i fe

Yale Center for British Art and British Studies

TH,E FINE-ART LIBRARY.
^ EDITED BY JOHN C. L. SPARKES,
Principal .of the National- Art Training School, South Kensington
Museum.

THE

English School

Painting.

ERNEST CHESNEAU.
///

TRANSLATED BY
L.' 'N. ETHERINGTON.
WITH A PREFACE BY PROFESSOR RUSKIN.

CASSELL & COMPANY, Limited
LONDON, PARIS, NEW YORK & MELBOURNE.
1885.

[all rights reserved.]

CONTENTS.

Preface by Professor Ruskin .
Introduction ....

I'AGE vii

jFirst ^iirt.
The Old Masters.— \']IQ—\%<^Q.
CHAP. I. Origin of the School — Portrait Painti.ng— His
TORICAL Painting— Genre Painting .
II. Landscape Painting 

.^cconlf ^art.
The Modern ^'c/zw/.— 1850— 18S2.
I. Originality of the Modern School
II. The Pre-Raphaelites.
III. Pre-Raphaelite Landscape
IV. Landscape and Rural Life
V. Historical Painting .
VI. Genre Painting .
VII. Painting in Water Colour
VIII. Caricature ....

I
109

167179
238
252
260
270
304
314

PREFACE.

I AM most happy in the privilege accorded to me by
the author of this book to introduce to the public
of England — interested as they all are commercially,
in the estimate of English Art formed by foreign
States, and as they all ought to be, moral'.y, in the
impression which that art produces on the minds of
its foreign purchasers — a piece of entirely candid,
intimately searching, and delicately intelligent French
criticism — mostly praise, indeed, but scrupulously
weighed and awarded, of the entire range of English
painting, from the days of Sir Joshua to our own.
Every nation is^ in a certain sense, a judge of
its own art, from whose decision there is no appeal.
In the common sense of the phrase, it " knows what
it likes," and is only capable of producing what it
likes. But every well-educated nation also derives
a more thrilling, though less intimate and constant,
pleasure, from the just appreciation of the art of
other climates and races. To take an extreme in
stance : how much vivid and refining pleasure have
not we English taken in Chinese porcelain, just
because we were incapable ourselves of making,

viii ENGLISH PAINTING.
with all the British genius we could concentrate
upon that object, a single pattern of prettily-coloured
cup and saucer.
Hitherto the action of all Governments in the
encouragement of National Art has been resolutely
wrong, in one or other of two opposite directions.
Either they have endeavoured to protect their own
clumsy workmen from the competition of more dex
terous neighbours by laying duties on foreign art —
as at present the Americans, in a state of hitherto
unprecedented egoism and stupidity, and formerly
the English, at the time when my father, in constant
mercantile relations with Spain, used to see the most
superb fifteenth and sixteenth century Spanish plate
dashed to pieces and beaten flat by the axes of the
Custom House officers, lest it should perchance be
bought by London citizens, in preference to the
articles offered by the goldsmiths of Cheapside — or
else they have hoped to teach the native artist
foreign tricks of trade, and filled — as now the uni
versal repertory at Kensington — their museums and
workrooms with miscellaneous types of unexplained
design, from which the incapablest of their own
craftsmen might filch absurdities enough to provoke
demand when trade was slack, or content a fashion
when taste was rabid.
We are still, I fear, a long way behind the time —
but it will come — when governments will recognise and
cultivate the essential genius of their people, aiding

PREFACE. ix
them, by wisely restricted collection and discriminate
explanation of examples, to adopt whatever excel
lences of method may assist them in their proper
aims, and to take refined and sympathetic delight in
skill which they cannot emulate.
After being for at least half a. century paralysed by
their isolation and self-suflficiency, the British schools
of painting are now in the contrary danger of losing
their national character in their endeavour to become
sentimentally German, dramatically Parisian^ or
decoratively Asiatic. It is a singular delight to me
to hear this acute and kindly Frenchman assuring us
that we have some metal of our own, and interpreting
to his own countrymen some of the insular merits
of a school which hitherto has neither recommended
itself by politeness, confirmed itself by correctness,
nor distinguished itself by imagination.
My own concurrence with M. Chesneau's critical
judgment respecting all pieces of art with which we
have been alike acquainted, has been enough ex
pressed in my terminal lectures on the Art of
England. My confidence in his power of analysing
the characters of English art least known in France
is sufficiently proved by my having commissioned
him to write a life of Turner, prefaced by a history
of previous landscape ; to which I believe my own
revision will have little to add in order to make it a
just and sufficient record of my beloved Master.
^ . In his estimate of other really- great painters, I

X ENGLISH PAINTING.
am always disposed to follow M. Chesneau, as far as
my knowledge permits. But I find him too ready to
forgive the transgressions of minor genius, and to
waste his own and the reader's time in the search for
beauties of small account, and the descriptions of
accidental and evanescent fancy. There are many
painters named with praise in the following pages of
whom there is really nothing noteworthy, except the
local or temporary causes of their ever obtaining any
public attention. But I hold myself on this the more
bound in honour to invite public attention to the
opinions of a critic who says the best that can be said
of men whom I have myself treated with remorseless
contumely, praying, however, the reader to observe
that in these cases I have by no means changed or
withdrawn from my own opinions^ though I am glad
to admit that art which is uninteresting to me may
be useful and helpful to other people.
Of the illustrations of the volume I am not
justified in speaking on the strength only of the
imperfect states in which they have been submitted
to me ; but this much I can merely say of them, that
they have been prepared with honest endeavour to
represent as much of the character of the paintings
as could be interpreted by woodcut, and not with the
view of producing merely attractive or brilliant
eff"ects on their own independent terms. The render
ings of Hogarth are in this respect both wonderful
and exemplary ; and those from Sir Joshua and

preface. xi
Gainsborough are intelligent and accurate, so as
really to represent the security of those two painters
from all rivalship in the English school. Scarcely
any attempt has been made to obtain the characters
of Turner, — but these must be themselves seen, — the
reader who will not take the pains to visit them need
not hope to be otherwise rightly informed about
them, even by the most ingenious of critics and in
dustrious of engravers. Much greater injustice, though
inevitably, is done to the pre-Raphaelite pictures,
which, as a rule, depend on their colour far more than
Turner does ; for Turner is essentially a chiaroscurist,
while the best pre-Raphaelite work is like so much
coloured glass.
But in the meantime, I think M. Chesneau may
be well satisfied in presenting the English public
with a list, indexed by unaffected illustration, of the
artists whose work deserves their recognition and
memory ; criticising that work with absolute frank
ness and willing admiration, and leaving the reader
to perfect his knowledge by pilgrimage, now so easily
accomplished, to the collections which gift and
bequest are gradually rendering, not only in the
metropolis, but in several of our great commercial
centres, representative not only of the Art of England,
but of the art and craftsmanship alike of the past
and present world.
J. RUSKIN.
Oxford, "jth December, 1884.

INTRODUCTION.

William Hogarth and Thomas Bewick (1753,
1828) are the two first artists who unconstrainedly
express themselves in their art in a truly English
style. English by birth, as well as in feeling and
temperament, they are proud of their nationality ;
British to the backbone as the bulldogs and oaks of
their own country, they love to proclaim the fact by
the choice of their subjects, which are rendered by
the one in steel engraving and oil painting, by the
other in wood engraving and drawing. It is from
Hogarth, the elder of the two, that English painting
may be truly said to date.
One must not, however, for a moment suppose
because there were no genuine English pictures
before the latter part of the eighteenth century, that
painting had, until this period, remained a sealed book
in England, or that Englishmen had never devoted
themselves to the art. It is scarcely necessary to
remark that Hogarth's talent — that is to say, the
expression of his genius — did not altogether unfold
without aid from external influences. The great
satirist was taught, like others, to draw the different

xiv ENGLISH PAINTINtS.
features of the human face — an eye, a nose, a mouth,
an ear — and to connect these component parts into a
whole, and this education was imparted to him by an
Englishman and a Londoner. Like other students,
the painter of the "Marriage a la Mode" had
attended the Art School in St. Martin's Lane, so that
instruction was not lacking in London at this date,
and consequently, so far as implements were con
cerned, Hogarth was not forced to invent.
In those days, as at present, Great Britain had
much intercourse with other nations — indeed, there was
no people more given to foreign travel. The nobility
of this rich monarchical country have always been
maintained in splendid state, and English princes,
ambassadors, lords, and prelates, frequently crossed
the Channel and visited foreign courts. Thus they
not only acquired a greater refinement in manners
and taste^ and a larger acquaintance with art and its
many valuable collections, but on their return they
brought with them celebrated artists whom they
introduced to and patronised at the English court.
Besides the decoration of royal palaces and castles,
and the adornment of mansions belonging to the
aristocracy, these artists were engaged in painting in
numerable portraits of all the great men in the king
dom. This constant succession of foreign painters,
which was shghtly checked between the sixteenth
and eighteenth centuries, created a very decided
although superficial, art movement in England —

INTRODUCTION. XV
a movement more or less animated according to
the agitated or peaceful state of the times. It was
not of English character, and it was only of the
shallowest nature, and yet a certain amount of in
terest is attaching to it. Frequently as it has been
treated in the biographies of the various masters of
every school that contributed to it^ we will never
theless briefly touch upon it in these pages.
It is generally the case that special historians, to
whatever nationality they may belong, show their
self-love — a love of their own race, or rather locality-:—
in striving to prove that their national art is of earlier
origin than that of all other countries.
Hitherto, French writers have had the sense to
desist from engaging in so fruitless a task. But if
there exists one country more than another where such
an illusion would be absolutely untenable, it is, one is
tempted to think, certainly England. The first man,
however, who, a hundred and fifty years ago, under
took the task of gathering materials from British soil
for a history of art, gave way to the promptings of this
pride of race in a simple, artless fashion, at which one
cannot restrain a smile. It is indeed true that honest
George Vertue feels himself bound to maintain that
painting " flourished" in England before the period of
the renaissance in Italy ; nor does he hide from us
the eff'ort that it costs him to establish his statement.
George Vertue, the engraver (1684 — 1757), left about
500 portraits of English celebrities of various times

xvi ENGLISH PAINTING.
which are executed with a hard, sharp graver, but are,
nevertheless, remarkable for their precision and the
accuracy of their drawing. He was also an antiquary,
or what we should call in these days an enthusiastic
archjEologist. In his research after art relics of a
bygone time, and his efforts to discover original
historical portraits, he had recourse to the private
galleries in the ancestral residences of the nobility, to
the universities, and to various town records, from
whence he gathered a considerable number of valuable
documents relating to the lives of artists who were
born or who had lived in England. These forty
volumes of unpublished notes, collected by the old
engraver, were later selected, arranged, and classified
by Horace Walpole, who completed and finally pub
lished them, and whose clear and intelligent mind
accepted the patriotic illusions of George Vertue, and
treated the work accordingly.
Legend relates that the venerable Bede (673 — 735),
a monk possessing much and varied learning, dis
covered and taught, in the commencement of the eighth
century, certain processes of painting to the monks of
the Yarrow monastery ; but history cannot vouch for the
truth of this, as no relics have been handed down to
us. It may be that this monastery was the cradle of
that school of illuminators who, until the time of the
Reformation, continued to illustrate missals, breviaries,
psalters, and religious books of all kinds. Their first
attempts were in capitals, and ornamented, painted.

INTRODUCTION. XVll
and gilded letters ; then followed more elaborate sur
roundings of flowers, foliage, and landscape; and finally
miniatures representing scenes from the Old and New
Testaments, with, usually, portraits of the persons to
whom the book was to be presented. These minia
tures, at least until the fifteenth century, are more
remarkable for their brilliance of colouring and gilding
than for the intelligence of the faces or the accuracy
of the drawing. Waagen the historian, however,
mentions several manuscripts which form an exception
to this rule, particularly Father Godeman's breviary
(tenth century) ; a history of the English nation (thir
teenth century), by another monk, who is said to have
long resided in Paris ; a volume dedicated to Queen
Margaret, more curious for its choice of subjects than
for its executive skill, and which contains the histories
of.Alexander the Great, Charlemagne, Ogier the Dane,
Renaud de Montauban, King Ponthus, and Warwick ;
a psalter of the fourteenth century, of very realistic
character ; and lastly, a religious poem of the fifteenth
century, in the French style of the period. Just at
the time when it was discontinued, manuscript
painting had received an inspiration from Flemish
art. The first documents in which authentic traces of
works of art are discovered belong to the reign of
John, who ordered repairs to be made in 1209 and
1 2 10 at Westminster Palace and the Tower of
London. In the time of Henry HI., and during the

xviii ENGLISH PAINTING.
whole of his long reign (1216-1272), signs can be
recognised of the improvement and extension of the
royal taste. By the king's commands, the ceilings of
the apartments in each of his castles were decorated
with paintings and historical scenes ; the chapels
received pictures of saints and evangelists, and were
further beautified by stained windows.
If English history boasts of princes who possessed
greater wisdom and heroism than Henry HI., there
were none who showed a fuller appreciation of the
beautiful. He greatly improved all the royal
residences, and completely metamorphosed Kenil-
worth ; at Westminster alone he spent ^^30,000
sterling in artistic decoration, an enormous sum at
that time, during the first forty-five years of his
reign. The political history of Henry III.'s reign
is certainly not of an elevated character ; never
theless Art owes a debt of gratitude to this prince for
the numerous splendid palaces which he erected, and
the powerful impulse which he gave to her various
branches by summoning artists of all kinds to his
kingdom. These were Italians for the most part,
such as the F'lorentine Gulielmo and Pietro Cavalini,
painter, sculptor, and worker in mosaics. The latter
erected a monument to Edward the Confessor, and
also one to Henry III. himself, for which the first
bronze statues ever cast in England were executed.
Under the reigns of the two first Edwards all art
progress is in abeyance ; one can hardly quote the

INTRODUCTION. xix
construction of the palace and hall of Lichfield by
Archbishop Langton, who had the ceremony of the
coronation of Edward I. painted there. Painting on
glass alone was retained by a warlike and ignorant
nobility, who still further obscured the scanty light
which the necessities of defence allowed to penetrate
to the interior of their massive keeps by the inter
position of heavily emblazoned painted windows. In
their costumes, in their arms, in. their gold plate, they
displayed ostentation without taste, pomp without
elegance. Iron was in their hands but an implement,
a means of defence or attack ; gold, the special means
of display to which, however, we owe the introduction
of the art of enamelling in England, where from this
period Greek artists in enamel were established.
This condition of things was not appreciably
altered until the reign of Henry VII. — that is, not till
two hundred years later. Artists took refuge, as we
have already said, in the illuminating of manuscripts ;
some tried their hands timidly at portrait painting.
Of these a few names remain, such as the painter-
poet, Thomas Occleve, in the reign of Henry IV. ;
William Seburgh, John Brentwood, and Christian
Coleburne, in the reign of Henry VI. ; but almost
all their works have disappeared. But engravings
have preserved for us two interesting miniatures
representing tournaments of the time of Henry VI.,
carefully drawn, and of a " Dance of Death " painted
on the wall of a cloister of old St. Paul's, and in their
B 2

X.X ENGLISH I'.MNTING.
treatment showing thc same style as the works then
to be seen in the cloister of the Church of the Holy
Innocents in Paris. Of thc reign of Edward IV.
there survive some very indiff"erent portraits of this
monarch and his queen ; and also of Jane Shore,
which is preserved at Eton, and which, in presence of
another portrait of the same lady, hardly justifies the
enthusiasm of Sir Thomas More or that of Horace
Walpole, who speaks of the marvellous beauty of the
favourite as represented in a third portrait of her
which he had seen in the Countess of Cardigan's
collection. After the reign of Henry VII. (1485 — 1509) our
field of study is a little extended. Not that this
monarch was himself in thc least degree sensitive
to the attractions of Art — his insatiable avarice, even
more than his cruelty, prevented that. What freak
of fortune pitched Gossaert — called also Mabuse, or
Jean de Maubeuge — into England one knows not,
nor the precise date when he came. In the year
149S this artist painted portraits of the Princes
Arthur and Henry, also the Princess Margaret, then
children ; an " Adam and Eve " for thc Whitehall
Gallery ; and a picture of more importance, which
represented the marriage of King Henry VIL, painted
in his early style, a little crude, with a fine per
spective of a church interior. Mention is made of
the residence in London of a Holbein at that period,
who seems to have been from all accounts a relation

INTRODUCTION. xxi
— an uncle, perhaps — of the great artist who adorned
the reign of Henry VIII.
Splendid, wealthy, generous, this prince, after
the pattern of Francis I., attracted foreign artists
to his court : Italians — Jeronimo of Trevisi, who
was killed at the siege of Boulogne ; Antonio Tito,
Bartolomeo or Luca Penni, who painted for
Windsor the " Battle of the Spurs," the " Fetes of
the Field of the Cloth of Gold," and the " Siege of
Boulogne "; Flemings — Johannes Corvus and Gerard
Horrebout, of Ghent, whose daughter Susannah was
herself a very clever miniature painter. He equally
encouraged English artists, and bestowed the title
of "Serjeant-Painter" upon Andrew Wright and
John Brown, who have not become celebrated.
Another Fleming, of Leyden ^ — ^ Lucas Cornells —
painted an interesting series of sixteen portraits of
the Constables of Queensborough Castle, from the
reign of Edward III. to Sir Thomas Cheyne, Knight
of the Garter in the third year of the reign of
Henry VIII. The most precious are those of
Robert de Vere, Regent of Ireland, and of George,
the ill-fated Duke of Clarence.
But by far the most illustrious of the painters whom
the king's liberality persuaded to remain in England
was Hans Holbein the younger. The Earl of Arundel,
as he was returning from Italy by way of Basle, saw
some of his works, was delighted with them, and urged
him to accompany him to England. At first Holbein

xxn ENGLISH PAINTING.
declined the invitation, but in 1526 he decided to
accept it, and set out, bringing with him a letter and
the portrait he had painted of Erasmus, which the
latter was sending to the Chancellor, Sir Thomas
More. The Chancellor at once settled him in his
house at Chelsea, where he lived for three years, and
produced admirable portraits of his protector and his
friends. The king, when on a visit to Sir Thomas,
noticed these portraits, made inquiries about the
artist, and attached him to his service, gave hirn
apartments in the palace, and a salary of 200 florins
over and above the prices to be paid for his'pictures.
Holbein painted a number of portraits of the king,
and probably of all his wives — though no portrait of
Katharine Parr by his hand is known^ — and the princes
and princesses of the Royal family, as well as the
principal personages of the Court. After the death of
Lady Jane Seymour, the artist was sent to Flanders to
take the portrait — which he executed in three hours —
of Christina, Duchess Dowager of Milan, widow of
Francis Sforza. Charles V. was then urging Henry
VIII. to take her for his fourth wife, but afterwards
dissuaded him. The lady took a witty revenge by
writing to the king that " she had only one head, but
if she had two, one of them would be at his Majesty's
service." Holbein was afterwards despatched by
Thomas Cromwell to take the portrait of Anne of
Cleves with the same object. In obedience to the
minister, he so flattered his model that the king, who

INTRODUCTION. xxill
had been taken in by it, was furious, when later he
saw her landing at Dover, and cried out, " She is a
great Flanders mare !" and wanted to send her back
to Germany. The Protector's great uncle paid for his
trick with his head, but Holbein incurred no responsi
bility. He remained at the English court till his
death by the Plague in London, in 1554. Recent
historians place his death as early as 1543.
Holbein practised all kinds of painting : it was
in England, and under the tuition of Lucas Cornells,
that he learned to work in water colours, in which
he soon' reached the highest perfection. His minia
tures, generally painted on a deep-blue ground, have
at once the strength of oils and the most refined
delicacy. It was for a long time a tradition that he
painted with his left hand ; but this is at least con
troverted by a portrait of himself, which passed from
the Arundel to the Stafford cohection, in which he
has represented himself holding the brush in his
right hand.
It is hardly necessary to say that there are a
number of Holbein's pictures in the English col
lections. There happen to be none in the National
Gallery, but in Hampton Court alone there are as
many as twenty-seven, almost all of them in " Her
Majesty's Gallery.'" The most remarkable of his
portraits are those of Henry VIII. and his family.
Queen Mary, Queen Elizabeth as a child and as a
young girl, two of Erasmus, Frobenius Reskemeer,

xxiv ENGLISH PAINTING.
Henry Guildford, Lady Vaux, the Earl of Surrey
(life size), the King's Jester laughing behind a
window, the artist's father and mother, his own
portrait in youth and in age. The subject-pictures
attributed to him are probably not by his hand ;
thus "The Battle of the Spurs" and "The Field
of the Cloth of Gold," painted before Holbein's
arrival in England, have been rightly credited to
Tito Delmintrato or to Luca Penni.
The celebrated exhibition of art treasures at
Manchester, in 1857, drew some beautiful Holbeins
from private collections ; the portrait of a young
man holding a book, painted on a gold back
ground, belonging to Lord Ward ; " The Pro
digal Son,'" belonging to the Royal Institution
of Liverpool ; a portrait of a man, belonging to
the Duke of Newcastle ; and that of Dr. Stokesly,
Bishop of London in 15 30, from the Queen's collection
at Windsor. The Louvre possesses some of his English works —
the portrait of Archbishop Warham, that of Nicholas
Kratzer, Astronomer to Henry VIII. ; those of Ann
of Cleves, of Thomas More, of Richard Southwell, and
two anonymous ones. ITolbein has painted some
subject-pictures besides a great number of portraits ;
a " Joseph of Arithmathea," for Whitehall Chapel, and
the " Resurrection of Lazarus " for St. James's, both
destroyed by fire ; " Edward IV. presenting the
Charter to the Lord Mayor of London," " Henry VIII.

INTRODUCTION. XXV
presenting the Charter to the Barber-Surgeons'
Company," " Riches and Poverty " for a merchants'
company. In addition, he made an infinite number of
goldsmiths' designs, of all sorts of jewellery, book
bindings for the use of the king and his queens. He
modelled some statues, and even made some archi
tectural designs, notably that of one of the gates of
Whitehall, destroyed in the eighteenth century ; and
an ornamental fireplace for the palace at Bridewell.
If Holbein possessed great influence upon art at his
time, it was not directly exercised, for he had no
pupils, unless we except Christopher Amberger, of
Augsburg. Among other artists patronised by Flenry VIIL,
no other painters' names are found but those of
Theodore Bernard, of Amsterdam, the master of
Michael Coxcie ; of John- Bell and Jean Maynard, who
are little known ; and of Williamson, Symonds,
Flower, and Hoone, painters on glass.
During the minority of Edward VI., and the
turmoil of the wars of religion, men's minds were
occupied with other things than art matters. How
ever, Holbein was still living, and drew many portraits
of the young king.
For the latter's amusement, no doubt, it was that
Marc Willems, of Antwerp, pupil of Michael Coxcie,
painted the head of the prince on a long wooden panel,
with comic deformities necessary to make the picture
take natural proportions when reflected in a cylindrical

xxvi ENGLISH PAINTING.
mirror. Along with the name of Marc Willems the
records of expenditure mention those of John Bossam,
Hans Huet, and William Stretes.
The reign of the Roman Catholic queen, Mary
Tudor, although shorter than that of her brother, is
more interesting, as far as the history of art is
concerned. Her favourite painter was Antonis de
More (Antonio Moro), who had been recommended to
Charles V. by Cardinal Granville. The emperor sent
him to England to paint the portrait of the queen,
who was then betrothed to his son Philip, afterwards
Philip II. , and he remained there up to the death of
that princess. Many of his English portraits are
e.Ktant, painted in a charming realistic style, at once
full of dignity, and splendid examples of colour.
Unfortunately, he very often neglected to write on his
paintings the names of their subjects, contrary to the
excellent custom of the time, so that his works have
lost part of their interest — I mean their historic interest.
Next to him we must mention Joas Van Cleeves, of
Antwerp, who went mad with pride, and died after
having painted a "Judgment of Paris ; " also Nicholas
Lizard, a Frenchman, Sergeant-Painter to the queen,
who designed a " Story of Ahasuerus " in pictures.
The reign of Queen Elizabeth, long and remarkable
though it was, is almost a blank in the history of art.
In the matter of pictures, the queen had no taste for
anything but representations of herself; besides, she
expected to be painted as she made herself out to be,

INTRODUCTION. xxvii
and not as she really was. She supplemented her
very doubtful charms by paint, cosmetics, all the
artifices of the toilet, a profusion of ornaments,
gorgeous raiment, precious stones, and jewellery,
which made her look like a Hindoo idol. The painters
multiplied her likeness endlessly. The first who made
a name at the Court was Lucas de Heere, of Ghent,
painter and poet in one. The exact date of his arrival
in England is unknown, but it is put down somewhere
about the year 1553. He painted the portrait of Sir
William Sidney, Henry Fitzalan, Earl of Arundel; the
Duchess of Suffolk, mother of Lady Jane Grey; Lord
Darnley, husband of Mary Stuart ; and of the latter's
younger brother, Charles Stuart ; Mary Neville, and
many others. Llis most important work is a portrait
of Queen Elizabeth in full state, with a crown on her
head, a globe and sceptre in her hands, while Juno,
Pallas, and Minerva seem to make way for her. The
virgin queen was not particular as to the quality of
the incense burnt on her shrine. After having
perpetrated this masterpiece of flattery, Lucas de
Heere returned to Ghent, where he died in 1584.
His compatriot, Cornelius Hetel, after having
resided some time at Fontainebleau and in Paris,
went to England in 1573. He remained there seven
or eight years, and painted portraits of the Earl of
Lichfield, of Edward Vere, Earl of Oxford ; William
Herbert, Earl of Pembroke ; the Lord Admiral
Lincoln, Henry Fitzalan, Earl of Arundel ; and of

xxviii ENGLISH PAINTING.
the queen, who was then at the castle of Hanworth,
the house of the celebrated Anne Stanhope, mother
of the Earl of Hertford, and at that time in advanced
years. Federico Zuccari, a painter of a more solid
type, and brought up in a good school, came to
England in 1574. His peculiar romantic style of
composition took Elizabeth's fancy, and she ordered
him to paint her portrait. He drew her first in a
Persian dress ; then in a fancy costume in the depth
of a forest, with a stag close to her, and a tree
loaded with devices and hardly intelligible mottoes,
the invention of Elizabeth herself — " Injusti jitsta
querela" "Mea sic mihi" "Dolor est medicina dolori"
and more than a dozen lines of English poetry. He
also painted the portrait of Sir Nicholas Bacon at
Woburn ; also those of Charles Howard, Earl of Not
tingham, at Hampton Court ; Sir Francis Walsing
ham, and a giant, the queen's porter at Kensington.
He also decorated a chapel at Roehampton, and
returned to Rome flushed with success.
The painter who succeeded him in Court favour
was a man named Marc Gerard, a Fleming from
Bruges, a painter of portraits, landscapes, and his
torical subjects ; and an architect to boot. He was
scarcely twenty years of age when he came to try his
fortune in England, in the year 1580. He remained
there till his death in 1635, having been painter to
Queen Elizabeth and to Queen Anne of Denmark.
His works, which are very numerous, are difficult to

INTRODUCTION. XXlX
identify, as they are not marked with any kind of
signature. His drawing, in spite of a certain stiff
ness, is full of elegance. He takes a pleasure in rich
costumes decked with pearls and jewels. He has the
true feeling for flesh tints, and for effects of light,
with a certain tendency to bluish tones. His prin
cipal work is a procession of the queen and the
Knights of the Garter. Although of small propor
tions, the portraits are remarkable likenesses as re
gards not only the features, but also the customary
gait of the persons represented.
Horace Walpole stops to mention some painters
of less importance — Henry Cornells Vroom, of Haar
lem, who made a cartoon for tapestry of the Defeat of
the Armada ; Petruccio Ubaldini, of Florence, a
miniature painter, who illustrated the Psalms of
David ; Nicholas Hilliard, another miniature painter,
an avowed imitator of Holbein, but far inferior to
him, and whose portraits, especially of females, were
greatly in fashion. All these men were foreigners ;
but now we come to one altogether English — Isaac
Qliver — a pupil of N. Hilliard and of Zuccari. Isaac
Oliver is a miniature painter who has no rivals in
England but his own son Peter, and, at a later date,
Cooper, a pupil of Van Dyck. We know nothing of
his family. His works are his patent of nobility, and
among the most remarkable of them we may mention
one of himself, an admirable head of Marie Stuart, a
profile of Queen Elizabeth^ a Henry Prince of Wales,

XXX ENGLISH PAINTING.
Ben Jonson, Sir Philip Sidney, and the portrait-group
of three brothers of thc Montague family — three
young men, aged respectively twenty-four, twenty-
one, and eighteen — singularly like each other. His
portrait of James I. was some years later of service
to Rubens and Van Dyck, when they had to represent
the king after his death. Isaac Oliver also painted
in miniature size som.e grand compositions — an
" Entombment," containing twenty-six figures ; a
"Life of St. Lawrence," and a "Slaughter of the
Innocents," after Raphael. He died in 1617, at the
age of sixty.
The following names mentioned by Horace
Walpole have only a trifling interest. The first is a
Frenchman — Jacques Lemoyne, called de Morgues.
After him come a certain Levino, a Venetian, Jean
Schute, Thomas and John Bottes, William and Franz
Segar, Lyne, P. Cole, Arnold, Jacques de Buy,
J6r6me de Bye, Peter Vandevelde, Nicolas Lockie,
Richard Stevens, Randolph, John Holland, and Sir
Nathaniel Bacon, Earl of Bath, half-brother to the
illustrious Sir Francis Bacon, who painted impar
tially either kitchenmaids or goddesses.
We are coming to the grand period. We must
pass over the reign of James I., which was al
together insignificant from our point of view.
Portrait painting is the one and only art of
the time. It was well represented by the Flemish
painter. Van Sommer, of Antwerp, who lived in

INTRODUCTION. xxxi
England from about 1606 to 1620. His chief works
are James I., with a view of Whitehall ; Anne of
Denmark, with a view of St. Paul's ; another portrait
of the king, with a suit of armour in the background,
a better likeness than the former ; a portrait of the
queen in blue, with a horse and dogs ; Lord Chan
cellor Bacon and his brother Nicholas ; Sir Simon
Weston, holding a pike ; Marquis of Hamilton with a
white cane ; Lady Morton in purple ; another lady
with a yellow neck-ribbon and a gauze scarf; and a
third lady in black, with a crape veil over the face.
Van Sommer died in 162 1 at the age of fifty-four.
The first works of Cornelius Jansen in London are
dated 1618. Of his thirty years' sojourn in England,
only a few works are left : the portraits of Sir
Robert Heath and his wife, as well as those of three
or four Kentish families — the Augers, the Palmers,
the Hammonds, and the Bowyers. His masterpiece
is a portrait of Lady Bowyer, who, from her exquisite
beauty, was named the Star of the East. The arrival
of Van Dyck prejudiced his popularity. He ceased to
be the fashion, and, during the civil wars of 1648, left
England, and retired, first to Middleburg and after
wards to Amsterdam, where he died in the year 1665.
Daniel Mytens of the Hague, a painter of real talent,
who was greatly admired under the reigns of James I.
and Chades I., had certainly studied Rubens before
coming to London, where he hoped to gather up the
heritage which Van Sommer had left. He placed

xxxii ENGLISH PAINTING.
his portraits in lovely backgrounds of landscape, and
his works are often confounded with those of
Van Dyck. There are at Hampton Court many
portraits by his hand of princes and princesses of the
house of Brunswick Luxemburg. We may mention
also those of Lionel Cranfield, Earl of Middlesex ; of
C. Howard, Earl of Nottingham ; and especially one
of Geoffrey Hudson, the king's dwarf, holding a dog
in leash, in a richly coloured landscape in the manner
of Snyders and Rubens. Mytens could not help
feeling chagrined at the"favour with which Van Dyck
was welcomed at the English Court, and although
the latter, in token of good-fellowship, painted his
portrait, Mytens yielded up his place to him, and le.'"t
England for the Hague, where he lived twenty years
longer. The great miniature painter of the period —
a period of gallantry in which the hand of ' the
miniature painter v/as of necessity fully occupied —
was, as we have said already, Peter Oliver, son of
Isaac of that name, His carefully finished portraits
are life itself. Somehow or other he signed his name
in the French fashion, P. Olivier, possibly as an indi
cation of his origin. He died in 1664 at about the
age of sixty.
The accession of Charies I. commences the era of
taste in England. Elizabeth was at once greedy and
pompous; James I. prodigal and mean. The splendid
liberality of Charies I., the generous encouragement
which he gave to men of genius, the large sums which

INTRODUCTION. xxxill
he devoted to the formation of his collections, in
creased the true riches of the country. It was in
1629, on his return from his successful mission to the
Court of Spain, that Rubens was sent to England
to conclude the peace which he succeeded in arranging
between Philip IV. and Charles I. But neither prince
nor artist forgot that the ambassador, while a states
man, was also a painter. The king ordered Rubens
to paint the " Apotheosis of King James," and then
a " St. George." Rubens gave to the saint the
features of Charles I., and to Cleodelinda those of
the queen ; in the background he painted a view of
Richmond and the Thames. He also painted a
picture of " The Blessings of Peace and the Miseries
of War," and a design for an ewer with the Judgment
of Paris. Charles knighted him at Whitehall on the
2ist of February, 1630. Rubens remained in England
about a year, during which he painted also an
" Assumption of the Virgin " for the Earl of Arundel ;
an infant " Christ and St. John ; " an angel and child,
symbolising the Church; and a portrait of Lewis,
Duke of Richmond and Lennox. Of the pupils of
Rubens who were attracted to England, we may
mention Abraham Diepenbeck, whose talent was
almost exclusively monopolised by William Cavendish,
Duke of Newcastle. By his order, the artist painted
his horses, of which the duke was very proud, his
various residences, and the portraits of all the mem
bers of his family. But the most illustrious in

xxxiv ENGLISH PAINTING.
England — and rightly so — among the disciples of the
great master is Anton Van Dyck. Attracted by the
accounts of Charles I.'s liberality, he came for the
first time in the year 1627, but did not succeed in
getting presented to the king. He then returned to
Antwerp, where for six years he painted a host of
masterpieces. His reputation now reached the ears
of the king, who had hitherto ignored him, but who
now at once recalled him. The painter, who needed
no second invitation, arrived in London in 1632. His
success was rapid. He received a considerable pen
sion, and, in the July of the same year, was knighted,
and elected painter to the king in 1633. He was
then thirty- four years old. Van Dyck passed the
remainder of his short life in England, where he
married the daughter of Lord Ruthven. He took
two short journeys, however, one to Antwerp in 1634,
and the other to France in 1641, the year of his
death. His most valuable works are at Windsor
Castle, in the hall named after him — portraits of the
king. Queen Henrietta, and of Van Dyck himself, the
splendid group of the children of Charles I., a sketch
of which is in the Louvre, where may also be seen
one of his English masterpieces, a full-length portrait
of the king. At Hampton Court there is a very
beautiful portrait of his mistress, Mrs. Margaret
Lemon ; also a Cupid, and a sleeping nymph. We
must also mention " Daedalus and Icarus," belonging
to Earl Spencer ; a " Pieta," belonging to the Duke of

INTRODUCTION. xxxv
Newcastle, and also " Rinaldo and Armida." Van
Dyck's works are not of equal value. In the latter
part of his life he confined himself to giving finishing
touches to the portraits which were for the most part
painted by his pupils from his own designs.
At the same period as Van Dyck there lived in
London an artist who eagerly profited by his advice.
This was the celebrated miniature painter on enamel,
Jean Petitot. Horace Walpole also names about
forty other painters of different nationalities, among
whom the most interesting is Cornelius Poelenbourg,
of Utrecht, whom the king in vain tried to attach to
his court.
Art was, to a certain degree, banished with the
royal family ; it returned with Charles IL, but shone
under this monarch with less brilliancy. The great
painter of the reign was Peter Lely, of Soest, in
Westphalia. He came to England in 1641, and
having seen Van Dyck's paintings, quite altered his
first style — that of landscape with historical figures —
in order to vie with the Antwerp master in portraits.
An artist of questionable taste, but undoubtedly
talented, Peter Lely unscrupulously flattered his
models, and soon became the favourite painter among
the ladies. He married in England, where he also
died from an apoplectic stroke whilst painting the
Duchess of Somerset. This was in 1680, and in the
sixty-fourth year of his life. He had been knighted
by the king. There is a portrait of Cromwell by
c 2

xxxvi ENGLISH PAINTING.
Lely, in which the Protector is represented with great
exactitude, with all the minutest defects of his face,
wrinkles, pim.ples, and warts. Cromwell had insisted
upon this truthful rendering. It is a clever work, but
lacking in life.
Godfrey Kneller, of Liibeck, succeeded Sir Peter
Lely in the king's favour. Although he had studied
the most various masters, he possessed originality
and a fair amount of talent, which he exercised for
nearly half a century in England, from 1674 until
his death in 1723. He lived during the reigns of
Charles IL, James IL, Wihiam and Mary, Anne, and
George I., who knighted him.
During this period there were none but foreign
artists at the court — Flemish, Dutch, Italian, and
French : J. van der Heyden, J. Huysmans, Gerard
van Zoust, Caspar Netscher, Antonio Vario, W.
Vandervelde, Vosterinau, B. Denner, Van Huysum,
Dumoulin, Claude Lefevre, J. Rousseau, Ch. de la
Fosse, Largilliere, J. B. Monnoyer, P. van der
Meulen, F. Laguerre, J. B. Vanloo, and J. S.
Listard. Such an assembly of talent, however, could
not take place without developing here and there
a native artist. Of these, one was Robert Streater,
who was born in London in 1624, and died in 1680.
He was a pupil of Dumoulin, and painted portraits,
landscape, and still life. Another was Henry Ander-
ton, a Scotchman (1630— 1665). Both these artists
were fashionable portrait painters. Another En-

INTRODUCTION. xxxvii
glishman born in Jersey, named Peter Monamy
(1670 — 1747), painted sea-pieces in the style of
Vandervelde with some talent. Samuel Scott
(1710 — 1772) and Alexander Brooking (1723 — 1759)
were also both clever in sea-pieces. But portrait
painting has always been the foremost branch of
art in England, and in this style may be named as
really praiseworthy John Haylls, who died in 1679, and
who painted in Van Dyck's manner, and John Green-
hill, of Salisbury (1649 — 1676), Sir Peter Lely's pupil,
who often rivalled his master. He led a dissolute
life, and died from the effect of his excesses at the
age of twenty-seven. Isaac Fuller (1606 — 1672),
contemporary of John Greenhill, has left some
good portraits, but also some absurd historical pic
tures in imitation of Michael Angelo's style ; John
Riley (1646 — 1691), who died very early, a painter
of real talent and worth, executed the portraits ot
Charles IL, James IL, to whom he was elected first
painter, and William and Mary; Francis the Piper
(1698 — 1740), was a designer rather than an artist,
of witty humour; lastly, we have James Thornhill,
who, though not a master, had the aspirations of one.
From this time England was able to stand alone
without having recourse to foreign artists.

The English are a nation engrossed in politics,
displaying wonderful tact abroad, and enjoying

XXXVlll ENGLISH PAINTING.
absolute freedom at home. They devote themselves to
maritime affairs and colonisation ; they are industrial,
commercial, and in all things utilitarian ; peaceful as
a rule, they are warlike when their interests require
it, but never for vainglory ; though practical and
matter-of-fact, they are at times chimerical ; they
are at once deeply religious and sceptical ; they
have strong material and sensual desires, which
they are eager to satisfy, yet they are no less ready
to give way to dreams and fancies. Though to-day
they take the lead in every scientific movement,
though they are endowed with great creative gifts
in literature, and have an unbroken current of the
most powerful poetical imagination running through
every epoch of their history, the English were once
deprived of one great distinction, namely, Art.
With the obstinate persistence which they bring
to every enterprise, they were determined to attain
this distinction also. For thirty years they have
striven to win the victory. Resolved to add this
last flower to their garland, already rich, they have
at last succeeded, and every artistic nation now
turns towards England its astonished, and in some
cases, its jealous, gaze. France, her nearest neigh
bour, is by no means the least interested in the un
expected progress — denied at first, then triumphantly
established — which in a few years perfidious Albion
has made in the walks of Art, where she now no
longer occupies the lowest place.

INTRODUCTION. xxxix
It was only in the middle of the present century
that this noble impulse and fresh effort of the English
took place in the direction of which we now speak.
The effort, no doubt, was not absolutely fresh. The
origin of the English school, without being lost in
the mists of antiquity, is, relatively speaking, much
earlier, dating as it does from the second quarter of
the eighteenth century. It was then that English
art shook off the German and Flemish yoke which
she had borne from the reign of Henry VIII. to
that of William IIL, first under the powerful influ
ence of Holbein, Rubens, and Van Dyck, then under
the lesser influence of Peter Lely, and finally of
Godfrey Kneller. Since then she has been reclaimed
by her own native artists.
But if from that date we can point to such true
English masters as, Reynolds, Gainsborough, Con
stable, Lawrence, Hogarth, and Wilkie, this is only a
passing glimmer, a glorious fire of straw, which was
speedily extinguished in the absurd and monstrous
Italianism which soon enveloped it and suffocated
it to death. No good end is served by recalling
the sad names of Benjamin West, Fuseli, James
Northcote, John Opie, Benjamin Haydon, James
Barry, and of all the moths who burnt their poor
wings in the flame of Latin art, blinded themselves
there, and then returned, to din into our ears through
all the long period of their blindness the Heroics
of their hideous nightmare.

xl ENGLISH PAINTING.
This long night was only illuminated by the
noble talent of David Scott, who died unhonoured in
1849 at the age of forty-two, and by the genius of
J. M. W. Turner, who died on the 19th December,
185 1, at the age of forty-eight, alone and uncared
for, in a miserable hovel on the Thames near Battersea
Bridge. This very year, 1851, was an epoch rn the history
of the modern English school. England had just
opened the first International Exhibition, and had
invited all the peoples of the world to assemble
together on the common ground of Art and Industry.
In the field of Industry she herself was easily victorious,
but came off badly in the struggle in the fields of
Decoration and Art. Recognising that they were
dependent on foreign countries for their models, and
that French productions justly , held the markets of
Europe, English people fully realised the terrible
economic consequences of such a state of things ; and
alive to the fact that it was a total lack of all instruc
tion which caused their inferiority in the matter of
taste, with the encouragement and aid of Prince
Albert, who took the initiative in the matter, they
founded a museum of models and a central and
normal school of instruction, which, starting from
South Kensington, spread to all manufacturing towns,
and gave rise in every part of the United Kingdom
to a very productive study of design. This produc
tiveness, however — it could not be otherwise — was

INTRODUCTION. xli
not only turned to the profit of decorative art, but
from the' schools which were established throughout
the country came forth painters, whose pictures
figure with honour to-day in the exhibitions held
each spring in the Royal Academy and Grosvenor
Gallery. The same year, 185 1 — truly it marked an epoch
in English art — witnessed an event, which, to speak
less solemnly, has for the historian of art considerable
importance. Alone or in groups, certain young
artists had for some years, amid the nothingness in
which fhe English school was struggling, been
attempting a reaction against the Italian turgidity
and the academic platitudes of their time. My reader
will know that I am here referring to the little band
of pre-Raphaelites, to D. G. Rossetti, W. Holman
Hunt, J. E. Millais, and their friends, of whom
F. Madox Brown, though he took no part in the
" Brotherhood," was perhaps the most active. In the
exhibitions of 1849 the works of the pre-Raphaelites,
judged on their own merits and without any reference
to their school, had been favourably received by the
critics. Afterwards, their society becoming known
as well as their principle and motto, " Truth," sar
casms and even insults were heaped on the young
artists. In 185 1 they were in despair, and one of them
had decided not to yield, but to expatriate himself,
when Mr. Ruskin, the passionate admirer and apologist
of Turner, threw himself into the fray, and wrote his

xlii ENGLISH PAINTING.
celebrated letter to the Times. The cause of truth in
Art, and observation in Nature, eloquently pleaded
though it was, was not won in a day ; but at the first
blow of the pick the old stronghold of the Academy
was won, opinion veered round in favour of the
pre-Raphaelites, and they had each day an increas
ing public.
It is true that they at once dispersed, and aban
doned the name of pre-Raphaelite, which they had
adopted in the first flush of their enthusiasm, but then
the struggle was finished ; the field was open to all
manifestations of art based on the love of nature and
of truth. Such an art as this, demanding as it did
the complete devotion of individual energy, could not
long remain bound to a battle-cry, excellent though
the cry was, which, when the struggle was ended,
only confined within the far too narrow limit of the
examples furnished by the first masters, the lively
expansion of genius dictated by Nature's eternal
and eternally-changing charms.
And as a matter of fact, evident traces of develop
ment are to be found in the early pre-Raphaelites,
or at least in two of them ; the talent of one of them
rose to the study of pure beauty, that of the other
expanded in a marvellous degree.
What did it matter ! The way was open, the
stronghold was razed to the ground ; there was room
for the young English school, who created such sur
prise at the French Exhibition in 1878, to establish

INRTODUCTION. xliii
itself. The reputation of English artists is no longer
merely an " insular " reputation, as was held, and with
reason, too, by M. Thore, at the Exhibition of Art
Treasures held in Manchester in 1857. It has left
the narrow path, and has found its way all over
Europe, not, indeed, into the permanent public or
private collections, but temporarily in Universal
Exhibitions ; and France to-day, on behalf of Europe,
sets to her lips the golden clarion of Renown to cele
brate the still fresh glory of English painting.

The English
School of Painting.

IFtrst flart.
The Old Masters.
1730— i8sa

CHAPTER I.
ORIGIN OK THE SCHOOL— PORTRAHT PAINTING— HISTORICAL
PAINTING-GENRK PAI>!TIKG.
Is there an English sdiool of painting at all ?
Strictly speaking, the word school applies onl}' in
a very imperfect manner to the growth of painting
in England. Generall}- it is used to designate a
special collection of traditions and processes, a par
ticular method, a peculiar sij'le in design, and an
equally peculiar taste in colouring — all contributing
to tlie representation of a national ideal existing in
the minds of the artists of the same country at tlie
same time In this sense we speak of the Flemisli
school, tlie Dutcli scliool, the Spanish scliool, several
Italian schools, and the French sdiool, but not of tlie
Englisli school We cannot apply Uie word to
English art, for it is just this absence of any
B

2 ENGLISH PAINTING. [Hogarth.
national tradition that strikes one most forcibly in
studying English painting. Each painter seems to
stand by himself, and is, so to speak, isolated from
his brother artists. No trace is to be found of any
uniformity of method or of teaching, none of syste
matic instruction by the State, the Academy, or the
Fine Art school. English art is free, and on that
very account is infinitely varied, full of surprises and
unexpected originality.
But if, for the sake of brevity, we group together
under the name of "school" all the separate manifesta
tions which represent a nation's art, and an art worthy
of history, then certainly there is an English school.
Its rise dates more than a century back, and yet
it was quite unknown on the Continent. It was
not until the time of the Paris Exhibition in 1855,
when the English artists of the day first sent their
productions across the Channel, that foreigners
became aware of its existence. The surprise in
France was great when the walls of the little
temporary building in the Avenue Montaigne were
seen lined with an extensive series of pictures be
longing to no school familiar to French eyes.
Until this time, not only genius, but even feel
ing — I mean practical art feeling — had been dis
allowed to the English. It could not be denied that,
if she had no great painters, England could boast
distinguished amateurs ; scholars and art-collectors
well knew that the British aristocracy possessed very
rich galleries of old masters, where the finest
Poussins and most valuable Watteaus were gathered

Hogarth.] THE OLD MASTERS. 3
together, even when the France of David's time held
them in the profoundest contempt. Owing, perhaps,
as much to astonishment as to genuine admiration,
the school whose existence was so suddenly revealed
in 1855 was extolled somewhat beyond its merits.
Had the works of the English painters of the
eighteenth century been exhibited at the same time
the revelation would have been still more startling,
and more deserving of such .an enthusiastic outburst
of admiration. In the year 1725 England had been
completely taken by surprise by the unexpected ap
pearance of a genuine English artist. English in
habits, disposition, and temperament, as well as by
birth, his case was unprecedented, or nearly so. This
artist was William Hogarth.*
Up to his time foreign artists, and particularly
* William Hogarth, engraver and pictorial satirist of morals,
was born on the loth of December, 1697, in the parish of St. Bar
tholomew. His father, a poor village schoolmaster in Westmoreland,
came to London to try to make his fortune by literature, but he only
rose to the humble position of corrector for the press. The young
William, disgusted with literature by the sight of his father's misery,
wished to learn a manual employment, and was appitenticed to a silver
smith named Ellis Gamble, in whose shop he learnt engraving on
silver and the rudiments of drawing. When the term of his apprentice
ship had expired, he tried engraving his own compositions on copper.
The first was the "Taste of the Town" (1724), soon followed by
"Burlington Gate," a violent satire on the eccentricities of the time,
and particularly levelled against WilUam Kent. From henceforth
Hogarth's time was occupied by the editors of illustrated books, and
thus he drew and engraved several scenes from " Montraye's Travels,"
from the " Golden Ass " of Apuleius, from Beaver's " Military Punish
ment," from the "Paradise Lost" of Milton, and from Butler's
" Hudibras'' (1726). His jests against W. Kent won him the patron
age of Sir James Thornhill, painter to the king, who received him at
B 2

4 ENGLISH PAINTING. [Hogarth.
the northern painters — Holbein, Rubens, Van Dyck,
Lely, and the Italian Zuccaro — had been successively
sent for by English sovereigns, and commissioned by
them to decorate their castles, palaces, and churches ;
they received, not only from the court, but also from
the nobility, liberal commissions, which rendered
their stay on British soil a continual triumph. Pupils
also studied under them, to whom they imparted as
much of their art as they coiild teach ; but it was not
in their power to communicate their special gifts — their
invention and imagination. SiR JAMES THORN
HILL,* sergeant-painter to King George I., a gentle
man by birth, and a member of Parliament, is perhaps
his house. There Hogarth fell in love with the artist's daughter, ran
away with her and married her (1730). Under the influence of his
father-in-law, in whose favour he was soon reinstated, he attempted
portrait painting and large mural decorations, but his genius urged him
in another direction. He commenced this new style by the series of
compositions known under the title of the " Harlot's Progress "
1734). In 1735 appeared his "Rake's Progress,'' and in 1745
the "Marriage a la Mode." In 1753 Hogarth showed himself in
a new light, by publishing an aesthetical treatise, entitled "The
Analysis of Beauty," in which he laid down the principle that the line
of beauty is a curved line. He condemned every sharp angle and
every broken outline, of which, he declared, no example could be
found in nature. Dr. Benjamin Hoadley and Dr. Morell were his
fellow-labourers in this work. In 1757 Hogarth succeeded the son of
Sir James Thornhill, who had resigned, as serjeant-painter to the king.
He died at his house in Leicester Fields on the 26th of October, 1764,
aged sixty-seven years, and was buried at Chiswick, where he possessed
a summer residence. His widow survived him twenty-five years.
Hogarth's private life was irreproachable.
* Sir James Thornhill, historical painter, was born in 1676 at
Melcombe Regis, and studied under Thomas Highmore, who was
serjeant-painter to King William III., and whom he succeeded in this
post in 1719. Patronised by Queen Anne, he was ordered to decorate

Hogarth.] THE OLD MASTERS. 5
the only one who, in his mural paintings at St. Paul's
and at Greenwich, has shown some artistic fire ; but
even he was not original. He carried on the style of
the French painters of the seventeenth century, and
the allegories of Le Brun and Jouvenet, with only a
small touch of that life which emanates so abundantly
from the brush of Rubens. The commencement of
the English school is marked really by Hogarth ; he
is, so to speak, its Giotto, as was said of him with
sorne magniloquence in the introduction to the report
of the International Exhibition of 1862. But we
must not be misled by these words, nor mistake
their true import. Supposing there be really a British
school of art, does it follow that it deserves to take
rank amongst the great schools which, although widely
differing from each other in style, we have been accus
tomed to reverence .¦" Certainly it is possible to count
a certain number of very distinguished artistic indi
vidualities in England, and among these some true
masters. But, apart from a few brilliant stars, we
are obliged to confess that the average of talent
is below that of the Continental schools, and we
will presently try to indicate the causes of this in
feriority. The enthusiasm excited by Hogarth's first humor-
the interior of the dome of St. Paul's, the great hall at Blenheim, the
drawing-room and hall of the house at Moor Park, of which he was the
architect, the princesses' apartments at Hampton Court, the hall and
staircase at Eaton Neston, and the great hall at Greenwich, on which
he was employed from 1708 to 1727. In 1720 he was knighted by
George I. , being the first English artist who ever received this distinction.
Sir James Thornhill died on the 13th of May, 1734, near Weymouth.

6 ENGLISH PAINTING. [Hogarth.
OUS works had a decisive influence on the English
school, which even to-day continues to cultivate,
though with abated ardour, the ground on which this
intelligent adventurer in art, at first ignored by all
his fellow-artists, planted his tent of observation.
In an age like his, when the tone of the masses
was low in the extreme, and the higher classes gave
themselves up to frivolity and corruption,* matter
for satire could not be wanting to a right-feeling
mind, aided by a keen and penetrating sense of
humour. This Hogarth saw. He felt convinced
that a faithful representation of the manners of his
time, partly by the outcry of the enemies that he
would thus create, and partly by the applause of
the lower orders, could not fail to crown with
success the man who was bold enough to point out to
contemporary society its deformities, its weaknesses,
and its vices. f And his conviction was correct. He
began by casting aside all academical work, and gave
* The immorality of the Englisli aristocracy of this period is
particularly represented by Lord .Sandwich, Sir Francis Dashwood
(Lord do Spencer), Thomas Poller, son of the Archbishop of
Canterbury, &c., who belonged to a club noted for the .audacious
dcb.auchciy of its members. This was thc "Hell-fire" or i\Icdmcn-
ham Club, so named from the losidence of Lord do Spencer in Buck
inghamshire. It was for this society that twelve coijios were printed
of an obscene p.arody on Pope's " b'ssay on Man," entitled " Essay on
Woman," by Wilkes, whom Hogarth m.ade for ever ridiculous in a
celebrated portrait.
t " Instead of we.arying my memory with antiquated precepts," he
writes somewhere, "or tiring my eyes with copying [rainlings injured
by time; 1 have always found that to study Nature herself was thc best
and safest course that one could take, in order to acquire a knowledge
of our art."

