Burlington Fine Arts Club EXHIBITION OF PICTURES & SKETCHES CHARLES WELLINGTON FURSE A.R.A. LONDON PRINTED FOR THE BURLINGTON FINE ARTS CLUB 1906 > m &e Library * ?i auk Simpson Burlington Fine Arts Club EXHIBITION OF PICTURES & SKETCHES BY CHARLES WELLINGTON FURSE A.R.A. LONDON PRINTED FOR THE BURLINGTON FINE ARTS CLUB 1906 CH1SW1CK PKESS I CHARLES WH1TT1NGHAM AND CO. TOOKS COURT, CHANCERY LANE, LONDON. EXHIBITION COMMITTEE R. H. BENSON, ESQ. SIR CHARLES HOLROYD. LEONARD C. LINDSAY, ESQ. LIEUT. -COLONEL CROFT LYONS, JOHN S. SARGENT, ESQ., R.A. FREDERICK WEDMORE, ESQ. Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2014 https://archive.org/details/exhibitionofpictOOburl_0 LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS REV. CANON BELL. MRS. BURROWS. MRS. CROSSLEY. EDMUND DAVIS, ESQ. ETON COLLEGE. MRS. CHARLES W. FURSE. J. H. M. FURSE, ESQ. SIR EDWARD GREEN, BT. J. BLANDY JENKINS, ESQ. MRS. JERVIS-WHITE-JERVIS. WALTER LEAF, ESQ. SIR FRANCIS MOWATT, G.C.B. F. S. OLIVER, ESQ. G. W. PROTHERO, ESQ. THE EARL ROBERTS, V.C., K.G., O.M. RT. HON. THE MASTER OF THE ROLLS. HERBERT THOMPSON, ESQ. THE MASTER AND FELLOWS OF TRINITY COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE. THE PRESIDENT AND FELLOWS OF TRINITY COLLEGE, OXFORD. RT. HON. GEORGE WYNDHAM. " I'll borrow life, and not grow old, And nightingales and trees Shall keep me, though the veins are cold, As young as Sophocles. And when I may no longer live, They'll say, who know the truth, ' He gave whate'er he had to give To freedom and to youth.' " Ionica. ^HE life of an artist is his work. An attempt has been made in the present exhibition to illustrate Charles Furse's life in that sense, so far as space permitted; but we may also take advantage of this opportunity to put on record an outline of his short career, and some characteristics of the man as he remains in the memory of his friends. Charles Wellington Furse, born at Staines on the 13th January, 1868, was the third son of the Rev. Charles Wellington Furse, Vicar of Staines, afterwards Archdeacon of Westminster, and of Diana Monsell his wife. It is interesting to know that through his father he was related to Sir Joshua Reynolds. At an early age Charles showed a distinct talent for drawing. When he was seven years old he had a serious and protracted illness, during which he read voraciously. Scott's novels were his favourite reading, and he marked his appreciation of Sir Walter's robust and picturesque style by illustrations of the scenes that most impressed him. In these he evinced in a remarkable degree, not only a feeling for large composition, but the power of clearly conceiving his subject, and giving it vivid life. In his early sketches, particularly in those of horses, vigour and the capacity for expressing motion were strong characteristics. In course of time Charles was sent to Haileybury, and remained there until he was sixteen, when he left in order to study under Mr. Legros at the 8 'Pi&ures and Sketches by Slade School. He won the Slade Scholarship within a year of his entrance, although, in the drawing competitions at Haileybury, he had been thought worthy of only an inferior place. It was by a cruel stroke of fate that in the flush of this early success, the first symptoms of the disease which cut short his career should have shown themselves. From the three years of his Slade Scholarship one winter had to be deducted, a winter spent at St. Moritz in the effort to recover health. It was when thus heavily handicapped that he painted a large picture, " Cain," exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1888. It was painted in the studio of his friend Charles Holroyd in Fitzroy Street. Sir Charles Holroyd was a fellow student under Mr. Legros at the Slade School, and recalls how Charles Furse came up there straight from Haileybury. Mr. Legros kept him working in the antique school for about two months, and very soon promoted him to the life-class, where he quickly became prominent. After drawing and painting in the school every day from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Furse and Holroyd, with another Haileybury boy, George Gascoyne, worked at Hetherly's in Newman Street, or at the West London School of Art, or they met in each other's rooms, and read Shakspere and Reynolds's discourses and talked till the small hours. One summer holiday was spent by Furse and Holroyd on the borders of the Lake District sketching, and another by the trio of friends in a little farm on the chalk Hills above Maidstone, painting large canvases. They worked hard and played hard too, at wrestling and single-stick, and Furse was the master of the three. After reaching the highest honours at the Slade School Furse went, like all the others, to Paris, much to the regret of Mr. Legros. Only a short time before the end, Sir Charles Holroyd records Furse saying that the best teaching he ever had and the most useful was from their old master. In Paris he studied for several months in Julian's atelier, and on his return for a short time under Mr. (now Professor) F. Brown at the Westminster School of Art; but from this date he took up his own Charles IV ellington Furse, A.R.A. 9 work. His health again giving way, he was for the next three years condemned to comparative inaction. These periods of enforced abstinence from work recurred at irregular intervals during the remainder of his life, an ordeal of the severest for a man of his temperament, but always met with unflinching courage, and after each of these hand-to-hand battles with death he returned to his work with fresh energy and exuberance. No one lived more thoroughly every minute of his life, or possessed so boundless a vitality, as Charles Furse. Absorbing as was his devotion to art, life offered him many other sources of interest. Literature, music, sport and games held him each in their turn, and, above all these, the enjoyment of his friends. On the 1 6th of October, 1900, he married Katharine, daughter of John Addington Symonds, and on the same day, four years later, he died. Some of Furse's earlier work, such as the portrait of Henry Jackson, suggests that the line of least resistance for him would have been to carry on the vigorous manner of Frank Holl. But his mind was critically open to many influences. In the early nineties, one influence seemed to be that of Mr. Arthur Lemon, as in the picture of horsemen called " Flight," exhibited at the New Gallery in 1891. This was succeeded by the influence of Whistler, which strongly affected sensitive young artists at the time.