Randolph Caldecott Part 12

In another letter he sends the following sketch of himself at table in the vast _salle a manger_ of the hotel.[12]

[Ill.u.s.tration]

"SPLENDIDE HOTEL, MENTON,

"_11th January, 1879_.

"DEAR ----,--The above view will give you a more correct idea of the _splendour_ of this hotel than a page of writing, I think, could possibly do. It represents our _table d'hote_ last night. I fled yesterday from Cannes, which--although called a very quiet place by most visitors--I found to be too lively for one who has much work to do and a desire to do it."

Much drawing was accomplished in the spring of this year, both abroad, and on return to London. The success of his first Picture Books (on which he writes, "I get a small, small royalty") was beyond all expectation, and the _Elegy of a Mad Dog_ was now in progress.

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[Ill.u.s.tration: "NOT SUCH DISAGREEABLE WEATHER AFTER ALL--SOME PEOPLE THINK."

From _Punch_, August 2nd, 1879.]

Writing on the 20th June, in the wet summer of 1879, from 5, Langham Chambers, Portland Place (a studio that he had taken temporarily from an artist friend, Mr. W. J. Hennessy), he heads the letter with the sketch on page 192, which is interesting as the first idea for the drawing which appeared in _Punch_ on the 2nd August, 1879, reproduced on the preceding page by permission of the proprietors.

[Ill.u.s.tration: A PIG OF BRITTANY (TERRA-COTTA).

The Property of Mr. Armstrong.]

The ill.u.s.tration on the opposite page is an example of Caldecott in a style which will be new to most readers. The book plate was drawn for an old and intimate friend in Manchester, and it is curious to note how closely the style of the family crest is followed in its various details. If it were not for certain satirical touches this ingenious design might easily pa.s.s for the work of other hands; the touch and treatment have little in common with Caldecott as he is known; but the artistic completeness of the little book plate is another evidence of his power as a designer.

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In September Caldecott modelled some birds, forming part of the capitals of pillars for Sir Frederick Leighton's 'Arab Hall' in his house at Kensington. They were done for the architect, Mr. G.

Aitchison, A.R.A. Besides these he was at work on other modelling; one subject (the outcome of his Brittany travels) is given on page 194.

In 1879 he took a small house, with an old-fashioned garden, at Kemsing, near Sevenoaks. This was his first country home, "an out-of-the-way place," as he expressed it, "but exactly right for me."

Here, surrounded by his four-footed friends, he could indulge his liking and love for the country.

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Writing to a young friend on the 13th October, he sends the following:--

"I am just now obliged to decline invitations to go and be merry with friends at a distance, because I am now living in this quiet, out-of-the-way village in order to make some studies of animals--to wit, horses, dogs, and other human beings--which I wish to use for the works that I shall be busy with during the coming winter.

"I have a mare--dark chestnut--who goes very well in harness, and is very pleasant to ride; and a little puppy--a comical young dachshund. My man calls the mare 'Peri,' so I call the puppy Lalla Rookh."

In a letter to his friend Mr. Locker-Lampson, written about this time, in 1880, he expresses surprise at not hearing from America respecting certain drawings by Miss Kate Greenaway and himself, which had been sent across the Atlantic to be engraved on wood. "I wonder why?" he says--[The rest is reproduced opposite].

Caldecott was soon found out in his country home, his wide reputation as an ill.u.s.trator bringing him ever-increasing work, some "not very profitable."

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At this time he was taxing his energies to the utmost, working a long morning always indoors, and afterwards making studies in the garden or in the country; the evening occupied by reading and correspondence.

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But he found time always--and until the end--to remember and to write to his old and dear friends. One more extract (the last in this book) from a letter from Venice, to an invalid friend in Manchester in 1880:--

"I am sorry to hear that you are so lame," he says. "I wish you had been with us in Venice--the going to and fro in gondolas would have suited you well. Easy, smooth, and soul-subduing--especially by moonlight and when the ear is filled with the rich notes of a very uncommon gondolier's voice and the tw.a.n.ging of a sentimental traveller's lute.

"On the 18th of March we were married at a small church in Kent--my best man drove me in a dog-cart. I sold him my mare on the way, and she came to sad grief with him!"

[Ill.u.s.tration: SKETCH OF "WYBOURNES," KEMSING, NEAR SEVENOAKS.]

The letters after this date refer to a period in Caldecott's art which must be considered at a future time. Only two remembrances of his later years shall be recorded now; one of him at Kemsing, seated in his old-fashioned garden on a fine summer's afternoon (after hard work from nine till two) surrounded by his friends and four-footed playmates--a garden where the birds, and even the flowers, lived unrestrained.

"Where woodbines wander, and the wallflower pushes Its way alone; And where, in wafts of fragrance, sweetbriar-bushes Make themselves known.

With banks of violets for southern breezes To seek and find, And trellis'd jessamine that trembles in The summer wind.

Where clove-carnations overgrow the places Where they were set, And, mist-like, in the intervening s.p.a.ces Creeps mignonette."

The other and a later remembrance of Caldecott is at a gathering of friends in Victoria Street, Westminster, in January, 1885, when--to a good old English tune--the "la.s.ses and lads," out of his _Picture Book_, danced before him, and the fiddler, in the costume of the time, "played it wrong."

[Ill.u.s.tration: A NEW YEAR'S GREETING TO A FRIEND.]

CHAPTER XIII.

CONCLUSION.

It will be seen in the preceding pages that it was the privilege of the writer to know Caldecott intimately before he had made a name, when his heart and hands were free, so to speak; when he was untrammelled by much sense of responsibility, or by the necessity of keeping up a reputation, and when every day, almost, recorded some new experiment or achievement in his art. Let it be stated here that not at that time, nor ever afterwards in the writer's hearing, was a word said against Caldecott. With a somewhat wide and exceptional experience of the personality of artists, it can be said with truth that Caldecott was "a man of whom all spoke well." His presence then, as in later years, seemed to dispel all jealousies, if they ever existed, and to scatter evil spirits if they ever approached him. No wonder--for was he not the very embodiment of sweetness, simple-mindedness, generosity, and honour?

From the sketch on page 1 of this book, made in the smoke of Manchester, to the "New Year's Greeting" on p. 203, the same happy, joyous spirit is evident; and so, to those who knew him, he remained to the end.

As this memoir has to do with Caldecott's earlier career, and particularly with his work in black and white, the artistic value of his ill.u.s.trations in colour, especially in his _Picture Books_, can only be hinted at here.

_Caldecott's Picture Books_ are known all over the world; they have been widely discussed and criticised, and they form undoubtedly the best monument to his memory. But it may be found that some of the best work he ever did (the work least open to criticism) was in 1874 and 1875, before these books were begun; and that the material here collected will aid in forming a better estimate of Caldecott as an artist.

In March, 1883 there appeared a little oblong _Sketch Book_ with canvas cover, full of original and delightful ill.u.s.trations, many in colour, engraved and printed by Edmund Evans. This book is not very widely known, but there are drawings in it of great personal interest, now that the artist's hand is still. The _Sketch Book_ suggests many thoughts and calls up many a.s.sociations to those who knew him.

In 1883 he ill.u.s.trated _aesop's Fables_ with "Modern Instances"

(referred to on page 94).

The kind of work that Caldecott liked best, and of which he would have been an artistic and delightful exponent had circ.u.mstances permitted, is indicated in the design at the head of the preface to this volume; it was drawn on brown paper, probably for a wood carving in relief, for the central panel of a mantelpiece. This sketch is selected from several designs of a similar kind.