Hogarth.] THE OLD MASTERS.

7

himself up to the study of the human physiognomy
when animated by passion : in crowds, in taverns, in
public places. Then he violently hurled from its
pedestal the reputation of the fashionable painter,
William Kent,* who claimed to have discovered
afresh — a century before Louis David — the one true
pure Greek style ; a pretension especially ridiculous in
connection with Kent's work, and utterly absurd at
whatever time it manifests itself, or in whatever mind it
takes rise, for it is but the pitiable aspiration of pedants,
* William Kent, architect and painter, was born in Yorkshire in
1685. He was first apprenticed to a carriage painter, and came to
London about 1704. There he worked and rose, little by little, to
painting portraits and historical pictures. In 17 10 he went for the
first time to Rome, where he attracted the attention of Lord Burlington,
who aided and patronised him. On his return he decorated the altar
in St. Clement's in the Strand. His paintings furnished Hogarth with
a subject for his first caricature. He designed Wanstead House,
Rainham, and several ceilings for Sir Robert Walpole at Hampton, in
the allegorical style of the period. He is more thought of as an
architect than as a painter. He designed Devonshire House in
Piccadilly, the Earl of Yarborough's house in Arlington Street, the
Horse Guards at Whitehall, restored and decorated Stowe, Houghton,
and Holkham — ^his favourite work. His influence was great on the
taste of the times, and he was consulted on all sides. But his highest
claim to the remembrance of posterity lies in the transformation he
worked in the art of ornamental gardening. Resuming the attempts
already made by the decorator Bridgeman towards the middle of the
eighteenth century, he discarded straight lines, arrangements of terraces,
clii^ped elm hedges, yew trees cut into patterns, formal canals and ponds,
all that Walpole called "green sculpture;" substituting for them
groups of various scented trees, undulating ground, artistically arranged
lakes and waterfalls, as nearly as possible resembling nature, and thus
created the model of the English garden. Kent was at the same time
master carpenter, master architect, and guardian of the crown pictures.
He died at Burlington House, April 12th, 1748, and was, according to
his wish, interred in Lord Burlington's vault at Chiswick.

8 ENGLISH PAINTING. [Hogarth.
disguised by the double mask of Janus, but blind to
everything before them, and with eyes only for the
past. Hogarth treated no better the allegorical com
positions of Thornhill, although he had received
lessons from him for a short time, and had become
his son-in-law — though this rather in an underhand
way, for he eloped with his daughter.
Hogarth's chief weapon was a merciless truth. He
was Anglo-Saxon in every sense of the word — look at
his portrait of himself with his favourite dog Trump;
the man and the dog are of the same type — and strictly
faithful to the genius ofhis race; he utterly disdained,
and, indeed, never understood, what we call the style
and tradition of the great masters ; that art which is
as much in the conception as in the realistic repre
sentation. He was not sensitive to art. The ex
ternal beauties of nature, the play of lights on
the human countenance, or on the vista of some
deep valley, the changeful blue of the waves, the
fanciful shapes of the clouds, these never for an
instant attracted his attention. In short, he was
but subordinately an artist ; he was a moralist, and
cared to be nothing more.
Herein lay his glory and his strength ; in these
days this fact would constitute his weakness, if we
were to judge him according to the strict rules of
Continental taste. Still, no one can study nature as
ardently as Hogarth did, without showing as the
result, even unconsciously to himself, certain beauties
especially attractive, and marks of personal observa
tion which at once arrest the attention.

Hogarth.]

THE OLD MASTERS.

The story goes that one day, when Hogarth was
strolling with a friend near some low neighbourhood,

they saw two tipsy girls quarrelling. One of them,
suddenly filling her mouth with gin, spat it in the

JO ENGLISH PAINTING. [Hogarth.
eyes of the other. " Look, look ! " cried Hogarth in
astonishment, at the same time making a rapid sketch
of the scene. This he afterwards introduced into a
picture, "Modern Midnight Conversation," in which he
has depicted the fearful spectacle of the vices of
London. He never allowed any opportunity of
studying character or customs to escape him ; every
face which attracted his attention he would catch at
once with a few rapid strokes of the pencil, and on his
thumb-nail if he had no paper handy. And thus in his
works, the attitudes and action, wondrously life-like
and inexhaustibly varied as they are, are not only
correct and faithful in their most trivial details, but at
times are also noble and touching. There is a some
thing in the faces of his women and children which
probably Reynolds or Lawrence would never have
seen ; take, for example, the girl in the " Marriage a
la Mode," drying her tears in the quack doctor's
study (No. 3 of the series). Look, again, at the young
girl dressed in a pink petticoat and black mantle in Mr.
Baring's picture, " The Conversation." This figure
is one of Hogarth's happiest combinations of colour.
We shall have to speak again of William
Hogarth in a chapter devoted to caricature. As a
painter he has left some good portraits, amongst
others one of Captain Coram, in the Foundling
Hospital, of which that charitable philanthropist was
the founder ; one of Wilkes, which Hogarth had
exaggerated, and of which Wilkes himself nevertheless
said, " I grow every day more like the portrait ; " one of
Fielding, the celebrated author of " Tom Jones ;" a

Hogarth.]

THE OLD MASTERS.

II

posthumous portrait for which the English actor
Garrick sat, giving to his own features, by a splendid

power of mimicry, the habitual expression of the nove
list ; lastly, those of Garrick himself as Richard HI.;

12 ENGLISH PAINTING. (Hogarth.
of Lavinia Fenton as Polly Peachum in The Beggar's
Opera, and that ofhis own wife. In 1736 he tried
his hand, with indifferent success, in painting on a
large scale, and executed, on the immense walls of
the staircase at St. Bartholomew's Hospital, two
Scripture scenes : " The Pool of Bethesda" and "The
Good Samaritan." The figures are seven feet high.
But even in these serious subjects he cannot dispense
with humour and satire. In the " Pool of Bethesda"
he represents a rich leper's servant driving away with
a stick a poor wretch who has drawn near to bathe
his sores in the health-giving pool. In another
picture, representing Danae, he has yielded to the
same spirit, showing the distrustful old nurse testing
a piece of gold with her teeth.
His most celebrated effort is " The Harlot's Pro
gress," a series of six paintings, in which he mingles
romance with comedy, or rather Aristophanic satire.
We can, indeed, recognise some contemporary charac
ters — Colonel Charteris, Parson Ford, Kate Hack-
about, and a noted procuress. Mother Needham. The
success of this series, which was considerable, Avas
followed soon after by a still greater, when " The
Rake's Progress " appeared. This set is composed
on the plan of a drama in eight acts: — I. "Tom
Rakewell taking possession of the Rich Miser's
Effects ;" 2. " The Young Squire's Levee ;" 3. "The
Night House;" 4. "The Spendthrift Arrested for
Debt— Released ; " 5. "Marylebone Church— Rake
well Married to a Shrew ; " 6. " The Fire at the
Gambling Hell;" 7. "The Fleet Prison;" 8. "The

Hogarth.]

THE OLD MASTERS.

13

Madhouse— The Faithful Friend." A poor giri who
is seduced in the first act, and abandoned, returns to

3; ^

him at the last, when he is in his turn forsaken by the
crowd of parasites, swindlers, and prize-fighters, who

14 ENGLISH PAINTING. [Hoganh.
have driven him to Bedlam. Hogarth painted some
other sets, " The Elections,'' and " The Four Times of
the Day ; " but the most celebrated is the " Marriage
a la Mode," a set of six pictures.
I. "The Marriage Settlement." The scene is a
costly apartment, decorated with pictures ; whilst the
two fathers are discussing the conditions of the con
tract, the young man and his fiancee are seated in the
background on a sofa, with their backs turned to one
another ; the lady is listening to the gallantries of a
young lawyer.
2. " The Earl and his Lady at Home." This is
the home of the newly-married couple at the break
fast hour. There are traces in the room of nocturnal
revels and gambling. Near the breakfast table the
Earl is lounging in his chair, his hands in his pockets,
as if too tired to care about anything ; his wife is
yawning wide enough to dislocate her jaws ; in the
background a servant dozes in a standing posture. A
little dog is sniffing at a woman's cap which is half
hanging out of the careless husband's pocket.
3. " The Visit to the Quack Doctor." The dis
solute invalid is making fun of the quack, and of the
procuress, who have deceived him in giving him some
poisonous compound. The woman replies with insults
and threats. The man more philosophically listens
to his reproaches with stoical indifference. The girl
who is the cause of the scene abandons herself to tears
in a corner.
4. "The Countess's Morning Lev^e." Surrounded
by a group of morning visitors, the Countess, seated

Hogarth.]

THE OLD MASTERS.

IS

on a sofa, gives her attention to an Italian singer and
to the lawyer of the first act, who has now become

I

aO
o s <
-< Id<<

her lover. In the foreground a little negress, who is
sitting on the floor taking out of a basket some artistic

l6 ENGLISH PAINTING. [Hogarth.
curiosities, laughs and points with her finger to the
horns of a statuette of Actiron.
S. "The Duel and the Death of the Eari." The
Earl, informed of his wife's infidelity, takes her and
her lover by surprise in a house of bad repute. A
duel follows, in which the Earl is killed. Whilst the
lawyer escapes by thc A\'indow, the wife implores her
husband for mercy. The room is lighted by a fire not
seen in the picture, and by the lantern of the con
stables who have been attracted by the noise.
6. "The Death of the Countess." The Countess,
having learnt from the newspapers that her lover has
undergone capital punishment, poisons herself with
laudanum. The scene is at her father's house in a
room overlooking the Thames. Observing that the
unfortunate woman is at the point of deatli, her father
carefully withdraws her rings from her fingers. Other
groups occupy the rest of the picture : an old nurse
with the Countess's child, and the apothecary, who .
reproaches the young servant for having bought the
poison. This series of paintings, as dramatic as they
are artistic, was executed between 1744 and 1750.
We must not omit to notice the " March to
Finchley," a satirical picture of the panic which seized
on the Royal Guards sent by King George II. to stop
the progress of the Pretender, Charles Edward.
Hogarth dedicated it to the King, who directly he
saw it, cried, " Do they dare laugh at my soldiers like
that .'' Take it away ! take it away, the miserable
thing ! " Hogarth in a fury struck out the inscription,
substituting the words, " To thc Ki/ig of Prussia !"

Hogarth.]

THE OLD M.'VSTERS.

17

Although wanting in great artistic qualities, in
spite of frequent faults of drawing, of a heavy, and,

I

for the most part, sombre manner, William Hogarth's
pictures rivet one's attention, and once seen it is
C

1 8 ENGLISH PAINTING. [Hogarth.
difficult to forget them. Their humour, animation,
vigour, and bitterness of satire firmly fix in the mind
the works of this imperfect painter ; but in an artist
these are only secondary qualities. Let us add that
Hogarth's pictures can be perfectly interpreted by
engraving. Now, there is no work of a true master
which can undergo such a process without its losing
the chief part of its beauty. In the history of French
art, we have a painter who has devoted himself a good
deal to the study of homely and domestic scenes,
which he generally renders in the small dimensions
adopted by William Hogarth. Although his humour
is not of the same character, it is one peculiar to
himself, and attainable by none other. This artist is
Chardin. If one had to choose between one of
Hogarth's complete works, and a single good picture
of Chardin's, no one would hesitate to' prefer the
latter, for he could get an engraving of the English
painter which would answer every purpose.
In England, however, they go so far as to compare
Hogarth to Shakespeare, the poet, the painter of all
that is splendid, all that is beautiful, the illustrator
of every feeling, from the humblest to the most
sublime. " Which is your favourite book ? " asked some
body one day of the humorist Charles Lamb.
" Shakespeare," replied he. "And next ? " "Hogarth."
So greatly did Lamb exalt the moral element in
Hogarth to the detriment of the artistic. I prefer the
opinion of Horace Walpole, who, however, was not one
of Hogarth's friends : —

Hogarth.]

THE OLD MASTERS.

19

"The Rake's levee, the Earl's dining-room in the
'Marriage a la Mode,' the apartments of the

husband and wife, the drawing-room and bedroom,
and twenty other pictures, are the truest representa-
C 2

20 ENGLISH PAINTING. [Reynolds,
tions that we shall have for a hundred years to come
of our style of living." And he was right,
Hogarth is, then, essentially a moralist painter,
Reynolds and Gainsborough, on the contrary, his con
temporaries in art, although his juniors by twenty
years, are artists in the true sense of thc word,
It would be difficult to find another example of
two artists apparently so alike, and yet in reality so
dissimilar when one studies them carefully. They
were born about the same time, and led very simlla'r
lives. They trod the same path, side by side, each
one courted and f^tcd by the English aristocracy,
whose most refined and delicate types they have
handed down to posterity, each in his way equally
earnest.- However, between thc two there was a wide
gulf, owing to thc difference in their bringing up.
It was to his classical studies that Joshua
Reynolds,''^ the son of a country schoolmaster, owed
the bent ofhis artistic tendencies. Among thc woods
and fields that surrounded his village, Thomas Gains
borough, on the contrary, open to all nature's impres
sions, which he eagerly sought after and drank in, owed
to his father, who let him run free, the large extent
of his artistic talent. And what charming anecdotes
* Sir Joshua Reynolds, P.R.A., historical nnd portrnii pninter,
was born at I'lymiHun, in Dcvonsliire, July i6lh, 1723, His father, llie
Rev, Samuel Reynolds, who was a .schoolmasler, inlendeil him for llu^
medical [iroressidn ; but he early gave proofs of his decided tnleni for
art, and the [lerusal of Jonathan Richardson's IreiUises on piiinting
ilelermined [losillvely his vocation, Kielmrd.suii (1665— 1745) was
himself a [jortrail iiainler, and the pupil of John Kilky (1646 — 1691).
But he is especially known by his lilerory and artistic critical essays.

Reynolds.] THE OLD MASTERS. 21
there are about him ! One day, we are told, he
caught, in a very few strokes of the pencil, the exact
expression and bold attitude of a young urchin
plundering a tree laden with pears, hanging over the
garden wall where he — himself but a mere child —
was drawing. Another time, it is said, a neighbour,
deceived by the life-like appearance, called
vehemently to a figure painted by the young artist.
It was in the studio of one of his pupils — also one of his sons-in-law,
Thomas Hudson (1701 — 1779) — that Reynolds first studied in London,
where he commenced in 1 741, but only stayed two years, passing the
next three years in Devonport, and returning to London in 1746. In
1749 he went to the Mediterranean with Commodore (afterwards Lord)
Keppel, commander of the Centurion. After a stay of three years
in Italy, Reynolds returned to England, passing through Paris. In
1768 he was unanimously elected President of the Royal Academy
of Fine Arts in London, and at the same time knighted by King
George III. In 1784 he succeeded Allan Ramsay, whose death had
left the post vacant, as painter in ordinary to the king. Allan Ramsay
(1713 — 1784), the very literary portrait painter, made four journeys
to Rome, and published several political, historical, and literary essays,
under the title of "Investigator." Sir Joshua Reynolds died at his
house in Leicester Square, February 23rd, 1792, and was interred with
great pomp in St. Paul's Cathedral. Burke has said of him : "Sir
Joshua Reynolds is the first Englishman who gave an added glory to
his country by the exhibition of an elegant art. In his taste, graceful
ness, facility, and happy imagination, as in richness and harmony of
colouring, he is the equal of the greatest masters in any of the most
renowned schools." As President of the Royal Academy, Reynolds
wrote fifteen addresses, which have been translated into French by
Jansen {1788 and 1806, 2 vols, in 8vo) ; he also wrote notes on
Mason's English translation of the "Art of Painting," by Dufresnoy, on
Dr. Johnson's edition of Shakespeare, and on a journey in Holland
and Flanders which he took in 1781. There is a complete edition of
his literary works. The number of his paintings is no less than seven
hundred, of which two hundred and fifty were exhibited at the
Academy.

22 ENGLISH PAINTING. [Reynolds.
who had rctiu-ned from London, disgusted with the
schools and academies, where he had nevertheless
learnt thc rudiments of his art.
When Gainsborough returned to London much
later on, he came straight from Suffolk, out of
which he had not travelled, rich in abundant studies
from nature, though as yet quite an unknown man,
while Reynolds had already visited Spain, the coasts
of the Mediterranean, and Italy. After having admired
the works of Raphael and Titian, he had, by effort of
will, thoroughly analysed and studied them in their
separate parts ; in the galleries of Rome and Venice
he had completed the education which had been com
menced on his bench at school with RICHARDSON'S *
Treatise on Painting.
And thus Reynolds's talent is a magnificent victory
of the will ; that of Gainsborough the spontaneous
unfolding of a flower accomplishing its natural transi
tion, and ripening into fruit. It was a fruit of an
exquisite savour. What Reynolds sets himself to
learn, and learns without difficulty, owing to the keen
* Jonathan Richardson, portrait [minter, was born in 1665,
lie was the jiupil of that John Riley (1646 — 1691) who succeeded Peter
Lely in public esteem, John Riley was himself a pupil of Gerard
Zoest {1637 — l58l), imitator of Terburg and Van Dyck, nnd of Isaac
Fuller (1606 — 1672), who had studied in France under Franyois Perrier,
surnamed the Burgundian, Richardson is better known by his books
than by his pictures. He wrote "An Essay on the Whole Art of Criticism
in relation to Painting" (1719), "An Argument in behalf of the Science
of a Connoisseur " {1719), "A Description of some Slatues nnd lins-
reliefs in Italy" (1722), and .several [jamiihlets on the life nnd works
of Milton. He died May 28th, 1745, '" '"s house in (,)ueen's Square,
Bloomsbury.

Reynolds.]

THE OLD MASTERS.

intelligence with which he is gifted, Gainsborough in
his Suffolk woods imagines, and creates for the
satisfaction of his fancy. Thus there is far more to

ri^'-'V^^..'- *¦!

*
y-

Sgi^^

ifh. ^H*

>^%-^"^

'^z

^*«**fc* "" ^'^'^BiMir*'"''

THE AGE OF INNOCENCE. — Sir I. Reynolds.
be learnt from the works that Gainsborough has left
us, than from the rules laid down in Reynolds's
collection of Addresses to the Academy, wise and

24 ENGLISH PAINTING. [Reynolds.
instructive though they be. Even when painting the
most graceful lady, the most English— in other words,
the brightest and freshest — of boys, Reynolds never
becomes so lost in his model as to forget the old
masters. Take, for examples, "The Scholar," which
reminds us of Murillo ; the portrait of Mrs. Harley
as a Bacchante (a picture known under the title of
" Maternal Love ") , in which the influence of Leonardo
da Vinci is too often shown ; and that portrait
in the Galerie de I'Ermitage (" Love unloosing the
Zone of Beauty "), a replica of that in the National
Gallery, in which he mingles his reminiscences of
Titian with his own mannerisms. Similar recollec
tions are still more apparent in the allegorical
portrait of Mrs. Siddons, and in the picture of
Cymon and Iphigenia (a subject from Boccaccio), a
feeble reminiscence of Titian.
But it would be unjust to linger too long over these
slight defects, which are, indeed, only pointed out
that one may put one's finger, so to speak, on the
more artificial parts of a talent so thoroughly of an
acquired nature. Reynolds is none the less an artist
worthy of the highest eulogium, and precisely
because he has succeeded in artfully concealing and
blending in a unity entirely his own the numerous
contributions he has gathered for his palette.
His portraits are true pictures, and it matters
little to know the persons whom they represent ;
they are sufficient of themselves as works of art.
Reynolds has the secret of all the characteristic
graces of women and children. He renders with

Reynolds.]

THE OLD MASTERS.

25

astonishing facility the most fugitive freaks of fashion,
giving them the immortal stamp of art. The

^r^ ^

LORD HEATHFIELD. — Sir I. Reynolds.
innocent delight of the mother ; the ingenuousness
as well as the hidden passion of the maiden ; the

26 ENGLISH PAINTING. [Reynolds.
astonishment, the naive awkwardness, the pretty,
rebellious, and coaxing ways of the child, with its
firm, rosy flesh — of all this he has gathered the charm
and extracted the perfume.
It is the same in his dealing with men. Generally
his subjects are young, slight, of high family, and,
in their lofty elegance of style, in no way belying
their claim to aristocratic excellence. He never
represents his characters in fixed postures, but in the
midst of active life, as if simply interrupted by the
artist's arrival. Look at the admirable portrait of
Lord Heathfield (No. 3 in the National Gallery).
Lord Heathfield (then Lord Elliott), in the full uni
form of a Lieutenant-General, is standing bareheaded
amidst the smoke of battle ; in his hand he holds
the heavy key of the fortress of Gibraltar, which is
shown in the background of the picture. This is in
allusion to the celebrated defence (1779 — 83), of which
he was the hero. The attitude of the General, firm
as a rock, the happy idea of the key as an accessory
— these are the touches of genius, because they are
so perfectly characteristic of the individual. Herein
lies the secret of the lasting interest attaching to so
many of his works, which are yet only portraits.
But what portraits ! And to which could we de
cide to give the preference ? Which one is more
attractive than another ? Is it the young and noble
Marquis of Hastings, so perfectly- at ease in his
scarlet uniform, his sword at his side, his finger on
his lip, in the attitude of one in a doubtful meditation
— a sort of indecision just about to terminate and

Reynolds.]

THE OLD MASTERS.

27

resolve itself into action ; is it that wild little maiden,
or that other, the " Age of Innocence," calmly and

5^
S I

i|i;^'£S;

quietly reposing on the breast of beneficent Nature .'
or, again, the little Princess Sophia Mathilda, rolling
on the greensward of a park with a puppy ? Would

28 ENGLISH PAINTING. [Reynolds
it not rather be the beautiful Duchess of Devonshire,
playfully struggling against the attacks of her little
half-clothed daughter, whose destructive hand
threatens to disturb the symmetry of her mother's
coiffure ; or the actress, Kitty Fisher, as Cleopatra,
with languishing eyes, retrousse nose, and amorous
lips, dropping a pearl, with a charming air of coquetr}',
into a carved goblet, too heavy for her hand ; or Mrs.
Robinson, the actress at Covent Garden, with whom
the Prince of Wales was so violently in love ; or the
tragedian, Mrs. Siddons } What life and spirit there
is in the picture of Lady C. Spencer as an Amazon,
with red over and under petticoats, and a white bodice,
embroidered with gold and red ; the position of the
head, spirited, defiant, resolute ; the face animated by
the chase ; the ej^es wide open and full of fire ; the
short, curly hair as wild as a young boy's ! With her
gloved hand she strokes caressingly the head of her
horse, which, but a moment ago, was bounding under
his light and charming burden among the trees of the
forest, where the noble lady halts for a moment. In
fact, among all these female portraits one cannot tell
which is the best.
Yes ; there is a masterpiece — tha picture of
Nelly O'Brien, which I have not named before.*
I have sought and have seen many others of
'¦ We are truly sorry that we cannot reproduce it. Reynolds has
painted the charming Nelly twice at least. Sir Richard Wallace
possesses one of these portraits, which is most beautiful, but that which
we are now discussing has a still more penetrating intensity of
expression.

MRS. SIDDONS A.S THE TRAGIC MUSE. — Sir I. Reynolds.

30 ENGLISH PAINTING. [Reynoldj.
Reynolds's pictures — the beautiful portraits that I have
just mentioned; "The Exile," a dramatic figure; a
" Holy Family," somewhat commonplace — but aitiong
all the works of this artist I have found nothing to
compare with this marvellous face. In it Reynolds in-
contestably asserts his claim .to rank among thc great
masters, and if he had never painted but this one
picture, he would thereby have certainly acquired a
lasting fame.
From the executive point of view the picture shows
no sign of weakness ; nay, far from it. One remarks
with what consummate skill thc artist has blended,
alternately .shaded, and brought into relief, thc whites,
neutral colours, and reddish tints, of which the pic
ture is exclusively composed. Let me observe, by
the way, that Reynolds always avoids using a great
number of colours in his paintings ; three or four
tints — or even less — indefinitely varied and blended,
are enough for him ; he has a great predilection for
red, but in this portrait of Nelly O'Brien he has, in a
great measure, denied himself his favourite colour.
This masterpiece of Reynolds, which constitutes
his greatest claim to glory, could only have been pro
duced by the hand of an artist who had seen and
studied, both in the North and South, so many of the
sublime realisations of the great masters in every
country where the genius of Art has iilaiilcd her
divine foot. Everything in this excellent jiainting
belongs entirely to Reyholds, or, rather, he has here
made his own all the ideas that he has borrowed in
his travels, from Leonardo d;i Vinci, Correggio,

Gainsborougli.] THE OLD MASTERS. 3 1
Velazquez, and Rembrandt. But judging impartially
this exquisite face, it must be said that, in co.mparison
to any Italian masterpiece, " Nelly O'Brien " is an
unhealthy work, produced by a deteriorated mind
and a corrupted art. It is the result of an ultra-
refined civilisation, forced in the temperature of a
hot-house; a creation that Gainsborough, a son of
the soil, strengthened by the freshening fragrance
of the woods, could never have imagined, and was,
fortunately, never able to understand.
Gainsborough* has also his masterpiece, "The
Blue Boy," and other great works which I rank, in
order, above those of Reynolds. But how can one
possibly resist the powerful and mysterious attrac
tion which holds one spellbound before the Nelly.'
Gainsborough has only painted a boy ; why has he
not also painted a woman ? Then, no doubt, we should
render the full justice due to him, maybe we should
rank him with Reynolds, perhaps even consider him
the superior.

* Thomas Gainsborough, portrait and landscape painter, was
born at Sudbury, in Suffolk, in the spring of 1727. (The date of his
birth is unknown, but he was baptised May 14th.) His father, a cloth
manufacturer, possessed a small property, which his generous nature and
heavy family expenses soon reduced to nothing. The young Thomas,
who had no other training than a lonely study of nature, had already
given proofs of a true talent for landscape painting, when he came
to London scarcely aged fourteen. Having been presented to a French
engraver, Gravelot (1699 — 1773), who made a first stay in London from
1733 to 174s, Gainsborough was taken into his workshop, and set to
work at ornamenting the frames of portraits which were sent to be
engraved. Then he studied at the Academy of St. Martin's Lane in
the studio of the portrait painter Francis Hayman (1708— 1776), a

32 ENGLISH PAINTING, [Gain^Lorough.
Gainsborough, indeed, did not limit himself to
rivalling Reynolds in depicting the haughty features
of the English aristocracy ; he was also a great land
scape painter.
In spite of the demands on his time caused by a

lion vivant, one of Hogarth's friends, a member of the St. Martin's
Academy, and also of several societies of a less severe characler, such'
as the Beefsteak Club and the Old Meat Market Club. But at the
end of four years, weary of the conventional practices to which he was
bound down by this most indifferent painter, Gainsborough left his
residence at Hatton Garden and returned to his birthplace, in spite of
the success which some fine portraits and excellent landscapes had pro
cured him. At the age of nineteen he had married Margaret Burr, a
pretty young girl possessing a small fortune of ;^200 a year. They
settled at Ipswich, where Gainsborough's first work was a view of
Landguard Fort, which was unfortunately destroyed, but of which
there remains an engraving by Thonias Major (1720 — 1799). Chance
ed him to Bath, where the country pleased him, and the place seeming
to offer greater advantages for the exercise of his double talent for land
scape and portraits, he removed his studio there in 1760, and remained
there for fourteen years. It was only in 1774 that he returned to
London, where he at first lived in his old habitation at Hatton Garden,
moving shortly afterwards to Schomberg House, in Pall Mall, his means
having increased with his fame. Since 1766 he had been member of
the Incorporated Society of Artists, and had been elected a Royal
Academician at the foundation of the institution (1768). From this
time he was looked upon as the rival both of Reynolds in portrait
painting and of Wilson in landscapes. It is related on this subject
that one day at an Academy dinner Reynolds rose, saying, " I jiro-
pose a toast to Mr. Gainsborough, the greatest landscape painter of the
day." To which Wilson, offended, made the repartee, " Ves, and
also the greatest portrait painter." Neither the one nor the other
imagined they were so nearly right. Gainsborough was also an ardent
musician and an excellent violist. Dr. Wolcotl, a good judge, hearing
him play one day in a neighbouring room without knowing who was
the [icrformer, exclaimed, "Good gracious I that must be Abel," the
most skilful violist of that time (1719 — 1787). "Nobody but he
could play the instrument like that ! " Gainsborough died August 2nd,

Guinshorougli.l THE OLD MASTERS. 33
rapidly earned fame, when once he had decided to
return to London, and although he was scarcely
able to satisfy the orders of his aristocratic clients,
Gainsborough never forgot Nature, his earliest teacher.
He frequently managed to secure leisure for country
rambles. We shall bj'-and-by study him as a land
scape painter, but it may as well here be said that
ho was the originator, the father, of modern landscape.
Contented with the beauties that he discovered in his
country home, he studied them in all their simplicity,
which was more helpful to him than the finest
inventions of academical geometry.
It is well to pay attention to this fact, as showing
in what respects Gainsborough as a portrait painter
differs from his rival. Their dissimilarities arc
scarcely perceptible in their results ; the}- are not of
the kind which strike exor)- eye, so as to place the
artists in antagonism to one another. The talent with
which the two were endowed, the famil\- likeness
in their models, all of them English, have deceived
man)' superficial observers. Nevertheless, the distinc
tions between them are fundamental ones, and were
produced by the application of principles in direct'
opposition to one another.
1788, and was buried very sunnily, according to his wish, in Kew
Churdiyanl. On his tombstone are inscribed merely his name, his age,
and the d.xlo of his death. However, Reynolds was one of the pall
bearers at his funeral 5 ho visited Gainsborough on his death-bed, and
as thore had been some coolne.s.s in Iheir intercourse, the dying man,
wisliing to wipe out all tmco of it, said, "We shall all go to Heaven, and
Van Dyck will be of the [xirty." .\fter Gainsborough's death Reynolds
Jelix'ered a speech to the Academy on tho subject of his riTOl's talent.
D

34 ENGLISH PAINTING. [Gainsborough.
It is by the artifice of a perfected science that
Reynolds obtains such striking effects in his portraits.
He forged for his own use a complete armoury of
weapons, a magazine of rules and well-tried systems,
which he had gathered and selected by a careful study
of the old masters ; he must have so much shadow,
so much light ; he systematically avoids this or that
tint, and by excessive skill in execution he succeeds
in concealing his poverty of conception.
Gainsborough, on the other hand, regards his
model in the same way as he regards nature. It is
the model which, in each new work, furnishes him
with fresh artistic ideas. He sees for himself those half
tint reflections which Reynolds calculates beforehand.
Guided by an inherent dignity and an instinctively
correct taste, he never descends, although ever truthful,
to the trivialities of Hogarth, who is quite as truthful,
but in another way. Hogarth shows off the bad side
ofhis subject to make it all the more open to censure;
his portraits, too, although of a striking resemblance,
as we are told by contemporary spectators, are
exaggerated, repugnant, and, to say the least, vulgar.
Gainsborough strove to take in all that was noble and
pure in his sitters, and thus, without flattering, he
gives to every work produced by his hand a par
ticular character of ideal dignity combined with
truthfulness. He holds himself as far aloof from the skilful
trickeries of Reynolds as from the naive coarseness of
Hogarth ; he is innately true.
One can now well understand how, without

THE PRINCESS ELIZABETH. — T. Gainsborough.

D 2

36 ENGLISH PAINTING. [Gainsborough.
denying his talent, pedants of every kind (for there is
a pedantry of ugliness) ranked in the second class
this man, who was utterly unable to enter into and
conform to their eesthetical formulas.
What happened, however ? Simply this, that
Gainsborough, one day, thoroughly nettled and pro
voked with Reynolds's exclusive theories, rose from
his peaceful retirement, tearing himself away from his
favourite pastime (not the composition of lectures
and treatises on Art, but the music of which he was
so passionately fond), and then the artist, the tranquil
admirer of nature, discarding vain words, thoroughly
disproved, by the simple force of his brush, the rules
so carefully enacted. In one of his lectures to the
Academy, Reynolds had laid down the principle that
blue cannot be used in a picture as the dominant
colour, and also that the most vivid tints ought to be
placed in the centre of the painting.
Gainsborough's reply was his celebrated " Blue
Boy," by name Master Buttall.
Master Buttall is a nice-looking, well-dressed boy
of about fifteen years old, simply placed in a standing
posture. His hair and eyes are black, and he has
rosy cheeks and lips. Over his left hand, which is
supported on his hip, hangs the flap of a light mantle,
whilst his right hand, hanging by his side, holds a
beaver hat ornamented with a long feather. His
handsome costume of light satin consists of a short
jacket with slashed sleeves, small-clothes tied at the
knees with knots of ribbon, silk stockings, and rosettes
on his shoes. With the exception of a muslin

1 1
.1

V-is— - " -

IIIE "BLUE BOV." — T. Gainsborough.

38 ENGLISH PAINTING. [Gainsborough.
collarette and the slashes on his sleeves, the whole
picture is of the same blue, of the shade known as
Royal blue.
It is easy thus to enumerate the difi"erent
articles of dress, but how shall we give an idea of the
harmony of the picture ! How can we convey to the
reader, with any accuracy, its delicacies, the reflec
tions, the high lights, the bright bits of colour, and
the soft warm deep shades which, blending together,
reduce and modify the intensity of the full colour !
How can we show the variety of expedients by which
the master has managed his shadows, causing the
young figure to stand out from a background of
autumnal foliage of russet and green tints, and from a
powerful sky full of breeze and movement ! One
must see and admire the picture, and carry away
from it the impression made by a masterpiece. Still,
if we really wish to gain some conception of this
marvellous work, we are tempted, in 'spite of the
vagueness and perhaps puerility of the idea, to strive
to recall the happiest reminiscences of Watteau and
Van Dyck, the boldness and perfect grace of Watteau,
and the severe elegance of Van Dyck.
One of Gainsborough's most remarkable pictures
is his portrait of Mrs. Siddons. The actress, whom
Reynolds had already represented in tragic attire, is
here depicted in a walking costume of admirable
simplicity of colour and effect. Gainsborough's
biographical works (for thus may we call his collec
tion of portraits so expressive and characteristic) are
numerous, and although we cannot name them all,

Gainsborough.] ENGLISH PAINTING. 39
there are some that must not be passed over. For
example, the picture of a young couple, William
Hallett and his wife, strolling together in a garden
path, arm-in-arm, so tenderly, that, on the husband's
side at least, it is something more and better than
politeness ; the excellent figures of two young women,
Mrs. Sheridan and Mrs. Tickell ; the dreamy face of
Nancy Parsons, pale and delicate ; the beautiful Mrs.
Graham ;* and lastly, with many others, the lovely
and thoughtful Lady Dunstanville, and the divine
Georgiana Spencer, Duchess of Devonshire, so charm
ing and so pure, the queen and model of every elegant
accomplishment, grace, wit, and beauty. As an artist
Gainsborough is not perfect ; his drawing is weak and
often careless ; he generally paints the accessories and
drapery with a breadth of style rather in the manner of
decorative art, but his colouring seldom fails to be ex
quisite. Moreover, as a portrait painter, it is to the
human countenance that he devotes all his attention ;
he shows us, not only the model, but the soul of the
model, which, like a Divine melody, permeates the
whole picture. Lastly, there is observable in most
of his portraits an especial charm of pathetic tender
ness, a tinge of melancholy which it is difiicult to
attribute to all the persons that have sat to him. It
must be, then, from himself that it emanates, and

* "Mrs. Graham " and the " Blue Boy " have been finely engraved
by M. L. Flameng for the Gazette des Beaux-Arts. These beautiful
engravings that we have here reproduced possess, however, one
drawback — the talented engraver has left out the backgrounds, which
are so full of character in the original works.

40 THE OLD MASTERS. [Gainsborough.
SO appears in his portraits as it does in his landscapes.
This is the veil through which he looked at all his
subjects, just as Reynolds saw everything through
science. If one would define exactly the difference
between these two masters, one might say that
Reynolds was all intelligence and will, Gainsborough
all soul and sentiment ; the former delights those of
refined tastes, the latter charms everybody. Of the
two Gainsborough is to be preferred. These two
great artists were followed by men of less celebrity —
George Romney, John Russell, Sir William Beechey,
John Hoppner, and John Opie.
Romney'S* father, who was a cabinet maker, at
first took his son to work with himself, but on account
of the boy's entreaties, and his undeniable taste for
drawing, he placed him, at the age of nineteen, with
a portrait painter. This eccentric and unprincipled
person was named EDWARD STEELE, and lived at
Kendal ; he was born about 1730, and had studied
in Paris. To him we owe Sterne's portrait. It is
said that for some years the master and pupil led the
life of travelling artists, that Romney married a
young girl who had nursed him when he had fallen
* George Romney, historical and portrait painter, was born at
Dalton-in-Furness, in Lancashire, December 15th, 1734. In 1799
he resolved to return to Kendal to his wife, whom, since he had left
her, he had only once seen in 1767. The forgiving woman received
him like the Prodigal Son, without a word of reproach, and tended him
in his last illness. He died November 15th, 1802, and was buried at
his birthplace, Dalton. As he had never exhibited at the Royal
Academy, in spite of his success, he was ineligible to become a
member. The decided hostility shown him by Sir Joshua Reynolds
was no doubt the cause.

MRS. GRAHAM. — T. Gainsborough.

42

ENGLISH PAINTING.

[Romney.

ill, but soon deserted her, and rambling about the
northern counties painted half-length portraits for
two guineas and whole length ones for six. At this
work he made ;£'ioo, £70 of which he gave to his
young wife, who had borne him two children, and
with the remainder he went to try his fortune in

EMMA LYON AS ALOPE. — G. Romney.

London, where he arrived in 1762. His historical
pictures procured him his first successes at the Society
of Arts, such as "The Death of General Wolfe," which
must not be confounded with B. West's ' celebrated
picture, and " The Death of King Edward " ; but

Romney.] THE OLD MASTERS. 43
he again went to work at portraits, and prospering

MRS. ROBINSON. — G. Romney.
in this line, took a journey to Italy in 1733 with the

44 ENGLISH PAINTING. [Russell.
miniature painter OziAS Humphrey (1742 — 1810).
On his return to London in 1775, he shared the
public favour with Reynolds and Gainsborough. In
spite of his indiff"erent education, he retained his
ambition for high forms of art. His favourite subject
was Emma Lyon, a professional model, who after a
life of adventure became the wife of Sir William
Hamilton. Emma Lyon was the model for his
Magdalens, Sapphos, St. Cecilias, and Bacchantes.
When the engraver. Alderman Boydell (1719 — 1804),
undertook his Shakespeare Gallery, he asked Romney
to paint the shipwreck scene in the Tempest. George
Romney 's best work is his pretty " Reading Girl,
named Serena ; " his most dramatic picture (in fact,
too melodramatic) is his " Child Shakespeare."
John Russell* was a pupil of Francis Cotes,
R.A., portrait painter in oils and in pastel (1725 — 1770),
who was himself a pupil of George Knapton (1698 —
1778). He took the prize in 1759 at the Society of Arts
in London, to which he had come at the age of fifteen.
John Russell generally worked in pastel. He painted
the portraits of George III., the Queen, and the Prince
and Princess of Wales. An interesting specimen of his
* John Russell, R.A., [Dortrait jiaintcr, was born in April, 1744,
at Guildford, in Surrey, where his father was a printer. He exhibited
for the first time at the Spring Gardens Gallery in 1768, was elected
an Associate of the Academy in 1772, and an Academician in 1788. In
1776 he published a work on " Elementary Chalk-colouring." His tastes
led him to astronomical studies, and he invented an instrument for
showing some lunar phenomena, for which he procured a patent in
1797. He died of typhoid fever, April 20th, 1806, and was buried in
Trinity Church, Guildford.

Beechey.] THE OLD MASTERS. 45
work, "The Child and the Cherries," was bequeathed
to the Louvre in 1869 by Mr. Henry Vickery.
William Beechey,* at the age of nineteen, left
the notary's ofiice at Stowe in Gloucestershire, where
his parents had placed him, in order to be articled to a
solicitor in London. As a matter of fact, he went to
the Royal Academy School, and soon made himself
a • great name as portrait painter. The National
Gallery possesses only one of Beechey's works, the
portrait of the sculptor, Joseph Nollekens (1737 —
1823). In 1881 the periodical L'Art gave a more
important work of Beechey's to the Louvre. It is a
double portrait, called " Brother and Sister," two
children standing in a park. This portrait, executed
in the showy style of the time, does not possess the
* Sir William Beechey, R.A. , portrait painter, was born
December 12th, 1753, at Burford, in Oxfordshire. In 1793 he was
elected Associate of the Academy, and was nominated portrait painter
to Queen Charlotte the same year, and Academician in 1798, after
painting his great equestrian portrait of George HI., with the Prince of
Wales, the Duke of York, Sir W. Faucett, and Goldsworthy reviewing
the 3rd and loth Regiments of Dragoons in Hyde Park. It was on the
achievement of this picture, which has been recently placed in Hamp
ton Court, that he was knighted. Before him Reynolds had been the
only artist of the Academy who had received this honour, which had
been refused by Benjamin West. Sir William died at Hampstead,
January 28th, 1839, in his eighty-sixth year. No other painter has ever
sent so many pictures to the Royal Academy. In sixty-four years he
exhibited 362 portraits.
Sir William had a son, George D. Beechey, also a portrait painter,
who exhibited in London from 1817 to 1828 withoutany great success.
He then went to Calcutta, settled at Lucknow, and was official painter
at the Court of the King of Oude. It is said that he was living in
1855, but that he was killed two years later during the Indian
Mutiny.

4*'' ENGLISH ' P.MNTlNt:. [Ilcechoy.
dignified elegance of the Reynolds and Gains-

IIUOTIIHR ANii sisTKK. — Sir IK. Dvcchcy.
boroughs, but it is painted with a simple giacc, aiul

Hoppner.] THE OLD MASTERS. 47
in warm and lively colouring. JOHN HOPPNER'S*
portraits of women and children are especially worthy
of remark. His execution was brilliant and rapid,
but unfortunately the bad quality of the pigments
that he employed has too often impaired the tints of
his pictures. The same may be said of many of the
English paintings of the same period. Some years
ago, in a public sale in Paris, we saw one of Hopp-
ner's pictures, a portrait of a young lady. It has
often happened that the artist has exaggerated
certain of Reynolds's peculiarities, his afl"ectations,
his odd effects in clare-obscure, his violent contrasts
of light and shade. In this portrait there was nothing
of the sort. The work was quiet, refined, bright, of
a very elegant style, and as simple as it was elegant.

* John Hoppneu, portrait [jaintcr, was born at Whitechapel, Ainil
4th, 1768. His mother, a German, was attached to the Court as
laily-in-waiting. At first he was a choir-boy in the Royal Chapel, but
he soon showed greater lasle for painting than for music, and the king,
having granted him a small pension, he was sent to the Academy
School in 1775. At the age of twenty.two he carried off the gold medal,
and married Miss Wright, whose mother, Mrs. Patience Wright (1725 —
1786), had gained a certa'n celebrity for her iDortraits modelled in wax.
Patronised by the Prince of Wales, he soon became one of the fashion
able i^ainters for the aristocracy, in conn:>any witli .Sir Thomas Law
rence, who thought highly of him, and did him the honour to regard
him in the light of a serious rival. In 1793 he was elected Associate,
and in 1795 Member of the Academy, where he exhibited 166 works.
He died January 23rd, 1816, and was buried in the cemetery of St.
James's Chapel, Hampstead Road. In 1803 he published a collection
of ijortraits of ladies of rank and fashion, and in 1806 some Eastern
poems translated into English verse. Plis son, Lascelles Hoppner, also
an artist, painted historical and genre pictures with equal facility.
" The Market-place at Seville " ought to be particularly mentioned.

48 ENGLISH PAINTING. lOpIe.
The youthful charms of the sweet-looking child had
disarmed the artist. For the subject as well as for
the intelligence which has made the whole so har
monious, this portrait ought to be looked on as one
of Hoppner's best.
In 1786 John Opie* exhibited three important

THE MURDER OF DAVID RIZZIO. — J. Opie.
pictures, " The Assassination of James I. of Scotland,"
"A Sleeping Nymph," and a '' Cupid stealing a Kiss."
The next year followed " The Murder of David Rizzio."
* John Opie, R.A., historical and portrait painter, the son of a
decent carpenter, was born in May, 1761, at St. Agnes, near Truro.
His mother secretly encouraged his taste for art. The rapid progress
that he made enabled him to make a living by his talent in travelling
about the neighbourhood. Dr. Wolcott (the pamphleteer Peter Pindar)
passing through Truro, noticed the young artist, took a fancy to him.

Lawrence.] THE OLD. MASTERS. 49
It was on this occasion that he was elected associate ot
the Academy, after which time he exclusively painted
portraits. John Opie has no great feeling for beauty.
The female portrait given to the Louvre by L'Art in
1 88 1 is an excellent example of his work as a portrait
painter. It is a large, ponderous, unpretentious
painting, and though wanting in delicacy and charm,
its decided air of faithfulness and realistic appear
ance shows a powerful hand. John Opie's talent was
very suitable for portraying the Saxon type of
beauty, florid and massive.
Lawrence* is the last of the English portrait
painters who devoted themselves to the aristocracy of
their country. At the age of twenty he had already
gained renown, and in 1792 he succeeded Reynolds,
his master, in the honorary post of First Painter to the
King. Lawrence is an attenuated Reynolds ; like

and brought him to London, on the condition of sharing with him the
produce of his works. He introduced him to a circle of friends, who
gave him the name of the Cornish Wonder. John Opie first exhibited
at the Royal Academy in 1782. At the expiration of his arrangement
with Dr. Wolcott he married a woman who was unfaithful to him, and
from whom he was divorced in 1796. He was married a second time.
This was to the virtuous and lovely Amelia Alderson, who proved a
devoted wife. John Opie died April 9th, 1807, and was interred in St.
Paul's Cathedral by the side of Reynolds. A month before his death
he published four lectures, which, as professor, he had read to the
Academy — on drawing, composition, clare-obscure, and colouring.
* Sir Thomas Lawrence, P.R.A., portrait painter, was born
May 4 th, 1769, at Bristol. We will here repeat exactly what we find
in his biography, as in the commencement of that of all other artists :
"He early showed a marked talent for drawing." His father, a
clergyman's son, was first the innkeeper of the " White Lion " at Bristol,
and then of the "Black Bear" at Devizes; in succession he lived at

50 ENGLISH PAINTING. |l..iwrencc.
him, only in a greater degree, he effects his work bj-
artifice. He manages to conceal his numerous defects,
and admirabl)- feigns the most splendid qualities. He
Oxford, Weymouth, and Bath. In this unsettled existence young
Lawrence received very little education ; he was at school for two
years, and had also some French lessons. .\s a child he delighted in
drawing crayon portraits of the frequenters of the "White Lion" and
" Black Bear." .\t Bath he was encouraged and advised by an old his
torical painter and a member of the Academynamed Wili.i.vm Hoake
(1706 — 1792). Lawrence was scarcely aged seventeen when, ha\-ing
commenced oils, he carried off the Society of .Vrts prize — a silver
pallet. In 1787 he accompanied his family lo London, and was
admitted a student of the Royal Academy. He soon gained the public
favour, and that of the Royal Family as well, for among thirteen por
traits that he exhibited in 1790, two were those of the Queen and
Princess .\melia. At the .age of twenty-two he was made first painter
to the king in the place of Reynolds, whose death had left the post
vacant. A year before this time, although he had not arrived at the
eligible age (twenty-four years), he had been elected Associate of tho
Academy. It was at this time that he painted the portraits of the king
and queen, which Lord Macartney offered to the Emperor of China.
Made Academician in 1794, his fame increased daily ; all the lionours
and emoluments of his profession, in which he held the highest place,
fell to his share, when a circumstance occurred regarding himself whicli
lessened very considerably during some time his orders for female
portraits. The Princess of \\'ales, Caroline of Brunswick, who lived
separately from her husband, having summoned Lawrence to paint hor
likeness, she was imprudent enough to invite him to stay at her resi
dence, Montague House. This became a subject of scandal. How
ever, in the investigation which was made later for the divorce, there
was not the slightest allusion made to Lawrence. In 1814 the artist
made a short stay in Paris, where he went with the intention of becom
ing acquainted with the Louvre, but he was very soon recalled by llio
Prince Regent, wdio until then had never emiilo)od him, hut who now
ordered him to paint Ihe portr.aits of the eniinonl statesmen and mili
tary men whose efforts had contrilnited to the vo-oslablishment of the
Bourbons ; the prince wished to form a commeniovati\e gallery of
them at A\ indsor. It happened that just at this time some of the sub
jects for this work were in London. In 1815 Lawrence was knighted

Lawrence.] THE OLD MASTERS. 5 I
cannot draw well, yet his subjects are life-like ; his
colouring is not good, yet his faces have a certain
harmonious brilliancy. He never understood either
power or truth. He is tricky everywhere and on
every occasion. Simple beauty has no charm for
him. He wants to depict an elegant and stylish
woman, and he paints her in washy blue and pink
colours, without depth, and utterly unsubstantial.
And the woman thus travestied turns out charming.
He worships the fashions in dress. Furbelows,
furs, velvets, long or short waists, the hair worn more or
less high, fillets or turbans, these are the things that '
especially attract his attention. Utterly unlike
Reynolds or Gainsborough, particularly the latter,
who, although never giving in to any freak of fashion,
yet so quickly and always found some safe means to
represent it by which it might be divested of its
ephemeral character. Sir Thomas Lawrence himself
by the Regent. Three years later he went to Aix-la-Chapelle, then to
Vienna and Rome, in order to complete his work for the prince, and
after travelling for eighteen months, during which time he visited the
principal towns of Italy, the artist returned to England. He was now
unanimously elected President of the Academy in the place of Benjamin
West, who had died during his absence. From 1787 until his death
Lawrence sent 311 pictures to the Academy exhibitions. He died
January 7th, 1830, at his house in Russell Square, and was interred, in
great pomp, in St. Paul's Cathedral. Sir Thomas Lawrence had ex
hibited, in 1824, in Paris at the same time as the landscape painter
Constable ; he only came, however, for a second time, in 1825, when
he painted the portraits of Charles X. and the Dauphin, on which
occasion he was decorated with the order of the Legion of Honour.
Besides his portraits, Lawrence painted several historical subjects :
Satan, Coriolanus, Rolla, Cato, and Hamlet. This last picture,
together with his Satan, he ranked below all his other works.
E 2

GEORGE IV. — Sir T. Lawrence.

