BOOK ILLUSTRATORS.
The earliest book illustrations in England were illuminations and
repetitions of them on wood. Frontispieces followed, in which a portrait
was surrounded by an allegory. Of this branch of art WILLIAM FAITHORNE
(1616--1691) and DAVID LOGGAN (about 1630--1693) were practitioners.
Topographical views, subjects from natural history, and botany followed.
Hogarth's designs for "Hudibras" were among the earlier illustrations of
a story. FRANCIS HAYMAN (1708--1776), his friend, illustrated Congreve's
plays, Milton, Hanmer's Shakespeare, and other works. He was followed by
SAMUEL WALE (died 1786), and JOSEPH HIGHMORE (1692--1780), who
illustrated "Pamela." Towards the close of the eighteenth century, book
illustrations had become a recognised class 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 illustrate Bell's publications.
Famous among book illustrators was--
[Illustration: 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 godlike sentiments." Hard work with the graver gave him
bread, and when the day's toil was over he could illustrate teeming
fancies in pictures and in verses. He worked at first chiefly at book
illustrations. 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 illustrate
"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 illustrating Dante when he died, and, happy to the
last, passed away singing extemporaneous songs.
[Illustration: 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 illustrations of "Peregrine
Pickle" appeared in 1781, and are excellent examples of his truthfulness
and grace. He was essentially a quietist, and scenes of passion 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 illustrations 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 illustrations of the
"Arabian Nights." His brother WILLIAM WESTALL (1781--1850), was a
designer of considerable note, especially of landscapes.
[Illustration: THE PORTRAIT. _By_ SMIRKE.]
ROBERT SMIRKE (1752--1845), a native of Wigton, in Cumberland, is
chiefly known by his illustrations 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 illustrations 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 title-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 illustrators:--
THOMAS BEWICK (1753--1828), born at Cherryburn, near Newcastle-on-Tyne,
adopted a fine mode of wood-engraving. Hitherto many illustrations of
books had been engraved on copper, and were necessarily separate from
the letterpress. Bewick's process allowed the cut and the words it
illustrated 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 illustrations of AEsop's Fables, upon which he was engaged
six years. He was assisted 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 surpassed.
[Illustration: THE WOODCOCK. _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 entitled "Ars Pictoria," with thirty-one etchings.
LEWIS CROSSE (died 1724) was the chief miniature painter of Queen Anne's
reign.
[Illustration: _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
class. 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 brass-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. Passing from the St. Martin's Lane Academy,
Meyer, a native of Wuertemberg, 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 SHELLEY, 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 illustrations.
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 illustrious 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 Associate 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. Passing 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, Titian, 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 ESSEX (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.
[Illustration: 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 Illustrious 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
assistant 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 L100 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.
[Illustration]