. “ A double man, half miller, half chimney-sweeper, Sir R. Philips. “ A political Bedlamite, run mad for Wilkes and Liberty, and No. 45. “ A Druid, Sir W. W. Wynne. “ A figure of Somebody. “ Ditto of Nobody. “ His Royal Highness the Duke of Gloucester in the old English habit, with a star on the cloak. “ Midas, Mr. Jones the painter. “ A gentleman and lady in the cha- racters of Tancred and Sigismunda ; their dresses were allowed to be the most elegant ever seen on a similar occasion, and said to have cost twenty thousand pounds. “ The Countess Dowager of Walde- grave, in the character of Jane Shore, wore a dress richly trimmed with beads and pearls, and was truly elegant. (A mistake : the costume, Walpole tells us, was Elizabeth Woodville’s.) “ Her Grace of Ancaster, whose taste for dress and elegance of person claimed the attention of all the com- pany, in the dress of Mandane. “ The Countess of Pomfret, in the character of a Greek Sultana, and the two Miss Frederics, who accompanied her as Greek slaves, made a complete group. “ The Duchess of Bolton, in the character of Diana, was no less than captivating. “ Lord Edgecumbe, in the character of an Old Woman, was full as lovely as his lady in that of a Nun. “ Lady Stanhope, as Melpomene, was a striking fine figure. “ Lady Augusta Stuart, as a Vestal, and Lady Caroline, as a Fille de Pat- mos, showed that true elegance may be expressed without gold and dia- monds. “ The Chimney-sweeper, Quack- Doctor, Jockey, a Friar, and Mungo, acquitted themselves with much enter- tainment to the company. “ The Earl of Upper Ossory, in the character of a Cardinal. “ The Hon. Mr. Butler, in Don Felix. “ Earl of M 1 (Mountstuart), in the pontifical habit of the Pope. “ There was one gentleman in the character of the Devil. Another was in a domino entirely made of court cards ; which made a mask in the cha- racter of Harlequin observe, ‘there was a knave in the dress,’ which the company could not see. Several ap- peared in the characters of conjurors 2 a 2 356 LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Chap. Y. The Exhibition was opened to the King on the 20tli and 28th of April, — to the public on the 24th. Before the opening, a resolution had been passed, “ that no needle-work, artificial flowers, cut paper, shell-work, or any such baubles, should be admitted.” The Incor- porated Society of Artists, as also that still exhibiting in Maiden Lane, admitted such “baubles” freely. Walpole writes to Mann in May, “We have at present three Exhibitions. One West, who paints history in the taste of Poussin, gets three hundred pounds for a piece not too large to hang over a chimney. He has merit, but is hard and heavy, and far unworthy of such prices. The rage to see these exhibitions is so great, that some- times one cannot pass through the streets where they are. But it is incredible what sums are raised by mere and witches ; particularly the Duchess of Buccleugh, in the Witch of Endor. “ Captain Watson, of the Guards, who appeared in the character of ! Adam, had his dress fitted so close, j and painted so natural, that most of | the masks, on his first approach, I started, imagining him to he really ! naked. He personated his part with great propriety and drollery. Being ! asked by a mask whether he knew 1 him, on his answering No, — ‘ What ! | not know your own son ? * says the j mask. ‘ What is there extraordinary 1 in that ?’ replied Adam ; ‘ 'tis a wise man that knows his own child* “ The gentleman who played the i patriotic Bedlamite had his mask painted so like Mr. Wilkes, that be would have passed for that gentleman in propria persona , but for the recol- j lection of his present confinement. “ What added greatly to the enter- j tainment was a duet, sung by Mrs. j Crew and Lady Almeria Carpenter, in : the characters of ballad-singers, which so entertained the whole company, that they were encored several times, which they very obligingly acquiesced in. This song was as follows : — ‘ What a motley generation, Sprung from Fancy’s teeming brain, Shifting age, and sex, and station, Swarm within this magic plain ! Sport, ye children of delusion, In the beams of mimic fun ; Well its brilliant, gay effusion May supply the absent sun. Sport, nor call it Masquerade, Where, from all detection free, Ev’ry heart is disarray’d, Whose complexion none can see. May those who (habits used to borrow) Cannot prove to-night sincere, Be, when dress'd for life to-morrow, Perfectly what they appear.’ “ About two o’clock the company began to depart, in effecting which there was a great difficulty, and at six in the morning three or four hundred remained in the rooms. Notwith- standing the interdiction of dominos, expressed in the tickets, some few ap- peared among the company.” 1770, jETAT. 47. THE EXHIBITION. .157 exhibition of anything, a new fashion, and to enter at which you pay a shilling or half-a-crown. Another rage is for prints of English portraits. I have been col- lecting them for thirty years, and originally never gave for a mezzotinto above one or two shillings. The lowest are now a crown ; most from half a guinea to a guinea. Then we have Etrurian vases, made of earthenware in Staffordshire by W edgwood, from two to five guineas, and ormoulu , never made here before, which succeeds so well, that a teakettle, which the inventor offered for one hun- dred guineas, sold by auction for one hundred and thirty. In short, we are at the height of extravagance and im- provement, for we improve rapidly in taste, as well as in the former. I cannot say so much for our genius.”] In 1770 Sir Joshua exhibited eight pictures: — Lord Sidney and Colonel Acland, as archers. Mrs. Bouverie. Miss Price, the daughter of Uvedale Price, as a little shepherdess. 1 Lady Cornwallis, half length. The Children in the Wood ; and Three-quarter portraits of Johnson, Goldsmith, and Colman. 2 He painted two pictures of the Children in the 1 Now in tlic Marquis of Salisbury’s gallery. 2 The two former portraits are those now at Knole : the latter was painted lor the Earl of Mulgrave in 1767, though not exhibited till this year. This picture having been placed by Sir Joshua near the fire in order to hasten its drying, a gust of wind, rushing down the chimney, covered the canvas with soot while the colours were still i i moist. Hence, says Northcote, its dark j tone. This may have been the picture ! and occasion of the incident men- | tioned to Jackson by Sir George 13eau- [ mont — of Sir Joshua taking a picture ! on which soot had accidentally fallen, I and, with the remark, “ a fine, cool tint,” scumbling it beautifully into the ! flesh (Haydon, ‘ Autobiography,’ iii. ! p. 390 ).— Ed. 358 LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Chap. Y. Wood. In one the babes are still living, and one is feeding the other with blackberries. Nothing can be more natural and innocent than their expressions. In the other they are dead ; or, rather, he appears to have supposed that before death they had fallen asleep, for sleep it is that he has painted, not death. The origin of this last picture was, like that of many of his conceptions, accidental. I have heard from Northcote that it was his custom on meeting a pic- turesque beggar in the street, — man, woman, or child, — to send him or her to his house, to wait his leisure in a lower apartment : and in the intervals between his appointments he would order one of them into his painting-room to sit for a fancy picture. It would sometimes happen that, while his throne was thus occu- pied, a thundering peal at the street-door would be heard ; the beggar hurried away, and some full-dressed Duchess would sail in, and seat herself in the vacated chair. “ If she could but have known,” said North- cote, “ who had just left it !” Eeynolds sometimes had no other sitters than his beggars. Northcote, who sat at work in the next room, would often hear the voice of a child, “ Sir, — Sir, — I’m tired.” There would be a little movement, another half-hour would pass, and then the plaintive repetition, lt Sir ! — I’m tired.” It happened once, as it probably often did, that one of these little sitters fell asleep, and in so beautiful an attitude that Sir Joshua instantly put away the picture he was at work on, and took up a fresh canvas. After sketching the little model as it lay, a change took place in its position ; he moved his canvas to make the change greater, and, to suit the 1770, jetat. 47. CRITICISM OX THE EXHIBITION. 359 purpose he had conceived, sketched the child again. The result was the picture of the Babes in the Wood now in the possession of Yiscount Palmerston . 1 [The Exhibition closed to the public on Saturday, May 26th; but it was kept open on the following Monday, at the King’s express wish, for a last visit of the Royal Family. The amount received at the door was 971/. 65 . We have a contemporary criticism of the pictures in a letter which Mary Moser, one of the two lady Academicians (a very clever flower-painter), wrote to Fuseli, who was now studying at Rome : — “ I suppose there has been a million of letters sent to Italy with an account of our Exhibition, so it will be only telling you w T hat you know already to say Reynolds was like himself in pictures which you have seen ; Gainsborough beyond himself in a portrait of a gen- tleman in a Yandyke habit ; 2 and Zoffany superior to everybody in a portrait of Garrick in the character of Abel Drugger, with two other figures, Subtle and Face. Sir Joshua agreed to give a hundred guineas for the picture ; Lord Carlisle half an hour afterwards offered Reynolds twenty to part with it, which the Knight generously refused, resigned his intended purchase to the Lord, and the emolument to his brother artist. (He is a gentleman ! 3 ) Angelica 4 made a very great addi- 1 It is much faded; but the ex- I pression of repose in the principal figure is admirable. — E d. 2 One of Gainsborough’s five por- j traits this year was a three-quarters of Garrick, which Walpole notes as “ very like.” He contributed, besides, a landscape and “ a book of drawings.” * See for traits of like generosity and kindliness the story of Ozias Humphrey (Northcote’s Life, vol. ii., 177).— Ed. 4 She sent — Vortigem grows en- amoured of Rowena at Hengist’s ban- quet; Hector upbraiding Paris ; Cleo- patra adorning Marc Antony’s tomb; a subject from Klopstock’s ‘ Messiah ’ — the Demoniac weeping over her mur- dered Child. — Ed. 3G0 LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Chap. Y. tion to the show ; and Mr. Hamilton’s picture of Briseis parting from Achilles was very much admired : the Briseis, in taste a V antique, elegant and simple. Coates, Dancer, Wilson, &c., as usual. Mr. West 1 had no large picture finished .... Some of the literati of the Royal Academy were very much disappointed, as they could not obtain diplomas : but the Secretary , 2 who is above trifles, has since made a very flattering compli- ment to the Academy in the preface to his Travels : the Professor of History is comforted with the success of his 4 Deserted Village,’ which is a very pretty poem, and has lately put himself under the conduct of Mrs. Horneck and her fair daughters, and is gone to France ; and Dr. Johnson sips his tea, and cares not for the vanity of the world. 