Lawrence.] THE OLD MASTERS. S3
sets the fashion ; he paints on a canvas that will last
for centuries a style of dress, a particular cut of coat,
which will only last for a day.
Certainly Lawrence has done some fine works ;
the portrait of Pius VIL, in which he cannot
altogether forget David's Pope Pius VII. in the
" Coronation ; " the portraits of George IV., of Sir
William Curtis, of the little Countess of Shaftesbury,
and of Lady Dover. They are ingenious, clever, and
intelligent, but there is nothing great in them. Take
Kemble's portrait as Hamlet, in the cemetery scene
(" Alas, poor Yorick ! "), which is so highly praised. I
have carefully studied it, and am bound to pronounce
it painfully stagey and heavily painted ; the hands are
beautiful, but that is not everything. With what a
different comprehension of Shakespeare's genius has
our Delacroix several times rendered this singularly
poetical subject, of which he was so fond ! I can
understand Lawrence's enormous success, not so much
because he was an attractive painter, in spite of his
faults, as because he knew how to place art at the
disposal of pretty, vain women, empty-headed, affected
coquettes. He possessed a species of genius which I
do not at.all despise in an artist, but which requires
to be ably supported by more solid qualities ; he had
the skill of depicting grace in dress. At what a
remote distance is his celebrated Master Lambton,
"The Boy in Red," from Gainsborough's "Blue Boy!"
And yet all the people at the Paris Salon in 1824 raved
about this melancholy little fellow. It was not worthy
of so much mention. Let us, however, give this

54 ENGLISH PAINTING. [Lawrence.
English artist credit for having accurately learned his

LADY DOVER. — Sir T. Lawrence.

own capabilities, and for not having been tempted, in

Lawrence.] THE OLD MASTERS. SS
spite of some efforts, to throw himself into the vague

MASTER LAMBTON. — Sir T. Lawrence.
difficulties of historical painting. Lawrence will

S6 ENGLISLI PAINTING. [Jackson.
always interest us and attract our attention, because
he has left evidences of his time, his country, and his
contemporaries, rather varnished, it is true, but still
life-like under their varnish.
The French painter Delacroix, who had known
Lawrence in London in 1825, wrote an interesting
letter to Th. Silvestre in 1858, in which he gives his
judgment of him with the friendliness of youthful
reminiscences : — " My impressions of that time would
be perhaps rather modified in these days ; I should
perhaps discover in Lawrence an exaggeration in his
manner of producing an effect, savouring too much of
the Reynolds school ; but his excessive delicacy in
drawing, the life that he gives to his female studies,
which look as if they would speak to you, give him
a kind of superiority, as a portrait painter, over
Van Dyke himself, whose admirable figures sit so
quietly for their portraits. The brilliancy of the eyes,
the half-open mouth, are excellently rendered by
Lawrence. He gave me a gracious reception ; he
was pre-eminently a courteous man, except, indeed,
when any one criticised his pictures."
Portrait painting must be considered as the only
great style in the English school. I am not speaking
only of the most celebrated portraits, for, in a lesser
degree, all deserve notice, as, for instance, two that we
saw some years ago at Paris. One was a bold, vigorous
work of a severe and elevated character, by JACKSON ;*
* John Jackson, R.A., ijortrait painter, was born at Lastingham,
in the north of Yorkshire, May 31st, 1778. He had some trouble to
conquer the opposition of his father, who wished him to become a

Raehurn.] THE OLD MASTERS. 57
the other, which I greatly preferred, was a picture
.of a Greenwich pensioner, by RAEBURN.* It is
painted with a wonderfully powerful brush, and treated
with a delicacy of rendering and an intelligence which
one rarely finds anywhere, especially in P^nglish Art.
simi^le village tailor like himself. In 1804 he came to London and
studied at the Academy. He was supported and patronised by Lord
Mulgrave, whose portrait he exhibited the following year, and by Sir
George Beaumont, R.A., an amateur artist of great talent (1753 — 1827),
who gave him an annual pension of £^0, and took him to live in his
house until the completion ofhis education. Many other instances are
recorded of this eminent amateur's generosity. Jackson having soon
become famous as a portrait painter, was elected Associate in 1815, and
Royal Academician in 1817. In 1819 he took a journey to Italy with
Sir F. Chantrey ; at Rome he painted Canova's portrait, considered one
of his best works ; that of the celebrated sculptor and designer, John
Flaxman (1755 — 1820), painted for Lord Dover; and that of Lady
Dover. Jackson's paintings are tasteful in colouring and agreeable in
composition. He was twice married, the second time to the sister of
James Ward, R.A. (1769 — 1859), the animal painter and engraver.
John Jackson died in his house at St. John's Wood, June Ist, 1831.
* Sir Henry Raeburn, portrait painter, was born at Stock-
bridge, near Edinburgh, March 4th, 1756. He was the sonof a manu
facturer, but was early left an orphan, and after having received a good
education at Heriot School, he was apprenticed, at fifteen years old,
to a goldsmith in Edinburgh. His love of art revealed itself in efforts
in miniature painting, which his master encouraged, but he lacked the
special education necessary for an artist. He was eighteen years old when
the portrait painter and engraver, David Martin (1736 — 1798), a pupil
of Allan Ramsay (1713 — 1784), came to live in Edinburgh, and seeing
Raeburn's attempts, encouraged and guided him, and allowed him to
coi^y his own works. The protegi made rapid strides, and soon enter
tained a more exalted ambition ; one, too, which he was able to
realise, for some excellent portraits brought him into notice. He had
raised himself by his own efforts, and, fortune favouring him, he
married, at the age of twenty-two, a young woman who possessed a little
property. Then .he w ent.to: London, and [jresented himself, with his
works, to Reynolds, who received bim kindly, advised him to take a

S8 ENGLISH PAINTING. [Raeburn.
This portrait is inimitable as a type of an English
sailor, clean and scrupulous in his appearance,
retaining the fair and fresh complexion of the Saxon
race, in spite of the red and bronze colouring caused
by sun, wind, and intemperance. The glazy eye, the
fiery nose, the mouth, with its modestly sensual
delights in tobacco and gin, all these are expressed
with wonderful meaning. There are very few painters '
who have been able to manage with such skill the
transitions from shade to half-lights, and from half-
lights to full-lights. Raeburn, who lived in Edinburgh,
far from the bustle of London, has not yet taken the
high rank in the estimation of critics which is due to
his great talent, I had almost said genius.
In spite of breadth and truthfulness, a compre
hension in the rendering of life, with its realities and
elegancies and national customs and manners, all of

journey to Rome, at the same time offering him introductions, and
placing his purse at his disposal. Raeburn only accepted the former,
and set out for Italy, where he stayed two years. At the end of this
time he returned in 1787 to Edinburgh, where he at once took a high
standing. He was very little known in London, except to artists, who
elected him successively Associate and Royal Academician in 1813 and
1814. He was already President of the Society of Scottish Artists.
King George IV., visiting Edinburgh in 1822, honoured him with
knighthood, and in the following year, the post having become vacant,
elected him "Painter to the King for Scotland." After having
suffered reverses of fortune through speculation, he died July 8th, 1823,
at a house in the outskirts of Edinburgh. Although a good deal
thought of in England, Raeburn's portraits are not appreciated as they
ought to be. They are considered bold, characteristic, destinctive, and
truthful, but as possessing no interest as works of art. This is not our
oijinion.

Raeburn.]

THE OLD MASTERS.

59

which English portrait painters have shown in their
pictures, French artists have no cause to be jealous of

A GREENWICH PENSIONER. — Sir H. Raeburn.

them, even in admiring their works. At that period
France had been able to boast for a whole century of

6o ENGLISH PAINTING. fWest.
splendid triumphs in the noble art of portrait
painting. That which is l^nown to other schools as high art
and historical painting has never had any but the
most miserable representatives in England. A few-
unhappy artists have valiantly attempted to engage in
the contest, but they have hopelessly come to grief,
and have left only melancholy evidences of their bold
endeavours. They are a dismal series of bad imita
tions, without taste or colour, and with scarcely any
composition. The most outrageous and, at one time,
the most esteemed of these painters, is Benjamin
West.* His first historical pictures were: " Orestes,"
" The Chastity of Scipio," " Agrippina and the Ashes
of Germanicus." lie painted this last picture for Dr.
* Benjamin West, portrait and historical painter, was born
October loth, 1738, at Springfield, Chester, in Pennsylvania (North
America). His father, who belonged to an old Quaker family of Long
Crendon, in Buckingham.shire, had emigrated in 17 'S' T'''-' sight of a
book of coloured pictures whicli had been given to him decided young
Benjamin's career. He was .scarcely nine years old when a Pennsyl
vanian merchant named Pennington, noticing his pen-and-ink sketches
of his little sister in her cradle, took him lo Philadelphia, and intro
duced him to an artist named Williams, whose les.sons and conversation
were very valuable to him. When he was twenty-two years old, his rela
tions and friends clubbed together to send him to Europe, lie pas.scd
four years in Rome, Bologna, and Florence, and then came to London,
where he aniveil in the summer of 1763, and resolved to romain. Ih'
sent to Philadelphia for a young American girl to whom he had lieeii
engaged when lie left America, and married her. Some time after his
death, .some of his pictures, for which he had liecii jiaid 3,000 guineas
(about 80,000 francs), were knocked down at a public .sale for ^10
(250 francs. The Annunciation Vestry's Sale, 1840). Ileiijamin West
died at his residence in Newman Slreel, March nth, 1820, at the age
of eighty-two years, and was inleired at '.H. Paul's Cathedral.

West.] THE OLD MASTERS. 6 1
Drummond, Archbishop of York, who presented it to
King George HI., whose favourite painter West soon
became, and remained so for many years. In 1768
he was made one of the members of the Royal
Academy, and at Reynolds's death, in 1792, he was

death of general WOLFE.— 5. IVest.
elected President. For two years previously he had
been survej'or of paintings to the king, who gave him
an order for a series of large religious pictures. The
first of this suite is a Christ curing the sick in the
Temple. Benjamin West executed about four hun
dred " paintings, including painted sketches. His
most popular works are those in which, renouncing
the traditions of high art, and the imitations of the

62 ENGLISH PAINTING. [Copley.
Lombardy school, he gave himself up to representing
subjects from contemporary history, " The Battle of
la Hogue," " Penn's Treaty with the Indians," and
" The Death of General Wolfe." West owed the
public favour that he enjoyed during his lifetime
entirely to royal patronage. There is not a picture by
this-honoured President of the Academy that would
be received at this day into any private gallery, how
ever mixed it might be.
One must do him the justice of saying that he was
bold enough to introduce modern costume into the
representation of contemporary history. He was the
first to admit it into modern art. His " Death of
General Wolfe " is his most praiseworthy work, but
even in this quite modern line (not historical painting,
but historical genre painting on a large scale) he has
been surpassed by CoPLEY,* whose " Death of Major
Pierson " is infinitely superior. Copley had acquired
a certain reputation at Boston. He travelled in Italy
in 1774, and on his way passed through London,
where he returned for good at the end of the same
year.

* John Singleton Copley, R.A., historical and portrait painter,
was born July 3rd, 1737; ^t Boston, North America, where his parents
had recently settled. His father was English, and his mother an Irish
woman. He was elected successively Associate and Member of the
Royal Academy (1777, 1779). His best works are : "Death of Lord
Chatham," " Death of Major Pierson," " Charles I. Ordering the Arrest
of Five Members of the House of Commons," "The Coronation of Jane
Grey," and a " Resurrection of Our Lord." He died September 9th,
1815, and was buried in the old churchyard of Croydon. His son
became Lord Chancellor Lyndhurst.

Fuseli.]

THE OLD MASTERS.

63

What shall we say of the Anglo-Swiss FuSELl, or
Fuesli .?* In 1782 he exhibited " The Nightmare " at
the Royal Academy, of which institution he became
associate in 1788, member in 1790, and professor in
1799. Several of the subjects of his pictures were

AN OLD man's head. — H. Fuseli.

* Henry Fuseli, R.A., historical painter, was born at Zurich,
Switzerland, February 7th, 1741, and was the son of a painter. He
studied at the college in his native town, then came to England, where,
encouraged by Reynolds, he devoted himself to painting. After a
journey of some years in Italy he returned to London. He died at
Putney Heath, in the county of Surrey, April i6th, 1825, and was
interred at St. Paul's. Amongst his works are particularly to be
mentioned: "Hubert and Prince Arthur," " Caius Gracchus, " "The
Grief of Mona," "Death of Cardinal de Beaufort," and "A Scene
from Macbeth." The best work of this very feeble painter is his
" Titania and Bottom," from the Midsummer Night's Dream."

64 ENGLISH PAINTING. [Eity.
taken from Milton's poems. He published a new
edition of " Pilkington's Dictionary of Painters," and
translated Lavater's treatise on physiognomy into
English. W. Etty,* who was brought to London in 1806
by the generosity of one of his uncles, William Etty,
of Lombard Street, began his studies at Somerset
House. The following year he was introduced to
Fuseli, and admitted as an Academy student. As his
ambition was to receive lessons from Lawrence, his
uncle paid a hundred guineas for his admittance for a
year into the celebrated portrait painter's studio. But
the master, who was full of other engagements,
troubled himself little about his pupil. At the ex
piration of the time so dearly paid for, Etty studied
from nature, and copied the old masters at the British
Institution. He was a most assiduous student of the
Academy, which treated him with great severity, for
year by year the pictures that he sent to the
exhibitions were ruthlessly rejected until 1820. In
1822 he visited Venice, Florence, Rome, and Naples.
Venice particularly charmed him, and in his auto
biography he speaks of it as " Venice, the cradle of
colour, the hope and idol of my artist life." Re
turning to London in 1823, he exhibited "Pandora
crowned by the Seasons." This picture caused him
* William Etty, R.A., historical painter, was born at York,
March loth, 1787, of Methodist parents. His father was a miller. In
sjDite of his predilection for drawing, he was apprenticed, in 1798, to
a master printer at Hull, named Robert Peeck. He remained there
seven long years. Etty died at his birthplace, November 13th, 1849.

Etty]

THE OLD MASTERS.

65

to be elected associate of the Royal Academy. He
was made a member in 1828. Etty's ambition was to

h'^U^^™:

I ... r. fi-a * 1 J. I > • , 3^

iu.
' <-

v-* k^

t

. ' .^

ft ^ ¦^"* "^
N4'

 --A
the lute player.— W. Etty.
be a moralist painter. " In all my works," he wrote,
" I have endeavoured to exercise a moral influence on
F
66 KNtM.lSl! PAINTING. |N,nilm.i«.
the public mind. In the 'Battle' I have striven to
depict the bcaul)' of mercy; in 'Judith,' patriotism
and sclf-.sacrifice to one's country, one's people,
and one's God; in ' Bcnaiah, David's lieutenant,'
courage; in ' Ulj'sscs aiul the Sj-rens,' resistance to
pa.ssion, or a llonu-ric paraphrase on thc text, 'The
wages of sin is death;' in 'Joan of Arc,' religion,
ii>)'all)-, ;intl patrit)lism." llis best works arc tho
least assuming and the least moral, as " N'oiith
aiul ricMsmv," " Tho Lute l'la)or," aiul " The
Duet,'' in which he siiows a pleasing .sense of
colour. NoK'iiit'tiTK* prided himself on being at once
artist, critic, biographer, writer of fables, tiiul brilliant
talker. Wc tiro only ixincorncd with him horo in his
character of artist. Ho has loft numerous portraits
and pictures of the historical gt-nro species ; among
others, "Thc Chiiilioii of ICilward," "Mortimer and
Richard Plantagenet," aiul "Tho Death of Wat
Tyler" for Ho)(.leirs Sliakospoaro Gallery, lie also
laid claim to painting animals bettor than anybody
else. Benjamin West, iMisoli, W. ICtty, and Northcote
* jAMi'.s NoitruriiTK, K. A., porlrnil nnd hislorii-nl pninler, was
born at I'lymoiilh, OiIdIht 22inl, 1746. In 1771, iiwln(j; lo the Kindness
of Dr. Mudj^e, lie whs ndinittud into Ki'ynolds's sliidio, und worked
with the Aeadeiiiy sliidi'iils. I le was clccled Assoeiale In 178(1, nnd
Aeiidciiiiciiin I'ehruniy 131I1, 1787. Ills dealh look pliico nt his lesi-
deiKc, 31), Argyll .Slreel, wlicro he Imil lived for (ifly yeiiis, nnd
lie WHS Inuied nt Si. Miiiy le How. llis liii'iid, Williiim llazlitt,
riilloc-lod nnd published Ills " Moiiioirs " in llio New Monthly
Aliirii inc.

MORn.MER AND URIIARD PLANTAGENET. — /. Korthcote.

68 ENGLISH PAINTING. [Northcote.
maintain a violent emulation amongst themselves
of exaggerated tints, extravagant gestures, and
follies of all sorts. Pray let us pass on. The genre
painters whom we are going to study possessed,
at least, intelligence ; the others are simpletons,
only now and then ceasing to be absurd when
they free themselves from their solemn trappings
and condescend to be natural. Let us return to
Hogarth. Hogarth was a true child of London. The son
of a printer's reader, his sad, vagabond childhood was
spent in the dark streets of the City. It was there
that he saw, quite close to him, the actual aspect of
misery ; it was there that, still quite young, he studied
the people of the town, rough in their games and
coarse in their vices, just as later he studied and
exposed the more censurable corruption of the higher
classes. The manners he depicted were those rather
of the London populace than of the people of
England. In the same way, but in quite another
style, the French designer, Gavarni, is much less a
French than a Parisian artist. As a satirical painter,
Hogarth stands alone in the English school ; in cha
racter painting his work has been continued in a
manner almost worthy of himself by Smirke, and
in David Wilkie he has found a charming suc
cessor. Robert Smirke* began, like the Frenchman,

* Robert Smirke, R.A., illustrative designer and genre painter,
" the first genre painter of the old English school," says the catalogue

Smirke.]

THE OLD MASTERS.

69

Robert Fleury, by painting carriage panels. Then
he came to London, and studied at the Academy,
where his pictures were always rejected until 1776,
when his " Narcissus " and " The Lady Sabrina," of

BOYHOOD. — R. Smirke.

Milton's " Comus," were accepted. He was then aged

of the National Gallery, was born at Wigton, in Cumberland, in 1752,
and died at his residence in Osnaburgh Street, January 5th, 1845. He
left two sons who were both architects ; the second. Sir Robert, R.A.
(1780 — 1867), is the most renowned. It was he who rebuilt the
Covent Garden Theatre after the fire of 1809.

70 -ENGLISH PAINTING. [Smirke.
thirty-four. He seldom exhibited at the Academy
(sending only twenty-five pictures from 1786 to 181 3),
but he was elected a member in 1793. He preferred
to devote his talent to illustrating volumes of English
poets, and contributed to Boydell's Shakespeare
Gallery. His favourite authors are Shakespeare and
Cervantes. His diploma picture for the Academy
was Don Quixote and Sancho.
Robert Smirke, the artist, has been well summed '
up by Bryan, who says of his paintings done for
engravings : — " On such he seldom bestowed much
variety of colour, but was particularly attentive to the
chiaroscuro ; the same, indeed, may be said of his
larger compositions, in which the deficiency in point
of colouring is more conspicuous ; they appear weak.
But he made ample amends by the skilful manner in
which he arranged his subjects, and by a rich display
of humour in his characters, which never degenerated
into buff"oonery or farce. He was always the gentle
man when representing the ridiculous, the affected,
or the grotesque. He makes the observer think and
smile, but seldom causes him to laugh outright. . . .
The manner in which he illustrated the plays of our
immortal bard may be seen in the Shakespeare
Gallery. . . . Many of his smaller designs for
book publications abound with pathos and senti
ment. He was a severe critic on his own per
formances, and was reluctant to exhibit them — two
very uncommon qualities in a painter. In common
with many others, he regarded with great suspicion
a large portion of the soi-disant connoisseurs and

Wilkie.] THE OLD MASTERS. 7 1
admirers of the works of the ancient masters, but
not because he was insensible of the real merits of
the old works."
It was not, however, the sight of Hogarth's
works which determined Wilkie's career. In his
youth he was also left much to himself, his family
being probably no better off than the poor printer's
reader. But what is misery in a large city like
London is only poverty in the country ; and it was
in a Scottish village, under the roof of an agricul
turist in a small way in Fifeshire, that David
Wilkie came into the world and passed his first
years. His father was a Presbyterian minister. It
is in contrasting their early childhood that one
comes to understand Wilkie's invariable sweet
ness of disposition and Hogarth's aggressive bit
terness. Wilkie* gave so many proofs of his taste for
drawing, that his family sent him, when he was

* Sir David Wilkie, R.A., genre painter, was born November
l8th, 1785, in Fifeshire, at Cults, where his father was minister. After
the death of Sir Thomas Lawrence, in 1830, Wilkie was made Painter-
in-Ordinary to the King, who knighted him in 1836. In 1840 he took
a journey to the East, passing through Germany, Vienna, and going
down the Danube. The month of October he spent at Constantinople,
where he painted the Sultan's portrait, after which, travelling by
Smyrna and Beyrouth, he arrived at Jerusalem in February, 1841, and
spent several months there. He then embarked for Alexandria, but
died rather suddenly on board in sight of Gibraltar, June 1st, 1841.
His body was buried at sea. His works were engraved by Raim-
back and . Bumet, and Allan Cunningham wrote his biography.
His statue, by Samuel Taylor, stands in the lobby of the National
Gallery.

72 ENGLISH PAINTING. [W.lkie.
fourteen years old, to the Trustees' Academy in
Edinburgh. The work that he did there during four
years was in the grand style, Dianas and Callistos,
under the direction of John Graham, R.A., historical
painter. On his return to Cults he was struck by
the picturesque sight of a rural fair in the neigh
bourhood, and painted his first picture of village
customs, " Pitlessie Fair.'' Already his work was
remarkable for the truth of its local colouring, but its
reddish tints are unpleasing, and it is coarsely painted.
He sold this picture for ;^25, and resolved to go and
try his fortune in London, where he arrived in May,
1805. A year later Wilkie attracted attention by
exhibiting at the Royal Academy his " Village Poli
ticians." From thenceforth his name, already known,
became more and more popular, as he exhibited suc
cessively " The Blind Fiddler," " The Card Players,"
"The Rent Day," "The Jew's Harp," "The Cut
Finger,'' " The Wardrobe Ransacked," " The Village
Festival," &c. &c. Meanwhile he painted, on com
mission, "Alfred in the Herdsman's Cottage,'' which
did not add to his fame. He was scarcely aged
twenty-four years when he was made Associate of the
Royal Academy, of which he became member two
years later, in 1811. In 1814 he spent five or six
weeks in Paris, but it was not from this first journey
that the great change that took place later in his style
dates. Between iSii and 1825 he painted "Blind
Man's Buff," " The Letter of Introduction,'' " Duncan
Gray," "Distraining for Rent," "The Rabbit on
the Wall," "The Penny Wedding," "The Whisky

Collins.] THE OLD MASTERS. 73
Still of Loch Gilphead," "Reading the Will," and
" The Chelsea Pensioners,' for the Duke of Wel
lington. From this time (1825) Wilkie completely
altered the choice of subjects for his pictures. After
travelling on the Continent, and visiting in turn
France, Germany, Italy, and Spain, he dcx'oted him
self entirely to historical paintings and portraits. He
had been greatly impressed by the works of Cor
reggio, Rembrandt, and Velazquez. Wilkie's most
celebrated picture in his second style is his
" Preaching of John Knox before the Lords of the
Congregation " (1832).
David Wilkie was fifteen years old in 1800, and
this is the date of the origin of genre painting in
England ; it existed then solely in the works of the
)"oung Scotsman, even in his digressions from thc
English system. William Collins* and some
other pleasing artists worthily succeeded him.
William Collins's father, a picture dealer in Great
Litchfield Street, was the friend of George IMorland,
who first took the child as a sort of apprentice, then
as a pupil. From 1807 to 1814 Collins studied and
exhibited at the Academ)', of which he was elected
Associate (1814), and member in 1820. He had
as patrons, b\- turns, Mr. Lister Parker, who bought
• Willi.vm Collins, R. .V. , landscaj>e and genre jiainter, was born
in London, September iSth, 17SS, and die<I there of heart disease
Febmaiy 17th, 1S47, in Dovonport Street, Hyde Park Gardens. He
was buried in St. Marj's Churchyard, I\iddington. One of his two
sons, Ch.irles .\llston (iSjS — 1S73), wa.s an artist like himself. The
second, Wilkie, .i literar)' man, published " A Life of W. Collins "
in rS49.

74

ENGLISH PAINTING.

[Collins.

one of his first pictures, " Children playing with a
Nest," then Sir Thomas Heathcote, Sir John Leicester,
Sir George Beaumont, and Sir Robert Peel. In the
space of forty years he exhibited 1 2 1 pictures at the
Academy, amongst others " The Little Fifer," " The
Pet Lamb," " The Birdnesters," " The Fishermen's

AS HAPPY AS A KING. — W. Collins.

Departure," " The Hop Gathering," " As Happy as a
King," " Effect of Early Snow," " Haunts of the
Seafowl," and a large number of subjects borrowed
from Norfolk coast life. Although he had visited
Paris (1817), travelled in Belgium and Holland (1828),
and lived at Boulogne (1829), his charming and
homely style had not suffered any deterioration. But

Collins.] THE OLD MASTERS. 75
in 1836, stung in his turn, as Wilkie had been, by the
tarantula of high art, he went to Italy, stayed there
two years, and was from thenceforth lost to his
vocation. In 1840 he exhibited " Our Lord in the
midst of the Doctors," and in 1841 "The Disciples at
Emmaus," miserable imitations of the worst paintings
one can think of in this class of subject. In 1840 he
travelled in Germany, and in 1842 in Iceland, fruit
lessly seeking new impulses to stimulate his exhausted
vein of talent.
I have compared William Collins's talent to that
•of Wilkie. Like him, he loved popular subjects and
scenes of childhood. It ought, however, to be men
tioned that Collins generally places his studies in the
midst of nature, and so he is a painter of landscape as
much as of genre. Most of Wilkie's pictures, on the
contrary, represent interiors. Two of Collins's best
works are "As Happy as a King,'' the charming sub
ject of which has been so often taken up by English
artists, and " Rustic Civility," an ingenious painting
of two children leaning against a stile, who salute an
approaching horseman, of whom, however, one sees
no more in the picture than the shadow on the
ground. After some attempts at portrait painting, Charles
Robert Leslie* resolutely set to work at historical
genre painting. His first important picture estab-

* Charles Robert Leslie, R.A., historical and genre painter,
was born at Clerkenwell, October 19th, 1794, of American parents,
who took him to Philadelphia, United States, in 1799, and intended

76

ENGLISH PAINTING.

[Leslie.

lished his reputation. It was a scene from the
" Spectator," " Sir Roger de Coverley going to
Church," painted for Mr. Dunlop, exhibited at the

sancho panza. and the duchess. — C. R. Leslie.

Academy in 1819, and of which a replica was ordered
by the Marquis of Lansdowne. In 1821 he exhibited

he should enter the book trade. On his return to England, however,
in 1811, he became an Academy student, and received instruction from
Washington Aliston (A.R.A., historical painter, 1779 — 1834), and
from Benjamin West, both Americans. He died May 5th, 1859. In
1845 he published "Memoirs of John Constable, R.A.,"andin 1855
a handbook for young painters. He also left notes of which Mr.
Tom Taylor made use in editing " Reynolds's Life."

Leslie.] THE OLD MASTERS. T7
" May Day in the Reign of Elizabeth," the subject
of which was taken from Albion's " England," by
Warner. The same year Leslie was elected Associate

THE PRINCIPAL CHARACTERS IN "THE MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR. "-
C. R. Leslie.
of the Academy, and, in 1826, a member of that
august institution. The preceding year he had
painted for Lord Egremont the celebrated picture,
" Sancho Panza and the Duchess," of which a replica,
slightly altered, belongs to the National Gallery. In
1827 he exhibited "Lady Jane Grey accepting the
Crown;" in 1829, "Sir Roger de Coverley and the
Gipsies;" in 1831, "The Merry Wives of Windsor,"

U.VCLE TORY AND THE WIDOW WADMAN. — C. R. Leslie.

•Ledie] THE OLD MASTERS. 79
" The Dinner at Mr. Page's House," and " Uncle
Toby and the Widow Wadman," a scene from
"Tristram Shandy;" it is said that Bannister the
actor sat for Uncle Toby.
Every one knows the charming scene. " ' I protest.
Madam,' said my Uncle Toby, ' I can see nothing
whatever in your eye.' 'Is it not in the white?'
said Mrs. ^^'^adman. My Uncle Toby looked with
might and main into the pupil." This is Leslie's
cluf - d' auvre, a masterpiece of observation, good
humour, and fun. In 1833 he was nominated Pro
fessor of Drawing to the Westpoint Military Academy
in New York, but after residing there for some
months, he gave in his resignation and returned to
London, after which he regularly exhibited at the
Academy. Among his principal works must be
mentioned the principal characters in TJie Merry
Wives of Windsor, 1838; "Sancho Panza," 1844;
" Catherine and Capucius," a scene from Henry VIIL,
1850; and in 1854 " The Rape of the Lock." Leslie
is pre-eminently an illustrator. He becomes inspired
by Shakespeare, Cervantes, Sterne, Goldsmith, and
Moliere, and represents them with great intelligence.
In 1838, however, he was ordered to paint " The
Queen's Coronation ;" and in 1841, " The Baptism of
the Princess Royal."
Newtox* was the son of an English officer, who

* Gilbert Stuakt Newton, R-A., historical genre painter, was
bom September 2nd, 1795, at Halifax, in Nova Scotia. He died
Aiigust 5th, 1835, and ^as buried at Wimbledon.

f^O KNGl.lSU PAINTING, iNtnvt™,
\va.s obliged to leave Boston liocau.se of its occupiition

VllUH'lv ANU Tint (lUlZllTTIf,, II. .S', NpU'hH.
by Geneml Washington's troops. One of his uncles,
Gilbert Stiuirt, was u porlmit iiaiiitcr, and the child

Nowton,! THE OLD MASTERS. 8 1
inherited hi.s taate for art, and opposed hi.s widowed
mbthcr's desire to put him Into some trade. In 1817
he visited Italy, and there met his countryman
Lealle, who took him with him to England, travelling
through Bru.ssels and Antwerp, On his arrival in
London, he studied at the Royal Academy. His first
attempts were portraits ; but in 1823 he commenced
genre painting with a " Don Quixote in his Study,"
and exhibited successively "M, dc Pourceaugnac " in
1824; "Captain Macheath scolded by Polly and
Lucy" in 1826; "The Vicar of Wakefield recon
ciling his wife to Olivia Primrose," a very good
picture, In 1828. The same year he became
Associate of the Academy ; after which his best
works were: "Yorick tind the Grisetle," thc pretty
glove scene in the " Sentimental journey ; " " Shylock
and Jessica," "Abbot Boniface," 1 830 ; "Portia and
llaasanio," and "Cordelia and the Doctor," 1831,
which causeil him to be elected Academician in 1832.
In this year he went to America and wasmanicd.
But even during the journey the first symptoms of
insanity appeared ; ho\vevt.>r, he returned lo London
with his wife, and exhibited, in 1833, " Abelard in his
Study ; " but his nuidness becoming more pronounced,
he was obliged to be placed in a lunatic asylum at
Chelsea. Mui.RKAl)\,:* who had thoroughly studied Latin

• Wu.i.iAM Mim.rkahy, K, a, .genre piiiiiter, was born Rt Knnis,
In the county of t'lnvp, .«oi\ie my on the ist, others on the 30th, of
AprU, 1786. Min fttther, who made leather breeches, went to live in
Dublin noon after hi» ion'» birth, and to London two or three years
ti

82 ENGLISH PAINTING. [Mulready.
under a Catholic priest, was admitted as an Academy
student at the age of fifteen. From 1807 he became
known by illustrating children's penny books : " The
Butterfly's Ball," "The Grasshopper's Feast," "The
Lion's Masquerade," " The Peacock," " The Lion's
Ball. " The following year he illustrated " The
Elephant's Ball," " The Lobster's Journe}' to Brazil,"
"The Cats' Concert," "The Fishes' Festival," "A
Soiree at Mrs. Grimalkin's," " The Jackdaw at Home,"
" The Lion's Parliament," " The Water-King's Enter
tainment," and in 1809 "Think before you Speak."
But these pretty fancies did not cause him to forget
the more serious aim of art. He married, very young
(at the age of seventeen), the sister of the water-
colour painter John Varley (1778 — 1842), and the
following year he exhibited two landscapes at the
Academy, '' Kirkstall Abbey" and "A Cottage in
Knaresborough, Yorkshire ;" in 1805 and 1806 some
other Yorkshire scenes; in 1 807, at the British In
stitution, his first figure subject, " Old Caspar ; " and
the same year, at the Academy, " Old Houses at
later. Mulready died July 7th, 1863, and was buried in Kensal Green
Cemetery. No painter, with the exception perhaps of Turner, is
better represented in thc London national collections. This is owing
to the liberal Sheepshanks and Vernon legacies, the first of which com
prises thirty of his pictures, and the latter four of his most important
ones. After Wilkie, Mulready is the most celebrated genre painter of
tlie English school. It may be remembered what a very great success
was gained by nine of his pictures at our Universal Exhibition of 1855.
Mulready left a son, born in 1805 (the second), whose Christian name
is also William, and who was his father's pupil. There are two pic
tures by William Mulready, Jun., at Kensington. They must
not be mistaken.

Mulready.]

THE OLD MASTERS.

83

Lambeth," and " The Battle." It was at this period
that he made a careful study of the Dutch masters,
and in 1809 he exhibited two important works, one
at the British Institution and the other at the
Academy. The former, " A Carpenter's Shop and

CHOOSING THE WEDDING-GOWN. — IV. Mulready.

Kitchen," is a pretty scene of homely life ; the other,
which made his name, is now placed in the National
Gallery, under the title of " Fair Time.'' He was then
aged twenty-four. He had now discovered his special
line, and continued to exercise it with brilliant suc
cess until his death. Mulready's works are numerous.
G 2

84 ENGLISH PAINTING. (Mulready.
We must limit ourselves to mentioning the most

CROSSING THE FORD, — W. Mulready,

celebrated : " Idle Boys," " The Fight Interrupted,"
" The Young Brother," " Crossing the Ford," " The

Hurlstone.] THE OLD MASTERS. 85
Butt," "Giving a Bite," "First Love," "Choosing
the Wedding-gown," " The Wolf and the Lamb,"
" The Whistonian Controversy," " The Toy Seller."
We must also mention " The Seven Ages," an in
artistic subject, it must be owned, the original design
of which served as frontispiece to the Shakespeare
illustrations published by Van Voorst. The painter
here represents human life in its usual contrasts :
work and pleasure, riches and poverty, youth and
age, infirmity and health, ugliness and beauty, liberty
and captivity, &c. Mulready, in addition to his pro
found knowledge of children, also possessed good
taste in his dramatic arrangements, which are simple,
clear, and effective. He is superior to most of his
rivals in his correct drawing and good colouring.
He worked all through his life. Two days before
his death he was drawing from nature at the
Academy. Hurlstone,* born in London in 1800, was ad
mitted to the Royal Academy School in 1820. He
also had lessons of Sir William Beechey and of Sir
Thomas Lawrence.. In 1821 he exhibited " Le
Malade Imaginaire;" in 1 822 " The Prodigal Son;"
in 1824 "The Archangel Michael and Satan con
tending for the Body of Moses. " The same year
he exhibited at the Society of British Artists, which

* Frederick Yeates Hurlstonf, historical and genre painter,
was great-nephew of the portrait painter, Richard Hurlstone. His
father, a rich man, was part-owner of the Morning Chronicle.
Hurlstone died June loth, 1869, and was buried in the Noiwcod
Cemetery.

86 ENGLISH PAINTING. [Hurlstone.
had been newly founded, and of which he had been
elected President in 1835. From 1850 to 1851 he
travelled in Spain, and visited Morocco in 1854. His
best pictures date from this period. He also made
several journeys to Italy, and won a gold medal at
the Paris Exposition Universelle in 1855, but he
never became a member of the Royal Academy. He
was, indeed, one of the most strenuous opponents of
the institution at the time of the Parliamentary
inquiry to which it gave rise in 1835. We may
mention among his most celebrated pictures :
" Armida," " Eros," " Constance and Arthur," " Boab-
dil on the Morning of the Fall of Granada," " Monks
of the Convent of St. Isidore," " Christopher Colum
bus at the Convent of La Rabida," " The Game of
Morra," " Mazeppa."
W. Collins, Charles Leslie, Newton, and Hurl
stone are second-class artists, intelligent observers,
who all painted either in Wilkie's first or second
style. Let us stop for a moment, after this digres
sion, to examine his first style.
This, which is his only good style, is unfortunately
but badly represented in the English galleries. Out
of thirteen of Wilkie's pictures exhibited in London
in 1862, ten at least belong to the later period of his
life, the time of his travels. Until then he had loved
to depict the homely scenes of the domestic hearth ;
little dramas, comical or pathetic incidents of village
life, festivals, country dances, peasant games, and
social meetings at the tavern. " Art," said he, " only
requires to reproduce nature and to seek out truth."

Wilkit.l

thi: old masters.

87

And he was faithful to this idea. He had taken it
as his raotto when he was quite young, and when he
was unacquainted with thc ambitions, aspirations,
and great principles made sacred by tlie immortal
works of the Southern schools. He had grown up
in a villag-e, and it was to the villag-e that his talent

THE VnXAGK FfiSTlV.\U — Sir D. U'tUiif.

devoted Itself; he painted villagers. Even after
having visited the London galleries of old masters,
painting seemed to have for him no highw function
than tliat of depicting the customs of his youth, of
his schoolmates and playfellows. Art to him simply
meant a representation of domestic life. He had not
at all an imaginative mind ; but he possessed that
quality of innocent satire and of quick wit which is
called humour. It is thi^s which gives a lively

Wilkie.] THE OLD MASTERS. 89
character to his works. " The Village Festival," " Blind
Man's Buff," "Village Politicians" (one of. his first
pictures, made known in France, with many others,
by Raimbach's engravings), and " The Parish Beadle,"
all contain touches of keen and quizzical observation.
It is the laughable which inspires him, people's little
oddities and eccentricities, but he has no idea of con
veying a moral. He laughs at the roguery of it ;
nothing shocks or incenses him ; he views life only from
its purely comical side ; sombre drama and stately
tragedy are to him unexplored regions. Wilkie is
one of those happy natures, neither gloomy nor
dreamy nor enthusiastic, who have the good sense to
think that everything is arranged for the best in the
best of possible worlds. Public calamity does not
affect him ; he lives in the midst of a little group of
persons who do not suffer by the fall of empires, and
who often hear nothing about national catastrophes
until everything is once more in order. The news
paper may be read in those parts, but it is that of
last year, and one cannot get very sad or cry long
over ancient history. Wilkie, brought up in the sun
light, in the midst of green fields, is ever smiling.
Hogarth lived in a continual fever and fury against
the unhealthy life of the city.
Wilkie's long travels in Europe, when he visited
Spain, Italy, France, and Flanders, were quite fatal
to his talent. Not that he was dazzled by the great
masters of a past age. Raphael, Michael Angelo, and
Titian he regarded with the utmost indifference.
Poussin only impresses him slightly by the vigour of

90 ENGLISH PAINTING. [Wilkie.
his drawing; but Murillo and \'elazquez, the realistic
painters of other times, and Rembrandt in the North,
continue to haunt him on his return by their qualities
of force and energy. Even his sincere admiration for
Teniers and Van Ostade was powerless to counter
balance this new influence which had enthralled him.
And now he copies his note-book, and we have
pifferari, contrabandists, and monks, grave subjects
in which he loses all his originality : take, for example,
" The Confessional." It is the commonplace of
modern style, which has been treated with more
talent and success by quite second-rate French artists.
Of all \Mlkie's pictures in his later style, only
one is worth remark, "John Knox Preaching before
the Lords of the Congregation, June lOth, 1559."
The French artist, Delacroix, who, on his visit to
London in 1825, was received by Wilkie with as
much cordiality as it was in his reserved nature
to show, wrote this same year to his friend
Soulier : " I have been to Mr. \^"ilkie's, and never,
until this moment, have I appreciated him. His
finished pictures had always displeased me, but,
indeed, his rough sketches and studies are beyond all
praise. Like everj' painter of eveiy age and clime, he
persistently spoils all his best ideas. But there is
something which pleases me even in this imperfect
rendering of beautiful conceptions." In 1858, Dela
croix, writing to Th. Silvestre, says again of Wilkie :
" One of my most striking reminiscences is his sketch
of John Knox preaching. He has since painted a
picture from it, which they tell me is greatly inferior

Wilkie.] THE OLD MASTERS. 9 1
to this sketch. On seeing him I suffered myself to
say, with truly French impetuosity, ' that Apollo him
self, if he took up the brush, could not help spoiling
it in attempting to finish it.' I saw him again some
years afterwards in Paris. He came to see me to show
me some drawings that he had brought from a long
journey in Spain, from whence he had just returned.
He seemed to me entirely unsettled by the paintings
that he had seen. I wondered that a man with so true a
genius, and almost arrived at old age, could be thus
influenced by works so different from his own. How
ever, he died shortly afterwards, and in a considerably
deranged state of mind, I am told."* Hogarth never
left London ; this fact explains the completeness of
his work, and his British zeal, which never flagged for
an instant. And if Hogarth was scarcely a painter,
Wilkie was no farther on the road. His pictures, even
at his best time, show a great barrenness, a want of
manual skill, and no feeling for the artistic beauties of
nature. It would seem as though these two artists
see with their understanding and not with their eyes.
Drawing and colouring are for them a graphic means
for manifesting the result of their observations ; but
certainly it would have been just as pleasant to them,
they would have been as well satisfied, to communi
cate with the crowd by any other expedient, by the
theatre, for instance, or by a pamphlet.
What is here said of Hogarth and Wilkie may be

* Letters by EuGfeNE Delacroix, puljlished by M. Ph. Burty ;
A. Quantin, editor, Paris.

92

ENGLISH PAINTING.

[Uw'ns.

said with equal truth of most of the English artists of
the first half of the century ; of T. UwiNS,* painter of
" The Vintage in the Claret Vineyards on the Banks
of the Gironde," and of a picture well known by its
subject, " The Brigand Hat," in the National Gallery.
They care very little about artistic effects ; indeed.

THE VINTAGE ON THE BAKKS OF THE GIRONDE. — 7. Uwins.

* Thomas Uwins, R.A., genre painter, was born in London
February 25th, 1782. He at first worked with an engraver named
Smith, and then gave up engraving in favour of painting. He studied
at the Academy, and began his career as a water-colour painter and
illustrator of books. In 181 1 he was elected member of the Old
Water-Colour Society. He visited the south of France in 1814, and
from this time began painting in oils. The five years between 1826
and 1831 he spent in Italy. In 1832 he exhibited "The Interior of a
Saint Manufactory at Naples," and was elected Associate of the
Academy in the following year, and Academician in 1839. In 1842
the Queen nominated him Surveyor of the Royal Pictures, and in 1847
Guardian of the National Gallery, but he resigned this post in 1856.
Uwins died August 25th, 1857, at Staines, where he was buried. He
exhibited in all 102 pictures at the Royal Academy.

Martin.] THE OLD MASTERS. 93
they only trouble themselves about the moral, or,
rather, literary result. This creates an unspeakable
blank in their pictures which they would try in vain
to conceal. Wilkie's example serves as a warning
to those who, in pursuit of an honourable ambition,
attempt to struggle against a temperament which
does not lend itself naturally to high art. If we re
quired other instances in support of this last assertion,
we could mention two men who worked in very dif
ferent styles, and who are both renowned in England,
and even in France, JOHN Martin* and Landseer.

* John Martin, architectural and landscape painter, was born at
Haydon Bridge, near Hexham, in Northumberland, July loth, 1789.
Possessing some taste for drawing, he began by painting annorial
bearings at Newcastle. Speaking of himself, he says, ' ' I commenced
by painting carriages and china." But his father soon placed him
with an Italian named Musso, the father of the miniature and enamel
painter, Charles Musso (1779 — 1824). In i8o6 John Martin went to
London, where he was married when scarcely aged nineteen. He
exhibited his first picture, "Sadak in Search of the Waters of
Oblivion," at the Royal Academy in 1812 ; in 1813, "Adam and'
Eve;" and in 1814, "Clytie." The latter printings caused his first \
rupture with the Academy. After this his principal works were : i
"Joshua Commanding the Sun to Stand Still " (1816), which procured
him a ;f lOO prize at the British Institution, and the title of Historical
Landscape Painter to Princess Charlotte and Prince Leopold ; "The
Deluge," in 1837 ; "The Death of Moses," in 1838; "The Last
Man," after Thomas Campbell, in 1839; "The Eve of the Deluge"
and "The Abatement of the Waters," in 1840; "The Plains of
Heaven" and " Pandaemonium," in 1841 ; "The Destruction of
Sodom and Gomorrah," in 1842. His most celebrated works are ;
" The Fall of Babylon," in 1819 ; " Belshazzar's Feast," in 1821 ; and
"The Fall of Nineveh," in 1828. He engraved most of his own pic
tures himself. Among the books that he illustrated may be mentioned
"Milton's Paradise Lost "and the Bible. He died February 17th.
1854, in the Isle of Man,

Martin.] THE OLD MASTERS. 95
The former painted that great Biblical scene, "Bel
shazzar's Feast," which has been rendered so familiar
by engraving. Every one knows his enormous per
spectives, his numberless massive columns, borne
down by the weight of Babylonish erections. The
effect in engra.ving is prodigious ; one dreams of
these fanciful structures, which are really marvellously
striking. The inaccuracy of the figures is forgotten
in the grandeur and magnificence of the whole. One
regrets to see it only through the frigid medium of an
engraving. How much more impressive and as
tonishing must be the effect of the picture in itself !
The sudden gleams, the contrasting lights ; the
celestial fire which has enkindled a corner of the hall ;
the pale light of the moon streaming afar off on the
enormous terraces ; in the gallery the torches and
sconces glittering with stars and spangles, triple
reflections, intercepted, thrown back, split up by the
gold work, the cloth of gold, and the velvets. On such
a theme the imagination runs riot, and works itself up
until it constructs a fairyland, all the more fanciful
for the fear of being less vivid than the reality.
Alas ! the dream is preferable. In the presence of
this too celebrated picture these splendours vanish
hopelessly before a surface of dark yellow, uniform,
monotonous, and equally ugly, vulgar, and tame.
John Martin saw in spirit these wonderful conceptions,
but his eyes had never rejoiced in enchantments of
colour, as shown in nature, or reflected from a piece
of copper, a brook, a head of hair, a scrap of silk when
illuminated in a particular way.

E. Landseer.J THE OLD MASTERS. 97
The "great French sculptor, Barye, is, perhaps, of
all artists, the only one who surpasses SiR Edwin
Landseer* in the language of animals. From the
marchioness's poodle to the stags which roam in the

;m * Sir Edwin Landseer, R.A., animal painter, was the third son
of the engraver, John Landseer (1769 — 1852). He was born in
London, March 7th, 1802. Having been taught by his father and
Benjamin Haydon in turn, he was admitted as Royal Academy student.
At the age of thirteen he exhibited and gained a prize at the Society
of Arts, and two years later at the Academy. Taking advantage of the
death of a lion in a menagerie, he carefully studied the animal's
anatomy. Although he painted a few portraits, among others those of
the Queen and Prince Consort, who treated him with marked favour, it
is as animal pointer that Sir Edwin belongs to the history of art. He
was elected Associate of the Academy in 1826, and Member in 1830.
In 1850 the Queen knighted him. He exhibited with equal assiduity
at the Academy {173 pictures from 1817 to 1873) and at the British
Institution. His most celebrated works are : "The Cat's Paw," 1824 ;
"Highland Music," 1830; "High and Low Life," 1831 ; "The
Falconer," 1832; "Jack in Office," 1833; "Bolton Abbey," 1834 ;
"Bloodhounds Asleep," 1835; "Shepherd's Chief Mourner,"
1837; "The Old Dog," 1838; "Van Amburg, the Animal Tamer,
and his Menagerie," 1839; "Laying Down the Law," 1840 ; "Otter
and Salmon," 1842 ; " The Foige," 1844; " The Shepherd's Prayer,"
184S; "War" and"Peace," and "St,ig at Bay,"l846; "Alexander
and Diogenes," 1848; "A Dialogue at Waterloo," 1850; "Titania
and Bottom," 1851 ; " Night "and "Morning," 1853; "UncleTomand
his Wife," 1857 ; "The Maid and the Magpie," 1858 ; " The Taming
of the Shrew," 186 1 ; "The Connoisseurs," 1865; " Her Majesty at
Osborne," 1867; "Swans Attacked by Eagles," 1869. Sir Edwin
Landseer exhibited several times at Paris. In 1855 he won a gold
medal at the Exposition Universelle. In 1867 he only sent one picture,
"The Horse Tamer," a poor painting, witty and clever, certainly, but
unworthy of the artist's name. In it is portrayed a female rider who has
thrown herself on the straw of a stable, exhausted; she strokes, with a
caressing hand, her horse, which is also lying down half buried in the
abundant straw. A lithographical subject, and minutely painted, and
with a poverty of treatment which — to express it in studio and theatre
H

98

ENGLISH PAINTING.

[E. Landseer.

mountainous forests of Scotland, Landseer is ac
quainted with every kind of animal, as well as with all
their different species. He knows them in their most
private haunts ; he has learnt all the obscure intri
cacies of their simple brains ; he could explain, all
their actions. Their attitudes and least moverhents

DIGNITY AND IMPUDENCE.— .!>'> E. Landseer.
possess for him a meaning, a purpose, which he
knows how to interpret. But there are some of his
works, like those of John Martin and other English
artists, of which one must see the engravings and
avoid the pictures, for fear of being hopelessly disen-

slang — allows us to see too clearly the pulling of the strings. Most
of Sir Edwin's works have been admirably engraved by his brother,
Thomas Landseer, A.R.A., by S. Cousins, R.A. , and others. He
himself etched several of his own compositions. He died October
Ist, 1873, ^^^ was interred at St. Paul's Cathedral.

E. Landseer.] THE OLD MASTERS. 99
chanted ; they vanish away under a sort of veil of

EHOFIKG THE BAY MARE. — Sir E. Landseer.

grey dust spread, as if purposely, on the surface of
H 2

100

ENGLISH PAINTING.

[C. Landseer.

the picture, which does away with all effect, all relief,
and every appearance of life.

CLARISSA HARLOWE. — C. Landseer.

When Landseer leaves the parks of princes it is
that he may depict some grand hunting scene in

Hilton.] THE OLD MASTERS. 1 01
the carefully-preserved roads of a forest domain.
The stables and dog-kennels to which he introduces
the spectator are kept with a refinement of excep
tional cleanliness. If there remain the slightest
effluvium sui generis, it is dispersed by the powerful
perfume of some bottle of smelling-salts held in the
hand of a fair Amazon.
The chief fault which one is tempted to find with
Landseer's talent is that of having given to all his
animals, by a skill which is not of very high quality,
a look of intelligence which does not belong to them.
He gave them a human expression.
And yet (must it be said .') it was to this trick,
much more than to the sound and really excellent
properties of his art, that his prodigious success and
enormous fortune are owing.
It is a law that Fashion invariably allies herself
to attractive defects.*
Landseer has a deep sense of animal nature ; he
intuitively feels it rather than sees it. Now, the first
requisite for an artist is to know how to see. Sir
Edwin Landseer, in the strict signification of the
word, then, is not an artist any more than were, with
all their tremendous pretensions, Benjamin West,
William HiLTON,t and two or three other artists, of
whom we must say a few words.

* Charles Landseer, R.A., one of Sir Edwin's brothers, has
left some genre pictures, such as "Clarissa Harlowe," which the
National Gallery has deemed worthy to receive into its collection.
f William Hilton, R.A., historical painter, was born at
Lincoln, June 3rd, 1786. His father, a portrait painter, exhibited at

102 ENGLISH PAINTING. [Haydon.
Haydon* came to London in 1804, and studied
at the Academy, where he formed the acquaintance
of Jackson and Wilkie. In 1809 he exhibited at the
Academy a picture which had great success, " The
Murder of Dentatus by his own Soldiers." But he
was greatly irritated that it was placed in a small
ante-chamber, instead of in the great hall, where
two of Wilkie's pictures, "The Cut Finger" and
" The Rent Day," were hung. So great was his
vexation, that it caused a rupture between him and
the Academy for many years, for he did not again
exhibit until 1826 or 1827. He returned to Plymouth,
the Academy in 17/6 and 1783, and died in 1822. The young William
received lessons of an engraver, John Raphael Smith (1752 — 1S12), and
in I Sco was received into the Academy school in London. He com
menced to exhibit in 1803. He was remarkable for the choice of his
subjects, and what one called the taste in his drawing and harmony in
his colouring. But he used badly-prepared paints, and the abuse of
the use of bitumen has caused his pictures to suffer much in con
sequence. Associate in 1813, he was elected Member of the Academy
in 1819, and succeeded Henry Thomson, historical and fancy painter
{¦773 — 1843), in the post of Keeper in 1827. Hilton died in London,
December 30th, 1839. His best pictures are; "The Deliverance of
St. Peter," " Sir Calepine Succouring Serena," a subject drawn from
Spenser's " Fairy Queen " (1831), "The Massacre of the Innocents"
(1S38), and "Edith Finding the Body of Harold."
* Ben-jam IN Robert Haydon, historical painter, was born
January 23rd, 1786, at Plymouth, where his father, who belonged loan
old county family, was a bookseller. He was educated at the Plympton
Grammar School. His life was remarkably stormy. In 1820 he
married, was imprisoned three times for debt, opened a lecture-room,
gave some lectures on art, and finished by committing suicide June
22nd, 1846. His lectures on drawing and painting were published in
1844 — 1846, in 2 vols, in Svo. He had already edited, in 1842, a
treatise on "The Comparative Suitability of Fresco and Oil Painting
with regard to the Decoration of the Houses of P,arliament. "

Maclise.] THE OLD MASTERS. I03
painted several portraits, and a work of some im
portance in 1814, "The Judgment of Solomon,"
which procured him the freedom of the city in his
native place. In the same year he went to Paris, in
company with Wilkie, and studied the treasures of
the Louvre. On his return to England he attempted
to enlarge his style. As he would not send his works
to the Academy, he opened private exhibitions, of
which a few were successful, and others quite failures.
His most celebrated picture is " Christ's Entry into
Jerusalem " (1820). This painting is now in America.
Among Haydon's best works must be mentioned
"The Raising of Lazarus" (1823); "Xenophon"
(1832) ; "Nero watching the Burning of Rome," and
" The Banishment of Aristides." One day, however,
Haydon, casting aside all grand subjects, painted a
charming picture of London life, representing the
New Road, near Marylebone Church, with the traffic
of the street, and Punch ar>d Judy, surrounded by a
group of passers-by.
Among these men of second rank, Maclise,* the
painter of feudal scenes, deserves particular mention.
Admitted as an Academy student in 1825, he won

* Daniel Maclise, R.A., historical genre painter, was the son of
a retired army officer belonging to an old Scottish family. The exact
date of his birth is unknown. Some say it was February 2nd, 1806,
others, January 2Sth, 1811. The latter date has been adopted by the
editor of the National Gallery Catalogue. Maclise was born at Cork,
and first studied art in the Society of Arts in that town. He visited
France several times, in 1830, 1844, and 1855. He died April 25th,
1870, at his residence in Cheyne Walk, Chelsea.. His memoirs were
published in 1871 by his friend Justin O'DriscoU.

I04 ENGLISH PAINTING. [Ward.
the gold medal in 1831, in the competition for his
torical painting. In 1829 he exhibited a scene from
Shakespeare's Twelfth Night; " Malvolio and the
Countess." In 1833 he sent two pictures, one
to the British Institution and one to the Academy.
The former was " Mokanna unveiling before Zelica,"
a scene from " Lalla Rookh ;" the other, " All
Hallows' Eve in Ireland," which has become one of
his best-known works. He was elected Associate
in 1835, and Academician in 1840. The latter years
of his life were devoted to decorative paintings for
the Houses of Parliament, and especially to two great
works, representing " The Meeting of Wellington and
Blucher" at Belle Alliance, after the battle of Waterloo ;
and " The Death of Nelson " at the battle of Trafalgar,
the cartoon of which belongs to the Academy. These
may certainly be numbered among the masterpieces
of English historical painting. Maclise also left some
fine drawings on subjects taken from "The Norman
Conquest," Moore's "Irish Melodies," and Lord Lytton's
"Pilgrims of the Rhine." He also painted several por
traits, notably one of Charles Dickens, in 1855.
The Royal Gallery in the Houses of Parliament is
adorned by frescoes by Maclise, while the corridors
of the Commons and Peers are decorated by E. M.
Ward* and C. W. Cope respectively. The latter
* Edward Matthew Ward, historical genre painter, was born
in 1816. He did not lack talent, but unfortunately, from the point of
view of technique, his painting exhibits all the defects commonly seen
in the pictures of his epoch ; it is heavy, without solidity, while its
colouring is depressingly sombre. He was elected an Academician in
1855, and died in 1879. The subjects of many of his pictures he has

Stothard.]

THE OLD MASTERS.

