English Painters Part 4

Hogarth's designs for "Hudibras" were among the earlier ill.u.s.trations of a story. FRANCIS HAYMAN (1708--1776), his friend, ill.u.s.trated Congreve's plays, Milton, Hanmer's Shakespeare, and other works. He was followed by SAMUEL WALE (died 1786), and JOSEPH HIGHMORE (1692--1780), who ill.u.s.trated "Pamela." Towards the close of the eighteenth century, book ill.u.s.trations had become a recognised cla.s.s of art-works. Bell's "British Poets," commenced in 1778, the British Theatre, and Shakespeare, opened a wide field for artists of this order. Cipriani, Angelica Kauffman, William Hamilton, and Francis Wheatley, all members of the Royal Academy, were employed to ill.u.s.trate Bell's publications.

Famous among book ill.u.s.trators was--

[Ill.u.s.tration: FROM DANTE'S INFERNO. _By_ BLAKE.]

WILLIAM BLAKE (1757--1827).--Though born in no higher grade than that of trade, and in no more romantic spot than Broad Street, Golden Square, William Blake, a hosier's son, was a poet, a painter, an engraver, and even a printer. His genius was of an original, eccentric kind, and there were many who believed him crazed. During his long life he was "a dreamer of dreams" and a poetic visionary. Now he was meeting "the grey, luminous, majestic, colossal shadows" of Moses and Dante; now believing that Lot occupied the vacant chair in his painting-room. Anon he fancied that his dead brother had revealed to him a new process of drawing on copper, which he practised with great success. Neglected and misunderstood, Blake was always busy, always poor, and always happy. He lived beyond the cares of every-day life, in a dream-world of his own, occasionally "seeing fairies' funerals, or drawing the demon of a flea."

In spite of poverty and neglect, the poet-painter was contented. Rescued from the hosier's business, for which he was intended, Blake at the age of fourteen was apprenticed to the younger Basire, an engraver.

Throughout his life he worked not for money but for art, declaring that his business was "not to gather gold, but to make glorious shapes, expressing G.o.dlike sentiments." Hard work with the graver gave him bread, and when the day's toil was over he could ill.u.s.trate teeming fancies in pictures and in verses. He worked at first chiefly at book ill.u.s.trations. Marrying in his twenty-fifth year, his wife, named Katherine Boucher, proved a faithful and useful helpmeet, one who considered her husband's excursions to be dictated by superior knowledge. Blake's courtship was brief and characteristic. As he was telling his future wife of his troubles, caused by the levity of another damsel, she said, "I pity you." "Do you pity me?" answered the painter; "then I love you for it!" And they were married. It is not wonderful that Blake's contemporaries thought him mad, as he often did strange things. In 1791 Blake designed and engraved six plates to ill.u.s.trate "Tales for Children" by Mary Wollstonecraft, and later, his "Book of Job," Dante's "Inferno," Young's "Night's Thoughts," Blair's "Grave,"

and other series. Many of his designs show majestic and beautiful thoughts, a bizarre, but frequently soaring and stupendous invention, great beauty of colour, energy, sweetness, and even beauty of form; they were rarely otherwise than poetic. Some are natural and simple, with occasional flashes, such as belonged to all Blake's productions. The process of drawing on, or rather excavating copper, which he declared had been revealed to him by his brother's ghost, furnished a raised surface, from which Blake was able to print both the design and the verses he composed. By this process he produced his own "Songs of Innocence and of Experience," sixty-eight lyrics, of which it has been said that "they might have been written by an inspired child, and are unapproached save by Wordsworth for exquisite tenderness or for fervour." Then followed "America, a Prophecy," and "Europe, a Prophecy,"

irregularly versified, imaginative, and almost unintelligible productions. He was ill.u.s.trating Dante when he died, and, happy to the last, pa.s.sed away singing extemporaneous songs.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE DREAM. _By_ STOTHARD.]

THOMAS STOTHARD (1755--1834) began life as a designer for brocaded silks, but, on finding the true bent of his genius, he made designs for the "Town and Country Magazine," and the "Novelist's Magazine,"

"Ossian," and Bell's "Poets." His works deal with the gentler and sweeter side of human nature, and we can trace the quiet, simple character of the man in them. His eleven ill.u.s.trations of "Peregrine Pickle" appeared in 1781, and are excellent examples of his truthfulness and grace. He was essentially a quietist, and scenes of pa.s.sion and tumult were foreign to his genius. Trunnion and Pipes became living men under his pencil, and "Clarissa" and others of Richardson's romances gained from him an immortality which they would never have acquired by their own merits. In 1788 Stothard produced ill.u.s.trations of the "Pilgrim's Progress," which, though possessing sweetness and beauty, deal with subjects beyond his grasp. His designs for "Robinson Crusoe"

are among his best works. Stothard was made an A.R.A. in 1791, and a full member of the Royal Academy in 1794. His best known painting is _Intemperance_, on the staircase of Burghley House, in Northamptonshire.

