ENGLISH ART IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.--SIR THOMAS LAWRENCE AND HIS
CONTEMPORARIES.
In tracing the progress of British painting, we have seen that early in
the eighteenth century the English public thought most of foreign
artists. There was no belief in the power of Englishmen to create
original works, and therefore no encouragement was given against the
"slavery of the black masters." No one dared to hang a modern English
painting which aimed at being original. If a portrait was desired the
artist considered it necessary to imitate Kneller. If a landscape were
needed, it was thought right to seek it in Italy. If a painter desired
to prosper, he was forced to be more of a house-decorator than an
artist. We have seen also how this spell was broken, first by Hogarth,
who had the courage to abide by his originality, although but one
purchaser appeared at a sale of his pictures; next by Reynolds, who
painted portraits like living persons, and not mere dolls. We have seen
Wilson and Gainsborough create a school of English landscape-painting,
and show the hitherto neglected beauties of our own land. We have marked
historic painters bravely struggling against neglect, like Barry uncared
for, believing in his art; and like Copley, who treated history with
freshness and truth. To West we owe an attempt to depict scenes from
Scripture, and a bold stand against the ridiculous fashion which
represented any warrior, even a Red Indian, attired as a soldier of
ancient Rome. And we must not forget the poetic fancies of Romney, the
dramatic force of Opie, the grace of Stothard, the great inspiration of
Blake, and the wild nightmare illustrations of Fuseli. We have seen art
too long wedded to literature, and yet making great advances under the
treatment of those who turned their attention to book illustration and
miniature-painting, rising to a high pitch of popularity. We have
observed how the Royal Academy improved the social position of English
painters, who had previously been regarded as representing a better kind
of house-decorators, and how the establishment of the Water-Colour
Societies promoted a branch of art which, starting from the
topographer's sketch, has attained high excellence and beauty.
* * * * *
Among the foremost men of the beginning of the nineteenth century was--
[Illustration: MASTER LAMBTON. _By_ LAWRENCE. A.D. 1825.
_In the possession of the Earl of Durham._]
THOMAS LAWRENCE, who was born, in 1769, at Bristol; his father, trained
as a lawyer, being at that time landlord of an inn. At an early age the
future painter was removed with the rest of the family to the "Black
Bear" at Devizes, whither the fortunes of the elder Lawrence led him.
The inn was a well-known posting-house on the way to Bath, and young
Thomas had abundant opportunities for displaying his precocious talents
to the guests who stopped there. His father had given him desultory
lessons in reading and recitation. Nature furnished him with a wonderful
gift of art; and when only five years old the beautiful child, with long
flowing hair, was introduced to all customers, and would recite Milton
and Collins, or take their portraits, according to their several tastes.
We are told of his drawing a remarkably truthful likeness of Lady Kenyon
at this early age. Of regular education Lawrence had little or none
beyond two years' schooling at Bristol, but he learnt much from the
conversation of distinguished patrons and friends in early life. In 1779
the Lawrence family moved from Devizes to Oxford, where the boy drew
many portraits. Leaving Oxford and settling at Bath, Lawrence
contributed to the wants of the family by drawing portraits in crayons
for a guinea and a guinea and a half each. His fame rapidly spread. Mrs.
Siddons sat to him, so did the Duchess of Devonshire, and, in 1785, the
Society of Arts awarded him their silver pallet, "gilded all over," for
a crayon copy of the _Transfiguration_ by Raphael, executed when
Lawrence was only thirteen. London was the fittest place for the
development of such talents as his, and accordingly the elder Lawrence
went thither with his son in 1787, and the latter was entered as a
student in the Royal Academy. He contributed seven works to the
exhibition of the same year, was introduced to Sir Joshua Reynolds and
kindly treated; the great painter encouraged the youthful genius, and
advised him to study nature instead of the old masters. Lawrence took
this advice, and avoided the temptation to try processes of colouring,
which proved fatal to many of Sir Joshua's works. The course of the
youth was one of unvarying success. The King and Queen were interested
in him. In 1791, he was elected an Associate of the Academy, and a year
after was appointed Principal Painter-in-Ordinary to the King, a post
rendered vacant by the death of Reynolds. The Dilettanti Society broke
its rules to make Lawrence a member, and painter to the society; in
