Dickens and His Illustrators Part 24

In 1825, Sir Edwin (then Mr.) Landseer was elected an a.s.sociate of the Royal Academy, and five years later he attained the full honours, from which date might be chronicled a long and regular catalogue of pictures exhibited by him, year by year, either at the British Inst.i.tution or on the walls of the Royal Academy. In 1850 he received the honour of Knighthood, and, at the death of Sir Charles Eastlake in 1865, was offered the Presidency of the Royal Academy,--a distinction which he could not be induced to accept. In 1871 a severe illness paralysed his powerful pencil; from this illness the artist never recovered, and two years later the mournful intelligence of his death was announced, his mortal remains being interred in St. Paul's Cathedral. In private life Sir Edwin was one of the most kind and courteous of men and warmest of friends,--qualities of mind and heart which endeared him to all with whom he came in contact.

SAMUEL PALMER

A Self-taught Artist--Exhibits at the British Inst.i.tution and the Royal Academy--Marriage with John Linnell's Daughter--Visits Italy--His Sketches of Italian Scenery--Elected an a.s.sociate, and afterwards a Member, of the Society of Painters in Water-Colours--An Etcher and Draughtsman on Wood--His Designs for "PICTURES FROM ITALY"--A Letter from d.i.c.kens--The Artist's Method of Work--The Villa D'Este--His Drawings Difficult to Reproduce--Elaborate Instructions to Engravers--Literature a Favourite Amus.e.m.e.nt--Fondness for Reading Aloud--Admires the Novels of d.i.c.kens--Illness and Death.

During Charles d.i.c.kens's very brief connection with the _Daily News_, at the time of its foundation in 1846, he contributed to its columns a series of "Travelling Sketches," descriptive of his experiences in Italy, and of his impressions concerning the scenery, inst.i.tutions, and social aspects of the people in that beautiful country. Shortly after the publication of the concluding paper, these "Sketches" were re-issued in book form, under the t.i.tle of "Pictures from Italy," with vignette ill.u.s.trations on wood by Samuel Palmer.

PLATE LIV

F. W. TOPHAM

From a Photograph by

MESSRS. ELLIOTT & FRY

_Lent by Mr. F. W. W. Topham._

SAMUEL PALMER

From a Photograph

_Lent by Mr. A. H. Palmer._

[Ill.u.s.tration]

[Ill.u.s.tration]

Samuel Palmer, who was born in Newington, London, in 1805, was to a great extent a self-taught artist, his first successes dating from his fourteenth year, when he was represented by two pictures at the British Inst.i.tution and three at the Royal Academy, his work from that time being frequently seen at one or the other gallery. In 1837 (that is, while "Pickwick" was in course of publication) he married the eldest daughter of John Linnell, the famous portrait and landscape painter, leaving England soon afterwards with his young wife for Italy. Here they stayed two years--years of such persistent and enthusiastic study that the sketches and elaborate drawings of some of the finest Italian scenery which the artist brought back, very numerous though they were, are no measure of the influence which the sojourn in the land of his favourite poet, Virgil, had upon his after-life and upon his artistic labours.

Samuel Palmer is chiefly remembered by his charming water-colour drawings, but it seems that in his early years he preferred painting in oils, whence he afterwards gradually drifted into the use of the former medium, his election as a.s.sociate of the Society of Painters in Water-Colours in 1843[43] determining his future career. He was a most successful etcher, his plates being admired by the _connoisseur_ for the beauty of _technique_ therein displayed. Concerning his efforts with the needle, Mr. P. G. Hamerton says that Samuel Palmer was one of the most accomplished etchers who ever lived, and that "there is more feeling, and insight, and knowledge in one twig drawn by his hand than in the life's production of many a well-known artist."[44] It must be admitted, however, that the occasional drawings executed by him for the wood-engraver do not indicate equal ability as a draughtsman on wood. In early days he actually attempted, in emulation of his intimate friend Edward Calvert, to engrave upon wood some of his own designs, this fact testifying to the extraordinary influence exercised by William Blake over the contemporary work of such young artists as Palmer, Calvert, and the rest of the "Ancients," as they jocosely dubbed themselves.

Footnote 43: Palmer was elected a Member of this Society in 1854.

Footnote 44: "Etching and Etchers," 3rd edition, 1880.

[Sidenote: =Pictures from Italy, 1846.=]

The first drawings executed upon the wood-block by Palmer and intended as book-ill.u.s.trations were apparently the designs for "Pictures from Italy;" these are four in number, representing the Street of the Tombs, Pompeii; the Villa D'Este at Tivoli, from the Cypress Avenue; the Colosseum of Rome; and a Vineyard Scene. One of the artist's memorandum-books contains an entry recording the receipt from the publishers of twenty guineas for these drawings. Samuel Palmer and Charles d.i.c.kens were never on terms of intimacy; however the acquaintance originated has never transpired, nor does the artist's son, Mr. A. H. Palmer, remember his father ever referring to the subject. It is probable that the novelist's attention had been directed to Palmer's excellent rendering of Italian scenery, which had attracted considerable notice among artists, and that, having met him, he found a degree of warm enthusiasm for that scenery which was so unusual, that he felt convinced that the ill.u.s.trating of the "Pictures" could not be placed in better hands. Palmer accepted the commission, but, like all his drawings that were destined to be engraved on wood, it somewhat perplexed him, for reasons presently to be explained. A correspondence of a formal business character ensued, and of the few letters still extant I am enabled to print the following, which endorses the belief that an interview had taken place between author and artist.

