AN ARTIST'S REMINISCENCES
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AN ARTIST'S
REMINISCENCES
BY
WALTER CRANE
WITH ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-THREE ILLUSTRATIONS
BY THE AUTHOR, AND OTHERS FROM PHOTOGRAPHS
NEW YORK
THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
1907
PREFACE
WHEN Messrs. Methuen suggested to me that I might
write my Reminiscences I was quite taken by surprise.
In the midst of a busy life one does not think of such things,
or if a thought of the possibility of recording one's personal
happenings does occur, it is probably consigned to some
dreamed-of tranquil time in days of retirement.
However, when a man begins to say " I remember," it is
a sign that he has mental records of a different world from the
present, and probably of actors long passed from the world's
stage.
In these revolutionary times, when changes are so rapid,
it needs no great pretensions to fulness of years to have
witnessed extraordinary transformations in the outward aspects
of life, in manners and customs, in dress, as well as in mental
attitude. A comparatively short life would be sufficient in
which to have observed most extraordinary changes in the
aspects of London, for instance. Twenty or thirty years ago,
measured by the changes which have taken place, might well
be centuries, and this would also hold good of the less obvious
and less noted, perhaps, shifting of intellectual focus, to say
nothing of political and social change.
The main interest of reminiscences lies, however, I presume,
in the direct personal impressions a writer may be able to give
of eminent persons he has met, or of scenes and movements
of which he has been a witness or in which he has taken part.
As the years roll by, and new generations arise who only
know the names of certain distinguished men and women, or
are acquainted with them only through their works or their
fame — poets, savants, artists, statesmen — first-hand information
or fresh personal impressions are apt to acquire an unusual
interest. Such interest is often, too, concentrated on the not-
viii AN ARTIST'S REMINISCENCES
so-very-long-ago times, the days that are so near and yet so
far — farther perhaps in some ways than much remoter periods
of history. People are often said to resemble their grand-
parents, and there may be in consequence a certain sympathetic
interest between the youngest and the oldest generation. The
world before railroads and telegraphs seems lost in the mystery
of fascinating romance, while the introduction of the motor
marks an entirely new epoch, affecting as it seems to do both
mental states and social life in so many ways. But sometimes
even the very newest fashions are apt to hark back, and
nothing seems so old as the out-of-date nowadays.
Life is a strange masquerade : as the procession passes in
the glare of the full noontide one hardly grasps its full
significance, but perchance partly lost in the mist of the past,
one becomes aware of larger meanings, and in perspective both
persons and events assume different proportions.
Well, I can offer no complete or systematic records of the
last fifty years or so, and it may seem a rather curious medley
of events, persons, and things which the following pages present.
I do not even pretend that it gives a complete record of one's
own artistic career. One's work as an artist is rather the warp
in the loom through which are interwoven, like different wefts,
the passing impressions of persons and events and of travel
in various countries, coloured by those personal thoughts and
feelings, which go to make up the fabric of a life.
WALTER CRANE
CONTENTS
CHAP. PAGE
I. Of Early Life and Associations, Torquay, 1845-57 i
II. Removal to London, 1857, and Early Experiences
THERE UNTIL 1859 . . . . .34
III. Apprenticeship to W. J. Linton, 1858-62 . . 45
IV. Early Work, 1862-70 ..... 66
V. Marriage and Visit to Italy, 1871-73 . .110
VI. Life in the "Bush," 1873-79 . . . 154
VII. Record of Work — Italy revisited, 1880-84 • 209
VIII. Art and Socialism, 1885-90 .... 249
IX. Bohemia — Italy — Visit to America, 1890-92 . 339
X. Kensington — Hungary — Italy, i 892-1 903 . . 410
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
Shield on Crane Monument, Chilton Church, Suffolk— Crane
Shield impaled, Wood Rising Church — Crane Arms as used
BY Thomas Crane (my Father). From a Heralds' College
Drawing, Early Nineteenth Century — Seal of William
Crane, South Creke, Temp. Edward IV. — Brass of Sir
Francis Crane in Wood Rising Church — Sir Robert Crane
{1480), East Window, Long Melford Church, Suffolk . 6
Early Study of a Setter (1858) ...... 42
Silhouette Portrait of Walter Crane at about the Age of
Twelve — Silhouette Portrait of my Mother, by my Father
— Silhouette Portrait of my Father, by Himself , . 55
Cock Robin and Jenny Wren ...... 75
Sketch at Haddon Hall (1865) ...... 79
A Derbyshire Pastoral ....... 86
The Passionate Shepherd (H. E. W.)— Fancy Sketch of Walter
Crane and H. E. Wooldridge in Old Age . . .87
Paris Fashions in 1866 ....... 89
Sketches at Paris (1866) ....... 90
At Ambleside ........ 108
Monument to Dr. William Harvey, Hempstead Church . . iii
The Old House at Hempstead, Essex . . . . .112
Harwich . . . . . . . . .114
The Seven Mountains, from a Window in the Hotel de Hollande,
Cologne . . . . . . . . .116
Aschaffenburg (1871) . . . . . . .118
Sketch at Munich (1871) . . . . . . .119
Venice— Lord Byron's House . . . . . .122
Sketch in St. Mark's, Venice (1871) ..... 123
We take Steps to secure Apartments (Rome, 1872) . . . 128
The Breakfast Boy, Quattro Piano (Rome, 1872) . . . 132
xn
AN ARTIST'S REMINISCENCES
An Allegory of the Dinner Box (Rome, 1872)
The Cervaro Festival (Rome, 1872)
Pests of Southern Italy (1872) .
Water-Spouts (Capri, 1872)
Leaving Capri (1872)
A Quiet Apartment (Rome, 1873)
There's no Place like Home (Rome, 1871-73) .
Sketch of Lionel Francis Crane at Two Years old
The Gods receiving Cupid and Psyche (i)
Early design by Sir E. Burne-Jones. Engraved on wood by William Morris
The Gods receiving Cupid and Psyche (2)
Early design by Sir E. Burne-Jones. Cut by William Morris
Pheasant-Shooting at Wortley (1876) .
Allegorical Sketch for Base of Silver Cup .
Beatrice among the Lions at Combe Bank (1881)
Old Inn Window at Bolsover, with Sketch of J. R. Wise
Sketch of "The Sirens" (Grosvenor Gallery, 1879)
Sketch of Lancelot Crane at the Age of One Year and Seven
Months ....
Sketch on Board a Yacht
Sketch of the Rev. Stopford A. Brooke (Naworth, i88i)— Sketch
of T. J. Cobden-Sanderson (Naworth, 1881)
Sketch of Mazzini's Tomb (Genoa, 1882)
Sketch at Venice (1882) ....
Portrait of Lucy Crane (1882) .
Sketch of Beatrice Crane (Littlehampton, 1882)
Memory Sketch of Henrik Ibsen (Rome, 1883)
Frontispiece to "English Living Poets"
William Morris's Design for the Card of Membership of the
Social Democratic Federation
Design for Louise Michel's International School
Mrs. Grundy frightened at her own Shadow
Cover of Linnell's Death Song .
Caricature of a page of Baby's Own ^Esop .
By Mrs. Houghton
Sketch of St. David's Cathedral (1885)
279
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
xiu
rACB
Sketch at Malisic, Bohemia (1890) ..... 346
The Triumph of Labour ....... 355
Restoration at the Brunswick ...... 363
My First Cocktail ........ 364
The One-Horse Shay in Walden Woods .... 370
The Button-Presser — Fancy Portrait of the Man of the Future 379
The Round Table at Winetka (H. D. Lloyd's Family Party) . 380
Our Guide to China Town, San Francisco {1892) . . . 386
Street Signs in American Towns ..... 393
The Flies of Florida ....... 396
Statue of Liberty, New York Harbour .... 403
CoBHAM Hall ........ 419
German Official and British Tourist ..... 422
Pilgrims to Bayreuth ....... 423
England to her own Rescue ...... 427
Sketch of Old Elvet Bridge, Durham (1895) .... 433
Sketch of William Morris speaking from a Waggon in Hyde
Park ......... 440
John Ruskin's Home, Brantwood, Coniston .... 447
Design to commemorate the Conclusion of Peace with the
Boers . . . . . . . . . 465
Sketch from Life of Maurice Jokai . . . . . 471
Vaidi Hunyad ........ 476
Caricature by Mr. Farago — the Hungarian Minister of Fine
Art and Walter Crane at Budapest (1900) . . . 479
Souvenir Card (Holland), Turin (1902) .... 490
Souvenir Card (Japan), Turin (1902) . . . . .491
LIST QF PLATES
Walter Crane, R.W.S.
From the Portrait by G. F. Watts
Frontispiece
Thomas Crane .......
From a Miniature by himself about 1840. This block kindly lent by Messrs
Velhagen and Klasing
Marie Crane .......
From a Water-Colour Drawing by Thomas Crane, dated 1840. This block
kindly lent by Messrs. Velhagen and Klasing
Anstey's Cove .......
From a Charcoal Drawing by Thomas Crane
Sketch of a Horse at Ireland's Farm, 1858-59
Mr. Pig and Miss Crane ......
From the Book designed and lithographed by Thomas and William Crane
of Chester
Sketches at Linton's Office in Hatton Garden, 1860-61 .
Study for an Early Picture, "The Eve of St. Agnes"
Walter Crane in 1862 ....
From a Photograph
Walter Crane in 1865 . . . ' .
From a Photograph
Sketch for "Twilight," Dudley Gallery, 1866
Sketch at Cawsand Bay, 1866
Self Portrait at the Age of Twenty-one
Sketch on the Pincio, Rome, 187 i
"Diana and the Shepherd," 1882
" La Belle Dame sans Merci," 1884
"The Bridge of Life," 1884
In the Seeger Collection Berlin
FACING PAGE
2
37
49
52
64
66
66
76
80
82
108
114
115
116
LIST OF PLATES
XV
FACING PAGE
Mr. R. B. Cunningham Graham ...... 136
From a Photograph kindly lent
The Right Hon. John Burns, M.P. . . . . . 136
From a Photograph kindly lent
"Amor Vincit Omnia," 1875 ...... 139
In the Collection of Sir Francis Gore
My Studio at Beaumont Lodge, 1885 ..... 143
From a Photograph
"Freedom," 1885 ........ 144
"Pandora," 1885 ........ 145
Sketch for "The Riddle of the Sphinx," 1885 . . . 146
"The Arts of Italy" ....... 148
From a Water-Colour Drawing after the Royal Institute Tableau, 1885.
Sir Henry Irving's Collection
Sketch of the Countess of Wharncliffe at her Embroidery
Frame, 1876 ........ 150
"The Renascence of Venus," 1877 . . . . -151
"The Chariot of the Hours," 1887 . . . . .177
Our Party in Greece ....... 181
From a Photograph
Page from "The First of May," 1880 . . . . .183
"Europa," 1881 ........ 191
In the Seeger Collection, Berlin
Page from "The Gladstone Golden Wedding Album," 1889 . 195
"The Roll of Fate," 1882 . . . . . . 203
In the Somerset Beaumont Collection
" Baby Bunting," 1889 ....... 223
Walter Crane ........ 247
From a Drawing in gold point by Prof. Legros, made in 1898, and now in the
Luxembourg
"Britomart" ........ 286
(Spenser's Faerie Queene, Book III., 1896)
"Truth and the Traveller," 1880 ..... 287
In the Seeger Collection, Berlin
"England's Emblem," 1895 •* • • • • • 289
In the Seeger Collection, Berlin
XVI
AN ARTIST'S REMINISCENCES
The Hall, 13 Holland Street .
From a Photograph
"A Stranger," 1900
"The Winds of the World," 1901
"The Mower," 1901
In the Thoma Collection, Karlsruhe
"The Fountain of Youth," 1901
FACING PAGE
• 333
. 334
The Illustrations are from original pictures by Walter Crane, where not
otherwise stated
AN ARTIST'S REMINISCENCES
CHAPTER I
OF EARLY LIFE AND ASSOCIATIONS,
TORQUAY, 1845-57
WHAT a curious thing is memory ! It is as if the stream
of life, flowing through the mind, reflects upon its
surface, often but dimly and partially, notable scenes and
personages as they pass, soon to be effaced by others as
shadowy, while it bears along upon its surface, in all the
crispness of clear reality, trifles, like the image of some fallen
leaf or toy boat, which ever come in front of the dimly outlined
shapes of more important incidents in a life's story.
Thus it is often that the impressions of childhood are borne
along with the course of one's life, retaining all their freshness
and distinctness when many later ones have faded or passed out
of view, like mountains or castles in the distant landscape of a
river's banks.
How far back one's memory remains distinct, or rather, at
what period it consciously begins, it is very difficult to be certain
of, and the memory varies in retentiveness in different indi-
viduals. It may be, too, that hearsay may have something to
do with it — I mean the hearing of the talk of older people
recalling events and incidents which happened in one's early
life long before the period when a child is supposed to be in
possession of a memory at all.
My father (of whom I give a reproduction of a miniature
painted by himself about 1839 or 40) and my mother both
belonged to Chester families. The picture of my mother
2 AN ARTIST'S REMINISCENCES [1845-57
given here is from a water-colour drawing of her by my father,
signed and dated 1 840.
The Cranes of Chester date back to the time of Elizabeth.
Mr. T. Cann Hughes, M.A., F.S.A., of Lancaster, to whose
researches I am indebted, has discovered a long list of Cranes
who were freemen of Chester city from the sixteenth to the
nineteenth centuries ; craftsmen and traders, chiefly, of various
kinds, beginning with Ralph Crane (stringer), 8th Eliz. ; and
ending with William Francis Crane (painter), 1 847.
In this list appears the name of Thomas Crane (bookseller),
1 8 1 2, sworn freeman of the city in that year — this was my grand-
father. He was not only bookseller but editor of the Chester
Courant at that time, and also captain of the Chester volunteers
or " trained bands " of that period, and his children remembered
playing with his cocked hat, sash, and sword. He lived in
Crane Street and afterwards in Bridge Street, and from there
moved to Newgate Street in the parish of St. Werburgh. He
had six daughters and three sons. My paternal grandmother's
maiden name was Swinchatte. Both these grandparents died
in the Newgate Street house in 1836. Two of the daughters
(my aunts Bessie and Catherine) kept a school at Whitchurch
in 1834, and after the death of their parents this school was
carried on in the old house in Newgate Street, which belonged
to the family, having been left to my grandfather by a cousin
— one Parson Crane, of St. Oswalds, Chester ; ^ he was a learned
man and an antiquary, who left his collections of coins and
seals to Sir John Gerard — a connection on my grandmother's
side — the Gerard Swinchatte family.
My great-grandfather was in the Royal Navy — a lieu-
tenant on board the Monarch of 60 guns. He was in the
Napoleonic wars, and wrote in the Chester Courant an account
of a fight with the French in which his ship " ran the gauntlet
of the whole French fleet." This officer died at sea.
My great-great-grandfather was appointed house-surgeon
to the Chester Infirmary when that institution was built about
^ There was a local saying about Parson Crane, he being as remarkable for his
height as his sister was for her shortness of stature : the long and short of it was
that when folks saw a long and a short candle on the table they said, "There's Parson
Crane and his sister."
THOMAS CRANK
I'AINTF.D liY IIIMSF.I.K, AlidUT 184O
1845-57] OF EARLY LIFE AND ASSOCIATIONS 3
the middle of the eighteenth century. I possess a Bible, a
1 2 mo in three volumes, printed at Oxford by Thomas Basket,
and dated 1756. It is in contemporary binding, and is inscribed
"K Libris Thomai Crane, 1756"; on the fly-leaf at the end
of two of the volumes is written : " Thomas Crane, Apothecary
and Secretary to the General Infirmary in Chester, 1756," and
in the same careful script some missing verses from the Book of
Kings are supplied upon the fly-leaves. There are other notes
and references, including a Latin quotation from Erasmus, and
preceding the New Testament a comment as follows : " In
this collection you will find the Book of God written by the
Evangelists and Apostles comprised in a most admirable and
comprehensive Epitome. A true Critic will discover numerous
Instances of Speech more Chaste and Beautifull than the most
admired and shining passages of the Secular writers."
My father had three brothers — William, John, and Philip.
With these he was associated in a lithographic press in Chester.
This was at the old house in Newgate Street, where they
worked in a separate building in the garden. By this means
my father reproduced many of his portraits and other works at
this time (in the late " twenties " and early " thirties "). Among
the works issued, bearing the imprint " Drawn and lithographed
by T. and W. Crane, Chester," were Mr. Rowland Warburton's
" Hunting Songs," 1836, and The History of Mr. Pig and Miss
Crane. The verses accompanying the latter were written by
Lady Delamere of Vale Royal, and the book was produced by
the brothers for a bazaar at Chester. I have a copy, and am
able to give a reproduction of one of the plates designed by my
father.^ Among his early portraits were those of Lady Louisa
Grey with her child ; the Earl of Stamford and Warrington and
his sister, with a parrot in a cage ; members of the Stanley
of Alderley family ; the Greys of Groby ; the Wilbrahams ; and
the late Duke of Westminster.
His facility in and taste for drawing came out at a very
early age, and he made clever portraits when quite a boy it was
* Other works from the press were a portrait of the violinist Paganini, and "A
Ballad by the Rev. Reginald Heber, late Bishop of Calcutta — a grotesque and humor- ,
ous set of verses with eight illustrations." This latter I have never seen a copy of.~^
There was also a series of cards designed for the Chester Musical Festival of 1829.
4 AN ARTIST'S REMINISCENCES [1845-57
said. He went to London, and entered as a student in the
Royal Academy schools. I have his circular ivory student's
ticket, inscribed on one side: " T. Crane, March 31, 1825 ;"
and on the other: " Royal Academy Antique School, 1768."
My father having been born in 1808, could only have been
then sixteen or seventeen years old.
William Crane died in 1843, but I think the partnership
and the press must have been given up on my father's marriage
in 1839—40, as William Crane seems to have gone out to
Australia (Melbourne), where he died. Philip Crane also went
out to Melbourne, where he opened an hotel with a friend named
Bird, but he was afterwards thrown from his horse and killed.
Of the other brother, John, less is recorded, but he appears to
have worked with the others at the lithographic press, and also
to have been an oarsman. All the brothers were fond of row-
ing, and they built a boat for themselves, too. There are
records of exciting races on the river Dee, in one of which
William Crane's boat was swamped as it reached the winning
post. I have a relic of this in the shape of a piece of one of
the timbers with a silver plate inscribed : " A piece of the
Deva, swamped September 16, 1839, presented to William
Crane the Coxswain." I have also a curious old bill of the
Chester Regatta, September 13, 1839, with a woodcut at the
head showing four-oared boats racing on the Dee, with the
tower of St. John's Church in the background, and " Row, Boys,
Row ! " printed across the sky. In the list of competitors
below appear the names of both William and John Crane, the
former in the Deva, a four-oared gig, and the latter as a
" gentleman amateur sculler."
My father and mother went to live in Liverpool in the
early " forties," and my father became Secretary and Treasurer
of the Liverpool Academy of Art, a post which he resigned on
being ordered to Torquay on account of his health, as consump-
tion was feared.
One of his artist friends at Liverpool at that time, also, I
believe, a member of the local Academy, was the late Alfred
W. Hunt, R.W.S., the distinguished landscape painter, who
afterwards lived in Durham for some years, before he established
himself in London, where Mrs. Alfred Hunt, and later her
MARIE CRANE
FKDM A \VATEK-CO:.OUU UKAWING BV THOMAS CRANE, 184O
> <
1845-57] OF EARLY LIFE AND ASSOCIATIONS 5
daughter Violet, became well known for their literary
work.
Of my mother's family I have very little information. She
had remarkable energy and sense, and devoted herself in the
most self-sacrificing way to her family. Her maiden name was
Kearsley. Her father was a " maltster," a prosperous man in a
good position in Chester. Her mother seems to have died early,
and her father married a second time. I had an aunt and an uncle
on my mother's side. The former. Aunt Emma, I remember
well staying with us in Torquay — a very attractive personality,
but unfortunately she did not enjoy good health, and died young.
She married a Mr. John Coglan, who was on the Liverpool
Stock Exchange. The uncle was my uncle Edward Kearsley,
whom I speak of later. There was another uncle, " Tom," whom
I never saw, who went to Australia and was not again heard of.
It has been generally supposed that Sir Francis Crane,
of Mortlake Tapestry fame in the reign of James i., was
an ancestor of ours, which certainly brings in a pleasant
association with decorative art. Sir Francis belonged to the
East Anglian branch of the Crane family. Sir Francis Crane,
from his brass in Wood Rising Church, appears to have died
in Paris about the age of 57 on June 26, 1636, his body
being brought to Wood Rising and buried " the i oth daye
of July following." Another East Anglian Crane — Sir Richard
— from a brass in Wood Rising Church, appears to have been
buried at Cardiff, so that there may have been a branch of
the family in Wales in the seventeeth century, and so from
Wales they may have come to Chester. The arms which my
father used shows the same coat as that of the East Anglian
branch, and occurs as the first quarter on a much-quartered
shield of a Crane monument of Elizabethan date at Chilton
Church, near Sudbury, and also on the tabard of Sir Robert Crane
(1480), a kneeling knight in the east window of Long Melford
Church, Suffolk, as well as on the brass of Francis and r
William Crane at Wood Rising, 1655, the coat of Sir
Francis Crane being the bearings of the second and third
quarters sinister of the dame's arms, which are impaled with
her husband's. A precedent for my own rebus, curiously
enough, occurs on a seal of a charter by one William Crane
SHIELD ON CRANE
MONUMENT, CHILTON
CHURCH, SUFFOLK
CRANE SHIELD IM-
PALED, WOOD RISING
CHURCH
CRANE ARMS AS USED BY THOMAS CRANE
(my father). from A HERALDS' COL-
LEGE DRAWING, EARLY NINETEENTH
CENTURY
S'^Francis Crai^ IC; Chancellor of
TE MOST NOBLE ORDER.OF TE GARTE-
(aCEDABOVT^7 years) dyed TE 1C
DAYE OF fv^E AtB^WS fN FrANCE ffe
WKINCE HIS BODY^»ASBROVGHTA^D
BVRIED IN -RIS PLACE T£ Jo''dAYEOFIv=
LY FOLLOWING Ano Dfuj<S36
)
BRASS OF SIR FRANCIS CRANE IN WOOD
RISING CHURCH
6
SEAL OF WILLIAM CRANE,
SOUTH CREKE, TEMP.
EDWARD IV.
SIR ROBERT CRANE (1480),
EAST WINDOW, LONG
MELFORD CHURCH,
SUFFOLK
1845-57] OF EARLY LIFE AND ASSOCIATIONS 7
of South Crane in Norfolk, which bears the date of the twelfth
King Edward iv. (1473).
Such details may have in themselves but a limited interest,
but I have often thought if family records could be com-
pletely kept from generation to generation, the character
of a particular member could be much more completely ac-
counted for ; though, of course, the effect of different environ-
ment must count for a great deal, as well as hereditary
tendencies.
I cannot say that I have any recollection of my birthplace —
Liverpool ; but this is accounted for by the fact of my trans-
portation from thence at the early age of three months, when,
in October 1845, o^i account of my father's state of health, the
family removed to Torquay — then coming into high repute as a
health resort.
It was in Maryland Street, Liverpool, however, that I first
saw the light — the same street, I believe, which claims to have
been the birthplace of Mr. W. E. Gladstone.