44 Sir Joshua a few days ago entertained the Council and Visitors 3 with Calipash and Calipee.”] I have seen nothing on canvas more touching — not even by that master of pathos, Gainsborough — than Reynolds’s portrait of Goldsmith. It recalls all that is known of the sufferings of the tenderest and warmest of hearts. In that thoughtful, patient face the traces of a life of endurance, and the consciousness of being misunderstood and undervalued, are as unmistakable as the benevolence that is meditating how to amuse and make better a world by which it was considered a vulgar face, and which had treated the owner of it so scurvily. But Reynolds, not being one of the vulgar, 1 He showed two, — Leonidas and Clcombrotus, and a portrait of a Mother and Child. — E d. 2 Baretti. 3 The Visitors are those Acade- micians who are appointed to teach in the Life School. — E d. OLIVER GOLDSMITH. 1770, ,ETAT. 47. PORTRAIT OF GOLDSMITH. 361 saw no vulgarity in the head of Goldsmith ; and we may be sure he did not agree with many of his friends in considering him “ very like a journeyman tailor,” or with Miss Reynolds, in thinking him “ the ugliest of men.” An inferior painter might have easily succeeded in giving a vulgar look to Goldsmith, by dressing him in his plum-coloured coat, and hiding his honest, open forehead under a well-powdered wig. So painted, the portrait might have seemed to the acquaintances of Goldsmith more like than that of Reynolds. But Sir Joshua meant to paint the author of the ‘ Vicar of Wakefield ’ and of the ‘ Deserted Village,’ and not the Goldy who was laughed at by Boswell and Hawkins, and quizzed by Burke. It may be noticed that the ideal drapery of this portrait and the view of the face almost exactly correspond to the painter’s treatment of his very early portrait of his own father. This head of Goldsmith is to me the most pathetic picture Reynolds ever painted: not only because, in looking at it, I think of the ‘ Deserted Village,’ but far more because the sufferings of a whole life and of the tenderest of hearts are written in it. The Ugolino of Reynolds is agonizing ; but the portrait of Oliver Goldsmith displays a gentler, yet a rarer power, than was required to delineate the sufferings of the dying family in the terrible Tower. [The portrait of Goldsmith must have been an object of special attraction in the Exhibition just before its doors were closed. On May 26 th, after many postponements and prema- ture advertisements, had appeared his poem of ‘ The Deserted Village,’ with a dedication to Sir Joshua. 364 LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Chap. V\ and the quiet painter in sober black or brown. Sir Joshua would leave the high play and high-life jokes and scandal of the wits and beaux at the Star and Garter to enjoy the shilling rubbers and the homely company at the Devil or the Globe in Goldsmith’s society. Whenever the names of Reynolds and Gold- smith are coupled, it is for some act of kindness, some service, some word of appreciation, some deprecation of a sneer or a rebuke, on the part of Reynolds, for some expression or act of affectionate regard on the part of Goldsmith. The Doctor dedicates his poem to Sir Joshua in language speaking a sincerity of affection which dedications speak but seldom. The painter was now at work on the poet’s portrait, ennobled by such an expression of dignity and tenderness as few but him- self ever contrived to see in that oddly-compounded but most touching face. The year after this he painted his 4 Resignation a subject suggested by the 4 Deserted Tillage,’ and, when engraved, dedicated to the poet by the painter, with a quotation from the poem. Goldsmith was to have been Reynolds’s companion this year in the visit to his native Devonshire which was the relaxation of the President’s autumn. One has a pleasure in thinking how naturally such a project might have taken shape. While Goldsmith was sitting for the last touches to his portrait for this year’s Ex- hibition , 1 the two might have been talking over the 1 Goldsmith was proud of the popu- sent my cousin Mary a miniature pic- larity which made his face a matter of ture of myself, and I believe it is the public interest at this time, and shows most acceptable present I can offer. I this feeling, with his usual affectionate ; have ordered it to be left for her at naivete, in a letter to his brother I George Faulkner’s, folded in a letter. Maurice (Feb. 4th, 1770) : “ I have ! The face, you well know, is ugly 1770, 2etat. 47. HIS AFFECTION FOE GOLDSMITH. 365 new poem, which had been for some time in print, and was now on the eve of publication, their kind, gentle hearts warming with the fire of early recollections, and glowing in the rosy memories of childhood and school- boy days. “ You must come and see my native village, Doctor,” — one can fancy Reynolds saying. u Come with me this September ; we will hunt and shoot, and be merry among my old friends. I will show you there, at Plympton — 4 The shelter’d cot, the cultivated farm, The never-failing brook, the busy mill, The decent church that tops the neighbouring hill.’ — We will climb the castle-knoll together, where often — 4 As I pass’d with careless steps and slow, The mingling notes came soften’d from below, The swain responsive as the milkmaid sung, The sober herd that low’d to meet their young, The noisy geese that gabbled o’er the pool, The playful children just let loose from school.’ ” Unluckily, when the time came for this pleasant excursion, Goldsmith was in France with the Hornecks, and Sir Joshua had to go alone. But it is Reynolds whom Goldsmith chooses as his correspondent ; to him he gossips and prattles artlessly and pleasantly, as one who knows he is safe in being natural, easy, and un- affected. His pleasant gossiping letters of their adventures in France and Flanders will be found both in Prior’s and in Forster’s Life of the poet. They are certainly not such letters as Goldsmith would have addressed to enough, but it is finely painted. I I nolds, and Colman.” This refers to will shortly, also, send my friends over Marchi’s print from Sir Joshua’s pic- the Shannon some mezzotinto prints of ture of the Doctor, then in progress, myself, and some more of my friends — Ed. here, such as Burke, Johnson, Key- | LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Chap. V. 3GG a cold, ungenial man, such as many of his critics and some of his biographers would fain make out Sir J oshua to have been. Among all Goldy’s longings to he hack with his friends at “ the Club,” there is nothing more strongly expressed than his eagerness to enjoy once more Sir Joshua’s kindly and social humour. The news of his mother’s death reached Goldsmith in Paris on his way home. The great Academy dinner to noble and distinguished guests was not instituted till the year after this, but I find that the Academicians met by themselves for a dinner on the 27th of July. Sir Joshua had made it a condition of his acceptance of the Presidentship that he should he allowed to paint portraits of the King and Queen. He seems to have been working at the pictures this year. It is a curious circumstance that on the 2nd of August he has a sitting from the Lady Mayoress, Mrs. Trecothick, at one, and leaves her to attend the King at Buckingham House. Trecothick was at this time in flagrant opposition — had been little less prominent and daring in his defi- ance of monarch and ministers than Beckford himself, or Brass Crosby, Trecothick’s successor, who, the year after this, carried his defiance as far as the Tower. Had George III. known who was the President’s last sitter on that Thursday, before his visit to Buck- ingham House, it would not have tended to further him in the royal favour. In August Sir Joshua visited York, leaving town on the 7th and returning on the 15th. He had many friends in and about the venerable city, from the Arch- bishop downwards, including the Cholmondeleys of 1770, ;etat. 47. VISIT TO YORK. 367 Howsham, the Crofts of Stillington, and the Listers, for whom he had painted many portraits. His visit may have had some connection with the hanging or retouching of some of these York portraits. It is pro- bable that he was the guest of Mason, at this time in residence at York, where he was Precentor and Canon Residentiary. Between September and October, as we find from the following extracts from his diary, Sir Joshua was in Devonshire, with his relations and old county friends, hunting, shooting, and enjoying him- self. Sir Joshua was not one of those men whom honours alter. We may be sure that, whether in the quiet country circle of the Palmers at Torrington, or in the more aristocratic but still jovial society at Saltram and Mount Edgcumbe, Sir Joshua was just what Mr. Reynolds had been — kindly, genial, sagacious, and un- pretending. What we do find new and unexpected in him, while on his Devonshire visits, is a taste for country sports and pastimes. Extracts from the Diary. “ September 7th. — Five o’clock, set out for Devon- shire. “ 8th. — Dined with Lord Pembroke ; 1 lay at Bland- ford. “ 9th, Sunday. — Dorchester, fine prospect ; Bridport, Axminster. “ 10th. — Saltram, at one. “ 11th. — Seven, hunting. 2 1 At. Wilton. 2 What would our easy-going sportsmen think of a meet at seven ? — Ed. 368 LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Ciiap. Y. “ 12th. — Ride to Plym-bridge ; three, Mount Edg- cumbe. “ 13th. — Hunting. “ 14th. — Partridge-shooting. “ 15th. — Hunting. “ 16th, Sunday. — Church, Plympton St. Mary, Bur- rington. 1 “ 17th. — Set out from Saltram, arrived at Torrington. “ 20th. — Returned to Saltram. 21st. — Hunting. “ 22nd. — Plympton. “ 23rd, Sunday.— The Dock and P.” 2 “ The following "memorandum is written with lead pencil on a blank leaf of the pocket-book : — “ Mr. Parker 3 bets Sir J oshua five guineas that he does not beat Mr. Robinson ; and ten guineas that Mr. Montagu 4 does not beat Mr. Parker ; to shoot with Mr. Treby’s 5 bullet gun at 100 yards distance ; and a sheet of paper to be put up, and the person who shoots nearest the centre wins . “ October 5th. — To dine with Mr. Mudge. “ 6th. — “ 7th. — Set out from Saltram, arrived at Torrington. “ 8th. — Dined at Mr. Palmer’s. 6 “ 9th. — Dined at Mr. Young’s. “ 10th. — Left Torrington, arrived at Exeter, and wentjto Whiteway. 1 Boringdon, the seat of the Parkers. — Ed. 2 That is, visited Plymouth Dock and Plymouth. — Ed. 3 Afterwards Lord Boringdon. — Ed. 4 i. e. Mr. Montagu Parker, Mr. John Parker’s brother. — E d. 5 Mr. Treby was the leading man at Plympton, and had probably been Sir Joshua’s schoolfellow and friend from boyhood. — E d. 6 His brother-in-law. — E d. 1770, „ETAT. 47. HIS HOUSEHOLD. 