There are eight works by him in the National Gallery, including the original sketch of _Intemperance_. One of his most popular, though not the best of his pictures, is the _Procession of the Canterbury Pilgrims_. A collection of Stothard's designs is in the British Museum.

JOHN HAMILTON MORTIMER (1741--1779), a native of Eastbourne, came to London, and made a promising beginning in the world of art. He gained the Society of Arts's premium of a hundred guineas with _St. Paul converting the Britons_, and painted other large historic pictures.

Mortimer, however, fell into extravagant habits, and neglected art. His oil paintings are "heavy and disagreeable in colour;" his drawings are better. He drew designs for Bell's "Poets," "Shakespeare," and other works, choosing scenes in which bandits and monsters play conspicuous parts.

THOMAS KIRK (died 1797), a pupil of Cosway, was an artist of much promise. His best works were designs for Cooke's "Poets."

RICHARD WESTALL (1765--1836) was a designer for books as well as a water-colour painter. He made designs for Bibles and Prayer-books, which were very popular. His best-known works are ill.u.s.trations of the "Arabian Nights." His brother WILLIAM WESTALL (1781--1850), was a designer of considerable note, especially of landscapes.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE PORTRAIT. _By_ SMIRKE.]

ROBERT SMIRKE (1752--1845), a native of Wigton, in c.u.mberland, is chiefly known by his ill.u.s.trations of Shakespeare and Cervantes. He came early to London, and, as an apprentice to an heraldic painter, decorated coach panels. He studied at the Academy, and in 1786 exhibited _Sabrina_, from "Comus," and _Narcissus_. When chosen a full member of the Academy Smirke's diploma picture was _Don Quixote and Sancho_. In the National Gallery are twelve ill.u.s.trations of "Don Quixote," three representing scenes of the same story, and a scene from the "Hypocrite,"

in which _Mawworm, Dr. Cantwell, and Lady Lambert_ appear.

THOMAS UWINS (1782--1857) began life as an apprentice to an engraver, entered the Royal Academy schools, and became known as a designer for books, as well as a portrait painter. His book designs were chiefly frontispieces, vignettes, and t.i.tle-page adornments. Uwins for a time belonged to the Society of Water-colour Painters--from 1809 to 1818. In 1824 he visited Italy, and, after seven years' sojourn, returned to win fame and honour by oil paintings. He was elected an A.R.A. in 1833; a Royal Academician in 1839, and subsequently held the offices of Librarian to the Academy, Surveyor of her Majesty's Pictures, and Keeper of the National Gallery. Among his best pictures are _Le Chapeau de Brigand_, and the _Vintage in the Claret Vineyards_ (National Gallery); _The Italian Mother teaching her Child the Tarantella_, and a _Neapolitan Boy decorating the Head of his Innamorata_ (South Kensington Museum).

Before quitting this branch of art mention must be made of one who, though an engraver and not a painter, occupies an important place among book ill.u.s.trators:--

THOMAS BEWICK (1753--1828), born at Cherryburn, near Newcastle-on-Tyne, adopted a fine mode of wood-engraving. Hitherto many ill.u.s.trations of books had been engraved on copper, and were necessarily separate from the letterpress. Bewick's process allowed the cut and the words it ill.u.s.trated to be printed at the same time. In this way he adorned "Gay's Fables," a "General History of Quadrupeds," and his most famous work, "The History of British Birds" (1797), in which he showed the knowledge of a naturalist combined with the skill of an artist. His last work was the ill.u.s.trations of aesop's Fables, upon which he was engaged six years. He was a.s.sisted by his brother John Bewick, who founded a school of wood-engravers, and by some of John's pupils, among whom were Robert Johnson and Luke Clennell.

We have already seen that modern English art began with portraiture, which always has been, and always will be, popular. We have noticed some miniature painters, or "limners in little," who flourished in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, when miniature painting had among its greatest masters Samuel Cooper, who has never been surpa.s.sed.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE WOODc.o.c.k. _From "History of British Birds," by_ THOMAS BEWICK.]

THOMAS FLATMAN (1633--1688), an Oxford man and a barrister, who deserted the Bar and became a painter, obtained great success in miniature.

ALEXANDER BROWNE, his contemporary, painted portraits of Charles II. and other members of the Court. He was also an engraver and published, in 1699, a work ent.i.tled "Ars Pictoria," with thirty-one etchings.