The 15th of August was my natal day — a day marked in
the calendar as the date of the death of Napoleon the First
and that of the birth of Sir Walter Scott.
I cannot say whether the latter circumstance had any
influence over the choice of my name, however.
I can claim, without any special egoism, to have made a
noise in the world at a very early period. The journey to
South Devon from Liverpool in the " forties " must have been
somewhat trying. The last part of the journey, I think from
Exeter, was performed by stage coach, and the legend is that
it was here that the voice of my crying made the coach
impossible for any inside passengers unconnected with the
family, who must have been very long-suffering, and it was
said only a particular aunt of the party had the power of
soothing my inarticulate infantine troubles.
My memory, fortunately perhaps a blank as to this period,
cannot discover any distinct visual impressions until at
least three years later. The very earliest, I think, is one of
sitting in a swing suspended between two elm trees in the old
garden of the first house we inhabited on settling in South
Devon. This was at Tor, and known as Beanland Place. The
8 AN ARTISTS REMINISCENCES [1845-57
house is vague, but the garden, where, probably, with brother
and sisters, most of this time was spent, seems more distinct,
and there was in one corner the woodhouse, where the garden
tools were kept — a dark and shadowy temple in a world of
wonder and mystery.
I have a very early recollection — a strange one — of being
seized with " croup " and waking my parents in the middle of the
night with strange squeaking sounds from my throat, and being
dimly conscious of lights being struck and carried about, and the
doctor being sent for.
My next primitive memory picture is of a tall house on
the side of a hill — Walden or Waldon Hill, with a long sloping
walled garden, and a good many stone steps, rather perilous
to us children, and I do not think residence there could have
been very lengthy, and probably recollections of the place are
merged in later memories of the aspects of the town and
harbour, of which Waldon Hill commanded a fine view.
The next move was inland again to the village of Upton,
then quite distinct from Torquay. Here memory is much less
vague and impressionistic, and, in fact, becomes almost pre-
Raphaelite. I have a distinct picture of a rather pretty villa,
one of a pair in early Victorian taste, with a verandah having
light trellis supports, which were covered with climbing white
roses in great profusion. French casement windows opened
out on to this verandah from the drawing-room, which was
decorated by a plaster cast of Thorvaldsen's popular circular
relief " Night " on the mantelpiece, the companion " Day "
occupying a corresponding position in the dining-room,
which, according to a usual plan in those days, was divided
from the drawing-room by folding doors.
I remember that another room was converted into a studio
for my father by having a skylight inserted, and recall seeing
the workmen cut the hole through the plaster ceiling for the
purpose.
This house was at the foot of a grassy hill, cut into by a
stone quarry, and I well remember seeing the quarrymen,
when a charge was to be fired to blast the rock, trooping
away to a safe distance. Our proximity to this quarry,
indeed, was the cause of some alarm, as stray fragments of
1845-57] OF EARLY LIFE AND ASSOCIATIONS 9
stone from the explosions would occasionally fall into our
garden.
Upton was a pretty, old-fashioned Devonshire village of
thatched cottages with whitewashed walls, nestling among tall
hedgerow elms. I remember a stream flowing across the road
and a foot-bridge over it, an attractive place from which to
watch the fish and the ducks. Near by was a cider press —
a most mysterious affair, turned by a horse in the recesses of
a dark shed. It was a joy to see the heaps of apples and to
taste the new sweet cider. Amid such scenes and with such
surroundings a very happy child-life was passed, not oppres-
sively shadowed by much governessing or schooling.
I have a very early recollection of going with a large
picnic party on a four-horse coach, which was most exciting,
to a place some miles off called Hugbrooke Park, famous
for the beauty of its scenery. I remember quite dis-
tinctly the luncheon spread out on the white cloth on the
green grass, and afterwards the grown-up ones of party — father
and mother and an aunt and the older children, and possibly
other guests I do not recall — going off for a walk into the
park or to see the house or some lion of the place at a dis-
tance, and that I was left with two little girls, as being too
small for such an excursion, in charge of the servants, who
certainly must have had their fun over their lunch, as there
was plenty of laughter, and they were amused, too, at the
sight of my gravely taking the two little girls for a short
walk, walking between them and holding the hands of both,
for I remember the maids pointing at us and laughing. I
fear the names of my little companions have passed from
my memory, but there is no doubt that I formed quite
serious attachments from a very tender age — but " the cold
world shall not know."
About this time my father and mother went to London
and brought back wonderful accounts of the marvels of the
great Exhibition of 185 1, with which we became further
familiarised by the pictures in the Illustrated London News,
which, as children, we delighted to experiment on in colour,
more especially the pictures of the opening ceremonies, and
the royal progresses with plenty of smart dresses and
10 AN ARTIST'S REMINISCENCES [1845-57
soldiers' uniforms in them. These figures and the London
crowds in such pictures were at that time put in by the
facile hand of John Gilbert, afterwards the famous Sir John
Gilbert, painter in oil and water colour, the veteran president
of the old society in Pall Mall. The same artist was the chief
illustrator of the small children's story-books published by the
Religious Tract Society at that time, such as George's First
Journey, which told of the wonders of the late stage coach
and the early railway period. Such works, too, as Goldsmith's
Natural Histoiy and Animated Nature, one of Charles Knight's
popular publications, I think — a folio crammed with woodcuts
from all sorts of sources, including some of fearsome " ante-
diluvian animals," as they were then called, very impressive
to a child's imagination. These and such as these were the
earliest pictorial influences I can remember outside my father's
studio. He painted mostly portraits at that time, and fre-
quently made studies of his own hand in the looking-glass
to assist him in arranging the pose of the hands in his full
or half-length portraits. These were generally cast aside and
often lay on the floor, which was generally also my drawing
table at that early period. To some of these studies of hands
I attached fancy portraits of gentlemen — reversing the usual
portrait-painter's process of painting his heads first and putting
in his hands afterwards — often, I fear, with but little regard to
proportion and with more interest in the superficial decorative
effects, such as the truly " fancy waistcoats " of the early
" fifties," which frequently blossomed in large floral or tartan
designs of a most striking character. These early ingenious
efforts were shown by a fond mother to friends of the family,
who seemed to have risen to the occasion remarkably well, as
it was a joke for a long time afterwards that they expressed
quite cordial admiration for these efforts, " especially the hands."
I could not have been more than six or seven years of age at
the time, so there may have been some excuse for my artifice
in thus utilising a parent's artistic skill and experience.
I daresay my early efforts with the pencil may have
been encouraged by some of my father's friends who visited
at Laureston Villa (the name of the Upton house) about this
time. I remember he and a few other artists formed an
1845-57] OF EARLY LIFE AND ASSOCIATIONS 11
evening sketching club, meeting at each other's houses or
studios and making sketches in charcoal by lamplight. Among
these friends was Field Talfourd^ a sketch of whose head I
recall made by my father in charcoal on toned paper and
heightened with white chalk. There were also two brothers
named Stockdale of whom he did similar portrait sketches.
Mr. Walker, an artist of more advanced years, who made
rather a special line in charcoal landscapes, used to visit the
house about this time, but I am not sure whether he belonged
to the sketching club.
The years went by happily enough at Upton, at least from
the irresponsible child's point of view, pleasantly varied by
excursions on donkeys, combined with picnics in the pleasant
and romantic places with which the neighbourhood abounded,
such as Anstey's Cove and Babbicombe. These outings were
an institution on birthdays, and as there was no great disparity
of years in the little family of five, we could all join in the
same childish pleasures and were quite companionable. My
father was very fond of walking, too, and often took us for
long rambles among those pleasant Devonshire lanes and
hills. There was the quarry hill, and a hill we called " The-
hill-with-the-rock-on," a green hill having a peculiarly shaped
limestone crag emerging near its summit. Another hill was
crowned with a ruined castle, a conspicuous feature of which
was a round tower, which was commonly called " Caesar's Tower."
Most of these were visible from our windows. Then there was
the quarry, where we watched the men laboriously drilling holes
with crowbars, for blasting, and the rope-walk along the side of
the same hill, where an old weather-beaten, more or less sea-
faring sort of man, with a belt of hemp around his waist, used
to walk to and fro twisting the fibre into rope, while his boy
turned a wheel at the opposite end.
I remember in some of our walks coming upon gipsy
encampments. There was a favourite spot on the broad grassy
margin" of the road to Newton Abbott bordered by a wood.
Here one could see the low-pitched, semicircular, arched tents,
canvas over hooped sticks, somewhat like the tilts of waggons
placed upon the ground. Swarthy children tumbled in and
out of their dark interiors, where now and then an old camp
12 AN ARTIST'S REMINISCENCES [1845-57
follower would be seen sitting smoking. The iron pot sus-
pended on three sticks, with a fire crackling beneath, figured
in front ; donkeys and large ponies browsed near by. Dark
brown men with slouch hats, long ringlets, and bright orange
scarfs, sleeve waistcoats and corduroys, hung about, and perhaps
a dark-eyed and black-haired handsome gipsy woman would
come forward smiling and showing her white teeth as she offered
to tell your fortune for a small consideration.
From one of these encampments my father induced a
singularly handsome gipsy woman to sit to him as a model.
I remember the picture of her with an orange kerchief tied
over her blue-black hair; but I believe she proved a very
uncertain model.
These were the boundaries of our little world, and in
such scenes, with the usual quickly passing child-like joys
and troubles, life's early chapters were soon run through, and
the first schooldays commenced.
My first school experiences were at a small mixed school
— what, I suppose, would now be considered a sort of kinder-
garten, though the Froebel system . of teaching was not then
established in England. It was kept in an amateur sort of
way by two sisters — the Misses Nicholson. I have the
faintest recollection of the sort of lessons we learned, and
was far more interested in the doings of a mysterious brother
of the schoolmistresses, who was one of the early and then
rare experimenters in amateur photography. One of the
causes of my remembering this circumstance was no doubt
the personal interest I had in at least two of the results of
his operations.
It must have been about the time of the outbreak of the
Crimean War, when it was considered mostly an affair of
Russians versus Turks — at all events, the picturesque and
dramatic side of this useless war at that time fascinated
one's boyish imagination. The school slate, however, was
then the chief, if not the only, medium for the expression of
one's pictorial ideas, and the slate-pencil, and I was glad to
turn from the troublesome cyphers of the simple addition
sum to the forming of more varied if equally conventional
figures. One slate-picture of a terrific combat between the
1845-57] OF EARLY LIFE AND ASSOCIATIONS 13
Turks and the Russians, heightened by effects of smoke
produced by rubbing the slate-pencil lines with the finger,
was considered worthy of preservation, and it was here that
the amateur photography came in. The design was photo-
graphed by Mr, Nicholson, and I well remember the wonder
with which we gazed upon the result, which was a reduced
copy of the slate-picture, but quite clearly reproduced.
Strictly speaking, I believe the process was that known as
" daguerreotyping," named after the French inventor Daguerre,
as they were not negatives but positives upon glass. I
remember standing with another small boy in the garden at
the Misses Nicholson's house, against a brick wall which
served as a background. The sight of the tripod and
camera with the black cloth and the mysterious movements
of the operator seemed to have contrary effects upon the
facial expression of my companion and myself, for, in the
result, he had on a broad grin, while I was frowning. I can
see this early picture now quite distinctly. The images of
the two little boys in the long-bodied tunics of the period,
with belts and short trousers, hatless, and standing side by
side against the brick wall, helpless but slightly defiant, like
prisoners about to be shot — or " snap-shotted," as we should
now say, though the agony was then rather longer drawn out.
My early experiments with the pencil — and I never
remember being without one of some kind — procured for me
a certain local repute among our neighbours and acquaint-
ances, but I did not seem always to appreciate its con-
sequences, for when Dr. Shute, a large and hearty man with
a big voice, one day seeing me across the street, called out,
" There goes the little artist ! " I did not like the trumpet
of fame at all in this form, and felt very shy and un-
comfortable.
The year 1854 found the family in yet another house
in Torquay. This was situate in Park Place (No. 3) and its
windows on one side commanded a view of the town and
harbour. The front door opened straight on to a street
pavement, yet there were no houses opposite, but a wood,
called John's Wood or Mrs. John's Wood, and I think, finally,
St. John's Wood.
14 AN ARTISTS REMINISCENCES [1845-57
The Park Place house was a large and more com-
modious sort of house than Laureston Villa, and probably
required by the demands of the growing family of two sisters
and three brothers. It included a more spacious studio for
my father, too. This was a long room with a French window
to the north, opening on to a balcony from which steps led
down to a long walled garden on a sloping ground. The
lower half of the window was kept veiled with thick baize
studio-fashion to concentrate the light upon the easel. It
was here I received my first ideas of the great masters, as the
mantelpiece was adorned with certain well-known plaster
statuettes, by a German artist whose name escapes me, of
Albert Durer, Raphael, Michael Angelo, and Leonardo
da Vinci. These statuettes were bronzed over, I think, by
my father himself, who was very fond of experimenting in
other crafts than painting. About this time he had a small
galvanic battery, and endeavoured to electroplate or electro-
type some plaster medals.
He was good at carpentering and had a turn for mechanical
construction, for I remember a model of a velocipede upon
which was seated the figure of Punch with his feet on
treadles, and this trundled along by clockwork across the
floor, to the great delight of us children. The circles of the
wheels were ingeniously made of successive strips of Bristol
board glued together, and the wheels, when complete, were
painted with a solution of red sealing-wax and spirits of
wine, which had a brilliant enamel-like effect. He made
also small fire-balloons, inflated and floated by means of a
small sponge soaked in spirit and lighted, thus heating
the air enclosed in the paper globular covering and causing
the balloon to rise in the air. This again was most ex-
citing to witness, and was generally reserved for the Fifth of
November celebrations.
Meanwhile I picked up in my father's studio and under
his eye a variety of artistic knowledge in an unsystematic
way. I was always drawing, and any reading, or looking
at prints or pictures, led back to drawing again. Nash's
Mansions was one of the books I loved to pore over. It
was a folio, and rather heavy and unwieldy for a small person,
1845-57] OF EARLY LIFE AND ASSOCIATIONS 15
but such difficulties were always solved by the use of the floor.
Then there was another folio, Liversege's Works, a book of
mezzotints of romantic and dramatically treated figure-
subjects, chiefly illustrations to Walter Scott's novels, as far
as I remember; also the Art Journal in its original form in
the buff-covered parts, with a more or less classical design on
the wrapper and bound in thickish volumes of plain green
cloth. The designs which attracted me the most in these
were not the elaborate steel engravings from modern pic-
tures, but the woodcuts. I distinctly recall reproductions of
Albert Durer's " The Great Horse," " The Knight, Death, and
the Devil," and the " Melencolia," and these, while among my
earliest artistic impressions, have retained and increased their
influence in later days. The powerful German imagination in
such works among the moderns as those of Alfred Rethel,
the romantic fantasy of Moritz Schwind, and, more academic
and dry, but skilfully composed and Holbeinesque in treatment,
the Bible designs of Schnorr.
Impressions from such designs had no doubt an uncon-
scious effect in forming one's future tendencies and style. For
a time they became obscure and displaced by other influences.
A lithograph of Major Dalgetty by Frederick Taylor hang-
ing in the dining-room may have had its effect, with the
reading of Scott's novels, in turning my boyish fancy in the
direction of warlike romance, and this was further stimulated
by such books as Charles Lever's Charles GMalley and James
Grant's Romance of War, and the effect of the news from
the Crimea, and pictures in the Illustrated News. The book
and print-seller's windows were full of sporting and military
prints, and certain sheets, giving the new uniforms of the
British Army in colours, proved most attractive. Attempts
at artistic expression by means of pencil or brush (and the
primary colours) were not sufficient to relieve one's martial
feelings at this time ; something more active and practical
was called for.
A tunic of scarlet flannel, with the white facings of a
Connaught Ranger, and a cap converted into a shako by means
of an important knob stuck in front, seemed more to the purpose,
with a popgun and a sword. A tent in the garden was next
1 6 AN ARTIST'S REMINISCENCES [1845-57
set up, and a younger brother enrolled in the aforesaid scarlet
flannel. One thing was wanting to give a touch of realistic
war flavour, and that was gunpowder. Some was got hold of
— I think from a powder horn left by someone in the house —
and operations commenced. They took the form of a series
of small explosions on the garden path, but in firing the last
one, owing to over-eagerness to see how it was going pff, most
of the charge was received upon one's eyebrows and eyelashes,
which were pretty well singed off, and one was generally con-
sidered lucky to have escaped with one's eyesight intact.
No doubt the powder horn became less accessible after
that. I do not know that the war fever abated, though, for
some time. It was, indeed, further encouraged at the house of
a friend and schoolfellow of my elder brother, one Henley by
name, bigger than the rest of us, who formed a small gang
of boys at his house, which, being situated upon the pre-
cipitous slopes of Waldon Hill, in a garden with plenty of
ambush and important strategic positions on the tops of
flights of steps, lent itself well to our operations. These
generally took the form of sham fights. The party divided into
two and chased each other up and down the garden, with
miscellaneous arms and costumes supplied from our host's
private or ancestral collection ; for he was the son of an
officer who had seen service, and possessed the book of his
regiment containing highly coloured pictures of its uniforms,
banners, and exploits, among which such subjects as the
storming of Seringapatam and the siege of Badajos figured.
Among these martial relics was a dragoon's brass helmet, which
one remembered wearing — though almost extinguished by it
— with great satisfaction. Then there were cutlasses, blunder-
busses, pistols, and gun-stocks, all the latter capable of being
fired blank by percussion caps, giving a very exciting report.
The artillery was made up of small brass cannon, which
frequently burst through being probably overcharged, but
somehow we never seemed to need the services of a field,
or any other, hospital. Another incident connected with
the dressing up as a soldier may not be without interest
as throwing light (or rather, as in this case it proved,
darkness) on the type of furniture and decoration of the
1845-57] OF EARLY LIFE AND ASSOCIATIONS 17
period. In order to see that all was correct, and to get a
full-length picture of myself in the new uniform, in the
absence of any responsible domestic authority I mounted the
pedestal table in the drawing-room, as that eminence com-
manded a full view into the large pier glass which decorated (?)
the marble mantelpiece ; but, alas ! the way of those pedestal
tables was to wobble on their apparently solid tripod of lion's
claws, and in making a plunge to recover my balance the
table went over, cloth, books, and all, and worse still, carried
an inkstand with it, as well as the small person in the red
flannel tunic. The result was an alarming splash of ink upon
the creamy-coloured field of the Brussels carpet. I had heard
of salt as an antidote for ink-stains, however, and I went
for the salt-cellar and emptied its contents upon the ink-
stained carpet.
I think in the end the reprimand was a little mitigated
by this attempt to make reparation.
I recall the fiery rejoicings in which the town indulged, in
common, I think, with the rest of England, at the news of the
battle of the Alma, at first wrongly supposed to have involved
the fall of Sevastopol. Blazing tar-barrels were rolled about,
and fireworks let off in all directions one September night
in 1854. Few could have foreseen the tedious and terrible
winter months which followed, involving great suffering to our
troops, exposed to the rigours of the Crimean winter as well
as the blunders and red tapeism of the War Office. The
gloom was certainly relieved by brilliant victories such as
Inkermann, and the historic charge of the Light Brigade at
Balaklava ; but the war was, as usual, a mistake, involving
a fearful amount of suffering and waste of life, if also heroism,
which after all might have had better opportunities in con-
structive and social services, and in furthering the general
good of the community. There was, it is true, as usual also, a
peace party at that time who duly protested, but they were
in a hopeless minority, and were ridiculed and silenced as far
as possible, though in the end events proved them to have
been in the right.
Living, as we did, near the harbour, it was natural, in the
constant sight of ships and sailors and the life of the quays,
1 8 AN ARTIST'S REMINISCENCES [1845-57
to become interested in nautical matters and all that belonged
to the sea, and we prided ourselves on correctly distinguishing
the different rigs of the various types of vessels. The collier
schooner with the square-rigged foremast was the most
frequent visitor to Torquay, and the coal was then laboriously
hauled up from the hold by means of a pulley and the weight
of three men, who hauled first from a raised plank, and then,
jumping down simultaneously on to the deck, still clinging to
the rope, brought their weight to bear upon the basket of coal
till it was hauled to the wharf. There were timber and grain
ships also, and fishing smacks, and a variety of craft, from the
smart private cutter or schooner yacht to the small lugger and
harbour punt.
It was immense fun, when, finding a good-natured skipper,
we children were allowed to ramble over a ship as it lay
moored to the pier or quay, especially if it were a large
barque or " three-master." An especial favourite was The
Margaret of Torquay, with a kindly captain, and it was a sad
event when in a gale we saw this vessel stranded upon the
sands, as she was making for the harbour on a return voyage.
I do not remember any steam vessel, and I do not think that
steamships were much used for trading purposes generally till
later. The passage to the United States and to Australia was
performed by sailing ships. " The fast-sailing clipper ship " to
New York or Melbourne was the usual form of advertisement
of such ships, generally headed by a picture of a three or four-
masted vessel in full sail cutting its way through a breezy sea.
Evening entertainments were sometimes given in some
hall in the town, of a character likely to appeal to the sym-
pathies of a seaport audience. I remember being taken
to one of these, a diorama, as it was called, of a voyage to
Australia. The lecturer, as each picture appeared, gave a
short description. The series began with a picture of the ship
about to start, and a signal gun was actually fired through
a porthole to announce her departure, when the scene slowly
moved from right to left, round the roller, out of sight, and
made way for the next. We had a " man overboard " in the
Channel, which was painted properly choppy, and various
incidents of the voyage, the landing at Melbourne, and the
1845-571 OF EARLY LIFE AND ASSOCIATIONS 19
journey to the gold diggings, and so on, that being the
principal or perhaps only reason for taking the voyage in
those days.
At another similar sort of entertainment a wreck was
pictured and the rocket apparatus practically demonstrated,
the shot being actually fired, or something to look like it, and
through a raging sea we presently discerned a rope made taut,
and some little figures of sailors emerging clinging to the rope,
and crawling to the cliff hand over hand.
The circuses and the " wild beast shows," however, which
not unfrequently visited the town, were more exciting, the
whole company of the circus generally riding through in
costume, with teams of spotted horses drawing weirdly painted
and gilded cars, bewitching lady equestriennes, huntsmen,
soldiers and clowns, and a brass band. On one occasion a
whole hunt, the ladies and gentlemen in scarlet, made a brave
show.
Then the circular tent, the plank benches and the sawdust,
the feats of horsemanship, and the jokes of the clown, were
beyond words.
Once I saw the battle of Waterloo fought in the ring.
There was Napoleon on his white horse and grey caped over-
coat, telescope and cocked hat all correct, and the Duke of
Wellington equally so. Both made stirring speeches to their
troops, who cheered like true supernumeraries, and then the
Life-guards charged the Cuirassiers, and the foot-guards duly
upped and at them'd ; there were alarums, and excursions, and
finally a grand melee in the ring and a great expenditure of
gunpowder, which filled the stifling tent and nearly choked the
audience as they made their way out, deeply impressed — at
least, the juvenile portion. At the wild-beast shows, or
caravans, we made the acquaintance of live lions and tigers,
giraffes, zebras, and elephants. The usual plan was a
parallelogram formed by drawing up the waggons or wheeled
cages into line on some green or open field and disclosing
their railed fronts to the spectator. Here the poor prisoners
from Africa and the uttermost parts of the earth were gazed
upon or teased by the crowd making holiday, the monkeys
making the best of it out of the nuts freely offered them.
