Charles Lock Eastlake (1793-1865), son of the Solicitor to the Admiralty
in that town, was born at Plymouth, and educated first in Plympton
Grammar School, where Reynolds had studied, and afterward at the
Charterhouse, London. Choosing the profession of a painter, he was
encouraged, doubtless, by his fellow townsman, Haydon, who had just
exhibited “Dentatus.” Eastlake became the pupil of that erratic master,
and attended the Academy schools. In 1813 he exhibited at the British
Institution a large and ambitious picture, “Christ raising the Daughter
of the Ruler.” In the following year the young painter was sent by Mr.
Harmon to Paris, to copy some of the famous works collected by Napoleon
in the Louvre. The emperor’s escape from Elba, and the consequent
excitement in Europe, caused Eastlake to quit Paris, and he returned
to Plymouth, where he practiced successfully as a portrait painter. In
1819 Eastlake visited Greece and Italy, and spent fourteen years abroad,
chiefly at Ferrara and Rome. The picturesque dress of the Italian and
Greek peasantry so fascinated him that for a long period he forsook
history for small _genre_ works, of which brigands and peasants were the
chief subjects. A large historical painting, “Mercury bringing the Golden
Apple to Paris,” appeared in 1820, and seven years later, “The Spartan
Isidas.” In 1828 Eastlake produced “Italian Scene in the Anno Santo,
Pilgrims arriving in sight of St. Peters,” which he twice repeated. In
1829 “Lord Byron’s Dream,” a poetic landscape (National Gallery), was
exhibited, and Eastlake becoming an Academician, returned to England. To
his labors as a painter Eastlake added the duties of several important
offices, and much valuable literary work. He was Secretary to the Royal
Commission for Decorating the New Palace of Westminster, Librarian of
the Royal Academy, and Keeper, and afterward Director of the National
Gallery. In 1850 he succeeded Sir Martin Shee as President of the Royal
Academy, and was knighted. From that time till his death, at Pisa, in
1865, he was chiefly engaged in selecting pictures to be purchased by the
British Government. He was editor of Kugler’s “Handbook of the Italian
Schools of painting,” and author of “Materials for a History of Oil
Painting.”