1794, when nearly twenty-five years old, the artist was elected a Royal
Academician. Never, perhaps, did painter rise so rapidly and from such
slight foundations, and never was studio more crowded by sitters than
that of Lawrence. Messrs. Redgrave, in criticising his portraits, say,
"After Reynolds and Gainsborough, Lawrence looks pretty and painty;
there is none of that power of uniting the figure with the ground--that
melting of the flesh into the surrounding light which is seen in the
pictures of the first President. Lawrence's work seems more on the
surface--indeed, only surface--while his flesh tints have none of the
natural purity of those by his two predecessors; we think them pretty in
Lawrence, but we forget paint and painting in looking at a face by
Reynolds or Gainsborough." The same critics remark of Lawrence's
portraits of children that Sir Joshua was greatly his superior in this
branch of art, and that the former "had no apparent admission into the
inner heart of childhood." On the other hand, Fuseli, his contemporary,
considered Lawrence's portraits as good or better than Van Dyck's, and
recommended painters to abandon hope of approaching him. In 1797,
Lawrence exhibited his _Satan calling his Legions_, now the property of
the Royal Academy. Various and conflicting are the criticisms on this
picture, a fair specimen of the painter's powers in history. A
contemporary critic says of it, "The figure of Satan is colossal, and
drawn with excellent skill and judgment." Fuseli, on the other hand,
characterizes the principal figure briefly and strongly as "a d--d
thing, certainly, but not the devil." Lawrence himself rightly thought
_Satan_ his best work. On the death of West, in 1820, Lawrence was
unanimously chosen President of the Royal Academy. Five years earlier
the Prince Regent had knighted him. Foreign Academies loaded him with
honours. He made a foreign tour at the request of the Government to
paint portraits of the various illustrious persons who had engaged in
the contest with Napoleon I. Ten years after his accession to the
President's chair Lawrence died. The best critics declare that no high
place among painters may be accorded to him. Much of his popularity was
due to the fact that he flattered his sitters, and led the artificial
style of the day. He lost in later years the fresh vigour of his prime.
It must be allowed, however, that he was no copyist of Reynolds, nor of
any one, but treated his subjects in a style of his own. He is accused
of introducing "a prevailing chalkiness" into his pictures, derived from
his early studies in crayon. When he died there was no one to take his
place. The Waterloo Chamber at Windsor Castle contains the pictures of
_Pius VII._, the _Emperor Francis_, and _Cardinal Gonsalvi_. Famous
among his portraits of children are _Master Lambton_, _Lady Peel and
Daughters_, and _Lady Gower and Child_; for the last he received 1,500
guineas. In the National Gallery are nine of his works, including
_Hamlet with Yorick's Skull_, and portraits of _Benjamin West_ and _Mrs.
Siddons_. The contemporaries of Sir Thomas who practised portraiture
were all indebted to Reynolds.
GEORGE HENRY HARLOW (1787--1819) emerged from a childhood, in which he
was petted and spoilt, to a brief manhood which the society of actors
and actresses did not improve. He was, for a time, a pupil of Lawrence,
and it is supposed that if he had lived Harlow would, as a portrait
painter, have been his successful rival. After a foreign tour, he, like
many of his brethren, longed to succeed in historic painting. His _Queen
Catherine's Trial_, in which Mrs. Siddons appears as the Queen, does not
prove that he would have succeeded in this branch of art. It was at the
"Old Masters" Exhibition, 1882.
WILLIAM OWEN (1769--1825), the son of a bookseller at Ludlow, came to
London in 1786, after receiving a good education at the Ludlow Grammar
School. He became a pupil of Charles Catton, landscape and animal
painter, and of the Academy. In 1792 he exhibited a _Portrait of a
Gentleman_, and a _View of Ludford Bridge_. He is chiefly known as a
portrait painter, and found that branch of art remunerative, but his
real tastes appeared in _Blind Beggar of Bethnal Green_, _The Fortune
Teller_, _The Village Schoolmistress_, and other simple stories of
country life. A picture of two sisters gained him one of the two as a
wife; and portraits of _Pitt_, _Lord Grenville_, the _Duke of
Buccleuch_, and other noteworthy persons brought him into fashion.
Owen was elected full member of the Academy in 1806, and appointed
portrait painter to the Prince of Wales in 1810. He was an unwearied
worker, and his subject-pictures commanded an interest which does not
continue. In the National Gallery is _The Dead Robin_. His _William
Croker_ and _Lord Loughborough_ are in the National Portrait Gallery.
[Illustration: TRIAL OF QUEEN CATHERINE. _By_ HARLOW. A.D. 1817. In the
possession of Mrs. Morrison.]