369 “ 11th. — Dined at Mamhead, Lord Lisburn. “ 12th. — Set out from Whiteway ; dined at Exeter with Bob ; 1 arrived at Axminster. “ 13th. — Salisbury — Andover. “ 14th. — Dined in London.”] x It was during this excursion to Devonshire, while on a visit at Torrington to his lately widowed sister Mrs. Palmer, 2 that Sir Joshua requested her to let him take her second daughter, Theophila, then thirteen years of age, with him to London. The request was complied with : and his niece remained with him till the end of January, 1773, when she returned to Devonshire on account of ill health. In eight months she was suf- ficiently recovered to revisit her uncle, which she did, with her sister Mary ; 3 and, from that time, with the exception of a year and a half, she remained in his house till her marriage with Mr. G-watkin. Her eldest sister Mary became also a resident in Leicester Square from October, 1773, to the end of Sir Joshua’s life, with the exception of three years, 4 during which a daughter of Mrs. J ohnson lived with him. “ The Miss Palmers,” Miss Burney tells us, “ added to the grace of his table and of his evening circles, by their pleasing manners and the beauty of their per- sons.” 5 [On the 1st of October W. Pars (landscape and figures), J. Wyatt (architect), E. Burch (modeller), 1 His brother. — Ed. 4 Between September 1774 and - Her husband had died in the 1777. — Ed. autumn of 1770. — Ed. 5 Theophila sat for a great many of 3 Afterwards Countess of Inchiquin, his fancy subjects, more particularly and subsequently Marchioness of Tho- for those in which girlish archness is mond. — Ed. the dominant expression. — Ed. 2 B VOL. I. 370 LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Chap. Y. R. Cosway (portrait), E. Garvey (landscape), E. Stevens (architect), Geo. James (portrait and figure), Elias Martin (landscape and figure), Antonio Zucclii — who afterwards married Angelica Kauffmann (classical landscape and figures), John Bacon (sculptor), and M. A. Booker (watercolour-landscape), were elected Associates. On the 1 1th of December the Gold and Silver Medals adjudged in 1769 by the Council of the Boyal Academy were distributed. 1 Cipriani was the author of the design for the medal, and the winners were — Gold Medals. — Mr. James Gandy, for the best design in archi- tecture ; Mr. Mauritius Lowe, for the best historical picture ; Mr. John Bacon, for the best model of a bas-relief. Silver Medals. — Mr. Matthew Liart, Mr. John Grassi, Mr. John Kitchingman, and Mr. Joseph Strutt, for the best drawings of an Academy figure ; Mr. Thomas Hardwicke, for a drawing of architecture; Mr. John Flaxman, jun., and Mr. P. M. Van Gilder, for the best models of an Academy figure. Against the names in this list which oblivion has swallowed may be set those of Bacon and Flaxman. The greatest English master of design in sculpture — the son of a humble modeller in the Strand — was a lad of fifteen when he won this honour. It is pleasant to think that, of the first Academy medals distributed by Reynolds, one, though but of silver, should have fallen to Flaxman. The President’s third Discourse was delivered on occasion of this distribution. 2 This 1 Those for 1770 were won by Mr. J. Strutt (oil painting) ; Mr. Thos. Bankes (bas-relief). No medal was awarded for architecture. — Ed. 2 It was not till the Council meeting of Jan. 10, 1771, that twelve chairs were formally allotted to strangers of distinction at the lectures of the Academy. — Ed. 1770 , .ETAT. 47 . HIS THIRD ‘DISCOURSE.’ 371 lecture is an expansion of one of his early papers in the 6 Idler/ on the grand style and the right imitation of nature. In it he warns the student that the mere copying of nature will never produce anything great ; that there is something higher than mere imitation ; that the great style must he the aim of the painter who would raise and enlarge the conception and warm the heart. Then he attempts to define in what this great style consists, and his conclusion is that “ the whole beauty and grandeur of the art consists in being able to get above all singular forms, local customs, particu- larities, and details of every kind.” So far as this definition means that the painter is to correct nature by herself ; to distinguish and reject accidental deficiencies, excrescences, and blemishes from the perfect and normal forms of objects, no exception can fairly be taken to it. But the President goes further. He maintains that there is a general perfection of beauty which combines all the special perfections of particular types. “ The perfection of form is not to be found in the Hercules, the Gladiator, or the Apollo, but in a figure that par- takes equally of the activity of the Gladiator, the deli- cacy of the Apollo, and the strength of the Hercules.” But where, the critic is compelled to ask, is such a figure to be found ? If found, must it not of necessity be something characterless, insipid, and essentially de- void of vitality ? I venture to think that this notion of a central type of form, to combine all the various graces and per- fections of the most opposite characters, is an imagina- 2 b 2 372 LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Chap. Y. tion.of the President’s generalizing brain, 1 and cannot be practically sought after by the student without risk of falling into that vice which is called “ academicism,” for want of a better word. The President goes on to insist upon the necessity of separating the accidental from the essential, “ of disre- garding all local and temporary ornaments, and looking only on those general habits which are everywhere and always the same.” The thoughtful reader again must ask, What habits are these ? where are they to be found ? Sir Joshua illustrates his theory of “ the neglect of separating modern fashions from the habits of nature,” by referring to the absurd effect of pictures which give to Grecian heroes the airs and graces practised in the Court of Louis XIV. But this is not enough. His argument requires for its support that we should find some means of representing Grecian heroes without the attributes and accidents of Grecian heroic life ; that we should paint Achilles, not as Homer describes him, complete in accoutrements and dress, in habits, accomplishments, and ways of life, but in some “ general ” dress and with some “ general ” accompaniments and belongings which belong to no time in particular and to all times alike. I confess that such an abstract Achilles is to me just as difficult of comprehension as Martinus Scriblerus’s abstract Lord Mayor. 1 think it must be admitted by all unprejudiced 1 We shall find him contradicting himself on this point in a later Dis- course. — Ed. 1770, ^tat. 47. THE “ GRAND ” STYLE. minds that Mr. Ruskin’s criticism 1 on this theory of Sir Joshua’s, — which makes the essential characteristic of the grand style to be the avoidance of temporary and local circumstances and precise details — is sound and searching, and that his own definition of the grand style is as much superior to that of Sir Joshua in com- prehensiveness and sound philosophy as it is in the eloquence of its expression. # Mr. Ruskin defines the grand style by four charac- teristics : — 1st. Choice of noble subject. 2nd. Introduction into the conception of the subject of as much beauty as is consistent with truth. 3rd. Inclusion of the largest possible quantity of truth in the most perfect possible harmony. 4th. Inventiveness : that is, the work must be pro- duced by the imagination. The direction of the President’s reasoning may how- ever be at once explained, and in some degree justified, by the fact that he was speaking at a time when very low and unworthy ideas on art prevailed, and when there was a tendency to prize works of minute and puerile imitation far beyond their true value. Sir Joshua’s third Discourse, if read as a protest against the undue exaltation of the petty and trivial in detail, is full of useful warning and guidance to the student. He expressly guards himself against the charge of depreciating good works in styles below the highest. “ None of them,” he admits, “ are without their merit, In his ‘ Modern Painters,’ vol. iii. cliap. i. — Ed. 374 LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Chap. Y. though none enter into competition with this universal presiding idea of the art . 1 The painters who have applied themselves more particularly to low and vul- gar characters, and who express with precision the various shades of passion as they are exhibited by vulgar minds (such as we see in the works of Hogarth), deserve great praise ; but as their genius has been em- ployed on low and confined subjects, the praise which we give must be as confined as its object. The merry- makings or quarrellings of the boors of Teniers, the same sort of productions of Brouwer or Ostade, are excellent in their kind, and the excellence and its praise will be in proportion as in their limited subjects and peculiar forms they introduce more or less of the expression of those passions as they appear in general and more enlarged nature. This principle may be ap- plied to the battle-pieces of Bourgognone, the French gallantries of Watteau, and, even beyond the exhibition of animal life, to the landscapes of Claude Lorraine and the sea-views of Yandevelde. All these painters have, in general, the same right, in different degrees, to the name of a painter which a satirist, an epigram- matist, a sonnetteer, a writer of pastorals or descriptive poetry, has to that of a poet.” We may surely ask, on this, what would be the worth of any definition of poetry which should exclude from the rank of poet Horace, Juvenal, Dryden, Theocritus, Thom- son, and Wordsworth? Sir Joshua, in fact, throughout his Discourse, confines the name of painter to the 1 Observe the looseness of this lan- I competition with “ a universal pre- guage — a school or style brought into I siding idea.” — E d. 1770, -ETAT. 47. SITTERS 1770. painter of one class of subjects only — the high histori- cal and religious : or what he calls “ the great mode of painting.” To hold this up as an object of pursuit to all students alike, whatever their bent or calibre, may be in a certain sense the best mode of dignifying the art ; but I must be excused for doubting if it be the most profitable and soundest teaching. • List cf Sitters for 1770. January. 1 2 * * Lady Barrymore ; Mr. Lee ; Mr. Luther ; Dr. Hawkesworth ; Mr. Korns : Lord Bobert Spencer: Miss Price. February. Sir Watkin Williams Wynne ; Lady Thanet (Tenet) : Lady Tyr- rel ; Lord Bomney : Mrs. Baker : Duke of Bueeleogh : Lord Abing- ton. Jf «rdL Mr. Selwyn ; Beggar Child (often); Master Conway; Miss Fox : Mr. Angelo ; Duke of Glou- cester : Mrs. O'Hara. April. Lady Molineux : Lady Carlisle: Lady Ossory : Lady Nordifi : Mrs. Parker : Sir Samson Gideon. May. Lord Westmoreland : Mrs. 1 To send Miss Gocde's picture to Mr. Smith, Park Street, Grosrenor Square. 2 “Jan. 22, 1770. Sono stabilito in maniera di dipmgere. Prime e sccondo o con olio o caprri ; gli colon. Crewe : Mr. Dyer: Master Wat- son; Miss Crewe. Jicse. Ugolino (George While - : Beg- gar (often). Beggar (often) : Miss Aufrere : Mr. Pelham : Lady Mayoress • Mrs. Trecothiek : the King. AngmsL From 7th to loth absent at York; ISth. Master Cc-nway to be finished : Mir. BrudenelL: Child (very often) : Miss Hill. Sqpiemher. From 7 th to October 14th. Sir J oshua was absent in the west. Xcrewiber and Learn her. Lady Melbourne : Lady Walde- grave; Miss Kennedy: Master Melbourne : Miss Yansittart : Child (St. John): Miss Barry- more. 5 ] solo nero ultras. e bcacei : Secoodo medesino. Ultimo. con giallo o zero e Lacca, e nero e ultram. senna bcjcca. xitoccato con peca liacoa e g'i altri colon. My own given to Mrs. Burke.” This is the portrait of himself already 376 LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Chap. Y. 1771, aetat. 48. — [The vehement political passions of the time continued still unfavourable to the arts, if I referred to in the note on the practice of 1769. Haydon remarks of this method, “ Fine proceeding and Beech ey re- marks, “ This, it seems, was his most approved method — no yellow till the last colouring.” Another note, of Feb. 6th, is descrip- tive of the same mode, with some alteration : “ Olio. 1st. Biacca e nero. “ 2nd. Biacca e lacca. “3rd. Lacca e giallo e nero, senza biacca, in capivi.” “ These are all glazing colours,” says Beechey. The method, in which Sir Joshua, when he made the first me- morandum on the 22nd of January, thought himself confirmed, but which he had already modified by the 6th of February, is very distinctly indicated. 