* An extreme case of this in Furse's work was the "Bishop Stubbs " (R.A. 1892), with its flat modelling and values obtained by mixing with black as in Whistler's later painting. But his natural taste was for a more vigorous and sculp- turesque modelling, and he turned from this to the study of Reynolds and to analyzing the methods of Titian, Rembrandt, Van Dyck, and Velazquez. He threw his ideas on these masters into lectures for a summer course at * For his ideas at this time see an article he wrote on " Impressionism " in the defunct "Albemarle" magazine of August, 1892, reprinted on pages 27-31. B IO TiElures and Sketches by Oxford. He could sum them up in telling phrases, e.g., " Rembrandt vignettes his lights ; Velazquez silhouettes his masses." His aim was portraiture in the grand style, a reconciliation of realism with breadth in the treatment of the sitter, and the combination with this of a scenic back- ground, whose relation to the sitter should be that of a painted curtain. For instance, the unfinished portrait of Mr. Chamberlain, now in the possession of the Cordwainers' Company, represents him speaking, the audience on the platform forming a background. Sportsmen, soldiers, sailors were the most congenial subjects, and his friendship with W. E. Henley reinforced his interest in the adventurous side of national life. A trip to South Africa, undertaken for his health, brought him on the scene of the Jameson Raid, and he painted a picture of the raiders, which he showed to President Kruger. Kruger, disdainful of natural perspective, considered that the Boers were much too small. A sketch for the background of this picture is in the exhibition, No. 43 ; the picture itself, entitled " Doom Kop," the committee have been unable to trace. The mural paintings for Liverpool, which occupied the years 1899 to 1902, brought up in a more complex form the problems of representation and decoration already raised by portrait design. It may be interesting to quote his own words describing his ideal for such work.* " All through I have borne in mind the fact that the building is bright in light and gay in decoration, for there is a quantity of colour and gilt in the architect's scheme. Also, the architectural space into which the work fits is enclosed by a heavy moulding. I have, therefore, gone for great masses of light and shade, relieved against one another, the only bright local colour being the blue of the workmen's coats and trousers. I have intentionally avoided the whole business of ' flat decoration' by ' making the things part * Quoted in the " Architectural Review "for March, 1902, where all four spandrils are reproduced. Charles W ellington Furse, A.R.A. 1 1 of the walls,' as one is told is so important. On the contrary, I have treated them as pictures and have tried to make holes in the wall, that is as far as relief of strong light and shade goes ; in the figures I have struggled to keep a certain quality of bas-relief, that is, I have avoided distant groups and have woven my compositions as lightly as I can in the very foreground of the pictures, as without this I felt they would lose their weight and dignity, which does seem to me the essential business in a mural decoration, and which makes Puvis de Chavannes a great decorator far more than his flat mimicry of fresco does. " Everywhere I have tried to emphasize the big quality by making two or three figures give one silhouette, and by repeating action with slight modifications. Tintoretto, in S. Rocco, is my idea of the big way to decorate a building, great clustered groups sculptured in light and shade, filling with amazing ingenuity of design the architectural spaces at his disposal : a far richer and more satisfying result to me than the flat and unprofitable stuff which of late years has been called " decoration." I don't mean to say that there is only one sort of stuff, or that I am uninterested in Puvis, though I admit to being no enthusiast. I do see great qualities in his work, but do not count them among that particular c$ti extdrieure which enables the casual sightseer to detect his Puvis without a catalogue. Above all, I thoroughly disbelieve in the cant of mural decorations preserving the flatness of a wall. I see no merit in it whatever. Let them be massive as sculpture, but let every quality of value and colour lend them depth and vitality, and I am sure the hall or room will be richer and nobler as a result." Furse was connected with various art societies. He exhibited from time to time at the Royal Academy, and in 1904 he was elected an Associate. Out of twenty-five pictures there shown, twelve are now at the Burlington Club. In 1891 he became a member of the New English Art Club and remained an active member till his death. At the foundation I 2 ^PiSiitres a?id Sketches by of the International Society he was a member of its council and a contributor in its early years. He was also a member of the Society of Portrait Painters, and a contributor to exhibitions at the New Gallery. His picture the "Return from the Ride," exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1903, was bought after his death for the Chantrey Collection. To this brief notice may be added some words by his friend, John S. Sargent : " When one realizes the short span of years that was allowed to Charles Furse, one is impressed by the stride with which towards the last he neared some very high aim. " As a student, he was one of those whose progress is gradual, because of a certain many-sidedness and a variety of faculties, rather than one marked from the first by some special grace of colour or other quality soon to be at its best. His was an abundant endowment, not only artistically but intellectually, and many elements were to combine in the expression of his talent ; not the least