20 AN ARTIST'S REMINISCENCES [1845-57
The most thrilling experience was the ride upon the elephant,
when, with a dozen or so of other children, one felt the curious
swaying movement, something like that of a vessel on the sea,
as we paraded around the limited confines of the show.
Every year there was the Torbay Regatta, generally,
I think, in August, for one associates it with bright hot
weather. This was for us, perhaps, the great event of the year.
The sound of brass bands was in the air from early morn,
the ships in the harbour and bay gay from stem to stern with
strings of bunting in all the colours of the rainbow. The
quay was transformed, rows of yellow vans were drawr; up
along the edge of the quay with their backs to the harbour.
Gorgeous pictures of fat women and strong men hung aloft.
There was a theatre with wonderful characters in costume
(like those we used to buy lithographed upon sheets and
jewelled, to be cut out for the toy stage) strutting about on
the boards ; there was the never-failing attraction of Punch
and Judy ; there were merry-go-rounds and shooting galleries,
there were oranges and nuts, and innumerable seductive ways
of getting rid of pocket-money. -
I have never forgotten a fine lady in a riding habit who
borrowed a tall hat from a gentleman in the audience — and
they were very tall hats in those days — and after discovering
a number of unconsidered trifles in it, which she held up for
the diversion of the audience, and to the confusion of the
owner of the hat, she finally made and cooked a currant
pudding in the hat (which was handed round to be consumed)
before brushing it and gracefully handing it back to its owner,
uninjured.
Then there were sports upon the water in the afternoon.
A cutter was moored just outside the pier in a sheltered
bit of the bay. This was the Committee's boat, and the
official centre and starting-point for the races, and the scene
of various aquatic sports. There was the greasy bowsprit
with basket hung with coloured ribbons hanging at the end.
To gain this, many athletes essayed to walk the bowsprit
very lightly attired, and with bare feet, of course. Many were
the attempts, and wild were the attitudes struck upon the
bowsprit in the endeavour to preserve balance on the part
1845-57] OF EARLY LIFE AND ASSOCIATIONS 21
of the various competitors for the prize in the basket,
sometimes a duck, sometimes a pig. When at length one
succeeded in detaching the basket, he tumbled with it, or
without it, into the sea, and then it became a swimming
race for the prize joined in by the other competitors. On
one occasion, I remember, there was a boat race, the
competing boats representing various trades and their crews
rowing with the implements of their different trades. Coal
heavers in black calico rowing with shovels, bakers in white
with wooden bread shovels for oars, gardeners propelling
their boat with spades, were the most distinct. Then
there were yacht races, but these took a course around the
bay and beyond it, and though no doubt followed by the
experts with glasses and great interest, for the juveniles, in
passing out of sight often passed out of mind, while the
excitement centred on the Committee boat and its fantastic
performances.
Of other popular festivals or shows I have a recollection
of seeing a local pageant in the form of a procession after
the manner, more or less, of the Lord Mayor's Show in
London, a principal feature of which was a series of cars
representing various crafts or trades in operation. Trolleys
or waggons were used hung with coloured draperies, and
within the limited workshop space various groups of workers
successfully did their best to illustrate as picturesquely as
possible the stages of certain handicrafts. I remember a
man sawing a piece of wood on one of these crafts-cars,
and the saw coming through the calico hanging which draped
the side of the trolley.
On another occasion, a fete was given at Whatcombe, a
place on the coast towards Teignmouth, where the red
Devonian sandstone emerged in fantastic buttresses from
the sloping green sward and formed a sort of natural
amphitheatre. Here, in the centre, a maypole was erected
with garlands and ribbons, and a group of child-dancers
danced around it, twisting and untwisting the ribbons to
the music of the band of the Royal Marines, very gorgeous
in scarlet uniforms and plumed shakos. The fete was given,
I believe, in honour of the visit of some member of the
22 AN ARTISTS REMINISCENCES [1845-57
Russian imperial family, and I recall that the scarlet band
played a striking march we were told was " the chant of
the Croates." While gazing at the maypole dance, small
person though I was, I must have inadvertently obscured
the view of a still smaller person in charge of an attendant
sitting on the grass of the slope behind me, for I distinctly
remember the man plucking my sleeve and motioning with
his hand, when I turned, to indicate that I was standing
in the august but very youthful light of a young Russian
prince, as I was afterwards informed,
Mayday was not, however, usually kept with such
splendour. The usual local method of commemorating the
festival, at Upton at least, manifested itself in the form of
dolls representing the Queen of May, presumably, dressed
and decked with flowers, and arranged in a sort of arbour
of flowers, the whole being enclosed in a sort of shallow
draper's box. It was the custom for the little girls of the
village to take these round to the houses of the gentry where
there were children, and send them in to be looked at and
in the expectation of some trifle of money as a reward for any
skill and taste shown in the arrangement of May-in-the-Box.
We had our first resident governess at Park Place,
Miss Hawkes — so that we were still in the bird family.
Miss Hawkes so became in the course of natural abbreviation
" 'S 'awkes " with her pupils. I believe she was very worthy
and conscientious, but do not remember any strong attach-
ment between us, or anything very exciting during her
period of authority. We were duly plied with " Magnall's
questions," and gathered our ideas of English History from
Mrs. Markham. The Child's Guide to Science encouraged
an interest in the chemistry of domestic life, and Henry's
First Latin Book helped our first stumbling steps in that
language. Certain " lessons " had to be committed to
memory, and, parrot-like, repeated by rote the next day.
That " learning lessons " became the chief daily bogey in
an otherwise happy existence, spent largely on the sands,
shrimping, on that part of the shore of Torbay in front of
what were known as Tor Abbey fields and flanked on one
side by a bold cliff of red Devonian much broken and
1845-57] OF EARLY LIFE AND ASSOCIATIONS 23
undermined by the sea, and called " the Corbans." Here
on the wide sands, or among the flat, smooth, seaweedy
rocks, embedded in it, we children sported, shrimping in
the pools or in the shallow sea, where the little flounders
could be felt fluttering over one's bare feet.
Sailing toy ships, too, was a favourite sport, and a good
investment for pocket-money. I remember spending mine in
what to me was the very beau-ideal of a schooner yacht,
fully rigged, shining in paint and varnish. The joy of
possession was great, but in my eagerness to show my prize
at home, in my haste I broke the top off one of the masts,
which a little discounted the effect.
One was not without a little experience on the sea,
too, for my father was very fond of boating and sailing,
and we used often to be taken out with friends in small
cutters on trips about the bay, or sometimes my father
would take two of us in a small lug-sail boat, as it was
called, an open boat which could be rowed or sailed, weather
permitting, by fixing a mast into a round hole in one of
the seats, and hoisting a small square red sail, controlled
from the tiller by the steersman. In such a craft in fine
weather we would sail across the bay to Brixham — a distance
of six miles and back, with great satisfaction watching the
little white houses dotted about the cliffs across the blue
water. Such sea experiences enabled one to enjoy Robinson
Crusoe (a birthday present from a kind aunt) with more zest
and probably earlier in life than is commonly the case.
On one occasion a naval training ship anchored in the
bay, and we had the excitement of sailing round her, and
even of going aboard and seeing the guns, and the young
Jack Tars, and all the wonders appertaining to a man-of-war.
Bathing, too, must not be forgotten, from the early
fearsome dips from a bathing machine (with a terrible ogre
of a weather-beaten, bonneted " bathing woman," as she is
seen in some of John Leech's early Punch pictures, whose
very appearance was enough to strike terror to the hearts
of children shrinking from the salt sea-waves) to the later
bathes from the shore with big boys. Not that one acquired
swimming until years afterwards, and in a river, too.
24 AN ARTIST'S REMINISCENCES [1845-57
But impressions of the sea have always been strong
with me from the time when first the tumbling waves,
showing their snowy crests in the blue, were pointed out to
me as " white horses," which, indeed, I could well believe
them to be. At other times we were initiated into the craft
of sea-fishing, A ground-swell, however, always upset me,
the effect of the long, slow-recurring roll having the speedy
result of taking away one's interest in any subsequent
proceedings, to say the least, and inducing the strongest wish
to return to terra firma.
A favourite diversion on land about this time with my
brothers and myself was butterfly-catching, and we ourselves
were soon caught by the collector's enthusiasm in our small
way, and were never tired of talking of the beauties of
" painted ladies," red admirals, fritillaries, peacocks, orange-
tips, etc., and keen was the excitement of the chase after
these fragile creatures, with a light net of green gauze at
the end of a thin cane. A certain barber of the town, to
whom we were wont to go to have our hair cut, was also
a collector, and we used to look with wonder and envy at
the specimens in the glass cases which adorned the walls
of his operating-room. It was some compensation for having
to undergo the rather irksome process of having our hair cut
to see his collection.
At one time dancing lessons demanded our attendance on
certain afternoons of the week at the Royal Hotel, where a
Miss Renaldi was accustomed to give instruction in dancing
and deportment to a mixed class of small girls and boys, and
we were introduced to the elements of elegance and put
through our paces, starting with the regulation " first position "
to the " chasse" and learned the stately " quadrille," then in
fashion, and " the Lancers," and danced with much more form
and ceremony than in the more free-and-easy style of the
present day, when it not unfrequently becomes a romp.
Among our near neighbours in Park Place were the
Rodway family, the head of which, a surgeon-dentist, dis-
tinguished himself outside his own profession, in which he
had a good repute, by taking a leading part in raising a
volunteer rifle corps, of which he became captain, and in which
1845-57] OF EARLY LIFE AND ASSOCIATIONS 25
he was aided by three stalwart sons, who added to the strength
of the corps. It must have been one of the earliest in the
rifle-volunteer movement, and came into existence under the
influence of the Crimean War feeling, and the success of the
rifle in that war, mingled, I suppose, with some suspicion of
the designs of Louis Napoleon, in spite of the alliance.
What was wanting in numbers was made up in enthu-
siasm, and the corps met regularly for drill, the ground
being a fine open and level down near Meadfoot, known as
" Daddy's (or Devil's) Hole Plain." This curious name was
connected with a fissure or landslip which had at some remote
period occurred on the seaward side, and formed a deep
chasm between an inner and an outer cliff. There was a
legend connected with this rather romantic spot about which
I am vague and only remember that, in the usual manner of
attributing natural cataclysms to supernatural agency, the
story led up to a finale in which the landslip was accounted
for by the stamp of the devil's hoof.
Well, the dauntless volunteers of Torquay frequently met
upon this plain and went through their platoon drill. No
breech-loaders then, if you please. The management of the
ramrod was an important part of the proceedings, which
ultimately led to the discharge of the rifle, the immediate
means being the use of percussion caps upon which the hammer
descended when the trigger was pulled. It seemed quite a
long and elaborate business compared with the ease and celerity
of modern methods.
Blank cartridge was fired on these occasions, and I well
remember the boys of the town used to collect in front of
the firing line, at a respectful distance, and when the rifles
went off, they threw their arms up and tumbled over in the
most realistic way, afterwards scrambling for the cartridge
papers. These riflemen had a kind of sword-bayonet, which
looked very formidable when fixed on the rifle, and made a
fearsome hedge of thorny steel when they " formed square
to resist (imaginary) cavalry." An " invisible green," practi-
cally nearly black, was then considered the correct colour for
the uniform of a rifle corps, black patent leather belts,
cartridge box, etc., and a low shako with a plume of cock's
26 AN ARTIST'S REMINISCENCES [1845-57
feathers completed the outfit. Individually this dress had a
neat appearance, although having a somewhat heavy and
funereal look in the mass, but never blending with the natural
greens of the landscape.
When not occupied by the volunteers, Daddy's Hole Plain
was considered the best place for flying kites, and this in its
time and turn was a favourite sport with us boys.
We were, however, always ready for a ramble along the
coast, and there was a delightful path along the cliff-edge
from Meadfoot onwards to Anstey's Cove and Babbicombe,
two places endeared to childish memory as the scene of many
a birthday picnic or crab-tea — such as could be enjoyed at
the little inn at Babbicombe Bay. There is even memory
of a picnic on Berry Head — the pointed headland bounding
Torbay on the west, and looking generally grey and
inaccessible enough. Berry Pomeroy Castle was also visited.
A good view could be had from " Land's End," a favourite
short walk from Park Place. Here a terraced footway
wandered past the gardens of -various private dwellings, to
terminate in a sort of pier head on the cliff with stone coping
and seats. From here we could look down upon the fantastic
rocks and the natural arch at " the gentlemen's bathing cove,"
across the bay to Berry Head, and Brixham, and Paignton,
or eastwards towards Meadfoot, though I think we were too
far round the point to see the Orestone and the Mewstone,
the two small rocky islands which were conspicuous from
Meadfoot sands. Then, wandering farther to the east, there
were the delightful coves and bays above named, with
Whatcombe farther on and then Minnicombe, till Teignmouth
was sighted, which seemed to bound our world upon that side
just as Berry Head did on the west On the road to Anstey's
Cove there was situated a place of some geological renown,
namely, " Kents Cavern." A local geologist of some celebrity,
Mr. Pengelley, distinguished himself by his researches here and
his lectures upon the fossils and the bones of extinct animals
found on the spot. I have no personal recollection of ever
having been taken to the place or seen any of its wonders, but
only of its whereabouts being pointed out rather vaguely, as
being in a wood somewhere near the road on the way to Anstey's
1 845-57] OF EARLY LIFE AND ASSOCIATIONS 27
Cove ; but the name of the place and what one had heard
about it caused it to haunt one's imagination as a place of
mystery and wonder.
The first scientific lecture, or perhaps one ought to say
archaeological, I remember hearing was one upon Egyptian
hieroglyphics by a kindly and venerable-looking old gentle-
man whose name I think was Ford.
He arrested attention, however, by himself illustrating
his lecture by drawing on the blackboard, and explaining
the hieroglyphic system by applying it to the inscription of
modern words or names, such as America.
So, from one source or another, no doubt one was gathering
the elements of ideas, some of which were destined to be
developed further in later life. More or less formal and
regular "lessons" went on, too, at home. Miss Hawkes was
succeeded by a much more lively and interesting personality
— a lady, a friend of the family, who took charge of the lesson-
giving for a time, and I remember, though not with much joy,
being bad at languages, French was made a feature under
the new curriculum. The lady was Miss Clarke, who became
much endeared to us all, and has remained a faithful friend
through life, and is still living, at the age of ninety-three, in
the enjoyment of wonderful health and all her faculties. It
was, indeed, through her that I became acquainted with the
lady who afterwards became my wife, in London many years
later.
Torquay at that time was rather remarkable for the number
of its different religious sects and coteries, each claiming the
special patent of salvation. Miss Clarke was an ardent
Evangelical, and made no secret of her views. My mother was
always that way inclined, although with a liberal tendency
and a mind open to broader ideas. She was interested by
such books as Vestiges of Creation, and other literature of
the day skirmishing on the borderland of science and
religion ; but we children were brought up in the ordinary
low church tenets, and the Religious Tract Society furnished
most of our Sunday reading, I think.
As a counter influence we had a great -aunt, Miss
Swinchatte by name, a sister of my father's mother. We called
28 AN ARTIST'S REMINISCENCES [1845-57
her Aunt Sarah. She was a Unitarian — so that the differences
in reUgious views in the same house were considerable. This
aunt stayed with us for some time, but we children made
rather too much noise for her comfort, I fancy, though she
was kindly disposed, and she finally left our roof. I have
a distinct image of her as a thin-featured, refined, rather
colourless, keen and particular but not unkindly old lady in
spectacles, who spent most of her time in an armchair reading.
A more popular aunt was my father's sister, who generally
paid us an annual visit, bringing us little presents and joining
in our games and excursions, though apt to be a little rigid
and severe at times, and not realising or making allowance for,
as time went on, the difference a few years make in the life
and development of character in young people — not, by the
way, at all an uncommon failing in many excellent persons.
We were marched to church regularly, once or twice every
Sunday. My earliest recollections are of a new modern
Gothic church with low-backed rather penitential seats with
" poppyheads " at the ends, mitigated by loose cushions and
" hassocks " of the kind of crimson rep one always associates
with low church furniture. Our family seat was a " front
row " facing the chancel. There was a central and two side
aisles and a small gallery or organ loft over the vestry. This
was dark and shadowy, and my irresistible idea was when the
Litany was read that the " miserable sinners " were somehow
up in this gallery, where dark silhouettes of bending forms
could be dimly discerned, as it was difficult to associate the
term with the sleek and prosperous -looking people who
filled the body of the church, or the well-dressed gentlemen
who covered their faces with their silk hats for a few mysterious
moments as they entered. How vividly I recall some of the
faces of that congregation, but it is those of the men
principally. The women were a good deal disguised in those
days with coalscuttle bonnets and often thick veils over the
front of these, so that it was often impossible to see what
they were like.
The men were more showy in their dress, too, than now,
the Sunday coat being by no means universally black, but
often green, blue, or plum-colour, with brass buttons. The
1845-57] OF EARLY LIFE AND ASSOCIATIONS 29
gorgeous waistcoats of the early " fifties " have already been
alluded to, and the ensemble was heightened by satin stocks,
and completed with buff or other light-coloured " continua-
tions " carefully strapped under Wellington boots. Those
were the days, too, when " white ducks " were generally worn,
and, in the summer, formed part of the official costume of
policemen and marines. It must certainly have been a much
cleaner world then, though I remember how soon in one's own
experience the positive whiteness became sullied, generally by
green smudges on the knees, owing to incautiously kneeling
on the lawn with too much everyday abandon.
My father was always extremely quiet but correct in his
dress. He seemed to accept the world and its customs pretty
much as he found them, and had a nice sense of propriety
on all occasions, though possessing a keen sense of humour,
which, no doubt, gave him the necessary mental relief during
somewhat oppressive social functions.
The terrible feeling of unnatural righteousness which
seemed to be put on with the clean linen and the Sunday
clothes, making any healthy exercise seem out of the question,
became a little mitigated on Sunday afternoons, despite an
unusually good dinner, by a walk in the country. This was a
regular thing with my father, and we boys were always ready
for a ramble over the Warberry Hill and along the coast, when,
no doubt, the long-suffering parent would be exposed to a
running fire of questions about all sorts of things met with by
the way.
At other times, in the intervals of portrait-painting, my
father would make landscape studies and sketches of the local
scenery, and sometimes utilise them as backgrounds. He had
been a versatile artist all his life, and painted figure subjects,
landscapes and animals, as well as portraits and portrait
miniatures, though these latter occupied his chief professional
time, and it was on his facility and grace as a portraitist that
his reputation was maintained.
Torquay, however, did not offer much scope or opportunity
for his talents, and he found more support among his old
connection in Lancashire and Cheshire, and this necessitated not
unfrequent absences from home.
30 AN ARTIST'S REMINISCENCES [1845-57
It was presently thought advisable to send my brother and
myself to school. The principal boys' school was then under the
mastership of a Mr. Page. It was commonly called " Page's
school," and was situated upon the Teignmouth road in the
upper part of Torquay, quite in the suburbs, and almost in the
fields at that time. The schoolhouse was a large square block
connected with the master's suburban-looking residence in a
garden, facing a large bare-looking playground with what was
called a Giant's Stride in one corner. Here, after the preliminary
parental private interview with Principal Page, we may be said
to have turned over a new leaf as we went somewhat shyly as
new boys one day — I rather think it was at the commence-
ment of the autumn term in 1856. My brother Tom was
about two years older than I, and had already had some
school experience at another ^ school in the town, but it was
my first acquaintance with a boys' school. We were,
however, only " day-boys," and were regarded rather as in a
different class by the boarders, though duly officially named
Crane Major and Crane Minor. [ I cannot say my recollections
of school life were at all happy. The brutality of it struck me
very much. A herd of boys in a gaunt bare room, the walls
relieved only by one or two varnished maps ; the floor bare,
and rows of much-worn and well-inked wooden double-sloped
desks, and forms without backs for the boys, and a master's
desk or two. The constant use of the cane for quite trifling
faults or mistakes was disgusting. Mr. Page was a severe
man and seemed to enjoy using the cane, or at least did not
seem to think his authority could be maintained without it.
He was rather short but sturdily built, and he generally
appeared in a black alpaca coat and a black smoking-cap with
a tassel hanging on one side, and there was generally a hush
at his entry into the schoolroom. There was one poor chap,
a Jew and a foreigner, who was always catching it, perhaps
because he did not understand so well as the others. I do
not think the other masters were empowered to use the cane,
however. The second master was very harsh and unsympathetic.
I was hopeless in arithmetic always, and at this school on
Monday mornings a class was taken by the aforesaid severe
master, what was called " mental arithmetic." There were no
1845-57] OF EARLY LIFE AND ASSOCIATIONS 31
slates or pencil and paper allowed, and the problems which
were read out by the master had to be done in the head.
After a pause each boy was asked in turn for the answer. If
^ boy could not answer, or made the wrong answer, it was
promptly, " Next boy I " The questions were generally of the
sort beginning, " If a dozen of such a thing cost so much, what
would a hundred dozen cost ? " — or more or less complex variants
of this type, but they were often put in a puzzling way, and
what with nervousness and anxiety to get out an answer of
some sort in time, I believe any calculating machinery I may
have had was from that time hopelessly deranged.
I got on better with the Latin master (Mr. Stuart, a
Scotchman with a characteristic accent), with writing on themes
which were set by the same master, who was much more
sympathetic to me than the others.
There was a midday dinner served in a long room on
the ground floor, also used as a classroom. The food was
abundant, certainly, plain roast and boiled with vegetables.
A standing dish was roast beef and Yorkshire pudding. The
second master would carve for the boys, and each boy could
indicate his choice, if he had any, vocally. This was done in a
sort of chanted response to the carver's look, generally this
form : " Any way, no fat, please sir." We day-boys, a very
small group, sat at the Principal's table with his own family.
He had a son of his own as one of the scholars.
Writing from dictation, generally some well-known poem,
such as, " On Linden when the sun was low," I liked well
enough, and writing generally, but we had a lot of lessons to
take home, and these grew to be such a burden on my spirit,
and the anxiety to get them creditably done was such that an
attack of congestion of the brain came on and stopped my
school career temporarily^
My mother belonged to the homeopathic persuasion in
medicine, and we were fortunate in having a very sensible
and kindly doctor. Dr. Mackintosh, who relied mostly on
changing the diet ; whether it was that nature was not violently
interfered with by violent remedies, or by " pouring drugs of
which we know little into bodies of which we know less," I
know not, but we seemed to be all successfully pulled through
32 AN ARTIST'S REMINISCENCES [1845-57
the usual childish ailments. We were quite fond of globules
and tinctures. The mother had a little medicine-chest of her
own, and dosed us for small ailments ; it was only for more
serious symptoms that the doctor was called in. So we
remained innocent of powders in jam, rhubarb and magnesia,
and all the fearsome medicines we had heard or read of as
being so revolting, and needing such bribery to induce
children to take.
Cruikshank's picture of the wretched boys at Dotheboys
Hall being dosed by Miss Squeers with brimstone and treacle is
well known, and it was then a tradition that a little occasionally
was a good thing, but I do not remember that it was very
objectionable to taste.
It is quite likely that one had acquired a sort of horror
of schools from Dickens's account of Mr. Squeers's establish-
ment, heightened by Cruikshank's illustrations, for I certainly
well remember we had that well-known edition, and also the
later ones illustrated by Phiz (Hablot K. Browne), many of
which were first issued in parts in green paper covers.