1st painting, A modelling up of the head in black and white and ultra- marine (which last disappears in Feb- ruary). 2nd, The same colours (with lake, in February). 3rd, Application of lake, yellow, black, and ultramarine (the last abandoned in February) as a glaze, in copaiba varnish, without white, and a final re-touching with white and the other colours. Beechey observes on the first me- morandum : “ His vehicle was oil or balsam of copaiba. His colours were only black, ultramarine, and white, so that he finished his picture entirely in black and white, all but glazing — no red or yellow till the last, which was used in glazing, and that was mixed with Venice turpentine (the resin of the larch) and wax as a varnish. Take off that, and his pictures return to black and white.” In which latter state we may be pretty sure we shall find every Sir Joshua which has passed through the hands of an ordinary cleaner. But restorers of experience and principle are well acquainted with Sir Joshua’s method, and never use spirits or sol- vents on his pictures. They content themselves with restoring the surface, where it has cracked, or is flaking off. “ May, 1770. My own picture. Can- vas unprimed, cera finito con vernice.” The Dilettanti picture. In fine con- dition. “ The Nissean nymph with Bacchus, principiato con cera sola, finita con cera e capivi, per causa it cracked. Do. St. John. Offe fatta interamenti con cap. e cera. Testa sopra un fondo preparato con olio e biacca. “ Lady Melbourne. Do. sopra una tela di fondo ” (on unprimed cloth). Sir Charles Eastlake remarks on this note, — “ When wax alone was used under- neath, a more resinous medium being employed above, the surface was liable to crack. With this example ‘ Offe’s picture ’ (already described as ‘ painted with cera e copaiba solo, cinabro,’ i. e. finally glazed with vermilion) appears to be contrasted, that work having been painted with wax and copaiba from the first.” But though the surface would not crack from unequal drying, Beechey remarks that a picture “ painted in balsam of copaiba and wax, upon an oil-ground, must crack and peel off in no time.” And so it would, as the colours, with this waxy-resinous vehicle, would not incorporate with the oil- ground. The colouring matter lies in a dry film or coat on the ground, and is liable to be detached by the slightest accident. I have seen many of Sir 1771, ^etat. 48. FALLING OFF OF SITTERS. 377 may judge by the list of Sir Joshua’s sitters, which is as scanty this year as last. Probably the great rush of sitters in earlier years had .something to do with the falling off apparent about this time. Success and fortune, too, may have indisposed the painter to the intense labour of former times. He might also, as is suggested by Barry, be himself desirous, at this period, of giving less time to portraits, and more to imaginative designs. Romney had, perhaps, already risen into something more like rivalry than Reynolds had yet been destined Joshua’s pictures which have suffered from this cause ; and when so injured, it is common to have them re-lined, in which process, if the utmost care he not employed, the use of hot irons be- hind to reunite the new and old can- vases affects the wax vehicle, and destroys all the sharpness and brilliancy of the handling. Mr. Barker, of Wel- lington Terrace, St. John’s Wood, has in his possession the canvases on which Sir Joshua has tried various combina- tions of colours and vehicles, with dates of their application. Mr. Barker pos- sesses a hereditary knowledge of Sir Joshua’s methods, and I believe may safely be trusted with his pictures. Mr. Haines is another highly trust- worthy cleaner. Mr. Morell has re- lined with perfect success Lady Elizabeth Herbert and her son (at Highclere), having detached the painted surface entirely from the original canvas, to which it had hardly the slightest adhesion. Mr. Farrer’s restoration of the portrait of John Hunter, however, is perhaps the greatest triumph of care and skill in this kind. — Ed. “ June 12, 1770. Baese, senza rosso, con giallo, nero, e turchino (Prussian blue), e biacca.” “ This,” says Beecliey, “ is a land- scape of his, in possession of Sir George Phillips (now of Mr. Baring), which appears to be painted without red — I suppose from Richmond Hill.” With reference to the cracking of the Nissean nymph — which is only an example of what too often occurred with Sir Joshua’s pictures — Sir C. Eastlake quotes from Merimee (De la Peinture a l’Huile, p. 102) “ Cracks take place whenever the inner colours of the painting remain soft when the external layer is dry. Let drying-oil, for example, be thickly spread on a canvas : it will be very soon dry on its surface. Let white lead be painted upon this : the colour will sink in, and will dry the sooner, because a portion of the oil which it contained quits it to combine with the drying-oil of the inner layer. In this state of things, if the atmosphere be warm enough for the materials to ex- pand, the layer of white will crack. The expansive tendency of the oil un- derneath is greater than that of the white. When these conditions are re- versed, when the softer layer is upper- most, it will, if it contain much oil, become wrinkled or shrivelled on the surface.” — Ed. 378 LIFE OF SIB JOSHUA. REYNOLDS. Chap. Y. to encounter. Ten years before that time this remark- able painter had quitted Westmoreland and a growing country popularity for London, leaving behind him a young wife and two children. His career had been one of uninterrupted success, from painting four-guinea heads in the City to a daily-increasing fashionable con- nection at the West End, and a handsome house in Great Newport Street, within a few doors of Sir Joshua’s former abode. But it was not till Romney’s return from Italy, where he spent two years between 1773 and 1775, that he fairly divided the town wdth Rey- nolds. It is possible, however, that he was already drawing off sitters from his greater rival. He was a new man ; his prices were lower ; he was not the friend of Wilkes and Burke, and those terrible City Aldermen, who were now defying King, Lords, and Commons, till this year two of them — Brass Crosby the Lord Mayor, and Alderman Oliver — got themselves committed to the Tower for discharging the printers — who had daringly reported the debates — from arrest under the Speaker’s warrant. The great struggle of last year had been against the right claimed by the House of Commons to decide, single handed, on the capacity of membership. Two of Sir Joshua’s most intimate friends w^ere in the front of the battle. Wilkes had risen to popularity as the hero of the conflict out of doors. In the House of Commons Burke had been its Achilles. The contest of the present year was for publicity of Parliamentary proceedings, and again Burke was foremost in the hard fight, on that memorable night which won for the press the right of reporting the debates in Parliament. 1771, JET AT. 48. HIS “ OPPOSITION ” FRIENDS. 379 Wilkes was still as popular as ever, and only missed sharing the honours of martyrdom with the Lord Mayor and Alderman Oliver, by the unwillingness of ministers again to tackle so tough an adversary. Mrs. Treco thick — the Lady Mayoress of the year before — was sitting to Sir Joshua the very day that the printers of the Morning and St. James’s Chronicle, the London, Whitehall, and General Evening Posts, and the London Packet, were ordered to the Bar of the House of Commons. Even an &r-Lady Mayoress must, one may suppose, have led the conversation to this subject, when the committal of a Lord Mayor to the Tower loomed in the background of that resistance which had already been determined on in Guildhall. Mr. Baker, the steady opposition member for Plymp- ton, was one of the sheriffs of the year, and not only defended his civic brethren in the House of Commons, but visited them in the Tower, with the leaders of the Opposition — all stanch friends and patrons of Sir Joshua’s be it remarked — the Dukes of Manchester and Portland, the Marquis of Rockingham, Earl Fitz- william, Lord King, Admiral Saunders, Admiral Kep- pel, Mr. Dowdeswell, and Mr. Edmund Burke. It was the lawyers whom Sir Joshua visited, entertained, and painted — Glynn, and Lee, and Dunning — who moved for the Habeas Corpora of the imprisoned Aldermen, when the legality of their detention was argued before Lord Chief Justice De Grey. It was Alderman Wilkes, his old friend, who took the leading place in the civic councils while the Lord Mayor was in the Tower, and helped to swear in the grand jury who found true bills against the messengers of the House of Commons 380 LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Chap. V. for arresting the printers on the Speaker’s warrant. Is it to be wondered at, if in such a time, and standing in such intimate and friendly relations to all the pro- minent members of Opposition, Sir Joshua’s Court sitters should have become fewer, and that his recep- tion at Buckingham House should have been a chilling one ? It is true he was, at last, admitted there. This very year he was painting the King and Queen, as well as Alderman Baker and Mrs. Trecothick. He was dining with Lord Palmerston of the Admiralty, and Lord Pembroke of the Bedchamber, as well as with Wilkes the demagogue, and Burke the orator of the Opposition. But the commission for the royal portraits had not been graciously offered. It had been granted on the special request of the painter , 1 and with the understanding that, if it was refused, he could not con- tinue to hold the Presidency of the Academy. It was probably at the Palace, and in the inner circle of the King’s Friends, that the President’s political connec- tions told most against him. Outside that circle he was widely welcomed in a society which included as wide divergencies of opinion as of rank and habits, — the bons vivants and connoisseurs of the Dilettanti , the wits, opera-managers, and masquerade-givers of the 1 “ The arts and sciences, I find, are j at variance, as we prophesied they soon would he. The President Rey- nolds, I am told, has desired to resign ; that the King sent to him, and in- sisted on his continuing. Reynolds returned that he owed his Majesty the duty of a subject, but no more ; and that, as his Majesty had never sat to him, as he had to many others, he | desired to adhere to his resolution. The King then said he would sit to him ” (J. Sharp to Garrick, 1769). I have no doubt that this anecdote con- tains much misrepresentation ; but that the substantial fact that Reynolds made the King’s sitting to him a sine qua non of his holding the Presidency is true. — Ed. 1771, 2ETAT. 48, REMOVAL OF THE ACADEMY. 381 Thursday-night Club, the blues in Mayfair, and the men of letters at the c Turks Head.’ On the 14th of January the Royal Academy met for the first time at their new apartments in Somerset House. They were in the part added to the old man- sion of the Protector by Inigo Jones, and faced the river, from which they were separated by a garden. The Duke of Cumberland, 1 the dullest and least reputable of the King’s brothers, just now in great disgrace, owing to his scandalous intrigue with Lady Grosvenor, was present, with several of the nobility. The new apartments included lodgings for the keeper, as well as the library, schools, and council-room of the Academy. But their exhibitions were still held in Pall Mall. Sir Joshua still continued to give the most regular attend- ance both at the lectures and the council. A very frequently recurring employment of his Monday even- ings, about this time, is a dinner at four, often with Goldsmith ; then the Academy lecture at half-past five, followed by a council meeting at seven, and after that an adjournment to the Club ; at which he seems to have continued the most constant of members. It is an evidence of his equanimity and inoffensiveness, as well as of his kindly nature, that we never hear of any cloud or coldness between Sir Joshua and any other member of the club, like those which gathered in turn between Johnson and Garrick, Johnson and Warton, Johnson and Burke, Goldsmith and Garrick, Garrick and Colman. In all these quarrels, whether more or less serious, Reynolds was the peacemaker ; and his 1 He had probably become acquaint- | still censee Mrs. Horton, of whom more ed with Sir Joshua through his Duchess, | hereafter. — Ed. 382 LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Chap. Y. house was chosen as the neutral ground for the belli- gerents to draw up their treaties of peace. It is amusing to find Walpole, about this time, taking in hand to teach Sir Joshua. Mr. Coxe had just brought him Patch’s engravings from Masaccio’s designs. Wal- pole did not remember the originals. He was tran- sported with the nature, dignity, and truth of this precursor of Raphael. Enamoured of his treasure, he tells Mann he is expecting Sir Joshua (“our best painter ”), whom he has sent for, to see some wonderful miniatures he has just bought, and these heads of Masaccio. He thinks they may give Reynolds such lights as may raise him prodigiously. He did not know that Reynolds, unlike^ himself, did remember the originals ; that he had noted and admired them, nine- teen years before, on his way back from Rome. As sitters were less numerous this year, dinners, and other engagements both at home and abroad, seem to have been more frequent. It is a pity that Sir J oshua never records the names of his own guests ; but his parties were so much swelled by invitations given on the spur of the moment, that it would have been im- possible for him to have set down beforehand more than the nucleus of his scrambling and unceremonious, but most enjoyable dinners. We are so accustomed to read and think of Sir Joshua as a man of courtly, nay, studiously polite, manners, that we are hardly prepared for the description given of his dinners — a few years later than this — by one who had often partaken of them — John Courtenay , 1 the member for Tam worth. 1 A prot£g6 of Sir Joshua’s friends I who brought him into parliament for Lord Thanet and Lord Townshend, | Tam worth in 1780. He was a man 1771, jETat. 48. HIS DINNERS. 383 The table prepared for seven or eight was often made to hold twice the number. When the guests were at last packed, the deficiency of knives, forks, plates, and glasses made itself felt. Every one called as he wanted for bread, wine, or beer, and lustily, or there was little chance of being served. Courtenay’s experience, it must be remembered, dates after the careful days of Miss Reynolds. There had once, he says, been sets of decanters and glasses provided to furnish the table, and enable the guests to help themselves. These had gone the way of all glass, and had not been replaced. But though the dinner might be careless and inelegant, and the servants awkward and too few, Courtenay admits that these shortcomings only enhanced the singular pleasure of the entertainment. “ The wine, cookery, and dishes were but little attended to, nor was the fish or venison ever talked of or recom- mended.” Amidst the convivial animated bustle of his guests, Sir Joshua sat perfectly composed ; pro- tected partly by his deafness, partly by his equanimity ; always attentive — by help of his trumpet — to what was said, never minding what was eaten or drunk, but leaving every one at liberty to scramble for him- self. Peers temporal and spiritual, statesmen, physi- cians, lawyers, actors, men of letters, painters, musicians, made up the motley group, and played their parts, says Courtenay, “ without dissonance or discord.” Dinner of reading, wit, and ready oratory; was successively Secretary and Sur- veyor of the Ordnance, and a Lord of the Treasury. His sarcastic and un- scrupulous style was very telling in the House of Commons. He lived with the wits and literati, and gave this description of Sir Joshua’s dinners to Sir James Macintosh, by whom it was published in a preface to Courte- nay’s * Poetical Review of Dr. Johnson’s Character, Moral and Literary.’ — Ed. 384 LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Chap. V. was served precisely at five, whether all the company had arrived or not. Sir Joshua never kept many guests waiting for one. whatever his rank or conse- quence. “ His friends and intimate acquaintance,” concludes Courtenay, “ will ever love his memory, and will long regret those social hours, and the cheerful- ness of that irregular convivial table, which no one has attempted to revive or imitate, or was indeed quali- fied to supply.” Is it possible to believe that the man who thus entertained was a cold and ungenial being, equable, chiefly because he felt nothing and cared for nobody ? I think we may take Goldsmith’s affection, and the Leicester Square dinners, if we had no other evidence, as conclusive against this theory of Sir Joshua’s character. But it is easy to conceive the constant worry which a man with these ideas of a dinner-party, and a fidgety, notable, anxious woman like his sister Frances, must have caused to each other. And we may readily understand — without reflection on either brother or sister — that coldness in their way of living with each other which so struck Northcote, fresh from a narrow but most cordial family circle at the fireside of his father, the honest watchmaker of Plymouth. For, as Courtenay has opened the door of the Leicester Fields dining-room on a company day, Northcote about this time introduces us to the regular life of master and pupils at 54, Leicester Fields. During the spring Sir Joshua, when sitters were unfrequent, seems to have occupied himself much in painting fancy subjects. There are many entries in 1771, ^ETAT. 48. HIS MODELS. 385 the pocket-book of “ boy/’ and “ beggar,” and “ child,” which it is not always easy to refer to the extant pic- ture in which such sittings resulted. He was certainly at work on some of his many boy-subjects engraved between this year and 1777 : as the boy with a port- folio, at Warwick Castle ; the Cupid as a link-boy, and the boy Mercury with a purse in his hand, at Knole. His favourite boy-model — from whom he painted his infant Samuel, the reading boy in crimson, the boy with a portfolio, and others — was a lad, Mason tells us, 1 of about fourteen, “ not handsome, but with an expression in his eye so very forcible, and indicating so much good sense, that he was certainly a most excellent subject for the pencil.” The lad had been left an orphan, with three or four brothers and sisters, whom he taught in succession, as they were able, to make cabbage-nets, by the sale of which the little family gained a livelihood. Sir Joshua’s love of nature led him to seek for models constantly — where Flaxman sought them — among the ragged vagrants of the streets. The painter found in these as fine suggestions of colour as the sculptor of grace ; and for the same reason — they looked at what they saw with the appreciative eye. It was thus Sir Joshua had picked up his famous original of Ugolino — George White, an Irishman, once a paviour, then a beggar, converted by Sir Joshua into a professional model. All the painters were soon fighting for him, but none turned him to such account as Sir Joshua. He exhibited White’s head this year for the first time 1 In his 1 Anecdotes of Sir Joshua,’ 1 Aston Rectory (J. Russell Smith, published by Cotton, from a MS. at! 1859 ). — Ed. VOL. I. 2 c 380 LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Chap. Y. — probably the very study which Burke or Goldsmith declared so suitable for Ugolino. Besides dinner engagements with his old friends Goldsmith, Burke, Dr. Warton from Winchester (who never failed to visit London at Christmas time), Mr. Payne, Mr. Lock (the son of William Lock, Esq., of Norbury Park, himself a painter of no mean ability, and the patron of painters), Mrs. Cholmondeley, Lord Melbourne, Lord Palmerston, Mr. Parker, Lord Dela- war, Colman, Garrick, Mr. Fitzherbert, Mr. Pigot, &c., I find frequent appointments with a new acquaintance of this year, Major Mills, whom Cumberland, in his sardonic way, describes as “ collecting about him a considerable resort of men of wit and learning, at no other expense on his part than of the meat and drink which they consumed. Having been town-major of Quebec, he took the title of a field officer ; and having been squire to a Knight of the Bath on the ceremony of an installation, he became Sir Thomas and a Knight of the Bath himself.” This sneer is characteristic, con- sidering that Cumberland — as he acknowledges himself — owed to the gentleman thus described his first intro- duction to the very pleasant society which used to dine on stated days — sometimes at the British, some- times at the St. James’s, Coffee-house, and which in- cluded Foote, Reynolds, Fitzherbert, Goldsmith, Gar- rick, Macpherson, Doctors Carlisle, Robertson, and Beattie (during their visits to London), Caleb Wliite- foord, and Edmund and William Burke. This society was a sort of succursale to the Gerrard Street Club, less limited in numbers, and admitting new guests from time to time. It was out of an occurrence at one of 1771, ^tat. 48. DR. JOHNSON’S TEA-DRINKING. 387 their meetings, a little after this time, that Goldsmith’s delightful poem of 4 Retaliation’ took its rise. There is a dinner engagement at Mrs. Cumberland’s, in May, which may have been the very occasion, recorded by the tetchy dramatist, when Sir Joshua, venturing to remind Johnson that he had had eleven cups of tea, drew down on himself the reprimand, “ Sir, I did not count your glasses of wine, why should you number up my cups of tea ? ” and then laughing in perfect good humour, he added, “ Sir, I should have released the lady from any further trouble, if it had not been for your remark ; but you have reminded me that I want one of the dozen, and I must request Mrs. Cum- berland to round up my number.” “ When he saw the readiness and complacency with which my wife obeyed his call, he turned a kind and cheerful look upon her, and said, ‘ Madam, I must tell you, for your comfort, you have escaped much better than a certain lady did awhile ago, upon whose patience I intruded greatly more than I have done upon yours ; but the lady asked me for no other purpose but to make a zany of me, and set me gabbling to a parcel of people I knew nothing of. So, Madam, I had my revenge of her, for I swallowed jive-and-twenty cups of her tea, and did not treat her with as many words.’ ” “ I can only say,” concludes Cumberland, “ my wife would have made tea for him as long as the New River could have supplied her with water.” From the opening of Parliament in January, till its prorogation in May, the struggle both in Lords and Commons, and the excitement out of doors, never ceased. It was fed by the discussions as to the pro- 2 c 2 LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Chap. Y. OOO ooo . vince of juries in trials for libel, the arrest of the newspaper printers for publishing the debates, and the defiance by the civic magistrates of both Royal pro- clamation and Speaker’s warrant. It culminated in the committal of Crosby and Oliver to the Tower, after riots in which Charles Fox and his father narrowly escaped being torn in pieces, and Lord North was only saved from the mob by Sir William Meredith and another Opposition member. Sir Joshua took refuge as he best might from this war of parties in private society, and in his many clubs — the Turk’s Head (which still met on Mondays, but was soon after this changed to Fridays), the Devonshire (generally on Thursdays), the Eumelian (founded by Dr. Ash, its eponymus , and held at the Blenheim, in Bond Street), the Thursday night at the Star and Garter, and (on alternate Sundays) the Dilettanti. Nay, he was not satisfied even with all these clubs. Beauclerk, writing to Lord Charlemont two years after this, declares “ that Sir J oshua is ex- tremely anxious to be a member of Almack’s.” This may have been the club of both sexes founded in 1770, 1 on the model of the men’s club at White’s. If so, Sir Joshua’s anxiety to be a member may be explained by the fact that the patronesses were all sitters and acquaintance of his, some of them his very intimate friends as well as the most charming women of their time, — as Lady Pembroke, Mrs. Fitzroy, Mrs. Meynell, Lady Molyneux, Miss Pelham, and Miss Lloyd. High play, and very late hours, were as much the fashion at the Ladies’ Club as at the gaming club in the same 1 Walpole to Montagu, May 6, 1770. I find Sir Joshua attending the Ladies’ Club in 1777 . — Ed. 1771, iETAT. 48. HIS CLUBS. 389 house, which had taken the pas of White’s, and at which the maccaronis were now losing their five, ten, fifteen, and twenty thousand a night at faro and hazard. Wal- pole tells us of Lord Stavordale losing eleven thousand there, then winning it back by one great hand, and swearing a great oath, “ Now, if I had been playing deep , I might have won millions.” Charles Fox, — now a Lord of the Admiralty, and one of the fiercest oppo- nents of Burke, and most strenuous upholders of the right of the Commons against the Lords — shone as much at Almack’s hazard-table as in the House of Commons . 1 Here Gibbon spent much of the leisure left him by his boobs and the Board of Trade. It may have been to this club that Sir Joshua was anxious to belong. It was not exclusively composed of idlers and gamblers, and many of his intimates w r ere among its members. When not at his almost nightly clubs, or in private society, Sir Joshua might be met at Mrs. Cor- nely’s or the Opera House masquerades, at Vauxhall, or at the new winter Banelagh, after the opening of the Pantheon, in Oxford-street . 2 These places of amuse- 1 “ The young Cub has won near 20,000?. at Newmarket races (Oct. 1771). The Grand Defaulter's cele- brated cub spent, not long ago, a whole week at the gaming-table. He allowed himself no respite but when he went home to get a clean shirt. What a hopeful legislator! He is a worthy companion to his friend and confidant — S(andwich), who administered, with all the forms of religious ceremony, the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper to a dog. Such are the men who contend for undefined privileges, and send the I magistrates of London to the Tower ! ” | (‘Oxford Mag.,’ April 1771.) The Grand Defaulter is Henry Fox, Lord Holland ; his “ Cub,” C. J. Fox. — Ed. 2 The wonder of the time. “ Ima- gine Baalbec in all its glory,” exclaims Walpole. “ The pillars are of arti- ficial giallo antico : the ceilings, even of the passages, are of the most beau- tiful stuccos, in the best taste of gro- tesque : the ceilings of the 1 ball-rooms and the panels painted like Baphael’s Loggie in the Vatican : a dome like | the Pantheon, glazed. It is to cost 50,000?.”— Ed. 390 LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Chap. Y, ment were never more thronged than during this stormy time, till they scandalised straitlaced people and inter- fered with each other’s profits. Even fashionable Mrs. Comely was attacked by the informers, and quite a little war now raged round Carlisle House, into the secret springs of which Horace Walpole, as usual, gives us a peep. Mr. Hobart, Lord Buckingham’s brother, was at this time manager of the Opera. Last year he had affronted the singer Gfuadagni, by preferring the Zamperini, his own mistress — whom we have seen entering herself in Sir Joshua’s pocket-book us Cicchina — to the singing- hero’s sister. The Duchess of Northumberland, Lady Harrington, and some other great ladies, espoused the cause of the singer, and without a licence set up an opera for him at Madame Comely’ s. This lady had commenced her career as a singer by the name of the Pompeiati. She then became the “ Heidegger of the age,” and presided over the diversions of the ton . Her taste and invention in pleasures and decorations are described as singular. She took Carlisle House in Soho- square, enlarged it, and established assemblies and balls by subscription. At first they scandalised, but soon drew in both righteous and ungodly. She went on building, and made her house a fairy palace, for balls, concerts, and masquerades. Her operas, which she called “ Harmonic Meetings,” were splendid and charm- ing. Mr. Hobart’s subscription began to fall off, and the managers of the theatres were alarmed. To elude the law, she pretended to take no money, and had the assurance to advertise that the subscription was to pro- vide coals for the poor, for she had always courted the 1771, jbtat. 48. MRS. CORNELY’S MASQUERADES. 391 mob with success. She then declared her masquerades were for the benefit of commerce. At last Mr. Hobart informed against her, and the Bench of Justices, “ less soothable by music than Orpheus’s beasts,” pronounced against her. Her opera was quashed, and Guadagni, “ who governed,” says Walpole, “ so haughtily at Yienna, that, to pique some man of quality there, he named a minister to Tenice,” was not only fined, but was threat- ened with Bridewell ; “ which chilled the blood of all the Caesars and Alexanders he had ever represented ; nor could any promises of his lady-patronesses rehabili- tate his courage.” “So for once” concludes Walpole, “ an Act of Parliament goes for something.” In spite of informations, however, Mrs. Comely’ s masquerades went gaily on, in February, April, and May — so long indeed as the sitting of Parliament kept people of fashion in town. For these amusements were fashion- able in the highest degree. When we read of Sir Joshua and Goldsmith frequenting them, we should remember that even stern Doctor Johnson defended Yauxliall and went there ; and that, as he told Boswell, he neither thought a masquerade evil in itself, nor very likely to be the occasion of evil, though he admitted that, as the world considered it a very licentious relaxa- tion of manners, he would not have been (as Bozzy had been in Edinburgh) “ one of the first masquers in a country where no masquerades had been before.” And not only were masquerades in those days fre- quented by the best company, but they were really amusing . 1 The masquers kept up their characters, and 1 The wit might be coarse some- I seems rather ghastly. At one of the times, and the humour occasionally | April masquerades this year, one 392 LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Chap. Y. the loveliest women of the court — and the Phrynes who rivalled them in splendour and profusion — displayed themselves in the most brilliant and ingenious costumes. A painter was especially excusable for going where he could study such living and moving pictures. One masqued ball given by Sir Joshua’s Thursday-niglit club, on the lltli of February this year, cost one thou- sand guineas. At others, at Carlisle House or the Opera House, in April, I find among the belles Sir Joshua’s pretty sitters, the inseparable friends Mrs. Crewe and Mrs. Bouverie, dressed as young fellows, the fierce smart cock of their hats much admired ; the Hornecks, “ soeurs chcirmantes , alike in dress, grace, and beauty ; ” while Mrs. Cholmondeley , 1 “ dressed as a fortune-telling gipsy with great propriety, supported her character with infinite wit and spirit.” Sir Joshua now painted his best portrait of Mrs. Abington, who had pretensions to the character of bel esprit , as well as pretty woman and charming actress ; and who, in the former character, used to keep front places for the club on her benefit nights. Another queen of the theatre who this year sat to him was masque, we are told, gave very high offence to the ladies. He appeared as a corpse, in a shroud and walking coffin, decorated with all its solemn ornaments. On the front was pasted the following printed inscription : — “ Mortals, attend ! this pale, unseemly spectre Three moons ago was plump and stout as Hector : Cornely’s, Almack’s, and the Coterie, Caus’d in the bloom of life the change you see. Oh, shun harmonic routs and midnight revel, Or you and I shall soon be on a level.” “ The coffin was cut behind in such a manner that he could sit down, which he did from half-past eleven to three ; soon after which he retired, leaving the coffin — which was made of paste- board, with papier-mache nails and ornaments — in the outer room, where the bear left his skin.” — E d. 1 Wife of the Hon. and Rev. George Cholmondeley — Peg Woffington's sis- ter — the witty, vivacious, rattling, good-hearted woman, whose parties Sir Joshua seems to have relished more than stately Mrs. Montague’s, or scat- terbrained Mrs. Vesey’s. — Ed. 1771, iETAT. 48. LADY WALDEGRAVE— MRS. HORTON. 393 Mrs. Baddeley, more celebrated for her beauty and gallantry than for her wit or professional skill. Her picture represents the most voluptuous of faces, with large melting dark eyes and full rosy lips. The beauty is caressing a cat ; the cat plays with a tress of soft hair which has fallen over the white shoulder. Cats were Mrs. Baddeley’s favourite pets, and the one in her picture is no doubt a portrait. This beautiful woman took to laudanum, and died in misery at Edinburgh in 1784. Lady Waldegrave, an old friend and sitter, re- appears this year in unfaded loveliness. Rumour was now busy with her name. She was living in an equi- vocal relation with the Duke of Gloucester ; scandal- mongers said, as his mistress ; those who knew her best maintained, as his wife. And so it was ; they had been married since September, 1766 ; though the marriage was not notified to the King till September, 1772 ; and their eldest child, the Princess Sophia-Matilda — so beautifully painted by Sir Joshua — was born in May, 1773. The Duchess probably sat to Sir Joshua this year for the finishing touches of a portrait intended for the Duke. Another lady of whom Sir Joshua had lately painted a beautiful portrait also took rank this year among the Royal Duchesses. This was Mrs. Horton, the widow of a Staffordshire gentleman, and sister of Colonel Luttrell, notorious as the opponent of Wilkes for Middlesex. The Duke of Cumberland, — at this time as odious as his successor in the title, and for very similar reasons, — had fallen in love with the fascinating young widow of twenty-four. “ She had the most amorous eyes in the world,” says Walpole, 394 LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Chap. Y. “ and eyelashes a yard long, was coquette beyond mea- sure, artful as Cleopatra, and completely mistress of all her passions and projects.” The Duke went off with her to Calais in November, and from there informed the King of his marriage. Among the rich collection of pictures by Reynolds at Barton is one representing a young and handsome woman, with aquiline features, marked by the tension of anxiety. One hand is raised and holds a handkerchief. The dress is a rich robe of flowered scarlet and silver brocade, worn over an inner vest of bright colours, with a shawl of green and gold round the waist. It looks like the portrait of an actress; but the veiled look of pain does not belong to the stage; It is meant, I believe, to tell a tale of real and prolongued suffering. The picture was finished this year, and is con- nected with a curious and sad story. Miss, or Mrs., or Polly Kennedy, — for the lady was notorious by all three names, — was one of the Phrynes of that debauched time. She was of Irish family, and had two brothers, Matthew and Patrick, young men who had risen, by their sister's help, from low estate — a contemporary magazine says they began life as alehouse waiters — to something sufficiently like gentility to give them ac- quaintances in the set to which their sister's admirers belonged — Sir Charles Bunbury, the St. Johns, Lord March, Lord Robert Spencer, Grilly Williams, Lord Palmerston, George Selwyn, and others of Sir Joshua's gayer intimates. The Kennedy s were mixed up in a drunken riot in Westminster, which resulted in the death of one Bigby, a watchman ; the brothers were recognised, taken up, and on the 23rd of February, 1771, .ETAT. 48. THE KENNEDYS. 