was that keenness and gallantry of nature, which is a cherished memory among his friends, and which spurred him to ambitious themes and ambitious treatment of them. His great critical faculty made him fully conscious of shortcomings, but never for an instant diminished his spirit. He had plenty of indignation, but no thought of discouragement, when he considered himself to have failed, and he would pass on with heightened enthusiasm to a more difficult enterprise. Even the knowledge that an enemy in the shape of disease kept pace with him, seemed only to affect him as a kind of challenge — year by year he surpassed his last achievement and kept his lead. If it were not for the fact that his very last pictures reveal quite new resources and a widening scope, one might consider that he had reached his goal when the race ended. But there is in them a certain promise of romantic beauty and power that makes one wonder whether he would not have achieved the things Charles Wellington Furse, A.R.A. ! 3 that are reserved for that talent alone which is matched with a great personality." Among many expressions of personal and national loss, there was one from the pen of his friend, D. S. MacColl, in the " Saturday Review," of the 22nd October, 1904, entitled "In Memoriam." " The death of Charles Furse is the end of what, in his last words, he called a good fight. It was indeed a gallant one. Caught in his brilliant youth by the malady that killed him, and interrupted by it again and again in his career, he came out in the intervals as undaunted as ever, as eager for big tasks, as ready for every call of life, as gay in his challenge to the enemy. By a redeeming feature of that malady its best victims, destined to burn out early, do burn, and with a strong flame; they live habitually with an intensity that comes to others only in moments of fever and exaltation. But Furse, with all this intensity of energy, was not febrile in his temper; his nature was large, solid, and cordial, and shamed the healthy and sluggish as much by its heartiness as by its force. His appearance in a room meant two things, a genial warming and lifting of the whole tide of talk, and for anything of wit and pugnacity that might be present, a call to arms. " He was generous, unjealous, magnanimous, virtues rare even among good artists. Smallness was the one thing he could not abide, and this character was stamped upon his work. The bigger the scale the better he painted, and the measure of his powers was best seen in his wall-paintings for Liverpool and the heroic portrait of Lord Roberts which was interrupted and only finished as a smaller picture. I shall never forget how, when he was working on the composition of the big project, and it was suggested that the lances of his Indian horsemen would come better set at a different angle, he rubbed his hands with glee at the prospect of obliterating and repainting the whole troop. Subjects like that called out his full enthusiasm, stirring the campaigner and the sportsman in him. J£. 4t. .M. -M. JjL W TV Tv "7v" "JT" 14 Ti&ures by Charles Wellington Furse, A.R.A. " A thousand thousand slimy things live on — and the being in whom life was rich and ardent, filled with the prospect of vast labour and delight, is once more cut off. His friends hoped that in the camp he had made for himself on the hills near Aldershot he was entrenched against the enemy for many years; but he could not play the part of a Cunctator." CATALOGUE The measurements are in inches, the height preceding the width, and do not include the frame. In the catalogue no attempt is made at chronological sequence. 1 Cubbing with the York and Ainsty. The children of the Master, Lycett Green, Esq., two boys and two girls on horseback. Life-size. In the middle distance to right the M.F.H. with his hounds; woodland landscape vibrating in the distant atmosphere. Painted 1904. Exhibited at the Royal Academy. 7 ft. by 9 ft. 6 in. Lent by Sir Edzvard Green, Bt. 2 Portrait of Mrs. George Prothero. Full face, life-size, in gray dress and lace shawl, holding a peacock's feather. Dark gray background. Painted about 1898. Exhibited at the International Society. 2 ft. 6 in. by 2 ft. Oval. Lent by George W. Prothero, Esq. 3 Design for a Spandril in the Liverpool Town Hall. Ships unloading; men carrying bales. Exhibited at the New English Art Club. 5 ft. 9 in. by 5 ft. by 5 ft., triangular. Lent by Mrs. Charles Furse. 4 The Song. Portraits of Mr. and Mrs. Walter Leaf. Half life-size. Mrs. Leaf standing in profile, singing: Mr. Leaf seated at the piano. Painted 1903. Exhibited at the New English Art Club. 4 ft. 1 in. by 3 ft. 4 in. Lent by Walter Leaf, Esq. i6 Ti&ures and Sketches by 5 Portrait of Mrs. David Henderson. Unfinished. Full-length, life-size, standing in front of a fire-place in blue and white dress, cut low. Painted 1904. 7 ft. by 4 ft. Lent by Mrs. Charles Furse. 6 Portrait of Sir Francis Mowatt, G.C.B. Life-size, three-quarter face to right, standing in black dress against a light background. Painted 1904. Exhibited at the Royal Academy, 1904. 4 ft. I in. by 2 ft. 9 in. Lent by Sir Francis Mowatt, G. C.B. 7 Portrait of Field-Marshal Earl Roberts, K.G., V.C., O.M. Small equestrian portrait in field-service kit with fur-lined overcoat, mounted on his white arab, " Volonel." Painted about 1893. Exhibited at the Royal Academy, 1894. 3 ft. 7 in. by 2 ft. 9 in. Lent by Edmund Davis, Esq. 8 Portrait of Vice-Admiral Lord Charles Beresford, K.C.B. Life-size, standing full face, slightly turned to left, bareheaded in uniform against rigging and sky. Painted 1903. Exhibited in the Royal Academy, 1903. 4 ft. 1 in. by 3 ft. 3 in. Lent by Mrs. Charles Furse. 9 Portrait of Mrs. Oliver and Two Children. Life-size, full-length. Mrs. Oliver kneels on an armchair, her hands on the back of it, in white dress, her head turned nearly full face; the boy "Mark" stands behind on the left, and the girl " Betty " is seated facing in front. Gray- blue curtain, looped up behind. Painted 1903. Exhibited at the New English Art Club. 7 ft. I in. by 4 ft. 3 in. Lent by F. S. Oliver, Esq. Charles JVellingt07i Furse, A.R.A. 17 10 Portrait of the Countess Grosvenor and her Son. Life-size profile to left, in low dress, seated behind a balustrade, with pink drapery thrown over it. Her son, Percy Wyndham, standing full-face beside her. Painted about 1895. 