I do not remember making any very fast friendships
among my schoolfellows, but this may be accounted for by
the short and interrupted time one spent at the school, and
also being a day-boy. The chief opportunities of becoming
acquainted with one another were of course in the playground,
where we played football and hockey. The personality of
many of the boys is, however, quite distinct, and their
appearance, and many of their names. There were three
Dutch boys of a Jewish type — Major, Minor, and Minimus.
I recall their rather thick pronunciation, long noses, and
speckled suits. There was a big boy with a large head and
shock of light hair named Glasgow, who wore very short
jackets and trousers, possibly because he was always out-
growing his clothes. There was a gentle-looking boy named
Lambshead, curiously enough the son of a butcher in the
town. Another of the day-boys was one named Weymouth,
who had a high repute for cleverness at his books and
arithmetic at the school. He joined us part way in our
daily walks to and from the school, but afterwards became a
boarder, and so was practically lost to us as a companion. I
1845-57] OF EARLY LIFE AND ASSOCIATIONS 33
have some recollection of a school cricket-club and of matches
played in a field not far off, but they are somewhat faint.
My schooldays, however, were destined to be very short.
The last incident I can remember in connection with them
was the distribution of some of my early drawings among my
schoolfellows as mementoes on the last day of our attendance,
when we bade farewell to Mr. Page and his school. Some of
these were illustrations to Walter Scott's novels and ballads,
chiefly combats and fights, such as that between young
Morton and Balfour of Burleigh in Old Mortality (or Lord
Cranstoun and William of Deloraine in the Ballads), which,
curiously enough, I met with in the rooms of one of our old
schoolfellows who had settled in London years afterwards,
and who had carefully preserved this relic, which was crude
enough.
In the spring of 1857 a great change took place in
the family. My parents decided to remove to London. I
fear my father's professional prospects were not improving in
Torquay, where his art met with very little encouragement,
and he was advised to take up his residence in London, as
offering the best field for an artist. His health, which had
been a difficulty from the first, had improved very much at
Torquay, and no doubt his residence there had prolonged his
life. It was not without risk that the new departure was
resolved upon. It entailed, of course, the giving up of the
house in Park Place, and also the sale of the furniture and
effects, so that the break with the old days was complete, and
it was like beginning life again in a new world.
CHAPTER II
REMOVAL TO LONDON, 1857, AND EARLY EXPERIENCES
THERE UNTIL 1859
IT was in May 1857 that the Crane family bade farewell
to Torquay after a residence of nearly twelve years and
made their way to London, my father having gone before, to
secure a house and arrange matters for us.
I have no distinct impressions of the journey. The early
wonder of the railroad had a good deal worn off. The rush
of railway extension and railway speculation had come and
gone with the " forties," and travelling by train was settling
down into the matter-of-course, useful, time-saving way of
getting about the country. There had long been the South
Devon railway extension from Exeter to Torquay, or rather to
Tor, for the line down to the sea was not completed for some
years later. We had often watched the arrival and departure
of the little train of the old-fashioned stage coach-body pattern,
drawn by a long green-bodied engine with bright brass safety
valves and a tall black funnel ; and trains with plenty of
white steam puffing out had long been favourite subjects for
treatment in slate and pencil.
I have an early dim recollection of being taken as far as
Exeter in the early days of the line, and even have an im-
pression of the cathedral and of being awed by its shadowy
solemnity.
We must have duly reached Paddington, and have been
somehow transported far down the Bayswater Road to near
where the line of green omnibuses used to stop at Starch
Green, Shepherd's Bush, then quite a rural spot, just beginning
to get a suburban touch with some newish villas.
My eldest sister (the author of Lectures on Art and the
1857-59] REMOVAL TO LONDON 35
Formation of Taste) had been for a year or two at a girls'
boarding-school in Royal Crescent, Notting Hill, which was
conducted by Mrs. Howell, a great friend of our parents. Her
two daughters had stayed in Torquay, and we were all very
friendly together, so that we were not altogether without
neighbours, comparatively speaking. The son of the house
was a blue-coat boy of Christ's Hospital, and his appearance
in the quaint costume made a great impression, the old
English scholar's dress being quite new to us. My father
painted a portrait of young Mortimer Howell in this dress,
standing with a book in his hand, with the gateway of Christ's
Hospital in the background, and a capital picture it made.
This young man afterwards entered the Indian Civil Service,
passing the very stiff examination with distinction.
My father had taken a furnished house in what is now
called Goldhawk Road — the address was No. 2 Alfred
Villas, Starch Green. The house was a semi-detached one,
of the early Victorian builders' quasi-Greek-fronted type in
painted cement, with Mr. Ruskin's abomination — a Doric portico
— and a small flight of steps to the front door, and a small
forecourt or front garden, defended from the pavement by an
outer wooden gate with posts and balustrade, and there was
a long narrow strip of garden at the back divided from the
neighbours' on each side by low brick walls, which, so to speak,
kept the word of privacy to the eye but broke it to the hope.
The house belonged to one Lady Phillips, apparently the
dame of a sometime Lord Mayor of London, from the
evidence of certain portraits hanging in the rooms, if I
remember aright. There was the usual early Victorian
suburban villa arrangement of front and back drawing-room
divided by folding doors. The outlook in front across the
road was a brickfield. This at least had the charm of novelty,
and I began to sketch the shed with the horse going round,
the men laying the bricks of London clay in the long rows
under straw to dry, and the smoking pile when they were
baked, emitting that curious stuffy oven odour which used to
permeate the suburbs of London.
There were pleasant walks westward by Stamford Brook
to Turnham Green and Beck Common, and the sight of
36 AN ARTISTS REMINISCENCES [1857-59
what is now Bedford Park, then green fields and trees, with a
pleasant pathway along the brookside to Acton, then quite a
distinct village, or southwards down Paddenswick Road and
Shaftesbury Road — then a new road cut through orchards —
to Hammersmith, and so down Hampshire Hog Lane to the
Mall with its old elms and fine river view, since so much
associated with William Morris and his friends.
" Now for London ! " as the omnibus conductors used to
say, when the Starch Green 'bus, after reposing a while at the
" Half Moon and Seven Stars " waiting for another to come up,
turned round and travelled easj:wards again. It seemed a long
journey up the Bayswater Road then. There was a fringe of
semi-detached villas more or less continuous on the south side
of the road nearly as far as Shepherd's Bush Green, Then
an unenclosed goose green with ditches at the side, and a
few white posts and rails. Here at its eastern corner the road
— Uxbridge Road — diverged to Acton, with here and there,
at intervals, some two-storeyed early nineteenth-century brick
cottages and an old roadside inn, with horse trough and sign-
post, and seats outside for wayfaring customers. To the south
of the Green there were no houses at that time north of Brook
Green. Shepherd's Bush Road was a country lane with hedges,
and a long row of tall poplars bordered a region of market
gardens extending to Hammersmith. There was no Addison
Road Station, but only a coal dep6t at Uxbridge Road and
the line to Willesden used only for coals. Just beyond the
station on the right the semi-detached villas began again up to
Addison Road, and most of the Addison Road houses were
there, I think. Then of course there was Royal Crescent
and the houses opposite Holland Park, much as they are now,
with the little gardens in front, but no shops. Holland Park
itself was intact and uninvaded by the " desirable residences "
of the builder. A fine belt of trees extended from the foot of
the hill up to Campden Hill, protected by an old brick wall,
panelled and buttressed at intervals, bearing various dates
formed by lighter-coloured bricks let into the structure here
and there, presumably commemorating different dates of repair :
1848 was one, I remember.
The tower of the Grand Junction waterworks was then, as
1 857-591 REMOVAL TO LONDON 37
now, a feature on the top of Campden Hill, and at Notting
Hill, in the narrow part of the High Street, there was actually
a toll bar, white gate and all. Silver Street was much the
same, I think, and Palace Gardens represented the height of
palatial aspiration in domestic architecture for the rich ;
Kensington Gardens with its fine trees, as now, forming a
pleasant green bordering to the road farther on, but West-
bournia was only beginning, and many of the mansions of
Lancaster Gate were being built. Onwards to the Marble Arch
there was little change, except there were no flats in brick and
terra-cotta.
The noise of Oxford Street and rattle of the London traffic
over the stone paving, which was then general, was very
dazing and confusing to visitors fresh from the country, and
I remember the roar one heard from Hyde Park caused by
the grinding of the wheels and the beat of the hoofs. It is
still audible, but much softened since the days of wood paving.
Of course we were taken to the various sights and Lions of
London occasionally.
The Pantheon in Oxford Street, a building near the circus
with a gloomy Roman portico over the pavement, at that time
was open as a kind of bazaar of all sorts of ladies' fancywork,
with a picture-gallery upstairs. There were some terrible
things there truly, but I was greatly struck with certain colossal
canvases by B. R. Haydon — " The Meeting of Alexander the
Great and Xerxes," I think was one of the largest, full of energy,
fiery rearing chargers and brass helmets. The finest of all was
" Marcus Curtius Leaping into the Gulf," a Roman warrior fully
armed on horseback plunging down a dark abyss, a work of
real imagination and force, which was in later years to be seen
in the picture-gallery at the Old Canterbury Music Hall. It
seems strange that Haydon is only represented in the National
Collection by a comparatively unimportant and uncharacteristic
work, the " Punch and Judy Show," at South Kensington.
Whatev^er qualities might be wanting in his work as a painter,
it is certainly to his credit that in a time of humdrum
domesticities and stagey historic incident in painting, he
asserted the claims of heroic treatment and large mural
intention.
38 AN ARTIST'S REMINISCENCES [1857-59
The National Gallery in Trafalgar Square was then
(1857) shared between the Old Masters and the Royal
Academy. At that time it was the work of the living that
interested me most, and keen was my delight on the occasion
of a first visit to the Academy Exhibition. Up to this time,
since the war fever was over, under the influence chiefly of
prints after Sir E. Landseer, Richard Ansdell, and J. F. Herring,
I had become chiefly interested in drawing animals, and it was
thought that I should make them my principal study. I had
often been set to copy bits out of a print of an early work of
Landseer's, " The Hawking Party, or the Return from Hawking,"
which used to hang in the dining-room at Park Place. This
picture contained portraits of the Earl of Ellesmere and other
members of that family, but the horses and hounds were the
principal figures for all that. The scene was at the gate of a
castle or country mansion, and I well remember the figure of a
falconer on the left with his hawks, and a white horse which
was supposed to be a fine study in foreshortening. Many of
Landseer's pictures were among the engravings in the Art
Journal^ such as " Peace " and " War," and his pictures of
Highland deer and other well-known sentimental and in-
cidental subjects in animal life were very popular, and filled the
print-sellers' windows and adorned the walls of middle-class
houses abundantly at that time. I had, however, never seen
an original Landseer, and this in itself was sufficiently exciting.
But the pre-Raphaelites were then the newest sensation in the
art world, and in this particular Academy show it was Millais'
famous picture of " Sir Isumbras Crossing the Ford " which I
chiefly remember. It impressed me beyond words. To begin
with, it had a horse in it — indeed, it was mostly horse, some
people said. It was, however, much more. It was strikingly
original : it was romantic, and was a very forcible and truthful
piece of painting, and in a manner quite fresh to my youthful
eyes. The picture was the talk of the season, and was the cause
of a certain elaborate caricature being published, which rather
cruelly represented Mr.Ruskin as the Knight, while D.G. Rossetti
and Holman Hunt were the two children he was conveying
across the river — not on a great horse but on the back of a
colossal ass — while early pre-Raphaelite brethren on the
'857-59J REMOVAL TO LONDON 39
banks of the river prayed for their safe conduct across the
ford.
I remember seeing this print — which was afterwards dis-
covered to be the work of the distinguished artist Frederick
Sandys — in Messrs, Colnaghi's window at the time, and can
recall my father speaking of it with much amusement.
The effect of seeing the work of the pre-Raphaelites was
not immediate on my youthful practice. I seem to have been
under many different influences about this period, and one
certainly was that of Turner, whose work was then temporarily
housed at Marlborough House, together with the Vernon Col-
lection, and the Hogarths and Reynoldses and Gainsboroughs
now in Trafalgar Square. The Turner influence was fostered
by my reading the first volume of Modern Painters, which my
father possessed, and the moving and eloquent descriptions
with which the book abounds. Then, too, we had Rogers'
Italy, with the Turner vignettes, and I remember I used to try
my hand at little subjects with setting suns in them, groups of
cows standing in water, and suchlike pictorial material.
It may have been owing to the fact of my father having
several pastel heads placed in the Academy Exhibitions about
this time that helped to encourage him to settle in London.
We did not, however, stay long in Alfred Villas, but moved
after a month or so to Shaftesbury Terrace, Hammersmith,
a new row of houses at the Hammersmith end of Shaftes-
bury Road, then newly laid out, and having orchards on
each side higher up.
The education question troubled my parents a good deal,
and as want of means was a difficulty, they were advised to
try and obtain nominations to Christ's Hospital School for my
elder brother and myself Letters were duly written to certain
influential governors or patrons — such as the Earl of Derby,
the Earl of Lansdowne, Lord Shaftesbury, Mr. Gladstone — but
they brought nothing but more or less courteous replies ex-
pressing inability to help in the matter, which was not
encouraging ; so the idea was given up, and we remained at
home — to my great relief, privately, it must be confessed.
One of my father's friends at this time was Mr. (afterwards
Sir) Robert Rawlinson, C.E., and a well-known member of the
40 AN ARTIST'S REMINISCENCES [1857-59
Society of Arts, who had won considerable distinction in con-
nection with the Crimean Campaign, he having been sent out
by the Government to advise and make a report as to the
sanitation of the camp. I well remember him coming to see
us one Sunday at Hammersmith, as he was rather a remark-
able figure, and dressed in what was then considered a very
old-fashioned style. He wore short white duck trousers over
Wellington boots, and a blue swallow-tail coat with brass
buttons, a stock round his neck, and had long side whiskers
extending beneath the chin. My father was commissioned
to make a chalk drawing of Kis head, which was done, and I
rather think sent to the Academy. Mr. Rawlinson was by way
of buying a picture now and then, and had a study of Donkeys
on a Common, by R. Ansdell, R.A., which he, hearing of my
fondness for drawing animals, and seeing some of my early
attempts, lent for me to copy, and also at another time a small
landscape picture of a ripe cornfield with a farmhouse and
trees, a bit of distant country, and a heavy, cloudy sky. This
was by Dawson, a Nottingham painter of some repute.
(Curiously enough, I met with this very picture in the
Municipal Art Gallery at Kidderminster the other day.)
The Donkeys I later offered for sale at a tiny picture
shop, one of the little row which still survive at Knightsbridge,
squeezed against the side of the Park — the last shops on the
left on the way to Hyde Park Corner, and I believe I obtained
the magnificent sum of los. for it.
I never enjoyed myself copying, however, and was always
happier drawing direct from Nature or doing something " out
of my head."
Of course I got a good deal of instruction under my
father's eye, and was allowed to make my first essay in oil-
painting in the summer of this year — a black and white grey-
hound's head, I remember. He used to set one to paint groups
of still life to get practice in drawing, colour, and values, and I
think it taught one a good deal, and then one always had the
advantage of seeing an accomplished hand at work.
At Hammersmith I found good sketching ground at Beck
Common, and where now stands the populous and aesthetic
suburb known as Bedford Park, I used to draw the browsing
1857-59] REMOVAL TO LONDON 41
cattle and ponies. One day I was sketching an old shaggy
pony on the Common when its owner, a milkman, came forth
and took it, like time, by the forelock. He, however, looked at
my sketch, and said that if I came to his place he would give
me a glass of milk for it. The bargain was accepted, and I
gained not only a glass of milk down, but access to a yard
and stables with all sorts of interesting models in the shape of
animals, so that I was quite happy.
Echoes of events shaking the big world reached one but
faintly, but I do remember the talk about the terrible time
of the Indian Mutiny and its excesses, and the horrible
retaliation of its suppressors, as one heard of blowing of Sepoys
from the mouths of cannons, and of British soldiers bayonet-
ing the wounded Sepoys in the hospitals who begged to be
shot instead. It left its mark in the pictorial world too,
as there were sensational pictures in the Academy in the
following years of British officers preparing to shoot their
wives to save them from the infuriated Sepoys seen breaking
in at the wings, and suchlike incidents.^
I do not remember how long we stayed at Shaftesbury
Road, but the next year (1858) found the family in Lambton
Terrace, on the then outskirts of Westbournia. The neighbour-
hood immediately beyond had been overbuilt, and now looked
dreary and desolate enough with rows of gaunt, roofless carcasses
of houses arrested in their march upon the green fields. In the
middle of an open ground close by, strewn with bricks and
building debris, stood a partly finished church, then known as
Dr. Walker's church (where I recall sketching the caretaker's
dogs), now surrounded with houses, and the centre of a
populous district near the Westbourne Park Station of the
' What is known as "The Mutiny" was really a revolt. My recent visit to
India has convinced me that it must have been a most determined eflTort on a
very large scale to regain possession of the government of Oudh for the native
princes. Whatever his shortcomings, the deposition of the last king and his banish-
ment was highly unpopular, and the appropriation of the lands and revenues by the
British did not make it better (the king lieing granted an allowance, out of his
own property as it were !). Much has been said alx)ut the oppression of the natives
under the native princes, but are the natives better off under British rule? Are
not the ryots taxed to subsistence point, and is not their condition as much owing
to poverty as to famine?
I
42
AN ARTIST'S REMINISCENCES [1857-59
Metropolitan Railway. There was no such railway then, of
course, but open country right away to Kensal Green and
Willesden.
An old farmhouse, with a pond and a willow leaning over
it (Notting Barn), stood close to what is now Notting Hill
Station. I used to sketch about here, and also farther afield,
at Wormwood Scrubbs, before the prison overshadowed it, and
EARLY STUDY OF A SETTER (1858)
before it was enclosed by the War Office, and was innocent
of rifle butts. Cattle grazed on both sides of the railway
embankment then, and also beyond the Scrubbs, on Old Oak
Common, which was about the limit of my sketching rambles in
those days.
My favourite spot was a cottage or small farm, near the
canal, where lived an old couple named Ireland. They gave
me the run of the place. They kept sporting dogs there, and
the gate was guarded by a fine yellow collie ; there was a
1857-59] REMOVAL TO LONDON 43
donkey and other interesting animals for me to make studies
of also, but apart from this, the place was used by Lancaster
the gun-maker of Bond Street as a rifle range. There was
a mechanical running deer to shoot at in the field backed by
black timber fencing, and there was a shed in which a man
in list slippers carried on the craft of cartridge making, and
sometimes parties of men would come down to try guns.
The place has long ago disappeared before the spreading
town, which has now come up to the railway, and only stops
short at the Scrubbs.
My sketching was varied by visits to a cow-keeper's
stables near us, where I got studies of cows and horses, and
sometimes even accompanied a party of milkmaids — of the
sturdy Irish type then usual in London — upon the milk cart
some distance down the Acton Road to where the cows were
fed in the summer time in the meadows, and returned again
with them after the milking was done with the full cans in
the cart.
Such pursuits were varied by occasional visits to London's
sights. I do not happen to remember my first visits to
Westminster Abbey or St. Paul's, though later I can recall
impressions of the Houses of Parliament and the British
Museum. South Kensington Museum is more distinct, and it
must have been in its quite early days when it was called the
" Brompton Boilers " from the round-roofed iron sheds painted
white and green which then housed the collections. The
place was guarded by sappers and miners in shell jackets ;
near the entrance was a model of the estate with plans of
extension, and a label with the inscription, " Rome was not
built in a day," and I think this was repeated on any unfinished
work in the place. The museum was full of interest and
variety, and had not the gloom and sepulchral feeling of the
British Museum. There were numbers of delightful and
interesting things one had never seen before — casts of Italian
Renascence sculpture, mediaeval carving, jewellery and glass,
armour and weapons, fireplaces, tiles, furniture and tapestry,
all tumbled together as in a vast curiosity shop, but making
a most attractive ensemble, and probably, in my case, preparing
the way for that keen interest in the arts and crafts of design
44 AN ARTIST'S REMINISCENCES [1857-59
which was in later years to absorb so much of my time and
energy. At that time the most popular place was the gallery
which housed the Sheepshanks Collection, which was most fas-
cinating, rich in Landseers and Mulreadys ; and Mulready, I
think, was particularly interesting to my father, who frequently
took us to the gallery. A favourite place with me was a
certain corridor leading from the museum on the ground floor
to the offices. The walls of this corridor were hung with a
collection more or less historically complete of wood-engraving.
Here one got first acquainted with Burgmair's " Triumphs of
Maximilian," and met Durer again in one's old friends, " Ritter
Tod und Teufel " and " Melencolia " and " The Great Horse,"
Alfred Rethel's " Death the Friend " and " Death the Enemy,"
and his very dramatic and striking series of Death in the
Revolution of i 848. Specimens of Linton's work hung here,
and Bewick and his school, and the illustrators of the mid-
nineteenth century. No doubt I imbibed many ideas here,
and from the varied contents of the museum generally, but
I little thought how closely I should be connected with the
place in after years.
There were plenty of growls at its situation — so far from
London and out of the way, and difficult to get at. The
Brompton 'buses were the only ones which came at all near
its gates. " The Boilers " were then in an extensive garden,
and approached through iron entrance gates by a carriage
drive belonging to an old-fashioned house which was on the
estate, and used, I think, as an official residence for some time
— in fact, it only disappeared a few years ago to make room for
the new buildings for the museum now nearing completion.
Exhibition Road had only recently been made — the houses
of Prince's Gate were just begun, at the Park end. The
gardens of the Horticultural Society were intact behind a
fence extending all down the west side of Exhibition Road.
London practically came to an end in this part, and was lost
in market gardens, or desirable building land to be let on
ninety-nine years' leases.
CHAPTER III
APPRENTICESHIP TO W. J. LINTON, 1858-62
I THINK it was some time in the year 1858 that, through
the good offices of a friend in the publishing house of
Smith & Elder, of Cornhill (Mr. Wooldridge, father of the
recent Slade professor at Oxford), some drawings of mine were
shown to Mr. Ruskin. I was accustomed to amuse myself
by making illustrations to poems I was fond of, such as Cowper's
" Task " Scott's Ballads, and « Blomfield's Farmers' Boy." These
were generally in the form of small pen sketches. Among
them however, was a complete set of pages in colour illustrat-
ing Tennyson's poem. "The Lady of Shalott." Each page
contained a subject enclosed in a sort of border with the
text written within it. It was considered more of a complete
decorative effort than anything I had produced hitherto. Mr.
Ruskin was fairly encouraging, and praised particularly the
colour of this Lady of Shalott set.
The same drawings were shown about the same time,
however, to Mr. W. J. Linton, who was considered the head
of his craft as a wood-engraver at that time, besides being a
writer and a poet and an ardent champion of political freedom,
and an adherent of the Chartists.
He seemed so taken with the drawings that he very
generously at once offered to take me into his office without
the usual premium, with the idea of my learning the craft of
drawing on the wood, at that time necessary for those who
sought a career in book illustrating. He evidently thought
more of my possible capacity as a designer, and praised the
Tennyson set for their conception and arrangement, which he
said was their chief merit, not so much the colour, as Ruskin
had thought.
