It will be readily understood that this little volume does not affect to
set forth anything like a formal history of the rise and progress of Art
in England. The fitting treatment of such a theme would need much more
space--not to mention other requirements--than I have here at command. I
have designed merely to submit in a manner that may, I trust, be
acceptable to the general reader, and not wholly without value to the
student, some few excerpts and chapters from the chronicles of the
nation's Art, with biographical studies of certain of its artists.
In this way I have felt myself bound so to select my materials as to
avoid more travelling over familiar ground than seemed absolutely
necessary. I have therefore assumed the reader's acquaintance with the
lives and achievements of the great leaders of native Art--Hogarth,
Reynolds, Gainsborough, for instance--and have forborne to occupy my
pages with directly rehearsing their famous memoirs. It seemed to me
desirable rather to call attention to the stories of artists who, though
less renowned, less prominent in popular estimation, were yet of mark in
their periods, and had distinct influence on the character and progress
of Art in England. Many of these artists were contemporaries, however,
and in dealing with their careers severally, it has hardly been possible
to escape repetition of the mention of incidents pertaining to the times
in which they conjointly 'flourished,'--to employ the favourite term of
Biographical Dictionaries. I must ask the reader's pardon if he should
find these repetitions intrusively frequent. But the papers herein
contained have, for the most part, already appeared in print, when it
was deemed advisable to make each as complete in itself as was
practicable. They are now reproduced after revision, and, in some cases,
considerable extension, but their original form cannot be wholly
suppressed or vitally interfered with. I can only hope that what was a
merit in their isolated state may not be accounted too grievous a defect
now that they come to be congregated.
Finally, I would suggest--referring with all due modesty to my own
efforts in this direction--that the lives and labours of our Art
worthies form wholesome as well as curious subjects for popular study. I
do not desire to set up the artist--merely in right of his professing
himself an artist--as peculiarly or romantically entitled to public
regard. But a nation's Art is, in truth, an important matter. To its
value and significance the community is more awake than was heretofore
the case, and what was once but the topic of a clique has become of very
general concern and interest. Sympathy with Art must necessarily with
more or less force extend to the professors and practisers of Art.
Surveying the past, one cannot but note that often patronage and public
favour have been strangely perverted--now cruelly withheld, now
recklessly bestowed. Here genius, or a measure of talent nearly
amounting to genius, has languished neglected and suffering--here
charlatanry has prospered triumphantly. Something of this kind may be
happening now amongst us, or may occur again by and by. Acquaintance
with the past history of native Art--its struggles, trials, troubles,
and successes--will surely prove of worth in considering its present and
future position and prospects. As some slight aid to the diffusion of
information on the subject, these otherwise unpretending pages are
respectfully submitted to the reader.