3 ft. 7 in. by 2 ft. 10 in. Lent by the Rt. Hon. George Wyndham, M.P. 11 Portrait of the Rev. Canon Bell, late Head Master of Marlborough. Standing slightly to right, nearly full face, his left hand resting on a Dutch marqueterie escritoire. Painted 1904. Finished by John S. Sargent, R.A. 4 ft. 1 in. by 3 ft. 3 in. Lent by the Rev. Canon Bell. 12 Sketch for Diana of the Uplands. (No. 26.) 1 ft. by g\ in. Lent by Mrs. Charles Furse. 13 Study for Heroic Picture of Field-Marshal Earl Roberts, K.G., V.C., O.M. The picture is still unfinished in the studio of the artist. Lord Roberts is represented in field-service kit, mounted on his bay horse, " Saracen," and followed by a turbaned Indian soldier with the colours; he is looking away at rolling smoke-clouds of a battle proceeding in the distance to the right. Figures with lances and banners on the left. Painted 1893. 9 in. by 7 in. Lent by Mrs. Charles Furse. 14 Another Study for the same Picture. This study differs from the preceding in that a piece of field artillery and two Indian soldiers are behind the Field-Marshal instead of the colour-bearer. Painted 1893. 1 ft. 6 in. by 2 ft. Lent by Mrs. Charles Furse. 1 5 Another Study for the same Picture. This study differs in that Lord Roberts is in black undress uniform, and turns in his saddle towards the spectator. An English soldier in a red coat bears the colours; trees instead of lances, behind on the left. Painted 1893. 1 ft. 5 in. by 1 ft. 1 1 in. Lent by Mrs. Charles Furse. C i8 ^Piclures and Sketches by 1 6 Portrait of Lt.-Colonel Sir John Jervis-White-Jervis, Bt, R.H.A. Life-size. Standing bareheaded in uniform with black cloak, his left hand on his sword hilt, his right arm over the saddle of a chestnut horse, which is looking round, his quarters to the spectator. Painted 1903. Exhibited at the Royal Academy. 7 ft. 9 in. by 4 ft. 10 in. Lent by Mrs. Jervis- White-Jervis. 17 Another Study for Heroic Picture of Lord Roberts. See No. 13. In this study Lord Roberts, in field-service kit, is turning in the saddle to face the spectator. Background of red coats, colours, lances, and smoke. Painted 1893. 2 ft. by 2 ft. 5 in. Lent by Airs. Charles Furse. 18 Sketch for Orpheus. (No. 29.) Painted 1898. 1 ft. 7 in. by 1 ft. 11 in. Lent by Mrs. Charles Furse. 19 Sketch for the large Picture of Lt.-General Sir Charles Nairne, K.C.B., Royal Artillery. The general is in field-service kit, mounted on a bay horse, and followed by a turbaned horseman. A gun-carriage in foreground to left, and trees behind; landscape to the right. In the middle distance cavalry moving to the right. Lent by Major Furse, R.A., D.S.O. 20 Sketch for Cubbing with the York and Ainsty. (No. i.) Painted 1904. 7 in. by g\ in. Lent by Mrs. Charles Furse. 21 The Lilac Gown. Portrait of Miss Mabel Terry Lewis. Life-size, standing out of doors, against a low yew hedge, three-quarter face to left ; in lilac silk dress, with sun- shade and hat. Painted 1903. Exhibited at the Royal Academy, 1904. Oval, 4 ft. 1 in. by 3 ft. 3 in. Lent by Mrs. Charles Furse. Charles Wellington Furse y A.R.A. 19 22 Portrait of the Right Reverend William Stubbs, sometime Regius Professor of Modern History (1886), afterwards Bishop, first of Chester, then of Oxford; d. 1 90 1. Life-size, full face, slightly to right, seated in episcopal robes. Signed and dated 1892. Exhibited at the Royal Academy, 1892. 3 ft. by 2 ft. 4 in. Lent by the President and Fellows of Trinity College, Oxford. 23 "Timber Haulers." A team of five horses hauling timber in a wagon up a sandy lane; two figures in blue jackets, one seated on the timber, the other walking by the horses, and followed by a dog; bright sunlight; landscape in distance seen at the end of the lane between trees. Painted 1904. Exhibited at the New English Art Club, 1904. 4 ft. by 5 ft. 9^ in. Lent by Mrs. Charles Furse. 24 Portrait of William Cory, Esq. (formerly William Johnson). Eton master, scholar, and poet; author of " Ionica " ; uncle of the artist. Life-size, profile to right, the face in shadow, and head resting on the left hand; black dress, dark background. Painted 1891. Exhibited at the Society of Portrait Painters. 3 ft. by 2 ft. 6 in. Lent by f. H. M. Furse, Esq. 25 Portrait sketch of Mrs. Llewelyn Davies, nee Sylvia Du Maurier. Unfinished. Life-size, profile to right, against dark background. Painted 1904. I ft. 10 in. by 1 ft. 2 in. Lent by Mrs. Charles Furse. 26 Diana of the Uplands. Life-size, full-length portrait of a lady (Mrs. Charles Furse) on a wind-swept common, with rolling clouds, in white silk coat with light blue revers, nearly full face to right, in broad-brimmed straw hat with red flowers. She holds with her right hand two greyhounds straining in a leash, and her left hand is raised to her hat. Painted 1903-4. Exhibited at the Royal Academy, 1904. 7 ft. 9 in. by 5 ft. 10 in. Lent by Mrs. Charles Furse. TiEiures and Sketches by 27 Portrait of the Rev. Henry Burrows, Canon of Rochester. Life-size, profile to left, reading a book. Painted 1889. Exhibited at the Royal Academy, 1889. 2 ft. 11 in. by 2 ft. 2 in. Lent by Mrs. Burrews. 28 Portrait Sketch of Mrs. George Prothero. Life-size, full face, head and shoulders, with white lace mantilla and wearing a bunch of red flowers ; purple dress. 1 ft. 1 1 in. by 1 ft. 6\ in. Lent by Mrs. Charles Furse. 29 Orpheus. Unfinished. Orpheus is seated on the left of the composition, nude, with the exception of a white cloth round the loins, in profile, under ilex foliage, his head and bust in deep shadow, playing on a lyre. He is seated on rose-coloured drapery, which is again seen hanging from the upper boughs of the tree ; distant landscape to right ; middle distance illumined by strong sunshine. Painted 1898-9. 4 ft. 6 in. by 4 ft. 6 in. Lent by Mrs. Charles Furse. 30 Posthumous Portrait of Philip Crossley, Esq. Small equestrian portrait, in red coat; mounted on a white horse trotting down hill to left, seen against cloudy sky. Two other figures on horseback, half seen over the top of the hill. Painted 1900. 