45
46 AN ARTIST'S REMINISCENCES [1858-62
Well, as it was necessary to consider my prospects of
making a living, and as I was quite willing, the offer was
accepted by my father; and finally, in January 1859, an inden-
ture of apprenticeship to W. J. Linton for a period of three
years was signed and sealed, and I remember being instructed
to place my thumb upon the little red seal, and say the mystic
words, " I deliver this as my act and deed." There was no
compulsion, as I was eager to begin my new career, and seemed
fully aware of what it might lead to, as I carefully recorded
the date in a pocket-book, and added in boyish round hand,
" One of the most important events of my life."
W. J. Linton was in appearance small of stature, but a very
remarkable-looking man. His fair hair, rather fine and thin,
fell in actual locks to his shoulders, and he wore a long flow-
ing beard and moustache, then beginning to be tinged with
grey. A keen, impulsive-looking, highly sensitive face with
kindly blue eyes looked out under the unusually broad brim
of a black " wideawake." He wore turn-down collars when the
rest of the world mostly turned them up — a loose, continental-
looking necktie, black velvet waistcoat, and a long-waisted coat
of a very peculiar cut, having no traditional two buttons at
the junction of the skirts at the back, trousers of an antique
pattern belonging to the " forties," rather tight at the knees
and falling over Wellington boots with small slits at the sides.
He had abundance of nervous energy and moved with a
quick, rapid step, coming into the office with a sort of breezy
rush, bringing with him always a stimulating sense of vitality.
He spoke rapidly in a light-toned voice, frequently punctuated
with a curious dry, obstructed sort of laugh. Altogether a
kindly, generous, impulsive, and enthusiastic nature, a true
socialist at heart, with an ardent love of liberty and with much
of the revolutionary feeling of '48 about him. He had a
curious way of breaking off his sentences, leaving the listener to
supply the last word.
He never obtruded his opinions, however, and such
maxims as he may have given me at times were quite incon-
trovertible : such as, " A man cannot be a great man unless
he is also a good man," which I recall his saying once ; and on
hearing about some people rather under a cloud through impe-
1858-62] APPRENTICESHIP TO W. J. LINTON 47
cuniosity, and not being able to pay their rent, he said, " They
may be very good people, and yet not able to pay their rent."
A gentle way, perhaps, of correcting bourgeois sentiment.
In the spring of 1859, he with Mrs. Lynn Linton, his
second wife, was living with the eldest son of the former
marriage (VV. W. Linton) at a pleasant house in Epping Forest
at Loughton.^ I remember going down there, and it was the
first time I met Mrs. Lynn Linton, who was already known to
literary fame and later became much more widely so, especially
by her remarkable novel, The True History of Joshua Davidson.
She was a rather large and fine-looking woman, with very
remarkably prominent eyes, although very short-sighted. She
had an affectionate manner with her friends, and spoke of
them as " dear." She had a rather gentle, almost tremulous
voice, and generally conveyed the impression of an emotional
character, yet she had the repute of being a particularly strong-
minded woman, full of advanced theories,
I frequently saw her afterwards when they lived in Leinster
Square, until the final break-up came, and Mr. Linton and
his two daughters and youngest son went to live at Newhaven,
Connecticut, in America, where he carried on his engraving
and established a printing press.
Mr. Linton's office was then in Essex Street, Strand —
No. 33, as then numbered, though I think since altered. It was
one of the old-fashioned eighteenth-century houses on the left-
hand side going towards the river, but entirely devoted to offices.
Linton had the third floor and the top garrets as well. The
deed was signed in one of these, in the presence of my father,
Mr. Linton, and Mr. Harvey Orrin Smith, who was then in
partnership with him. Mr. Orrin Smith was the son of the
well-known engraver of that name, and was thus a connecting
link with the early nineteenth-century school of English wood-
engraving from the time of Thomas Bewick onwards. Linton
himself was almost the last master of white line, and the ease
' The Linton family previously to this lived at a house named Brantwood, on
Coniston I^ke. This house was owned by Linton. At one time he let it to the poet
Gerald Massey, and ultimately sold it to Mr. Ruskin, who with the Arthur Sevems
lived there for many years, and eventually died there, leaving the house to the Sevems,
I believe.
48 AN ARTIST'S REMINISCENCES [1858-62
and freedom of his touch upon the boxwood was astonishing.
His office was a typical wood-engraver's office of that time, a
row of engravers at work at a fixed bench covered with green
baize running the whole length of the room under the windows
with eyeglass stands and rows of gravers. And for night-
work, a round table with a gas lamp in the centre, surrounded
with a circle of large clear glass globes filled with water to
magnify the light and concentrate it on the blocks upon which
the engravers (or '* peckers," or " woodpeckers," as they were
commonly called) worked, resting them upon small circular leather
bags or cushions filled with «and, upon which they could easily
be held and turned about by the left hand while being worked
upon with the tool in the right. There were, I think, three or
four windows, and I suppose room for about half a dozen
engravers ; the experienced hands, of course, in the best light,
and the prentice hands between them. There were four or five
of these latter, apprenticed for five or seven years, to learn the
craft of engraving on wood. Of these some were deaf. It
was, indeed, very usual to apprentice deaf and sometimes even
dumb youths to wood-engravers. They went by the name
of " Dummies " in the office. The medium of communication
was always talking on the fingers. The deaf and dumb were
very expert at this between themselves, and used all sorts of
abbreviations, so that they appeared to express themselves
as rapidly as people do in ordinary conversation. Mr. Orrin
Smith was an adept at it, and all his instructions to the deaf
apprentices were conveyed by these means. He was a man
of considerable energy, and appeared to throw much expression
into the process of spelling out his words, especially when he
was vexed about some work having gone wrong, when extra
speed and emphasis would be thrown into the action of
his fingers, so much so that it was reported on one occasion
he decorated his speech, or perhaps relieved his feelings, by a
big big D.
He was an excellent friend to me, however, and I recall
the kindly way in which he set me to work on the first morn-
ing of my attendance at the office, feeling very new and strange.
He set me down at his table to draw one of my own pen-and-
ink sketches on a small block of boxwood, showing me the
1858-62] APPRENTICESHIP TO W. J. LINTON 49
way to prepare it with a little zinc-white powder (oxide of
bismuth was generally used) mixed with water and rubbed
backwards and forwards on the smooth surface of the boxwood
until dry. On this the design was traced in outline, and then
drawn with a hard pencil to get the lines as clear and sharp
as possible for the engravers. I did not find the 4 H pencil
put into my hands a very sympathetic implement, though the
surface of the wood was pleasant, but I dashed off something
with it, much to the surprise and probably embarrassment of
Mr. Orrin Smith, who hoped I was disposed of for some time.
He told me to work much more carefully and slowly. Rather
depressed, I began again, but my stock of knowledge, equal to
rapid sketching, did not gain by being laboured, and the draw-
ing soon got as shiny as a black-leaded grate.
My chief work at first was making little drawings, on
fragments of boxwood, for the apprentices to practise upon.
The outside edges of the boxwood, after the square block had
been sawn out of a cross section of the tree, were used up in
this way.
Wood-engraving was, however, rapidly entering a mechani-
cal stage, and engravers were becoming specialised for different
sorts of work. There was a " tint " man and a " facsimile "
man, for instance. Work for the weekly press necessitated
speed, and the blocks used were jointed and screwed together
so that they could be taken apart by the use of nuts and
spanners, and put together again. By these means a block
could be distributed among several different engravers, so that
the work could go on simultaneously, and of course much
more quickly than if the block was engraved throughout by
one pair of hands. Before the block was separated the joints
were cut, so that the drawing at the edges of each piece
should not be lost and that the work on each should fit
together properly. It was usual in a block containing figures
and faces for the heads to be cut by the master hand, and
what was called the less important " facsimile " work by the
apprentices. In the vignetted drawings then popular there
was a good deal of more or less meaningless scribble and
cross-hatching to fill up, or to balance, or to give a little
relief and colour to the subject.
4
56 AN ARTIST'S REMINISCENCES [1858-62
In the drawings on the wood for serials and book illustra-
tions which mostly came into Linton's office at that time, both
wash and line were used generally.
John Gilbert had set the pattern of the prevailing type,
and there were many inferior Gilberts about. Gilbert himself
had been accustomed for many years, I believe, to draw the
rather sensational illustration — or " tale cut," as it was called
in the office — to the thrilling serial novel carried on in the
London Journal, a popular weekly periodical, but he at last
gave it up, and the weekly drawing was supplied by another
artist, who had to carry on Gilbert's tradition in composition
and treatment as closely as possible. This was Louis Huard,
who had a facile light touch, but not the force and richness
of Gilbert. A severer school was represented by John Tenniel,
whose work I greatly admired, who worked in pure almost
hair line, using, it was said, a 6 H pencil for his drawings
on the wood ; and the drawing I remember seeing certainly
looked like it. Another designer whose work I remember
seeing, though almost forgotten now, was John Franklin, who
worked in a sort of decorative conventional manner founded
upon the style of the German masters of the early sixteenth-
century presses. John Leech and Tenniel were then the chief
supporters of Punch, and often, during the dinner-hour, I
used to wander through the Temple and out into Fleet
Street, and study the cartoons displayed in the window of
the old Punch office at No. 185.
" Pam," and " Dizzy," and John Bright, and Napoleon III.
were familiar figures in Tenniel's cartoons, but I was not a
politician, and such characters I regarded, perhaps not without
reason, as moving in some mysterious drama of which I did
not understand the plot, or as playing some curious game of
the rules of which I was totally ignorant.
A more interesting and really heroic figure was Garibaldi,
who excited the greatest enthusiasm in England by his
valiant struggles for Italian freedom ; so much so, that an
English volunteer contingent was organised, and went out
to help him. W. J. Linton was on the executive committee
of this movement, and gave much of his time to it. I
remember him speaking of the difficulty he and his colleagues
1858-62] APPRENTICESHIP TO W. J. LINTON 51
had in restraining youths from throwing up their engagements
in their eagerness to join the red-shirted corps.
When, a year or two later, Garibaldi visited England,
nothing could exceed the enthusiasm with which he was
welcomed everywhere, and the cheering of the crowds which
greeted his appearance in the streets was something to
remember.
A new hand had recently showed itself in the pages of
Punchy however, in quite a distinct manner and at first one
which showed study of German woodcuts applied to direct
sketches from life. This was Charles Keene. The German
influence came out very strongly in a set of illustrations by
this artist which appeared in the new periodical Once a Week,
which was started by Messrs. Bradbury & Evans in 1859.
These were Keene's illustrations to Charles Reade's story
afterwards known as Tke Cloister and the Hearth, though in
its original form, as a serial tale in Once a Week, its title was
" A Good Fight." I remember a tall figure in a Glengarry cap
on the side of his head, in a short velveteen jacket, loose tie,
and ample peg-top trousers lounging into Linton's office and
sitting on the table chatting with the engravers, smoking a
short pipe ; rather close curly hair framed a long, somewhat
.sallow visage with contemplative eyes ; add a moustache and
small imperial, and you have the appearance of Charles Keene
at that time.
The windows of the main office in Essex Street looked
on to Fountain Court, Temple. The fountain at that time
was a simple basin, nearly flush with the pavement, with an
edge of Portland stone, and from the centre, nearly from the
level of the water, a single jet leapt into the air, and as the
breeze dispersed the spray, when the sun shone about mid-
day, we used to see rainbows. Some old elms, and the old
houses of the coUrt beyond, formed with the fountain a pleasant
picture, and I was moved to attempt to sketch the scene in
water-colour, rainbows and all. While I was at work, a
well-known artist who worked for the Illustrated London News
at that time, Samuel Read, came in, and looking at the sketch,
said encouragingly, " You'll make a landscape painter, my
boy." Then I remember he turned to one of the engravers,
52 AN ARTIST'S REMINISCENCES [1858-62
the only one in the room at the time, and said, " Why in the
world is he put to engraving ? " when he was reassured by
my friend the engraver that I was there to practise drawing
on wood only.
Out of office hours I carried on a certain amount of
practice in painting and study of various kinds, my models
being chiefly members of the family. About this time,
through our old friend Miss Clarke, I was offered a rather
difficult commission by her brother, Mr. Joseph Clarke of
Saffron Walden, an antiquarian and sometime curator of
the museum there. He pQssessed an incomplete copy of
Wilkie's " Blind Fiddler," partly laid in in oil-colour on a
canvas. Mr. Clarke wished me to complete this for him,
and I tried to do -the best I could with it, working from an
engraving of the well-known picture ; but I do not remember
enjoying myself over it much, although I believe my patron
was fairly well content with the result. Mr. Joseph Clarke
used to write me beautiful letters on a kind of drawing paper
in a kind of script of his own. He himself was quite a
remarkable character, and wore the old-fashioned dress-coat
with high collar and voluminous neckcloth of the " thirties."
Of others who called to see Linton in Essex Street I
remember Lord Elcho, the present Earl of Wemyss (then a
fair young man with refined features and the long whiskers
of the period, the mouth being shaved), who was interested
in the early volunteer movement, in which he took a prominent
part. He had decided views about an appropriate uniform,
and the object of his visit to Linton was to get a frontispiece
engraved to a book he was bringing out on the subject.
This frontispiece was to be from a photograph representing,
I think, his lordship, in the new uniform, which resembled
that afterwards adopted by the artists' corps — silver-grey, with
brown leather belts, but with a grey helmet, without any spike,
not otherwise unlike the present tropical helmet of our troops.
This was the principal novelty then, as shakos were universally
worn.
I used to walk every day, except Sundays, from West-
bourne Park to Essex Street and back in the evening, taking
my lunch with me. I had government office hours — ten to
llOt^E nil >"IIA 1 I ON (,AI(1>IN
ENGRAVKN Ar WOKK
engravers' globe and CAI' of the period volunteer uniform, i86c (LONDON IRISH)
SKETCHES AT LINTON'S OFFICK IN HATTON GARDEN, 18e0-l
WALTER CRANE
1858-62] APPRENTICESHir TO W. J. LINTON 53
four, and a half-holiday on Saturdays. Sometimes I went
by way of the Park, sometimes by Oxford Street and down
Drury Lane — then full of rather bad slums and courts noted
for rows — and so along Wych Street — now cleared away and
turned into A Id wych under the London County Council
improvements — to St. Clement Danes and Essex Street.
In the dinner-hour sometimes we wandered about or played
hide-and-seek in the courts of the Temple, and went down the
Essex Street steps to the river to watch the barges and the
penny steamers, but this was before the Victoria Embankment.
Sometimes Linton's son, who was also engaged in the office,
would be my companion home, for about this time the
Lintons took a house in Leinster Square, Bayswater. At
other times my companion was a book, as it was quite
possible to read strolling along the quiet footpaths of the
Park. I remember bearing one by one the heavy volumes of
Ruskin's Modern Painters ^ which were obtained from Mudie's,
as my appetite had been whetted for more by reading the
first and only volume of Ruskin my father possessed, except
the pamphlet on " pre-Raphaelitism," in which he says, speak-
ing of Sir Edwin Landseer, " It was not by a study of Raphael
that he attained his eminent success, but by a healthy love
of Scotch terriers."
In the summer of 1859 a sad sorrow fell upon us in the
death of my father. The change and the air of London,
and no doubt increased anxieties, had told upon his health,
and so seriously that the end came in July. It was, of course,
a terrible blow. A kinder father never lived, and with his
death the family lost their bread-winner. He had never been
able to win a secure position by his art, though always at
work ; and although he maintained his position and kept his
family in comparative comfort, he was not able to leave any
provision, dying as he did at the early age of fifty-one, and
we were none of us of an age to be able to earn a living,
but it became more necessary than ever to regard our pursuits
as a means towards this end.
There was a sale of the works my father left at Messrs.
Foster's Rooms in Pall Mall. I do not remember what
sort of a sum was realised, but I believe Sir Robert Rawlinson
54 AN ARTIST'S REMINISCENCES [1858-62
was one of the buyers. Accounts of my father as an artist
may be found in the Dictionary of National Biography,
Mr. MarilHer's Liverpool Painters, and other works. He was
certainly a very versatile artist, as a glance over the extent
of his work would show, ranging as it does from the
lithographed designs and portraits of the days of the press
in Chester with his brother William, to the miniatures for
which he was known in his earlier career, and including his
studies while a student at the Royal Academy, as well as
landscape, architectural, figure, animal, flower, and still life
studies and designs, subject pictures in oil, portraits in
oil and water colour, charcoal and pencil drawings, and
pastels. The grace and charm of his portraits and his sense
of composition, his facility and delicacy of execution, both
a draughtsman and a colourist governed by the traditions
and ideals of his time, must be generally acknowledged by
those who are acquainted with his work. One of his early
lithographs was a portrait group of a former Earl of Stamford
and Warrington, and his sister, as children ; and another
reproduced one of his early subject pictures, " An Old Arm-
chair."
He was also very skilful in making silhouette portraits
in black paper, which had a vogue at one time. Specimens of
these are given here.
We were greatly indebted to the kindness of an uncle
at this sad time, my mother's brother, Mr. Edward Kearsley,
then member of a firm of wholesale woollen cloth merchants
in the City. Arrangements were eventually made that he
should live with us, and a removal from Lambton Terrace
was decided on. A house was taken in Westbourne Park
Villas, one of a pair of semi-detached, with a small front
garden and a large back one which extended to the embank-
ment of the Great Western Railway, From here my uncle
could get his omnibus from the " Royal Oak " to the City in
the morning easily enough- — and they used to run special
express ones in those days for business men. My elder
brother was engaged in a lawyer's office in Gray's Inn Square,
and a school was found for my younger brother close by ;
my elder sister found some teaching work, and my younger
,858^62] APPRENTICESHIP TO W. J. LINTON 5 5
SILHOUETTE PORTRAIT
OF WALTER CRANE
AT ABOUT THE AGE
OF TWELVE
SILHOUETTE PORTRAIT OF MY
MOTHER, BY MY FATHER
SILHOUETTE PORTRAIT OF MY
FATHER, BY HIMSELF
56 AN ARTIST'S REMINISCENCES [1858-62
sister was at a school near Chester ; so that we were all
disposed of in a way — though not provided for. At
Westbourne Park I was perhaps a trifle nearer to Essex
Street, which I often found rather a long tramp, and wore
out much shoe leather. My work, however, about this time
was varied by my being sent by Linton to make studies
of animals at the Zoological Gardens, with some view,
I believe, of eventually utilising some for a projected work
on Natural History. He was interested in a new process
of engraving which he had, I believe, invented in association
with a man named Hancock, who prepared the plates. This
process he named the Kerographic process. It was to some
extent an anticipation of some of the later mechanical
processes of engraving metal plates of zinc or copper so
as to adapt them to surface-printing, although in this case
without any photographic agency. The drawing was made
upon a copper plate, like an etching, though in this process
a thicker ground had to be cut through by the needle than
an ordinary etching ground. In fact, I believe an ordinary
black etching ground was first laid over the surface of the
plate, and then another ground which had a greyish white
surface, and on this the drawing would appear in black line,
so that the artist could see the effect pretty much as when
printed, or as when drawing on paper. It was necessary to
cut through the double ground cleanly with the etching point,
however, to ensure a line that should not be " rotten,"
What was done to the plate afterwards I do not precisely
know, but from the results I believe the drawing on the plate
was bitten in by acid in the same way as an etching, and then
a cast taken from it, which would give the lines in relief,
and this cast would be produced in hard metal, and probably
electrotyped to print from in the ordinary way.
The process attracted some attention at the time, and
a little book descriptive of it was issued by Linton, with
specimen illustrations drawn by different artists. The
process which professed to reproduce any line drawing in
facsimile was advocated as cheaper and more exact than
wood-engraving for facsimile work, and, curiously enough, by
a wood-engraver himself
1858-62] APPRENTICESHIP TO W. J. LINTON 57
One of the' specimens in this little book was contributed
by myself, and was a dog's head, more or less after Landseer,
I think. I also drew several other plates of animals, but
do not remember what became of them. The plates in
Gilchrist's Life of William Blake were produced by this
process, and I well remember being struck by the beauty
of Blake's designs as the work passed through Linton's
office. Amongst others, the Kerographic process attracted
the attention of Mr, Ruskin, who I remember calling one
day to see Mr. Linton on the subject. Whether he had
any idea of using it for any of his books, I do not know ;
it was enough for me that I was at last actually in the
presence of the great man — and I am sure he had no more
enthusiastic admirer and devoted follower at that time than
the youth of fifteen in Linton's office.
In appearance Mr. Ruskin at that time was still like
that early remarkable full-length portrait by Millais, though
perhaps nearer to Herkomer's fine water-colour head of him,
before he grew a beard. I recall his tall thin figure with
a slight stoop, and his quiet, rather abstracted manner. He
looked like an old-fashioned type of country gentleman with
literary tastes, and wore the high velvet-collared coat one
sees in his early portraits.
The office was no longer in Essex Street. We had
been deprived of the delights of Fountain Court, and with
many regrets had moved to far less pleasant quarters in
Hatton Garden. It consisted of rather a ramshackle old work-
shop of two storeys, across a yard, with low ceilings and rough
floors, and windows extending the whole length of one side
each room, of the old workshop or factory type with small
frames of blown glass, showing bull's eyes here and there
(quite precious now ! ). There was a long room off the yard,
and nearer the street the office proper. The view of roofs
(mostly pantiled and haunted by cats), brick chimneys, and
back-yards occasionally gained a certain unusual distinction
by the presence of a peacock and hen belonging to some
neighbours. They would parade about upon the parapets,
sometimes coming close to our windows, and we could
see the cock bird spread his gorgeous Byzantine half-
58 AN ARTIST'S REMINISCENCES [1858-62,
dome of feathers in the neighbouring yard before his
unemotional spouse. This plumage in the sunlight was
some compensation for the loss of the rainbows of Fountain
Court. It was to this Hatton Garden office that Ruskin
came. Young Linton was at his desk, for he kept the books,
and I was engaged upon a large anatomical drawing in colour,
to be used as a lecture diagram. Anxious to be of some
service, however slight, to the great man, I offered to shut
the window, but he said "no"; but presently, feeling a
draught, I suppose, he reached up to the sash and shut it
himself, before I had time to jump up (there was a cupboard
under the window), and all I could pretend to do was to
fasten it. " Never mind fastening it," he said, and beyond
expressing an encouraging approval of what I was at work
on, I do not recall anything further Mr. Ruskin said on
that occasion, and not finding Mr. Linton, he very soon left.
Thrilled as I had been with his eloquent writing, it was a
memorable event to me just to have seen the great man,
who, of course, was quite unconscious of my devotion, and
probably quite oblivious of the fact of having seen any of
my work before, as he was of my identity.
Another distinguished person who was a client of our
office was the late Dr. B. W. Richardson, for whom a
quantity of medical diagrams were done — some to illustrate
a work of his, and others for lectures. In fact, the one upon
which I was engaged on the occasion of Mr. Ruskin's visit
was, I believe, for Dr. Richardson.
On one occasion I was sent to his house somewhere
in the Wimpole Street direction, and have a recollection of
a very kindly man with a massive head sitting at a desk
in a room lined with books.
In i860 the volunteer movement was in full swing.
The enthusiasm was immense, and nearly all the able-bodied
young men joined. Among the engravers in the office there
were at least three volunteers, each a member of a different
corps. Cartridge belts and plumed shakos were quite common,
and hung up alongside ordinary hats and coats, for drills and
parades were to be attended after work. One really wonders
how one escaped being drawn in, at least, to a cadet corps.