395 1770, tried, found guilty of the murder, and sentenced to execution. The evidence that fixed the fatal blow on the Kennedys seems to have been weak ; and though, legally, all who were taking part in the riot were parti- cipating in the death of the watchman, and liable to the charge of murder, one cannot but feel sympathy with the efforts which Miss Kennedy at once set about making among her titled admirers to save her brothers. There was no time to be lost; sentence had been passed on Friday, and execution was ordered for Monday, as the usage then was. Lord Robert Spencer, Lord Carlisle, Henry St. John, Horace Walpole, were all appealed to, and all went to work in behalf of the Kennedys ; the King was petitioned ; the ladies of the . court set in motion about the Queen ; the secretary of state, Lord Rochford, was besieged by friends and acquaintance. A respite was obtained during his Majesty’s pleasure. On the 22nd of March it was announced that the Ken- nedys had received the King’s pardon, on condition of being transported for life ; but this was premature, for on April the 12th, when the report was made to his Majesty of the prisoners under sentence of death in Newgate, we find that Patrick Kennedy was ordered for execution, while the other brother was sent on board the convict ship for Maryland. Here the Earl of Fife tells Selwyn 1 he found him oh the 28tli of April, “ chained to a board, in a hole not above sixteen feet long, more than fifty with him, a collar and padlock about his neck, and chained to five of the most dreadful creatures I ever looked on.” Even with one brother 1 ‘ Selwyn Correspondence,’ vol. ii. p. 389. 396 LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Chap. Y. ordered for execution, and the other in this plight, Miss Kennedy did not despair. J The ship sailed with its miserable freight, hut in the Downs was brought to by the officers with a Secretary of States warrant demanding the body of Matthew Ken- nedy. This warrant had been issued on an appeal of murder by Ann Bigby, widow of the murdered man. The case had by this time become almost political — a struggle between the City and the Bill of Rights Club to hang the men, and the Court friends of their sister to save them. On the 29th of May Matthew Kennedy again stood at the bar of the King’s Bench, and, on evidence given of the widow’s declaration, was committed to the King’s Bench prison, pending the argument on the appeal. He appeared - — says a contemporary account — in double chains, in a blue coat with a handkerchief about his neck, and looked greatly dejected. The declaration was against both brothers. The widow was present with one of her principal witnesses, a waterman’s boy, who deposed at the trial that he had been offered 100/. to keep out of the way. Lord Spencer, Lord Palmerston, George Selwyn, and several persons of distinction, friends of the unhappy prisoners, were likewise present. The Bill of Rights Society clamoured for the blood of the brothers ; Junius thundered about the mercy of a chaste and pious prince extended cheerfully to a wilful murderer, because that murderer was the brother of a common prostitute. But the “common prostitute” was a sister, and persevered. On June the 15th, the first day of term, the Kennedys were brought before Lord Mansfield, to take their trial for murder, a second time , 1771, JETAT. 48. THE KENNEDYS. 397 on the appeal of the widow Bigby; but an omission of form in the pleadings led to an adjournment of the case. The City and the Bill of Bights Society cla- moured louder than ever. Still the indefatigable sister strove and wept; and gave or refused her favours, as influence on her brothers’ behalf was promised or with- held. On the 6th of November the brothers were once more brought to the bar to plead to the widow’s appeal of murder. But the woman did not appear, and suffered nonsuit. She had been bought off. An evening paper of the time says “ that when she went to receive the money [350/.] she wept bitterly, and at first refused to touch the coin that was to be the price of her husband’s blood; but being told that nobody else could receive it for her, she held up her apron and bid the attorney who was to pay it sweep it into her lap.” The proceedings by appeal had probably been managed by Miss Kennedy’s advisers with a view to this upshot. We hear nothing more of the brothers till the 11th of April in the present year, when they were placed at the bar and informed that his Majesty had extended his mercy to them on condition that Matthew should be transported for life ; and Patrick, who had been twice ordered for execution, for fourteen years. Miss Kennedy appears twice in Sir Joshua’s pocket-book as a sitter during this year, for her so full of suspense and agony. The entry of 1770 is on the 14th of November, a week after the widow had accepted her hush-money; that of 1771, on the 16 th of January, when her brothers were still in prison, but when she knew the shadow of the gallows no longer hung over them. Her picture was painted for Sir Charles Bun- 398 LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Chap. V. bury, and I cannot but think that there is a designed trace of the suffering and struggle of these years in the expression of the handsome features. With reference to this picture Sir Joshua wrote to Sir Charles Bun- bury : — “ Dear Sir, « s ep t. 1770. “ I have finished the face very much to my own satisfaction. It has more grace and dignity than any- thing I have ever done, and it is the best coloured. As to the dress, I should be glad it might be left un- determined till I return from my fortnight’s tour. When I return I will try different dresses. The Eastern dresses are very rich, and have one sort of dignity; but ’tis a mock dignity in comparison of the simplicity of the antique. The impatience I have to finish it will shorten my stay in the country. I shall set out in an hour’s time. “ I am, with the greatest respect, “ Your most obliged servant, “ J. Reynolds.” 1 On St. George’s day (23rd April) the first annual dinner of the Royal Academy was presided over by Sir Joshua. The company comprised the Professors of the Academy, and twenty-five guests invited from the great officers of the Court, the Ministers, and the most distinguished men of the day. Walpole has 1 I owe this letter to the courtesy of Sir Charles Bunbury, whose house at Barton, besides its wealth of pictures by Sir Joshua, abounds in records and relics of his time, and is associated with some of his most interesting friends and contemporaries. — Ed. 1771, ^tat. 48. THE EXHIBITION CATALOGUE. 399 recorded one recollection of the conversation, — Gold- smith’s praises of the Rowley poems, then exciting the wonder of the town, for which he was laughed at by Johnson. It was in the course of this conversation that Walpole first learnt, to his equal surprise and concern, that Cliatterton had committed suicide. The Exhibition Catalogue of this year is headed with an excellently chosen motto from Pliny : — “ Sum ex iis qui mirer antiquos ; non tamen, ut quidam, temporum nostrorum ingenia despicio. Neque enim quasi lassa et effseta natura, ut nihil jam laudabile pariat.” Con- tempt of contemporary English artists was the great stumbling-block in the way of our art at this time ; and Reynolds deserves his place in our school by nothing more than by the blow he struck at this prejudice, both by his life, his pictures, and his discourses.] Sir Joshua this year exhibited six pictures : — Venus chiding Cupid for learning to cast accounts . 1 A Nymph and Bacchus . 2 1 “ Charming, but the drawing faulty: better coloured than usual,” says Wal- pole. Cupid snivels, with the back of one hand to his eye, while in the other he has a scroll inscribed with “ £. s. d” and “ Pinmoney.” A brother Cupid laughingly contrasts the point of one of his own arrows with the blunt gold- tipped shaft of his little brother, whom Venus is scolding. The picture is at Lord Charlemont’s, in Dublin. — Ed. j Cupid never did learn to cast ac- counts. Venus must have been de- ceived by one of the many impostors who so frequently appear in the shape of her son. 2 Not the Nymph painted from Miss Hartley, the actress. That was ex- hibited in 1773. The present picture is the one sold at the dispersion of Mr. Allnut’s gallery at Clapham this year. The nymph sits at the mouth of a cave overgrown with vine-leaves and clus- ters, one of which she squeezes into the mouth of the laughing, crowing, kick- ing infant Bacchus. The goat Amal- thea stands by, and a cup and thyrsus lie in the foreground. The colour is rich and glowing, the light and shade effective, and the composition graceful, but the head of the nymph is less happy than usual, or has suffered. The child is beautiful in colour, and full of life. The picture, which had cracked even in Sir Joshua’s time, has been carefully restored. — Ed. 400 LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Chap.Y. A Girl reading, 1 a portrait of liis niece, Theoplrila Palmer, absorbed in 6 Clarissa ’ (deservedly marked by Walpole as “ charming ”). An Old Man, studied from the beggar who was now sitting for Ugolino. A portrait of a Gentleman ; and A portrait of Mrs. Abington. 2 Sir Joshua dedicated the engraving of the Old Man to Goldsmith, with the title of 4 * Resignation,’ and some lines from the 4 Deserted Tillage.’ 3 [Barry had now returned from Rome, where he had been supported for five years by the noble benevolence of Edmund and William Burke, his passionate nature absorbed in the worship of the highest ideal of art, prophesying nothing but starvation and failure for himself in England, where ideal art, by living English painters, was at a discount. 