105

is an honorary Aca
demician, who has
won the respect of
all, and survives in
retirement both his
contemporaries, Ma
clise and E. M. Ward,
of whom he was a
worthy rival.
Stothard,* the
borrowed from incidents in
the French Revolution. Per
haps his most popular work
is " Dr. Johnson in the Ante
room of Lord Chesterfield."
* Thomas Stothard,
R.A., historical genre painter,
was born August 17th, 1755,
at Long Acre, where his
father kept an inn — the
"Black Horse." As he was
of a delicate constitution he
was sent, first to an uncle in
Yorkshire, in the village of
Acomb, where his education
commenced, then to his
father's native place, Sutton,
near Tadcaster, and finally
to Ilford, near London. An
Academy student in 1778,
and exhibiting every year,
he was elected Associate in
1791, Member in 1794, and
Librarian in 1812. He died
April 27th, 1834, at 28, New
man Street, where he had
lived for forty years.

I
a
a<S3ol-l

Io6 ENGLISH PAINTING. [Barry.
earliest of the historical painters, was fifteen years
old on the death of his father, the innkeeper of the
"Black Horse." His marked taste for drawing decided
his widowed mother to apprentice her son to a de
signer of figured silks ; but the young man, not
finding suiBcient scope for his energy, took to
illustrating books for publishers, an occupation
much more in accordance with his tastes. His
success was great. Stothard's first unimportant il
lustrations were done for the "Town and Country
Magazine," "Bell's British Poets," and the "Novelists'
Magazine," of which the editor, Mr. Harrison, was his
first patron. His most popular work is " The Pro
cession of the Canterbury Pilgrims" (1817), engraved
by the brothers Schiavonetti and James Heath. His
chief painting is a huge work, " Intemperance," exe
cuted for the staircase of the Marquis of Exeter's
residence at Burleigh. The idea of this painter was
elegance, which he exaggerated into insipidity.
The dreamer, James Barry,* was the founder
of the Utopian historical school in England,
* James Barry, R.A., historical painter, was born at Cork,
October nth, 1741, and went to Dublin in 1763, where he exhibited
at the Society of Arts, " The Conversion and Baptism of one of the
Kings of Leinster." This picture, taken from a legend of St. Patrick,
procured him the generous patronage of Edmund Burke, who first
brought him to London, and then, paying all his expenses, sent him to
study in Italy during five years. He returned from Rome in 1770, was
elected Associate in 1772, and Academician in 1773. He died in
misery, just as his friends of the Adelphi, Sir Robert Peel and Lord
Buchan, were about to settle on him a pension for life. His death took
place February 22nd, 1806, in Castle Street, Oxford Street, and he was
interred in St. Paul's Cathedral.

Barry.]

THE OLD MASTERS.

107

the first of its Michael Angelos in plaster cast. In
March, 1777, the Society of Arts accepted his pro
position to paint six immense subjects in the hall of
their large room in the Adelphi, representing Human

MERCURY inventing THE LYRE.—/. Barry.

Culture : I. " Orpheus ; " 2. " Ceres and Bacchus ; ''
3. " The Olympic Games ; " 4. " Navigation, or
Triumph of the Thames ; " 5. " The Distribution of
Prizes at the Society of Arts ; " 6. " Elysium, or
Final Retribution." Some of these paintings are 1 1 feet
6 inches high by 42 feet long. To them he devoted
six years of his life. It was on the subject of these

I08 ENGLISH PAINTING. [Barry.
enormous enigmas that he engaged in a furious
controversy with his brethren of the Academy. This
unsociable lunatic, who imagined himself far above all
the greatest Italian masters, managed to convert the
English public to his own theory.
At a later period the eyes of the English artists
became open to the artistic tameness of their elders ;
they do not appear, however, to have discovered any
inherent defect in the national temperament, but only
a want of execution, a failing too long tolerated in the
use of the palette. Impressed, as we are at this day
by the weary monotony of neutral tints, they wished
to strike out a new line, and find some fresh method.
In their justifiable horror of bitumen, therefore, they
gave themselves up to a perfect glut of colouring.
This new epidemic raged from 1850 to 1870. In
the pictures of the English school there was then
a blinding clash of colour, a strife of incongruous
hues ; no softening tints, everywhere harsh tones
set side by side with unexampled barbarity ; blues
and greens, violets and yellows, reds and pinks,
placed in most cases quite by chance ; a gashed face,
cut in two equal parts, one side violet, the other
straw-coloured ; or a pink ground, and a green rock.
We shall return to this period presently, but first we
must give our attention to the brightest jewel of the
ancient English schools, landscape.

CHAPTER II.
LANDSCAPE PAINTING.
The first landscape painter of any importance in the
history of English art is RICHARD WiLSON.* Before
him one or two names might be mentioned, but they
have left no serious trace of their influence in the
school. * Richard Wilson, R.A., landscape painter, was born August ist,
1 7 14, at Pinegas, in Montgomeryshire, where his father was clergyman.
His mother was descended from Lord Chancellor Camden. He
received a good classical education, and was then brought to London
by Sir George Wynne, who had had the opportunity of proving his
taste for drawing, and placed with an obscure portrait painter named
Thomas Wright, with whom he remained six years. Until 1749, the
time of his first journey to Italy, Wilson was only known as a portrait
painter. Some of his first works are to be found in the Garrick Club
and in private collections. At Venice he formed the friendship of
Zuccarelli, the fashionable landscape painter, and tried his hand in
his style. After staying a year in Venice, he visited the principal
towns of Italy with one of his countrymen, Th. Locke of Norbury. At
Rome he met our Joseph Vernet, who, seeing one of Wilson's land
scapes, exchanged it for one of his own pictures, and strongly advised
the English artist to continue this art. He also recommended him to
his friends. Wilson returned to London in 1755, but it was not until
1 760, the year when he exhibited his landscape ' ' Niobe, " that he became
known. This picture now belongs to the National Gallery. Neither
artists nor the public cared for his talent. He was, however, one of
the thirty-six members at the foundation of the Royal Academy in 1768,
and later in 1776 he succeeded the historical painter, Francis Hayman

IIO ENGLISH PAINTING. [Wilson.
Richard Wilson was born in 1714; chronologi
cally he comes before Hogarth and Gainsborough.
No time could have been more unfavourable for his
artistic success than this, for his countrymen, engrossed
in Hogarth's essentially English productions, had no
eyes for any one else, and indeed Wilson is an English
artist only in name. By painting portraits he slowly
gathered together a little sum of money, which, in
addition to a few loans, enabled him to realise the
dream of his youth — a journey to Italy.

(1708 — 1776), as Librarian to the Academy. He had solicited this post
on account of the small salary attached to it, which literally kept him
from starvation. It is said that Wilson having made «, painting of
Sion House for the King, Lord Bute remarked that the price he asked
for it (60 guineas) was much too high. Wilson angrily retorted that if
the King could not pay the sum all at once he might pay it in instal
ments. This lost him the royal favour. His naturally irascible temper
grew worse under severe trials. He led a miserable existence in a dirty
lodging in Tottenham Court Road, in bitter want, and unable to find
purchasers for his pictures. So great was his indigence that one day in
despair he indignantly asked an historical painter, James Barry, R.A.
(1741 — l8o5), if he did not know somebody insane enough to employ a
landscape-painter, in which case he entreated to be recommended, as
he literally had no work. At the end of his life he came into some
property by his brother's death, and went to live in a Welsh village near
Llanberis, in Denbighshire, where he died in May, 1782. Wilson's
principal works have been admirably engraved by Woollett, par
ticularly : "Phaeton;" "Celadon and Amelia;" "Ceyx and
Alcyone;" "Snow Scene"; "Cicero and Two ofhis Friends
at his Villa at Arpinum ;" "Solitude;" " Meleager and Atalanta ;"
"Apollo and the Seasons," and the celebrated "Niobe." The
figures in Wilson's landscapes were not all painted by himself;
he was often aided by John Hamilton Mortimer, the historical
painter, A.R.A. (1741 — 1779), and Fr. Hayman, already mentioned.
His principal pupils were Joseph Farington, R.A. (1747 — 1821), and
William Hodges, R.A. (1744 — 1797).

Wilson.] . THE OLD MASTERS. Ill
At Venice, in Zuccarelli's studio, he found out
that his vocation was for landscape. But it was a
late discovery, and it is a question if he was not
as much influenced by Claude Lorrain's pictures as by
the Italian scenery that he had come so far to see.
However this may be, there is more talent than
originality in his painting ; his chief inspiration
certainly came from Claude Lorrain and Joseph
Vernet. The latter was very intimate with Wilson,
and it was he who brought the English artist the few
days of success that he ever enjoyed during his life
time in his own country. It was on the faith of
Vernet's word that his first pictures were bought, and
that he was elected a member on the foundation of the
Academy. But he had scarcely returned to Londoii
when his painting rapidly fell into disfavour. His
academical brothers spared him neither epigrams nor
admonitions of a severer character. Wilson remained
incorrigible. He was quite bewitched by high art,
and could not regard things in a simple light. Like
many French painters since, such as Bidauld and
Bertin, he sought a false ideal, and, in spite of the
undeniable talent of the painter, the fact could not but
be apparent to the British mind, already accustomed to
Gainsborough's charming natural style. Since Wilson's
death there has been a powerful reaction in his favour
among his countrymen ; his pictures are sold at a
high price, and he is generally called the EngHsh
Claude. This exaggeration is as absurd as the
neglect in which he was suffered to remain during his
lifetime was unjust. It is hard to understand why

112 ENGLISH PAINTING. [Wilson.
Wilson ever thought of leaving Italy, where he had

morning. — R. Wilson.
magnificent scenery, his favourite study, constantly
before his eyes.
Wilson.] THE OLD MASTERS. II3
After an absence of five years, devoted to steady
work, he returned so laden with studies, designs, and
sketches, that when King George III. gave him an
order for a view of Kew Gardpns, instead of painting
the superb reality, he substituted an Italian scene
illuminated by a southern sun, and, indeed, it was,only
by a faint resemblance here and there that it was
recognisable as the desired landscape. The king had
the cruelty to return the picture to the artist.
But what excuse can one find to justify these
theories, which not only authorise, but, under the pre
text of idealising, encourage such mystifications? It is
not only in England that they had their rise (there they
were quickly repressed), but we all know a country
where the art-patrons have for a long time counter
nanced this principle, Wilson always believed that Pro
vidence only created nature to serve as a surrounding
for Niobe's misfortunes, and. that ruins are the most
beautiful architecture in the world. I know that he
often sheds a transparent light on his distances, but at
the same sacrifices that Claude Lorrain himself could
not always avoid, skilful as he was in effects of light.
The foregrounds are opaque, heavy, and bituminous,
whilst large trees with thick black foliage stand on
either side. From such a frame, arranged like the
dark hall of a diorama, the light shines out brightly and
creates some illusion. Suppress the surrounding and
the charm disappears. Poor Richard, as his friends
called him, doubtless possessed avery valuable talent for
execution ; his ambition was high but imperfect ; he is
one of the illustrous victims of the narrow idealism
I

Gainsborough.] THE OLD MASTERS. 115
which raged so long' in the French school. He was
doomed to succumb fatally in a country which loved
the literal representation of itself in Hogarth's pictures,
and at the same time admired itself in Gainsborough's.
In France Wilson would have been covered with
honour and glory.
And now I repeat what I have already said :
Gainsborough is the father of English landscape. He
proceeded on a contrary plan to that of Wilson. He
also painted portraits — we have already considered
him in that calling — but first he studied landscape.
He did not wait until a spirit from on high should
influence him under other skies ; he never left his
island, and the Suffolk woods always seemed to him
the most beautiful in the world. I do not know how
Italian scenery might have affected him, but, of a more
vigorous mind than Wilkie, of more extensive views
than Wilson, I do not doubt but that he would have
returned, certainly with ardent admiration, but also
true to his talent.
Gainsborough's least landscapes give a very com
plete ideaof his art. In the backgrounds of his portraits,
in the " Fisherman's Family," in the " Little Girl and
the Jug," and in the " Little Swineherd," one recognises
the truthfulness of the landscape painter in the exact
harmony between the chief subject and the scenery,
and the accuracy with which this is arranged. But his
deep knowledge of nature does not show itself in these
pictures as clearly as in " The Cottage Door,"
belonging to the Duke of Westminster. The expres
sion of Gainsborough's landscapes is full of sweetness
I 2

Il6 ENGLISH PAINTING. [Gainsborough.
and homely charm. There are no grand effects of
colouring, the tints are not numerous or briUiant, but
harmoniously varied. A cottage half concealed under

the watering place. — T. Gainsborough.
luxurious trees, a murmuring brook bordered with
weeping willows, a bridge leading towards the open
country over which is spread a soft light ; on the
threshold of the cottage a group of half-clothed
children awaiting or taking their breakfast; with them

Morland.] THE OLD MASTERS. II7
the young mother nursing her baby — such is " The
Cottage Door," a splendid page from J. J. Rousseau
or an idyll from Mme. Sand.
The " Landscape with Animals " has a still more
decided touch of nature. It is the subject endlessly
diversified by the masters of Flemish landscapes.
The swift and vivid impression produced by it forms
the whole interest. We see how the early morning
breeze has swept away the clouds from a bright blue
sky ; a herd of cows, driven by a rustic, passes by a
pond, and clumsily make their way towards a rich
pasturage. The warm and moist atmosphere in "The
Cottage Door " is of an unparalleled transparency and
clearness in this little picture. The artist has given
it his finest tints, and an air of perfect serenity, as in his
beautiful painting in the National Gallery, " The
Watering Place," of which we here give a sketch.
George Morland,* a talented but good-for-

* George Morland, animal and genre painter, was born in the
Haymarket, June 26th, 1763. Both his father and grandfather were
artists. When he was ten years old some of his drawings were
accepted for the Royal Academy Exhibition. He studied by prefer
ence the Dutch and Flemish masters, but continued to exhibit from
time to time at the Academy. Soon, however, when he became
conscious of his powers, he revolted against the trammels with which
it fettered him, and recovered his full liberty. Idle, extravagant, a
drunkard, and overwhelmed with debts, he married, in 1786, the .sister
of one of his friends, William Ward, an engraver of merit. Morland's
marriage did not reclaim him. Leading a sordid and irregular life,
drinking all day long, surrounded by dogs, pigs, birds, and other
animals, living in perpetual fear of being imprisoned for debt, and con
stantly moving in order to avoid being tracked out by his creditors, he
nevertheless finished by being arrested in November, 1799. During

Ii8

ENGLISH PAINTING.

[Morland.

nothing fellow, shows also in some of his rustic scenes
that charm which never forsakes Gainsborough.
Mr. Frederick Wedmore, in his interesting work.

' 1 ¦ " . ^- , -' - !¦::!>' fL. *i

THE halting place. — G. Morland.
" Studies in English Art," compares Morland at
great length to this celebrated artist. We would not
have made such a comparison. It is sufficient for
three years his room was a meeting-place for his worst companions in
misfortune. In 1802 he was released as insolvent, but he was soon
again sued on the petition of a tavern-keeper. He died October 29th,
1804, in a sponging-house in Eyre Street Hill, Coldbath Fields, and
was buried in the new cemetery of St. James's Chapel, Hampstead

J. Crome.] THE OLD MASTERS. II9
George Morland's reputation that he gave a faithful
representation of public-house and tavern life. " The
Reckoning," at South Kensington, " The Bull's
Head Tavern," "The Waggoner's Horse," which
was sold in a sale at Paris some years ago, and " The
Halting Place," which the periodical L'Art offered
to the Louvre in 188 1 after the sale of the Wilson
collection, give the exact extent of the powers of
observation and execution which Nature had lavished
on this drunkard. Morland was a realistic painter of
lively humour. If he often descends to triviality, it
is in a playful spirit. His commonplace is always
relieved by artistic grace, and the least interesting
subject assumes under his careless brush a pointed
and singular character which amuses both eye and
mind. John Crome,* " Old " Crome, is one of the truest
Road. His subjects were taken from his own life, his dissolute com
panions serving as his models. The South Kensington Catalogue gives
but few details of his biography ; but George Morland's life has been
written several times, notably in 1804 by J. Hassel ; by his friend, G.
Dawe, in 1807 ; and by Blagdon, with a list of the owners of his works,
and twenty coloured engravings, in 1806. William Collins also speaks
of him in his " Memoirs of an Artist " (1806).
* John Crome, landscape painter, usually called " Old " Crome, to
distinguish him from his eldest son, John Bernay Crome, was borri at
Norwich, December 21st, 1769. His father was a weaver. He began
as a doctor's errand-boy, but yielding to the attraction which coloured
objects had for him, he became apprentice to a sign-painter, and began
by painting little simple sketches from nature, and then, after a time,
picturesque scenes taken from the environs of Norwich, for which he
found purchasers. Although he. was very poor, ignorant, and by no
means good looking, his perseverance, and, to a great extent, his
enlightened genius with regard to Nature, which enabled him to fathom

1^

&¦ fi ll '¦a

::^=c

-..-¦Js?

i-SS^^t ----

approach TO NORWICH.— /. Crome.

J. Crome.] THE OLD MASTERS. 1 2 1
and most vigorous landscape painters that we have ever
seen. More accurate in drawing than Gainsborough, of
a more masculine mind than Morland, brighter in style
than Callcott, and a fine painter of sea pieces. Old
Crome forcibly engrosses the spectator's attention.
In the autumn he takes his way along roads
shaded by trees of copper foliage ; he fixes his
attention on the "Old Oak," or the "Great Oak,"
some forest king of Norfolk, sturdy and proud of its
powerful branches, its mossy interlacing arms aspiring
heavenwards, whilst its gigantic roots grow green in
the depths of the damp marshes. The oak, as re
presented by Old Crome, is a poem vibrating with life.

her secrets, gained him many excellent friends, and he married very
young. His wife's sister also married an artist, the landscape painter
Robert Ladbrooke. Crome gave drawing lessons, and exerted every
effort for the support of his young family, which rapidly increased.
A collection of Dutch and Flemish pictures in the neighbourhood,
which he was allowed to study, made at first a vivid impression on his
mind. I saw at Paris, in 1874, a picture which dates from this period,
the "Approach to Norwich." It is true that this work shows a
beautiful and true simplicity, and that it is carried out with the utmost
sincerity, but yet there seems in it a certain amount of stiffness in the
colouring of the trees and of the ground. Nevertheless, the artist, who
was to become a master in his turn, already reveals himself by the
astonishing faithfulness of the sky, overcast with light clouds, and by
the intelligent composition of the foreground. In February, 1803, he
gathered the Norwich artists together, and from this first a.ssociation,
formed for the furtherance of study and mutual progress, sprang the
Norwich Society of Artists, founded in 1805, of which Old Crome was
one of the firmest supporters, and an assiduous exhibitor. He rarely
sent pictures to the Royal Academy in London, only about twelve
between 1807 and 1818, and these are entirely landscapes, except in
1809, "The Interior of a Forge." He died at Norwich, April 2nd,
1821.

122 ENGLISH PAINTING. [J. Crome.
Its enormous branches hardily bent by the sea-wind,
send afar off large quantities of leaves reddened by
autumn. They cover the ground, and crush down all
vegetation near the giant, whose trunk, whitened and
knotted by centuries, is reflected, with the pale blue
sky, in the clear water of the pond, as in a mirror.
By the imposing majesty of his tout ensemble, by
diversity in detail, by skill and power of expression.
Old Crome attains to genius. He recalls to the re
membrance all the grand verses inspired by the king ot
trees in the North, such as Koerner's ode, for instance :
" Ancient witness of bygone times ; thou art still
clothed with the fresh verdure of life ; and Antiquity,
with its emblems of force and power, lives yet in
the imposing grandure of thy foliage. How much
that is noble doth time destroy! How much that was
beautiful has perished prematurely ! And thou,
indifferent as thou art to fate, time has at length
threatened thee, but I hear from thy trembling
branches a voice uttering these accents: 'AU that is
great triumphs over death ! ' "
This is very fine, but the effect is assured by the
subject ; for that reason I am inclined to think that
there is more merit in another work, " Mousehold
Heath," the simplicity of which is so great that a
master alone could have imparted to it any character.
It represents a vast slope of pale verdure, which, from
a foreground covered with flowering grass and heath,
rises rapidly towards the sky. Great golden clouds
float on the rounded summit of the hill. There is
nothing more. With so little subject as this, Crome

J.B. Crome.] THE OLD MASTERS. 1 23
has yet given the truest representation of solitude and
stillness. In this plot of ground, which not a breath
of wind ruffles, not a sound disturbs, one might
imagine oneself as far from the busy town as
anywhere in the world. It is the desert in its
majesty. John Bernay Crome,* his father's pupil, did not
inherit the vigour, largeness of style, or wide experience
of Old Crome. It was astonishing that studying
nature as he did, but from one point of view and
generally under the same aspect, he yet managed to
give constant variety to his reproductions. I have
seen three of his pictures, which are all moonlight
scenes on the banks of the Yare. Moonlight, with its
shadows and illusions, had for him an especial charm,
whether partially obscured by the rapid movement of
the clouds, in the " Village on the Yare,'' or silvering
the waters gliding by the wooded shore in " The
Banks of the Yare," or again, when accompanied by
the evening star, it fills the sky with its soft beams,
and we see reflected, as on a sheet of silver, forests,
quiet villages, old belfries, mills, and sails asleep on
the calm river beneath, " Moonlight."

* John Bernay Crome, landscape painter, usually called Young
Crome, and the eldest son of Old Crome, was born in 1793, and was
educated at a free school. Having received instruction in art from his
father, he exhibited first at Norwich, and then for the first time at the
Royal Academy in London in 1811. In his later life he took up
moonlight scenes as a kind of speciality. He was then living at Great
Yarmouth, where he died September 15th, 1842. He had a brother
who also tried his hand at painting, but gave it up after exhibiting at
Norwich without any success.

124 ENGLISH PAINTING. [Ladbrooke.
Robert Ladbrooke* once more leads us back

G^';;^>,
¦'¦.'.. I
¦ f ¦
-». .Sf '
¦¦^^
moonlight. — /. B. Crome.
to oaks and heaths. He was co-leader with Old
* Robert Ladbrooke, landscape painter, began by being a printer,
and then took up art, painting portraits for the small sum of five
Ladbrooke.] THE OLD MASTERS. 125
Crome in the school at Norwich, and was one of that
little group of English artists who preceded Constable,
and who were certainly as devoted to nature as he,
although they did not possess his boldness of
colouring. Their forest scenes and views of Norwich
show a deep sense of artistic beauty, and the wonder
ful effects produced by the fleeting shadows of
twilight and evening.
Ladbrooke's " Great Oak " is certainly one of the
most wonderful works of its kind we have ever seen.
An oak by itself seems scarcely sufficient to constitute
a picture, and yet in this painting it is his entire
subject. He has thrown into this fervent study so
much passion, and so deep and spiritual a feeling,
that although the theme is in itself unimportant,
the spirit with which the artist has treated it has shed
upon it an extraordinary majesty.
I recognise in it the principle which has been

shillings. He lived at Norwich, and formed a friendship with Old
Crome, and the two artists married two sisters. Founder of the Norwich
Society of Artists, Ladbrooke yet exhibited several times at the Royal
Academy of London, views of the surroundings of Norwich and London,
and also of North Wales. He died at Norwich, October I Ith, 1842, in his
sixty-third year. He left three sons who were also landscape painters.
The eldest and the youngest, E. Ladbrooke and J. B. Ladbrooke, were
not sufficiently important to obtain a place in the history of art. They
exhibited at the Academy about 1820. The second son, Henry
Ladbrooke, born April 20th, 1800, was at first intended for the Church,
but, in accordance with his father's wishes, gave himself up entirely to
the study of art. His works are of a very faithful character, and the
colouring is harmonious. His reputation was entirely local, for he
appears to have never exhibited at the Academy. He died November
I oth, 1870.

126 ENGLISH PAINTING. [Vincent.
since adopted by the English pre-Raphaelites,* but
here, it is employed with that comprehension of har
mony throughout, that maintenance of general effect,
which all the old pre-Raphaelites no longer practise,
and of which the great Dutch landscape painters gave
the first examples. The "Great Oak" is a simple
object of nature painted with the detail and passion
of a lover. " Mousehold Heath," on the contrary,
represents an enormous tract of rough, uncultivated,
ground, worn with deep rifts, in which the water that
has penetrated from various springs remains standing.
Under a clear sky the ground ascends from the
extreme edge of the canvas to the horizon by great
sweeping lines, only broken by the buildings and
trees of a farm, which is situated on one of the
uplands, and which appears lost in the wilderness.
Another of these advanced Norwich painters is
George Vincent,! who, with so much skill, sheds
broken and chequered light over undulating
ground. This is seen in his picture, " The Norfolk
Landscape," with its pretty gipsy-group, which we
saw at Paris in 1874, and in his beautiful "Mouse-
hold Heath," already mentioned, with its broad

* Mr. J. E. Millais, for instance, who has turned aside from the
path which D. G. Rossetti first induced him to follow.
t George Vincent, painter of landscapes and sea pieces, was born
at Norwich (the date ofhis birth is not known), and exhibited at Norwich
and London from iSll to 1830. He was a pupil of Old Crome. His
most celebrated work is a view of Greenwich Hospital, which had a
place in the London International Exhibition of 1862, and was painted
by order of Mr. Carpenter of the National Gallery.

Cotman.] THE OLD MASTERS. 1 27
extent of country, its wide sweeps, and its coastguard's
box perched on a' height like a bird's nest. Then,
too, there is J. S. COTMAN,* whose forte consists in
painting water and clear skies, as exemplified in his
two pictures in the Freeman collection — a sea piece
with many sails dotted on the horizon, and "The
Market Boat," in which the light from the setting sun
gilds, with its last rays, the tops of some sails seen
against the clear, calm sky. And, lastly, we have
James Stark,^- so simple and true to nature in " The
Bishop's Bridge," where the steeples and cottages on
the shore are seen with a background of fine blue sky,
slightly obscured by a reddish haze.
And now, after mentioning these names, we must
not forget to speak of the liberal-minded Beaumont, J

* John Sell Cotman, painter of landscapes and sea pieces, the
son of a draper, was born at Norwich, June nth, 1782, and died at
London, July 28th, 1842. Besides some excellent pictures and fine
water-colour paintings, he has left many beautiful and interesting
engravings, particularly " Etchings Illustrating the Architectural
Antiquities of Norfolk," "Engravings from Sepulchral Brasses,
Norfolk," and "Architectural Antiquities of Normandy." The text of
each of these works is by Mr. Dawson Turner.
t James Stark, landscape painter, was born at Norwich in 1794.
He was a pupil of Old Crome, and came to London in 181 7, where he
gained brilliant success. He died there March 24th, 1859.
J Sir George Howland Beaumont, seventh baronet of the
ancient family of Beaumont, of Stoughton Grange, Leicestershire, was
born at Dunmow, in Essex, in 1753. He succeeded to the title in 1762,
and was sent to Eton and to New College, Oxford. In 1778 he married
Margaret Welles, granddaughter of Lord Chief Justice Welles. In
1782 he and Lady Beaumont took a journey to Italy, and it was during
this trip that he cultivated the taste he had always possessed for art,
and became an artist. He had already received some knowledge of

128 ENGLISH PAINTING. [ibbetson.
Ibbetson,* Morland's "ne'er do weel" friend, and
NASMYTH,t and CRESWICK.J
landscape painting from Richard Wilson, and this was the branch that
he adopted, but he also had a general taste for all forms of art, and was
ever the friend and generous patron of its followers. Sir George repre
sented Beei-alston in Parliament in 1790. He died at his residence in
Coleorton, Leicestershire, February 7th, 1827, and bequeathed his
magnificent collection of pictures to the National Gallery.
* Julius-C/esar Ibbetson, landscape and figure painter, was born
at Masham, in Yorkshire, December 29th, 1759. He entered the world
by means of what is known as the " Csesarean '' operation ; hence the
extraordinary idea of giving him the name of Cassar. His father was
one of the first members of the Moravian Brotherhood in F'ulneck,
Yorkshire, but his marriage separated him from the Society. Ibbetson
commenced as an actor, but from the age of twenty-four he exhibited at
the Academy ; "first, views of London suburbs, then sea pieces and
landscapes, in which he introduced castles and figures. He married and
became the father of eight children, who all died, and when, in 1794, he
lost his wife also, he gave himself up to every sort of irregularity, in
company with his friend, G. Morland. His second marriage (1801) did
not reclaim him, and he died, sunk in debt and debauchery, October 13th,
1817. He painted in oil and water-colour with equal facility. In 1803
he published the first part of "An Accidence or Gamut of Painting in
Oil and Water Colours," which he illustrated himself. The second part
never made its appearance, nor yet another promised work, his
" Humbuggologia," or collections of satirical anecdotes about picture-
dealers, whom he calls serpents, and who, according to his theory, are
to living painters as hawks to singing-birds.
t Patrick Nasmyth, landscape painter, who adopted the name of
Patrick, although he had been christened Peter, was the son of
Alexander Nasmyth (1758 — 1840), also a talented landscape painter.
Patrick was born at Edinburgh, January 7th, 1 787, and came to London
at the age of twenty, where his talent was soon appreciated. His first
works were views of Scotland ; but he subsequently painted by pre
ference the footpaths, hedges, common pasture-grounds, and dwarf oaks
of the outskirts of London. He died at Lambeth, August 17th, 1831,
and was interred at St. Mary's, where the Scottish artists inhabiting
London placed a tombstone to his memory.
I Thomas Creswick, R.A., was born at Sheffield in 181 1, but

Callcott.] THE OLD MASTERS. 1 29
But we must not so lightly pass over SiR AUGUSTUS
Wall Callcott.* His representations of sea pieces
and coast scenes are remarkable for a solemn calmness
which some of his young successors would do well to

came to London very young. As early as possible, in 1828, two of his
landscapes were accepted at the Royal Academy. These pictures were
Welsh views, and he chose the same subject for many of his subsequent
paintings. He became Associate of the Academy in 1842, and Member
in 1850. We may mention as specimens of his work: "England"
(1847); "Passing Showers" (1849); "The Wind on the Sea-shore"
"The First GlimiDse of the Sea," and "Old Trees" (1850); "A
Mountain Lake," "Moonrise " (1852); and " Clearing up of a Storm"
(1865). Creswick's pictures are numerous. His later works are of
less vivid colouring than those produced in the earlier part of his indus
trious life. He had long suffered from heart disease when he died at
Bayswater, December 28th, 1869.
* Sir Augustus Wall Callcott, R.A., landscape painter, who
is sometimes called, like Richard Wilson, the English " Claude," was
born at Kensington, February 20th, 1779. -He at first studied music
under Dr. Cooke, and was even choir-boy for some years at West
minster Abbey. It is said that the change in his studies was caused by
the vivid admiration he felt for some of Stothard's drawings illustrating
" Robinson Crusoe." He commenced studying at the Royal Academy
School in I797, and also took lessons of Hoppner. His first studies
were portraits, but he soon devoted himself exclusively to river scenery
and British coast landscapes. Although he worked with unusual
industry, his execution was not rapid, and from 1813 to 1822 he only
exhibited seven pictures at the Academy. He had been elected
Associate in 1806 and Academician in 18 10. In 1827 he married the
widow of Captain Graham, a literary woman of some renown, and in
1830 they took a journey to Italy. An important picture executed in
1837, " Raphael and the Fornarina," in which the figures are life-size,
is quite out of his ordinary style. It was on the occasion of this paint
ing that he was knighted by the Queen. Thc next year appeared
another work of the same kind, "Milton and his Daughters." The
first of these pictures has been engraved by Lumb Stocks, A.R.A.
Callcott died at Kensington, November 25th, 1844, ^"d was buried in
Kensal Green Cemetery.
J

130

KNf.l.ISll PAINTING,

IfiilK'oll,

imitate. His view of thc Thames covcrotl with boats
ma\' perhaps be consitlcrod his ihif-<raiivrr. At
times he docs iu>l jKiint witter with sulhcicnl trans
parency, but this defect, which is noticoiiblc in stuno
of his pictures, is here turned tt> good iicctuint, ami

Rl'.'l URNINi; I'liOM MAKRI'.T.— .SV/- .-/. I)'. Cll/ho//,
the grey leaden waters of tho 'riiamos are iidniiriihly
reprcscntctl. In his hiw tides ho ofloii gi\'cs cloiir
and luminous cITccts o( \\v,\\[ whicli remind oiio ot
BONiNt'.rtiN.*

* KiCllAKI) I'AKKK.S lll)N I NI'.TDN WHS liorll 111 Ariiold, 11 vlllttgO
nenr Nollinnliiim, Oi'lober 25tll, l.Soi. Ilejiuiuleil liniui'N, limilsnipes,
nnil sen pieces, nnd wiis also it wiilci-.eoluHi' iirlisl imd ii lillio|4rii|ilier.
1 lis grnndfnthcr, who was governor of ihe cmiiily prison, was siicreeiled

Bonington.]

THE OLD MASTERS.

131

In the Louvre catalogue Bonington is mentioned as
a French artist. It is true that he spent the greater
part of his short life in close connection with French
painters of the romantic school, whose struggles and

MIM. OF SAINT JOUIN.

P. Bonington.

successes he shared. It was in the Louvre and in
the companionship of Delacroix that he studied

in this duty by his son, whose irregular conduct soon lost him the post.
Having already painted as an amateur, he now turned his talent to
account by executing jiortraits and engravings. His wife kept a school.
Richard Parkes, their youngest son, was at first divided between his
lasle for art and his inclination for the stage. In the meantime his
father's dissolute conduct and violent political opinions ruined the
school, which was the chief support of the family. Bonington, who
went to Paris at the age of fifteen, received an entirely French artistic
education at the Louvre, at the School of Fine Arts, and iu Gros's
J 2

MAKCAKICT UF NAVAKKH AND I'KANriS l.-A'. I', /liil/i/l/;/i'/l,

Donineion.l THE OLD MASTERS. 1 33
the Venetian and Flemish masters, and became
acquainted with the laws by which they effected their
colouring and rendering. But to his origin wc may
attribute his aristocratic elegance in painting, while
his eariy studies in water colour gave him a graceful
ness which forms a distinguishing feature of his style.
His picture from the Delesscrt gallery, which has
since gone to swell Sir Richard Wallace's collection, '
possesses for me more charm, and I think shows a
more refined taste, than the one in the Louvre
representing Francis 1. and the Duchess d'litami)os.
The two subjects, with their slight varieties of treat
ment, would serve as companion pictures. In the
painting in the Louvre the lady is seated, fondling a
dog, while the king stands at her side. In the other
work at Hertford House the po.sitions are exactly
reversed, for the lady stands, while Francis I. is seated,
oiircssing the dog. The king is leaning back in an
arm-chair in a nonchalent attitude his fingers are idly
playing with a gold chain at his neck. A large grey
hound rests his tuwny head on thc knees of his master,
.studio. 111 lSa4 he took a journey to llaly, and in iSj7 went to
I'.nglamI, where he e.\hibite(.l a "Sea l'iei'e"at the Royal .-\oi\deuiy.
Three u\oi'e of hi.s pictures followed in 1838: "Henry Ihe Third
of l''rrtnet'," a "Sea I'iece," and "The Grand Canal at X'enice, with
the Cluiivh of Santa Maria della Salute." In Fmnce he e.\hibited at
(he SaUm in iSjj, i8a4i and iSj/. lionington was travelling with the
landscape painter, Paul Huet, in iSjS, when he suddenly left his
et>mpani(>n and set out for London, where he died Ihe same year, on
.September ajfd, and was bviried at St. James's Chuivh, IVntonville.
(In Delaemix's Letters, published by M, Tli, Burty, there i.s a very
inlerestini{ ime from Delaenii.x tu Thomas Thtue on the subject of
Bonington.)

134 ENGLISH PAINTING. tBoninglon.
who is gazing at thc fair queen of Navarre standing
a little back. She, with her arms lightl\- crossed, is
musing over thc meaning of the now celebrated inscri|i-
tion traced by the ro)'al hand on the window pane : —
" Souvent fcmme v.irie
liicn fol est qui s'y lie.''
The lu.xurious apartment is flooded with light ; it
comes streaming in through the dcc|-i blue of the
stained window, colouring with that and its other
bright hues the satin and gold work of the furni
ture, glancing in half-tint on the face and head
dress of thc young queen, and bathing the ^\'hole
group in its chequered golden beams, toned down
by the deep and lofty framework of the high window.
Thc whole woi'k is one of grace and case, carried out
with natural and discriminating taste.
Bonington was an admirable colourist, possessing
much elegance and charm in his historical genre
subjects ; but wc must not forgot that he also painted
landsca[)cs, and was unrivalled in his sea pieces.
In these he is quite as much given to high
colouring as wore subsequently the artists of thc
English school, but he introduces and uses it intel
ligently. Mis views of Venice are strikingly rich in
harmony, and his French coast-scenos afford fresh
oxamiilos of his versatility. Indeed, he could repre
sent thc character and general aspect of diametri
cally different countries with thc same facility that
he portrayed the habits and customs of men thc
antithesis of one another. England has too lightly

Bonington.)

THIC OLD MASTKRS.

135

yielded us the glory of this young genius,* whom she
does not sufficiently appreciate, forgetting that at

TIIK (X»I.WMN OF ST, M..\RK.— A". P. B»nuigtm.
the Salon, in 18.^4, Bonington nobl\- gained a gold
¦ ..
• If the young genius had learned the first rules of perspecSre, and
newr seen either Paris or Venice, it had been extremely better for
him.— J. R.

136 ENGLISH PAINTING. [Constable.
medal, which was awarded to him at the same time that
his distinguished countryman, John Constable,* re
ceived the same honour. But we must not dwell longer
* John Constable, R.A., landscape painter, was born at East
Bergholt, in Suffolk, June nth, 1776. His father, who was a lighter
man, inherited some considerable property and several mills. He at
first wished his son to enter the Church, then to aid him in his own
work, but after a year's struggle he allowed him to cultivate his decided
talent for art. The young man commenced by painting views of the
surroundings of his native place, but in 1795 he went to London, in
order to follow a more serious course of study. Feeling, however, some
uneasiness on the subject of his future, he soon returned home, but
once more went to the metropolis, after having been fired with a second
impulse to follow his vocation, inspired thereto by the loveliness of
nature. In 1 799 he was admitted as student at the Royal Academy
School, and received instruction from the landscape painter. JosEn-l
Farington, R.A. (1747 — 1821), and from the animal painter, Ramsay
Richard Reinagle, R.A. (1775— 1862). At this time Constable painted
a few portraits, and made one or two attempts at historical pictures,
but he gave this up almost directly, and devoted himself to landscape.
His first work of this kind was exhibited in 1802, but it seemed to
himself of too conventional a type, and failed to satisfy him. Feeling
now that he was able to trust his own taste, he resolved from henceforth
to have recourse to no other teacher than nature. In 1803 he writes :
" I feel more than ever convinced that one day or other I shall paint
well ; and that even if it does not turn to my advantage during my
lifetime, my pictures will be handed down to posterity." In 181 6 he
married a young girl whom he had long loved, and for some years
they lived in Charlotte Street, Fitzroy Square ; but in 1820 they
removed to Hampstead, in order that Constable might be nearer the
open country. He was elected Associate of the Academy in 1819, after
having exhibited an important picture, "A View of the River Stour,"
but he did not become an Academician until 1829. Constable's talent
was by no means appreciated by the public. His pictures, with which
his house was crowded, did not sell, .and in order to make himself
known, he published the following advertisement : — " Mr. Constable's
collection of landscajies, painted by his own hand, is open every day
gratis; an application only is required." And yet he was already
famous in France, and had received a gold medal at the Salon in

Constable.] THE OLD MASTERS. 1 37
on this artist, who studied in the French schools from
the age of fifteen, only returning to London to die.

1824. He died suddenly in London, April Ist, 1837, the night after
the closing of the Academy School at Somerset House, where he was
the last visitor. The artist Leslie, his friend and admirer, and who
published his life, says of him : " There is a branch of art which
Turner has not touched, and which neither Wilson, Gainsborough,
Cozens, nor Girtin has attained in as full perfection as John Constable.
He was the most genuine painter of cultivated land in England."
Leslie adds that lake and mountain scenery had no charm for him.
Another artist, Thomas Uwins, relates in his souvenirs that Constable
often said : "I love my village, I love every corner and cranny of it.
As long as I can hold a brush I shall never be weary of painting it."
Eugene Delacroix, in a letter to Thomas Silvestre in 1858, wrote :
' ' That wonderful man Constable is one of England's glories. "
Delacroix had not forgotten that it was in consequence of the impres
sion that the sight of Constable's landscapes had given him in 1 824,
that he had set to work and painted his own ' ' Massacre de Scio "
entirely over again in four days. At Constable's death his picture
known as "The Cornfield " was purchased by a group of amateurs and
presented to the National Gallery, which has since then been further
enriched by his "Valley Farm." The house represented in this
work belonged to the artist's father ; it is situated on the banks of the
Stour, near East Bergholt. The first of John Constable's pictures was
received at the Louvre in 1873, "The Cottage," a pretty little piece of
colouring which dates from 1818. Until this time no painter had
shown himself so completely master of artistic resource, or managed so
thoroughly to convey an idea of the richness and diversity of harmonious
summer tints which are lavished by nature on even the poorest parts of a
country village. Mr. John W. Wilson, at the same date, presented the
Louvre with two more of Constable's pictures. One, " The Rainbow,"
is simply a powerful sketch in which one sees, under a wild, stormy sky,
the spire of Salisbury Cathedral, tapering upwards amid the branches
of large trees bright with autumn tints. The other represents one ot
nature's grandest scenes, " A Storm in Weymouth Bay." The heavy,
dull sea, quiet as yet, extends its leaden waters as far as the eye can
reach. Overhead, the big black thunder-clouds are driven wildly hither
and thither by the violence of the tempest, until they break in drench
ing showers on the hill-tops. Some poor people on the shore, terrified

138 ENGLISH PAINTING. [Constable.
Gainsborough and Crome had succeeded in bringing
about a revulsion of feeling in the public mind with
regard to the imitations of Italian scenery, and it
was John Constable who had the glory of completing
the work which they had commenced.
At first his course was difficult ; his faith in his
own convictions and his valiant perseverance did not
allow him to overcome, without a struggle, the oppo
sition of his fellow-artists, which was more violent
than that of the public. The latter, indeed, easily
suffers itself to be led into a worship of formality,
but then, it is as easily brought back into the right

by the fury of the elements, hasten to get under shelter ; one woman of
the party, however, lingers to gather up a last shell. In the distance a
flock of sheep, driven by the shepherd's dog, rush to a place of safety.
In 1S77, Mr. Lionel B. Constable, a son of the artist, also presented
the Louvre with a charming little study from nature, remarkable for its
truthful rendering of a wide expanse. Constable made use of this study
for his beautiful picture of " Hampstead Heath," belonging to the
South Kensington Museum. Finally, in 1881, the Louvre received a
fourth sjjecimen from the proprietors of UArt, which, like the other
three, was part of the Wilson collection. This work, " The Farm," is
slightly heavy. In spite of these four pictures, however. Constable is
not yet represented in his best style at the Louvre. None of these
landscapes, although full of interest, give a true idea of his rich, vigorous
manner of painting, in which he seems to catch the very life of sea,
sky, and luxuriant verdure. It is a great pity that a rare opportunity
was suffered to escape by the Government in 1874, when a splendid
view of the "Thames" was sold at a public sale in Paris. This
picture represents a bright and intensely blue sky, dappled over with
light clouds. Below flows the grey, dull water, whilst here and there
great barges are to be seen gliding past its muddy banks. On one side,
above the embankment, the dark green foliage of a tree stands out
against the sky. Vet even this is not of Constable's best work, which
can only be seen in London.

Constable.) THE OLD MASTERS. 1 39
path, and rarely fails to give up the false in favour
of the true when a work of real merit and value is
presented for its criticism. It then willingly ranges
itself on the side of him who has succeeded in con
vincing it of its mistakes ; and this Constable had
the power of effecting.
It was all very well for the leaders of the high
art movement to give out that " the fresh verdure
of Spring has no place in Art ; that there is no
reality in Autumn's reddish tints, and that brown
trees alone should be represented in landscapes, be
cause brown is the dominant shade in Nature, &c."
Constable was never shaken in his devotion to the
bright, transparent colours of April.
" Why should one always gaze on smoky old
canvases, and never regard the smiling, sunny
country itself?" he would reply. "Why pay all
one's attention to galleries and museums, and be
utterly indifTerent to nature ?"
He always spoke in the most enthusiastic manner
of the season so condemned by the ultra-sesthetic
party. His letters are full of such paragraphs as
the following : — " All nature revives, and everything
around me is springing up and coming into life. At
every step I am reminded of the words of Scripture,
'I am the Resurrection and the Life.'" No oppo
sition was strong enough to crush down such a power
of force and feeling, and he had plenty of oppor
tunity for exercising it, for life to him remained, for
many a long year, a hard and painful matter.
" I work only for posterity," he would say, in his

140 ENGLISH PAINTING. [Constable.
downcast moments. And the facts nearly verified

THE VALLEY FARM. — I, Constable.

his words. It was not until after he had exhibited
in Paris in 1824, and when he was fifty years old.

Constable.] THE OLD MASTERS. I41
that fortune at length smiled upon him. He died
in 1837. The youth of both Gainsborough and Constable
was spent in Suffolk, and thus this county has the
honour of being the birthplace of England's two
greatest landscape painters.
One could not choose a better illustration than
that of these two artists in order to prove that a
careful study of nature, far from destroying an
artist's individuality, can but serve to strengthen it,
and draw it out to its utmost degree.
Each of them, with the same love of truth, went
straight to the fountain-head with the one desire of
representing faithfully what they saw. And yet, had
they been placed in view of the same scene, and at
exactly .the same hour, how different would have been
the results of their observation ! what dissimilar im
pressions would they have received !
Sweetness, grace, and a tinge of melancholy shed
their softening charm over Gainsborough's landscape.
Through the clouds one imagines a soft sky ; no
hard or sharp angles are visible ; the too-vivid colours
tone themselves down, subject to his unconsciously
.sympathetic handling ; every smallest detail breathes
of the serenity which issued from Gainsborough's own
peaceful temperament. The painting of the other
artist, with its brilliant and sometimes even hard
tones ; its gusty rain-clouds driven before the north
wind ; its deep, frozen water, reveals to you the bold
ness of a strong nature, the agitations of a pas
sionate soul.

142

ENGLISH PAINTING.

[Constable.

Whilst Gainsborough regards Nature in the light
of his own pure and tender feeling. Constable, in a
masterful and imperious manner, lifts the veil of beauty
and depicts her in her grand and angry moments.

SALISBURY CATHEDRAL. — I. Constable.

His style is rich and impetuous. His studies,
exhibited at the South Kensington Museum, give the
impression of an energetic brain and impulsive
execution. He is a poet .whose nature is roused to
ecstasy by stormy elements ; although not blind to
tranquil beauty, it is life and movement which stir the
depths of his soul. In France Constable's pictures

Constable.] THE OLD MASTERS. I43
wrought a wonderful effect. So great was their
success that our modern school of landscape is greatly
indebted to him. This new school was first started by
Paul Huet, who courageously set himself, unaided,
to the task of changing the prevailing style.
Constable's example wonderfully tended to strengthen
his energy in this great work. It was not effected
without much opposition from former leaders of
classical art. There is a curious letter on this subject
by Constable himself " Collins," he writes, " declares
that only three English painters have made a name in
Paris — Wilkie, Lawrence, and Constable. But the
Parisian critics are up in arms against the infatuation
of the public, and severely warn the young artists.
' What resemblance can you find,' ask they, ' between
these paintings and those of Poussin, which we ought
always to admire and imitate ? Beware of this
Englishman's pictures ; they will be the ruin of our
school. No true beauty, style, or tradition is to be
discovered in them.' I am well aware,'' adds Constable,
" that my works have a style of their own, but to my
mind, it is exactly that which constitutes their merit,
and besides, I have ever held to Sterne's precept : ' Do
not trouble yourself about doctrines and systems, go
straight before you, and obey the promptings of
nature.' "
And thus it was that a style of faithful landscape
painting was established ; but how many people still
entertain fears that the rage for an exact study of
nature will have a too realistic influence on the other
branches of art .''

144 ENGLISH PAINTING. [Constable.
How many times must wc remind them that as
art is a perpetual representation, the fact represented
must be viewed by the painter through a medium,
which is nothing less than his own soul, which is his
highest conception, thc mainspring of his intellectual
existence } It is in virtue of this alone that he gains
any distinctive merit, but the medium must be entirely
his own. There arc many persons who, possessing
none, borrow their neighbour's, and thus imitate a
reflection. They present us with a distorted repre
sentation of M'hat has been conceived by another mind.
And were this mind the highest imaginable, such a
system cannot fail to be injurious and utterly fatal to
them. For want of genuine virtues, artificial ones are
brought forward. Feebleness is honoured by a high-
sounding title, and we speak of the respect duc to
tradition. Pretending to believe that the old masters
have solved every problem, wc humble ourselves in the
dust before them. They arc e.xalted as if they were
superhuman, and as though — as in the Divine com
mand to the waves — they had the right to say,
" Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further."
And this fraud has actually held its own. Let us
in opposition cjuote Emerson's grand words: —
" To believe that what is true for you in your
private heart is true for all men — that is genius.
Speak your latent conviction, and it shall be the
universal sense."
And these, nobler still : —
" The highest merit we ascribe to Moses, Plato, and

Turner.] THE OLD MASTERS. 1 45
Milton, is that they spoke not what men, but what
they thought."
This, in his own line, is Constable's merit, and
one which we have a right to demand from all artists —
that he gave utterance to his own thought.
His whole life was a struggle which he maintained
by self-reliance. Aptly does he illustrate the American
philosopher's words : " A man is to carry himself in
the presence of all opposition as if everything were
titular and ephemeral but he." Learn all you can
from the past, and forget it — this is the only rule for
great artists.
We shall now speak at some length of a celebrated
landscape painter, who ever most faithfully followed
this rule— J. M. W. TURNER.*
*"- * JosErHtMALLORD WiLLiAM TURNER, landscipe painter, was
born April 23rd, 177S1 in Maiden Lane, Covent Garden, where his
father was a hairdresser. He was baptised in the old churcli of St.
Paul, designed by Inigo Jones (1S72 — 1651), and burnt down a few
years later. Turner only received a very rudimentaiy education,
although two causes contribute to develop his talent for art early in life.
The first was his friendsliip with Thomas Girtin (1773 — 1802), his
senior by two years, and the originator of the fine school of water-
colours in England. The second was the permission granted him to
copy in Dr. Munro's excellent collection of pictures ill thc Adelphi,
which also led to his becoming acquainted with John Robert Cozens
(1752 — 1799), who had preceded Girtin in masterly executions in water-
colour, and Turner in curious atmospherical effects and illusions.
Cozens gave some very valuable advice to his young friend, who was
admitted as a Royal .\cademy student in 17S9, and who the next year
exhibited a view of Lambeth Palace. He was then fifteen year.^ old,
From tliis time he received numerous orders for drawings from cditor.-i,
more particiUarly for views of towns which were required for publica
tion according to the prevailing fashion. For this object Turner
travelled about the Midland Counties, Wales, and the south coast of
K

146 ENGLISH PAINTING. [Turner.
What a singular character was this man ! and how
admirably suited to perplex and baffle those who desire
nothing in an artist but a slavish submission to

Yorkshire, returning from these expeditions with a splendid collection
of water-colours. His first painting in oils, "The Squall," was ex
hibited in 1793, and was followed in 1796 by "The Fishers," and
in 1797 by " Sunrise." He was elected Associate of the Academy in
1799, and Academician in 1802. In this same year he made his firs
experience in foreign travel, visiting France, the borders of the Rhine,
and Switzerland. In 1S07 he became Professor of Perspective at the
Academy School, succeeding in this post Edward Edwards, A.R.A.
(1738 — 1806), portrait and historical painter. Turner had acquired
this science in the studios of TiiOMAS Malton (1726 — 1801), a clever
architectural designer, and Tho.mas Hardwick (1752— 1829), the
architect who, in 1795, reconstructed, on the plans of Inigo Jones, the
little Tuscan church of St. Paul's, where Turner had been christened. It
was also in 1807 that the artist began to publish his "Liber Studiorum,"
which lasted twelve years, and which was arranged on the same plan as
Claude Lorrain's " Liber veritatis." Its splendid collection of engraved
studies give a nearly complete idea of Turner's genius. In some of the
etchings done by the artist's own hand he rivals Rembrandt, and his
engravings, in their powerful execution and admirable effect of light,
even surpass the original studies of the same subjects which are in the
National Gallery. It is the exception to find the studies finer, as is the
case in the "Mont St. Gothard," " Dunstanborough, " and the "York
shire Coast." In 1812 Turner built himself a house, 47, Queen Anne
Street West, which he inhabited until his death ; in the picture gallery
which it contained he publicly exhibited his own paintings. He made
three journeys to Italy, in i8ig, 1829, and 1840.
Coarse in manners, of unpretending appearance, badly dressed —
although it is not thus that he represents himself in his charming portrait
painted in 1802 — taciturn, reserved, of miserlyinclinations,unsociable,and
possessing no other passion than his art. Turner lived a very solitary life.
The few who were his friends were accustomed to his constantly quitting
his house for long periods together, but the reason of his absence was
known to none. It was during one of these mysterious flights that he
died suddenly, after a life of unexampled success, on December 19th, 1851,
near Battersea Bridge, in a small lodging on the banks of the Thames,
where the woman who waited on him only knew him under the feigned

Turner.] THE OLD MASTERS. 147
formula ! By these Turner's life is divided into two
portions — the sane, and the insane. They do not deny
him a certain amount of talent in his first fifteen years
name of Brooks. His body was placed by the side of Sir Joshua
Re)molds in the vaults of St. Paul's. Turner bequeathed to England
the most valuable legacy that a country ever received from any artist.
By his will he left to it his entire fortune, both in money and pictures,
but on the condition that the Government should make a suitable pro
vision for the latter, and that the money should be used, in the course
of ten years, for founding a charitable institution in aid of unfortunate
artists. This will was disputed by Ihe Turner family, but in consequence
of an arrangement which was made between the parties at the end of
four years, and ratified by the Court of Chancery, it was decreed that all
his works, finished and unfinished, paintings, drawings, and sketches,
should belong to the State, whilst his collection of engravings and
all his other property should go to his nearest of kin. His fortune
was estimated at ;^i4O,O0O, of which the Royal Academy received
;^ZO,O0O. Without counting the first years when Turner showed his talent
in water-colour painting, his career may be divided into three periods,
in which he painted in three distinct styles. In the foremost
of these, up to the year 1805, when " The Shipwreck " was painted
{476 in the National Gallery), he is unmistakably under the influence of
Wilson and the Dutch masters. After this, and until his first journey to
Italy in 1819, Claude Lorrain entirely guides his style. He must indeed
have been very much fascinated by the works of this master, for he
bequeathed two of his best pictures to the National Gallery, " The
Founding of Carthage " (1815) and " The Sun Rising through Vapour "
(1807), with the special injunction that they should be exhibited between
two paintings by Claude. And so they are hung in one of the halls
(No. IX.) devoted to Old Masters, with "The Marriage of Isaac and
Rebecca " on one side, and " The Embarkation of the Queen of Sheba "
on the other. To this period belong "Jason," " The Ten Plagues of
Egypt," "Apollo Killing the Python," "The Shipwreck of the
Minotaur" (1811), "Dido and jEneas" (1814), "The Ruin of
Carthage" (1817), and " Richmond Hill " (1819). In this year 1819,
after his Italian journey. Turner's style underwent a singular change.
In his first manner of painting, the portions of shadow in his picture
are much more extensive than those of light ; his execution is resolute
K

148 ENGLISH PAINTING. [Turner.
of work, while he labours in well-known tracks. But
when the painter, having perfected the means of
accomplishment, attempts with ever-increasing zeal to
vigorous, and accurate, and there is much in it to remind one that only
a short time ago his water-colours were remarkable for their excessive
care and finish. But from this time he paints in full light, with no con
trasting shade, employing all the colours of the rainbow, and working
in brilliant tints and primary tones — purple, blue, and orange. His
mo.st striking pictures of this kind are "The Bay of Baiie " (1823),
and " Ulysses Deriding Polyphemus" (1829).
During the last twenty years of his life Turner's ever-increasing
fiery love for effects in light and colour caused him to produce the most
extraordinary works, in which every form is defined only by unsteady
limitations of most subtle and effulgent colours proceeding from iri
descence of solar light.
As examples of this style I will mention the harmonious compo
sition, "Approach to Venice'' (1843), and the celebrated "Great
Western Railway" (1844). Some of the gifted artist's most finished
works, however, also belong to this period, notably " Childe Harold's
Pilgrimage" (1832), and "The Fighting Timiraire" (1839).
Amongst the books illustrated by Turner we may name, "Southern
Coast Scenery," " England and Wales," " Rivers of France," Rogers's
" Poems " and his " Italy." The artist, who was very well read, often
took his subjects from poems and works of living authors, such as
"The Prince of Orange (afterwards William III.) Landing at Torbay,"
taken from Macaulay's "History of England; " " Venice, " from Rogers's
" Italy" ("There isa Glorious City in the Sea ") ; " ButtermereLake,"
a rain scene, from Thomson's "Spring;" "The Deluge," and
" Jlorning," from Milton's "Paradise Lost ; " " ^neas and the Sibyl,"
from the "^neid;" "The Goddess of Discord at the Garden of
the Hesi^erides," from Milton's "Comus;" "Apollo Killing the
Python," from " Callimachus ;" from some verses of his own composi
tion entitled ' ' The Fallacies of Hope : " " Hannibal's Army Crossing the
Alps," "The Palace of Caligula," "The Vision of Medea," &c. ;
"Sunrise on a Frosty Morning," from Thomson's "Seasons" ("The
rigid hoarfrost melts before his beam ") ; " Dido and .Eneas starting fur
the Chase," and some other episodes in Dido's history, from Dryden's
".Eneid;" "The Battle of Waterloo," and "Childe Harold's
Pilgrimage," from Byron ; "The Bay of Baia:," from Horace (" Nullus

Turner. THE OLD MASTERS. 149
attain his self-conceived ideal, then they can follow
him no longer, but consider it their duty to pass
judgment on what they term his wild extravagance,
and with many regrets excommunicate him from the
realms of art.
But why do they allow him so much indulgence
during the early part of his career ? He never for an
instant swerved from the course which he had laid
down for himself. The fact was that this great painter
worked for the realisation of an unusual ambition, and
with the prospect of a long life (he lived until the age
of seventy-five) he possessed a most important attribute
for those who seek distinction — patience.
Turner's one dream, the extraordinarily high
aspiration of his life, was to gain a complete know
ledge of light in all its phases.
With this end in view he spared no pains. For
a long time he made a careful and thorough investi
gation of the works of Claude Lorrain, the painter
considered the most skilful of any in effects of light.
He studied, analysed, and copied his- paintings, and
never rested until he had thoroughly mastered all
that this artist could teach him. He also imitated

in orbe sinus Bails prselucet amzenis ") ; " Ulysses Deriding Polyphemus,"
from Pope's "Odyssey;" "Apollo and Daphne in the Vale of
Tempe," from Ovid's "Metamorphoses;" "Hero and Leander,"
from "Musjeus;" "Queen Mab's Grotto," from Shakespeare, &c.
Between 1790 and 1850 Turner exhibited 257 pictures and studies at
the Royal Academy.
There is another painter of the name of William Turner
(1789 — 1862), a water-colour painter, who is known as Turner of
Oxford, to distinguish him from the great artist.