1858-62] APPRENTICESHIP TO W. J. LINTON 59
but I can only suppose I was rather too old for the cadets
and not old enough for a full-sized volunteer — and then I
had no money. I got more or less drill exercise, however,
as the volunteer members of the staff liked to show their
military knowledge by putting the apprentices through their
manual and platoon drill. We had also rather a rage for
athletics, and had frequent recourse to heavy dumb-bells
and the horizontal bar, as well as scratch wrestling and
boxing matches ; and sham fights were not unfrequent on
Saturdays after " the governors " had gone, when the ap-
prentices of one room would endeavour to carry the other
room by assault and turn its defenders out. Terrific struggles
on the narrow stairs generally followed and much torn
clothing.
I still varied my office work with study at the Zoological
Gardens. A student's ticket had been obtained for me by
Mr. Linton, and his recommendation was supported by a
veteran illustrator, William Harvey, whose graceful vignettes
to Lane's Arabian Nights had been familiar to me from
childhood.
At the Gardens I made the acquaintance of several
other students. Among these was Ernest Griset, who later
acquired considerable fame as a very original and humorous
draughtsman of animals and grotesque humans. His first
important work was the illustration of an edition of ^sop's
Fables published by Messrs, Cassell, and Griset at one time
had designs in Punch.
He was a lad of about sixteen when I knew him, very
strongly built, with a distinctly French type of face, and
having the peculiarity of being double-jointed in his thumbs.
He was very fond, then, of drawing battle scenes between
Gauls and Romans, and used pen and ink with great skill
and precision. His animal studies, too, were full of life
and character, and he himself always vivacious and full
of fun.
Another artist (J. W. Wolf) well known to naturalists for his
faithful drawings of birds and animals used to be seen at the
Gardens, especially on the occasion of any new addition to the
collection, as he would then come to make a drawing for
6o AN ARTIST'S REMINISCENCES [1858-62
publication in some illustrated journal of natural history, and
at one time I think he worked for the Illustrated London
News. His work was frequently seen in Once a Week in the
earlier days, and in the popular natural history books of the
Rev. J. G. Wood, but his principal work was the elaborate
coloured illustration of important works like Gould's Birds.
The sheaves of studies of animals and birds which I made
no doubt gave me considerable facility in the drawing of
animals and a memory of details of characteristics of their
form and action which has constantly been of value.
Interesting as such study was to me, however, it was not by
any means my only work for Linton. I was to receive a
small salary in my third year, and by that time I think I may
have acquired enough facility in drawing on the wood to be of
some practical if not commercial value. Anyway, I was put
to all sorts of work, sometimes even as improver of other
artists' animal drawing (!) or to restore some parts of a
drawing which had got rubbed out in process of engraving.
No doubt drawings on the wood did go through great perils
and dangers in those days ere they emerged in black and
white from the press, and it is not difficult to understand that
occasionally an artist had some difficulty in recognising his
own offspring. The least enjoyable work I can remember was
certainly the drawing of an incredible number of iron bed-
steads for a certain catalogue for Messrs. Heal, which was
being engraved in the office. It was distinctly tiring, to say
the least. All seemed fish to the engraver's net then —
diagrams of all sorts, medical dissections, tale cuts, Bible
pictures, book illustrations. Among the latter I recall seeing
D. G. Rossetti's charming designs to Miss Rossetti's Goblin
Market, which Linton engraved, and a very fine drawing of
Frederick Sandys' " The Portent " for the Cornhill. Also, but
rather later, Leighton's beautiful series of drawings to Rotnola
for the same journal, some of which passed through Linton's
hands.
I well remember saving up my pocket-money for some
weeks to buy the Moxon edition of Tennyson's Poems with
the pre-Raphaelite illustrations. There was a bookseller's
shop on the north side of Oxford street — I think Rumpus's
1858-62] APPRENTICESHIP TO W. J. LINTON 61
first shop, nearer the Marble Arch end than now — and I used
to stop on my way home to feast my eyes on the illustrated
Christmas books displayed there. The Tennyson cost 31s. 6d.,
which seemed a large sum then.
I was not without some small experience as a press artist.
There was an illustrated paper called the News of the Worlds
with an office in Fleet Street. The editor himself almost
personified his paper, as he was an enormous globular person
who occasionally rolled into the office to look after his blocks
or to commission more. I was sent out as a special, occasion-
ally, to the Law Courts to make sketches when any interesting
case was on. The Law Courts were then at Westminster
Hall, and I remember going to the Court of Arches when
there was being tried rather a celebrated case of the Bishop
of Salisbury v. Rowland Williams. This, I believe, was an
action arising out of the publication of Essays and Reviews^
a book of essays in biblical criticism and subjects of debate
in the Church. This book made a tremendous sensation and
aroused the fiercest controversy in theological circles, quite
astonishing when one considers the comparative mildness of
the opinions expressed ; but it was an early attempt in free
England to claim freedom of opinion in a region and on subjects
hitherto considered beyond question — that is, since they were
last disturbed. Although in Germany biblical criticism was
well advanced, it was almost unknown in England, and
considered something like sacrilege by the congregations at
large. The writers were mostly Oxford men, and some of
them clergymen in orders, which I suppose was the chief cause
of the trouble. Among the latter was the Rev. Rowland
Williams, who was pulled up by the Bishop of Salisbury for
something he had written or said in his church. I forget who
was the judge who tried the case, but I remember the counsel
for the defence was making his speech, and in the course of
a forcible and spirited appeal for freedom of opinion on the
part of clergymen, he expressed himself to this effect : " Must
the clergy be content to remain silent and neutral when
questions affecting the very foundations of their faith are
discussed — must they indeed become a race of neuters, without
either the intellect of men or the charms of women ? "
62 AN ARTIST'S REMINISCENCES [1858-62
I remember, too, there was considerable applause in
Court at the conclusion of his speech, and a spectator said to
me, " He's hit the nail on the head," or some emphatic remark
of approval of that kind.
I can't say I enjoyed myself in the atmosphere of the Law
Courts, and I cannot suppose what I did there could have
been of much value, as I was very shy and nervous at
sketching in public ; but I believe, from the newspaper point
of view, a much more successful effort was a sketch I did of
the Lord Mayor's coach in Fleet Street, with the crowd crying
" Hats off! " and throwing all sorts of hats and caps into the
air as they swarmed after the carriage when the show passed
— the office of the News of the World being, of course, in-
troduced in the background.
I also went as a special artist for the same paper to the
Canterbury and the Oxford Music Halls. The Canterbury
was, I believe, the first of the " Halls," and was situated in the
New Cut, Lambeth, a place of no very distinguished reputa-
tion. I remember meeting the late Mr. Charles Morton, who
has been called the father of the Halls. He was then manager
of the Canterbury, a bright, active, cheery man with hair and
whisker a la Dundreary in evening dress and opera hat on,
and wearing an Inverness cape. I believe I made some
sort of a drawing of the entertainment hall, but there was a
picture-gallery attached, and here I met again my old friend,
the picture of Marcus Curtius leaping into the gulf, by
B. R. Haydon. Surely it could not have been thought
symbolical of Mr. Charles Morton leaping into the gulf
existing in London between the concert and the theatre on
the one hand and the public-house on the other ? If so, he
certainly managed to fill it up with great success.
At the Oxford it was some wonderful troupe of trapesists
that was my subject for the paper. The Philharmonic at
Islington, too, I visited, and among other entertainers a noted
conjurer of the time, M. Robin, at the Egyptian Hall, who was
by way of exposing the tricks of the spiritualists.
I also remember an interview with Mr. Charles Mathews
the younger, who had an entertainment at the Bijou Theatre,
hidden somewhere in the dark recesses of the old opera house
1858-62] APPRENTICESHIP TO W. J. LINTON 63
" Her Majesty's " in the Haymarket. I went to make a
sketch of him in his scenery. His entertainment was
entitled Mr. Charles Mathews' "At Home," a sort of quick-
change character entertainment, I think. He hadn't much
time to give, and I got a carte-de-visite photograph of him
to work from. He was a curious little active, impatient man,
with a rather wizened-looking but humorous face, clean shaven,
but with some thin hair brushed up at the sides. As he
stood a moment talking in a narrow corridor leading to the
stage when he was in the midst of his preparations for his
first night, he said, " Let's get out of this d d draught ! "
as he led the way into some more sheltered spot.
Another quaint character I visited in my capacity as special
artist was a noted auctioneer of horses somewhere in Barbican.
I went to sketch his box and the scene where the horse sales
took place, and I remember he said if the drawing was a
success when it came out in the paper he would give me " a
new hat" — a favourite form of present among horsey men, I
understood, but I forget whether I earned it or not, or if he
kept his word.
Once two of the engraver apprentices requisitioned my
services as draughtsman in a little scheme of their own. I
think it was a portrait and a view of somebody's birthplace
for some journal for which they were commissioned to do the
blocks. The work was done after office hours at their
lodgings, and we sat up most of the night. We were all
unaware that as apprentices we were not at liberty to under-
take private commissions, until " the governors," when it was
discovered, informed us, with a gentle admonition.
In the summer of i860 I saw the sea again for the first
time since leaving Torquay. The kind uncle before mentioned
took us all for a fortnight to Littlehampton, and immensely
we enjoyed it. The summer was a record one for rain, but
we happened upon the only fine interval in Sussex, about the
end of July and beginning of August. I was delighted to
get some sketching in the country again, and was always at
it with my water-colour box. Drawing-paper was dear ;
there was a heavy paper duty, imposed by some wiseacre,
so one had to be economical, and frequently used both sides.
64 AN ARTIST'S REMINISCENCES [1858-62
It occurred to my uncle in the cloth trade that I might
be able to utilise his old pattern cards — cards, that is, upon
which small samples of cloth had been gummed. The cloth
was pulled off, and then the reverse side offered a fair field
for drawing. I used these extensively about this time.
We went up the little river Arun in a boat to Arundel,
and saw the great castle, with its ivied keep, then in ruin,
rising from the woods, and we picnicked on the river's bank
in the garden of the old hostelry of " The Black Rabbit," a
charming spot at the bend of the river beyond the town,
backed by a chalk cliff and the woodlands of the park, and
with old poplars and willows leaning over the water. It was a
joyful time, and we were sorry to return to Westbourne Park.
We were not to dwell there long, however, for my uncle
projected marriage, and this naturally led to altered arrange-
ments. The year 1861 saw us into lodgings in Argyle
Square, close to King's Cross, and shortly afterwards we
moved into a house (No. 46) a few doors off. This was a
very convenient distance from the Hatton Garden office, and
equally advantageous for my brother and sisters, who all had
some engagements out.
The year 1861 was remarkable for the appearance of the
great comet — a truly splendid sight, its enormous luminous
nucleus, or tail, sweeping across a great arc of the starry
heavens. All sorts of predictions concerning its significance
and destiny were afloat, and it was currently believed in
some quarters that it would strike the earth, and then there
would be an end of all things — on our planet, at least.
In the summer of 1861, with my mother, I remember
spending a holiday in Chester, her birthplace. We stayed
with a grandmother, or rather step-grandmother, a very
hospitable old lady, with much shrewd observation and
humour. She had had, no doubt, opportunities for the
cultivation of such faculties, as she had been formerly
landlady of one of the oldest of the Chester hostelries. Her
hospitality, it is true, was apt to take the embarrassing form
of loading one's plate long after the capacity to assimilate
more food had given in. " Cut it straight and eat it all,"
she was fond of saying.
STUIJY FOR AN KARLV PICTURE: "THK KVK OF ST. ACNKS'
WALTER CRANE
1858-62] APrJlENTKlESIIir TO VV. J. LINTON 6$
Chester being the birthplace of both my father and
mother, and the home of both their families for several
generations, naturally had great interest for me, apart from
its own picturesqueness and old-world charm.
I was greatly struck with the old city, with its timber
houses and mediaeval rows, and the delightful walk around
the walls, the weir, and the river, and the pleasant country
around, and found plenty to do. Indeed I got a commission
from the vicar of St. John's Church — then undergoing
restoration, I fear — to make a drawing of a fresco which
had been discovered in the process of scraping off the white-
wash from the big round piers. This was an early, perhaps
fourteenth-century work, showing St. John in sacerdotal
robes, with cross staff, and a book, upon which rested the
sacred Lamb. There was a landscape background with deer
and red castles in it, treated in an early tapestry manner,
without perspective. I remember making a careful coloured
drawing of this for the vicar, Mr. Marsden.
I had a glimpse of Wales, also, at this time, making one
day an excursion by train to Llangollen, and going up Dinas
Bran, from which I made a small water-colour sketch of the
gorse and heather covered hills, under the flying cloud
shadows of an August day.
CHAPTER IV
EARLY WORK, 1862-70
THE years 1861-62 will always be memorable for the
great struggle in the United States culminating in the
tragic and dramatic death of Abraham Lincoln — the Civil
War, which ended in the freeing of the slaves, and excited very
strong feeling in England and also divided opinions, for while
the sympathies of the upper and middle classes were generally
with the Confederation of the South, the working classes
generally supported the Federalist cause of the North. Politics,
however, were still much beyond my ken, and one only heard
afar, as it were, the rumble of the contest by reading the
accounts of the battles which filled the newspapers. " John
Brown's Body," however, became a favourite marching tune
with our volunteers.
I was soon to say good-bye to my volunteer patriots and
office companions in Hatton Garden, for the term of my
apprenticeship came to an end at the beginning of the year 1 862.
Some of my earliest bits of original work appeared in a
small monthly journal about this time entitled Entertaining
Things^ which was memorable for containing one or two of
the earliest drawings of George du Maurier, who also began to
contribute to Punch shortly afterwards.
On leaving Linton I was pretty much thrown on my own
resources, though I continued to do small works for the office
from time to time ; among other things, I remember having to
put upon the wood a series of rather vague sketches of Faroe
and Iceland by the author of a small book bearing that title.
I used, in seeking for work, to call on different publishers
to whom I had- obtained introductions and hawk round my
poor little folio of designs and proofs, and through an old
66
1862-70] EARLY WORK 6j
clergyman friend of my mother's I did some work for one or
two firms of publishers of religious tracts — miserable things
and miserably paid. I was so inexperienced that on one
occasion, having to sign a receipt for my little account, — which
must have actually run over two pounds, for a wonder, — I so
respected the design of the inland revenue stamp as to leave
it untouched by my signature, on which the publisher remarked
on the necessity of obliterating it to some extent, as it had
been so ordered by " the wisdom of our legislators."
Another highly evangelical publisher once exacted 5 per
cent, for paying me cash. The amount was a little over a
pound, I think, but he had to do the sum himself, as I was quite
innocent of what 5 per cent, might be.
I was engaged, too, by a Mr. Orr to make some drawings
for an Encyclopaedia — I think Chambers's — and in order to get
at the proper authorities it was necessary to obtain a ticket
for the British Museum Reading Room — planned and directed
by the great Antony Panizzi. As I was under age, an
exception to the rules had to be made in my favour, and my
ticket was endorsed in red ink.
I was deeply impressed on being admitted to the great
temple of authorship, reference, and research, and, duly initiated
in the mysteries of the catalogue and writing on slips for works
required, took my place at one of the desks for the first time.
The curious hush of the place, broken only by the occasional
coughing of the readers, or the soft fall of a book upon a desk,
exaggerated by reverberation in the circular building, combined
with savour of morocco bindings, was quite peculiar ; the atmo-
sphere perhaps a little stuffy, but otherwise undoubtedly a
very comfortable place to read and work in.
Here I drew a variety of subjects from various authorities
for the Cyclopaedia, ranging from the bust of Shakespeare to
the scenery of Honolulu.
Having access, however, to the Reading Room, I became
acquainted with many valuable books of reference, and found
the library, in common with a host of other workers, of great
use to me in many ways. I had an introduction to Mr. James
Hogg, who in this year started a new illustrated magazine with
the name London Society. I offered him a drawing of a group
68 AN ARTIST'S REMINISCENCES [1862-70
of fashionable promenaders in Kensington Gardens, which he
at once accepted, paid me two guineas for it, and asked for
more. I did several similar drawings at different smart resorts,
such as Richmond Hill. I remember, too, illustrating an
article for the same magazine on the subject of Dickens's Dogs
— the various dog characters in Charles Dickens's novels being
discoursed upon and described.
My early friend Mr. Wooldridge was again the medium
of introduction to important work. Mr. J. R. Wise was about
to publish, through Messrs. Smitfi & Elder, his work on The New
Forest: its History and Scenery. An illustrator was wanted,
and after an interview with Mr. W. Smith-Williams, who then
acted as reader to the firm and conducted arrangements with
authors, I was commissioned to accompany the author, Mr.
J. R. Wise, on a tour through the Forest, and under his
direction to make a series of sketches to be engraved by
W. J. Linton, my late master, who also, I think, had some share
in recommending me for the work.
At the end of May 1862, therefore, I started with Mr.
Wise for Hampshire. Hythe, on the west side of Southampton
Water, was the point of departure for the Forest district, which we
set out to walk through. Wise himself was a very good walker,
and says in his book that he should trust that " twenty miles
a day was not too much for any Englishman." Certainly we
frequently did that distance during our tour in the New Forest.
I remember often how welcome was the village inn at the end
of a long day's tramp. It was before the days of smart hotels,
and the old-fashioned village inn, with its sanded floor and
settles, was the usual form of hostelry, though there was often
an extra parlour for travellers wanting a private room. Egg
flip was the thing to take after a walk ; this took off" the
fagged feeling, and prepared the traveller for something more
substantial.
The weather, though, was not in our favour, it turning out a
very wet June, associated with the constant cry of the cuckoo,
which Wise cheerfully said was considered to be a sign of rain.
I do not remember our exact route, but we started from Hythe
to Beaulieu, passing some British barrows on a moor, and I
remember putting up at the village inn at Beaulieu and
1S62-70] EARLY WORK 69
watching the swifts darting up and down the street. It was
a pretty place, with a river and a mill at the bridge which led
to the gates of the old Cistercian Abbey.
We stayed during part of the time at a cottage on Alum
Green, near Lyndhurst, as from there most of the finest woods
were accessible. When it was too wet to go out or to sketch out
of doors we amused ourselves by composing a mock mediaeval
ballad of the Red King, or rather, Wise wrote the ballad and
I engrossed the verses and illuminated them. This he sent
to some friends of his in the district, with whom later we were
to stay, and great was our surprise and amusement when we
discovered that our little geste of a ballad had been taken in
earnest, and was supposed to have been a copy of a veritable
original which had been unearthed by the author !
In J, R. Wise, who was about ten or twelve years older
than myself, I found a most valuable friend. He was a most
remarkable man, and though this work of his on the New Forest
soon won a place as a standard book, he never attained to great
literary celebrity. He had before this published a novel which
had had a fair measure of success at Mudie's. His real tastes,
however, were scholastic. He was an extremely learned man,
being a philologist, a naturalist, and an archaeologist ; and being
wide-minded, and something of a poet as well, he found interest
and intellectual food everywhere.
One could not but benefit greatly in such company.
He was an Oxford man, but left, I believe, on account of his
free opinions, which were the cause of serious differences with
his family, he having been originally intended for the Church.
He was a cousin of J. Anthony Froude, the historian, and had
an extensive acquaintance among the more advanced thinkers
and writers of that day, but he himself lived almost as a recluse,
and was but seldom seen in London. He belonged to the
school of J. S. Mill in philosophical thought and politics, and
was one of the early appreciators of Herbert Spencer and
a subscriber to the first issue in parts of the First Principles
of his system of philosophy, which I first saw upon his
table.
Opinions from such sources came rather in the nature of a
counterblast to those in which I had been brought up, and told
70 AN ARTIST'S REMINISCENCES [1862-70
rather against the Ruskinian point of view, which at first was
rather a shock to me, until I was able to see things in a
broader light.
We spent the whole of June and the early days of July,
about five or six weeks in all, in the New Forest, working
round again by the sea to include Hurst and Calshot Castles
among the sketches which were at last cornplete, and of course
comprised " Rufus's Stone," though this proved a somewhat
disappointing spot, the stone (to, protect it from tourists) being
put in a jacket of cast iron, and there being no giant oaks
thereabouts. My task, so far, was finished. I had to draw all
the subjects from my sketches on wood for the engravers, and
the publishers acquired the original drawings I had made on
the spot. The old lady in Chester, hearing of this New Forest
work, circulated the report among some painter cousins that I
liad received a hundred pounds for " a few roots and stumps
of trees." As a frontispiece was needed for the book, a short
visit to the Forest later was found necessary. This was in
September, I think, when we stayed again at the Stoney Cross
Inn, and I remember rising early to get the view for the
frontispiece at sunrise. At the inn we met Mr. Lowes Dickin-
son, a portrait painter of some renown then. He was a grave
man, with a short beard, rather slow and deliberate of speech,
and was attired in the voluminous knickerbockers of the day. I
remember a full-length portrait of Charles Kingsley by him
seated in his library chair, which had considerable force and
vivacity, and was hung in a prominent place on the line in
one of the rooms of the Academy Exhibition, that year, I think.
While I was with Wise in the New Forest, the news came
that a small picture I had painted in the spring of 1862,
entitled " The Lady of Shalott," ^ and sent to the Academy,
^This little picture, which represented the Lady of Shalott (from Tennyson's
poem) drifting in her barge past a green river bank, with trees and tall grasses
showing against an evening sky, was hung on the floor of one of the old rooms at
Trafalgar Square. Small as it was, it obtained recognition from the Times
art critic, then Mr. Tom Taylor, who praised it as " the work of a young and rising
artist." As I was then on the floor, I had certainly need of rising !
I remember, on the strength of being an exhibitor, receiving a ticket for the
soiree, which then took place usually about the end of July. Old Sir Charles Eastlake
was then president, and I remember him receiving in the old rooms in Trafalgar
1862-70] EARLY WORK 71
having been hung, had found a purchaser at the modest
price of five guineas. This gentleman was Mr. Brown
of Selkirk, a cloth manufacturer, and, as it afterwards
turned out, numbered my uncle, the cloth merchant, among
his customers. The purchase of my picture was, however,
quite an independent action on his part, and he followed it up
by commissioning me to paint a companion picture showing the
Lady of Shalott at Camelot, having drifted down in her barge,
to the wonderment of the knights and dames of Arthur's court.
This was done, to be promptly rejected by the Academy
the next year. Both pictures were quite small, not more
than about i 5 inches by i 2, or thereabouts, and, undaunted, I
continued to send works of such modest dimensions every year
to the portals of the Royal Academy ; but they got no farther for
at least ten years afterwards, though my good friend Mr. Brown
bravely bought them for some time, until he must have
possessed quite a small collection of early Cranes before he
grew tired. The last thing I did for him was a posthumous
portrait of his father, worked from daguerreotypes and early
photographs.
Mr. Brown came to look me up years afterwards, I
remember, but did not again venture to invest in me. About
five-and-twenty years afterwards, I heard of his death from
a brother of his in business in Golden Square, informing me that
all my pictures were to be sold except the portrait and asking
for advice concerning the best market. I offered to buy them
back at the original prices, but received no response. I was then
in Italy, however, and possibly the letter may have miscarried.
The subjects of these early pictures were — " The Lady of
Shalott " (R.A., 1 862) ; a companion, " The Lady of Shalott at
Camelot," 1863 ; "The Eve of St. Agnes," 1864; "La Belle
Dame sans Merci," 1865.