LEWIS CROSSE (died 1724) was the chief miniature painter of Queen Anne's reign.

[Ill.u.s.tration: _Tailpiece by_ BEWICK.]

CHARLES BOIT, a Swede by birth, practised at this period as a miniature painter. Failing in his business as a jeweller, he left London in order to teach drawing in the country. Here he is said to have induced a pupil, daughter of an officer, to promise him marriage, and the intrigue having been discovered, the expectant bridegroom was thrown into prison for two years, where he employed himself in acquiring the art of enamel-painting. Miniature painting is of two kinds--portraits in water colour on ivory and in enamel on copper, the latter being the more complicated mode. Boit on his release practised miniature-painting in London, and gained high prices for his works, although his colouring is by no means pleasant. He was in favour at Court, but, while attempting to prepare a plate larger than ordinary to contain portraits of the Royal family and chief courtiers, Queen Anne died, and Boit, having borrowed money for the plate, was left without hope of being able to pay his creditors. Escaping to France, he again succeeded in his art, and died at Paris in 1726.

CHRISTIAN FREDERICK ZINCKE (1684--1767), though a native of Dresden, identified himself with art in England. He was a pupil of Boit, but soon outshone his master. His enamel painting was simple yet refined, his drawing graceful, his colour pleasing. George II. was among his numerous patrons. Several of Zincke's enamels are in the Royal Collection.

JAMES DEACON succeeded Zincke as a tenant of his house in Tavistock Street, Covent Garden, and bid fair to succeed to his place as a miniature painter, when he caught gaol fever at a trial at the Old Bailey, and died in 1750.

JARVIS SPENCER, who had been a domestic servant, gained by his talent and perseverance a high place among miniature painters of this period.

Indeed, after the death of Deacon, he was the fashionable painter of his cla.s.s. He died in 1763.

Other artists combined the skill of a jeweller and goldsmith with that of an enameller. It was the fashion to decorate watches, brooches, snuff-boxes, and other trinkets with portraits of friends and lovers of the owner, and thus the work of the goldsmith and the miniature painter were allied.

GEORGE MICHAEL MOSER, R.A. (1704--1783), the son of a sculptor at St.

Gall, in Switzerland, came to England in his early days, and first gained notice as a chaser of bra.s.s-work, the favourite decoration of the furniture of that period. As an enamel painter he was justly celebrated, and employed to decorate the watch of George III. with portraits of the two elder Princes. He designed the Great Seal. Moser was a member of the St. Martin's Lane Academy, and in 1766 joined the Incorporated Society of Artists. He was a founder of the Royal Academy, and its first Keeper.

NATHANIEL HONE (1718--1784) stands next to Zincke as a miniature painter, although there is a wide gulf between them. He was self-taught, and on quitting his native Dublin, spent some time in the provinces practising as a portrait painter, and afterwards achieved great success in London. He was one of the foundation members of the Royal Academy, but brought himself into disgrace with that body by lampooning the President in a picture which he sent for exhibition.

JEREMIAH MEYER (1735--1789) is said to have been a pupil of Zincke, but this is probably an error. Pa.s.sing from the St. Martin's Lane Academy, Meyer, a native of Wurtemberg, became Enamel Painter to George III., and Miniature Painter to the Queen. Careful study of Reynolds is apparent in his works. He was one of the original members of the Royal Academy.

RICHARD COLLINS (1755--1831), a pupil of Meyer, held the post of Miniature Painter to George III., and his works formed important elements in the Academy exhibitions.

SAMUEL Sh.e.l.lEY, though born in Whitechapel, surely an inartistic locality, and having little art education, became a fashionable miniature painter. He studied Reynolds with advantage, and treated historic incidents in miniature. He was one of the founders of the Water-Colour Society, and died in 1808.

JAMES NIXON, A.R.A. (about 1741--1812), was Limner to the Prince Regent, and a clever designer of book ill.u.s.trations.

OZIAS HUMPHREY (1742--1810) commenced miniature-painting at Bath, after being a pupil in the Academy in St. Martin's Lane. He returned to London at the invitation of Reynolds. A miniature exhibited by him in 1766 attracted universal notice, and gained for him patronage from the King.

Compelled by ill health to go abroad in 1772, Humphrey studied Italian art, and came back in five years fired with a desire to attempt historical painting. Here he failed, and neither by historic subjects nor portraits in oil could he gain the success attending his miniatures.

Disappointed, he went to India in 1785, and painted ill.u.s.trious natives of that country. Three years later Humphrey was re-established as a miniature painter in London, where he was elected a Royal Academician in 1791. Six years later his eyesight entirely failed. It is said of his miniatures that they are the nearest to the pictures of Reynolds.