ISO

ENGLISH PAINTING.

[Turner.

his Style as well as that of Lorrain's friends, Nicholas
and Caspar Poussin, and when these clever imitations
were exhibited to the public, he was declared in his
turn to be a master by the leading judges of the day.
Turner only smiled to himself, and, unhindered by

Iff ¦a'Ti.T. -JHy*i .> ' . V 

CHILDE Harold's pilgrimage, italy. — I. M. W. Turner.

either flattery or criticism, slowly but surely con
tinued in his course towards the attainment of his
purpose. At the time when others said of his work,
"That is perfection!" he was saying of himself, "I
have just done with leading-strings, and am begin
ning to walk alone." One may easily mistake his
design by merely seeing the titles of his pictures,
which are nearly all mythological in subject, historical
scenes, Apollos, Hannibals, Didos, Muses, Medeas,

Turner] THE OLD MASTERS. 151
&c., in short, all the ordinary themes of historical
landscape painters. But about this he gives himself
very little concern, and, indeed, he is thus only
drawing attention to the subordinate parts of his
talent. Here and there in his pictures one may
find some figures fairly well done, but it must be
admitted that, as a rule they are not only

APOLLO KILLING THE PYTHON.^/. M. W. Turner.
indifferent, but atrociously bad. There is one,
however, which is admirable, that of Apollo in the
picture called " Apollo Killing the Python." I do
not know whether the great French artist, M. Gustave
Moreau, has ever seen this life-like painting, but
whenever he does he will appreciate the genius of
one of his ancestors. I must add, though, that
Turner nearly always uses his figures merely as

152

ENGLISH PAINTING.

[Turner.

accessory to his effects of light ; they are entirely
subservient to the general idea, and one expects no
more of them. The artist has managed to repre
sent the most wonderful atmospheric phenomena in
the land of fogs. But these mists, in the long run.

THE ' OLD TliMliRAIRE.'' — I.M. (('. Turner.

had a. depressing efifect on him, and gave him a
craving for bright light and warmth. When moun
tain tempests and sea-storms in the cold north climes
failed at length to satisfy him, he resorted to the
sunny south, there to seek a more complete realisa
tion of his dreams.
At the London Exhibition of 1862, as well as
since at the South Kensington Museum and National

Turner.] THE OLD MASTERS. 153
Gallery, I have seen about 150 of Turner's pictures,
besides about 400 water-colour paintings, outline
drawings, sepia washes, and pen-and-ink sketches.
It would be impossible to give any idea in a few
words of this artist's imagination ; the study of his
work would require a volume, and the circumscribed
limits of this book forbid my attempting it.
It will suffice,, then, to say, that after having
shown himself the equal of all the former great
water-colour painters, Paul Sandby (1725 — 1809),
Thomas Hearne (1744^1817), and Edward Dayes,
who exhibited from 1786 to 1804, when he com
mitted suicide ; after having rivalled Claude Lor
rain in Italian magnificence, and Gainsborough in
simplicity. Turner at length took a completely inde
pendent course. What wonderful variety we find in
his work ! Were there ever two such pictures as were
put up to public auction in Paris in 1874 — "Kil-
garren Castle" and "A Guildhall Banquet".? The
former ought to prove that style is not an acquired
intellectual faculty alone, but springs from Nature
herself This Irish view, with little composition,
yet possesses Poussin's greatness and dignity in their
highest degree, and besides all this a large amount
of feeling. Who can deny the lofty genius of this
man in seeing side by side these two pictures,
" Kilgarren Castle " — stern, mournful, and sombre —
and the " Banquet at the Guildhall," certainly one of
the painter's most wonderful productions ? The great
hall, hung with red throughout, and flooded with
light, is filled with a moving crowd of guests, who

154

ENGLISH PAINTING.

[Turner.

press round huge tables loaded with viands and
candelabra, placed at intervals all down the hall. At
the further end stands a throne and the high table.
The side galleries are thronged with spectators.
No description could possibly convey any idea of the
superb colouring, the enchanting effect of light, of

ULYSSES DERIDING POLYPHEMUS.—/. M. W. Turner.

the spirit, life, and gaiety which animate this little
picture — not twenty inches long. Of the English
school. Turner alone possesses this marvellous power
. of giving luminous effects ; it is shared in our school
by Eugene Delacroix, as exemplified in his " Assas-
sinat de I'^veque de Liege."
The steps taken by Turner are so simple as to
make it seem scarcely credible that such powerful

Turner.] THE OLD MASTERS. 155
results should be gained. In order to bring within
the compass of a small canvas the greatest amount
of light possible, he usually represents wide surfaces
suitable for reflecting rays thrown from a luminous
centre, broad, deep perspectives, extensive skies, and
a sea which also serves principally as a reflector of
light. In proportion as he perfects himself in exe
cution, he dispenses with the usual foreground, as well
as the dark shades employed to throw up brilliant
portions of a composition, and I could mention
numerous pictures in which no trace of bitumen is
discoverable. His aim is to carry the light to the
very edge of the canvas, and in this he is successful.
Indeed, he has attempted and mastered every
enchanting effect, intricacy, and radiance of light,
although at times he has been sorely baffled. From
the pale gleams of twilight and grey dawn breaking
in the east over the dark earth, to the dazzling rays of
the setting sun firing the restless waves, it is one
unbroken series of marvels; Venetian views, English
coasts, cathedrals, castles, forests, mountains, peace
ful lakes, stormy seas,' ships in distress, naval battles,
fleets in full sail, the sea-shore at low-tide, interiors,
reception-halls, anatomical and ornithological studies,
animals, architecture — both genuine and fanciful —
plants, insects, and flowers — it is a perfect fairy
land, a world in which transplendent reality and
ardent fancy are blended and interwoven into a har
monious whole, teeming with life and movement.
Turner was an artist of sublime genius, although his
productions are too seldom complete. He did not

156

ENGLISH PAINTING.

[Turner.

die until 1851 ; but for long before this date he
had lived a life apart, in a solitude which was said
to be caused by dislike to his fellow-creatures, but
in reality it was because he was so bound up, heart
and soul, in the contemplation of his inner revela
tions, that communication with the outer world lost

APPROACH TO VENICE. — I. M. W. Turner.

all charm for him. We reap the fruits in works of
intense feeling splendidly expressed.
In describing his painting, let me quote the Avords
so fitly chosen by M. Vitet, a master in the science of
criticism: — "A certain indefinable combination, a
peculiarly harmonious concord between the real and
the ideal, resulting in creations seldom evolved from
the human mind, but which we may aptly term

Turner.] THE OLD MASTERS. 157
chefs-d'oeuvre'.' Turner belongs to no school, and in
spite of the practical hints that he unmistakably took
from Claude Lorrain in the commencement of his
career, he soon threw off the yoke of even his influence.
He asserts himself, and this is one of his great merits.
Another, and one greater still, is that he always
aspired to the best and greatest, and even to his last
hour sought the realisation of an ever-advancing ideal
which led him, from day to day, to greater heights.
In this struggle after the unattainable, he was upheld
by his genius, but if he now and then gives way and
appears abstruse and incomprehensible to other minds,
it is owing to one fundamental mistake, which I do
not fear to name, in spite of my intense admiration
for this great artist. Turner did not always study
nature.* In the rapture of his fervent imagination he
has sometimes disdained the truth. Not disdained
— that is too hard a word — let us rather say he has not
always, whatever his intention was, taken the reality
into consideration. On a small leading motive, taken
from nature, he composes the most brilliant variations
in which the original theme is more or less lost.
Turner, in love with the sun, did not represent it
as he saw it with his material eyes, but as he viewed
it in his dreams ; utterly regardless of any prescribed
form, he painted what he believed to be pre-eminently
the Beautiful, and in so doing consulted nought but
his own genius and innate taste. Thus it happens
* " Did not sufficiently adhere to it " would have been right. He
studied nature more, and knew more of it than all the other artists ot
alllandscape schools put together.— J. R.

158 ENGLISH PAINTING. [Turner.
that, in spite of sublime productions, he is sometimes
misled, and this is the case with all those who dwell
too much within themselves. They may perhaps
possess a more striking genius, and have the power of

LIGHTHOUSES ON THE HEVE. — J. M. W. Turner.
readily receiving and producing impressions ; possibly
they may call forth with greater facility artistic
feeling ; but they have forsaken nature, the foster-
mother of art, the alma parens, and their very genius,
which is never entirely recognised, lays them open to
severe criticism.

Blake.] THE OLD MASTERS. 1 59
The penalty is, just, and, in spite of the great
sympathy which we entertain for these painters, we
dare not raise a protest against its severities. Such
men are useful in animating the public taste, and in
rousing from indifference the common herd of imita
tors, but they can never be anything else in the
art-world but bright particular stars, exceptional men
with few if any followers.
It is by no means infrequent that they are them
selves imitated, but by feeble minds which are as far
remote from genius as a dwarf from a giant. The
great men of whom we have spoken can have no
followers, and it is well for art that this should
be so. Take the case immediately under our notice.
Turner's system succeeded because it was Turner's,
but it must prove entirely fatal to any one who
should dare to take it up and attempt to follow it.
Putting aside Gainsborough and Constable —
Reynolds, too, who alone possessed a taste for high
art — all the English artists up to 1850, even Turner,
are tainted by a peculiar defect — a love for the
extraordinary. Think of Romney, B, West, Fuseli,
Northcote, J. Barry, J. Opie, and lastly, William
Blake. William Blake (1757 — 1827), a visionary
poet, sprang from that great revolutionary movement,
caused by the terror of Napoleon and our arms, and
which re-united all the branches of the great Scandi
navian and Germanic stem. This movement, sweep
ing onwards, communicated to England some of the
mysticism of the e:itreme North with which it was
imbued ; we find this in the poems of Wordsworth

i6o

ENGLISH PAINTING.

[Blake.

and Shelley ; Coleridge also is carried away by the
same influence.
Blake, quite infatuated by Wordsworth's poetry,
entertainetf a singular idea. He wished to be the

THE LAST TRUMP.— W. Blake.

Swedenborg of painting. He was a visionary painter
and a painter of visions.
As a poet, his first simple conceptions are beauti
ful ; but later on, when his visions increase in strength,
and completely govern him, they almost succeed in

Blake.] THE OLD MASTERS. l6l
clouding his reason. His fancy grows tedious,
wandering, and abstruse, and he succumbs to his own
creation, for the last of his poems, accompanied by
engravings executed on a new method with a sharp
point, are quite unintelligible. No worldly prosperity
attended his visions and labours, and his life was to
the last unsuccessful. A genius with too florid a pen,
and too mystic a brush — such was William Blake.
The poet Swinburne is a convert to his mysticism.
And thus English artists follow on the one hand the
dictates of their personal inclinations, whilst on the
other they bow to the inevitable by striving to gratify
the public taste.
From whatever point of view one regards it, the
English school always discloses some idiosyncrasy
peculiar to the ordinary British mind. Its works by
no means bear evidence to the importance of painting
taken in its highest sense as a fine art ; and indeed the
English soul appears to have no ardent craving after
the most perfect expression of beauty, whether in its
pictorial or plastic form. It seems to me as if a
picture, to this nation, meant nothing more than a
luxury, and as if a chef-d'ceuvre — albeit considered a
fine acquisition as testifying to the worldly prosperity
and distinction of the possessor — is powerless to pro
duce the sensation of delight and elevation which
might be looked for in the contemplation of a great
work. This has been during a century the condition
of art in England.
And this explains the desire among purchasers to '
obtain productions which display singularity rather
L

l62 ENGLISH PAINTING.
than simple beauty. Since they only wish to procure
an object for amusement, they strive, with method in
their madness, to light on what is extraordinary and
out of the way. And so artists, putting aside their
natural inclinations, feel themselves bound to sacrifice
everything to eccentricity. This compliance to the
public whim is greater and more apparent in England
than in France, where, however, it is only too observ
able, developing frequently into coarseness.
Owing to the concentration of wealth on the
English side of the Channel, the artist always knows
beforehand the connection that will patronise him,
or in other words, those who can afford to buy his
pictures ; he knows very well that he must seek en
couragement and reward but from one class, and with
this idea he courts their favour. What was Hogarth
but the courtier of the Puritan society of his day ?
This being so, one can scarcely wonder that
England has not shown herself more artistic. It is
true that great honours are paid to her great men.
But do not let us be misled by tombs in Westminster
Abbey, statues placed in public squares, monuments,
and memorials ; the English esteem their talented
countrymen only in so far as their lustre may be shed
on themselves ; for men of real taste they have little
to say. In their eyes artists are merely the direct
means of providing the aristocracy with amusement
and distraction. Can such a demand call forth great
ness and elevation in art .' Greatness, elevation —
these words in no wise apply to the British artists of
the past century. They possess a studied simplicity

THE OLD MASTERS. 1 63
which quickly degenerates into monotony ; they are
profuse in narrative subjects, producing thereby
literary rather than artistic impressions. Their good
points, however, of which they possess some, are
entirely their own. Thus their genre painting gives
proof of careful observation ; in landscape their skies
are very successful — this is one of their great features —
and so close has been their study, that they might fitly
represent the shifting motion of the clouds, and varied
aspect of the heavens. We must not forget that they
also number among them some celebrated portrait
painters, and that this is one of the most difficult
branches of art.
But although the English school is later than any
other, and consequently enriched by the experience of
the past, it bears no evidence of any serious efforts.
Up to the year 1850 it produced remarkably little,
and originated still less.
Even its very independence does not proceed from
a true source, but rather from caprice. It is true that
it casts all tradition to the winds, but not so much in
order that it may carve out beforehand a settled course
for itself, and persevere in it, as that it may truckle to
the individual and eccentric tastes of its artists. This
has little to do with that highest and noblest quality
in art — originality. Turner himself, with all his
brilliancy, with all his impenetrable gloom effects oi
light, fails sometimes in that grand serenity which dis
tinguishes a great master; he, like his countrymen,
knew little about the composition of a picture. It was
only intense study, and a persistent concentration of
L 2

164 ENGLISH PAINTING.
all his faculties upon one of the many forms of
expression at which an artist may and ought to aim,
that saved him. Above all, he was saved by his
unparalleled genius.
Final!)', the most beautiful fragments that the mind
of man can conceive, taken by themselves, will never
be anything but extravagant and singular productions,
compared with works in which beauty permeates thc
whole, and where harmony exists even in mediocrity.
Such works arc no doubt less startling, but they will
succeed in not only attracting but retaining an enduring
attention, and this just because they do not give the
impression of a mind utterly devoted to one object. I
am not here eulogi.sing the commonplace, which is to
me detestable. My thoughts are fixed on thc most
illustrious — Raphael, for instance, who follows the law
of general effect rather than personal feeling. For my
own part, I prefer the passionate and vehement style
rather than even serenity; my tastes have more affinity
with Rembrandt than with Raphael.
It may be noticed that those who have so devoted
themselves to a special object in their study of art have
been self-made men, who with over-weening ambition
have raised themselves from the humblest station of
life. They find that their own system is unique, but
that it may be placed within thc range of everybody.
They forget that the only true road to sim[)licity and
truth is by the often ignored road of science, by means
of which individual genius is carefully drawn forth.
No better path than this exists. Take, for instance,
that marvellous genius Albert Diirer, equally great in

THE OLD MASTERS. 1 65
science and feeling. EngHsh painters do not seem
to understand that knowledge constitutes the only
infallible basis in art.
Knowledge, a thorough knowledge ; the mind
that is thereby strengthened and governed can not onl)'
express itself with accuracy and exactitude, but can
also comprehend the reason for its precision. What
greater delight can there be than this ?
Thore are some rare pictures which give the
impression of perfection ; one feels that thc paintei
has fully carried out his ideal. For the causes which
wc htive just given, there are none of this order
belonging to the English school. The best wc can sa}-
of them is that tho)' possess a germ of thc ideal which
the spectator must develop for himself, taking roftigc
in his own f.iiicy if he would find enjoyment in
them. Painting in luigland during the first half of thc
ninotoenth century — I do not speak of landscape — is
clover, often full of talent, certainly forced, but at times
original, though it is altogether wanting in genius. Or
at least if it has any it is either in so small a degree, or
has so little al>init\- with French feeling, that we can
scarcely appreciate it. Britisli art, up to the date to
whid\ wc have arrived, possesses the same character
istics as its own counlrj' ; it is hard and stern, and
conset|ucntl}' destitute of grace. In it we recognise but
little cliarm, and it is with difficulty that wc enter into
its spiiit.

^ijronb |)art.
The Modern School.
1850— 1882.

CHAPTER I.
originality of the modern school.
As has already been said, the first exhibition of
English painters in France took place in the Avenue
Montaigne in 1855. For the French, it was a revela
tion of a style and a school, of the existence of which
they had hitherto had no idea. Whether owing to its
novelty, or the surprise it occasioned, or, indeed, to
its real merit — whatever may have been the true
cause, most certain it is that the English, until then
little thought of and almost unknown abroad, ob
tained in France a great success. They became com
pletely the fashion, as many will remember. Let us
now examine the reason for this. In the French
school there has been a growing inclination for tem
perate colouring, and to eyes accustomed to this and
also to the harmony existing in the masterpieces of
the French collection, it must be confessed that the

l68 ENGLISH PAINTING.
impression received in scrutinising the works of the
English galleries in the three great French Exhibitions
of 1855, 1867, and 1878, was startling and unexpected
rather than pleasing.
In strong contrast to the calm and peaceful
situation of the galleries, far removed from the noise
of the crowd, were the pictures with which they were
hung, so loud and striking in tone were theJ^ At first
such a blaze of colour was quite dazzling. Having
slowly accustomed ourselves to them, or else resolved
to bear the shock, let us examine, we said, some of these
pictures more closely. Once more we find ourselves
at a loss to enter into the spirit of this painting which
apparently exhibits so little pre-arrangement. Here
there is no central subject to be discovered ; an
important theme is muddled up with subservient
parts and detail, the canvas is too big for the frame,
and a thousand other audacities are committed, which
to us seem tremendous blunders. Most assuredly we are
in the presence of a foreign .school of art. This fact
cannot be doubted, as in many other galleries, where
one must be acquainted with leading characteristics
in order to distinguish the nationality. Not only
does it at once strike the eyes that these painters are
not French, but in every possible way the artists take
pride in demonstrating most unmistakably their
British origin. Their stibjects are entirely English,
their characters are all English, the drapery in which
these are clothed, the glass from which they drink, the
knife which they use, the furniture around them,
everything is of English manufacture; it is all local

the modern school. 169
and peculiar to the insular soil and genius of Great
Britain. ' Nothing can break through this peculiarity of the
English people. Their private galleries, the richest
in the world, become daily more valuable by the
addition of the noblest works of ancient continental art ;
but this in no wise affects the exclusiveness of the
British artists. It would seem as though their studios
were closed by a portion of the Great Wall of China.
They keep up a continual continental blockade, but
it is against themselves. European art is a sealed
book for them. They are, and insist on remaining,
English. This leads us to a reflection.
At the expense of this exclusiveness, for which I
do not blame its artists, although it seems at times to
be driven to excess, the English school has become
a truly national art. In visiting collections of modern
French works, and the annual Parisian salons, has it
never struck you that, although more than two-thirds
of the nineteenth century have run their course, they
have as yet left no particular trace of French art by
which to recall to future generations the age in which
we have lived .-' Only within the last ten years have
French painters, and of those only a few, condescended
to represent their own period. Doubtless there will
be handed down to posterity a true record of the times
of the Restoration, of the government of July and of
the two Empires, but it is most certainly not in
modern French pictures that future generations will
find any trace of this record ; they will be obliged

17° ENGLISH PAINTING.
to have recourse to the caricaturists, Gavarni and
Daumier, the true painters of the times, and to the
illustrated periodicals. Suppose, on the other hand
(which may God forbid!), that in the course of centuries
civilisation should complete one of those fearful turns
of the wheel, of which history gives so many examples ;
and that, as in the case of such refined and Cultivated
nations as were the Persians, Egyptians, and Greeks,
our Western civilisation should sink into utter nothing
ness ; what testimony would the French have left of
themselves to the unknown races who may then wield
the sceptre of the world ? Apart from the glory of
their arms, alas ! their military life, future ages will
know nothing about the French, because they did
not care to leave any trace of themselves. Judging
from the relics of their art, they will consider them
a whimsical people, sometimes living after the Greek
fashion, sometimes after that of the Italian renaissance
or the drawing-rooms of the eighteenth century, but
they will never imagine that they have ever led an
original life, peculiar to themselves. And the future
archseologists and authors who wish to compile a
history guided by the remnants of past ages, must
they leave a blank page when they treat of the nine
teenth century in France ?
It may be said, "Let the future take care of
itself, as far as we are concerned ! " Certainly ; but
this is setting very light store by ourselves ; and even
if such humility and indifference might be excused in
individual cases, the same rule does not apply to a
great nation.

THE MODERN SCHOOL. 171
Such is the opinion in England. Do not imagine
that I exaggerate the effect which a prospect of the
future might exercise on the development of art; I
am well aware that, ordinarily speaking, one lives
in the present and not for posterity, and that a
constant contemplation of that possible state of
annihilation, more or less remote, of which we have
just spoken, would be enough in itself to benumb
completely the action of a nation. India's example,
and Europe in the year 1000, are instances of this.
But still I think no harm would be done if our
painters would make still further way in the path of
close observation and truthfulness, which they have
studiously avoided since the time of Louis David,
that is to say, since the end of the last century up to
the present time. From this point "of view, and in
spite of anything that may ofTend us in the work of
her artists, we cannot but envy England the advantage
she possesses in having a national art. In this
advantage she is almost solitary in Europe at the
present time.
Her exclusiveness is natural to the Northern mind,
and particularly to the Saxon nature, which the
English still retain in all its integrity under the out
ward polish effected by a general refinement of
manners. The Latin origin of the French, and their
habit of generalising, prevent them from expressing
their actual life iu art with the same direct energy and
tenacity. Does this show greatness or weakness on
their part .' They always leap with a bound into the
abstract ; minute detail is irksome to them ; they

172 * ENGLISH PAINTING.
cannot enter into the spirit of it, and it wearies their
patience. It may be that the French would be
powerless to convey a true idea of every-day life,
with its luxury and profuse lavishness, which they
readily set down as barbarous. They suppress most
positively and completely all incident in favour of
general harmony ; instinctively and from choice they
subordinate detail to the ensemble, the real to the
ideal, the individual to the typical, which they call
high art. This is perfection.
But in these noble strivings, in these refined specu
lations, the French are gradually minimising personal
initiative, and giving too much importance to ex
ceptional intellects, by slavishly following their lead,
and repeating to satiety the formula of art which
they have illustrated, and which seems to approach
nearest to their ambitious dreams. Thus, inspired
and incomparable masters, like Phidias and Raphael,
become for the French the originators of a dull and
crushing routine. They are like bright beacons
radiating pure light, but in their shadow lie lurking
all the emptinesses and tedious ostentations of con
ceit, the follies and hypocrisies of pedantry. Here
work the manufacturers of sensualities, who pass off
their voluptuous wares under the label of " beautiful,"
and stigmatise as "ugly" everything which discards the
pleasing, the pretty, the graceful, and the voluptuous,
and prefers rather the emotions of the mind of man,
the terrible, the strange, or simply the naked truth.
In its very principle English art is the exact
reverse of our own. The one school entirely rejects

THE MODERN SCHOOL. 1 73
the laws which govern the other. To which style
shall we give the palm .'' to the Latin or the Saxon .?
I have long held my own opinion, but I should not
dare to state it, and, indeed, the question seems to me
inapplicable for discussion. We have compared them
in order to gain a correct idea of their points of
antagonism ; it would not be fair to judge them from
the same standard. They cannot be weighed in
similar scales, because they belong to such
different orders of expression. Indeed, they possess
nothing in common save their implements, canvas,
colours, and brushes.
It is not, then, to pass judgment on these pictures
that we are going to examine them, but to satisfy our
curiosity. In thus doing we must try to set aside
our natural tastes, influenced to so large a degree by
tradition and education, that we may explain, if
not admire, this art to which they are violently anta
gonistic. For a time it is necessary that we should entirely
give up our long-cherished inclinations, and devote
ourselves to the study before us with the impartiality
of the chemist, who systematically and unconcernedly
analyses the most repulsive compounds in his
laboratory ; or em^ploy the patience of the scholar,
who laboriously examines all the functions and
dissects the structure of some unknown monster.
And a singular monster is this art, now under
criticism, which by its very quaintness bewitched the
French when they saw it for the first time in 1855.
One may well say that it has no relationship with

174 ENGLISH PAINTING.
any class of great painters of the beginning of the
century, Gainsborough, Reynolds, Constable, or
Lawrence, and it can even claim no connection with
Turner. Perhaps some slight influence may have
been exercised by Hogarth or Wilkie ; but no, there
is nothing more than a semblance of affinity. These
artists may be judged by the ordinary standard ;
although they possess certain well-marked character
istics, they have their origin in the Dutch and Flemish
schools, and, artists like them, take the same view
of art as they do. English modern artists, on the
contrary, with some rare exceptions, issue from no
source but themselves. Their painting has sprung up
from British soil, like those monstrous and various
growths which appeared in succession on the earth's
surface in the first ages. These efTbrts of a gigantic
power, ignorant of its capabilities, could neither keep
an even balance nor measure their own energy, and
so threw out extraordinary offshoots which were in
direct contrast to one another. At first sight one
feels inclined to ascribe the expression of so much
that is singular to declining powers, but there we are
plainly wrong ; a dissimilarity certainly exists, but so
far from there being any decline, this new style may
be the commencement of a revival.
If it be true, as we have stated, that the habitual
style of the French is in such direct opposition to
English painting, with its harsh colours, its unequal
composition, and its exclusive subjects, how can we
account for the great success it obtained in France in
1855 .' I fear that I shall be scarcely able to explain

THE MODERN SCHOOL. 175
this peculiar phenomenon without shocking the sensi
bilities of some of my readers, and so before entering
further on the subject I beg to offer them my apologies.
Human nature possesses the power of assimilating
and reconciling all contradictions ; we will not here
inquire if this fact testifies to the breadth and
strength of our judgment, or whether we should mourn
over it as a weakness ; for us it is enough that it has
always been the case. With regard to questions of
art this attribute betrays itself most ruthlessly in the
French nation. In a former chapter I have shown
how this people are subject to a Latin influence, both
naturally and from force of education ; how their
tastes incline them to prefer those works which are
borrowed from Greek statuary and Italian painting,
and which are admirable, although of a general
character. We shall be able to see, if we go to the
root of things, that this worship of the so-called ideal
is for the great majority a very platonic affair, and one
that is powerless to enforce great sacrifices.
From their earhest youth the French have been
taught that this Southern art was the most elevated
in character, and so the belief has grown upon them ;
they love to talk of it, and boast of their devotion to
it, but in reality their regime is less severe, and their
tastes less cultivated. Their idols, though greatly
revered by them, are consecrated, as in the hymn of
Lefranc de Pompignan.* They talk with venera
tion of Gliick's noble recitatives and exquisite strains
* " Sacred they are, for they rest undisturbed."

176 ENGLISH PAINTING.
in the " Alceste" and " Orph^e," but they dehght to
hum the foolish refrains of the " Orphee aux Enfers,"
the "Grande-Duchesse," the " Timbale," or the " Filie
de Madame Angot," if, indeed, they do not descend to
absolute inanities caught up at cafe concerts. They
stifle a yawn in th2>iTiidst of eulogising a performance
in the classic style ; they accord great respect to the
Th6itre-Fran9ais, although it is quite empty when
tragedy is given, but they throng in dense crowds for
the comedies of Dumas fils, the refined intrigues of
Victorien Sardou, or the buffooneries of Labiche. I
am not calling public opinion to account for its
double-dealing, but I wish to show that past ages
have handed down to the French a severe creed
rather than a genuine love of its sublimity. I cannot
help observing that there is more formality than con
viction in their admiration for high art.
Let us penetrate a little farther into our study of
French tastes in all their complexity. We have
discovered that the people possess two, of most
opposite character, which yet exist side by side, the
one an affectation, the other a genuine liking. In the
former case, both faith and choice lead to elevated
forms of art, often very little understood, and looked
upon iu petto as wearisome, but nevertheless glorified
and extolled ; in the other everything appeals to a
lower sense; its objects are frivolous, ingenious,
and easily understood, while the nature of its
interest, simplicity, its passion, or guiding motive
entirely consign it to a lower range of intellectual
faculties.

, THE MODERN SCHOOL. 1 77
In opposition to this frame of mind, in which the
majority of spectators study works of art, there are
also some inconsistencies to be remarked in the tastes
of the critics, who constitute the minorit\'. They
generally fly to an opposite extreme, and look for
nothing more in a statue or in a painting than mere
beauty of form, without caring for the esthetic feeling,
which is the moral value of the work. But just
because the)' are so familiar with productions of a
healthy style, it sometimes happens that they get
bewitched and carried awaj- by the unexpected ; it
may be by a feigned simplicity, b)- a real or affected
absence of all cunning, or by a species of awkward
ness, which is practised by most of our modern
painters, and which gives them a reputation for
marvellous dexterity.
After having pointed out these leading character
istics and dixcrsities of taste in French societ)-, nothing
is easier than to explain the success of the Enghsh
painters in the Montaigne Avenue Gallei)-.
In 1855 French critics were carried awa)-, first of
all, b)' the singularity which is so characteristic of
English aft. They found a completely new and
unexpected st)le, and, in their lenienc)-, rather
resembled children, who like to munch awa)- at sour
a id unripe fruit.
They were also struck by the small and narrati\e
element of this style, a literal)- rather than an artistic
attraction, which had the power, then as well as in
1867 and 1878, of exerting its charm on the crowds
of visitors. M

'78 ENGLISH PAINTING.
The people will probably never be cured of their
liking for what the French people, with their Latin
ideas, cannot but look upon as an erroneous view of
the object of art. As for the minority, if they do
not change their opinions, at any rate their first en
thusiasm will subside, and they will satisfy themselves
by carefully examining — as we are going to do — thc
typical works produced by a conception of art utterly
different to our own.

CHAPTER II.
THE PRE-RAPHAELITES.
Our attention is first attracted by a small group oi
artists. They are a school within a school, or rather
they were, because they have succumbed to the
same fate as most small confederations. United for a
time by an unanimous idea, by the glowing belief of
youthful ardour common to all, they formed a
courageous but fanatical little band. Their leader
was an eminent man, full of fire and energy, amount
ing even to violence, who strove with his whole soul,
his fortune, and his peculiarly eloquent pen, to work
a revolution in the existing style of art. The flame of
this enthusiasm at length died out, yet, when first
ignited, how bright and vivid was it ! The strange
little community was dispersed ; and why .¦* It
followed, no doubt, the ordinary course of similar
societies, which generally fall to the ground on
account of the varied and illusory nature of human
ideas, which, as in this case, cruelly mislead some of
the members. But enough of this for the present.
The apostle of the new school soon appeared.
This was the illustrious RUSKIN. Emboldened and
upheld by his constant exhortations, the new schocl
M 2

l8o ENGLISH PAINTING.
marched forward in their new path, proud and stead
fast in their convictions. What was their aim ? It
would require a volume to answer this question and
to discuss the matter. But we will tryin a few words
to explain their high and noble object, and at the
same time to point out the error into which they fell.
The movement was such an important one, that,
even after thirty years, it exerts a decided influence on
the English school and on decorative art in England,
so that we must certainly dwell on it, and strive to
understand it as clearly as possible.
The new school ascribed to art, in direct terms,
a distinctly moral purpose. Some of them thought
to gain this object by representing, in as minute a
style as possible, subjects in historical art, possessing
a most precise and accurate character. Others pro
posed to attain their end in landscape painting, by
carrying out faithfully the smallest details, and most
insignificant particulars of the special spot in nature
chosen by the artist. In both cases, in history and
landscape, the system was one of microscopic analysis
driven to the utmost extreme. By so strict a scrutiny
they hoped to become closely united and incorporated
with Truth, the beginning and end of all morality.
A noble illusion, indeed, and one demanding our
highest respect ! It was thought out by the deeply
philosophical mind of Mr. John Ruskin, an art
enthusiast, who warmly advocated the cause, and
formulated its teaching.
It will be noticed that I do not participate in the
universal but entirely erroneous belief that the origin

John Ruskin] THE MODERN SCHOOL. l8l
of the movement was to be ascribed to Mr. Ruskin. I
do not think that, at the time the school was founded,
any of its first members had read his admirable works,
and certainly he was personally quite unknown to
them. It was only after the display of their pictures
at two or three annual exhibitions that the great
writer generously came forward as their champion
against the furious criticisms of the English press.
This moment was a red-letter day for the society.
From his earliest youth Mr. Ruskin, by his deep
and comprehensive feeling for sculpture and painting,
was drawn, in spite of himself, towards a thorough
study of works of art ; but on the other hand the
tendency, no less strong, of his philosophical mind led
him to reduce every object of his study to a system,
and arrange it methodically from his own point of
view. Had he been less enthusiastic, a tranquil work
on the philosophy of art might have satisfied these
conflicting tastes ; as it was, he imbued it with all his
fervour. A mind of this stamp, endowed with so much
strength, activity, and faith, was bound to make con
verts. With cogent reasoning he laid bare and waged
war against the folly that employed skill and manual
dexterity in substituting formality for truth ; and in
this there was a great deal that was true. The only
fault in the system, so far, was the severe inflexibility
with which it was carried out. Mr. Ruskin, with a
logic like that of Proudhon and Rousseau, advanced
boldly from one inference to another, to the farthest
bounds of the principle laid down. His extremely

l82 ENGLISH PAINTING. John Ruskin.
daring opinions led him to look upon Raphael as the
first traitor to religious art, which had been under
stood and represented in all its sublimity by his pre
decessors. As he was the first traitor, so, according
to this view, was he also the first apostle of the
illusory style, an apostle only too well imitated by
his disciples of every school, and faithfully followed
in the path in which Mr. Ruskin can see nothing but
posturing and beautiful deceit.
Hence it was that the name of pre-Raphaelites
was adopted by this little band of reformers, who
possessed firm faith in their views, although their
enthusiasm was somewhat youthful.
A section of our romantic school has also enter
tained fainter aspirations of the same kind. In
painting, sculpture, and architecture we have also had
our pre-Raphaelites. In the last of these three arts
we could mention eminent men who have made use
most splendidly of similar systems. As far as paint
ing and sculpture are concerned, the movement was
not of serious moment, nor was it based on any very
clear or elevated principles. The ornamental paint
ing of the mediaeval ages was all that it concerned
itself with, and it never entered into the spirit of
early art at all. It was a fleeting excitement which
came to nothing, and was promptly given up. In
Germany, too, a similar movement was started by
Overbeck, and has not yet ceased.
The English, on the contrary, sought with almost
fanatical eagerness to apply their opinions, and bring
them to perfection. They had been already attacked

Holman Hunt.] THE MODERN SCHOOL. 183
by Parisian ridicule, which had announced, through
M. Prudhomme, that " art is a priesthood." But they
did not laugh. To them their mission was an earnest
matter, and they established something approaching
to a military order, an order of knight-templars on a
small scale, fighting for the regeneration of art in the
midst of unbelievers. The religious and even mystical
element of the pre-Raphaelite school entered, not
only into the works, but into the very life of its fol
lowers. They separated themselves from the world,
worked in solitude, the feeblest of them for some
time tried a cloistered life, and at the time when
their austere enthusiasm was at its height, that is,
in the earliest days of their union, they added to
their names below their pictures, as a sort of confes
sion of faith, a distinguishing mark, the three letters
P. R. B. — Pre-Raphaelite Brother. Now, however,
the three letters have disappeared, the church is dis
solved, and the flock scattered. A few of them,
although solitary cases, have held firmly to their
convictions, and have struck out from time to time
the most diverse styles, mingling with the pure
doctrine their own personal feeling. Let us study
them at their work.
Does any one remember the singular picture ex
hibited in 1855, entitled "The Light of the World".?
It represents our Saviour, lighted by nothing more
than the faint gleams from a lantern, advancing
through the darkness of the night ; bending under
the weight of a glorious crown of gold interwoven

1 84 ENGLISH PAINTING. [W. H. Fisk.
with thorns. He proceeds, like a divine Diogenes,
knocking at various doors, in order to discover the
dwelling of the righteous. It is a curious conception,
bold in its delicacy of scheme, but in no way repulsive.
Far from that, indeed, it is imbued with extraordinar)^
religious feeling, a deep sense of melancholy, and,
as it were, a softened refrain of that bitter sadness
which affects us so powerfully when we read of the
Passion. In this work we see the most faithful carrying
out of pre-Raphaelite principles and doctrines ;
the artist was HoLMAN HuNT. Later on we shall
discuss a new work by this painter ; but I have only
spoken of his picture " The Light of the World,"
painted now some time ago, in order to give an
example of the peculiar manner in which pre-
Raphaelitism interpreted the sacred writings through
the medium of art. This was not an isolated case,
nor one peculiar to Mr. Hunt. In the English gallery
in the Champs-de-Mars in 1867 there was a picture
by Mr. W. H. Fisk* pervaded by very much the same
spirit ; it represented the last evening of Jesus Christ
at Nazareth.

* William Henry Flsk, historical painter, was born in 1796 or
1797 at Thorpe-le-Soken, in Essex. He was by far the senior of the
pre-Raphaelites, of whom I feel convinced he never knew any. Until
the latter part of his life he was only a second-rate painter of historical
subjects. I believe that he then became converted to the pre-Raphaelite
doctrine, merely by seeing the productions of the school, whose rules
he afterwards quietly strove to follow ; unless, indeed, the painter of
"The Last Evening," &c., was a son, very slightly known, of the
artist, who d'ed November Sth, 1872, at Danbury, in his native
county.

w. H. F:sk.] THE MODERN SCHOOL. 185
Our Lord is standing on the terrace which forms
the roof of the humble dwelling where His youth was
passed after the return from Egypt. The time has
come when He must leave the seclusion of this peace
ful home with its family life ; the hour has arrived for
action, trials, and sacrifice. Under the clear cold
sky studded with stars. His forehead encircled by a
halo. He communes with Himself, and with His
heavenly Father, foreseeing with Messianic vision the
sublime task which He is to accomplish. His human
nature struggles with His divine will. The Saviour
already endures in anticipation the agony on the
Mount of Olives, whilst at His feet life calmly re
poses in slumber.
In this work the artist shows himself as far
removed as Mr. Holman Hunt from the conven
tional types which custom had adopted for the
decorative style, and which it imposes upon artists
who represent Catholic subjects. Do not, how
ever, for an instant suppose that the devotional
character was therefore lessened in the work of the
pre-Raphaelite painters ; far from it ! But they af
firmed that the beautiful and ideal forms which
the genius of Raphael had conceived were of too
mechanical an order, and that the works in this style,
which clothed the walls of our churches, were so
easy of execution as to call forth no personal
effort or religious enthusiasm on the part of the
artists. Entirely on this account, therefore, and in
the name of their faith, they systematically dis
pensed with such forms. One would think they might

86

ENGLISH PAINTING.

[W. H. Fisk.

have discovered a fresh interpretation of the Old and
New Testament characters without opposition to the
Roman school. They might, by the ideal though
pagan beauty of their delineations, types, and
draperies, have awakened a sense of the divine, and

FROM "THE pilgrim's PROGRESS."— IK Holman Hunt.
have stirred the religious emotion by the contem
plation of subhme conceptions, all the nearer to the
divine because they are vague, general, and far re
moved from the realities of their surroundings, and
as remote from distinct individual types. Far from
it ; whether in the symbolism of Mr. Hunt's " Light
of the World," or in a representation of events looked
upon as true, as in Mr. Fisk's " Last Evening of Our
Lord at Nazareth," we observe the same earnest

THE MODERN SCHOOL. 1 87
desire to restore with perfect accuracy, in the most
minute details, an appearance of truth. What am I
saying ? — appearance is their aversion — I ought rather
to say, absolute truth. They adhere to the historical
reality of events in order that they may interpret
the letter and the spirit, but above all, they strive
to arrive at the truth of the spirit through the
letter. In spite of the astonishing fervour and wonderful
patience with which they have persevered in their
style, we believe that they have strayed far from the
right path, both in their character of artists, as we
have already stated, and as followers of a faith, by
the frailty of a system which will not bear examin
ation. We shall presently return to this question.
The multitudinous historical documents which they
set in opposition to established form, and even to
imagination in the religious interpretation of art, this
vast collection of precise details all melt away if one
of them can be disputed. You wish to represent the
facts as they really took place, and you appeal to the
actual truth of the representation, in order to help
you to awake, in the soul of the spectator, the deep
feeling which the sight of the facts themselves would
have called forth. But this very assumption on your
part is enough to raise in us a spirit of inquiry and
criticism. Shall I be accused of over-rating the
aspirations of the pre-Raphaelite school in order to
gain an easy triumph over them .¦¦ Read these lines
by Mr. Ruskin, which are, I should think, sufficiently
convincing : —

1 88 ENGLISH PAINTING.
" All the histories of the Bible are yet waiting to be
painted. Moses has never been painted ; Elijah never ;
David never (except as a mere ruddy stripling) ; Deborah
never ; Gideon never ; Isaiah never. Whaf single example
does the reader remember of painting which suggested
£0 much as the faintest shadow of their deeds'? Strong
men in armour, or aged men with flowing beards, he may
remember, who, when he looked at his Louvre or Uffizi
catalogue, he found were intended to stand for David or
Moses. But does he suppose that, if these pidures had
suggested to him the feeblest image of the presence of such men,
he would have passed on, as he assuredly did, to
the next picture, representing, doubtless, Diana and
Actseon, or Cupid and the Graces, or a gambling quarrel
in a pothouse, v.'ith no sense of pain or surprise."
[lllodern Painters.)
I will not refer to the violent attacks on the past
in this paragraph ; one must make allowance for the
passion of a strong belief in views which are so greatly
indebted to Mr. Ruskin's warm partisanship, I had
almost said his generous fanaticism. And, besides,
in these days of indifference I can easily excuse such
passion, and honour it even in its excess and conse
quent errors. In this quotation we only have to do
with the principal and doctrinal phrase, which wc
have italicised,
Once informed that pre-Raphaelitism can place
before our eyes a veritable representation of the action
or person that it undertakes to show us, we feel that
we must make sure of the actual truth of the inter
pretation, before allowing ourselves to be impressed

Holman Hunt.] THE MODERN SCHOOL. 189
by it. Let us grant, for instance, that Mr. Fisk has
found the true house in Nazareth in which Christ
lived ; that he himself stood on the terrace and gave
us a faithful picture of the scene viewed by the
Messiah on that night. But in such a case all inquiry
becomes justifiable, and we are not so easily satisfied.
What document is there to support the truth of this
subject ? What was the state of the weather on
Christ's last evening in Nazareth > We can well
imagine that long watch of anxious forebodings, but
where was it spent by Christ .' On the terrace, or
inside the house .'' Was He really clothed in that blue
and red striped garment of so unpleasing a colour ^
Whilst I thus question myself, and suspiciously
examine the matter, all emotion has fled, and thus
the aim of the artist is frustrated. The task he has
set himself, in taking historical reality for his subject,
is too great to be accomplished, for no art or man of
even the loftiest genius can grasp truth taken in so
narrow a sense ; besides, such a rendering too clearly
gives matter for discussion.
The following anecdote passes a very fair criticism
on the religious painting of the pre-Raphaelite
school : — "Three or four years ago," writes Mr.
Milsand in his excellent work, " L'Esthetique
Anglaise,'' " all London was moved by a picture
in which Mr. Hunt, one of the greatest artists
of the school, had represented ' The Finding of
the Saviour in the Temple' (i860). Certainly no
enthusiasm could equal the trouble that the painter
had given himself. Mr. Hunt had made a long

190 ENGLISH PAINTING. [Holman Hunt.
stay in Judea, in order to become acquainted with
the characteristics of the country ; he had given
five years to the search and perusal of documents
and literary science of every kind necessary to satisfy
antiquarians, theologians, physiognomists, and to show
to those who had made a study of Jewish stockings,
that his stockings were faultless. But, alas ! one can
not please all the world and his wife. A Jewish lad)',
after having carefully examined the picture, gravely
remarked : ' It is very beautiful, only one cannot
help observing that the artist is unaware of the dis
tinctive feature in the tribe of Judah ; his doctors
possess the flat feet which belong to Reuben, whilst.
the men of Judah had a very high instep.' " After
such a thrust, it would be cruel on our part to dwell
on the pre-Raphaelite errors with regard to religious
painting. Let us proceed to the study of other works of
this school, of which Mr. Holman Hunt is the truest
and most distinguished representative. In 1867 Mr.
Hunt, the painter of " The Light of the World " and
" Jesus in the Midst of the Doctors," sent us a
picture, entitled, " The Afterglow in Egypt." Judging
by the place of honour that it occupied in the English
gallery, and the exceptional care with which it
was surrounded, the work was one of value. Quite
alone in front of one of the entrance doors, on an
easel draped in crimson velvet, stood the painting,
covered with glass. This custom, which is adopted
in England for very costly productions, possesses the
drawback of preventing a clear view of the picture;

192 ENGLISH PAINTING. [Holm.™ Hunt.
but this consideration is slight compared to thc
thought of the injury which might be done to the
work were the glass to break by accident. However,
it was thus covered, in conformity to thc owner's wish,
and, in our neighbour's estimation, an amateur can
pay no greater respect to a painting.
I must try, now that I am about to speak of Mr.
Hunt, to avoid the epithet "singular," which too
frequently recurs in the contemplation of pre-
Raphaelite pictures ; and yet it is the first word that
one involuntarily utters in viewing a work executed
according to the rules of this school. " The After
glow in Egypt!" What would one naturally expect
from such a title .? An extensive Eastern landscape,
subsiding into shadowy twilight, whilst overhead the
pale sky is lighted by the last gleams of the setting-
sun, which has just sunk below thc horizon.
There is nothing of the kind in Mr. Hunt's work.
A female figure forims his subject, some woman of
noble birth, perhaps a wife of Pharaoh. In the
stiff attitude of a bronze caryatid she stands on the
bank of the sacred river, clothed in a copious gar
ment of costly but sombre material, which entire!)'
envelops her form in its black folds, with reflected
lights of deep blue. Large rings ornament her ears,
and chains of gold and coral beads encircle her neck.
Is she a daughter of the Nile .' or is she not rather
some goddess of harvest, an Egyptian Ceres } Her
dark head sustains the weight of a sheaf of corn,
which she steadies with one hand, whilst in the
other she holds an Eastern vessel of earthenware of

Holman Hunt.] THE MODERN SCHOOL. 193
a bright light green colour, contrasting strangely
with the dull complexion of her severe pale face.
She is surrounded by flocks of pigeons, which come
from all quarters, flying towards her in happy con
fidence. Anxious to obtain the food so generously
granted them, they pick up, with their pink bills,
the grain scattered on the ground at her feet ; they
rummage in the sheaf, burying their delicate little
heads in it, whilst those which have eaten their fill
ruffle up the bright feathers round their necks,
until they look as if surrounded by a halo. Yonder
glides the quiet water ; silent and tideless it flows
under its fair burden of large-leafed water-lilies.
Wide plains, laden with ripe corn, stretch away in the
distance at the foot of the purple mountains, tinged
with the last rays of the glowing sunset. The picture
speaks of affluence, and of the calmness of nature at
rest. Is it really that, or something quite different ?
These pre-Raphaelites involve themselves in such
subtleties that one can never feel certain of their
meaning. With their literary acquirements they
ought, at least, to help us to decipher the signifi
cation of their pictures, if,6nly by the catalogue.
This melancholy figure haunts me. I should like
to solve the perplexing problem. Shall we try to
find a new solution of the enigma ? Princess and
goddess, both have faded ; and I am in the.
presence of the personification of modern Egypt.
In the dull, black eyes, as frigid and lustreless as a
lifeless coal ; in the ominous stillness, and in these
N

194 ENGLISH PAINTING. [Holman Hunt.
trappings suitable to a slave or a courtesan, I find
a symbol of Egypt, deposed from the splendour of
her ancient civilisation, and fallen from her high,
intellectual culture, with nothing left to her but what
the fertility of soil, the waters of the Nile and boun
tiful nature continue to lavish upon her. Why does
she turn her back to the river .' except, indeed, it be
to avert her gaze from the colossal remains of her
former power lying ruined on the banks. Steadfast
and gloomy, she stands under the weight of the heavy
corn ; steadfast and lifeless as a block of granite ;
her life has sunk to an animal, vegetating existence,
with perhaps, in the far depths of her soul, a sparkle,
a gleam of her former state.
I will leave to my patient reader the task of
finding other solutions of this problem, which may
easily be done with a little imagination ; and exactly
therein lies the fault of this emblematic and ideal
style of painting ; it possesses the slight defect of
being at times unintelligible, or, what comes to the
same thing, it may bear as many contradictory in
terpretations as there are interpreters.
But in studying Mr. Hunt's work it is astonishing
to mark the amount of detail that enters into his
execution. Every tiny flower or grain of wheat, every
feather on the birds as well as those fallen from their
wings, each scale of their claws, the minutest lines of
the woman's face, the most insignificant details of the
work, every part is carried out with a patience, care,
and finish which would challenge the finest and most
delicate imagination of Lilliput. Here we see the