3 ft. 8 in. by 3 ft. 1 in. Lent by Mrs. Crossley. 31 Sketch for a Spandril. Part of the decoration of the roof of Liverpool Town Hall. Horses hauling bales of cotton. Painted 1900 (?). 4 ft. 2 in. by 3 ft. 8 in. by 3 ft. 10 in., triangular. Lent by Mrs. Charles Furse. 31 a Portrait Sketch of Mrs. Rowley. Full-length figure seated in profile at a piano. 3 ft. by 2 ft. Lent by Mrs. Charles Furse. Charles Wellington Furse ^ A.R.A. 32 Study of a Hound. 1 ft. by 1 ft. 2 in. Lent by Mrs. Charles Furse, 33 Landscape. Sketch from Chobham Bridges, near Cam- berley, looking towards the crystal palace. 1 ft. 4 in. by 1 ft. 8 in. Lent by Mrs. Charles Furse. 34 Study of a white Horse, for the Picture of John Lawrence, Esq. (No. 46.) 1 ft. 4 in. by I ft. 7 in. Lent by Mrs. Charles Furse. 35 Study for Large Equestrian Portrait of General Sir Charles Nairne, belonging to the R.A. Mess at Woolwich. 2 ft. 4 in. by 3 ft. Lent by Mrs. Charles Furse. 36 Study in the Gardens of Villa Lante at Viterbo. Study for the picture of Lady Northcliffe. 1 ft. 10 in. by 1 ft. \\ in. Lent by Mrs. Charles Furse. 37 Study for Picture of Lord Roberts. (No. 7.) Begun about 1893, finished about 1901. 2 ft. 1 1\ in. by 2 ft. 3 in. Lent by Field-Marshal Earl Roberts K.G., V.C., O.M. 38 Landscape Sketch. Scene from the terrace of a country house in Devonshire ; stone balustrade and vases in foreground ; in the middle distance a stream flowing through woodland. Dartmoor in the distance ; cloudy sky. 11 in. by 1 5 ^ in. Lent by Mrs. Charles Furse. 22 'PiElnres and Sketches by 39 Study for Picture "In a Malay Courtyard." Figure of a negress standing three-quarters to right in a courtyard. Painted in South Africa, 1895. 1 ft. 2 in. by 10 in. (The picture is 5 ft. ioi in. by 3 ft. 11 in.) Lent by Mrs. Charles Furse. 40 Sketch of Lord Roberts's Horse " Saracen " (from the Persian Gulf). A dark bay horse playing with his bit. Study for the heroic picture left unfinished. 2 ft. 5 in. by 2 ft. 3 in. Lent by Mrs. Charles Furse. 41 Sketch of a Soldier for large Picture of Lord Roberts. In highland dress, marching to left, carrying tattered colours. 2 ft. by 1 ft. 8 in. Lent by Mrs. Charles Furse. 42 Study of a Hound. I ft. 2 in. by 1 ft. 61 in. Lent by Mrs. Charles Furse. 43 Landscape. Sketch in Devonshire. 1 ft. by 1 ft. *>\ in. Lent by Mrs. Charles Furse. 44 Sketch for the Background of Picture of Doorn Kop. The picture represents a group of Boers, with their backs turned, firing, and a group of ponies — a scene in the Jameson Raid. Painted in South Africa in 1895. 1 ft. 4 in. by 1 ft. 2 in. Lent by Mrs. Charles Furse. 45 " A Red Gold Sunset." Exhibited in the Grafton Gallery, 1893. i2£ in. by g\ in. Lent by Herbert Thompson, Esq. Charles Wellington Furse, A.R.A. 2 3 46 Portrait of John Lawrence, Esq., Master of the Llangibby Foxhounds, Monmouthshire. Small equestrian portrait. Mr. Lawrence in pink, top hat and black boots, is mounted upon a gray horse walking to the right, surrounded by his hounds. He is riding through a covert which the hounds are drawing. Behind to left is the huntsman on a chestnut, and a whip among birch trees to the right. In the background, beyond the cover, the ground rises to a grass field and hedges; blue sky with white clouds. Painted 1897. Exhibited at the Royal Academy, 1897. 5 ft. by 3 ft. 5 in. Lent by J. Blandy Jenkins, Esq. 47 Portrait of the Master of the Rolls (The Rt. Hon. Sir Richard Henn Collins). In wig and robes, life-size, three-quarter length, profile to right. Painted 1893. Exhibited at the New English Art Club, 1893. 4 ft. 8 in. by 3 ft. 4 in. Lent by the Master of the Rolls. 48 Portrait of J. Blandy Jenkins, Esq., Master of the Llanharan Foxhounds, Glamorgan. Small equestrian portrait. Mr. Blandy Jenkins in pink, with black boots and hunting cap, is mounted on a brown horse walking down hill to left and sur- rounded by his hounds. To the left in the middle distance is a whip on a gray horse, halloaing. On the right, two ladies are riding up on brown horses. Back- ground of trees in autumn foliage. Blue sky, white clouds. Painted 1897. Exhibited at the Royal Academy, 1897. 5 ft. by 3 ft. 5 in. Lent by J. Blandy Jenkins , Esq. 49 Portrait of H. E. Luxmore, Esq. Painted 1901. Another portrait was subsequently painted, and exhibited at the Royal Academy, but the subscribers, as well as the artist, preferred the earlier one. Life-size, full face, three-quarter length. Lent by the Provost and Fellows of Eton College. 24 Ti&ures and Sketches by 50 Portrait Sketch of Miss Vidal. Full face, life-size, in broad-brimmed hat with pink roses and black ribbons ; light muslin dress. 3 ft. by 2 ft. Lent by Mrs. Charles Furse. 51 Portrait of Mrs. M. B. Furse. Life-size, three-quarter face to left, standing three-quarter length, the features shadowed by a wide brimmed hat trimmed with pink roses and black velvet, in white dress with blue cloak. The figure is seen against a background of foliage and sky. Painted 1903. Exhibited at the New English Art Club, 1903. 3 ft. 7\ in. by 2 ft. 9 in. Lent by Mrs. Charles Furse. 51 a Portrait of Henry Jackson, Esq., Litt.D., Regius Professor of Greek at Cambridge University. Full life-size, seated, three-quarter face to right. Painted about 1892. 4 ft. 6 in. by 3 ft. 9 in. Lent by the Master and Fellows of Trinity College, Cambridge. 52 Portrait of Frederick Whitting, Esq., Vice Provost of King's College, Cambridge. Life-size, full face, three-quarter length, standing and leaning on his left arm. He holds a soft gray hat in his left hand. Painted in 1891 at King's College. 3 ft. by 2 ft. 4 in. Lent by the Provost and Fellows of King's College, Cambridge. The Exhibition will close on Api-il 8th. Charles Wellington Furse, A. R.A. 2 5 The following is a list of the Artist's work so far as it has been possible to ascertain it. R. A. = Royal Academy. N.E. A.C. = New English Art Club. The Committee will be glad to receive particulars of all those marked with an asterisk, as well as information about any work not included in this list. 1888 Cain. (R.A.) 1889 Canon Burrows. (R.A.) Dean Hole, of Rochester. Study in Blue (Miss K. Furse). Portrait of a Girl. (Belonging to F. D. Ellis, Esq.) 1890 Earl of Aberdeen. Charles Darling, Esq., O.C., M.P. (Mr. Justice Darling). (R.A.) Sir A. W. Blomfield, A. R.A. (R.A.) Mrs. C.T.Abraham. (New Gallery.) " A Study." (New Gallery.) 