"DEVONSHIRE TERRACE, _Wednesday, Thirteenth May, 1846_.

"DEAR SIR,--I beg to a.s.sure you that I would on no account dream of allowing the book to go to press without the insertion of your name in the t.i.tle-page. I placed it there myself, two days ago.

"I have not seen the designs, but I have no doubt whatever (remembering your sketches) that they are very good.

"Dear sir, faithfully yours,

"CHARLES d.i.c.kENS.

"SAMUEL PALMER, Esq."

Two of the woodcuts, viz., those printed on the first and last pages of the little book, were designed to allow the text to be dropped in.

Sketches (or rather finished drawings) were made on paper before the subjects were copied by the artist upon the wood-blocks, which drawings, by the way, are much inferior to the artist's water-colours of the same or similar subjects. It seems evident, from the word "On" being tentatively introduced at the top of the original sketch of the Villa D'Este, that this ill.u.s.tration was at first intended to be placed at the beginning of the chapter ent.i.tled "Going through France," instead of appearing (as it eventually did) in conjunction with the opening lines of the preliminary chapter,--"The Reader's Pa.s.sport." It was apparently Palmer's proposal to insert on the block a decorative letter "S," but d.i.c.kens, in a letter to the artist, says, "I am afraid I cannot comfortably manage an S. What do you say to the word 'On'? Could you possibly do that?"

With regard to the treatment of these ill.u.s.trations, there is no doubt that they are faithful representations of Nature, adapted from sketches made on the spot. As a matter of fact, it was directly contrary to the artist's habit and principles to transcribe a sketch detail for detail.

Although the character of his drawing was somewhat involved, rendering more difficult the work of the engraver, the woodcuts (which bear no signature) are most carefully executed. Notwithstanding this, Mr. A. H.

Palmer a.s.sures me that these designs, and the rendering of them by the wood-engraver, were not of a kind to which the artist could look back with much satisfaction.

Mr. A. H. Palmer still retains in his possession a drawing on wood by his father of the Villa D'Este, the second ill.u.s.tration in "Pictures from Italy," which was apparently discarded because the artist had omitted to reverse his design, and therefore could not be properly adapted to the particular page for which it was prepared. Those who are familiar with the freedom and vigour of Samuel Palmer's work from Nature will realise at a glance that he was not at his ease upon wood. In the margin of this drawing the artist pencilled the following instructions to the engraver, who had not entirely succeeded in producing the more subtle effects:--

"I wish the thin cypress to be very much as it _appears upon the block_--not lighter. Now that the trees have been darkened, it will be necessary to leave the lines of the building _quite_ as thick as they are drawn, letting them gradually gain more strength as they come downwards towards the steps. The degree of sharpness with which the drawing terminates toward the letterpress is just what I wish."

From this and the following notes, minutely written upon the two retouched proofs of the engraving of this subject, we discover how very much too sanguine the artist was as to the result of the translation of his work, the voluminous directions clearly indicating his solicitude respecting the treatment of microscopic details in his design, the alleged importance of which would be quite beyond the comprehension of an ordinary engraver. Palmer subsequently learnt by experience that his drawing on wood was practically untranslatable as he preferred to offer it for engraving.

_MS. Notes on the First Proof._

"(1.) In both proofs the top of the cypress is very indistinct, which greatly injures the design.

"(2.) From A to B the illuminated side of the cypress has lost its tint in both impressions, which is ruinous to the effect, as the eye can no longer follow it as a simple object distinct from the building from the top to the bottom of the design. The top of the building, too, in both impressions, is nearly invisible, as if the inking had failed. It is very important that this should be rectified, so as not to appear in the printing of the work, as otherwise it will spoil the whole work. I have worked upon building and cypress a little in pencil to show how they ought to have come even in a faint impression.

"(3.) Opposite this mark the light on the cypress stems has been carried down a little lower, and two or three fine threads of light have been introduced into the shadowed side (which are intended to be scarcely perceptible) to remove a blottiness in the dark.

"(4.) The touches on the steps, the statue, and the whole of the lower part of the trees and ground, though not very numerous, are very important to the finish of the foreground.

PLATE LV

"THE VILLA D'ESTE"

_Facsimile_ of an Original Design for "Pictures from Italy" by SAMUEL PALMER

_Lent by Mr. A. H. Palmer._

[Ill.u.s.tration]

"(5.) The darkest lines in the great vase have been thinned in the _slightest degree_.