ARTISTS' LIVES.
"Silent, gentle, forbearing, his indignation flashed forth an eloquence
when roused by anything mean or ungenerous. Manly in all his thoughts,
tastes, and habits, there was about him an almost feminine tenderness.
He would sit by the bedside, and smooth the pillow of a sick child with
the gentleness of a woman. No wonder he was the idol of those around
him, but it is the happiness of such a life that there is so little to
be told of it."
I do not know to what friend of Leech's we are indebted for these few
words; which are, however, sufficient to convey a perfect idea of the
subject of them to those to whom he was only known by his works.
The lives of most artists are uneventful. Leech's short life was
especially so. His incessant labour prevented his giving the time to
what is called society--that is so often devoted to it--to the loss of
the happiness that home always afforded to him. He was a
self-sacrificing and most dutiful son, a good and loving father and
husband, and a true and faithful friend. In the quotation above we read
that there is little to be told of Leech's life. I have talked with
those who had the happiness of greater intimacy with him than I can
boast of, without being able to learn anything beyond the ordinary
events of an everyday life, void of dramatic incident, commonplace in
fact, except for the constant triumph of an unapproachable genius.
Leech had a large circle of friends and acquaintances, with here and
there an aristocrat amongst the latter; but his intimates were few:
between them and him, however, there were unusually strong ties of
affectionate regard; his nervous, modest, retiring nature often conveyed
a false impression of him to casual acquaintances. I have heard him
described as haughty, "stand-offish," cold, and so on; and his manner to
some of those who may have met him for the first time, occasionally
admitted of that construction; but it arose from nervousness, or from an
aversion to loud and ill-timed compliment, feeling, as he sincerely did,
his "little sketches" deserved no such eulogium. Though Leech's life
offers no field for the description of stirring events, the delightful
nature of the man affords matchless opportunities for study, reflection,
and emulation; and that study may be pursued in the examination of his
works, in which, as in a looking-glass, the nature of their producer is
reflected. There may be seen ever-recurring proofs of the artist's
intense love of Nature in all her forms; whether he deals with woman,
the most beautiful of all Nature's works, or with children in the
endless variety of their attractiveness, absolute truth, tenderness and
beauty are paramount; and not only are these creatures natural and
beautiful, but the artist is at one with them in all their doings, from
the sympathy peculiar to him with all that is simple, pure, and lovable.
Side by side with this tenderness of heart, we have a robust manliness
which shows itself constantly.
As a matter of course Leech's love of Nature was not confined to
humanity, but was extended to the animal creation, to the trees and the
fields, the sea-shore and the sea--in short, to every form of animate
and inanimate nature. Think what a delight such a constituted heart and
mind must be to the possessor of them! and not only to him, but to us to
whom he so freely offers the results of his sympathies, making us
certainly happier, and it is to be hoped better, by the taking in of so
much that is exhilarating, healthy, and true. Evidence is frequent of
pity for the sufferings of the poor and the oppressed. In many a scene
Leech becomes a warm sympathizer with unmerited distress; and constantly
his honest heart is stirred into indignation at some instance of
injustice; then we find that the pencil which can deal so gently with
childhood and woman can also, in indelible lines, stigmatize the
stony-hearted oppressor.
Underlying the refined and delicate humour that distinguishes the
greater part of Leech's work we frequently find some more or less
serious social grievance smartly satirized. In "Servant-Gal-ism," for
example, the airs and graces, the impudent assumption, and the
dishonesty even, which sometimes disgrace those otherwise worthy people,
are shown to us in drawings so humorous as to make us laugh heartily,
but at the same time we feel the full force of the satire intended. In
the encounters between servant-girls and their mistresses the ladies
sometimes get the worst of it; notably in a drawing that represents a
mistress and her maid in conflict respecting the dressing of their hair.
The old lady has tortured her few remaining locks into miserable little
ringlets, that make a shocking contrast to the long curls of her young
and pretty servant; and no sooner does she catch sight of the girl's
ringlets, than she angrily tells her she will not permit such bare-faced
imitation of the way she chooses to wear her hair. Here I am afraid we
cannot help feeling a certain amount of contempt for the blind vanity
and tyranny of the mistress, while we sympathize with the maid.
Footmen afford a wide field for the good-humoured banter of Leech.
Amongst the many striking proofs of the genius that distinguished him,
is one that to me, as an artist, is astonishing. I allude to the
individual character with which Leech invests each of his servant-girls
and footmen, as well as every type that comes under his hand. I have not
counted the number of servants of "all sorts and sizes" that appear in
"Pictures of Life and Character," but I am quite sure that a comparison
of one with another will prove that not one can be found in the
slightest degree to resemble another; each is an individual by himself
or herself, separate and distinct--a footman from top to toe; take away
his uniform, and, from some peculiarity of manner or action, he is
unmistakably a footman still. The same may be said of the maid-servants,
in whom Leech's wonderful power of individualizing is shown even more
palpably; for the cook is a cook, and perfectly distinct from the
scullery-maid and the charwoman; and no two cooks or kitchen-maids
resemble each other personally, but only in their offices.
The same may be truly said of numberless types immortalized by Leech;
but, strange to say, it cannot be said of the _young_ ladies: they
almost all have a family likeness to one another--a resemblance that can
be traced to Mrs. Leech. This fault, for it is a fault, and a grave one,
is as strange to me as the infinite variety shown in his representation
of all sorts and conditions of men and women is astounding. In marking
this I point to the only shortcoming in all Leech's work, and though, as
I think (I may be wrong), he has this fault in his treatment of young
ladies, it is absent in his drawings of elderly or old ones; the
aristocratic or plebeian old women are as well marked in personal
contrast with each other as the rest of his delightful creations.
The rest of his creations! What a dazzling, bewildering mass of humanity
crowds upon the mind when one attempts to point out special scenes for
examination and criticism! If I were to say a tithe of what I feel about
hundreds of Leech's drawings, I should greatly exceed the space
permitted to me in this book, and I should also show how inferior my
powers of analysis are to those of Dickens and Thackeray, and others
whose delightful appreciation of beauty, humour and character are so
eloquently set forth elsewhere in this memoir; and perhaps I may add
that I have sufficient respect for the intelligence of my readers to
convince me that they require no directions from me as to when they
should laugh and when look grave, or where to discover the point of a
joke that is palpable to the "meanest capacity."
With Leech's work in an artistic sense I have more to do. Considering
the limited means employed, the results produced are very wonderful.
Nothing is left to desire in character or expression; the story is
perfectly told in every drawing; and it can be read without reference to
the few lines beneath, which in the wording of them appear to me as
perfect as the cuts themselves. The composition of groups and figures,
which looks so simple and natural, is the result of consummate art. The
drawing, notably of figures and animals in action, is always correct.
Chiaroscuro is too comprehensive a word to apply to the light and shadow
of Leech's drawings; but in what we call "black and white," or, in other
words, in the distribution of the masses of dark, and what I may term
semi-dark, and light, they are always skilfully effective.
I have been told that Leech's work, in the opinion of a high authority
in matters of art, resembles, and successfully rivals, the silver-point
drawings of the old masters. I have seen many examples of those
beautiful drawings, but I have never seen one that bore the faintest
resemblance to the way in which Leech "lays his lines." The same judge
tells us that Leech's work betrays an ignorance of the principles of
effect--in other words, a neglect of the laws that should guide an
artist in the selection of his scheme of light and shadow. An
intelligent glance at any of Leech's drawings will show the fallibility
of that judgment.