1891 The Violinist* (N.E.A.C.) Design in Blue (Miss Edith Furse?). (N.E.A.C.) In the Abbey Garden* (N.E.A.C.) Mrs. Ernest Frere. (New Gallery.) " Flight." (New Gallery.) 1892 The Great Cloud* (N.E.A.C.) Golden Moonrise* (N.E.A.C.) " Night with her Train of Stars and her great gift of sleep."* (N.E.A.C.) Rev. James Robertson. (R.A.) The Bishop of Oxford (Bishop Stubbs). (R.A.) Lady in Gray Dress (Miss M. Furse). (N.E.A.C.) Vice-Provost of King's College, Cambridge. (R.A.) Lady in Brown Riding Habit (Miss E. Lyon). (N.E.A.C.) 1893 Study of a Head. (N.E.A.C.) R. Allison Johnson, Esq., Master of the North Hereford, on his horse Bendigo, with his hounds Gaylass, Flourish, etc. (N.E.A.C.) Portrait of Mr. Justice Henn Collins (now Master of the Rolls). (N.E.A.C.) Portrait of a Gentleman. (Ex- hibited at Society of Portrait Painters.) "A Red Gold Sunset." (Grafton Gallery.) The Fir Tree. (Grafton Gallery.) After Sunset. (Grafton Gallery.) A Cloud Dance. (Grafton Gallery.) 1894 Robert Bridges, Esq. (R.A.) Lord Roberts of Candahar. (R.A.) Lord Monteagle. (N.E.A.C.) A Portrait of a Lady (? Miss Eleanor Butcher). (N.E.A.C.) The Hon. and Rev. A. T. Lyttleton. (N.E.A.C.) A Spring Landscape.* (N.E.A.C.) John Murray, Esq. (Exhibition of Society of Portrait Painters.) 1895 The Hon. and Rev. A. T. Lyttleton. (Second portrait.) A Portrait (?). (N.E.A.C.) Miss Bruce.* (Society of Portrait Painters.) Sir George Grove, D.C.L. 1896 Rev. Walter Lock * (N.E.A.C.) Pictures and Sketches by 1897 John Lawrence, Esq., Master of the Llangibby Foxhounds. (R.A.) J. Blandy Jenkins, Esq., Master of the Llanharan Foxhounds. (R.A.) Mrs. Marshall. (N.E.A.C.) Mrs. Cane. (N.E.A.C.) In a Malay Courtyard. (Portrait of a negress.) (N.E.A.C.) Richard Twining, Esq.* (Society of Portrait Painters.) Sir W. Comer Petteram, K.C. (Painted for the High Court at Calcutta.) 1898 Portrait of a Lady (Miss Edith Muir ?). Portrait of Mrs. George Prothero. 1899 Design for a Spandril in the Liver- pool Town Hall. (N.E.A.C.) Ven. Archdeacon Furse. (New Gallery.) 1900 Philip Crossley, Esq. (N.E.A.C.) J. J. Dodgshon, Esq. (N.E.A.C.) Sketch for Portrait of Lord Roberts. (N.E.A.C.) 1901 J. J. Dodgshon, Esq. (Second portrait.) (N.E.A.C.) Mrs. Geoffrey Buxton. (N.E.A.C.) Mrs. Fydall Rowley. (R.A.) General Sir Charles Nairne. (Post- humous portrait.) (R.A.) Sir John Burdon Sanderson. (R.A.) H. E. Luxmore, Esq. (First portrait.) 1902 Second portrait of H. E. Luxmore, Esq. (Exhibited at the Royal Academy.) Miss Vanessa Stephen. (N.E.A.C.) Mrs. C. W. Furse and Peter. (R.A) 1903 Mrs. Oliver, Mark, and Betty. (N.E.A.C.) 1903 "The Song "(Mr. and Mrs. Walter Leaf). (N.E.A.C.) Colonel Sir John Jervis-White- Jervis, Bart., R.H.A. (R.A.) Vice-Admiral Lord Charles Beres- ford. (R.A.) "The Return from the Ride" (Mr. and Mrs. Aubrey Water- field). (R.A.) Purchased for the Chantrey bequest. Mrs. M. B. Furse. (N.E.A.C.) Miss Molly Muir. Mrs. Dodgshon. 1904 " Timber Haulers." (N.E.A.C.) " Diana of the Uplands." (R.A.) Sir Francis Mowatt, G.C.B. (R.A.) Mr. and Mrs. Oliver fishing. (R.A.) "The Lilac Gown" (Miss Mabel Terry Lewis). (R.A.) Mrs. Jervis - White - Jervis. (N.E.A.C.) " Cubbing with the York and Ainsty " (children of Mr. Lycett Green, M.F.H.). (R.A.) E. C. Austen Leigh, Esq. Mrs. Llewelyn Davies. (Sketch.) Francis Galton, Esq. The Rev. C. H. Daniel, D.D. Provost of Worcester College, Oxford. (Unfinished.) The Rt. Hon. Joseph Chamberlain. (Unfinished.) The Rt. Hon. Austen Chamberlain. (Unfinished.) Mrs. Henderson. (Unfinished.) Mrs. Maclaren and her dog " Blackie." (Unfinished.) Sir Robert and Lady Ropner. (Unfinished.) The Rev. Canon Bell. The Rev. Canon Bell. (Second portrait.) Charles Wellington Furse, A.R.A. DATES UNCERTAIN. Sketch for second Spandril for Liverpool Town Hall. (? 1900.) Bishop Stubbs. (Replica.) Lady Jervis-White-Jervis. Mrs. George Prothero. (Study.) Mrs. Cane. C. S. Loch, Esq. Mr. Clarke* Mr. Whitehead * Lord Roberts. (Large canvas unfinished.) Mr. Lyon. Lady Harmsworth (Lady Northcliffe). Lady Harmsworth (Lady Northcliffe). (Second portrait.) Ernest Balfour, Esq. H. Wakeman, Esq. Mrs. Geoffrey Buxton. Miss Buxton. Mrs. Vaughan. (Oval sketch.) MissVidal. (Study.) E. Stone, Esq. Doctor Sadler. The Rev. M. B. Furse. Doctor Robertson. (Second portrait.) Lady Darling. Night Light* Ploughing.* Horses on Moor.* Doom Kop* (1895-1896?). The daughter of W. E. Henley, Esq. The Countess of Aberdeen. Bishop Randall. Orpheus. (Unfinished.) Mrs. Haughton Graves. (Sketch.) Mrs. Rowley. (Sketch.) Sunrise at North Berwick. (Early.) Broadstairs Sands by Starlight. (Early.) Portrait of Rev. E. D. Stone. (Early.) Helensbourne, Abingdon. 28 T^iSlures and Sketches by [Reprinted from the "Albemarle" Magazine of August, 1892.] IMPRESSIONISM— WHAT IT MEANS EADERS of modern art criticism are probably familiar with the use of the term impressionism. It is one of the commonest in the art jargon of the day and bears with it the peculiar advantage of being, to most people, a mere phrase, utterly unintelligible, and consequently suggestive of high culture. Few people give it the credit of having a real meaning; painters are as vague as critics, and critics vaguer than usual. In spite of the haziness that surrounds its meaning, it has come to be a title differentiating the work of those painters who are striving after an expression of their artistic individuality from those who look upon art as a commodity the supply of which is consequent on the demand. And in this sense I shall use it, without endeavouring to offer a definition or justify its use. Individualists expressing their own views cannot, for a time at any rate, expect the sympathy of the public, and as the Royal Academy quite honestly and honourably professes to cater for the wants of its patrons, it naturally enough cannot include work which is well known to be unpopular. When, however, that work has made a name for itself outside, it is promptly admitted into places of honour. Unfortunately, however, the artist not unfrequently