MARTIN ARCHER SHEE (1770--1850), a native of Dublin, commenced art
studies in the Dublin Academy. In Dublin he became known as a portrait
painter. He came to London in 1788, where he was introduced to Burke,
and by him to Reynolds, who advised the young painter to study at the
Royal Academy, advice which he somewhat unwillingly followed. Gradually
winning his way, he became a successful portrait painter of men. In
1800, he was made a R.A. Though devoting himself to portraiture Martin
Shee turned ever and again to subject-pictures, of which _Belisarius_,
_Lavinia_, and a _Peasant Girl_ are specimens. A more ambitious work was
_Prospero and Miranda_, exhibited in 1806. Shee owed his election to the
Academy to his position as a portrait painter, and he justified the
choice by his defence of the institution against those who attacked its
privileges. In 1830, he was elected President, and knighted. Three of
his works are in the National Gallery, _The Infant Bacchus_, and
portraits of Morton the comedian, and _Lewis as the Marquis in the
'Midnight Hour.'_ The first illustrates Shee's later style; the picture
of Lewis, painted in 1791, his early method. Besides paintings, Shee was
the author of several literary productions, including a tragedy, a
novel, "Rhymes on Art," and art criticisms.
[Illustration: SWISS PEASANT GIRL. _By_ HOWARD.]
HENRY HOWARD (1769--1847), though not intended originally for an artist,
early showed a talent for drawing, became a pupil of Philip Reinagle and
the Academy, where, two years later, he gained the silver medal of the
Life School, and the gold medal in the Painting School for _Caractacus
recognising the dead Body of his Son_, which Reynolds, then President,
warmly praised. From 1791 to 1794 Howard travelled in Italy, and painted
_The Death of Abel_ for the travelling studentship of the Academy, which
he did not obtain. The promise of his youth was not fulfilled. "His
works are graceful and pretty, marked by propriety, and pleasing in
composition; his faces and expressions are good, his drawing is correct,
but his style cold and feeble." (_Redgrave._) Most of Howard's works are
small: he selected classic and poetic subjects, such as _The Birth of
Venus_, _The Solar System_, _Pandora_, and _The Pleiades_, and
occasionally he painted portraits. He was Secretary and Professor of
Painting to the Royal Academy. In the National Gallery is _The Flower
Girl_, a portrait of his own daughter.
JAMES WARD (1769--1859) began life as an engraver, and was thirty-five
years old before he devoted himself to painting. He selected animal
portraiture, and bulls and horses were his favourite subjects. His most
famous, but not his best picture is _A Landscape, with Cattle_ (National
Gallery), produced at the suggestion of West to rival Paul Potter's
_Young Bull_, at the Hague, which Ward had never seen. Ward's cattle
were all painted from life. Morland was a brother-in-law of Ward, and
his influence is obvious in the latter's pictures. The life-size cattle
in the before mentioned picture are an Alderney bull, cow, and calf in
the centre, another cow, sheep, and goat in the foreground. In the
National Gallery, too, is his large landscape of _Gordale Scar,
Yorkshire_.
THOMAS PHILLIPS (1770--1845) was a native of Dudley, and began as a
glass painter at Birmingham. Coming to London, he was assisted by West,
then President of the Academy, and in 1792 exhibited a _View of Windsor
Castle_, and next year _The Death of Talbot, Earl of Shrewsbury, at the
Battle of Chatillon_. Phillips was more successful as a portrait
painter: his likenesses are faithful, his pictures free from faults,
and possess a pleasant tone, though as a colourist he does not occupy a
high place. He was Professor of Painting in 1829. In the National
Gallery are a portrait of _Sir David Wilkie_, and a _Wood Nymph_. The
latter looks more like a young lady fresh from a drawing-room.
HENRY THOMSON (1773--1843), the son of a purser in the Navy, was born at
Portsea, or, as some say, in London. His works consist of historic and
fancy subjects, and portraits. His first picture exhibited at the
Academy was _Daedalus fastening wings on to his Son Icarus_. Thomson
was, in 1825, appointed Keeper of the Academy in succession to Fuseli.
He exhibited, from 1800 to 1825, seventy-six pictures, chiefly
portraits. _The Dead Robin_ is in the National Gallery.
JOHN JACKSON (1778--1831) rose from the simple home of the tailor, his
father, to a high place in the world of art. He was freed from the craft
of his father by Lord Mulgrave and Sir George Beaumont. The latter
encouraged him to visit London, and allowed him L50 a year and a room in
his house while he studied in the Academy. The young painter soon
obtained success as a portrait painter, and in 1817 was elected a full
member of the Academy. In 1819, he visited Rome with Sir F. Chantrey,
and painted for him a portrait of _Canova_. A portrait of _Flaxman_,
painted for Lord Dover, is considered Jackson's masterpiece. Leslie,
speaking of the subdued richness of his colouring, said that Lawrence
never approached him; and Lawrence himself declared that the portrait of
Flaxman was "a great achievement of the English school, one of which Van
Dyck might have felt proud to own himself the author." Three portraits
by Jackson are in the National Gallery--the _Rev. W. H. Carr_, _Sir John
Soane_, and _Miss Stephens_, afterwards the late Countess of Essex.
Jackson's own portrait, by himself, is in the National Portrait
Gallery.
[Illustration]