Mr. Henry M. Brock is also an effective illustrator, and his work
increases in individuality and in freedom of arrangement. 'Jacob
Faithful' (1895) was followed by 'Handy Andy' and Thackeray's 'Songs
and Ballads' in 1896. Less influenced by Mr. Thomson than his brother,
the lively Thackeray drawings, with their versatility and easy
invention, have nevertheless much in common with the work of Mr.
Charles Brock. On the whole, time has developed the differences rather
than the similarities in the work of these artists. In the 'Waverley'
drawings and in those of 'The Pilgrim's Progress,' Mr. H. M. Brock
represents action in a more picturesque mood than Mr. Charles Brock
usually maintains, emphasizing with more dramatic effect the action and
necessity for action.
The illustrations of Mr. William C. Cooke, especially those to 'Popular
British Ballads' (1894), and, with less value, those to 'John Halifax,
Gentleman,' may be mentioned in relation to the Caldecott tradition,
though it is rather of the art of Kate Greenaway that one is reminded
in these tinted illustrations. Mr. Cooke's wash-drawings to Jane
Austen's novels, to 'Evelina' and 'The Man of Feeling,' as well as the
pen-drawings to 'British Ballads,' have more force, and represent with
some distinction the stir of ballad romance, the finely arranged
situations of Miss Austen, and the sentiments of life, as Evelina and
Harley understood it.
In a study of English black-and-white art, not limited to
book-illustration, 'Punch' is an almost inevitable and invaluable
centre for facts. Few draughtsmen of notability are outside the scheme
of art connected with 'Punch,' and in this connection artists differing
as widely as Sir John Tenniel and Mr. Phil May, or Mr. Linley Sambourne
and Mr. Raven Hill, form a coherent group. But, in this volume, 'Punch'
itself is outside the limits of subject, and, with the exception of Mr.
Bernard Partridge in the present, and Sir Harry Furniss in the past,
the wits of the pencil who gather round the 'mahogany tree' are not
among character-illustrators of literature. Mr. Partridge has drawn for
'Punch' since 1891, and has been on the staff for nearly all that time.
His drawings of theatrical types in Mr. Jerome's 'Stage-land'
(1889)--which, according to some critics, made, by deduction, the
author's reputation as a humorist--and to a first series of Mr.
Anstey's 'Voces Populi,' as well as work in many of the illustrated
papers, were a substantial reason for 'Punch's' invitation to the
artist. From the 'Bishop and Shoeblack' cut of 1891, to the 'socials'
and cartoons of to-day, Mr. Partridge's drawings, together with those
of Mr. Phil May and of Mr. Raven Hill, have brilliantly maintained the
reputation of 'Punch' as an exponent of the forms and humours of modern
life. His actual and intimate knowledge of the stage, and his actor's
observation of significant attitudes and expressions, vivify his
interpretation of the middle-class, and of bank-holiday makers, of the
'artiste,' and of such a special type as the 'Baboo Jabberjee' of Mr.
Anstey's fluent conception. If his 'socials' have not the prestige of
Mr. Du Maurier's art, if his women lack charm and his children
delightfulness, he is, in shrewdness and range of observation, a
pictorial humorist of unusual ability. As a book-illustrator, his most
'literary' work is in the pages of Mr. Austin Dobson's 'Proverbs in
Porcelain.' Studied from the model, the draughtsmanship as able and
searching as though these figures were sketches for an 'important'
work, there is in every drawing the completeness and fortunate effect
of imagination. The ease of an actual society is in the pose and
grouping of the costumed figures, while, in the representation of their
graces and gallantries, the artist realizes _ce superflu si necessaire_
that distinguishes dramatic action from the observed action of the
model. Problems of atmosphere, of tone, of textures, as well as the
presentment of life in character, action, and attitude, occupy Mr.
Partridge's consideration. He, like Mr. Abbey, has the colourist's
vision, and though the charm of people, of circumstance, of accessories
and of association is often less his interest than characteristic
facts, in non-conventional technique, in style that is as
un-selfconscious as it is individual, Mr. Abbey and Mr. Partridge have
many points in common.
Sir Harry Furniss, alone of caricaturists, has, in the many-sided
activity of his career, applied his powers of characterization to
characters of fiction, though he has illustrated more nonsense-books
and wonder-books than books of serious narrative. Sir John Tenniel and
Mr. Linley Sambourne among cartoonists, Sir Harry Furniss, Mr. E. T.
Reed, and Mr. Carruthers Gould among caricaturists, mark the strong
connection between politics and political individualities, and the
irresponsible developments and creatures of nonsense-adventures, as a
theme for art. To summarize Sir Harry Furniss' career would be to give
little space to his work as a character-illustrator, but his
character-illustration is so representative of the other directions of
his skill, that it merits consideration in the case of a draughtsman as
effective and ubiquitous in popular art as is 'Lika Joko.' The
pen-drawings to Mr. James Payn's 'Talk of the Town,' illustrated by Sir
Harry Furniss in 1885, have, in restrained measure, the qualities of
flexibility, of imagination so lively as to be contortionistic, of
emphasis and pugnacity of expression, of pantomimic fun and drama, that
had been signalized in his Parliamentary antics in 'Punch' for the
preceding five years. His connection with 'Punch' lasted from 1880 to
1894, and the 'Parliamentary Views,' two series of 'M.P.s in
Session,' and the 'Salisbury Parliament,' represent experience gained
as the illustrator of 'Toby M.P.' His high spirits and energy of sight
also found scope in caricaturing academic art, 'Pictures at Play'
(1888), being followed by 'Academy Antics' of no less satirical and
brilliant purpose. As caricaturist, illustrator, lecturer, journalist,
traveller, the style and idiosyncrasies of Sir Harry Furniss are so
public and familiar, and so impossible to emphasize, that a brief
mention of his insatiable energies is perhaps as adequate as would be a
more detailed account.
[Illustration: FROM SIR HARRY FURNISS' 'THE TALK OF THE TOWN.'