elects to go on patronizing the minor exhibitions where he has made his name, rather than accept the honour thus generously offered him. In referring to impressionism, then, I shall for the most part mean that sort of work which from either of these causes is rarely included in the exhibitions at Burlington House. The average layman or academician is fond of picturing to himself the impressionist as a young man, eager for a place in the vanguard of the movement, whose maxim is to find out what people most dislike and then to perpetrate it, who uses the public indignation and disgust as stepping stones to notoriety, choosing as his subjects the every-day vulgarities that surround him, provided they are sufficiently repulsive and ugly — ballet dancers, for instance, with their dreadfully short skirts and dubious morals; street scenes, hideous with top hats and funereal with frock coats; London begrimed and sordid; the ocean as it appears when crossing the Channel in choppy weather, and nature generally suffering from internal disorders and so unlike herself as to be barely recognizable, and painting with lumps of neat colour and trowelsful of paint, or else with a genial but aimless scratching and scrawling of a particularly bristly and oversized brush on the roughest sail-cloth his colourman can provide him with. In fact, " a coxcomb who throws a paint-pot at the public's head." Such criticism has been indiscriminately applied to Mr. Whistler, M. Puvis de Charles Wellington Furse, A.R.A. 29 Chavannes, M. Degas, M. Claude Monet, M. E. Manet, and many other distinguished modern painters. This is in many ways natural, for though the great principles of Art are eternal, their application must differ so enormously with each individual, and the environment in which he lives, that the mass of intelligent people, whose various duties prevent their giving up much time and thought to the cultivation of their critical faculties, are bound to remain a generation behind the painter, whose whole life and energy are devoted to the study of his art. That a picture should not be easily grasped at first sight, but should make a demand on the intellect of the spectator, is often held to be an insult and resented accordingly. The same remark applies to both literature and music. It would seem as if the English public was unable to bring itself to believe in the existence of seriousness in modern art, and the fact that it turns to it only in its leisure moments apparently leads it to the conclusion that the artist's attitude is similar to theirs. It fails to realize that he finds in the complexity of modern thought new problems whose solution can only be approached with any hope of success by the employment of certain methods other than those used by the masters of a former generation. Consequently when the outward and visible sign is unfamiliar, the public is apt to hastily conclude that there is no inward and spiritual grace, and that wilful eccentricity and a vulgar striving after novelty were the sole objects. The position of the R. A., from the official position accorded to it, naturally enough perhaps, induces in the minds of the public the belief that it is, if not the legitimate son, at least the bastard offspring of the great masters, and that those without its pale have sacrificed all claim to the inheritance of past tradition. Now let us consider this with reference to two instances — Mr. Whistler's portrait of Miss Corder and the famous " Doctor " exhibited in the Academy two years ago. The former was sneered at, while the latter was lauded in language whose fervour at any rate was worthy of the Elgin Marbles — yet where was the link connecting Mr. Field's picture with the traditions of the past? Its appeal was histrionic; it depended for its interest on tickling the lachrymose sensibilities of the spectator; it relied on no pictorial dignity of composition ; it showed no insight of observation ; no subtle treatment of colour; it was a picture with no entity, and whose raison d'etre would have vanished could the question "Will the baby live?" be answered one way or another. In Mr. Whistler's Miss Corder the eye is not distracted by the faintest suggestion of illusion, the grace and movement of the figure, the dignity of the simple profile, the reserve in every inch of the canvas and the masterliness of the convention, are qualities connecting it with the National Gallery rather than with contemporary art, and the only traditions it seems to discard are those of Frith and Maclise and the Academy generally. Then again that which the layman condemns as thoughtless, slovenly, and unfinished, is not seldom the result of untiring zeal and care — as Mr. Whistler says, " the work which alone can efface the footsteps of work." Ti&ures and Sketches by For it is not too much to say that what the painter elects to leave out in the treatment of his subject is almost as important as what he chooses to put in. And here it is that the painter's individuality discovers itself, in his ability to give forth his impressions, not as seen through the lens of the camera, but as abstractions drawn from nature through the subtlety and charm of his mind. It is not the painter's business to record what he sees, but to suggest what he feels, for the poetry of nature lies in its suggestiveness and in its delicate capacity of adapting itself to the varying moods of its devotees. Pictures are never interesting as a journalist's catalogue of facts, but as an appeal to the imagination from the mind of the painter. What pleasure can be derived from a nude treated as an anatomical chart; who wants to see landscape rendered as a guide to horticulture, rocks as a lesson in geology, skies as a meteoro- logical forecast? Faultless daguerreotyping, the effort for mere illusion, is the commonplace expression of a mind possibly scientific, but certainly not capable of profiting by nature's whispered secrets. Selection then is the foundation of all art, and because one man conscientiously elects to see every wrinkle and minute differ- ence of tone in a face, it does not follow that another whose interest is centred in the expression of one big truth to the