THE MODERN SCHOOL. 1 95
most splendid, or most foolish, illustration of the
principles so eloquent!)- laid down b)- ]\Ir. Ruskin.
As I have already said, it is a system of microscopic
anal)-sis driven to the utmost extreme.
Do not imagine that this can-)-ing out of detail,
which appears to us so cxtra\agant, was based on
nothing more solid than a f;\nc\- of one of the heads
of the school, or a particular skill possessed b)' the
artist. It is duc to quite another cause, and, far from
taking its rise from a whim or from simple dexterit)-,
it is grounded on a \-er)- decided philosophical vieA\-.
And real!)', so lofty is the aspiration, and so firm thc
conviction these paintei-s entertain, that we have no
right to treat the matter othcr\\-ise than \\-ith the utmost
respect in criticising their views.
Its theory is governed b)- two ideas : a hatred of
forms, appearances, and pretences, and a noble,
passionate love of truth. Tlic\- do not follow the
Latin idea, and think that an artist's \ocation is to
please, but the)- look upon him as a man of higher
abilit)- than others, a prophet whose mission it is to
set forth his own exalted revelations of nature's mani
festations which ha\c been granted him for this
purpose. " To handle the brush freely, and to paint grass and
weeds with accuracy enough to satisf)- the eye, are accom
plishments which a year or two's pr.ictice w-ill gi\e any
man : but to trace among the grass and w-eeds these
mvstci'ies of invention and combination by which nature
appeals to the intellect ; to render the delicate fissure, and
descending curve, and undulating shadow of the mouldering
X 2

196 ENGLISH PAINTING, [°° Bo'^nWn! ""''
soil, with gentle and fine finger, like the touch of the rain
itself; to find even in all that appears most trifling or con
temptible fresh evidence of the constant working of the
Divine power 'for glory and for beauty,' and to teach it and
proclaim it to the unthinking and the unregarding ; this, as
it is the peculiar province and faculty of the master-mind,
so it is the peculiar duty which is demanded of it by the
Deity." {Modern Painters}}
How remote this is from well-known and author
ised theories of art ! I do not pretend to justify it,
for it wanders beyond the limits of art, but how it
stirs one's soul ! How singularly the pre-Raphaelites
mingle the ideal with the real ! for with their lofty
ideas they quite worship Truth !
There are only two artists in the history of French
art whose views in the least coincided with those of the
pre-Raphaelites, and even then it was in no conscious
manner. Of these two, who both died but a short
time since and were nearly contemporary, one was De la
Berge, who, it is said, among other eccentricities of the
same sort, made a preliminary study of all the tiles on
the roof of a house, which he was going to paint in
one of his pictures. The other was a poor unknown
artist, L6on Bonvin, who put an end to his miserable
life in 1865. He left some very valuable water-colour
paintings, inw-hich he takes the simplest subjects, such
as field flowers of all kinds, clumps of bushes and
tufts of grass springing from the brown earth ; all
these he renders with the greatest faithfulness, whilst
his artlessness of style, peculiar to himself, enables
him to rival and surpass those whose works are

THE MODERN SCHOOL. 1 97
efifected with the greatest skill. Theodore Rousseau,
a master of modern landscape, who in his early years
painted with a great deal of fire and spirit, and threw
into his productions the heat and passion of )'outh,
appears, in the calmness and deeper feeling of his
later life, to have reached a style somewhat analogous
to pre-Raphaelitism. His former admirers, particularly
those who advocated the importance of adhering
invariably to prescribed forms, and who feared any
thing like boldness of innovation, were for a time
much perplexed by Rousseau's later works. I merely
notice the affinity without criticising the fact.
To return to the pre-Raphaelite school and Mr.
Hunt's pictures, I will not further discuss their guiding
principle ; I will even admit, forthe sake of argument,
that it is correct, and may be applied without any
inconsistency to art (although this I cannot believe),
and that it does not defy the rules of painting. I will
grant, if necessary, that an artist is just as much at
liberty to stir our emotions by a precise and detailed
representation as by a broader view of reality. The
chief point is that the work of art should awaken in
us this feeling for truth. But, unfortunately, that is
exactly where they fail, and this constitutes my
principal objection to the reforming tenets of the
pre-Raphaelites. They may try their best, but, in a
totally contrary direction, they remain as incapable
and as far from giving a faithful representation of
truth as our painters.
It may be that they succeed in gathering together
the elements of truth in their infinityof detail, but the

198 ENGLISH PAINTING.
appearance of reality is always wanting to complete
the faithfulness of their productions ; they never
arrive at a life-like harmonious ensemble. We sacrifice
detail to general effect, and they neglect general effect
for detail. Who shall say which is best .? Thus in
this Egyptian figure ; nothing can exceed the patience
which has been devoted to the execution ; every
tiniest particle is represented to infinitude, but the
main feature is entirely missing ; by which I mean
life. I could pass over the extraordinary combina
tions of cold, harsh colours ; it is all dull and hard. Is
it truth to represent a landscape without any atmo
sphere, and a body without projection 1 What does
it signify that every smallest detail of that body is
present, if, when finished, it fails to convey the general
appearance of life ?
It is all very well for the botanist to show us the
dried flower in his herbarium, and let us handle all its
different parts, the stamen, the pistil, and the corolla;
all this will give us a very poor and imperfect idea ot
the living flower itself.
The question is whether an artist's province con
sists in showing us the anatomy of life, which is
nothing less than death, or the appearance of life t
Once reduce the question to this form, and there can
be no further hesitation on the matter ; we are forced
to pronounce judgment against the pre-Raphaelites.
And it is thus the matter lies, if not in theory,
certainly in the study of their works. We have dis
covered it in Mr. Fisk's religious picture, and in Mr.
Hunt's symbolic work, and we now observe the same

Arthur Hughes.] THE MODERN SCHOOL. 199
thing in a homely interior by Mr. ARTHUR Hughes,*
" After a Day's Work."
The subject is full of grace and poetic fancy. The
father, a sturdy collier just returned from the dark
depths of the mine, has reached the threshold of the
little house where rest and domestic comfort await
him after his toil. The tools are hastily thrown aside
as he stoops towards the small fair child in white, who
extends her little arms towards him. The elder
sister, a little bigger, stands patiently by awaiting her

* Like Mr. W. Fisk, Mr. Arthur Hughes does not, strictly
speaking, belong to the early pre-Raphaelite school ; he was born in
1832, and was therefore as much too young to be a member as the
former was too old. Nevertheless, the cultivation of his great talent, of
so pure, tender, and sound a character, was undoubtedly the result of
the pre-Raphaelite principles, and no true member would refuse to
acknowledge him as one of themselves. At the age of twenty he
exhibited an " Ophelia," painted with admirable feeling, of which we
give a sketch. In 1854 he exhibited at the Royal Academy : " The
Eve of St. Agnes; " in 1856, "April Love," a masterpiece; in 1863,
" On the Seashore ; '' in 1864, " The Font," and "Silver and Gold ; "
in 1865, "The Reaper." At Paris he exhibited "Good Evening " and
"After a Day's Work," in 1867; "The Convent Boat," in 1S74;
"Uncertainty," in 1877; "The Neighbour's Death'' and "The
Property Room," in 1878; "The Sailor's Leave-taking," in 1881 ;
and "The Coaster's Family,'' in 1882. The same year the artist
exhibited, at the Grosvenor Gallery, u. picture on the old Norman
song : — •'L'^td est venu,
Chante haut, coucou !
L'herbe croit, les pr6s sont en fleur,
Et les bois renaissent de nouveau."
("The Summer is come.
Sing out Cuckoo I
The grass is growing, the meadows are blooming,
And the woods awake to new life.")
As may be seen, this talented artist is not too lavish with his works ,
and has not succumbed to the fatal rage for exhibiting.

**.* J''

1 - A

the fairy qi
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f ji,».'i'
¦« 'V',.

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/^
1\
,V .ii'--_
r A'b^/ Paton
202 ENGLISH PAINTING. [Arthur Hughes.
turn, for she is sensible enough to understand that the
first attention must be paid to the smallest and
feeblest, and that she will not be neglected. The
contrast between the rough exterior of the miner and
these delicate little figures, with their rosy com
plexions, curly hair, and white dresses of babyhood,
is most pathetically set forth by the artist ; he has
treated the subject with true feeling, and not in a
sentimental manner. It is a work of healthy tone
and powerful imagination. In it we find the same
marvellous amount of detail, and the same want of
life as in Mr. Hunt's work, which is executed in light
colouring, whilst the other is in dark and sombre
tints. Without seeing the picture one can scarcely
form any idea of the fastidious care with which Mr.
Hughes has finished each mesh of the tool-basket,
every little bit of dead wood scattered here and there
on the ground, every brick of the cottage, all the
veins and markings of the leaves on the hedge of the
narrow garden, and even the separate threads of the
miner's corduroy clothes. The artist has implicitly
followed the rules of the school :
" The whole function of an artist in the world is to be
a seeing and feeling creature ; to be an instrument of such
tenderness and sensitiveness, tliat no shadow, no hue, no
line, no instantaneous and evanescent expression of the
visible things around him, nor any of the emotions which
they are capable of conveying to the spirit which has been
given him, shall either be left unrecorded, or fade from
the book of record." {The Stones of Venice.)
A perfect theory often ruined by imperfect practice.

204 ENGLISH PAINTING.
' And, indeed, in striving to fix and analyse the
particular character of every object, one invests them
with too much importance compared with that due to
the human figure ; they cease to be conformable to
general effect. So much for the intellectual point of
view. As regards the artistic aspect, the works them
selves prove that, so far from enhancing the desired
impression of the picture, such accuracy and faith
fulness in detail serve to deprive it of all nobility of
character. Nothing remains, indeed, in the mind of
the spectator but a very decided though slowly acquired
impression. These pictures, after having been once
seen and studied, are for ever imprinted on the
memory. Mr. Ruskin imputes to truth of detail, studied
in a scientific manner (for that is really his idea),
artistic qualities which it does not possess ; he
seems to me in direct contradiction with the evidence
of facts when he asserts that this precision of detail is
requisite and necessary in order to acquire the sim
plicity, seriousness, and harmony which characterise
the general effect of natural scenes.
I am sorry to be obliged to repeat that in the
pre-Raphaelite paintings the result is exactly the
reverse. We get on very slowly in our scrutiny. The
opportunity, however, so rarely presents itself of
thoroughly studying a style in such diametrical op
position to our own, that I may perhaps be pardoned
if I make free use of it.
The members of the pre-Raphaelite school did not

THE MODERN SCHOOL. 205
all devote themselves to the same carrying out of
minutice that we have already observed in the pictures
of Messrs. H. Hunt, Fisk, and W. Hughes. In the
circle of men whose sympathies connected them with
the original men, there were many possessing very
independent minds and characteristics.
All the followers of pre-Raphaelitism were agreed
on one fundamental point, which was the base and
groundwork of the mission they wished to accomplish.
With the idea that art had adopted an entirely wrong
course ever since the sixteenth century, they chose
utterly to ignore and discountenance all its manifes
tations belonging to the intervening period. They
wished to take it up exactly where it had been left by
Raphael's predecessors, and immediately before it had
been led astray, according to their view, into paths of
craft and beautiful deceit by a man endowed with
genius, although of a corrupted order.
Thus retracing their steps to a common point of
departure, each one strove, in his own manner, to
turn the style of art back into the paths of Truth.
The means they employed to forward this end were
very dififerent and varied, according to their distinctive
temperaments. W^ith some the search after Truth revealed itself,
whether in history or nature, by a painstaking
though somewhat petty effort to represent each and
every smallest constituent particle of material reality.
We have already observed the qualities and failings
of this system. We will now proceed to examine
some other works produced by the reforming tenets

206 ENGLISH PAINTING. [Sir Noel Paton.
laid down and agreed upon by the whole pre-Raphael
ite society.I must beg my reader to aid me in this study by
once more striving to recall the impression left on his
mind by the English gallery of the Montaigne avenue
in 1855. Unlike a large number of other foreign
artists, our neighbours do not habitually send their
paintings to our annual Salons, so that characteristic
works gain importance from their very rarity, and we
cannot afford to neglect any. For this reason, ne
cessity obliges us to refer to the Exhibition of 1855,
if we wish to understand and appreciate truly the pro
ductions of a staunch partisan of the pre-Raphaehtes,
one who, at the period of which we write, shared
the success of Mr. Hunt and of Mr. Millais, an artist
of whom we shall speak at length farther on.
There will assuredly be no difficulty in recalling
either SiR Noel Paton's name or picture. His sub
ject, the " Quarrel of Oberon and Titania,"* in which

* Sir Noel Paton, who was elected painter to the Queen for
Scotland, in l856, and knighted in the following year, was senior to
the pre-Raphaelites by about ten years, and had already gained a
reputation in 1850. His two pictures of " Oberon and Titania " ("The
Quarrel," and "The Reconciliation"), were painted before this date.
But the extreme sympathy which he showed the new school, as well as
his scrupulously detailed execution, have caused him to be regarded as
a pre-Raphaelite. The movement certainly had an influence on his
later works, and to it he owes his admirable custom of faithfully
following nature in the landscapes which form part of his splendid
fairy works. We are fortunately able to give here one of his most
important productions, "The Fairy Queen," as vivid in imagination as
"The Quarrel," and which aptly gives an idea of the inexhaustible and
charming fancy of the artist.

Sir Noel Paton.] THE MODERN SCHOOL. 207
they are represented with their fairy train, is taken
from the Midsummer Night's Dream. The same
ardent love for truth which is shown by his pre-
Raphaelite friends in reproducing every detail and
particular of actual existence, is manifested by Sir
Noel in his earnest endeavour to give a faithful inter
pretation of the poet's beautiful fancy. He has given
just as much skilful manipulation and earnestness to
the representation of Shakespeare's fairyland as the
other painters have bestowed on the world of reality.
As in so many of his charming works of later date,
borrowed from fairy lore, the artist rivals the great
poet in the caprice, roguishness, imagination, and
diversity which he throws into his painting,
We will not speak of the defects in execution, the
harshness of colour, and inaccuracy in drawing; let us
only strive to keep the' beauty of the impression which
this charming picture created in our minds. Certainly,
it has more to do with the literary and poetical
tendencies of the school than with its severely
veracious principles. And thus Sir Noel Paton, who
was at that time a friend rather than a true disciple,
often deviated from its precepts, but he later decidedly
embraced its fundamental doctrine of absolute
realism. Not that he even then adopted the pre-Raphaelite
rule in its strictest sense, entire truth or nothing,
because this rule necessarily involves a close adherence
to actual forms, especially of external fact. But he
gave up the fancies of piire imagination, and hence
forth took his subjects from mankind and modern life.

208 ENGLISH PAINTING. [Sir Noel Paton.
To this order belong his two pictures, " In Memoriam "
and " Home."
In " Home," neither the theme nor the painting
are of a grand character. A poor soldier, mortally
wounded, has just reached his home, and sinks down
on a chair, tended by his mother and sweetheart,
to whom he has only returned to die. I will not
dwell upon the work, although in it the expression
of pain is both well conceived and well carried out.
It recalls to our mind the sentimental painting of
the French painter Tassaert, a garret, a mother on her
death-bed, a beautiful daughter, poor, but virtuous.
Such subjects form an easy means of stirring emotions,
but do not so easily raise a true feeling for art in the
public mind. I decidedly prefer Sir Noel Paton's
other picture, a memorial of one of the most cruel
episodes of the numerous sepoy mutinies which have
agitated British India.
Here we see a large company of women of all
ages; some far advanced in years, young girls, and
mothers with their infants, who, maddened with terror,
have taken refuge in an old ruin. Invaded in the
midst of their luxurious life, they have fled from
massacre, hunted from one street to another, until at
last they have blindly thrown themselves into the
shelter of these four crumbling walls. The door,
which might have hidden them from the sight of their
pursuers, is broken in ; the window has no fastening.
Any moment they may be overtaken and forced to
undergo the most horrible ¦ atrocities and torments,
death, and worse than death. There stand this poor

Sir Noe Paton.] THE MODERN SCHOOL. 209
defenceless band, huddled together, with dishevelled
hair, panting from their flight, whilst, straining eye and
ear, they tremble at the slightest sound of approaching
footsteps: The agony of the last moment is depicted
in their horror-stricken countenances.
In this work the tragedy is true, deep, and real,
very different from the sentimentality of " Home."
And even if the subject did not demand a more
artistic feeling, the style of the painting is superior —
even in some respects to the execution in " Oberon "
and the " Fairy Queen.''
Let us make clear, however, what we mean by this
superiority. Sir Noel, in changing his subjects, also
changed his style. He made a nearer approach than
any of his friends towards the primitive simplicity at
which they aimed, even partly adopting its subdued
and by no means inharmonious colouring, some of its
distinctive features and modes of delineation and out
line — in short, the characteristics of that early art.
Judged according to the taste and training in our
own country, "In Memoriam " appears to be a less ques
tionable work than those of the artist's pre-Raphaelite
friends, and yet, shall I admit it.? although it is less
singular, and in no way offends against the prevailing
taste, I regard it as inferior in merit. One observes in
it none of that passion for truth which charms us in
Holman Hunt, in spite ofhis faults ; its individuality is
lessened. I seem to find nothing in this painting but
a recollection of early art dressed in modern garb, an
imitation of its characteristics rather than a following
out of its principles and system. Many artists in
O

2IO ENGLISH PAINTING. [Sir Noel Paton.
France have gained honour and renown by pursuing
a like method. But there is this difference, that in
this case the artists have been taught that the farthest
limits in art have been reached by the old masters,
and that no one could do better than follow in
their footsteps. With this theory individual idealism
has been discouraged. Those who did not hold a
similar opinion, and who ventured to believe in the
possibility of improvement, have been made to suffer
for their independent way of thinking. Our artists,
therefore, are only following an established rule when
they place themselves in the wake of a chosen master.
But on the part of a pre-Raphaelite, a reformer, pro
fessing the views of truth and sincerity with which we
are already acquainted, such a course is contemptible,
and presents a most decided contradiction of ideas ;
he has degenerated into the superficiality denounced
by the school. And so in imitating the well-known
form of early art without entering into its spirit, I
repeat that although Sir Noel Paton's picture offers
less subject for discussion, it also seems to me less
worthy of interest ; he has voluntarily forfeited his
liberty. There is another rather important mistake that we
are obliged to notice, not in the execution, but in the
composition of Sir Noel's picture. I have already
described the scene that he represents, the helpless
group of distracted Englishwomen, crowded together
in a ruin where they vainly seek concealment ; but I
said nothing of the advancing band of armed men
that are seen through the openings of the door and

Sir Noel Paton.] THE MODERN .SCHOOL. 211
window. I think every one will agree with me when
I say that, in obedience to dramatic feeling in its most
rudimentary sense, the sight of these men ought to
add to the excitement. "The sepoys ! " is naturally
the cry which would escape from every mouth. But
such is not Sir Noel's idea ; doubtless he was anxious
to spare the nerves of his fair and tender-hearted
spectators, and so instead of sepoys he has introduced
the red coats of the Scottish soldiers. A pleasant but
a decidedly commonplace conclusion, by which the
work is both enfeebled and stunted ; all the terror
therein depicted is a mere delusion, and the drama
terminates in the happy and paltry manner of a trashy
three-volume novel.
This is a gross mistake. What shall we say of
the circumstance, that when this picture was first
exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1858, the sepoys
were represented in the place that they ought to
occupy ? So far from exculpating the artist, does not
this rather serve to deepen his error ? Sir Noel Paton
reduces his noble tragedy to a melodrama by this
unfortunate modification.
It would not require more than two days' work on
the part of the artist to restore his picture to its
former tragic greatness, by the alteration of the
figures in the background, and we should strongly
advise him to follow this course, if the opportunity
presents itself, by his again becoming possessor of
the painting. The whole interest of the appalling
subject rests on this important centre.
Let us say, once for all, that Sir Noel Paton has
O 2

212 ENGLISH PAINTING. [J. E. Millais.
not continued in the style of painting which we have
just discussed. He has since returned to his representa
tions of Shakespearian fancy. In 1878 he exhibited
af Paris a Caliban listening to a chorus of sylphs.
The illustrious poet, D. G. Rossetti, who is also an
eminent painter, and was one of the representatives
of early pre-Raphaelitism, has not exhibited even in
London since he was quite young. His rivals at that
time were Mr. F. Madox Brown, whose works have
never been seen in any French exhibitions, and two
artists, already well known in France, Mr. H. Hunt,
who has ever remained a firm adherent to the prin
ciples of the little school, and Mr. Millais, who sent
to the Avenue Montaigne Exhibition of 1855 three
important and deservedly distinguished pictures :
" The Order of Release," " The Dove's Return to
the Ark," and " Ophelia." We had not then seen his
beautiful "Huguenots," and "Black Brunswicker."
Among those who saw the three first-mentioned
pictures, none will forget the mingled sensations of
aversion and fascination which they exercised on our
minds by the peculiarity of their conception and their
extraordinary execution.
These works were in direct opposition to French
views of art in their unaccustomed mode of thought
and treatment, and yet we remained spell-bound by
their very singularity and the striking originality of
their composition. We were not less puzzled by their
diversity of subjects. The artist appeared in the
three separate garbs of realism, mysticism, and
romance. The first picture, " The Release," is in his

fti s

H
w p.O

214 ENGLISH PAINTING. [j. E. Millais.
realistic character. In it he represents a red-coated
gaoler with three-cornered hat, half opening the
heavy prison door to let out a poor miserable Scots
man, accompanied by his young wife, who carries in
her arms a charmingly fair and ruddy child. In
" The Dove's Return " he adopts the mystic style,
vv'here he depicts two young women, whose drapery
savours of the Middle Ages in its bright deep colours
like old stained glass, receiving the panting dove
in their fond and reverent hands ; and, lastly, in
" Ophelia " he deals in romance, where the Shake
spearian maiden, with her sweet smile of distraught
reason, yields herself a prey to the deep green water,
fringed with luxuriant vegetation. ' The wonderful
part of these pictures is, that, although the artist
represents with faithful accuracy every smallest detail,
this circumstance does not take away in the remotest
degree from their marvellously life-like appearance.
When we again had the opportunity of studying
Mr. Millais at the Exhibition Universelle of 1867, he
seemed to be passing through a crisis. He had
certainly wandered away from his youthful convic
tions, and was not quite so sure of the efficacy of his
early system. This painter, who had formerly put so
much fervour into the minute representation of his
subject, the light and shade, and even the lines and
knots of a straw in the " Dove's Return," now treated
with the breadth of decorative painting the landscape
which played so large a part in his two pictures,
" The Sower of Tares," and " The Romans Leaving
Britain." No one would have imagined, without

E. Millais.]

THE MODERN SCHOOL.

!IS

being told, that they were by the same hand. They
have nothing in common but a poetical aspiration,
which gains its end in the two styles by very different
means. In a recess of the high cliffs facing the sea a

the black brunswicker. — /. E. Millais.

Roman soldier, already clothed in armour, passionately
clasp)s to his breast a young girl, one of the dwellers
on the coast. Her regular features and earnest deep
eyes .speak of a proud sorrow ; her long loose hair
floats on the sea breeze. From the bottom of the
cliff at their feet sound the last Roman trumpet calls ;
on the waves may be seen the swelling sails of the
galleys. The moment of parting has arrived, the

2l6 ENGLISH PAINTING. [J. K. Milkin
parting fiir ever. The force of expression and
passion, which tiro life-like tuid striking, give to thc
soldier and British maiden a certain nobility of
character; but regarded from an artistic jniint of
view, thc work is oxcoeilingl)- feeble. Sky, sea, aiitl
ground aro paintctl in a tame, spiritless manner, viMy
diA'ci-cnl from that careful and earnest sttuly of nature
which was ob.servable in (he landscape of "Ophelia,"
in 1855. "Tho Sower of Tares," in which dramatic eflcct
alone is sought, betrays thc same carelessness of
exccutitin. At night-time, under a dark and Knrcring
sk)', intcrscctctl by livid tints which arc seen rcncctcd
with siilpluirous gleams in thc tlark rixt-r bolnw,
moves with .sidcUmg pace thc cnftmy of mankind.
llis appearance is sinister, aiul as he advances he
scatters handfuls of tares on the ground already sown
with wheat. Slimy reptiles start from (ho earth at
his approach, the wolves rivet their cold, glit(cring
eyes on him its he passes, ami all kiiuls of evil
animals follow in his train. Thc iirli.st has (,tkcn
great pains wi(h (he princiiial figurt\ but all (he rcs(
is carricil out in thc trivial st\'lc of operatic dcmom-)-,
A far better work than this, ;uul one in which wo
rcctigniso some of the original qtialitios which hatl
formerly so altnictcd us in Mr. Millais, is a picture
whose stibjcct, as well as its title, is (akon from
"The Eve of S(. Agnes," by John Ko.-ita. This
poem, foundctl on a very oUl legend, has boon most
fiiithfully followed out ami rendoruil by tho iirtist.
Kcats's heroine, Madeleine, had learnt that nt mitl-

J. E. Millais.]

THE MODERN SCHOOL.

217

night on the Eve of St. Agnes, young girls might
receive the "soft adorings" of their unknown loves.

the ORDER OF RELEASE. — I. E. Millais.

" If ceremonies due they did aright,
As, supperless to bed they must retire,
And couch supine their beauties, lily-white ;
Nor look behind, nor sideways, but require
Of Heaven with upward eyes for all that they desire.''

2l8 ENGLISH PAINTING. J. E. Millais.
With her heart full of the thoughts of love with which
she had been occupied throughout the winter's day,
the pensive Madeleine suddenly leaves the brilliantly
lighted hall and gay company, and, under the charm
of St. Agnes, hastens to her own chamber. The taper
which she carries in her hand is extinguished as she
hurries along, and, when she reaches her room, her
only light is that of the moon, which shines through a
window " diamonded with panes of quaint device,
Innumerable of stains and splendid dyes,
And in the midst, 'mong thousand heraldries,
A shielded scutcheon blush'd with blood of queens and kings.
Full on this casement shone the wintry moon,
And threw warm gules on Madeleine's fair breast,
As down she knelt for Heaven's grace and boon ;
Rose-bloom fell on her hands, together prest,
And on her silver cross, soft amethyst,
And on her hair a glory, like a saint ;
She seem'd a splendid angel, newly drest.
Save wings, for heaven.
Her vespers done,
Of all its wreathed pearls her hair she frees ;
Unclasps her warmed jewels one by one ;
Loosens her fragrant bodice ; by degrees
Her rich attire creeps rustling to her knees ;
Half-hidden, like a mermaid in sea-weed,
Pensive awhile she dreams awake, and sees
In fancy, fair St. Agnes in her bed.
But dares not look behind, or all the charm is fled."
This work possesses the disadvantage of being

J. E. Millais.] THE MODERN SCHOOL. 219
almost unintelligible to any one who is not acquainted
with the poem which inspired the artist. Indeed, the
spectator unaware of the subject might turn away
from this fair lady disrobing herself in the moonlight,
and think the picture slightly wanting in delicacy.
It is not sufficient to be merely acquainted with the
legend ; in order to appreciate the minute precision
of the painter, the exact words employed by the poet
must be studied, otherwise one will be at a loss to
understand why so much pains is taken to follow out
this or that detail, which was, no doubt, a matter of
great importance in the artist's eyes ; the rose-tint,
for instance, which is cast from the window on
Madeleine's hands. The artistic effect of the picture
is correct and striking, and the impression created is
truly poetical, but Mr. Millais enters far too much
into detail with this narrative subject.
The artist was too gifted to waver long between
ancient convictions and the new course which he had
hitherto sought without success. The love of nature,
formingthe strongest characteristic of the pre-Raphael
ites, seemed to have deserted him, and I do not think
that he was, at this time, so strongly drawn towards
dramatic and poetical ideas as formerly. "The Romans
Leaving Britain," and " The Sower of Tares," were
executed by a feeble hand, which was only roused to
a little of its old vigour in " The Eve of St. Agnes."
We could not but feel anxious about the career of this
artist, who had so interested us in his individuality.
He seemed in imminent danger of falling into the
follies of the old historical style, of which there are so

220 ENGLISH PAINTING. [J. E. Millais.
many miserable specimens in the English galleries.
Such disregard of execution and unfaithfulness in re
presentation as one there sees cannot but reduce any
work of art to the degraded level of a mere mass
of colour ; the possession of poetic feeling and noble
aspirations are not sufficient in themselves for pictures
of this order. Let us follow Mr. Millais in his last
change of style.
The crisis did not last long.
"The Crown of Love," exhibited in London in 1875,
reminded one slightly, in feeling, of the " Romans
Leaving Britain," only the painting had regained
its substantial flesh and blood character, without
losing any of its poetical attributes. The subject was
borrowed from George Meredith's beautiful poem : —
" Oh, might I load my arms with thee.
Like that young lover of romance.
Who loved and gained so gloriously
The fair princess of France !
" Because he dared to love so high,
He, bearing her dear weight, must speed
Te where the mountain touched the sky :
So the proud king decreed.
" Unhalting he must bear her on.
Nor pause a space to gather breath.
And on the height she would be won —
And she was won in death ! "
George Meredith.
The pre-Raphaelite, who had formerly so strictly
followed the rules of the school, that the faithful
carrying out of detail had been almost an infatuation

J. E. Millais.] THE MODERN SCHOOL. 221
for him, had now freed himself from so slavish a yoke,
without losing the respect he bore it, or failing to
recognise the worth of the system. Since that time
the years have rolled on, carrying the master, step by
step, to a fuller realisation of his artistic aspirations.
Mr. Millais' ten pictures exhibited in the Champs-de-
Mars did not give a true estimate of his high talent
and many-sided powers, which enable him to treat all
branches, of art with a like facility and superiority.
There were no productions to be seen representing
him in his impressive, heroic, and imaginative styles.
However, we must remain satisfied with the oppor
tunities that have been afforded us of studying his
works. The chief place in the large panel, where most of
Mr. Millais' pictures were hung, was occupied by a
splendid portrait, that of a " Yeoman of the Guard " in
the Tower of London. Gravely seated, with his
walking-stick in his hand, the yeoman, whose breast
is Ornamented with numerous medals, maintains a
most dignified bearing, although arrayed in the
singular costume of a beefeater, one of those
gorgeous uniforms, the remnants of a bygone age,
which have been preserved, alike through centuries
and revolutions, at Windsor and the Vatican only.
With the exception of the black hat, surrounded by a
tri-coloured ribbon, the whole costume, coat, breeches,
and leggings, is of bright scarlet cloth.
Mr. Millais has rendered this unmitigated blaze of
red with extraordinarily powerful effect, and, indeed,
he excels in such daring attempts. The gaoler's red

222 ENGLISH PAINTING. [J, E. Miikis.
coat in " Thc Release " was the first example ;

A YEOMAN OF THE GUARD.—/. E. Millais.

another was given in 1875, when, in a portrait of Miss
Eveleen Tennant, he painted the young girl in a vivid

J, S«.«.l TttK MODERN SCHOOL. 2:?3
red dixiss. In thc yeoman's portrait, the gold and
dark blue of the waist-band, sliouldcr-belt, aiid
on\ainontation round the ctvit, the ditVoivnt sliades of
white of the buckskin gloves and gc^tVcixxl ruff around
his nock, the black of the hat, and tlie dark brown
background, on which one sees, sharply ddineatei.1,
the blue steel of two halberds, all serve bj' their
contrast to throw up more brilliantly the pre
dominating scarlet.
The old yeoman's face, taken in thi-ce - quarter
view and fringcvl by a sliort white beard, is executed
in a manner which might seem clumsy beside the
skilful manipulation of our Frend\ painters. But the
execution, which at first sight appears wanting in
firmness, on doser inspection sliows such a knowledge
of tlie management of flesli-tints, that, setting aside
the ordinary method, it reproduces in a wonderful
manner the v;irious tones of which tlie drawn and
wrinkkxl skin of an s^ed face is composed.
To those who know how to appreciate it, the
" Yeoman of the Guard " c^>n\xn-s a valu.ible lesson in
taithful rendering, "Hearts arc Trumps"' was the
original title given to a picture containing the
portraits of three sisters who are seated round a table.
Mr. Millais has succeeded, apparently without any
effort, in maintaining a soft bright harmony in this
work ; and tlie (lowers, tlie summer toilettes, all tliree
alike, the sombre light, and the dear atmosphere, all
ser\?e to set otV thc chanwng young (aces, whose fine
brown eyes are turned towards the spectator.
Mr. j. Sant's picture of three sisters grou^^e^l

224 ENGLISH PAINTING. [J. E. Millais.
together in a pretty and natural manner, is in the
same home-like style, though executed perhaps with
less science. It is called " The Early Post." Two of
the girls are standing, one reading a letter aloud,
whilst the other greets the contents with a smile which
displays her ivory teeth. The third sister, who is
seated, rests her chin on her hand and turns her soft
looks towards the spectator. In spite of some in
accuracy of drawing, it is a charming representation
of the unassuming grace of maidenhood unconsciously
portrayed in its ease of home-life.
To return to Mr. Millais' work. It is with
reluctance that I see myself obliged to pass over so
quickly several other portraits : those of three more
sisters ; of the Duke of Westminster ; and of Mrs.
H. L. Bischofifsheim ; all very perfect in execution.
We now come to fancy works : " Yes or No .' " " The
Gambler's Wife," and " The North-West Passage."
English artists like to excite public curiosity by
seeking ingenious titles for their pictures. This habit
is, however, owing to something more than a mere
humorous whim ; there is the evident desire that the
question may be answered by the decisive expression
on the faces of the principal characters. "Yes or
No ? " plainly sets forth the truth of this statement.
" Yes or No.'" Will the young girl accept the proposal
of the lover whose letter she has just received, and
whose photograph she holds behind her back, as if to
prevent it from exerting an influence on her decision.
As answer to this question " Yes or No > " a question
to her of the most vital importance, as the portrait

J. E. Millais.] THE MODERN SCHOOL. 225
demonstrates, the artist replied first in 1875, with the
same brevity, by " No ! " and again in 1 877, after
having thought it over once more, by "Yes!" in which
he at length unites the two lovers.
" The Gambler's Wife " is a very httle picture, most
nearly approaching the French stjde in its execution.
It represents a young .wife in the morning musing
over the cards which her husband has bent in his
agitation and thrown down on the gaming-table,
after incurring terrible losses. This picture will
always be a favourite with our painters, because it is
in accordance with their accustomed ideas in its
sustained harmony of tone and colour. For my own
part, I prefer those works more characteristically
English in style, and particularly " The North-West
Passage." Here may again be remarked the per
sistent ambiguity of the title, which would seem to
denote a landscape ; however, if the name is obscure
the picture is not. What a sweet and pleasing sub
ject ! and how pathetic in its portrayal of filial
devotion ! The father, an old sailor, is seated at a
large table covered with unrolled charts, in an unpre
tending room, through the window of which is seen
a glorious calm sea. Opposite this veteran of the
wars are suspended various flags, some French
among the number, which mingle their bright hues
as glowing reminders of deeds of bravery, when
death has been nobly met and foes vanquished. On
the floor He some old log-books with discoloured
bindings, some of them spotted with mildew, from one
of which a beautiful young girl is reading aloud,
P

226 ENGLISH PAINTING. [J. E. Millais.
seated at her father's feet. The old sailor, whose
heart is more in the past than the present, com
placently sips the grog dear to every English tar, and
listens, perhaps for the twentieth time, to the account
of one of his campaigns, no doubt the most daring of
all, the one which has given its name to the picture,
" The North-West Passage." In 1882 the illustrious
ex-pre-Raphaelite gave us two most attractive portraits
of ladies whose charms are only enhanced by the
simple style in which they are painted. These are the
daughter of Charles Dickens, who was first married
to the brother of Wilkie Collins, and Mrs. Perugini,
whose beautiful head is finely portrayed, although her
dress is somewhat sketchy. But the picture that
most attracts our attention is that entitled " The
Youth of Sir Walter Raleigh," painted in 1869, and
exhibited in 1870 at the Royal Academy.
The scene is laid on the sea-shore, where young
Raleigh and his brother listen with eager attention to
the vt'onderful accounts of a sailor who has touched at
every port. He tells them of the regions of the sun,
and of the lands of enchantment in the East ; he
shows them some embroidered Indian work and
parrots' feathers ; and they in their childish imagi
nation wander in this world of fancy, traverse the
Eldorado, enter the palace of the Aztec kings, and the
Inca temples, ornamented with massive golden suns.
They come upon secluded spots containing hidden
treasures, where Indian captives seek concealment,
and where spring the fountains of eternal youth.
Raleigh little foresees the block and the scaffold

D. G. Rossetti.] THE MODERN SCHOOL. 227
awaiting him in the future. His one dream at present
is to sail for that glorious land. Westward Ho ! The
figures stand in full sunlight, which brings into relief
the numerous small details in the foreground. This
picture savours of the old tendency of the school for
the representation of minutiae. The . execution,
although brilliant, is rather hard, and is made up in
great part by small, fine touches. We cannot here
linger to discuss the qualities that the master has
forfeited in forsaking his early convictions, or the
merits he has acquired in adopting a broader and
more expeditious style. We can only congratulate
ourselves on the opportunity we have had of seeing
one of the principal works of this artist, whose name
is foremost at the present day in the English school.
In thus following Mr. Millais through his various
phases, we have lost sight of the origin of pre-
Raphaelitism. We must retrace our steps.
We have sought to demonstrate by the works
themselves the tenets of this little band of artists, who
so completely separated themselves from the rest of
their fellows. We have seen how the pre-Raphaelites
spent a great amount of talent and most earnest
endeavour in striving after their ideal of sincerity,
reality, and truth ; certainly a very noble as well as an
attractive aspiration from an intellectual point of view,
but unattainable, or, at least, one that has never yet
been attained. With regard to Mr. D. G. RosSETTi,*
* Dante Gabriel Rossetti, poet and artist, was born in Londoii
in 1828, and died suddenly at Birchington-on-Sea, near Margate, Sunday,
April 9th, 1882. We cannot hope, in these few lines, to render justice
P 2

t M---

J' "^

, _ J 1 -,
*ff<5

D. G. RossettM THE MODERN SCHOOL. 229
we find ourselves no better oft" than most amateurs, for
we have ncxcr seen a single work of his. This artist
has, indeed, never sought public fame. Is this fact to
be ascribed to austerity, or is it the indifference of high
genius to popular opinion ? Whichever it ma\- be, he is
certainly as well known as Mr. Millais, Sir Xoel Paton,
or Holman Hunt in tlie art-world. Mr. Rossetti's works,
comprising a certain quantity of drawings and pictures,
were only once publicly viewed during his lifetime, in
1S56. He was then aged twenty-eight. From that
time until iSS3,when an exhibition ofhis pictures was
held at Burlington House, none of his productions had
been seen, and ^et the reputation that he has gained
in spite of this exclusiveness proxcs how great has
been his influence on the inner circle of his friends.

to this highly-gifted man, who w.is eminent both as .i poet and a painter,
but we trust more fully to accomplish this end in our " Histoiy of the
pre-Raphaelite Scliool in England," which work is now in progre.ss.
Wo .ore, however, .able to give a list of his p-iintings, whidi was
sent to us by D. G. Rossetti himself, only a few dax-s before his death,
with the latest edition of his beautiful Poems, Ballads, and Sonnets
(J \-ols. ; EUis & White). Here is this list : " Dante's Dream," a
picture lately bought by the Liverpool Cialler)', and a sketch of which
is here gi\-en ; " The Seed of David," a triptych in Ll.andaff Cailietlral ;
numerous subjects taken from " Dante's Vita Xiio\-a " ; " The S.ilutation
of Beatiice on Earth and in Eden," a diptych ; '-La Pia (Purgatory),
France.^ea da Rimini." a water-colour diptych; "Beata Beatri.x,"
•"Beatrice." ""Tanto gentile e tanto one.sta .npp.are," " La Donna
della Finestra." Most of the other subjects have furnished themes to
the artist for poems : "" Venus Verticordia," " The Beloved," '" Sibylla
Palmifera." "" Pra'ierpina," "Fiammelta." " The Day Dre.am," ""La
Bella Mano," ""La Ghirlandata,"' "Veronica Veronese," " Dis
M;inibus,' '" Eoce Ancilla Domini," "Astarte Syriaca." The subject
of " The Blessed Damosel" was taken, on the other hand, from one
of D. G. Rossetti's earliest poetical works.

230 ENGLISH PAINTING. [F. M.idox Erown.
I must now mention two men who, without
actually following pre-Raphaelitism, border veryclosely
upon it, Mr. Madox Brown and Mr. Burne Jones.
The first deals more largely than any other British
artist in dramatic art. The second, with regard to
colouring and intensity of mystical imagination, is
the greatest master of the English contemporary
school. Mr. Madox Brown very rarely exhibits. In 1865,
however, at 191, Piccadilly, there was a collection of
about a hundred of his pictures on view, among which
were "The Last of England," and his most celebrated
production " Work," well known by its engravings,
and on which he was engaged for twelve years. This
great painting, containing much philosophical and
social purport, is as much the work of a moralist as
of an artist, and quite opposed to the Latin spirit.
We much prefer his earlier pictures of 1845 ^"d
1855, " The Virgin and Child,'^ " Cordelia's Portion,"
" Cordelia and her Sisters," some fine landscapes and
portraits, Scriptural illustrations, cartoons and stained
windows for St. Oswald's Church at Durham, and
also his "Haidee" of 1882.
Mr. Madox Brown's style may be too abstruse ; per
haps it is at times too closely allied with the earliest
Italian Renaissance and Botticelli in his tragic " En
tombment," or again it may receive too direct an inspi
ration from the poets, but at any rate, it removes us far
from the common-place familiarities of every-day life.
Besides, it must be remembered that this great artist
was never more than a friend of the pre-Raphaelites

05 H«Xo sSo

232 ENGLISH PAINTING. [E. Burne Jones.
and never adopted their esthetic exclusiveness ; had
he done so, and adhered to the rule of never
painting except from the living model, could he have
ever painted his " King Lear " ? He has always
allowed his imagination full play, and has never
restricted himself to any formula. His style changes
with the greatest facility according to the subject
under treatment. This is such a rare and. extra
ordinary quality, that we give here as illustrations
three subjects of the most different orders : the devo
tional style, as in " The Widow's Son ; " the historical,
with singular power of gesture and expression, as in
" Cordelia's Portion ; " and the grandly heroic, as
in the cartoon on which the intrepid artist is now
at work in the Town Hall of Manchester. This
production is the crowning feature of a fine artistic
career. I'he cartoon here given is one of Mr. M.
Brown's frescoes, " The Expulsion of the Danes from
Manchester." Notice the expressive gesture with
which the Danish officer shakes his sword just as he
is passing through the gate. Cannot one hear his
swaggering words ? Does he not seem to be saying,
" It's all very well, but we have not done with one
another yet ? "
British painters do not usually seek their themes
for heroic works from ancient mythology, but from
the legends of their own poets.
This most justifiable form of art-inspiration is ably
represented by Mr. Edward Burne Jones. In
1878, one of Mr. E. B. Jones's three pictures was hung
among the oil paintings, and the. other two, for no

ELIJAH AND THE WIDOw's SON. — F. Modox Brown.

TIIF. PARTING OF CORDELIA AND HER SISTERS.— A. Mado.x Brc

E. Bums Jo«e-wl THE MODERN SCHOOL. 235
apparent cause, were placed among tlite water-colours.
The latter, indeed, possessed just as much force and
vigour of tone as the first, and were as highly \-ar-
nished, so that with their glass coverings, and
placed, as they were, in a false light, it became
almost impossible to properly estimate their merits.
Besides, it must be generally admitted of all English
painting that the mode of treatment is not a matter
of rule, as in France; there are no restrictions; tlie
means count for nothing as long as the desired end
be obtained. Is the final result satisfactor}- .^
Very well ; one can wish for nothing more.
I know that we have equal peculiarities. I neither
praise nor blame, but merely state truths. To my
mind, Mr, Burne Jones's work gains a singular impor
tance from the fact tliat he is the only artist whose
high gifts in designing, arranging, and colouring are
equal to his poetical conceptions.
In his three works, "Merlin and Vivien," from
Alfred Tennyson's poem ; " Love among the Ruins,"
and " Love the Doctor," it is his style (a style some
what overdrawn, it is true) which alone constitutes
their peculiar and exceptional merit. This style is
composed of very perfect drawing, a keen faculty of
imitation and expression, whicli vary much in these
tliree works, rich although rather dark colouring, and
a faithful carrying out of tlie most minute and
insignificant details ; a tiny floweret, a bramble, a
door post, as well as an exact delineation of an eye
brow or of a nail on the delicate naked foot of a
woman. The value of any work is necessarily

MERLIN AND VIVIEN.— £. Burne lones.

E. Burne Jones.] I'ltfi MOt)EbN SCHtOOL. 2^^
greatly increased by the feeling it exhibits and its
poetical interpretation, when allied to this devotion to
truth and a lofty imagination. But how many of our
young French painters, alas 1 without consulting truth,
vainly strive to acquire these qualities by following
the traditions handed down from one generation to
another. I must, in addition, mention, among the
great works of Mr. Burne Jones, his " Laus Veneris,"
" Song of Love," " Day and Night," and " The Four
Seasons." This style of art is not the less truly
poetical in feeling because it is thus imbued with a
deference to reality. Its artists are true poets in
painting, and are closely connected with their literary
brothers, Swinburne, W. MORRIS,* and D. G. Rossetti.
To this class I must also add Mr. Albert Moore, who
exhibits at the Grosvenor Gallery, painter of the
" Saphyrs," a picture representing a young woman in
ample flowing drapery with a turban on her head.
Fortunately, after many years of struggle, the
English public has at length entered into the spirit
of this artistic and poetical movement. The success,
although doubtless greatly resulting from the works
themselves, is also largely owing to the spirited
writings of Mr. John Ruskin.
* William Morris, besides being a very eminent poet, and author
of " The Earthly Paradise," is also an artist of considerable merit, or
rather — to use an appellation which he himself prefers — a craftsman,
who has exercised a powerful influence, and worked a wonderfully
happy alteration in decorative art and taste in England. This poet-
artist has just published an artistic work of great importance : " Hopes
and Fears for Art " (Published in 1882 : Ellis and White).

238

CHAPTER IIL

The first name on our list in this chapter is that of
Mr. j. C. Hook. He is not only a landscape painter,
for he usually gives the most prominent position in
his pictures to figures, which are always rendered with
great care. But although they show much originality,
there is a certain want of skill in his drawing, and a
* By the term "pre-Raphaelite landscape " we mean the style con
taining that striving after fidelity, the causes of which we have already
examined. However, in order to avoid misinterpretation, we will give
an exact list of the original pre-Raphaelites. They were seven in
number : —
I. William Holman Hunt, artist.
2. John Everett Millais, artist, R.A.
3. Dante Gabriel Rossetti, artist and poet.
4. Thomas Woolner, sculptor, R.A.
5. James Collinson, artist (he painted two tolerable pictures,
"The Charity Boy's Debut," 1850, and "St. Elizabeth of
Hungary," 1851 ; and, after an eventful and chequered career
in a lower form of art, he died in the spring of 18S1).
5. Frederick George Stephens, artist (he has given up painting
and has become an eminent critic of English art).
7. William Michael Rossetti, the brother of D. G. Rossetti, a
literary critic and distinguished writer. (He commenced his
career in 1850 by contending for the new school in a little work
entitled "The Germ.")

J. C. Hook.]

THE MODERN SCHOOL.

239

heaviness in execution which lead me to prefer his
landscape to his genre painting — this is why he is
placed among the class whose works we are going to
study. Mr. Hook is remarkable for the superiority of his
sea and coast pieces, in which he decidedly excels.
Cf his works I have chosen one for illustration.

crabbers. — I. C. Hook.

' Crabbers ; " but of his many pictures the most
popular have been " Trawlers," " From under the Sea,"
and "Sea Urchins." His "Trawlers," with sunburnt
complexions, are in the forepart of a boat, which is
rapidly making its way towards land. They have
raised the heavy pots, set during the night, and now
turn out their contents before landing. The fish,
dripping with water, and gleaming with colour and
light, are huddled together, a living mass, on the
deck, which forms the foreground of the picture.

240 ENGLISH PAINTING. [J. C. Hook.
Another subject chosen by Mr. Hook is more
original. A jutting cliff" diminishes the height of the
canvas, and throws into perspective the vast waste of
green waters, studded with white sails. Three miners,
clothed in sacking, and wearing huge hats, in one of
which is fastened a still smoking candle-end, have
just been brought up by a submarine tunnel from the
bottom of the sea. They are seated in a narrow
railway truck, which runs -on a sharply descending
line of rails leading into the tunnel. The men are
received on their arrival by the wife and child of one
of them ; but these figures are of feeble and heavy
execution, and although they may heighten the interest
of the picture, they certainly do not add to the merit
of the work.
The best of Mr. Hook's three pictures, at present
under notice, is incontestably that entitled " Sea
Urchins." These are two children, two veritable
urchins, who are being rocked up and down by the
restless waves on a buoy, while, line in hand, they
occupy themselves in fishing. The action of the boys
is charming, and the sea is splendid in its force and
beauty, fringed by its long surrounding sweep of
coast, which is broken here and there by deep inlets.
This picture possesses one advantage over the others
— of a somewhat negative character, it is true, but
which adds to the effect of the work — the artist has so
managed that no sky is visible, and, as he is not
happy in cloud-scenery, this is no loss.
We have already shown that the pre-Raphaelite
principle in landscape consists in faithfully carrying

THE MODERN SCHOOL. 24I
out the most minute detail of reality, instead of
following conventional forms. According to this
idea, a landscape painter's vocation deals fully as
much with science as it does with art, and, judging
from the style of their pictures, the artists should be
sufficiently well instructed to be well acquainted with
the geological constitution of the soil, the charac
teristics of the ground, and the special distinguishing
features of the vegetation growing on the spot of
earth which they have chosen to represent. Some
times they are successful. The learned M. George
Pouchet, who gives as much attention to artistic sub
jects as he can spare from the other studies which
occupy his time, told me, many years ago, how much
he had been impressed, when in London, by the sight
of a painting of the pre-Raphaelite school. He went
with Richard Owen, the celebrated anatomist, and one
of the cleverest men in England, to visit a collection
of paintings of a special style belonging to another
illustrious man, Mr. J. Broderip. In the midst of
these zoological and anthropological designs he per
ceived one of Holman Hunt's pictures, "The Hireling
Shepherd'^ (1852), and, in point of fact, this painting
did not appear in the least out of place among its
surroundings of technical observations. Its accuracy
of detail was only equalled by its intensity of sweet
expression. A young shepherd is smiling to see the
joyful surprise lighting up the face of a young girl by
his side. The cause of her astonishment is a moth,
with widespread wings, which he gives her. M.
Pouchet recognised the butterfly as the Sphinx
Q

242 ENGLISH PAINTING. p^vkJtToL^"'*
known as the " death's head." He was well acquainted
with all the plants growing at the lover's feet, and
particularly a splendid " geranium robertianum.^' And
yet, in spite of all this interesting minutia;, the canvas
was comparatively small (about 47 inches long and
31 in width). Within these restricteci dimensions the
subject had been treated with an excessive attention
to detail and scrupulous exactitude. Such precision
ought to impress us most profoundly as the work of a
school which strove to cast aside commonplace for
malities and authorised theories in order to return to
a sincere and noble study of nature, represented in a
strictly scientific manner.
As I have already remarked, there may be, per
haps, in this a misapprehension of the true vocation
of art, but the very error is noble. Although the
whole system of pre-Raphaelitism is in direct opposi
tion to the aesthetic principles of Latin nations, and
might possibly lead our artists into sad difficulties
were they seriously to take it up, still — taking into
consideration its utter disinterestedness, and the
scrupulous care and thoughtfulness of its followers —
I can never join in the contempt and ridicule which it
has awakened in French amateurs and painters. The
first have lost the power of admiring, and the others
that of executing works needing careful observation
and patient manipulation, while all that is offered in
the place of these are hasty, superficial productions,
engendered by indolent minds.
Mr. Linnell's" Cornfield," and Mr. ViCAT Cole's
picture, with the poetical title " Summer's golden

Charles Lewis.] THE MODERN SCHOOL. 243
Crown," are both curious instances of the zealous care
bestowed by some English painters on the represen
tation of reality. But the painting wJiich affords the
finest example of this scrupulousness, and also of
firm execution, is that of a " Plot of Barley in Berk
shire," by Mr. Charles Lewis.

^^•«-'ia!sJ''i;--HB<-r'V '•'  ^

^"^^

THE WINDMILL — lohn Linnell.
From the furthest extent of the plain one sees a
sweeping sea of barley, rising and falling by the
action of the breeze in graceful waves, which flow on
till they reach the opposite boundary ; flowering
grasses, poppies, and cornflowers intermingled with the
long bright stems, impart an added brilliance to this
restless ocean of undulating gold. A flight of
Q 2

244 ENGLISH PAINTING. [J. E. Millais.
partridges cross the field, damaging the crown of
the harvest in their anxious flight, by weighing down
the bending ears of heavily laden barley. Hills,
covered with cultivated ground and thick woods, rise
in the distance in a gentle ascent towards a summer
sky, whose dazzling blue is flecked with light, misty,
floating clouds, whilst innumerable wild birds wend
their course in flocks, and are lost to sight in the
bright heavens.
This work is very different from the productions
of those who pretend to be artists before they are
observers ; who, having conceived an ideal to start
with, try to express it and their personal feelings,
using Nature as a means to this end, instead of
striving to represent Nature herself for her own sake.
Mr. Lewis, with striking originality, takes an entirely
different course ; he is humbly content to resign his
personality in the interest of a living reality, which
appears to him powerful enough to stir his spectators'
feelings. There is no dramatic feeling in his works,
no passion, no sentiment. He forgets himself in his
subject, and with perfect obedience to Truth and
steady patience in its rendering, he succeeds in a
simple sincere representation of Nature. Such is the
case with the picture we have been considering; in it
we look, as through an open window, on to the smiling
country in its sunniest aspect on a bright summer day.
Mr. Millais, in whose many-sided talent landscape
is of course included, again claims our attention.
Sometimes, as in " The Fringe of the Moor,"' he follows
in Turner's steps, by attempting to show us all the

Vicat Cole.]

