ON THE RIVIERA.
The journey to the Riviera and North Italy, which Caldecott was
compelled to make for his health, before Christmas 1876, was as usual
prolific of work. Writing from Monaco in January, 1877, he says:--
"This is a beautiful place, and for the benefit of you stay-at-home
bodies I will describe it--in my way;" and in four original letters
published in the _Graphic_ newspaper in March and April, 1877, there
appeared about sixty illustrations containing upwards of three hundred
figures, different studies of life and character; and these drawings do
not represent probably, one half of the sketches made.
No such pictures of Monte Carlo and its neighbourhood had been sent
home before; they were the ideal newspaper correspondent's letters--the
sketches abounding in humour and accurate detail; the letters
accompanying them being written from personal observation.
It would have been strange indeed if these letters had not attracted
general attention and amusement in a newspaper; but they did more than
this, they revealed an amount of artistic insight, and suggested
possibilities in Caldecott's future career as an artist which his
health never permitted him to put to the test.
At Monaco and at Monte Carlo, Caldecott found so much that suited his
pencil that it is a wonder that he found time for any more serious
work. With touches of satire that remind us of Thackeray, and a gaiety
all his own, these spontaneous and delightful letters form the best
picture of Caldecott that can be given in 1877.
"Round the tables," he writes, "from noon to nearly midnight--seven
days a week--the _monde élégant_ congregates, from the Yorkshireman to
the Japanese." Then follow sketches of an Englishman in Scotch tweed,
and a young man from Japan. Next is a general sketch of the crowd at
the round table, the artist's own figure, admirably given, standing
back to us, hat in hand. It was a marvellous gathering presented on the
printed page, "all intent on gambling--editors of journals, English
justices of the peace, venerable matrons and innocent girls, beloved
sons who are 'travelling,' artistes, chevaliers of the legion of
honour, dames who are not of that legion." "Such costumes and toilettes
sweep the polished floor, such delicately-gloved fingers clutch the
glittering coins--when they happen to win, and sometimes when they
don't--such a clinking of money, as the croupiers mass the rakings."
[Illustration: THE GAMING TABLES AT MONTE CARLO.]
From the fashionable crowd and the heated atmosphere of the Casino the
artist takes us along the cool shores of the Mediterranean, where, in
one of the best sketches in these letters, full of air and light, he
brings two figures into unexpected contrast. "Walking one afternoon
along the Mentone road, we reached a point commanding a fine view of
sea, hills, and olive trees. There was a stone seat, and on it an aged
round-backed man. On the wall and bench before him were spread out many
cards dotted with the results of numerous twirls of the roulette ball.
He was studying his chances for the future. As we turned away we met a
priest reading in a little book as he passed."
As the landscapes suffered in reproduction in the newspaper, and were
the least successful part in these letters, it may be well to mention
that some of Caldecott's landscape studies in oils and water colours,
on the shores of the Mediterranean, were the best he ever did,
attracting much attention at the sale of his works in 1886.
That he did not put a high estimate on his powers as a landscape
painter at that time may be gathered from a few words in a private
letter declining some commissions.
"The drawings that G. so kindly enquires about are not in my line. I
would rather not attempt to paint what I imagine he wants--proper
professional water-colour landscape painter's work.
[Illustration: "PRIEST AND PLAYER."]
"Please say that my line is to make to smile the lunatic who has shown
no sign of mirth for many months (see the _Graphic_ of Saturday last,
6th January, p. 7, right-hand column--I tumbled upon it in the reading
room of the Casino), and not to portray the beauties of this southern
clime--not but what I would if I could!"
NORTH ITALIAN FOLK.
It was in the same winter, during his journey in North Italy, that
Caldecott made twenty-eight illustrations for a book on _North Italian
Folk_.[9] Here Caldecott's studies, and his habit of sketching the
peasantry wherever he went, served him well. Take the picture of the
priest and his faithful servant Caterina; the latter, reproaching her
master for bringing home a neighbour, Maddalena, "to eat two _lasagne_
with us!" Caterina is "a gaunt threadbare-looking woman of some
five-and-thirty years, and the _prevosto_ is gaunt too, and sallow;
the two match well together. Caterina's hair is smooth though scant,
and her faded print dress is neat, but the bright yellow kerchief round
her shoulders is soiled, and the cunning plaits of her grey hair are
not as well ordered as the women's are wont to be on mass days.
[Illustration: THE PRIEST'S SERVANT ADMINISTERS A REPROOF.]
"Presently Caterina bustles into the darkened parlour, where
sits the _prevosto_ lazily smoking his pipe and reading the
country newspaper. He has put aside even the least of his
clerical garments now, and lounges at ease in an old coat and
slippers, his tonsured head covered by a battered straw hat.