Humphrey was also successful in crayons.

GEORGE ENGLEHEART, who exhibited miniature portraits at the Royal Academy as early as 1773, was, in 1790, appointed Miniature Painter to the King. He painted on both enamel and ivory. He exhibited until 1812.

RICHARD COSWAY (1740--1821) was famous for skill in miniature-painting, in which no one of his day could approach him, and for vanity, extravagance, and eccentricity. A _specialite_ of his was the composition of small whole-lengths, the bodies of which were executed in pencil, the faces in colour. No beauty of the day was happy unless her charms had been delineated by Cosway; the fair companions of the Prince Regent were among his warmest patrons, and the Prince was a frequent visitor to the artist. Cosway's wife, Maria, was a clever miniature painter, and worked for Boydell's Shakespeare and Macklin's "Poets." Of the scandals concerning her and her husband we need not speak. In his latter years Cosway professed to believe in Swedenborg, and in animal magnetism, pretended to be conversing with people abroad, claimed to have the power of raising the dead, and declared that the Virgin Mary frequently sat to him for her portrait. He was elected a.s.sociate of the Royal Academy in 1770, and full member in 1771.

HENRY BONE (1755--1834) commenced life as an apprentice to a porcelain manufacturer at Plymouth, where he painted flowers and landscapes on china, and secured success as an enameller. Pa.s.sing from the manufactory, Bone began work in London by enamelling small trinkets. He first came into general notice in 1781, by means of a portrait of his own wife. Bone's success was rapid. He was made an Academician in 1811, and was Enamel Painter to George III., George IV., and William IV. His most famous works were miniatures after Reynolds, t.i.tian, Murillo and Raphael. Remarkable also are his portraits of the Russell family from Henry VII.'s reign, the famous royalists of the civil war, and eighty-five likenesses of Elizabethan worthies.

HENRY EDRIDGE (1769--1821) was another miniature painter, who owed some of his success to careful following of Reynolds. He painted miniatures on ivory, and for a time on paper, using the lead pencil over Indian ink washes. He was also highly successful as a landscape painter in water colours.

ANDREW ROBERTSON (1777--1845), the son of a cabinet-maker at Aberdeen, came to London on foot in 1801, and gained the patronage of Benjamin West, the President, whose portrait he painted. Robertson became, in due course, a very successful miniature painter, and practised his art for more than thirty years. His likenesses are truthful, but do not stand in the first rank of miniature-painting.

ALFRED EDWARD CHALON (1781--1860), born in Geneva, and of French extraction, holds a high place in the history of English art as a portrait painter in water colours; his miniatures on ivory are full of life, vigour, and originality. He was elected R.A. in 1816. As a painter in oils, Alfred Chalon achieved a high degree of success. _Hunt the Slipper_, _Samson and Delilah_ (exhibited for the second time at the International Exhibition in 1862), and _Sophia Western_ deserve notice among his oil paintings. Chalon could not only paint with originality, but could catch the manner of the old masters with such accuracy, that some of his works were attributed even by the skilful to Rubens, Watteau, and others. His elder brother, JOHN JAMES CHALON (1778--1854), obtained celebrity as a landscape painter.

WILLIAM ESs.e.x (1784--1869) painted in enamel, and exhibited a portrait of the _Empress Josephine_, after Isabey, at the Royal Academy in 1824.

In 1839 he was appointed painter in enamels to the Queen, and in 1841 to the Prince Consort. He was one of the last of the painters in enamel.

[Ill.u.s.tration: MORNING WALK. _By_ ALFRED E. CHALON.]

WILLIAM DERBY (1786--1847) was celebrated for his careful copies in miniature of celebrated portraits. He was largely employed on Lodge's "Portraits of Ill.u.s.trious Persons."

With SIR WILLIAM CHARLES ROSS (1794--1860) ends the school of deceased miniature painters. Ross was an artist even in the nursery. He became an a.s.sistant to Andrew Robertson, and although his forte was miniature-painting, he longed for the higher flight of historic art. His _Judgment of Brutus_, _Christ casting out Devils_ (exhibited in 1825), and _The Angel Raphael discoursing with Adam and Eve_ (to which an additional premium of 100 was awarded at the Cartoon Exhibition in 1843), are specimens of his power in this branch of art, at different periods. It is as a miniature painter that he will live in the history of art. He was elected to the full rank of R.A. in 1839, and was knighted in the same year. The Court smiled upon him. He painted miniatures of the Queen and Royal Family, the Saxe-Gotha Family, and the King and Queen of Portugal. The late Emperor of the French, when Prince Louis Napoleon, was among his numerous sitters.