The great event in London in 1862 was the International
Exhibition at South Kensington, where now stands the
Natural History Museum, and I think an annex extended to
a certain distance up each side of the Horticultural Gardens,
Square with his badge of oftice, a small, thin man with a scholarly, refined face and
old-fashioned, courtly manner. I knew no one, however, and was an unknown in
a crowd of unknowns — to me at least.
72 AN ARTIST'S REMINISCENCES [1862-70
which were also utilised as the Exhibition grounds. My
connection with it was as the sketcher of a stall of a patentee
and manufacturer of a new sort of pencil formed of continuous
compressed leads, but the young lady who presided at the
counter was the most attractive exhibit to me. Afterwards
a drawing of mine made at the works, somewhere in the East
End, showing a workman engaged in making the pencils, was
enlarged and used as a poster.
The Exhibition was undoubtedly a big affair, and gave
a good and comprehensive display of the art of the period.
There was a splendid national and international show of
modern pictures. There was a very fine group, a representa-
tive group, of the pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood's pictures, in-
cluding some of Madox Brown's finest works, such as the " King
Lear " (the tent scene), the " English Autumn Afternoon," and
" The Emigrants." All these I saw for the first time, and
was immensely struck by them. Leighton's " Cimabue's
Madonna carried through Florence" also I had never seen
before, and was greatly taken by its graceful design and
decorative effect. Among the French school the pictures
which stand out most distinctly in my recollection were two
famous works of Ingres — " La Source," and the splendid
study of a nude youth sitting with bowed head in glowing
sunlight against a pure blue sky, on a rock by the sea.
Among one may almost say miles of pictures these remain in
one's memory as works of extraordinary force and distinction.
English decorative art, too, began to assert itself in this
Exhibition. There was a most interesting group of furniture
and examples of interior decoration of all kinds shown by
the Ecclesiological Society, among which, I think, there was
early work of J. Seddon, the architect, Pugin, William Burges,
Philip Webb, William Morris, and E, Burne-Jones.
One saw in the work of these men the influence of the
Gothic revival and the study of mediaeval art generally.
There were plenty of other kinds, too, and a conspicuous
feature under the dome was a huge Majolica fountain by
Messrs. Minton, considered a triumph, in which a group of
St. George and the Dragon formed a centre.
These were the earlier days of the Cornhill Magazine^
i862 7o] EARLY WORK 73
under the editorship of W. M. Thackeray. I remember the
cover design by Godfrey Sykes coming into Linton's hands
while I was with him and being engraved by him. I believe
I was sent by Linton on one occasion to Thackeray's house
with some message about that time, but I have no recollection
of ever having seen him in the flesh. There was in later
years, however, a report that I had been discovered by
Thackeray in one of his Roundabout Papers. This was not
so, although it was in the Cornhill that Wise's book on the
New Forest was reviewed among other Christmas publications
of the year 1862, but this article was written by George
Henry Lewes. My illustrations were praised as " the work of
a very young artist of only seventeen." I did not at all
appreciate this kind of notice, as I felt quite full-grown, and
had no wish to have my age published at large.
The New Forest was very well reviewed generally, and
although, as Mr. Wise confided to me, he only received forty
pounds for his work, he had hopes it would lead to further
literary work of the kind. About this time he stayed with us
in Argyle Square, and he became a contributor to a new
journal started by Professor Huxley, Mr. Mark Pattison, and
other leading scientific and " literary men of advanced
opinions." This journal, a weekly review, was called The
Reader. Wise wrote regularly for it while it lived, and
also did a great deal of reviewing for the Westminster
Review, an important quarterly in the interest of advanced
thinkers generally. George Eliot was at one time
connected with this review, and for some years wrote the
Belles Lettres section, I understood. Being brought through
my acquaintance with J. R. Wise into rather close touch with
literary work, I began to try my hand at writing, and have
some recollection of an article on " Sympathy " being actually
printed in The Reader.
In the summer of 1863 I joined Mr. Wise again, but this
time in Derbyshire, in a then remote valley of the Peak
district, ten miles from Sheffield, a little place called Lead
Mill, on the Derwent, near Hathersage, where by his usual plan
of walking the country he had found lodgings, and a
country that he liked. It had, indeed, very great charms.
74 AN ARTIST'S REMINISCENCES [1862-70
as well as very distinct character. On one side bold crags of
gritstone, or "edges," as they were called, breaking above
green fields and woods sloping down to the Derwent, meander-
ing over its stony bed, from running shallows into deep brown
pools, dear to trout-fishers, and overhung with ashes, oaks,
alders, and sycamores ; on another side opening out into doughs
and valleys leading up to larch woods and high moorlands,
purple with heather, and here and there a grey stone seventeenth-
century farmhouse. Far away to the west the ridges of the
Peak hills and mountains above Castleton were lost in the
blue mist.
Mr. Wise had thoughts of doing for the Peak district
what he had done for the New Forest, and hoped that I might
help him as illustrator; but despite the success of his first
book, he did not receive sufficient encouragement to go on
with the work, which in all its different branches in the thorough
way he would have done it would have been remarkably
interesting, though no doubt, however congenial, arduous
enough for the writer.
Book or no book, however, I was enchanted with the
country, and set to work sketching with great energy, spending
my days by the riverside, or on the moors, or in the woods,
striving to record in part something of the beauty which
surrounded me,
I think from this time onwards I spent several months
of each year in the summer until 1871 in this valley.
Members of a fishing club were accustomed to come out
from Sheffield to follow their favourite sport in the Derwent,
noted for its trout, and among these, through my friend
Wise's introduction, I found some patrons, and from time
to time painted favourite spots on the river or about the
neighbourhood for some of these wealthy citizens of Sheffield.
During the year 1863 I had an introduction to Mr.
Edmund Evans, and thus commenced a connection which has
lasted to the present time, though Mr. Wilfred Evans now
manages his late father's business.
Mr. Evans was one of the pioneers in the development of
colour-printing, and not only did a quantity of ordinary trade
work in this way, but also choice books. One of the
1 862-70]
EARLY WORK
75
directions in which his craft was extensively used was that of
covers of cheap railway novels, which we sometimes called,
from their generally yellow hue and sensational character.
Early ToyBook\ [First Series. Ward & Locke, 1865
" COCK ROBIN AND JENNY WREN "
" mustard plaisters." Designs of this kind were my principal
work for Mr. Evans at first, but later (about 1865) I began to
design for him the children's picture-books published by the
T6 AN ARTIST'S REMINISCENCES [1862-70
house of George Routledge & Sons which afterwards attained
such popularity.
The first, however, were done for Messrs. Warne. They
were a History of Cock Robin and Jenny Wren^ Dame Trot and
her Comical Cat, and The House that Jack built. They were
designed with solid black or blue backgrounds, the figures
being relieved against them in bright colours. The series for
Messrs. Routledge commenced with a Farmyard Alphabet
and a Railway Alphabet, printed in two colours only, in
addition to the key block. These were followed by designs
of figures without backgrounds printed in red, blue, and black, of
which The Song of Sixpence is a type ; but gradually more
colours were used as the designs became more elaborate, until
a few years later they had developed, under various influences,
among which that of Japanese colour prints must be counted
as an important factor The Fairy Ship and This Little Pig
are examples of this period.
Mr. Evans was not only a man of business but a clever
artist in water colour himself, and aided my efforts in the
direction of more tasteful colouring in children's books ; but it
was not without protest from the publishers, who thought the
raw coarse colours and vulgar designs usually current appealed
to a larger public, and therefore paid better, and it was some
time before the taste for the newer treatment made itself
felt.
The summer of 1864 was again spent in Derbyshire,
painting. My friend Wise still remained there, and had formed
an extensive acquaintance in the neighbourhood. Through
him I was introduced in various directions. There was the
Squire Shuttleworth at The Hall, a sporting man with memories
of cock-fighting days, when his birds " fought a main at
Derby," and a fine specimen of a game cock with clipped
comb was still to be seen among the humbler domestic fowls
of his yard. There was a lady, a relative of Wright, the
painter of Derby, the friend of Sir Joshua Reynolds, known
for his pictures of firelight and lamplight effects, forges,
scientific experiments, etc., prints of which exist. This lady.
Miss Wright, lived at Brookfield, a pleasant house to the north
of Hathersage, almost hidden in trees. In the house were not
w <
1862-70] EARLY WORK Tj
only prints of Wright's works, but two beautiful water-colour
drawings of J. M. W. Turner,
There was the village doctor, with a taste for rare birds
and a room full of stuffed specimens.
Another strata of the local society was represented by the
proprietors of certain needle factories in the village, which
introduced the unpleasant elements of smoke and cinders
there, and a somewhat reckless population of " hands."
Sheffield grinders, I was told, in those days had but a short life,
the fine steel dust getting into their lungs, so they seldom
lived longer than about thirty years. It was not surprising
that many of them were given to drink.
One did not hear much sympathy with the condition of
the workers expressed by the proprietors of the mills, however,
even when, as in one case, a millowner had risen from that
condition to be a proprietor.
The friends we saw most of, perhaps, lived at a delightful
house in a garden terraced on the slope of hill almost hidden
in trees, known as Learn Hall. The host was a keen sportsman,
and spent most of his time cither on his grouse moor above,
or fly-fishing in the river below. In his good lady I found a
patroness, and made several drawings of the neighbouring
scenery, of which she was very fond.
Croquet was the favourite lawn game in those days,
and keen were the struggles over the then comparatively
wide hoops, and the vicissitudes of play on a sloping
ground whereon many a summer afternoon was whiled
away.
I was pleasantly housed not far from Learn in a sixteenth or
early seventeenth century stone house, known as Hazelford Hall,
comfortably nestled against the side of a hill and backed by larch
woods. The house had been divided into two, and one half
was occupied by a farmer and the other half by a gamekeeper
of the Duke of Devonshire's, and it was with the latter I had
quarters. There was a tradition that this house was one of
several built at the same time by a former landowner for his
sons. There was Highlow Hall, Nether Hall, and Hazelford
Hall, all similar in style and built of the local gritstone, with
fine chimneys, and roofed with stone shingles. I had a large
78 AN ARTIST'S REMINISCENCES [1862-70
room with a heavy mullioned window and leaded panes, as
well as the freedom of the woods and the moors.
The country gentlemen of those parts generally prided
themselves on their wine cellars, and wonderful were the
vintages which we tasted at their tables. '47 and '5 1 port
was not unfrequently offered, and I even remember tasting a
bottle of so venerable an age as 1820.
The dinner hour was generally early, and the custom was
to sit a long time over the wine afterwards.
The gamekeeper with whom I lodged was a noted character
in his neighbourhood, with the finest command of old English
and broad Derbyshire I ever heard, and he was not loth to
give one opportunities of judging of the wealth of his vocabulary,
for he had considerable dramatic power in telling a story, and
he had many of his sporting experiences, and told of finding
, badgers and other " fearful wild fowl." He spoke, too, of the
old Duke and the Marquis of Hartington (the present Duke
of Devonshire) and of their shooting parties, which he had
served in virtue of his office.
Among the famous places in the neighbourhood I re-
member seeing Haddon Hall for the first time, also Chatsworth,
as well as Castleton and the Peak Cavern.
Towards the end of this summer my friend Wise some-
what suddenly bade me farewell, and giving up his lodgings,
left the valley. I walked with him one evening across Eyam
Moor, and did not meet him again until ten years afterwards.
He had a way of burying himself in remote districts, and I
completely lost sight of him for the time.
My intellectual development owed much to him, certainly,
and to him I was indebted for my first acquaintance with
Emerson. I began with The Conduct of Life, and found the
optimist of Concord very stimulating reading. It had a bracing
effect on my awaking thought, and helped to clear my mind
from superstitious shadows and theological bogies which at
one time rather oppressed me, and even, under the influence
of the impressive ritualistic services and aesthetic effects
at All Saints', Margaret Street, and St. Alban's, Holborn,
threatened to drive me into the arms of that section of the
Church. But with the reading of Emerson new windows
1862-70]
EARLY WORK
79
seemed to open to my mental vision and disclosed a wider
prospect. It was like getting out into the fresh air and
sunlight after the mysterious gloom and close atmosphere of a
cavern. All Saints', however, was perhaps an advance upon
the rather sleepy services at St. Pancras', our parish church,
\ jf^cn-^ji^i^:
SKETCH AT HADDON HALL (1865)
ik^
where the only vital spark about that time seemed to be the
young and eloquent Mr. McClure, a curate there, whom I met
as Dean of Manchester Cathedral many years afterwards. At
least, there was a feeling of the movement of a revival with the
ritualists which stirred one, and its very intensity brought the
whole question of religious faith up for judgment in one's mind.
8o AN ARTISrS REMINISCENCES [1862-70
Aided by such books as Phases of Faith, by F. W. Newman,
the brother of the well-known Cardinal, and rather a wide
range of reading from this time onward, including the writings
of J. S. Mill, Darwin, and Herbert Spencer, and above all the
poems of Shelley, I soon decided for Free Thought.
We had formed a book club or reading fund in the
family for the acquisition of books, and we also had a
subscription at Mudie's, so that the supply was kept up. Some
of us also attempted writing short essays on various subjects,
which were read in the family circle and discussed.
Reading, too, of Auguste Comte and the Positivists may
have had some effect, and I remember attending one of the
London Positivists Society's meetings at a large room, I think
in Bouverie Street, where Professor Newton, who was one of
the leaders, delivered an address. I think George Henry
Lewes and George Eliot (Marian Evans) were present, and
Professor Beesley, Dr. Bridges, and Mr. Frederic Harrison — all
very energetic and able advocates of the Positivist School and
in the van of political and social thought and progress. These
were exciting times altogether. The stir of great movements
was in the air. The discoveries and conclusions of Charles
Darwin were startling the world, and scientific criticisms were
revolutionising philosophic thought, but at the same time
alarming the old theological camps and the Church, and a cloud
of so-called " refutations " appeared, while on the other hand
the Church was divided by the ritualistic movement.
The political world, too, was agitated by the demand
for the extension of the suffrage and parliamentary reform,
which the two parties played battledore and shuttlecock with,
until the people grew dangerous, and something had to be done,
though it was not until 1866 that matters came to a head.
One's art-life was but little affected by these things, and
work went quietly on. In the evenings I had joined the
classes at " Heatherley's," the well - known art school at
79 Newman Street, for the study of the life and costume
model. Many well-known artists had worked here, at different
times. Frederick Walker at one time, I believe, though I
never saw him ; but I have a vague recollection of Pinwell,
a very remarkable artist of his school ; Mr. Lionel Smythe
I]
' r
/
/
-4i\
< 5
1862-70] EARLY WORK 81
(now A.R.A. and R.VV.S.) was a student there in my time; and
Mr. Gilbert Redgrave (afterwards an official of South Kensing-
ton) ; Frederick Barnard, who was always full of fun and
caricature, and was also a clever amateur comic actor ;
Mr. 11. Ellis Wooldridge (the son of my friend at Smith &
Elder's), who became Slade professor at Oxford ; John Burr,
a painter of some distinction ; Miss Louise Starr, now Madame
Starr-Canziani, a great favourite and much admired for her
spirituel appearance ; and a host of others.
There was an actual Heatherley in those days, a rather
typical Bohemian-artist-looking man, with long hair and beard,
who glided about in a ghostly way through the classrooms
in slippers and wearing a sort of long gabardine. He must
have worn boots sometimes, however, for it is related that when
a student asked him for a drawing-pin he would look at the
sole of his boot, where usually he would find one sticking —
the tendency towards collecting on boot-soles being a well-
known characteristic of drawing-pins in studios. He did
not attempt much teaching, at least in the life class, and
would only offer a gentle criticism or suggestion in an under-
tone now and then as he glanced at one's work and passed on.
There was a sketch club among the students, and we had
exhibition nights, when the sketches which had been made
in response to a given subject were displayed. The end of
the terms, too, would be celebrated by evening entertainments,
in which generally some theatricals formed the piece de
rhistance, the parts being taken by different students, and
the orchestral accompaniment generally supplied by a musical
student with a guitar, who would sit on the steps in front of
what formed the stage till the green baize curtain which
divided the classrooms was " rung up," or rather pulled apart,
and the performance began before a merry crowd of young
men and maiden students.
About this time I obtained permission to make studies
in the Armoury of the Tower of London, and while working
there got quite familiar with the rigmarole of the beef-
eater who personally conducted small parties of the British
public through the collection, monotonously chanting such
sentences as " This-suit-of-armour-was-worn-by-King-Charles-
6
82 AN ARTIST'S REMINISCENCES [1862-70
the-First-when-a-boy," and so forth. I was much inter-
ested in armour and costume, and at that time wanted
a fifteenth - century suit of plate for a picture I con-
templated. Before, however, finding what I wanted in the
Tower, I wrote to Mr. G. D. Leslie (not then R.A.) (who
exhibited a picture in the Academy entitled " The War
Summons," I think, in which was the figure of a herald in
armour wearing a salade), asking him where such armour
could be obtained, and he replied, " I painted the armour from
a model ; I made my model of -wax, and covered it with tin-
foil," and I think he also referred me to the Tower.
I think it was during this year (1865) that Mr. Madox
Brown opened the very remarkable and interesting exhibition
of his works at a small gallery in Piccadilly. It was a
collection of both early and late work (some of which was at
the 1862 Exhibition), and his latest most important picture,
entitled " Work," was here seen for the first time. I shall
never forget the impression that the work of this most re-
markable artist made upon me. " One-man shows " were
very unusual in those days, and such a display of original
conception, intellectual force and grasp, united with vivid
realisation and extraordinary variety of subject, as was com-
prehended in this small exhibition, is indeed rare at any
time. The absolute sincerity, the conviction with which every
subject was handled and painted, the extraordinary penetrat-
ing power of each picture, charged as it was with subtle
thought and significant detail, gave an unusual distinction
and peculiar and marked individual character, by which the
work of Ford Madox Brown (with all its whimsicalities and
quaintness, which are essential elements in it) stands out in
the history of English art.
The work of another remarkable and since greatly
renowned artist became known to the world for the first time
at this period. It was at the exhibition of the Old Society
of Painters in Water Colours in the summer of 1865 that
I first saw the work of Edward Burne-Jones, who had just
been elected an Associate.
" The Merciful Knight," " Merlin and Morgan le Fay,"
" Green Summer," " The Annunciation," " Cinderella," " Astro-
WAl/lKR CRANE AT THE AGE OK 21
liV HI.MSEI K
iSr,2-7o] EARLY WORK 83
logia," "Le Chant d'Amour," "Cupid and Psyche," "Love
disguised as Reason," " Phyllis and Demophoon," were the
works I more particularly recall, and I think the first two or
three named were in the exhibition I speak of. The critics
received them mostly with scoffs — in fact, in the way an artist
who strikes some new note is generally received by them. It
is natural enough, for the new note often contradicts the
accepted canons of painting and makes established reputations
tremble. " If we have been right all these years," say the
established ones — painters or critics — " then this must be
wrong." They rally to the defence of the ruling conventions,
and cry in chorus, " Great is Diana of the Ephesians ! " or her
equivalent for the time being.
Anything like a philosophical conception of art seems so
rare, one seldom in art criticism perceives anything like a
conception of its growth and evolution, and the necessity of
change, and transformation even, both in form and method as
the accompaniment of life and movement, and in correspond-
ence with the changing mental attitude in each succeeding
generation. No doubt commercial exigencies have much to
do with it, consciously or unconsciously, but it appears in some
quarters as if there was only one kind or phase of painting to
be admired — at least, among the living.
Modern painting, however, always offers a chance for
individual distinction, and with the increase of exhibitions,
and the development of specialism, originality, or individu-
ality, may now have a better chance of recognition than
formerly — but I do not know that it is more plentiful,
while imitators increase.
D. G. Rossetti, whose influence naturally inspired so
largely the early work of Burne-Jones, never exhibited, and
was reported to have said that on the rare occasions when he
had done so the result was only abuse from the critics, and,
as he had his private supporters and sympathisers, there
was no object in exposing his work to such a reception.
Burne-Jones's course as a painter certainly did not run
very smoothly at first, though the tide turned later, and he
received the fullest measure of appreciation, honour, and
fortune in his lifetime.
84 AN ARTISTS REMINISCENCES [1862-70
The drawing " Phyllis and Demophoon," hung in the Old
Water Colour Gallery, caused a considerable flutter, which it is a
little difficult to understand, except that one remembers that feel-
ing in regard to the work of the pre-Raphaelites ran remarkably
high, and people opposed to the new school would express
themselves against it quite bitterly sometimes. The difficulty,
or rock of offence, was in this case primarily the old one (in
puritanical England) of the nude — then quite rare in British
art, but the picture was anything but realistic, more like a
dream in its conception and colouration.
In deference, however, to the wishes or representations of
some influential friends of the Society, the artist was asked
to remove his picture, which he did, and at the same time
his name from the roll of membership. In consequence of
the incident a second resignation took place, that of Mr.
(Sir) Frederick Burton, a very refined and distinguished
artist, who afterwards became well known as the Director of
the National Gallery.
But though the artist exhibited publicly no more until
some years afterwards, those early works had their effect —
especially upon a certain small group of young students I
wot of. The curtain had been lifted, and we had had a
glimpse into a magic world of romance and pictured poetry,
peopled with ghosts of " ladies dead and lovely knights," —
a twilight world of dark mysterious woodlands, haunted
streams, meads of deep green starred with burning flowers,
veiled in a dim and mystic light, and stained with low-toned
crimson and gold, as if indeed one had gazed through the
glass of
•' Magic casements opening on the foam
Of perilous seas in faerylands forlorn."
It was, perhaps, not to be wondered at that, fired with such
visions, certain young students should desire to explore
further for themselves.
With the year 1 866 came a chance for artists in water
colours unattached to either the Old or New Societies, in the
shape of a "General Exhibition of Water Colour Drawings," which
was organised by a Committee of artists, of whom Messrs.
Walter and Arthur Severn, H. S. Marks and G. D. Leslie
1862-70] EARLY WORK 85
(Associates of the Academy), Mr. Frank Walton, and others
whose names I am not certain of, were the first members.
Mr. (now Sir Ernest) Water low, the present President of the
Royal Society of Painters in Water Colour, I remember on
the Committee when I joined it later, and I think his work
first became known at "the Dudley," as we called it. It was
not, however, a Society necessitating membership in order to
be able to exhibit, as is the case of the existing Societies, but it
was an exhibition open to all comers.
I sent a drawing of a subject I had found in Derbyshire
— a ruined cottage — a group of trees against a twilight sky —
a sloping meadow of tall grass in which the figures of three
mowers at work appeared. It was named " Twilight," and
was hung on a screen, and promptly found a purchaser at
six guineas. The exhibition was held in the Dudley Gallery,
so long associated with exhibitions, and recently the home of
the New English Art Club, but now demolished with the Old
Egyptian Hall and its mystery and magic, that so long had
lured crowds from Piccadilly into its deep and dark recesses.
Intending visitors to picture shows there indeed got mixed
up with the mystery and magic people who at times formed
a considerable queue along the Piccadilly pavement. I
remember in later days making for some picture show on
there, I think the " New English Art Club," and the policeman
on duty wanted to turn me back to the end of the queue,
until I had convinced him I was interested in another kind
of art — sometimes quite as magic, and even as black, occa-
sionally, as Messrs. Maskelyne's.
The opening of this Dudley Gallery General Exhibition
was quite an epoch, and was the means of bringing many
new artists to the front and to recognition. Luke Fildes, then
a student at South Kensington, fresh from a provincial school,
showed his first work in colour here — a study at Whitby.