44 Oh ! ” he writes in one of liis letters, 44 1 could be so happy on my going home to find some corner where I could sit down in the middle of my studies, books and casts after the antique, to paint tliis work [the Adam and Eve] and others ; where I might have models of nature when necessary, bread and soup, and a coat to cover me ! I should care not what became of my work when it was done ; but I 1 Miss Offy, now about 14, was highly offended at the title of the picture in the catalogue. “ I think,” she said, “they might have put ‘A Young Lady.’ ” The picture is still in possession of the Gwatkin family. — Ed. 2 “ Easy and very like” (Walpole). She is painted as Miss Prue (the beau- tiful picture is now at Saltram). She is sitting with her arms leaning on the chair-back, her finger at her mouth, and a mutine expression. — E d. * “ How blest is he who crowns iu shades like these A youth of labour with an age of ease ; Sinks to the grave with un perceiv’d decay. While Resignation gently slopes the way ; And, all his prospects brightening to the last. His heaven commences ere the world be past.” The picture was sold at the dispersion of Mr. Allnutt’s gallery, May, 1863. — Ed. 1771, JETAT. 48. BARRY. 401 reflect with horror upon such a fellow as I am, and with such a kind of art in London, with house-rent to pay, duns to follow me, and employers to look for. Had I studied art in a manner more accommodated to the nation, there would be no dread of this.” Barry, of all the young painters, had most steadily and courageously followed the road pointed out by Sir Joshua in his lectures. He had striven, exclusively, after the grand style. “ Rubens, Rembrandt, Vandyke, Teniers, and Schalken,” he says, looking round the Dutch pictures in the Turin Gallery on his way from Rome, “ are without the pale of my church ; and though I will not condemn them, yet I must hold no inter- course with them.” This was quite in the spirit of Sir Joshua’s Discourses. It would have been well, perhaps, if both had borne in mind that the painter’s life has material conditions which cannot be defied. Barry dreaded the coming contest with these hard conditions. “ God help you, Barry ! said I ; where is the use of your hairbreadth niceties and your antiques ? Behold the handwriting on the wall against you. In the country to which you are going, pictures of lemon-peel, oysters, and tricks of colour, are in as much request as they are here.” It is true that Barry’s fierceness and combativeness, his scorn of the proprieties and decencies, as well as the conventionalities, of life, made him an unfair exemplar of Sir Joshua’s ideal artist. There was no man whom, in later years, the kindly Presi- dent came so near hating as his savage and scornful disciple. West was a fairer example of devotion to the ideal. He had a royal patron ; his manners were un- exceptionable ; his character blameless. He might be vol. i. 2 d 402 LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Chap. Y. called fortunate ; yet West could not have lived, simple as his way of living was, but for his pension from the King. But then West had no genius. To realise Sir Joshua’s ideal, the manners and disposition of West should have been joined to the fervour of Barry, and to a larger share of artistic gifts than Barry had. But West supplies a good example of the insufficiency of the highest and purest aims in art without genius. The results will satisfy just such patrons as West satisfied — - the bishops, who only tasted the classicality of his subjects, and George the Third, whose simple religious aspirations they exactly embodied. I am afraid the tendency of Sir Joshua’s teaching was rather to make Wests and Barrys — to engender respectable mediocrities and passionate failures. Beal genius is sure to find the upward path without pointing, and to sustain itself at the height to which it soars. Barry this year exhibited his first picture, ‘ Adam and Eve.’ 1 It was well hung, but coldly received. There is an engraving by Earlom, from a picture by Brandoin, of this year’s Exhibition. Barry’s picture occupies the place of honour in the centre of the principal wall of the modest little room. The President’s ‘Yenus and Cupid ’ hangs on the line of the right wall ; Mrs. Abington as Miss Prue, I think, on the left — the only two of his contributions seen in the picture. Barry’s picture is flanked by two full-lengths — one I suppose to be Gainsborough’s portrait of Captain Wade, the master of the ceremonies at Bath ; the other I am 1 His address in the catalogue is at Mrs. Grindall’s, Orange Street, Lei- cester Fields. He had brought the picture with him from Italy, and had founded on it high hopes, destined to be disappointed. — E d. 1771, iETAT. 48. THE EXHIBITION. 403 unable to identify. The centre of the foreground is occupied by a noble couple ; my lord, in his blue riband, is examining the pictures through an eye-glass. In some descriptions of the picture this is called the King ; but the spectators do not seem enough occupied about him for this. Besides, the President would surely be in attendance on the King, and Sir Joshua does not appear in the picture. There is a burly figure on the left, very like Johnson ; and two on the right, meant, I think, for Nathaniel Hone and William Hunter. To this Exhibition honest Mr. Wilshire’s waggon brought up from Bath no fewer than seven pictures of Gainsborough’s, five whole-length portraits, and two landscapes — Lady Sussex and her child, Lady Ligonier in a fancy dress, Lord Ligonier on horseback, the master of the ceremonies at Bath, and Mr. Nuthall. Charles Catton sends a picture which marks the time, ‘ The filling up of Rosamond’s Pond in St. James’s Park ;’ Mason Chamberlin, whole-lengths of two of the royal children — the Princess Augusta and Prince Edward. Richard Cosway, now an Associate — the dapperest and dandiest of men, and already surnamed the “ Maccaroni Painter ” — sends 4 A Lady and her Daughters in the character of Virtue and Beauty, directed by Wisdom to sacrifice at the Altar of Diana.’ Sir Joshua’s allegories are merciful in comparison with this. Nathaniel Dance exhibits a whole-length of Garrick — that most bepainted of men — as Richard the Third, and four other portraits. Hayman, now in his decline, sends an almost solitary sacred picture, 6 Christ and the two Disciples at Emmaus ; ’ Hone, no less than nine portraits ; Angelica Kauffmann, subjects from 2 n 2 404 LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Chap. V. Anglo-Saxon history, from Ovid, from the Odyssey, from Tasso, and two portraits ; Nollekens, a portrait bust, a Bacchus, and a group of Psetus and Arria ; "William Pars, another Associate, eight landscapes in the mountains of Savoy and in Switzerland ; Paul Sandby, a batch of water-colours ; Michael Angelo Hooker, also an Associate, views of Merton College and Lillishall and Wenlock Abbeys; Samuel Scott, a view of the Tower of London ; Dominick Serres, some half- dozen sea and shipping pieces ; Samuel Wale, professor of perspective to the Academy, sends a stained drawing of King Alfred making a code of laws, dividing the kingdom into counties, and encouraging the arts and sciences ; Benjamin West, Hannibal, the Death of Wolfe, Pharaoh’s Daughter, Hector and Andromache, the Continence of Scipio (its companion), the Death of Procris, the Prodigal Son, Tobias curing his father’s blindness (its companion) ; Richard Wilson, a view near Wynnstay, Crow Castle near Llangollen, and Houghton, the seat of the late Marquis of Tavistock. There are 276 works exhibited, all included; and of these 100 are portraits. With the exception of Hay- man’s ‘ Christ at Emmaus,’ Barry’s 4 Adam and Eve,’ Mr. Wale’s comprehensive ‘ Alfred,’ the pictures of West and Angelica Kauffmann, and two classical sub- jects — 4 Pompey corrected by Cratippus,’ and 4 Cleopatra weeping over the ashes of Antony’ — by Allen, a student at Rome, there is no work of an ideal, epic, or historical kind in the collection ; — none in which there is any attempt to tell a story by means of form and colour. The Exhibition closed as usual at the end of May. 1771, iETAT. 48. WEST’S ‘DEATH OF WOLFE.’ 405 It had produced 1125/. It takes special rank among Academy Exhibitions by reason of one picture, which marks an epoch in English art, West’s ‘ Death of Wolfe.’ Till this picture was painted, no work had been pro- duced by a painter of “high art” which aimed at the literal representation of a contemporary event. History, in high art, disdained historical fact. Reynolds told the students that historical truth and local circumstance were incompatible with the grand style. AVest has himself recorded the consternation which his unheard-of intention produced. “ When it was understood that I intended to paint the characters as they had actually appeared on the scene, the Archbishop of York called on Reynolds and asked his opinion ; they both came to my house to dissuade me from running so great a risk. Reynolds began a very ingenious and elegant dissertation on the state of the public taste in this country, and the danger which every innovation incurred of contempt and ridi- cule, and concluded by urging me earnestly to adopt the costume of antiquity, as more becoming the great- ness of my subject than the modern garb of European warriors. I answered that the event to be commemo- rated happened in the year 1758, in a region of the world unknown to the Greeks and Romans, and at a period of time when no warriors who wore such costume existed. ‘ The subject I have to represent is a great battle fought and won, and the same truth which gives law to the historian should rule the painter. If, instead of the facts of the action, I introduce fiction, how shall I be understood by posterity ? The classic dress is certainly picturesque ; but by using it I shall lose in 406 LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Chap. Y. sentiment wliat I gain in external grace. I want to mark the place, the time, and the people, and to do this I must abide by truth.’ They went away then, and returned when I had the picture finished. Keynolds seated himself before the picture, examined it with deep and minute attention for half an hour, then rising said to Drummond, 6 W est has conquered ; he has treated the subject as it ought to be treated. I retract my objections. I foresee that this picture will not only become one of the most popular, but will occasion a revolution in art.’ ” “ I wish,” said the King, when West told him the story, “ that I had known all this before, for the objection has been the means of Lord Grosvenor’s getting the picture, but you shall make a copy for me.” And so lie did ; and another, 1 on a larger scale, for General Monckton, who is the wounded officer looking on the dying hero. As if to clench by actual experiment on the public the sound sense of West’s reasoning, Barry in 1776 painted a liigli-art “Death of Wolfe,” in which the personages were represented naked. He was so dis- gusted by the coldness with which it was received, that he never exhibited at the Academy afterwards.] This year Sir Joshua received into his house the only one of his pupils whose name, as a painter, has survived to our time — James Nortlicote. [The son of an honest watchmaker at Plymouth, he was now twenty- five years old, and had from his early boyhood felt a hankering for the arts. A kind friend, Mr. Tolcher, a Plymouth Alderman, who knew and had sat to Sir 1 Now at Fineshade Abbey, North- I is immeasurably the best of the three, amptonshire. The Grosvenor picture | — Ed. NORTHCOTE. 407 1771,