"'Listen to me,' breaks forth the faithful woman, and she is
not careful to modulate her voice even to a semblance of
secrecy, 'you don't bring another mouth for me to feed here
when it is baking day again. _Per Bacco_, no indeed!... It
sha'n't happen again, do you hear? And I have the holy wafers
to bake besides. For shame of you! Come now to your dinner in
the kitchen!' And Caterina, the better for this free
expression, hastens to dish up the _minestra_.
"'Poor old priest! What a shrew he has got in his house,'
says some pitying reader. Yet he would not part with her for
worlds! She is his solace and his right hand, and loves him
none the less because of her sharp tongue and uncurbed
speech. In many a lone and cheerless home of Italian priest
can I call to mind such a woman as this--such a fond and
faithful drudge, with harsh ways and a soft heart."
Another picture in _North Italian Folk_ seems to give the character of
the peasantry and the scenery exactly. "The sun glitters on the pale
sea that is down and away a mile or more beyond the sloping fields and
gardens, and the dipping valley. Giovanni pauses to rest his burthen
upon the wall just where the way turns to the right again, leaving the
mountains and chestnut-clad hills behind it."
[Illustration: THE HUSBANDMAN.]
[Illustration: GOSSIP.]
Here in the sketch we are made to feel the sunlight and the glare from
the sea on the southern slope; every detail of the pathway, to the
stones in the old wall, being accurately given.
Never, perhaps, in any book since Washington Irving's _Old Christmas_
and _Bracebridge Hall_ was the illustrator more in touch with the
author than in _North Italian Folk_; but for some reason--probably
because Caldecott's work and style had become identified with English
people and their ways, both abroad and at home--the illustrations made
little impression. The completeness of the pictures, and the local
colour infused into them by the author, left little to be done;
moreover, Caldecott was not on his own ground, and to draw buildings
and landscape in black and white, with the finish, and what is
technically called the "colour," considered necessary for a book of
this kind, was always irksome to him.
Less characteristic, but charming as a drawing, is the group of country
girls under the cherry trees, reproduced on the opposite page. It is a
picture worth having for its own sake, whether it aid the text or not,
and one with which we may fitly leave this volume.
[Illustration: "DIGNITY AND IMPUDENCE."]
[Illustration: "SPANIELS, KING CHARLES'S BREED." SIR E. LANDSEER, R.A.]
Early in the year 1877 Caldecott made several drawings for an
illustrated catalogue of the National Gallery. Amongst the best in the
English section were the two sketches from Sir Edwin Landseer's
pictures, reproduced here. The grave portrait of an old bloodhound in
"Dignity and Impudence," and the animation and movement in the
diminutive poodle by his side, are indicated in a few expressive
lines. The bright eyes of the two little spaniels of King Charles's
breed glitter under his hand in the original pen and ink sketch.
[Illustration: PORTRAIT OF A LAWYER BY MORONI.]
For the foreign section of the book on the National Gallery he made
many sketches, notably one of the "Portrait of a Lawyer" by Moroni.
Here the touch and method of line are different; quality was more
considered, and an attempt made to give something of the effect of the
picture.
But neither he, nor those with whom he worked in those days, had
mastered the best methods of drawing for mechanical reproduction, as
they are understood now; fascinating as it seemed to him, and to many
other illustrators also, to learn that the time had come when, by
mechanical--or more properly chemical--engraving, the touch of the pen
could be printed on the page.
It may be said generally in 1877, that Caldecott disliked drawing for
"process," and that after years of experience, and having achieved most
successful results by photographic engraving, he remained faithful to
the wood engraver. The delicate little drawings in brown ink, which
were dispersed in hundreds under the auctioneer's hammer in June, 1886,
had nearly all been photographed on to wood blocks.
In June, 1877, Caldecott--staying at Shaldon, Teignmouth, South Devon,
for the benefit of his health, chafing under enforced idleness and
"debarred by the doctors from all sport," as he says--writes a letter
with the following little sketch of "Waiting for a Boat."
[Illustration: "WAITING FOR A BOAT."]
"The weather has been unwell for many of the days, and has
much interfered with the intellectual occupation of enticing
'dabs' on to hooks let down into the sea by pieces of string
and concealed by shreds of mussels.
"On only one occasion have I been engaged in this exciting
pursuit--all chases and pursuits are more or less
exciting--but this one on that account can hardly be
considered 'detrimental' to my health. There were three of us
in the boat when I engaged in the sport. We had a large can
of fine mussels. We threw out the lines and hauled them in
every now and then, for three good hours, being about a mile
out to sea. Two whole dabs were the result. I was quite calm
as we rowed home.
"I do not boast of this exploit, although the larger dab was
at least seven inches long by four and a half wide, and fully
3/8 of an inch thick. Still I glow a little as I recount his
measurements."
Many illustrations were made in the autumn of 1877 for the _Graphic_
and other publications which need not be detailed. A painting of one of
his favourite hunting scenes was also in progress, in spite of dark
days and delicate health.
[Illustration]
[Illustration: "CLEOPATRA."]