THE MODERN SCHOOL.

245

iridescence of light ; sometimes he gives himself
up to a gentle melancholy over some ruin, whose
deserted chambers have become the home of all sorts
of wild vegetation, recalling Campbell's beautiful lines.

THE day's DECLINE. — Vicat Cole.

" Yet wandering, I found on my ruinous walk,
By the tiial-stone aged and green.
One rose of the wilderness left on its stalk,
To mark where a garden had been." Campbell.
Sometimes again, as in "Chill October" and "Over
the Hills and Far Away," his painting is characterised
by a width of subject, combined with a most learned
and careful study of detail.
After Mr. Millais, Mr. Vicat Cole is the artist who
most faithfully portrays twilight hours, summers in
their prime, the glorious breadths of English landscape.

246

ENGLISH PAINTING.

[John Ruskin.

as it is Mr. John Brett, who best represents the sea,
cliff's, and rugged rocks of Land's End in Cornwall.
As I have already remarked, it is Mr. Ruskin
who, by his writings and lectures for over thirty years,
has developed the art-education, not of the artists,
perhaps, but certainly of the English public,
Mr. Ruskin's mind is of an inquiring and original

mount's bay, CORNWALL. — lohn Brett.

cast — a little saddened, perhaps, because his aspira
tions have not always succeeded in their aim, and those
who most sympathise with him have not understood
art exactly in the light in which he would place it
before them. He forgets that although intellectual
culture may greatly encourage genius, it is powerless
to develop it when there is no existing germ. Now
there has been no artist in England possessing genius
since the days of Turner,* by which I mean to say, no
* This is rather too hard upon us, my good French friend. There
has not been, and will not be, another Turner, but we have had some

John Ruskin.] THE MODERN school. 247
man gifted in any eminent degree with emotional
faculties combined with the executive skill necessary
for art.
The characteristic feature of Mr. Ruskin's art
formula appears to me to be this : To observe the
measure of internal life contained in nature's produc
tions, and to bear in mind that the external shape
developed from it corresponds to this degree of
vitality, and is only, so to speak, its representation
and interpretation.
Without entering into the more technical portion
of Mr. Ruskin's works, which constitute their true
originality, we will strive to convey some idea of his
philosophy by giving a few quotations from his
writings. One of his passages runs thus : —
" What infinite wonderfulness there is in this vegetation,
considered, as indeed it is, the means by which the earth
becomes the companion of man — his friend and his teacher.
In the conditions which we have traced in its rocks, there
could only be seen preparation for his existence — the
characters which enable him to live on it safely and to
work with it easily. In all these it has been inanimate and
passive, but vegetation is to it as an imperfect soul, given
to meet the soul of man. The earth in its depths must
remain dead and cold, incapable except of slow crystalline
change, but at its surface, which human beings look upon
and deal with, it ministers to them through a veil of strange
intermediate being, which breathes, but has no voice;
moves, but cannot leave its appointed place ; passes through
clever fellows among us since, who would have made a good deal more
of themselves if they had better minded what I said to them. — ^J. R.

248 ENGLISH PAINTING. [John Ruskin.
life without consciousness to death without bitterness ;
wears the beauty of youth without its passion ; and declines
to the weakness of age without its regret." {Modern
Painters.) Here is another passage taken from the com
mencement of his work on "Cloud Beauty": —
" We have seen that when the earth had to be prepared
for the habitation of man, a veil, as it were, of intermediate
being was spread between him and its darkness, in which
were joined, in a subdued measure, the stability and in
sensibility of the earth and the passion and perishing of
mankind. But the heavens also had to be prepared for
his habitation, Between their burning lights — their deep
vacuity, and man, as between the earth's gloom of iron
substance and man, a veil had to be spread of intermediate
being, which should appease the unendurable glory to the
level of human feebleness, and sign the changeless motion
of the heavens with a semblance of human vicissitude.
Between the earth and man arose the leaf. Between
the heaven and man came the cloud. His life being pardy
as the falling leaf, and partly as the flying vapour."
This great poet and artist has, by his wonderful
writings, opened up an extensive field of interest
in England by cultivating in the higher classes a
refined taste for Nature in every particular in her
grandeur or simplicity.
" When all other service is vain, from plant and tree,
the soft mosses and gray lichen take up their watch by the
head-stone. The woods, the blossoms, the gift-bearing
grasses, have done their parts for a time, but these do
service for ever. Trees for the builder's yard, flowers for

John Ruskin.] THE MODERN school. 249
the bride's chamber, corn for the granary, moss for the
grave." " We have," says Mr. Escott, in his admirable book on
England, " thanks to Mr. Ruskin, learned to replace the
conventional by the results of that reverent study of Nature
which the author of ' Modern Painters ' has done more
than any man living to promote. He it is who has taught
those whose lot is cast in these latter days not only to love
Nature, but to discover a world of subtle and infinite beauty
in her simplest, lowliest aspects ; in the very mosses which
grow at our feet, and which, as he exquisitely reminds us,
cover with their soft tapestry the last couch of earthly
rest. . . . Those who have heard Mr. Ruskin, in
his Oxford lectures, dwell with delight on the exquisite
beauty of the strawberry plant, leaf, flower, fruit, and stem,
can never see it without remembering the glowing words
that taught them, how much perfection of outline and
colouring they had too often suffered to pass under their
eyes unheeded. So, too, has he pointed out to us the
mystic beauty of the olive-tree, with its dim foliage,
delicate blossoms, and dark fruit, which even the great
Southern masters of painting overlooked, possibly, because
it was so near them ; and of countless other things in
earth and air and water."
All these views of Mr. Ruskin may be found
developed in the ten chapters of his " .(Esthetic of
Vegetation," in which the outward form of plants is
dwelt upon with a very thorough knowledge of
physiological vegetable science. In this work the
plant is considered in the light of a person endowed
with will and instinct, producing its outward forms

250 ENGLISH PAINTING. [John Ruskin.
after a continual struggle with the vicissitudes of life.
And so the exterior production, far from growing from
the outside, springs from the model of the interior
life and nature of the plant. If this method be
applied to the study of the passions of men, we under
stand Shakespeare's and Dickens' wonderful insight
into human character ; they unfolded what they found
in their own souls.
The four chapters on " Cloud Beauty " conclude
Mr. Ruskin's series of landscape studies. Then
follow general rules for artistic composition (a word
for which Mr. Ruskin usually substitutes, invention),
a philosophy of the course that must be taken in order
to attain Beauty, Grandeur, and Perfection.
The rules of Beauty in a general sense are,
properly speaking, included in the study of art. The
volume then terminates with some striking compari
sons between artists of different schools. Throughout
the course of the whole work we find the application
of developed theories. Certainly such a system of
criticism possesses both novelty and originality.*
And thus the art-student finds in Mr. Ruskin's works
an elevated moral education. No set form or pre
conceived ideal is prescribed for him. Work, study,
observe, constitute the sole injunction. . . . And
besides this, his mind becomes impressed with a deep
and wholesome detestation of all that is false.
* In addition to the works we have just mentioned we must name :
"Lectures on Art," delivered at Oxford in 1870 ; "Introduction : the
Relation Between Art, Religion, Morals, and Manners;" " Delineation :
Light and Colour ; " and the later volumes : " Aratra Pentelici," " Six

John Ruskin.) THE MODERN SCHOOL. 251
Mr. Ruskin's writings may be looked upon as one
of the greatest works achieved by the mind of man.
Lectures on the Elements of Sculpture," "The Eagle's Nest," "Ten
Lectures on the Relation of Natural Science to Art," "Ariadne
Florentina," " Six Lectures on Wood and Metal Engraving," " Val
d'Arno," "Ten Lectures on Art of the Thirteenth Century in Pisa
and Florence," "The TwO Paths," "Lectures on Art and its
Application to Decoration," "The Seven Lamps of Architecture "
(New Edition, 1883), "The Stones of Venice," "The Art of
England," "Six Lectures Delivered at Oxford," 1883.

?S2

CHAPTER IV.
LANDSCAPE AND RURAL LIFE.
We have already spoken of English landscape in our
study of pre-Raphaelitism, but we must now return
to the subject in order to mark the distinction between
the pre-Raphaelites and other landscape painters.
They both possess one quality — that is a deep love ot
nature ; but the expression of this sentiment differs
fundamentally in the two cases. The first, as we have
said, and shown in many ways, strive their utmost to
give a reverential, almost devotional, representation of
nature with every smallest particular. The sublimity
of creation reveals itself to their eyes by delicacy of
construction ; in the flowering grass, for instance, with
its light firm blades and tiny feathery bloom, as
much and even more than in the grand accumulations
of rocks and mountains, rearing their lofty summits
above the highest clouds. The pre-Raphaelites seek
the closest union with Nature. Other painters, on the
contrary, place Nature in a secondary position to their
art. In her grandest moments, and in her sublimest
display of power, they see nothing more than a magic
spectacle, exhibiting to them splendid effects of light,
colour, and form ; they do not think of studying her

Macallum.l LANDSCAPE AND RURAL LIFE. 253
for her own sake, and as food for meditation. The
two schools have equal rights. If our established
ideas on art incline us to prefer the second, pre-
Raphaelitism gathers adherents among those men
who enter into the sweet and homely charm of country
delights. Mr. Macallum set himself a difficult task in striv
ing to reconcile these two extremes. With this idea
he sought to unite exactitude of detail to a certain
breadth of effect, in which he has often succeeded.
His mode of treatment is both simple and easily
explained. The picture is arranged with large masses
of dark colouring, so disposed as to form good con
trasts. Then, concentrating his attention on the
principal subject of the painting, the central theme,
either through its peculiar character or by the manage
ment of the light, he handles it with the most minute
execution of detail, analysing it so strictly that one is
misled with regard to the other parts of the work,
which are, nevertheless, left in their rudimentary state,
and recall the sketchiness of Cozot. Mr. Macallum's
peculiar system was deserving of special mention, but
he possesses other claims of interest on the French
public, as he often exhibits in the Champs Elysees.
We have not forgotten his grand oak, with its impo
sing branches, standing out so clearly from an over
hanging cloudy sky. It was one of the finest landscapes
of the Salon in 1867. Mr. Macallum also sent a view
of the " Gorge aux Loups," taken in the forest of Fon
tainebleau, to the Exposition Universelle. In it could
be seen the same striking effect obtained by a seeming

254 ENGLISH PAINTING. [David Cox and Severn.
exactitude of detail based on a species of optical
illusion skillfully arranged by the artist. With regard
to special efifect, I ought to mention, among oil paint
ings, one which creates a great impression on the
spectator. This picture, by SiR GEORGE Harvey, is
" Iwening Calm," in the silent and lonely Scottish
Moors. But it is particularly among the works of water-
colour painters that we must look for effective land
scapes. Who can fail to admire the " Turf Cutters,"
" Snowdon," and " Darley Cemetery," by the late
David Cox? These productions, vibrating with
movement and life, in which one sees so plainly the
effect of the gusty wind, here driving great clouds
before it, there sweeping the ground and blustering
up the mountain's steep ascent, concealing and reveal
ing by turns the silver face of the moon on stormy
nights — these impressive representations of nature
remind us of the best works of Paul Huet, the French
master, who has best succeeded in interpreting his
extensive observations of such poetic beauties. And
again, think of the waters of the Mediterranean, lashed
into fury and turbulence by the north-west wind, in
Mr. j. Brett's water-colour painting ; then look at
Mr. Severn's picture of the grand action of the huge
waves, eternally rising and falling, on whose restless
bosom one sees the broken reflection of the bright
stars ; and lastly, Mr. Whittaker'S paintings of
enormous mountain torrents, bounding through
masses of rock between snow-crowned heights. After
observing all these works, who can fail to entertain a

Whittaker.T LANDSCAPE and RURAL LIFE. 255
very high opinion of an art which, with such slight

MINES OF BOTALLACK. — Edwin Edwards
resources, can yet stir our feelings, and so ably

2S6 ENGLISH PAINTING. [Mark Fi»her.
present to our sight such magnificent views? The
same impression is gained from Mr. SeymouR
Haden's splendid and life-like etchings.
But it is only within the last few years that
Landscape could properly be considered as forming
a style of its own in the modern English school.
Under that name it had previously no existence.
Nature of itself did not suffice as a motive of art.
It was a frame, and a frame only, for some definite
action, in which the human element monopolised ex
clusively attention and interest.
But now, and especially since the French Exhi
bition of 1878, under the influence of the great
French landscape painters — Corot, Millet, Rousseau,
Troyon, Daubigny — a young school has sprung up,
pledged to divorce for ever Landscape and Narrative.
Of these youthful artists, Mr. Mark Fisher is the
one whose talent, considerable in itself, has the most
in common with the French, the least with the Eng
lish school. There is in his art — see, for instance, his
" Meadow Pastures " — so skilful a blending of Jacques
Daubigny and Troyon, that we are almost inclined
to think it too skilful. However, a careful exami
nation of these fine studies of animals, so full of
learning and sincerity, soon reconciles us to an art
that belongs to the whole world, and to a talent that
has no fatherland.
Cecil Lawson (d. 1882) and Alfred Par.son.s,
two of the young leaders of this movement, are, on
the other hand, completely English, and this is, in
our eyes, no slight merit. It is true they have

E.Edwards.] LANDSCAPE AND RURAL LIFE. 257
almost entirely taken away the human figure from
landscape, and aim at arousing our emotions only by
the sentiment which natural scenery awakes in us ;
but it is at any rate with the nature with which they
are familiar that they ask our sympathy.
I may add that in their interpretation of nature
they exhibit to a considerable extent their own
peculiar states of mind, somewhat romantic in the
case of Mr. Lawson, keenly appreciative of grace
of form in Mr. Parsons.
There is, however, an English artist who is per
haps more essentially English than either of the
last mentioned. I mean Mr. Edwin Edwards, so
well known and so highly honoured in France. His
pictures of sea-side villages, cliffs, harbours, and
forest-glades, are masterpieces which combine daring
simplicity of composition with extraordinary know
ledge of drawing.
I know nothing which appeals to one with such
intense reality as his little country towns, with their
high street in the foreground and the sea behind ; his
harbours, with their great ships riding at anchor ; or
his parks in winter, with their sturdy trees, the
branches of which make filigree patterns against a
snowy sky. I forgot to mention that Mr. Edwin
Edwards is an etcher, and not a painter ; but, of
course, every lover of art knows this. No other
artist in the English school, except F. Walker, can
invest reality with such an aspect of greatness.
A'prominent place among the landscape painters
of to-day must be assigned to Mr. R. W. Macbeth,
R

258

ENGLISH PAINTING.

I R. W, Macbeth

a young master
of the Scottish
school. He is most
successful in repre
senting such rustic
scenes as the
" Potato Harvest
in the Fens" and
.ie the " Return from
I St. Ives Market,"
¦^ while his pictures
s of fishing villages
^ are admirable. He
has also won consi
derable distinction
by his etchings.
"The sight of ac
tive life has some
thing in common
with our inward
impulses, with the
law of our being,
^ and therefore never
fails to create in
us an agreeable
sensation. Al
though the move
ment maybe unin
telligible to us from
many points of
view, we generally

R.W.Macbeth.] LANDSCAPE AND RURAL LIFE. 259
quit it with better powers of sympathy and energy,
a lighter heart, and a strengthened mind."
In this beautiful thought of a philosopher and true
lover of nature, one who, in addition to his keen
powers of observation, possesses the serious views of
a moralist, we find the explanation and justification
of the sympathy for landscape which exists in the
people of our time. I will say more — M. Jules
Levallois, who in writing these few lines, referred onjy
to Nature herself, has in them clearly and distinctly
demonstrated the high morality of Art.

R 2

26o

CHAPTER V.
HISTORICAL PAINTING.
This chapter will be but short. Historical painting,
or that which we so designate in our classification of
styles, has only had very feeble representatives in the
English school. The greatest masters, in British art,
Gainsborough, Reynolds, &c., were never historical
painters. Their splendid portraits, and even their
original works, were not overlaid by that spirit of
sham mythology, heroic, pseudo-Greek or Roman,
which has animated French painters for half a century,
and which some people still regard as essential to the
highest form of art. English attempts in this style
have always been deplorable ; they do not even possess
the qualities of science and drawing which were at
least acquired by the pupils of David, in spite of their
want of feeling for the historical and antique. Efforts
of this order have been very exceptional in young
English painters, and their results have ever been
such as to greatly discourage those who entertained
the idea of following in their steps.
What is there, for instance, in Mr. Poole's chief
work ? The title is extraordinary : " Philomel's Song
on the Shore of the Beautiful Lake": but that is all.

.>x\

^g:^^^-

THE PASTORAL. — Sir P. Leighton.

262 ENGLISH PAINTING. [Sir F. Leighton.
Imagine a medley of every sort of style taken from
different masters ; combine the works of Poussin,
Le Sueur, Guido, and Titian, awkwardly and feebly
copied, the one clumsily blended with the other, and
strive to picture the eff'ect of such imitations, executed,
I will allow, with some ingenuity of imagination. Mr.
Paul Falconer Poole, R.A. (1810— 1879), is never
theless highly thought of in England.
In a country which has never had any feeling for
the grand style, SiR FREDERICK LEIGHTON, the
present President of the Academy, is certainly its
worthiest representative.
Born in 1830, Sir Frederick Leighton exhibited
his first Academy picture, the "Procession of
Cimabue's Madonna,'^ in 1855. In 1869 he was made
a member of the Academy, and since 1878 he has
been its President.
Among the many pictures which he has exhibited
during the last thirty years may be mentioned
" Odalisque,^' " Helen on the Ramparts of Troy," the
" Pastoral," an engraving of which we give here, the
" Music Lesson," the terrible " Clytemnestra " watch
ing for the return of Agamemnon from Troy,
" Phryne," " Wedded,''^ and " Cymon and Iphigenia."
Sir Frederick has also shown himself a sculptor
of ability, and his heroic "Athlete Strangling a
Python," exhibited in 1876, was bought for the
nation by the Chantrey Fund.
But perhaps his greatest success has been gained
in the field of purely decorative art. " The Lovers
of Syracuse " and the " Daphnephoria," an immense

^'.F.Britte?.''! HISTORICAL PAINTING. 263
frieze representing the festival which the youth of
Thebes held every nine years in honour of Apollo,
are excellent specimens ofhis work in this style ; and
worthy to be ranked with them are the two frescoes
illustrating "The Arts of Peace" and "The Arts of
War " respectively, which he has designed to decorate
the South Kensington Museum.
The same commendation, and with greater sincerity
on my part, is due to Mr. William Bell Scott,
painter of some large ornamental works for a palace,
which contain some fine subjects very suitable to
architectural purposes.
To this school of classical forms, vague, indefinite,
and without a trace of local colour, belong Mr.
G. Richmond's "Song of Miriam," Mr. E. J.
Poynter's " Festival," and Mr. F. Sandys' " Medea,"
works typical of the talent of these artists, and of
the lofty ideas which inspire them.
Mr. E. F. Britten has also worked the exhausted
mine of antique subjects, but has introduced into his
work an element quite fresh to the English school,
namely, the kind of contemptuous familiarity which in
France ensured the success of such musical buffoonery
as " Orphee aux Enfers.'' His dances of nymphs and
other heroic and mythological subjects are treated
with lively talent, but they seem to be taken from an
operetta of Offenbach.
To similar, but less frivolous methods, Mr. Alma-
Tadema owes his success. He assuredly possesses,
or at any rate aims at, far greater earnestness, and
always tempers his fancy with some feeling of respect.

264 ENGLISH PAINTING. [Alma-Tadema.
But his underlying principle is the same. He invests
antiquity with the familiar gait, gestures, movements,
and attitudes — I might almost say, with the words,
sentiments, and thoughts — of to-day. As a protest
against the false dignity and commonplace stiffness
which the impotent pedantry of Academies has intro
duced into their formal dramas and heroic poems,
Alma-Tadema has, in a manner, put the antique world
into slippers and- dressing-gown. He represents his
heroes as walking, sitting, rising, drinking, eating, and
talking, not as the characters walked, sat, rose, drank,
ate, and talked in the theatre of Talma and in the
tragedies of Lebrun, but as we ourselves walk, sit,
rise, drink, eat, and talk.
The consequence of this is, as far as Mr. Alma-
Tadema is concerned, that he endeavours with un
tiring patience to represent his figures as they really
were in life, and to place them amid surroundings
which really belong to them. His whole work is,
indeed, an accurate illustration of " Smith's Dic
tionary of Antiquities," and ought to delight the
minds of archaeologists. What he has not seen he
infers, with wonderful ingenuity ; it may be an arm
chair of marble, a round table, as in the " Sappho" of
1881 ; a maulstick, as in the " Painter's Studio" of 1878;
a flight of steps on the quay, as in " Down to the
River" of 1879; or a revolving stool, as in the
"Sculpture Gallery" of 1875. Added to this inge
nuity, he has a taste for curious perspective, and
delights to place his figures in strange corners of
his canvas, cutting them ofif with the moulding of

G. F. Watts.] HISTORICAL PAINTING. 265
the frame, and only allowing the end of a nose or
the corner of an eye to be seen. When, besides al.l
this, his wonderful qualities as a painter are taken
into consideration, it will be eas};- to understand the
success which Mr. Alma-Tadema has obtained, not
only with the populace, but with all true lovers
of Art. Mr. George Frederick Watts is fifteen or
twenty years older than either of the two artists I have
just named. He was born in London in 1818, and
exhibited at the Academy for the first time in 1837,
and in 1843, at an exhibition of drawings which took
place at Westminster, he obtained a great success
with a " Caractacus," a success soon confirmed by
his " Alfred Inciting the Saxons to Prevent the
Landing of the Danes.''
This led to a commission for a " St. George and
the Dragon " for the Houses of Parliament, and for a
great fresco representing the " History of Justice "
for the hall of Lincoln's Inn. He was elected in one
year (1867) successively an Associate of the Academy,
then an Academician, a proceeding of which no
other example is to be found in the annals of the
Royal Academy.
Up to this time, however, Mr. G. F. Watts had
given no indication of a higher ambition than of a
painter, suflficiently well instructed, who plies his trade
honestly and paints excellent portraits. But during
the last ten years he has produced works of a curious
loftiness of aim. He is the only painter of the
English school who has treated the female nude

1 r » ^ W/

ORPHEUS AND EURYDICE. — G. F. Watts.

G.F. Watts.] HISTORICAL PAINTING. 267
simply from the point of view of style, and with no
other object than to realise its purely plastic beauty.
His mythological work, entitled " The Three God
desses," only aims at showing simultaneously the
front, back, and profile of a woman. Side by side
with this calm and powerful study of the nude, Mr.
G. F. Watts exhibited at the Paris Exhibition of 1878
his " Love and Death," one of those complicated and
laboured compositions, in which the plastic element is
overpowered by the subject, and which, according to
the Latin conception of art, can only be regarded as
errors. Many other works of the author, belonging to
the same epoch, are open to the same objection ; the
" Genius of Evil," for instance, a figure leading a man
by a chain of flowers through a bramble-thicket, and
the " Time and Death." In this latter picture, the
two figures are strangely cut off at the knee, the one
by a segment of a terrestrial globe and the other by a
fleecy cloud, while the tragic expression is so strongly
accentuated as almost to amount to grimace. The
same fault is noticeable in Mr. Watts's composition
" Francesca and Paolo."
The finest work painted by the artist under the
influence of these ideas, " Orpheus and Eurydice," is
here set before the reader. It has true poetic feeling ;
but the exaggerated character of the drawing and its
decidedly too sombre colouring take much of thc
charm from the painting, which is nevertheless both
refined in sentiment and elaborate in design. With
these reservations, the artist who produced "The Three
Goddesses " and " Orpheus and Eurydice " is the only

268 ENGLISH PAINTING. [Prinsep and Long.
Englishman who has an appreciation of the nude in
art combined with the ability to portray it.
Among the pictures of the same order must be
mentioned a powerful study done in Venice, a truly
artistic work by Mr. Prinsep, entitled (I know not
why) "Berenice." This picture was of a splendid

THE LINEN GATHERERS. — Val C. Primef.
woman, powerful in her beauty, and as fearless in her
strength as some wild and graceful animal. Such was
Mr. Prinsep's ideal, but of late he has become more
realistic, and is satisfied to portray such simple figures
as " Linen Gatherers " and " Gleaners."
Mr. E. Long could not altogether avoid the nude
in representing the subject taken from Mr. George
Swayne's " Herodotus,'^ " The Babylonish Marriage
Market," which was exhibited in London in 1875. It
is marvellous, however, with what refinement of
modesty this somewhat awkward theme is treated.

B. Riviere and
D. Scott.

] HISTORICAL PAINTING.

269

Mr. Briton Riviere's "Daniel in the Lions'
Den," so wittily burlesqued by Miss Paterson, is a
finely conceived work. A part of this picture — the
figure of Daniel — is really beautiful, like the principal
figure in Mr. Goodall's " Rachel and her Flock."
But above all, David Scott, of the Scottish
Royal Academy, is worthy of special mention. He

•<=5

DANIEL IN THE LIONs' DEN. — Briton Riviere.

was born in 1806 and died in 1847. His first picture
was exhibited when he was twenty-two years old, and,
• during the short period of the next twenty years, the
work that he achieved was something considerable,
both in point of quantity and also for its variety of
subject. He liked broad, sweeping lines, had a vivid
sense of colour and expression, and a great admiration
for the nude, which he rendered very successfully.

270

CHAPTER VI.
genre PAINTING.
English artists are generally censured by their
critics for leaving unnoticed great historical events
of the time, and devoting themselves to familiar
street scenes and homely incidents. The general
taste of the school has certainly run in this direction
since the days of Wilkie and Leslie, but we cannot
join in the accompanying reproach. In remarking
the frequent representations among English pictures
of bustling railway stations and racecourses, we must
bear in mind how largely such excitement and activity
enters into the life of the nation. And added to this,
we gain a very perfect idea of ordinary home-life
from the works of British artists. They do not even
content themselves with constantly portraying family
customs and manners, but go beyond this by striv
ing to show the character of the person from
the expression of the face. Their pictures often
possess no other aim than that of admitting the
spectator to the inmost soul and private thoughts
of their individuals. Surely this is in itself a noble
effort. All these artists, with very few exceptions,

Erskine Nicol.] GENRE PAINTING. 271
interest themselves in portraying the varied play of
the human countenance. Unlike the Continental
schools, they, as a rule, trouble themselves little
about arrangement, drawing, or colouring, and, in
their genre pictures, the interest attaching to the
subject and the expression are all that they study.
In this chapter, devoted to physiognomists, nearly
every member of the English school might be
studied ; but I only wish to speak of those artists
who have penetrated the farthest in this particular
path, and who, by giving themselves up so exclusively
to the study of expression, have required of their
branch of art the utmost and even more than it has
the power to yield.
Some of these painters prefer to draw their scenes
¦ from contemporary life, whilst others borrow subjects
from history or fiction.
Mr. Erskine Nicol, who belongs to the Scottish
school, ranks among the very highest. He throws a
singular asperity and vividness of fancy into his
pictures, of which the scenes are usually laid in
unhappy Ireland. Two of these are particularly
striking — "The Rent Day" and "Both Puzzled."
The latter represents a lowly, slovenly village-school.
The master, poor wretch, whose moroseness equals
his ignorance, fixes his stern and distrustful eye on
one of his victims, an exceptional pupil. The child
has just applied to him for the meaning of some
word or phrase which he is quite unable to give.
As bewildered as the boy, the angry schoolmaster
fancies he has been caught in a trap. This un-

272 ENGLISH PAINTING. [Erskine Nicol.
pleasant thirst for knowledge which he finds himself
unable to satisfy is excessively distasteful to him,
and it is much to be feared that the birch-rod will
settle the matter, and extricate them from this
position in which they are " both perplexed."
" The Rent Day " is like a page from one of Balzac's
works, one of those many scenes in our hard modern
society, when Fortune's favoured few in their haughty
insolence take pleasure in exposing to public gaze
the hidden wounds and humiliations of those on
whom she frowns. The nobleman's steward is going
the rounds with his subordinate to collect the rents
of the large estate. As impassive as instruments of
torture, these Jacks-in-office receive with superb
indifference the banknotes of one, the crowns and
shillings so hardly scraped together of another ; they
turn a wilfully deaf ear to the excuses and pleadings
of the poor widow for a little delay, and, utterly
regardless of the lowly reverences and salutations of
the poor people who have already paid their debt,
they think of nothing further than of obtaining the
due amount, and use their sharp eyes merely for
scrutinising the banknotes. At first sight one is most
struck with the comical side of this picture. It is
amusing to see the play of the different countenances,
the attitudes assumed by these poor beggars, and
the haughtiness of the collectors ; the dilapidated hats,
with their dirty rims, and the threadbare patched
coats, are inimitable. On a closer observation it will
be seen that the artist has been equally successful
with the mental deformity of the scene, and that the

H. O'Neil.] GENRE PAINTING. 273
outward state of circumstances is a fitting emblem of
the soul's impurity. Like Figaro, one laughs at it for
fear that one may weep.
Besides having worthily carried out his idea, the
painter, in spite of some harshness of tone, possesses
the exceptional merit, for an Englishman, of being
a true artist and skilful in colouring. Those eccen
tricities of composition, which are so frequent in
English painting, are happily absent in Mr. Nicol's
works. The feature at first most observable in Mr. Henry
O'Neil's picture "Eastward Ho!" is his utter dis
regard of arrangement and balance in the crowds
of persons composing his subject. The scene takes
place on the steps of a man-of-war, of which the
gigantic tarred sides form the foreground of the
painting. The deck is thronged v.ith soldiers,
who have been allowed, up to the last moment, to
receive their friends on board, many of whom they
will never meet again. But now the word has been
given and the final parting must be made. Mothers,
wi\'es, and sweethearts linger weeping on the steps ;
one more kiss is snatched ; one more shake of the hand
is exchanged, and the last tearful greeting is uttered
b\- look or voice. It was a happy idea of ]Mr. O'Neil's
to place the figures in an elevated position. By this
means their gestures, as they stand on different
degrees of the steps, are much more natural and
wonderfully life-like and correct in expression.
Besides tliis, tlie artist has had the courage to remain
true, both in feature and costume, to the rough, coarse
s

274

ENGLISH PAINTING.

[H. O'Neil.

type of character he has chosen. This sincerity
extends itself to marvellous coiff'ures, faded tartans.

MISSING. — Hubert Herkomer.

checked handkerchiefs and washed-out dresses. He
has entirely set aside grace and elegance, and by his

H. O'Neil.]

GENRE PAINTING.

275

very truthfulness and powers of observation, he renders
his picture intensely pathetic. It may not be a fine

y WW -r"- ' •t*'** '^ '' , I lift
' tc I ,rt* 'i|i"Li
¦* * r 1 •

' 'yjtf '

THE TRUANT.— Thomas Webster.
work in our acceptation of the term, but no one can
deny that both the theme and its treatment are
2

276 ENGLISH PAINTING. 1 Herkomer and Faed.
aff'ecting. This subject inspired Mr. Hubert Her
komer to paint its counterpart in 1 881. The
picture — one of his best — is called " Missing." It
depicts the arrival of the surviving crew of the lost
Atalanta at Portsmouth, whilst the friends of those
who where aboard hurry to receive the members of
their family who have just landed, and to know
the worst.
Mr. Thomas Faed, although he, too, likes to
represent humble life, is less impressive than Mr.
Nicol and Mr. O'Neil. He prefers to paint homely,
pathetic, or industrial scenes. Thus in his picture
called " His only Pair," a young mother is seated
mending the torn trousers of her son, a little pickle
who is sitting with naked, dangling legs, waiting for
the repairs to be completed, so that he may resume
his game. Another picture, " Both Father and
Mother," represents a poor widower with two children.
Yielding to his little girl's entreaties he ceases for a
moment from his work, takes her between his knees,
and attempts, with motherly skill and patience, to
push her small rosy fingers into a pair of gloves. The
delight of the petted child, as his rough hands so
delicately perform the task, rejoices the cobbler's
heart. The artist exhibits much talent and tenderness
in the rendering of this scene.
In Mr. Thomas Webster's* "Village Mates," one
is reminded of Wilkie's humorous works. Every

* Thomas Wei'.siek, R.iV., genre p.-iinter, was born in iSoo, and
died in London, July 8th, 1882.

Webster and Martineau.] GENRE PAINTING. l^J
name in the village is conjured up b}- the bus}- brains of
the old folks, while their tongues w-ag in a ceaseless
flow of gossip, scandal, and iron}-. But the onlj-
merit of this work rests in the cleverh- caught
expression of these old cronies, and one cannot but
remark in ^Ir. Webster's picture the abuse of a st}'le
which becomes wearisome and absoluteh" exasperat
ing unless treated with a masterl}- hand. It is how
ever ver}- impressi\-e in feeling, as, for instance, in
" The Truant."
What we complain of in most ol these English
pictures is, that a too great importance is paid to
facial expression. Look at that group of persons,
standing apart in a Spanish circus, during a bull
fight ; how savagely the}- }-ell and roll their e}-es!
Lea\-ing the object of all this wild uproar to the
spectator's imagination, the artist, Mr. Burgess.
who is nevertheless decidedly talented, has thrown all
his skill into representing a collection of inflamed
countenances hideous!}- distorted b}- bloodthirst}-
excitement. The painting is called "Bravo! Toro! '
As a stud}" it may be remarkable, but as a picture it
is horrible. Mr. Martixeav'S work, "The Last Da}- in the
Old Dwelling." falls into the same error. It has for
subject one of those scenes of domestic grief, whose
detail, with all their sad pathos, are so constantl}- and
perfectl}- described b}- English no\e!ists. Nothing,
however, better proves the divergence that ought to
exist bet\veen literar}- and artistic representations.
An old lad}- is delivering up the key of the home,

278 ENGLISH PAINTING. [Martineau.
where she has passed her life, to the new proprietors,
who, with very little consideration, noisily take posses
sion of their new domain. One of them unfeelingly
laughs as he raises a glass of champagne on high.
Fancy, if one were forced to spend any length of time
opposite this picture continually gazing at that grin
ning face ! The strongest brain would be unhinged
before a week was ended !*
English artists too often thus ignore one of the
most important rules of artistic decorum ; they
constantly portray scenes and expressions of violent

* Robert Braithwaite Martineau, genre painter, was bora
January 19th, 1826, in London. He received a University education,
and had begun studying for the law, when at the age of twenty he
entered a School of Art; two years later he was admitted into Mr.
Holman Hunt's studio. In 1852 he exhibited a very fine picture,
" Nell and Kit," the subject of which was taken from Dickens (Kit's
writing lesson in "The Old Curiosity Shop"). His execution was
slightly hea\'y in consequence of his very short sight. .So great was his
desire for perfection, that he devoted ten years to painting " The Last
Day in the Old House." I have already mentioned the danger that
exists in adopting subjects which are too problematic and literary for
painting, and no illustration will better jDrove this than my own mis
interpretation of this jjicture, a mistake that I have intentionally
retained in this work. The gentleman who laughs so heartily is meant
by the artist to be the son of the house, who, after having squandered
the family fortune, in a spirit of bravado raises his glass and drinks a
last health to the ancestral portraits. R. Martineau was engaged on
another picture, which was being painted with as much care and
precision as his former works, "AVoung Girl Defending a Poor Jew
against the PojDulace," when he died of heart disease, February 13th,
1869. The small number of his j^roductions is owing to the excessive
pains and lengthy time which he bestowed on each. In spite of the
fault we find with him, Holman Hunt's pupil was undoubtedly a fine
artist,' possessing deep feeling for beauty, and a sense of dramatic
expression in its highest degree.

^'"''"otharfs^r' ^""^J GENRE PAINTING. 279
agitation, which are in their nature essentially fugi
tive. And it is not only painters of real life that
are open to this blame, but also those of the his
torical genre and narrative style, such as Mr. F. R.
PiCKERSGILL, R.A., who has painted the horrible
Corsairs throwing dice for their prisoners ; and Mr.
A. Elmore, also an R.A., but whose picture, " The
Tuileries (June 20th, 1792)," has nevertheless cer
tainly extended the limits of bad painting and
false sentiment. It is impossible, without seeing
this work, to form an idea of its miserable
execution, extravagant drawing, loud colouring, and
random lights, scattered hither and thither on
the canvas without rhyme or reason. Two other
pictures by Mr. Elmore, "At the Convent," and
" On the Brink of Error," though slightly better in
execution, are just as feeble and poor in feeling. Mr.
W. Q. Orchardson decidedly bears the palm in this
branch of art by his accuracy, expression, and dex
terous execution, in which he far exceeds all other
English physiognomists. But then — whether it be a
matter of commendation I know not — his pictures
are very slightly if at all English in style. There is
nothing about them which proclaims their nationality,
as has been observable on occasions when they have
been placed in French and Belgian galleries, or among
works from the Diisseldorf school. Does this argue
that the expression of talent is very much the same in
all countries ? or may it not rather be, as I am dis
posed to think, that through a careful study of con
temporary schools, Mr. Orchardson has enriched his

280 ENGLISH PAINTING. (W. Q. Orchardson.
own peculiar style by taking somewhat of theirs, and
thus, although his talent is individually distinctive, his
pictures are more conformable to the artistic prin
ciples of the Continent than to those of his English
fellow-artists. At any rate, the result is in every way satisfactory,
and Mr. Orchardson's pictures, " The Challenge," and
"Christopher Sly" (1867), met with the speedy suc
cess they deserved in our country.
" The Challenge " is taken from Sir Walter Scott's
" Peveril of the Peak," and is very charming in its
witty gracefulness.
A comical rogue, dressed entirely in canary-yellow
atin, doffs his hat, and, with a low bow, presents the
hallenge on the point of his sword to a scholarly
cavalier, whose study is disturbed by this unseason
able intrusion. An old man in a dressing-gown, his
fellow-student, has hastily risen, and, with his hand
on the cavalier's arm, strives to prevent him from
taking in serious part such an unwarrantable and
impertinent challenge.
It will scarcely be necessary to remind the reader
that Christopher Sly is the chief character in the
drollery which serves as prologue to Shakespeare's
Taming of the Shrew.
One can see that Mr. Orchardson thoroughly
enters into the spirit of the scene by the intelligence
with which every group is arranged and every face
animated. The representation of this burlesque is
w^ell within the powers of his flexible and lively talent.
The attitudes are true and of great precision in

Oj

« oenXHfc,O wHC

282 ENGLISH PAINTING. [P. Calderon.
drawing ; the expression of the faces is ingenious, and
carried out with refinement, droll without extrava
gance, and grotesque without coarseness. Lastly, in
spite of a certain poorness of touch and meagreness of
execution, the general effect is splendid in colouring,
and as harmonious as the wrong side of an old
tapestry. Many exquisite pictures of a later date,
such as " The Queen of the Swords," " The Anti-
chamber," and " Hard Hit," have established Mr.
William Quiller Orchardson in the highest position
as a genre painter.
The group of artists whom we are now about to
study have no organised tendencies, nor any very
characteristic originality. They are nearly all painters
of narrative subjects ; their British origin is not osten
tatiously displayed, and their works might well be
placed among those of the French school, according
to their various degrees of merit, without any great
difference of style being apparent.
The most eminent of these painters is Mr. Philip
Calderon. In " Her Most Noble, High, and Puis
sant Grace,'' he gives us an example of his pleasing
imagination, combined with a gentle touch of irony.
The subject is a little girl of about five or six years
of age decked out as a princess, who solemnly marches
through a double row of respectfully bowing courtiers.
Another picture, of much sterner character, repre
sents the members of the English Embassy at Paris,
gathered together in their big hall, standing spell
bound and pale with suppressed fury as they witness
the massacre of St. Bartholomew. Through the

p. Calderon.] GENRE PAINTING. 283
closed window, which admits a cold light, they gaze
on the fearful scene, while with knitted brows they
grasp the hilts of their half-drawn swords, and long to
rush forth into the fray. The whole expression rests
in the attitudes, and, considering the style and the
subject, it is well rendered. But we must not sufifer
this occasion to pass without protesting against the
necessity that exists, both in the case of this picture
by Mr. Calderon, and in that of other English
artists, for reference to the catalogue, without which
the painting remains unintelligible. We cannot too
often impress the fact that a picture, as a complete
work in itself, ought to be able to explain itself.
Genre painters make a mistake in limiting themselves
to the narrow bounds of historical anecdote, scenes
from tales or dramatic themes, and this mistake occurs
more frequently in the English school than in ours.
It is only fair to add as a mitigating circumstance
that the English people are much more literary in
their tastes than we are, and as a rule are well
acquainted with the different publications that are or
have been in circulation, so that historical and fictitious
characters are more likely to be known to them than
they would be among ourselves. British artists do
not trouble themselves about any other country than
England, and their pictures very seldom leave their
own island. They are therefore always certain to be
understood, and this constitutes their excuse — or at
least it explains their tendency to represent special
subjects. If Mr. Calderon by some clever arrangement

284 ENGLISH PAINTING. [P. Calderon.
could have let us see some incident of the massacre
his picture would have had a general signification.
By a slight indication, such as white crosses worn by
the Catholics, it might have been recognised that this
slaughter was perpetrated on the fatal night of St.
Bartholomew. But this was not a matter of much
moment ; every spectator, although he might never
have known this terrible page in our history, could not
have failed to understand the agitation which stirred
the depths of these menu's souls ; he could have entered
into their wrathful indignation, and would have been
well aware that their sympathies were with the
sufferers. The picture would have possessed an
essential quality in any work of art — it would have
explained itself.
And, indeed, it must be granted that the masters of
ancient schools, even the less important Northern
masters, have always faithfully followed this rule of
generalising works of art. Putting aside Scriptural
scenes, known and understood by everybody, they
never represent special subjects. Think of the works
of Rembrandt, Terburg, Metzu, &c. Here we have a
" Concert," there a "Conversation," or a "Philosopher's
Study ; " but the "Concert " is for all time, and is not
one particular concert. The same may be said of the
" Conversation,^' which depicts the charm and sweet
familiarity of friendly intercouse, rather than any
precise interview ; and again, it is the expression of
philosophic contemplation in a general sense that
we are shown, and not any especial philosopher in
meditation. Certainly, the details of these works, their

Hayllar and Frith.] GENRE PAINTING. 285
surroundings and times, tend to connect them with a
definite period, and they are very remote from those
ridiculous generalisations and insane ideals prescribed
by ill-educated followers of sestheticism ; but in the
old masters' admirable works, the general and the
particular combine to form a consistent whole. The
representation of the painter's thought cannot remain
a matter of doubt to anybody. Besides the artistic
impression which it conveys to connoisseurs, the
painting assumes a definite meaning to the most
ordinary mind.
Let us remark, once for all, that rarely do English
artists follow this rule, which I look upon as a
fundamental principle of genre painting.
Thus Mr. Hayllar takes for the subject ofhis pic
ture, "Queen Elizabeth's Toothache," and Mr. Frith,
an incident in the life of one of Buckingham's servants
named Claude Duval. This man left his master's
service in order to become a highwayman. One day
his gang stopped a splendid carriage full of high-born
ladies, and commenced operations by robbing them of
;^300. But the rogue, yielding to an extraordinary
whim, offered to restore the money and also the
libert}' of his noble captives on condition that the
youngest and prettiest among them, whom he should
name, would dance a minuet with him. The artist has
chosen the moment when the lady is complying with
these singular terms. The work is slightly feeble, but
the expression of the diff'erent faces is finely depicted.
One cannot, however, but own that a picture, requiring
such a length of explanation, is not worth regarding

286 ENGLISH PAINTING. [^'"

h, Barnard, and
Fildes.

unless it be a masterpiece of execution, and in any
case its enigmatical character could scarcely fail to
take from the permanent merit of the work, even were
it of a much finer character than it really is.
Mr. Powell Frith, although he has not given up his
humorous treatment of the historical genre style, has
lately gained a certain reputation for his popular
scenes — "The Derby Day," and -the "Railway
Station" — the worst painting that can be imagined.
The engraving, however, strongly throws up the action,
fire, and spirit of the work, which causes amusement
by its lively character in spite of the ponderous style
which it displays. "The Derby Day" gave Mr. C.
Green* the idea of his very expressive water colour,
" Here they are !" which reminds one of Mr. Burgess's
" Bravo ! Toro ! " painted fifteen years before. This
is no plagiarism but simply a coincidence. There are
other painters who take pleasure in representing
crowds. Mr. F. BarnaRD, for example, whose singu
lar picture of "Saturday Night in Seven Dials" shows
the v,-onderful activity in trade which is caused by
the entire cessation of everything of the kind on the
next day. Mr. L. Fildes, again, who reminds us
of our G. Dor^ in his picture " Casuals,' which
brings to our notice one of the striking miseries of the
London poor.
The failing to which we just now drew attention is
less noticeable in a very remarkable water-colour
painting by Mr. F. Walker, whose death occurred
* The painter of the charming picture " The Neighbours," which is
here given.

F. Walker.]

GENRE PAINTING.

287

in 1875 when he was still but young. Although his
subject is drawn from one of Thackeray's novels, it is
easily understood. The sentiment of the picture is
quite general enough in character to create a vivid
impression, even though certain details may escape our

NEIGHBOURS. — C. Green.

observation, and we may not have seized the entire
meaning of the artist. We see the inside of a church,
and a young father with his beloved little daughter.
We do not require to know more, for the principal
theme is thus perfectly comprehensible to everybody.
What can it signify, indeed, to us that another artist,
poet, or writer may have treated the same subject by

ENGLISH PAINTING.

1 F. Walker.

other processes — that a novel has been written, in
which a hero named Philip plays the chief part, and at
tends Divine Service under special circumstances, into
which there is no necessity to inquire. And, indeed,
I cannot help feeling annoyed with such a mere

THE OLD GATE. — F. Walker.

smattering of information ; even the knowledge of the
whole tale would aff'ord me no more satisfaction, for
we can never succeed in finding an exact analogy
between two such dissimilar ref)resentations of inner
feeling. It is only action which can be expressed
freely and extensively by different artists.
Frederick Walker died at the age of thirty-five.
His fine picture, " The Old Gate," portraying great
depth of feeling, is still fresh in our memories. It

FRONTISPIECE TO shakspeare's "RICHARD III." — Sir lohn Gilbert.
T

290 ENGLISH PAINTING. [^s.^jo'hnGnb^t"'
was sent with ten of the artist's water-colour paintings
to the Exposition Universelle for 1878. These were
all marvels of grace, refinement, and execution.
Another water colour worthy of mention, "The
Passing of Arthur," is by Mr. Edward Henry Cor-
BOULD. As a matter of fact the subject is taken from
the poet's description of the last battle, but to no one
can the issue be doubtful. The three weeping queens,
the shadowy forms in prayerful attitude, the dark,
lowering sky, the pale, immovable young form, all
plainly tell of the death of a hero, and a death which
not only crushes men's hearts with grief, but for which
the very elements seem to express their sorrow.
This most important principle of generalisation
appears to me to be very well followed in " The
Venetian Council,'^ a water colour of slightly heavy
execution, but beautiful in colouring, and with a pleas
ing variety of action and attitude. The painter, SiR
John Gilbert, has very often drawn his inspirations
from Shakespeare, and with most satisfactory results.
The same rule is observed in the quizzical works of
Cattermole — the first English water-colour painter who
become known in France, a contemporar}'- and friend
of the artists of Our romantic school — and in another
water colour by Mr. T. R. Lamont, entitled "Wearied
to Death." In this interior, the master of the house,
an aged man, is gossiping with the old priest standing
before the fireplace, who has dropped in to spend an
hour with his friend. But there is nothing in the least
degree amusing or interesting in their discourse to the
young wife, whose back is turned to the two old men.

Lamont.]

GENRE PAINTING.

291

and who is wearied to death of their society, of the
tedious piece of work on which she is everlastingly

before his peers.—/. Pettie.

engaged, and of her life generally. This carries us back
to what I have already said ; in spiteof particulardetails,
everybody can enter into the idea of the chafing eff'ect
of a dull, petty existence on a young woman of ill-
T 2

292 ENGLISH PAINTING. [siAfands GrL.
balanced mind. It is the same weariness experienced
by Mme. Bovary in Gustave Flaubert's chef-d'cEuvre.
As a last instance of a picture in the genre style
well thought out and arranged, I will mention an English
oil-painting, "The Arrest for Witchcraft," by Mr. John
Pettie. Whether or not the witch be a real sorceress
is beside the question, but no one's interest can fail to
be excited by the spectacle of the poor old woman, led
off" by soldiers and followed by the shouting and
execrations of the crowd. In the distance one sees
two crafty philosophers, who, with a bantering air,
countenance the angry dealings of the mob, although
they are sceptical as to the reality of the victim's
magical power. Mr. Pettie is not always so happy as
in this picture. As a rule, he aims at high dramatic
effect, and only attains mediocrity. But some of his
portraits are fine.
The diff'erent pictures that I have mentioned are
some of the best of that style in the English school,
and I have shown in how far they fail to follow the
conditions which seem to me of the utmost importance
in genre painting. To my mind, another of their
great defects is that they exhibit no sort of distinctive
originality either in conception or in execution.
This is the fault we find with the painting of an
English artist, renowned in his own country, SiR
Francis Grant.* His picture of Marshal Viscount
Harding withdrawing from the field of battle at
* Sir Francis Grant was born in 1804, elected an Academician
in 1851, and afterwards President. On the death of Sir Charles
Eastlake he was knighted in 1866, and died in 1879. His most

E.' J.'Gre|o^] GENRE PAINTING. 293
Ferozeshah recalls too vividly the style of Horace
Vernet. The same want of originality may be re
marked in Mr. Well's works and in Miss Thomp
son's second-rate military pictures.
Fortunately, however. Sir Francis Grant has
painted some excellent portraits, and we must
mention particularly the small full-length likeness
of Mr. Higgins. His model stands before an easel,
intent on the examination of a painting, whilst a
little dog plays at his feet. The execution is simple
and graceful, and, although a little careless, the work
is both pleasing and of fine quality. The dog is
painted by the illustrious animal painter Sir Edwin
Landseer. We cannot speak too highly of Mr. John Lewis's
Eastern interiors. They are marvels of patience and
detail, and are much admired in England. This artist
began his career by some wonderful animal studies,
which show singular faithfulness, a faithfulness which
is a great artistic merit when carried to such a high
degree. His works, are indeed of rare worth.
Of the younger school of British artists, Mr. E. J.
Gregory is one of the most interesting representatives.
He attempts all and every style, and dips into every
branch of art. The same enthusiasm which inspires
him to undertake the most difficult tasks leads him to
study the lowliest objects. One canvas exhibits the
carefully executed portrait of some man, another a
celebrated portraits are those of Lord Clyde, Disraeli, Lockhart, Sir
Edwin Landseer, Earl Derby, Lord John Russell, Lord Palmerston,
and Lord Macaulay.

294

ENGLISH PAINTING.

[E. J. Gregory.

head of St. George finely carried out. Here we have
numerous drawings of a humorous and satirical
nature, or again, such a picture as the peculiar
production entitled " The Dawn," in which he has
striven, with singular daring, to represent the extraor
dinary eff'ect of daybreak making itself apparent in a
brilliantly lighted hall, where a ball is drawing to its

DOLES. — C. Gregory.
close. The first pale blue streaks of the rising dawn
give a very wan appearance to the poor artificial light,
which throws its }'ellow gleams on all surrounding
objects, and communicates a ghastly eff'ect to every
thing, not excepting the belle of the entertainment
and her partner, who cannot escape its baneful glare.
It is the eccentric fancy of a young artist, who appears
as capable of altering his style as he is fertile in fresh
and varying ideas.

C. Gregory and!
H Herkomer. J

GENRE PAINTING.

295

His namesake, Mr. C. GREGORY, is also a talented
artist, as is well proved by his picture " Doles."
Possessing much in common with Mr. E. J. Gregory,
Mr. Hubert Herkomer yet ranks above him by the
higher importance of his work. His painting, "The
Last Muster," met with as great a success in Paris both
from artists and the public as it had obtained at the

THE LAST MUSTER. — H. Herkomer.

Royal Academy in 1875. I" the chapel of the
Chelsea Hospital, ornamented with colours gained
from conquered foes, the old soldiers attend the
Sunday morning service. They are seated on several
rows of seats in varying postures, which have all been
carefully studied by the artist, and rendered with
characteristic accuracy. In the centre of the picture
are two pensioners, one of whom anxiously grasps
the feeble hand of his companion, who is dying.
For him this is plainly thus the last muster on

296

ENGLISH PAINTING.

[H. Herkomer.

earth. Hence the somewhat enigmatical title of the
picture. The work is finely treated with a breadth of exe
cution quite unusual in the case of our neighbours.
Mr. Herkomer has exhibited later paintings of a
different nature, although not less interesting. Of

I N

f IK

. ^ . ?

SIGNALS OF DISTRESS.—^. Hopkins.

these we may particulariy mention "At Death's Door,"
an excellent work with an aff'ecting subject. The
second picture which he sent to the Champs de Mars in
1878, "After the Toil of the Day," though a piece of
poorer execution, and his water colours and drawings
gave a very correct idea of the charming manner in
which he is able to portray popular subjects. Some of

LEAVING HOME. — F. Holt.

298

ENGLISH PAINTING.