exclusion of others that he considers less important, has been actuated by any motive of carelessness or indolence. Indeed it often requires more concentration, more serious intellectual effort to separate from the many incongruities of nature the salient truths, and to express them with simplicity, than to elaborately recapitulate a number of facts trusting that some of them may possess an intrinsic value. It is a truism to say that painting must always be a convention, but it is a truism seldom sufficiently understood, and through its misapprehension difficulties about " realism " and " finish " are apt to arise. The term high finish is usually applied to the evidence of labour expended in the modelling of an object, till it as nearly as possible resembles the actual thing, and appeals as much to the sense of touch as to the sense of sight. But in a complete work of art we demand the final and spontaneous expression of the painter's intuitions, not evidence of the tortuous means whereby that expression has been arrived at — and the highest finish is consequently attained by justly appreciating the qualities of the medium and by condensing as far as possible the method of its expression. Look at the glove in the portrait of the Spanish admiral by Velasquez, or the sword hilt in the same picture. The painter has absolutely realized the powers and the limitations of his medium — the flexibility of the brush, the pliant quality of the paint, the magic charm obtainable by first simplifying the forms and tones to their utmost extent, and then with a masterly grip of the essentials, expressing his vision with a handling almost childish in its simplicity. The matter of fact reproduction of these objects would have resulted in an archaeological record of the naval sword of the period and glove manufacturers might have compared the leather then in use with that at present supplied by the Army and Navy Stores. Instead of which, in these common and Charles Wellington Furse, A.R.A, 3 1 everyday objects, Velasquez found an opportunity of handing down to after genera- tions direct evidence of that consummate insight, which, corroborated by other masterpieces we possess, is to us the familiar attribute of his genius. One could quote other instances of this extreme simplicity of handling, notably in the head of Mr. Whistler's portrait of Carlyle and the same artist's Lady Archibald Campbell, in both of which all trace of the labour that went to bring about their perfection has vanished. And now as to the question of vulgarity in choice of subject. It is wrong to suppose that history or poetry, allegories or the great questions of Life and Death are even the motives for pictures. They are frequently, however, the pretexts. It is usual to deny this on the double ground of theory and practice. It is argued that the acceptance of the theory would lower the standpoint of the painter's art, since if its interest were purely technical and did not deal with the advancement of morality or the requirements of practical philanthropy, it could not appeal to the intelligence or the emotions of the spectator. In practice the Italian masters are held up as proof positive of great work being dependent upon nobility of subject. The first contention is practically this — that ideas approaching the brain through literary channels are the only ideas worth recording. But painting, music and sculpture are not mere satellites of literature, but means of expressing special emotions conveyable to the brain through the medium of vision on the one hand and sound on the other. The chords of various emotions are made to vibrate alike by listening to certain sounds and by looking at certain pictures. That sense of solemnity which pervades one in the quiet nave of a great cathedral, may be stirred equally by Beethoven's symphonies or Francois Millet's pictures. Beethoven depended on the mysterious suggestiveness of a certain sequence of sound, Millet on a similar suggestiveness of form and colour. And the world of thought is richer for the fact that one art has so little dependence on another, and that the highest intellectual pleasures are attainable through widely differing media. With reference to the second contention, the religious spirit of the age in which the Italian masters lived alone completely accounts for their choice of subjects, and when they sought to stir religious fervour by their work, they did not arm themselves with another art, but relied on the solemn dignity of their designs, the loving care they bestowed on the drawing of every contour and on the management of their colour. Their reverence for the art they practised made them believe in its capacity for appealing to the most exalted heights of the imagination. That pictures are often vulgar is true, but their vulgarity is due to the vision rather than the episode. Francia's " Entombment," from the cheapness and poverty of its design will always be a vulgar picture, while Titian's " Bacchus and Ariadne " will continue to be a monument of artistic refinement ; and a ballet, with its flickering lights and indistinct colours, the dainty movements of the dancers and the weird effects of the footlights throwing into mysterious relief the darkened orchestra and 32 'Pi&ures by Charles Wellington Furse, A.R.A. auditorium, can readily become a fairy land to the painter who has eyes to see and a mind to digest the thousand beauties presented to him. He does not go to the music hall in the spirit of the County Councillor ; he does not expect to improve his taste in music or be elevated by the words of the songs, but finding in the scene a mine of suggestiveness, he is content to take it as the pretext for a picture. I have endeavoured to suggest some of the objects and ideals that the so-called impressionist has before him. But I do not feel that there is much necessity for this distinctive title, for whereas people who make things to supply a demand have hitherto been dignified by the honourable title of " manufacturers," so painters striving to attain to an ideal have considered the term " artist " sufficiently descriptive. Charles W. Furse. GETTY RESEARCH INSTITUTE 3 3125 01360 5478