L^

Hopkins and
F. Hull.

these are to be seen in the Graphic Gallery, among
which may be particularly mentioned " The Passage
of the Weir," a work full of activity and grace ;
another, " The Women's Asylum," is a masterpiece of
movement and keen observation. The artist later used
this subject in a picture exhibited in the Salon of 1880.
There are still a few more works worthy of special

REJECTED. — Marcus stone.

remark : " Signals of Distress," by Mr. A. HOPKINS ;
" Leaving Home," by Mr. F. Holl, which would
assuredly be noticed if it were sent to one of the
Salons, even though it were by an unknown artist.
The scene is laid in the third-class waiting-room
of a railway station. On a bench are seated four
persons, one of them a young soldier, who unaffectedly
resigns himself to the leave-taking. His attentions
are divided between the woman, who overwhelms him
with her last tender farewells, and his father, an old

C.J. Pinwelk] GENRE PAINTING. 299
man, who, with eyes red with weeping, sits silent in
his grief A little apart from this group is a nice-
looking, neatly-dressed young girl, probably some
clergyman's daughter about to commence the hard ex
perience of a governess's life, who counts out on her lap
the small sum of money left to her after her ticket is
paid for. As sentimentality is not allowed in French
criticism, my excuse for entering into all these life
like and aff'ecting details must be that everything in this
work by Mr. Holl, drawing, colouring, and arrangement,
even to the last technical particulars, are admirable.
" St. James's Park," a water colour, by Mr. G. J.
PiNWELL, whose career, full of promise, was cut off by
death in 1875 when he was only thirty-two years old,
is deserving of the same commendation. On one of
the benches in the park sits a man thoroughly worn
out in his fight for life. Although he is decently clad,
his pale, wan features tell of the mental anguish he
sufifers from his deep poverty, as well as the severe
physical agony caused by a fast of forty-eight hours.
Beneath his gaze lovers softly converse, and an epicure
brushes by the poor famished creature as he passes with
the game he is carrying home for dinner. The irony of
the picture is acute. Mr. Pinwell might well have illus
trated Thomas Hood's celebrated " Song of the Shirt,"
and indeed I wonder that this poerri has not more fre
quently furnished a theme to English genre painters.*
* M. Barthelemy Saint-Marc Girardin, son of the eminent
man whose loss is still so deeply felt in literature, has made a faithful
translation of Thomas Hood's "Song of the Shirt."
This poem, which so pathetically described the keen misery suffered

300 ENGLISH PAINTING.
These striking contrasts of worldly position are
often to be seen in English pictures. The painful
circumstance is called forth and plainly stated, with-

SNOW IN srRitiG.— G. H Boughton.
out ostentatious demonstration, but still in all its
cruel intensity. For instance, England is a country
by the poor sempstresses of the lower order, excited the most vehement
compassion for them throughout all England. The "Song of the
Shirt " agitated all classes of society, and the movement was universal.
Many charitable institutions owe their origin to this cause. Its effect
was so powerful and so long-lived, that when Thomas Hood died some
years later, it was decided that the finest tribute that could be paid to
him was to engrave on his tombstone the simple words: "He sang
the ' Song of the Shirt.' "

GENRE PAINTING. 30I
abounding in large families, and therefore to have no

SONS OF THE BRAVE. — P. R. Morris.
children is looked upon as a great sorrow. Many

302

ENGLISH PAINTING.

[

M. Stone, G. H.
Boughton, &c.

artists have striven to introduce this feeling into their
pictures in a more or less ingenious manner. Among
others Mr. Marcus Stone, the painter of" Rejected,"
represents in another work " The Widow," a lady of
high standing, dressed in mourning, who, in solitary
state, sadly views from a distance the caresses
lavished on a strong young navvy by his wife and

SCHOOL RE-VISITED. — G. D. Leslie.
little ones. How many other sweet and pleasing
subjects of the same kind, designed to show forth the
charm and happiness of family life, we should have to
mention as works of the English school, if only the
execution of the pictures were equal to the scheme.
There are some young masters, however, who cer
tainly rank above the average — G. H. BoUGHTON,
" Snow in Spring ;" E. H. Fahey, " He never Came;"
P. R. Morris, who studied under Holman Hunt,
but who has since devoted himself to a less severe

^'c'^'D^^Leslie."''] GENRE PAINTING. 303
system of art, as may be remarked in his charming
painting, " Sons of the Brave ; " and lastly, Mr. G. D.
Leslie, painter of the exquisite picture, " School
Re-visited." A graceful young lady, in pretty walking
costume, has come to visit the school from which she
has been emancipated for two or three years. All the
remaining schoolgirls of her time have gathered round
her ; those who were then the " little ones " have now
become the " elder girls " in their turn, and, holding
their hands, she makes them recount all their school
episodes, whilst her sweet face lights up with pleasure
as they recall the experiences of the past when she
was yet among them.
All these painters possess decided and distinctive
talent, as well as a habit of careful observation, but
they do not care, as a rule, to exercise these qualities
for anything more than domestic scenes. Women,
young girls, and children are always placed foremost
in their pictures, and the painter never loses an oppor
tunity of investing them with every possible elegance
or refinement consistent with truth and their sur
roundings ; so that whether the scene be laid in the
open country or in town, these bright, varied, and
life-like paintings resemble so many chapters of a
prettily-written novel.

304

CHAPTER VII.
PAINTING IN WATER COLOUR.
In less than a century the English school of water
colour has passed through three transitions. The
stained drawing, to begin with, was nothing more than
a simple wash of Indian ink, as may be observed
in the works of the first artist in this style who is
worthy of mention in the history of English painting.
This painter, FRANCIS Barlow, who was born in
Lincolnshire about the year 1626, painted animals, and
particularly birds, with a certain amount of taste, but
his colouring was not equal to his drawing. At the
end of the eighteenth century the masters in this branch
of art were : " MICHAEL Angelo Rooker, A.R.A.
(1743 — 1 801), Thomas Hearne (1744— 1834), and
W. Payne (date unknown), whose painting consisted
of a simple wash in brown or bluish-grey, brought to
a state of more or less perfection by pen-work, such
parts as the sky, water, and foreground, being done in
lighter colour. But even here there are no bold tints
to be seen ; they are softened, like the wash itself, to a
reduced tone, and there is certainly no great seeking
after effects of light and shade in these works, still
less a desire to imitate the true colouring of nature.

Cristall and Livenseege.] WATER COLOUR. JOS
This broad, sober mode of treatment, rather pleasing,
although shallow in character, was sufficiently extensive
to allow of the representation of some few poetical
subjects and certain artistic views. But in themes
where figures play an important part, and in archi
tectural designs, for which the style has been most
used, the too strongly-marked pen-lines dispel all
charm, and in any case the water colours of the olden
time appear very tame to us in these days.
John Robert Cozens (1752 — 1799), however,
and Thomas Girtin (1773 — 1802), the founders of the
school, deserve particular mention, although the former
never departed from his primitive, almost rudimentary,
manner of painting, which causes his works to look
very like coloured engravings. Thomas Girtin was the
first to use colour, with the utmost wariness to start
with, but attaining at length to some approximate
realisation of nature's tints, under their most demure
aspect, it is true, but still with artistic feeling. The
same quality is to be discovered in the style of JOHN
Sell Cotman (1782 — 1842), an artist of a rather
later date, who, by his soft and fanciful representation
of nature, rises above many artists to whom fortune
has been more favourable.
In figure painting JOSilUA Cristall (1767— 1847)
and Henry Liverseege (1803— 1832) both belong
to the same early school of water colour ; they each
possessed an ardent imagination, although their lives
and genius were totally dissimilar, and England owes
to them an extensive series of works unequalled by
any water-colour painters of the same period.
U

306 ENGLISH PAINTING. [Blake and Stothard.
It is certainly not their artistic worth that attracts
us in the works of the visionary William Blake
(1757 — 1827), of whom we have already spoken. Both
the drawing and execution in his productions are
anything but good ; their sole merit rests in the
powerful imagination with which they are inspired, the
marvellous fancy which can conjure up revelations
from former ages, and dive into the mysterious depths
of the human soul.
Although in his large oil-paintings Thomas
Stothard (1755 — 1834) is as defective, from an artistic
point of view, as W. Blake, it is quite a different matter
with his water colours, which show much grace and
refinement of feeling. One notices more particularly
in his youthful eff"orts a fine open-air eff'ect and a
skill in catching transient beauties in which English
artists, with the exception of Gainsborough and
Reynolds, have been rarely successful. But Stothard
often spoils his own work by a laboured fancy which
leads him far from the truth.
Since the primitive Flemish and Italian masters,
there has been no artist in the world vi^ho has shown
such a deep sympathy with life and nature in all their
extensive variety as J. M. W. Turner. His vivid
imagination led him to a correct rendering of the
most difficult colouring. As the result of his self-
imposed mental discipline, as well as his long and
patient studies, he at length arrived at a state of per
fection in representing light in all its brilliance and
intricacies which had never before been reached.
As I have already discussed Turner's genius, I will

Turner.] WATER COLOUR. 307
here merely speak of him in his quality of water-colour
painter. In his youth he studied with Girtin, and with
him advanced the progress of the school from its first
stages to a higher development. Turner seems to
have comprehended, even at this early date, that a
complete knowledge of drawing and form constitutes
the very groundwork of art, and so, with that powerful
will which is in itself a most decided proof of genius,
and which he possessed in a greater degree than any
body else of his day, he devoted much of his time to
sketches of nature with pen and pencil. His first
works were executed in a kind of grey or brown mono
chrome, but one can already discover in them the
power for representing wide extents, and that skill
in the arrangement of masses which characterised him
during sixty years of increasing work.
"Gradually and cautiously," Mr. Ruskin states in his
excellent summary of Turner's career, " the blues became
mingled with delicate green, and then with gold ; the
browns in the foreground become first more positive, and
then were slightly mingled with other local colours, while
the touch grew more and more refined and expressive, until
it lost itself in a method of execution often too delicate for
the eye to follow, rendering, with a precision before unex
ampled, both the texture and the form of every object."
One may say that Turner had entirely mastered
his own system about the year 1800, and that he
followed it faithfully for twenty years.
By this plan of treatment he was enabled, in a very
complete manner, to represent form, width, and depth,
which are the distinctive peculiarities of his work,
U 2

308 ENGLISH PAINTING. [Turner.
although now and then in his small productions may
be seen a foreshadowing of that passion which took
such entire possession of him for employing pure
colour. Turner was able by his simple method to
portray faithfully every kind of landscape. He never
looked upon any theme as either of too high or too low
a character for him. It is this that lends such interest
to his art, and gives him the superb power of expression
by which he depicted Nature in her endless varieties.
Such is the intense and infinite sympathy which
Turner appeared to have possessed for every kind of
life at this period, that Shakespeare, in his own style,
is the only man that can in any way be compared to
him. He is attracted by the humblest and most
insignificant subject, and throws his whole soul into its
study, but then, on the other hand, there are no heights
in grandeur and sublimity unattainable by him.
Having once conquered the delineation of form.
Turner from henceforth gave himself up, with an
equally determined fervour and keen observation, to
the study of colour. The great technical knowledge
which he had gained in his cultivation of form now
helped him in this other path, and all those who have
ever striven to copy nature truthfully will understand,
by the results in his works, what tremendous difiSculties
he overcame, and with what refinement and accuracy
his tints were chosen. He did not limit himself to
colouring his drawings — which, indeed, is not an
uncommon custom, and fairly easy to do — from this
time his works were imagined in colour, and were
executed in and for the sake of colour.

Turner.] WATER COLOUR. 3O9
This would naturally lead him to change the choice
of his subjects. From this time he preferred those
themes which best lent themselves to fine effects of
colouring. Sunrise and sunset — the tremulous motion
of the lake in the glow of mid-day — ruins flooded in
the soft, silver light of the- moon, and the haziness of
moonlit nights. It was now that Turner discovered
that those masters, whose works he had most studied
for form and composition, were unable to teach him
anything more than he already knew about colour ;
that even from Poussin and Van de Velde he could
learn nothing concerning the coloured radiance of light.
The execution which distinguishes his second style is
free, fine, and resolute, whilst its exuberance of rich
and varied tones, its dislike to formality, and its
constant striving after an ideal, seem to tell of the
artist's lightness of heart and cheerfulness of mind.
Animation and deep thought, sublime harmonies,
and an entire devotion to nature — these are the
qualities that characterise his art even up to his latest
years. Although the invention of such expedients as
the sponge, eraser, and cloth for light portions of a
work have been attributed to him, his execution was so
firm, and yet so delicate, that he rarely needed to resort
to them. Unlike GEORGE Fennell Robson (1790
— 1833) and Robert Hills (1769 — 1844), who made
immoderate use of such means, he boldly applied pure
colour, once for all, and thus gained the desired eff'ect
at the commencement.
Limited space will not allow more than a passing
mention of his splendid illustrations, such as "Artistic

3 ID ENGLISH PAINTING.
Journey in Italy," by Flakewell ; " Illustrated Bible,"
by Finden ; " Beauties of England and Wales," " The
Coasts of France," " Annual Travels," " Southern Coast
Scenery," and illustrations of the works of Sir Walter
Scott, Lord Byron, Rogers, Milton, Campbell, and the
beautiful "Liber studiorum." Most fortunately the
English school of engraving was at its height in the time
of Turner, and his finest productions were rendered in
black and white under the artist's own direction, so that
the original works, in all their exquisite delicacy, are
known to posterity by means of these engravings.
To the same school of water colour belong John
Vsrley (1778— 1842), David Cox (1788— 1859), Peter
de Wint (1784 — 1849), Anthony Vandyke Copley
Fielding (1787 — 1855), George Barret (1774 — 1842),
Samuel Prout (1783 — 1852), Wilham Henry Hunt
(1790 — 1864), George Cattermole (1800 — 1868), and
John Frederick Lewis (1805 — 1876). These are men
who, though possessing diff'erent degrees of merit, are
all united in a sincere love of truth, a careful choice
of subject, and a poetic feeling for nature.
Copley Fielding, who was a friend of the French
painter Delacroix, is perhaps the greatest artist after
Turner for representations of breadth and atmosphere.
He is unequalled in certain effects of mist, which are
splendid in their mysterious expanse. Samuel Prout,
whose method carries us back to the primitive style,
has a particular liking for artistic beauties of an
architectural order. Views of the cathedrals, castles,
and market-places, which with much energy and
patience he has sought out on the Rhine, in France,

Prout and David Cox.] WATER COLOUR. 3II
Germany, Flanders, and Italy, have been extensively
made known by means of engraving or lithography.
His work is more that of a designer than of an
artist. I believe that many English people have had
the love of travelling first awakened in them by
taking a journey through Front's albums, and many
have acknowledged, when standing before some noble
edifice — say, for instance, the splendid Cathedral of
Amiens — how deeply they were indebted to the artist
for their own appreciative emotions.
David Cox resembles Prout in this power of
exciting interest, but there the similarity ends. He
is more like Constable in his bold, simple, and fresh
style of colouring. If Prout has shown his country
men something of Continental beauties. Cox ought
to possess a deeper claim on their admiration, b}' the
manner in which he depicts the grandeur and
loveliness of their own land. In his poetical treat
ment of landscape he ranks very near Turner,
although there is a decided diff'erence between his
singular audacity of style and the skilful delicacy of
the great master. No one has succeeded in repre
senting an ordinary cornfield, the humblest of huts,
green forests, or great distances, in a more masterly
manner, and at the same time with more simplicity.
For eminence in brilliant painting — not in land
scape, but the genre style in which figures play so
important a part — LEWIS and W. Hunt may be
classed together. Just as in the case of Turner, their
true sense of colour led them both to a simple, decisive
manner, whilst their correct adjustment of light and

312 ENGLISH PAINTING. [Lewis and W. Hunt.
shadow imparts a largeness to their works, although
the details are elaborately carried out. While Lewis
was travelling in Spain and in the East, and was
familiarising those at home with pictures of the Nile,
and the general results of his observation, W. Hunt
was devoting himself, with a skill hitherto unknown
in any English artist, to depicting in all their
brilliancy the fruits and flowers of his own country.
The Society of Painters in Water Colours dates
from 1805. It was founded by artists who were ill-
satisfied with the manner in which their works were
received at the Royal Academy. Their exhibitions,
of which thc first was opened in Lower Brook Street,
Grosvenor Square, on April 22nd of the same year,
took place later in Bond Street, then at Spring
Gardens, and finally at Pall Mall East. The members
on the foundation of the Society were : G. Barret, J.
Cristall, W. S. Gilpin, J. Glover, W. Havell, R.
Hills, J. Holworthy, J. C. Nattes, F. Nicholson, N.
Pocock, V. H. Pyne, S. Rigaud, S. Shelley, J. Varley,
C. Varley, and W. F. Wells. The names of Girtin
and Turner are not included in this list, for the first
died in 1802, and the second was elected a member
of the Royal Academy in the same year.
In 1 83 1 a certain number of artists founded a
Society of Painters in Water Colours (the New Society,
as it was called in 1834), in consequence of the large
number of water colour painters of repute who found
themselves unable to obtain membership in the old
Society. Their first exhibition was held in the spring
of the same year in Old Bond Street. The members

WATER COLOUR. 313
of the foundation were : W. Cowen, James Fuge,
T. Maisey, G. F. Phillip.s, J. Powell, W. B. S. Taylor,
and T. Wageman. In 1863 the Society changed its
name to the Institute of Painters in Water Colours.
Up to the date of this change the following distin
guished painters were among its members : — L. Haghe,
W. Bennett, H. Warren, T. Boys, S. H. Corbould,
T. S. Robins, D'Equille, W. W. Deane, Mrs. Coleman
Angell, E. Duncan Topham, and G. Dodgson.* After
J. M. W. Turner, David Cox, Peter de Wint, A. V.
Copley Fielding, George Barret, S. Prout, William
Hunt, George Cattermole, and J. L. Lewis, we must
name as second-class in the ancient school : G. Lam
bert, Paul Sandby, M. A. Rooker, F. Wheatley,
T. Heme, J. K. Sherwin, F. Nicholson, J. R. Cozens,
N. Pocock, T. Rowlandson, J. C. Ibbetson, D. M.
Serres, E. Dayes, J. Glover, S. Howit, H. Edridge,
J. Cristall, S. Owen, R. Hills, T. Girtin, J. Variey,
J. S. Cotman, W. Havell, J. J. Chalon, W. Turner,
L. Clennell, S. F. Rigaud, G. F. Robson, F. Nash,
R. Westall, E. Dorrell, H. Liverseege, G. Chambers,
G. W. Shepheard, J. M. Ince, W. Stanley, W. Oliver,
S. Austin, G. Cruikshank, W. Arches, S. Cook, W.
Bennett, J. D. Harding, C. Bentley, and S. Bough.
* Certain changes have recently taken place in the constitution of
this Society; but although they are later in date than 1882, with which
year this history of English painting comes to an end, it is convenient
to note that in 1883 the Society removed to new galleries in Piccadilly,
and threw open its Exhibition to outsiders. As an acknowledgment of
the good work it had done, her Majesty was pleased to confer upon it
the title of "Royal," and in 1884 conferred the further distinction of
a diploma.

314

CHAPTER VIII.
CARICATURE.
There is no outward expression, be it in literature,
sculpture, painting, or any other art, which more
openly tells of a nation's character, and exhibits it to
all eyes, than caricature. From its very nature it is
incapable of misleading any one with regard to the
tendencies of national temperament.
However great may be the attainment of intel
lectual culture in any land, or the outward propriety
of its manners and customs, no amount of circum
spection or worldly prudence has ever been able to
check the declaration of unvarnished truth from the
pen or pencil of the satirist, humorist, and moralist.
In the case of the Latin races, the free scope of whose
intellect was circumscribed and over-ridden by tradi
tion, no academical consideration was able to effect
this end, nor in other nations has any influence,
whether religious or social, ever been strong enough
to do so. Even the powerful English " cant " has
entirely failed. Now, from whence does caricature
derive its strength ? From the fact that — little as it
may appear to be the case, and although the artist
may himself be unaware of it — it strives after a

CARICATURE. 315
certain ideal which is its beginning and its end, the
source from whence it springs and whither it tends
and which admits of no concession or compromise.
This word " ideal " has been so popularly mis
quoted, and so often applied to a tame, commonplace
conception of insipid beauty, that it has thus been
brought into disrepute to such a degree that one
exposes oneself to ridicule in either writing it or
referring to it. With this designation of the term I
have nothing to do. Nor do I sympathise with
Gebhart, quoted by M. Champfleury,* when he states
that caricature springs from the ideal, for " if ugliness
disgusts the artist, it is because it spreads a kind of
shadow over the beauty the pure light of which shines
in his own soul."
I do not believe in such a negative ideal, nor in
such a discord between beauty and ugliness. These
are subtleties of the metaphysical German mind,
which are of no value. Ugliness, far from disgusting
the caricaturist, very much interests him. If the case
were as Gebhart thinks, would it not be a singular
means to take for the dispersion of "the .shadow
spread over beauty," to devote oneself exclusively to
the representation of ugliness ? Now, this is exactly
what is done in caricature. It neither sees nor
* See in the Notice, page 11, of " L'Histoire de la Caricature sous
la Reforme et la Ligue, de Louis XIII. a Louis XVI." By. M.
Champfleury. (l vol. in. -18, Dentil. ) This lately-published volume
completes the author's extensive work on this subject, one which would
possess particular attraction for a mind so powerfully impressed by any
form of sincerity in art, a quality which alone renders it original,
expressive, or worthy of history.

3l6 ENGLISH PAINTING.
demonstrates anything but ugliness in all its stages,
commencing at the simply ludicrous, and culminating
in the horrible. One finds at its two extremes the
monster and the simpleton — Caliban and Jeannot.
Gebhart's mistake arises from the perpetual
bewilderment that exists in minds possessing no
artistic sense between the object represented and its
own representation. How often must it be repeated
that the beauty or ugliness of a work of art has
nothing to do with the beauty or ugliness of the
model, and that the most repulsive being or the most
frightful monster may yet furnish the theme for a
masterpiece ! Think of the fawn's head, with its in
imitable grimace, its sensual senility, which could
never have been modelled by any other hand than
that of Michael Angelo. Think of the sublime
specimens of Leonardo de Vinci's grotesque produc
tions. Think of the whole work of Rembrandt, in
which no single beautiful face can be discovered ; and
of that of the poetical Albert Diirer, so complete a
specialist ; and the incomparable nightmare forms
invented by Goya's genius and by the wonderful
artists of Japan !
To pretend that all these masterpieces are meant
to show their author's hatred of ugliness is not only a
paradox, but blindness ; that entire and singular blind
ness which veils the pedantry of German ideologists.
Ugliness is a fact, and, like all other facts, a me
dium of art.* It is in this alone that the caricaturist
* "Nature is but a pretext ; art, elevated by the individual, is the
goal," such is the opinion constantly affirmed l)y a celebrated French

CARICATURE. 317
deals. Caricature, then, has its very decided ideal,
approved, defined, and peculiar to itself, M'hich is
nothing more or less than truth. Only, instead of
following the pagan aspiration, and thus striving to
attain a pure, faultless, abstract beauty ; instead of
suppressing the incidental for the greater harmony of
the human form, the caricaturist deliberately exagge
rates the incidental in order to get a greater variety of
types. Just as in the case of the idealist of beauty,
he, too, alters the personal reality, but not to tone it
down ; quite in a contrary spirit he enlarges and
draws out its individual peculiarities, and by gene
ralising them he makes the truth therein comprised
all the more striking.
This is the reason why caricature is the truest
interpretation of a nation's habits and tastes. If this
be the case we must infer, after studying English
caricatures of the last century and a half, that the
ancient fierceness of the Anglo-Saxon nature, if not
really weakened, is at any rate wonderfully softened
in character. This change has gradually but surely crept on
from the times of Hogarth to Gillray and Rowland-
son ; from these to John Leech, and again from Leech
to those of our own day. Some recent publications
artist M. Jules Dupre, "Why does one speak of a Van Dyck, a
Rembrandt, without mentioning what the picture represents? The
reason is that the subject is of minor consideration, and that the
painter, the creator, is alone of importance. Or to give another
example. One often says. Bete comme un chou, but no one would
think of saying. Bite comme un chou, peint par Chardin. This is
because the subject is elevated by the treatment of the artist."

3l8 ENGLISH PAINTING. [Suckling.
will enable us to follow this singular progression very
closely.* Caricature, which took its rise ih England
rom the political and religious dissensions of the
Reformation, was anything but timid in its first ap
pearance, but, on the contrary, violent, coarse, and
licentious ; still, it was rarely indulged in in the times
of Charles I., for although bishops and Presbyterians,
Roundheads and Cavaliers, waged a ceaseless and un
scrupulous war, and exchanged the most spiteful
satires and venomous slanders, the best among these
productions are done by a foreign hand, as the good
drawing evidently proves. The artists were probably
Dutch. England at that time had no art. This is
sufficiently shown by the engraving accompanying
the pamphlet entitled " Roaring Boys," by Suckling,
and which is reproduced in Thomas Wright's t " His
tory of Caricature." For over a century it was
Holland, by whose satirical fancy England was
diverted during the time she was agitated by the
excitement of revolution in 1688, or engaged 'in the
mad financial freaks in 1720, such as "The South
Sea Bubble," corresponding to Law's speculative

* " Rowlandson, the Caricaturist : A Selection from his Works,
with Anecdotal Descriptions of his Famous Caricatures and a Sketch
ofhis Life, Times, and Contemporaries." By Joseph Greco, Author of
' ' James Gillray, the Caricaturist : His Life, Works, and Times. " With
about four hundred illustrations. Two Volumes. (London : Chatto
and Windus, Piccadilly, 1880.) See also in Punch, the Graphic, and
the important collection of picture-books jxiblished in London by George
Koutledge & Sons.
t "History of Caricature, and of the Grotesque in Literature and
Art.'' By Thomas Wright.

W.Hogarth.] CARICATURE. 319
movement in France and the extravagance of the rue
Quincampoix. This fever of gold and paper had the
eff'ect of bringing forth the first purely English cari
catures — very miserable attempts when compared to
similar Continental productions at that day.
And then came HoGARTH. When he was forty
years old, and after he had long followed the calling of
an engraver, he laid hold, in 1733, of the sharp weapon
of caricature, which had been used hitherto in political
controversies alone, and employed it to depict the
manners and customs of his time. This was in itself
a mark of genius. Thirty years later, when engaged
by the unpopular minister, Lord Bute, he too entered
the political field of battle and made a hasty attack
upon the enemy, but for him the results were far from
satisfactory. At the time of which we were speaking,
however, 1733 and 1735, he published, one after the
other, two large series of works, "The Harlot's Pro
gress,'^ and " The Rake's Progress," and ten years
after, " The Marriage a la Mode," in six parts. They
immediately met with an enormous success, and the
English school was founded.
Hogarth's plan was to take a suite of subjects and
to follow them up in carefully arranged progression
like the acts of a comedy. He himself says : " My
wish was to arrange my pictures after the fashion of
theatrical representations." And again he utters the
same thought — "I have tried to treat my subjects in the
same manner that a dramatist would have done. My
picture is my stage, my men and women the actors,
who are required by means of certain postures and

320 ENGLISH PAINTING. [W. Hogarth.
action to represent a dumb show." He likes to
moralise even while amusing, and takes in serious part
the Castigat ridendo. " Painted comedy will surely be
more convincing than numberless volumes of written
comedy. This is what I have attempted in the series
that I have produced."
I will not say that he succeeded in his moral
endeavours, but most certainly, despite his heaviness
of execution, and inaccuracy of drawing, no artist in
the world has ever better portrayed attitude and
expression with pencil — in other words, he gave a
faithful representation both of face and action. Such
was his skill and the harmony of his creations, that one
can see as plainly as possible the diff'erent influences at
work in his characters — covetousness, hatred, servility,
suffering, stupidity, grief, madness, sensuality, terror,
joy, and misery, both social and moral — all these we
can discover in the ludicrous forms, the flattened or
pointed skulls, the swollen, apoplectic countenances, or
emaciated, bloodless cheeks, in the stout or thin figures,
and in the persons deformed, twisted, and distorted by
every kind of ill common to mind or body.
After Hogarth sprang some second-rate artists in
something after his style. Sandby, an inferior painter,
whose hatred to Hogarth caused him to take up
caricature, and carry out the merciless, though comical
creations of his brain ; JOHN COLLETT, Hogarth's
pupil, and a witty satirist of the habits of his time ;
James Sayer, who dealt solely in politics, and, up
holding William Pitt, peppered Fox with sarcasm ;
H. W. BuNBURY, son of the baronet, who had a very

Gillray.] CARICATURE. 321
ludicrous and spirited manner of depicting equestrian
subjects, generally choosing the mischances of horse
manship; Woodward, whose simple wit unac
companied by rancour lent itself most readily to
scenes of the lower middle-class ; and many others,
Ramberg, Dighton, Nixon, Newton, Bovne,
Codlings, Kingsbury, Lane, Heath, and Sey
mour. But there are some names requiring special
mention, such as Gillray, Rowlandson, Isaac Cruik
shank, and his son, "the glorious George," who
were of much greater importance than the ordinary
caricaturists. In spite of its good drawing and true skilfulness of
composition, GilLRAY'S work has ceased to excite any
interest, particularly on the French side of the Channel,
on account of the exclusive manner in which it deals
in politics. What do we care nowadays about the
struggles of Pitt against Fox and Burke, of Shelburn
against Richmond ? How can Thurlow's partisanship
of Warren Hastings, the avarice of the royal couple,
the awkwardness or even the folly of George HI., afifect
us now .' Such ephemeral details, which essentially
belong to the local chronicle of small things, are useful
only as affording slanderous notes in history, and they
must thank the inherent curiosity of mankind alone
that they have been suffered to outlive the publications
of the time.
Rowlandson, whose attention was more or less
directed to all conditions of men, was an artist of
rather a higher grade. His work is interesting, because
the root of the vices, passions, and absurdities that he
V

322 ENGLISH PAINTING. [Rowlandson.
represented with so much talent, is yet to be found in
the human soul. Some part of his youth was passed
in France, at Paris, where he stayed with a French
aunt, the widow of Thomas Rowlandson. He took
some capital caricatures as reminiscences away with
him : " Madame Very, la belle limonadiere," and
the humorous reflections upon our cookery, " The
French Ordinary,'^ according to which every orthodox
Englishman of the old school firmly believes that the
famished French nation live on nothing but cats and
frogs — nonsense of very much the same character as
that which has given us our standard idea of the
Englishman by Carle Vernet — the tall, lank Englishman
with red complexion, hair, and whiskers, and thick
lips showing long yellow teeth like the keys of a piano.
Or, again, the short, dumpy Englishman, square and
compact, greasy and bloated in face, with a small
brimless hat on the back of his head, flourishing a
light cane, or loudly swearing as he engages in a boxing
encounter. This is all very well, but means absolutely
nothing as far as practical observation is concerned.
It cannot be denied that artists have their own way
of looking at things, and beyond the representation of
those persons, scenes, and facts, familiar to them from
their childhood, their judgment is little to be relied
upon. I say this because I see how true it is in the
case of Rowlandson, and how thoroughly he failed to
take in or understand the artistic character of the
French soldier, of whose very bearing and uniform he
was ignorant. He does not stand alone in such
mistakes, for the same remark applies to every artist

Rowlandson.] CARICATURE. 323
who paints foreign scenes, and thus we ought not to
place too much confidence in their works. Take, for
instance, the most renowned painters of Oriental
subjects — Eugene Delacroix, Decamps, and Marilhat.
If you imagine that you see the East truly depicted
by their talented productions you are much mistaken.
They can do no more than give you their idea of the
East, which is confused in their minds with the prior
conception formed of it by their more learned
compatriots, and even though they may have the
reality under their eyes, their representation of it is
much more conformable to this conception than to
the actual truth. Each of these painters give their
own interpretation of the East, but none of them is
the true one. Let us then pass on without troubling
ourselves too much about Rowlandson's mistaken
notions of the French.
This caricaturist is a master in portraying
English customs — a theme in which he is in his
element. He shows himself lenient to the poor and
miserable, and merciless to swindlers and sharpers of
every description : lawyers, usurers, hypocrites, and
doctors. I think one of his best works is where he
exhibits Dr. Clisterpipe, Paul Purge (Moliere's
Monsieur Purgeon), Sir Valiant Venery, Dr. Putrid,
Abraham Abscess, Fred Fistula, &c. &c., gathered
round the sick bed of a poor wretch. Not one friendly
face appears in the whole company surrounding this
poor creature, except that of Death, who shows him
self in the background full of compassion and tender
ness for the unhappy sufferer— therein lies the point.
V 2

324 ENGLISH PAINTING. [Rowlandson.
Rowlandson lashes with an unrelenting hand all
gamblers, free-livers, and libertines, and pitilessly
makes game of the victims of gout. All eccentricity
excites his ridicule ; his music devotees swoon away
with delight at the screams of a consumptive prima-
donna, his admirers of tragedy weep with the most
fearful grimaces over the persecution of innocence.
Another time he busies himself with the ludicrous :
" Trumpet and Bassoon " are two heads softly nestled
one against the other, on the same pillow. The nose
of the husband points like an obelisk towards the bed
canopy, whilst that of the wife spreads over her
puff'y cheeks ; their mouths are open, and display all
their teeth, while together they chant a nasal duet,
whistling, snoring, puffing, blowing, dreaming, like
one of Daumier's worthy couples. He likes and
strives after antithesis — not only such simple con
trasts of form as stout and lean : a young wife and
an old husband, a young husband and an old wife, a
frisky horse and a thickset, short-breathed man — but
antithesis in condition, like " Luxury" and " Misery : "
" Luxury," the lazy delight of breakfast in bed ;
" Misery," the distress of the shipwrecked man, alone at
midnight on the stormy sea, his only support a spar.
A great deal of Rowlandson's work is devoted to
scenes of humble life : groups of sailors, rustic gather
ings, in which he excels, fairs and markets, races, dog
fights, beggars, fishermen, woodmen, hunters, black
smiths, labourers, children, stone-breakers, carmen,
peasants in Millet's style, shepherds, oxen, Saxon
horses with short tails, horsemen, post-chaises, river-

Rowlandson.] CARICATURE. 325
banks, barges and boats, quays with their crowds of
workers, loiterers, and gossipers ; pathetic scenes :
"The Grandpapa," and "The Mariner's Family."
Rowlandson also visited water-places, returned to the
metropolis, and immortalised " The Cries of London,"
" The Miseries of London," and " The Theatres of
London." He made very clever engravings on
copper of the works of his rival caricaturists — by no
means equal to his own, though he irpproved upon
them — he illustrated Peter Pindar's* mock-heroic
poems, also " The Sentimental Journey," " The Vicar
of Wakefield," " Tom Jones," the different parts of
" Dr. Syntax," " The Dance of Life " and " Dance
of Death." His work was enormous ; his swift,
decided drawing is remarkable for its expressive
gesture, and the life and charm which he gave to
touch and outline, but except on rare occasions —
such as a college scene finely done in Meissonier's
style — Rowlandson is not happy in effects. I must
add that this failing is observable in the whole school.
In Paris Rowlandson acquired his great skill in
drawing and his accurate knowledge of the human
form ;t these valuable qualities with which he invested
* Peter Pindar is Dr. Wolcott's nom de plume.
t "At the age of sixteen, he was admitted as a pupil to the Royal
Academy of London, which had not long been established. He did
not, however, immediately take advantage of this admission, for his
aunt summoned him to Paris, where he commenced his artistic studies
and gained great success. He was famed for his skill in sketching the
human body from nature " (Thomas Wright). Rowlandson alludes to
his youthful recollections in some of his works. In " Intrusion on
Study " we see a young artist striving to hide the nude form of his
female model with his pallet on account of an unexpected visit.

326 ENGLISH PAINTING. [The Cruikshanks.
English caricature did not impair his spirit, fire or
fun, and he owed to these acquisitions, I think, his
sense of beauty and female grace, hitherto unknown
in the art. Unfortunately he lost this gift as he grew
older, and he returned to the coarseness of his pre
decessors, with occasional glimpses of his former
elegance, as in the " German Waltz," a pretty scene
from Werther. Herein he foreshadows John Leech,
who was very shortly to reign pre-eminent in refine
ment and grace.
The fame of the two Cruikshanks, Isaac and
his son, " the glorious George," rests almost entirely
upon a political basis. In the course of George's long
artistic career,* however, he frequently encroached
on the inexhaustible territory of every- day comedy,
which had been so widely explored by Hogarth and
by Rowlandson. " The Camp at Vinegar Hill " is
considered his best work. He was the first who
devoted a great part of his talent to the study of
childhood, a path in which there is a decided pre
ference shown in these days.
For twenty-three years (1841 — 1864) JOHN
Leech t quite made the fortune of Punch. His
delicate, light sketches, always witty and ironical,
although devoid of rancour, made this comic paper
everywhere welcome, while, by his talented mimicry
* He died quite recently in 1882. He was born in 1794, and his
earliest works bear the date of 1815.
t John Leech commenced his career in 1840, when he was
twenty-three years old. He then brought out two comic grammars :
" The Comic English Grammar " and " The Comic Latin Grammar."

John Leech.] CARICATURE. 327
of the manners, customs, and absurdities of the ladies
and gentlemen of his time, he laughed down many a
folly. No artist ever possessed such a gift for im
promptu designs. In spite of his incessant contribu
tions to Punch, amounting to about three thousand
subjects, he also left a splendid series of street children,
called "Children of the Mobility ;'' two large volumes
containing 172 copper and steel engravings, mostly
taken from his illustrations of novels which appeared
in "Bentley's Miscellany '' and in several other peri
odicals and publications, the chief of which are :
"Christopher Tadpole" (containing 32 cuts), "Handley
Cross; or, Mr. Jorrocks' Hunt" (102 cuts), "The
Illustrated Journal" (12 cuts), "The Comic History
of England" (1847 — 1848) in two volumes; "The
Comic History of Rome" (1857), in one volume;
numerous sporting books, Punclis pocket-books and
almanacks, Christmas books by Charles Dickens,
&c. &c.
The artist's whole work amounts to 5,000 sketches.
I have already had the opportunity of speaking at
some length of John Leech's fascinating genius, and it
is always a pleasing task. When one views his elegant
manner of drawing boys and girls, his vigorous and
expressive touch for men and women, the charming
beauty of his children, his keenness of observation, his
animation in general effects, and intelligence in detail,
and lastly — a quality so unusual in caricaturists — the
distinctness of his subjects by well-defined action, one
cannot wonder at the favour in which he was held
during so many years. There was such a charm in his

328 ENGLISH PAINTING. [John Leech.
pencil — so much originality and spontaneity ; his fun
was so pure and true, never even touching upon vice !

DRAWING FROM "PUNCH." — lohn Leech.
*' So, Charley, I hear you have been to a Juvenile Party?"
Precocious Boy: "Well, I don't know what you call Juvenile. There
was no one there under five years old !"

John Leech.]

CARICATURE.

329

His style was very far removed from Hogarth's
barbarity and the coarseness of the early school.
His young ladies and children are so delightful I How
aptly could he reproduce the most trifling incidents
belonging to all sorts of life, whether of the sporting
or nautical description, or of the streets, markets.

FROM "ALICE IN WONDERLAND."* — lohn Tcnniel.

quays, public gardens, railways, balls, public-houses,
pawnbrokers' shops, elections, or theatres; the different
seasons and their fashions ; every detail of social life
in a great city, taken at its average point, in a condition
neither very high nor very low — that is to say, middle
* By kind permission of Messrs. Macmillan & Co.

330 ENGLISH PAINTING. [John Tenniel.
class and even humbler, but never descending to the
vulgar. He hated affectation, and all customs and
fashions that were prompted by bad taste, and were
unnatural, pompous, or shabby, fell under his gentle
censure. But his sarcasm was always merciful, and
generally aimed at very small matters ; even when he
thought it necessary to probe deep, his lancet left no
rankling wound. From first to last, he was English.
His ideal of manhood is the courteous, refined,
generous gentleman, chivalrous and self-denying as
well as good looking. His favourite type of woman
represents her as young, pretty, and attractive, of good
figure, perfect health, and utterly devoid of affectation.
She is by no means fast, but sets a certain value upon
her beauty, and, under all circumstances, it is easy to
recognise in her the thorough lady.
John Leech's contemporary, John Tenniel, and
his successors, Charles Keene and George du Maurier,
have long contributed and still contribute to-day
to keep up in every country, where the English
language is spoken, the reputation of the " immortal
periodical." John Tenniel's natural bent is towards politics.
He neither spares his own countrymen, whom he
pitilessly censures — as, for instance, in " John Bull
defends his Pudding " — nor does he show mercy to
his neighbours on the Continent, and Rome and
France, the Pope and Napoleon III., have felt the
keen edge of his satire. His drawing combines in a
wonderful way energy and incision of style with the
highest moral expression. His outlines, traced with

Richard Doyle.] CARICATURE. 331
remarkable fineness and skill, exhibit a type and
character which it is impossible to forget, and of
which we give an instance in one of the illustrations
to " Alice in Wonderland." This appeals to us with
all the brilliancy of a medal in high relief and the
reality of something actually seen.
Richard Doyle, the son of John Doyle (H.B.),
is another friend and contemporary of Leech whom
we cannot justly pass over in silence. This artist is
neither a great moralist nor a great draughtsman,
yet he possesses in the highest degree that humor
ous energy, that vis comica which is the essential
quality of the caricaturist. He chooses as the object
of his ridicule the manners of the middle classes.
In his series of eighteen pictures, entitled "Manners
and Customs of ye Englyshe," he lightly satirises
the balls, concerts, theatres, and races, which are
recorded in " Mr. Pips his Diary ; " while in the
eighty pages of " The Foreign Tour of Messrs.
Brown, Jones, and Robinson,'^ he shows what three
Enghsh citizens " saw and did in Belgium, Germany,
Switzerland, and Italy." Richard Doyle excels in
broad humour, the humour of the country fair, the
humour of Bobeche and Galimafre, which never fails,
however, to raise a good-tempered laugh.
Charles Keene, who shares with Du Maurier
the admiration of all readers of Punch, is, as Cham
was in Charivari, a humorist rather than an artist.
Drav/ing is for him merely a means of telling a tale,
a kind of symbolic language, like the hieroglyphics
of Egypt. He does not draw so much as write

APPEARANCES. — Charles Keene.
Plushi7igton'. "I SAY, Stodge, Singular thing— your Landlady addressed
ME 'My Lord' when I asked if you were within!"
Artist: "Not at all, my dear Fellow. It's your Hat and Personal
Appearance! If you don't mind, we'll encourage the .Idea. It will
GIVE her Confidekce IN ME, AND  Eh?" \Plushingtofi ivill he delighted.
(From Punch.)

Charles Keene.] CARICATURE. 333
conventional forms, which he executes with a chic
peculiar to himself. He starts with no preconceived
theory of art, nor does he eagerly strive after truth ;
gaiety is what he aims at, and this is all that one
asks of him.
Du Maurier, on the other hand, unites the know
ledge of a trained artist with the observation of a man
of the world. What has been said of " Mr. Punch "
himself may well be applied to him : " He is a
historian of the time in which he lives. Future
generations may look to his drawings, and tell to a
nicety what the men and women of the present day
are like, can recover the evanescent fashions, can
learn the fashionable foibles, can tell how the great
men of their time appeared to their humorous
contemporaries, can hit to a certainty the leading
characteristics as well of things as of men, for the
success of bis drawings is half due to the circum
stance that there is always an element, large or small,
of truth in the most outrageous of them."
But besides, Du Maurier is an admirable draughts
man, and yields to no one in the skill with which he
renders the effects of light and shade, and takes advan
tage of the opportunities ofifered by wood engraving.
The softening modification of national character
so apparent in the productions of Leech, Keene, and
Du Maurier shows itself in a most convincing manner
in the singular success gained by the late works of
Mr. Walter Crane, Mr. R. Caldecott, and Miss
Kate Greenaway. Messrs. Crane and Caldecott
both commenced by addressing themselves to the

,;,;:i?'

I rj I (' • f^^'.^^, " -u * 'ft

MISPLACED CHARITY. — George du Maurier,
On coming out of Church, General Sir Talbot de la Pooer San-Grazul is so struck by the beauty of the
¦ Afternoon Sky, that he forgets to put on his Hat, and Lady Jones (who is rather Near-sighted) drops a
Penny into it ! (From Punch.)

''•''Grlerwa"y''''i CARICATURE. 335
tastes of children. The first excited their wonder
and interest by translating into the dazzling language
of colour and form the " Tales of Perrault," " The
Arabian Nights," and collections of well-known songs.
The second devoted himself to illustrating familiar
legends and nursery stories, such as " The History of
John Gilpin" and "The House that Jack Built."
Miss Kate Greenaway, prompted by a still deeper love
for children, exalts the child as sole hero in her
charming book " Under the Window." Unrivalled is
the art with which, in a truly maternal spirit of tender
ness,^ she portrays childhood in its ingenuousness,
awkwardness, and touching prettiness — its baby-games,
its walks full of discoveries, surprises, alarms, amaze
ment, and enchantment ; its feeble steps, its sensitive
ness of the cold and its delight and rippling laughter
in summer weather — in short, every impulse of its
gentle little heart and amusing selfishness. Landscape
plays an important part in the works of these three
last-named artists ; homely English landscape
pleasantly and skilfully represented after the manner
of an uncommon decorative style ; an extraordinary
and clever adaptation of Etruscan, early Flemish and
Japanese art to the national taste. Owing to the very
slight number of combinations, their books are printed
in colour. Great improvements have been made in
this process between the time of Mr. W. Crane's " Tales
of Perrault" and Miss K. Greenaway's last works:
" Birthday Book for Children " and " Mother Goose."
With one bound it has arrived at the position of a
valuable art, affording a perfect rendering of nature

336 ENGLISH PAINTING. [Miss Greenaway.
and producing pleasing and harmonious effects.* Is it
possible that a still greater point of excellence may be
attained .'' I know not and can scarce desire it. If such
perfection were reached that the blended colours of oil
painting were reproduced by this process art would gain
nothing, that I can see, beyond a very inferior imitation,
a mere still-life deception. One may very well rest
satisfied with the results obtained, and the degree of
mechanical skill so quickly acquired and formulated
by Miss Kate Greenaway.
Dating from the honest but brutal mirth of the
coarse Saxon William Hogarth to the gentle smile of
Miss Kate Greenaway in our own day, a century and
a half has passed away. Can it, indeed, be the same
nation who receives with such delight the playful,
sparkling banter of her charming productions after
having so rapturously applauded the bitter, cutting
sarcasm of the other ? But it is quite possible.
Hatred of vice and love of innocence are but dift'erent
expressions for the same feeling.
* When these words were written the author, hke the rest of the
world, only knew Miss Greenaway's talent from her illustrated books.
He has since seen at the Ruskin school at the University of Oxford a
whole set of original designs from the pencil of this charming artist, and
has had an opportunity of comparing them with the engravings in colour
which have been made from them. He can only say now that the re
productions resemble the originals as the light of the moon does the
sunlight ; they are a pale reflection.

337

INDEX

TO THE NAMES OF ARTISTS.

Alma-Tadema (G.)
Anderton (Henry)

PAGE 263
xxxvi

Barlow (Francis) .... 304
Barnard (F.)  286
Barrel (George) .... 310
Barry (James)  106
Beaumont (Sir G. Howland). 127
Beechey (Sir William) 45
Bernard (Theodore). . . . xxv
Bewick (Thomas) .... xiii
Blake (William)  159
Bonington (Richard Parkes) . 130
Boughton (G. H.) . . . . 302
Boyne  321
Brentwood (John) .... xix
Brett (John)  246
BriHen (E. F.)  263
Brooking (Alexander) . . xxxvii
ErowD( Madox)  230
Bunbury (H. W.) .... 321
Burgess .... . . 277

Caldecott (R.) . .
Calderon (Philip) .
Callcott (Sir Augustus
Cattermole (George)
Cole (Vicat) . . .
Coleburne (Christian)
Collett (John) . .
Collings ....
Collins (William) .
Constable (John)
W

Wall)

335282 129
310242 xix
320 321"73 136

Cope (C. W.) . . .
Copley (John Singleton)
Corbould (Edward Henry)
Cotman (John Sell)
Cox (David) . .
Cozens (John Robert)
Crane (Walter) .
Creswick (Thomas) .
Cristall (Joshua) ; .
Crome (John Bernay)
Crome (John)
Cruikshank (George)
Cruikshank (Isaac) .

27.
254. i4Si

PAGE 104 62
290 305310305335 128
305 123 119
326 326

Dighton  321
Doyle (Richard)  33°
Du Maurier (G)  333
Edwards (Edwin) .... 257
Elmore (A.)  279
Etty (William)  64

Faed (Thomas) .
Fahey (E. H.) . .
Farington (Joseph) .
Fielding (A. V. C).
Fildes (L.). . . .
Fisher (Mark) . .
Fisk (William Henry)
Frith (W. Powell) .
Fuller (Isaac) . .
FuseH (Henry) . .

276 302 136
310
286 256 184
285
xxxvii 63

338

INDEX.

PAGE
Gainsborough (Thomas) . . 31
Gilbert (Sir John) .... 290
Gillray ... . . . 321
Girtin (Thomas) . . 305
Goodall (Frederick) 269
Grant (Sir Francis) .... 292
Gregory (C.)  295
Gregory (E. J.)  293
Green (C.)  286
Greenaway (Miss Kate) . . 335
Greenhill (John) .... xxxvii
Haden (Seymour) .... 256
Harvey (Sir George) . . . 254
Haydon (Benjamin Robert) . 102
Hayllar (N.)  285
Haylls (John) .... xxxvii
Hearne (Thomas) .... 304
Heath  321
Herkomer (Hubert) . . 276, 295
Hilliard (Nicholas) .... xxix
Hills (Robert)  309
Hilton (William) .... loi
Hoake (W.)  50
Hogarth (WilHam) . x, xiii, 3, 319
Holbein (Hans)  xxi
Holl (F.)  298
Hook (J.C.)  238
Hopkins (A.)  298
Hoppner (John)  47
Hughes (Arthur) . . . 199
Humphrey (Ozias) ... 44
Hunt (Holman)  184
Hunt (William Henry). . . 310
Hurlstone (Frederick Y.) . . 85

Ibbetson (Julius Cassar)

128

Jackson (John)  56
Jones (Edward Burne) . . . 232
Keen (Charles) . ... 333
Kent (William)  7
Kingsbuiy  321
Knapton (George) . . . 44
Kneller (Godfrey) . . . xxxvi

Ladbrooke (Robert)
Lamont (T. R.). . .
Landseer (Charles) . .
Landseer (Sir Edwin) .
Lane 
Lawrence (Sir Thomas)
Lawson (Cecil) .
Leech (John) ....
Leighton (Sir Frederick)
Lely (Sir Peter) . . .
Leslie (Charles Robert)
Leslie (G. D.) . . .
Lewis (Charles) . . .
Lewis (George F.) .
Lewis (John) . . . .
Linnell (John) . . .
Liverseege (Henry) . .
Long(E.) . . .

Macallum (Hamilton)
Macbeth (R. W.) .
Maclise (Daniel). .
Martin (John) . .
Martineau (R. B.) .
Millais (John Everett)
Monamy (Peter) . .
Morland (George) .
Morris (P. R.) . .
Morris (William)
Mulready (William)

Nasmyth (Patrick) .
Newton ....
Newton (Gilbert Stuart)
Nicol (Erskine) . .
Nixon 

Northcote (James)
Occleve (Thomas)
Oliver (Isaac)
Oliver (Peter) .
O'Neil (Henry) .
Opie (John) . .
Orchardson (W. Q.'

Parsons (Alfred).
Paton (Sir Noel)

PAGE 124
290 101 97
321 49
256326
262
xxxv 75
303 243
310293 242 305
268

253259 103 93
277
212
xxxvii 117
302
237 81
128
321"79
271 321 6&
xix
xxixxxix 273

279256 206

INDEX.

339

Payne (W.) .
Petitot (Jean) . .
Pettie (John) . . .
Pickersgill (F. R.) .
Pinwell (G. J.) . .
Poole (Paul Falconer)
Poynter (E. J.) . .
Prinsep (W.) . . .
Prout (Samuel) . .

PAGE 304
xxxv 292279
299
262263268 310

Raeburn (Sir Henry)
Ramberg ....
Ramsay (Allan) . .
Reinagle (Richard) .
Reynolds (Sir Joshua)
Richardson (Jonathan)
Richmond (G.) . .
Riley (John) . .
Riviere (Briton) . .
Robson (George Fennell)
Romney (George) . .
Rooker (Michael Angelo)
Rossetti (Dante Gabriel)
Rowlandson ....
Ruskin (John) . . .
Russell (John) . . .

• 57
. 321 21
. 136 2022
. 263
xxxvii, 20
269
• 309
. 40
304227
322 179 44

Sandby (Paul)
Sandys (F.) .
Sant (J.) . .
Sayer (J.). .
Scott (David)
Scott (Samuel)
Scott (William Bell)

¦ 320
. 263
• 223
. 321
xl, 269
xxxvii
. 263

Seburgh (William)
Severn ....
Seymour . .
Smirke (Robert) .
Stark (James)
Steele (Edward)
Stone (Marcus) .
Stothard (Thomas)
Streater (Robert)

Tenniel (John) . .
Thompson (Miss) .
Thornhill (Sir James'
Turner (J. M.W.) j
Turner (William)
Unwins (Thomas)
Van Dyck (Anton)
Varley (John)
Vincent (George)

Walker (F.) . .
Ward(E. M.) .
Watts (G. F.) .
Webster (Thomas)
Well ....
West (Benjamin)
Whittaker. . .
Wilkie (Sir David)
Willeins (Marc.)
Wilson (Richard)
Wint (Peter de) .
Woodward . .

PAGE xix
254
321 68
127 40
302 los
xxxvi

• • 330
• • .?93
xxxvii, 4
xl, 145, 307
¦ 149

92

310 126

286 104
265
276 293 60
254 71
xxiv 109
310 321

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Selections from Cassell S; Company's Volumes {Continued).
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An Old Testament Commentary for P^nglish Readers.
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Martin Luther the Reformer. By Prof KOESTLIN.
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