I made his acquaintance about this time, through an aunt
and cousins who lived at Warrington, from which school he
and his friend Mr. Henry Woods came up to London. They
took a studio together in Hunter Street, and we frequently
exchanged visits and views.
Quite a group of students, or young artists just beginning
S6
AN ARTIST'S REMINISCENCES [1862-70
practice, used to meet at each other's studios about this time
and onwards to 1870. Many of them were, or had been.
Academy students, others were from South Kensington. The
studios or rooms were generally in or about Bloomsbury,
which would seem at this period to have some claims to be
a centre of the newer impulses in art.
The gifted but ill-fated Simeon Solomon, who distinguished
himself by showing some brilliant work at the Dudley, chiefly,
at first, studies of priests in their robes with the vessels and
emblems of the office around them — very rich and golden in
tone were these drawings, I remember, and quite the finest and
A DERBYSHIRE PASTORAL
Caricature by Walter Crane
most complete things the artist exhibited. The other side
of his imagination, however, showed much grace and poetic
suggestion in his groups of young men and maidens of an
idyllic world, occasionally reminiscent of Stothard or Westall,
and the designs of the early nineteenth century in conception
and treatment. The range of his fancy was perhaps best shown
in the slight sketches and suggestions for various pictures
and allegories which he had in a large book in his studio
in Charlotte Street at that time.
At one of these studio gatherings I remember meeting Hamo
Thorneycroft, then just beginning his career, well backed by
the fame and position of his father and family in the arts.
1862-70]
EARLY WORK
87
THE I'ASSIONATK SHEPHERI) (H. E.
Caricature hy Walter Crane
W.)
T. Blake Wrigman, well known as a portrait painter and
also for his subject pictures, was another of our company,
still happily to be claimed as a friend and neighbour, as also
E. H. Fahey, the landscape painter, whom I first met at the
studio of another old and
firm friend, Robert Bateman,
who had the leadership of a
particular group, or clique,
as it would be now called, I
presume. This group con-
sisted of H. Ellis Wooldridge^
(before named as holding the
Slade professorship at Ox-
ford in after years), Edward
Clifford, known as a water-
colour painter, and for his
graceful portraits of various
members of our aristocracy,
also for his mission to
Father Damien and his
connection with religious
and philanthropic work later
in life. With these three
painters was a poet — Ben-
jamin Montgomerie Ranking,
author of Fulgencius and
other PoemSy Strea^ns from
Hidden Sources. I became
more or less associated with
this group from sympathy
with their artistic aims.
Sometimes we had the same
^ Wooldridgc used to join me in Derbyshire, where, in the later time with my
brothers and sisters, we were often a merry party at Hazelford. We used to be fond
of caricaturing the incidents of the day, and also each other. Wooldridge was always
musical, and was acquainted with the fine Italian composers of the seventeenth and
eighteenth centuries long before their recent re-discovery. He was also a singer of
taste. This accounts for the emblems with which I have surrounded him in the little
fancy sketch. In the other I am a sort of Colin Clout. The third sketch is an
anticipation of our friendship in old age — discussing a bottle of old crusted port.
These are only a few out of many — I mean sketches, not bottles of port.
FANCY SKETCH OK WALTER CRANE AND
H. E. WOOLDRIDGE IN OLD AGE
Caricature by Walter Crane
models, and I recall the
88 AN ARTISTS REMINISCENCES [1862-70
satisfaction we had in securing sittings from the original
lady of many of Burne-Jones's early works, — notably
" Astrologia," — Miss Augusta Jones by name.
Another comrade was A. Sacheverell Coke, whom in the
opinion of one literary man, at least, as confided to me, was " the
best of us " as an artist. He had much facility of design, and
sought his subjects in classical mythology, mostly derived rather
from the point of view of the early' Venetian school as to treat-
ment and colour. He afterwards designed the tile-work for the
interior of the St. James's Restaurant grill-room, the subjects
being the gods and goddesses of Greek and Roman mythology,
with incidents in their history. Whether their influence
improved the flavour of the chops and steaks I do not know,
but it might be truly said the gods certainly were never without
burnt sacrifices on the grill. The series was so complete,
too, that the panels as a whole might form a pictorial
commentary on Lempriere or Dr. Smith — if customers
ever occasionally looked higher than an opposite picture-hat, or
over the edge of the evening paper. Anyway, their chance is
lost for ever, since St. James's is now a heap of dusty ruins
— a mere incident in the transformation of London !
Edward R. Hughes must be named as another of our
early friends who has since won a distinguished position as a
painter, carrying on, from his uncle, Arthur^ Hughes, the
traditions of the pre-Raphaelite painters. Now a member of
the Royal Society of Painters in Water Colours, having held the
position of deputy-President, his work is always in evidence in
their exhibitions, often highly romantic and fanciful in subject,
decorative in effect, and very highly wrought in transparent
colour. His portraits, notably of children, in red chalk are
also much appreciated.
Another young artist I remember meeting about the time
I speak of was an American of the name of Morgan (certainly
not Pierpoint). His work, of a romantic and imaginative kind,
struck me as having much promise. I never, however, met
with him again.
Early in this year (February 1866) I had my first
glimpse of France and Paris. My eldest brother held
at that time a clerkship in the General Post Office, and he
I 862-70]
EARLY WORK
89
taking his holidays at that time, I joined him and two friends
for the trip across the Channel. The Channel certainly
asserted itself on that February night from Newhaven to
Dieppe. Cross Channel steamers were very different from what
they are now. Ours was a paddlewheel steamer, small and
PARIS FASHIONS IN 1866
crowded, and we were bounced about for nine mortal hours,
instead of the usual five allowed for the passage, I soon
found myself in a condition similar to that of one of Bret
Harte's characters, when " the subsequent proceedings
interested him no more," and only slowly came to life again
after landing. We put up at some little French hotel near
90
AN ARTIST'S REMINISCENCES [1862-70
the Rue RivoH, and worked away at seeing the lions for all
we were worth. Paris then was under the Second Empire.
The old Palace of Tuileries was intact and the Venddme
Column, and there was a general pervading air of reverence
and glorification of the Napoleonic legend about the public
I
^«fl ^-Tv ¥^S 1 1 III III
SKETCHES AT PARIS (1866)
places and monuments, and the big N surrounded with a
laurel wreath was a very frequent emblem. The military were
much in evidence, and there was a great display of various
uniforms and of crinoline on the part of the ladies. We had
a series of rapid and vivid impressions of Paris and its life as
1862-70] EARLY WORK 91
we flitted from its public monuments to theatres, Cirque
Napoleon and Bal masque, with intervals of cafes and
restaurants, — all singularly fresh and strange to our young and
insular party. I recall, too, above all, the deep impression
I had from the great masterpieces of the Louvre, and worshipped
at the shrine of the Venus of Milo. These remain, but what
of the Empire ?
Some weeks of the summer of 1866 I spent with our old
Torquay friends. Dr. and Mrs. Mackintosh, at a house they had
at Cawsand Bay, to the west of Mount Edgecombe, the point of
which formed one of the arms of the bay, Penlee Point being
the other. The house commanded a view of Plymouth
Sound and the Breakwater. Here I spent most of my time
in sketching, or in walks with the daughters of the house and
a numerous family of girl cousins, many of whom were victims
of my pencil.
We used to watch the casting of the tuck net and the
drawing it in to the shore of this fishing village, or the war-
ships that used to anchor in the Sound, or the yachts putting
out to the bay, or sometimes we paddled in a boat to Penlee
Point. I remember I introduced Plymouth Sound into a toy-
book, illustrating an old Multiplication Table rhyme beginning
•' Twice two were two good boys." I think I had " twice six "
steamships — anchored in Plymouth Sound, and put in the
lines of coast and the Breakwater.
During this visit, one day having occasion to go into
Plymouth, on returning to " The Hard," and waiting for the
ferry-boat to take me across to Mount Edgecombe, W. S.
Coleman, the artist, came up, having the same object, and
we embarked together. I had not seen him since the days I was
with Linton, when there was a small drawing class started
at Leinster Square, which he, as an artist and a friend of
the Lintons, visited and criticised.
He was staying at the inn at the ferry Mount Edge-
combe, and he persuaded me to join him at luncheon.
There was a negro waiter, I remember. We had a pleasant
chat, and I left him to pursue my way to Cawsand through the
dripping plantations of Mount Edgecombe, as it turned out
wet, and was one of the wettest walks I can remember.
92 AN ARTISTS REMINISCENCES [1862-70
W. S. Coleman was known at first as a naturalist, or rather
as an illustrator of natural history and botanical works. Later
he won considerable repute for his water colours, and for his
designs for faience. I met him again a year or two after-
wards, at one of the Dudley Gallery Committee's dinners.
The year 1866 was remarkable for the agitation for the
extension of the franchise. I remember the great demonstra-
tions and the vast processions of workmen, walking six abreast,
mounted farriers at the head, and with them, also mounted,
one Colonel Dixon and his daughter, who, with Mr. Beales, a
barrister, threw themselves into the movement, and became,
especially the latter, its leaders and chief spokesmen, with
George Odger, George Howell, Mr. Cremer, and other working-
class leaders.
A Liberal Government had first brought in a rather mild
and moderate measure for the extension of the franchise, limited
I think to six-pound householders, or something like that.
They were defeated, and a Conservative Government, under
Mr. Disraeli, succeeded them, and brought in a Bill for house-
hold suffrage, with a lodger franchise, thus, as they said, " to
dish the Whigs." This, however, was not brought about
without the irnmense demonstrations aforesaid, and big
meetings in Hyde Park. One of these meetings was foolishly
forbidden by the Conservative Home Secretary (Mr. Walpole,
privately a most amiable character, I believe), and the result
was that the people who had marched in procession in great
numbers to the Park finding the gates closed against them
by the order of the police, pulled the iron railings down,
pressed into the Park, and held their meeting. This pro-
ceeding was violently denounced by one portion of the press,
and vigorously upheld by another as justifiable and righteous ;
but anyway the result was that a much more comprehensive
Franchise Bill was passed, and by a Conservative Government,
than had been dreamed of by their Liberal predecessors.
The people were in earnest, and therefore got what they
wanted, as they have a way of doing in England ; but I
remember a writer, I think in the Spectator, remarking on
one of the workmen's demonstrations, saying that " they
might be in earnest, but a man could not look in earnest with
1862-70] EARLY WORK 93
a pipe in his mouth," and most of them marched with pipes
in their mouths.
I think it was in the autumn of this year that some old
friends of my father's — Mr. and Mrs. Randle Wilbraham —
invited me down to Cheshire. Rode Hall was their house,
a country mansion of early nineteenth-century type, situate in
a park, with a fine lake much frequented by waterfowl. Mrs.
Wilbraham was a charming lady of artistic tastes, and herself
an amateur of some skill and feeling, and was most kind and
hospitable. She introduced me to the Wedgwoods of Etruria,
the renowned potters. Mrs. Wilbraham had been doing a little
china-painting herself, deriving her instruction, I think, from
M. Lessore, who at that time did a quantity of work for
Messrs. Wedgwood. I tried my hand on some vases of their
cream-coloured ware, sketching the Seasons and other sym-
bolical figures in a light sort of treatment with a pen in purple-
brown, using a medium composed of oil of turpentine and
glycerine. I afterwards did some more elaborate and coloured
work, including designs for an encaustic inlaid chessboard
exhibited by the Wedgwood firm in the Paris Exhibition
of 1867.
Mr, Randle Wilbraham was a fine specimen of an English
country squire and county magistrate. Under his roof I had
some opportunity of learning the feeling of his class and the
party of law and order expressed on the Reform question — a
relative of his, a clergyman, roundly saying at the breakfast-
table, after family prayers, apropos of the Hyde Park meetings
and Mr. Beales's part in them, " I should like to throw a
brickbat at Beales."
Another country-house comment came from a notable
Cheshire squire, the Hon. Mr. Arthur Lascelles, brother of the
Earl of Harewood, in whose house (Norley Bank) I afterwards
was a guest with the Wilbrahams. He remarked that it was
" characteristic " (I presume of Englishmen) that the working
men who pulled down the railings and entered the Park had
insisted on good order being kept during their meeting, and
he was ironical about the breakers of order themselves insisting
on its maintenance.
All sorts of fearsome prophecies were flying about as to
94 AN ARTIST'S REMINISCENCES [1862-70
what would happen after this tardy and moderate extension
of the franchise, carefully guarded and qualified as it was.
The Hon. Robert Lowe, at one time Chancellor of the
Exchequer in a Liberal Government, was full of apprehension.
He earned rather unpopular distinction by putting a tax upon
matches, apparently in ignorance of the desperate effect it
would have upon the poor matchbox-makers, whose wages
were already cut down to the lowest subsistence point, at 2|d.
a gross ! They promptly processed to the West End in large
numbers, and sent in deputations, until the tax was dropped as
impracticable, and Mr. Robert Lowe was made a peer.
Thomas Carlyle, too, was moved to write Shooting Niagara^
and After^ possessed with this strange fear that the whole
course of English life would be changed, and that " our new
masters," as the household suffragists and enfranchised lodgers
were called, were all fiery revolutionists with torches and red
flags.
But, after alii nothing in particular happened. The same
sort of men were returned to Parliament, with a few notable
exceptions, such as that of John Stuart Mill, who sat in the
new Parliament as member for Westminster.
I recall seeing and hearing him at one of the many big
political meetings at St. James's Hall during the period of the
Reform agitation. Gentle - mannered, small and spare of
figure, but of a very marked intellectual aspect, and great
earnestness, he spoke in what truly might be described as " a
still small voice." Philosopher and recluse, it was extra-
ordinary the enthusiasm he evoked, standing, too, as he
did for all sorts of advanced and unpopular opinions.
On the same platform, I remember, was Mr. (afterwards
Sir) William Vernon Harcourt, who had rather a pompous
Parliamentary manner but was an able speaker.
At one of these meetings I remember seeing Charles
Bradlaugh and Mrs. Annie Besant come in and seat themselves
amongst the audience.
On another occasion, I was on the platform at St. James's
Hall, when Mr. Henry Fawcett addressed the meeting. I
think Mrs. Fawcett guided him to the platform, as his
blindness prevented him from finding his way about without
1862-70] EARLY WORK 95
assistance. His vigour and energy as a speaker were remark-
able, despite such a drawback, and his enunciation was clear
and forcible. He took occasion to introduce Mr. (now Sir)
Charles Wentworth Dilke, who I think was then standing as a
candidate for Chelsea, and in doing so he told the audience
that when he (Mr. Fawcett) announced that Mr. Dilke had
imbibed his philosophy and political principles from the teach-
ing of John Stuart Mill he could only say that he had derived
them " from the highest, the noblest, and the purest sources."
Great applause followed, in the midst of which Sir Charles
Dilke came forward and made one of his first public appear-
ances and speeches.
Another famous orator I heard also at St. James's Hall was
John Bright. He began very quietly, but gradually warmed
up, and was particularly effective in his denunciatory passages.
He had a grave, rather heavy presence, with a quiet air of
commercial prosperity and middle-class respectability about
him, but he had a fine resonant rich voice, and all the hidden
art of a practised and eloquent speaker, so that it seemed as if
he were playing upon the emotions and passions of a great
audience, as a musician plays upon some instrument, evoking
instant response to his skill and feeling.
Political excitement did not, however, interfere with my
ordinary work, and in some ways helped to inspire it, as about
this time I made a design for a pictorial composition on the
theme of Freedom, in which Humanity was personified by
a youth chained in a prison and guarded by the figures of a
king in armour sitting on one side, and a cowled priest with
a book and crozier on the other. These were, however, asleep,
and did not prevent the appearance of Freedom — a figure in
floating draperies and wearing the bonnet rouge, with out-
spread rainbow-tinted wings, which occupied the centre of the
picture. This design I some years afterwards took up again
and carried out on a large canvas, and exhibited in the
Grosvenor Gallery (in 1885). After being seen at the Chicago
Exhibition in 1903, this work was shown at the International
Fine Art Exhibition at Venice, where it finally was purchased
by a gentleman from St. Petersburg — which seems a strange
home for a picture of " Freedom."
96 AN ARTIST'S REMINISCENCES [1862-70
Other sides of my work went on, and I endeavoured to
extend my connection in black-and-white work by getting
introductions to the publisher of Punch and the editor of
Once a Week.
The result of an interview with the former (Mr. Bradbury)
was that some sketches of mine went before the editor of
Punch, and my first (and only) contribution to that journal
appeared (in the summer of 1866, I think). It was a half-
page drawing — " The Chignon Show."
In 1867 I had one or two drawings in Once a Week, too,
while it was edited by the late Rev. E. Walford. Mr. Swain,
who engraved both for Punch and Once a Week, executed the
blocks.
I had, too, an introduction to Edward Dalziel, of the
well-known firm of Dalziel Brothers, whose names are so
closely associated, as engravers, with the remarkable develop-
ment of book illustration and the black-and-white art of the
" sixties."
At this time they were occupied upon the very important
series of Bible illustrations — upon which most of the strongest
artists of the younger school of that day were engaged. I
remember seeing a very elaborately studied design by the
present President of the Royal Academy — then Mr. E. J.
Poynter — representing Moses and Aaron before Pharaoh, and
the changing of the rods into serpents.
Another striking design was one of Cain and Abel by
Frederick (afterwards Lord) Leighton.
There were others by Holman Hunt, Simeon Solomon,
and Ford Madox Brown, those of the latter having all his
dramatic power and intensity of realisation.
For the Dalziels I made a drawing, published in Good
Words, — three swarthy Moorish mariners shipwrecked with a
treasure chest, — and a set of illustrations to some book for
young people the title of which I forget.
About this time the Brothers Dalziel were publishing The
Arabian Nights in parts, and to this work Mr. A. B. Houghton
contributed some very remarkable drawings. He was one of
the brilliant company of black-and-white artists who were
associated with the GrapJiic in its early days.
1862-70] EARLY WORK 97
In those days I may be said to have worked for Fuji — and
there certainly was not much money to be had — a weekly
comic journal which ran as a sort of cheaper Punch for many
years. Through the engraver, a namesake (Mr. Henry Crane),
although no relation that I knew of, I tried my hand at giving
pictorial form, as half and quarter pages, to various jokes.
Mr. Tom Hood the younger was editor for some years.
I never met him, but he seemed always inclined to be friendly
to my work when it came under his notice as the writer of a
sort of critical review of current illustrated literature which
appeared weekly in Fun.
A lady of considerable literary celebrity at that time was
Mrs. Henry Wood, who had achieved a notable popular success
by her novel East Lynne. She started a monthly illustrated
magazine named The Argosy, with her son, Mr. Charles W.
Wood, as editor. I was asked to design a wrapper for The
Argosy, with which it braved the battle and the breeze for
some years afterwards. Its chief support was a serial tale by
Mrs. Wood, and to this tale I furnished the monthly illustration.
It was Anne Hereford.
I remember calling to see Mrs. Henry Wood at a house
on the north side of Regent's Park, somewhere near Primrose
Hill. She was quite an early- Victorian-looking lady, with a
bunch of ringlets each side a smooth parting, surmounted, if I
remember rightly, with a cap and ribbons. She had a placid
bearing, and the quiet, observant look usually noticeable in
writers. I do not recall that she expressed any very definite
views about the illustration of her book, and in these matters
I mostly had to do with her son, the editor of The Argosy, in
which Mrs. Henry Wood wrote under the nom de plume of
" Johnny Ludlow."
During the summer or autumn of this year (1867) I again
paid a visit to my Cheshire friends, the Wilbrahams. One of
the charms of Rode Hall to me was its proximity to that fine
old half-timbered and moated house known as Old Moreton
Hall. I made several drawings of it at the time, and delighted
in the richness of its barge boards and variety in its timber-
work, as no doubt did my father before me, as he too made
drawings there.
7 /
98 AN ARTIST'S REMINISCENCES [1862-70
While at Rode we drove over to Biddulph Grange, where
my friend Robert Bateman's father (Mr. James Bateman,
F.R.S.) and mother dwelt. The house was rather a show
house, and more especially its grounds, which comprised flower
and formal gardens in the manner of many different countries,
Italian, Dutch, etc., beautifully laid out and kept. There was
even a quaint little Chinese garden among them, with a bridge
which might have come out of the willow-pattern plate, and
real China roses. I remember, too, in the house a long gallery,
on the walls of which were illustrated the geological sections of
the earth's crusts done in the actual materials, the carboniferous
seams let in in real coal, and so on — a thing not seen before.
The group of young painters I have mentioned, of whom
my friend Robert Bateman was a leading member, continued
to show their work at the Dudley Gallery, and were rather
chaffed by the critics, if not occasionally abused. One of them
by a creative effort even invented a phrase, and characterised
us as the " Poetry-without-Grammar School," whatever that
might mean.
Bateman was the most remarkable draughtsman of
flowers among moderns I have seen, after the best Japanese
work. He was always experimenting, too, in methods and
mediums, and produced slowly, though always with exquisite
finish.
His best-known picture is perhaps " The Witch of Endor,"
which was in the Royal Academy Exhibition. It is a very
weird and powerful conception of the scene of the Raising of
Samuel, and is worked out with extraordinary invention and
resource in symbolic and subsidiary detail. Besides painting,
however, he has worked in a variety of crafts with distinction,
and has lately perfected a modelling material of his own
invention, which he terms " plasma Bentellesca," after Benthall
Hall, in Shropshire — a beautiful sixteenth-century house which
was his home for many years, the beauty of which he
greatly added to by the gardens he laid out, as well as other
improvements.
Reading of Ormuzd and Ahrimanes in Max Muller's
Chips from a German Workshop gave me an idea for a
picture which I carried out in water colour, and which was
1862-70] EARLY WORK 99
well placed in the Dudley Gallery of the spring of 1868. It
represented two armed and crested warriors on horseback,
fighting upon the banks of a river, which wandered through a
vast plain in shining curves, catching the light of dawn ;
beyond were ranges of mountains, and, dimly seen, at each
bend of the river, monuments of past ages appeared in ruin —
a Celtic dolmen, an Egyptian gateway, a classical temple, a
Gothic abbey ; and the foreground was littered with skeletons,
crowns, and emblems of fallen or decaying powers.
This design marked the revolution which was taking place
in my mind as regards religion and the conception of life
and the course of history. I entertained an ardent idea to
embody in design and painting something which would
symbolise the new philosophy of evolution, which the researches
and discoveries of Darwin and the writings of Herbert Spencer
were building up. One felt that a new epoch of thought had
dawned upon the world, and longed to give it some artistic
expression.
The following spring I spent with my sister, who was out
of health, in Gloucestershire, at a cottage on the edge of
Amberley Down, near Stroud — a delightful and interesting
part of the country. Here it was a joy to watch the advance
of spring — the woods gradually changing from purple and red to
green and gold, and shot with the blue of hyacinths that
seemed to float almost like clouds between the beech stems.
Such sights as these meeting one's eyes day by day filled
one with the idea of a universal spring like a gracious presence
moving everywhere. I tried afterwards to embody my con-
ception in painting, and I even tried to express it in verse,
which I had the temerity to send to the Fortnightly Review,
then edited by Mr. John Morley. Most of the advanced
thinkers wrote for this review at that time, and to begin with,
it really appeared fortnightly. In my simplicity I offered my
poor tribute to those whom I then regarded as carrying the
torch of progress and enlightenment. The MS., however, was
promptly returned with an autograph line from the editor,
which ran, " I return your poem, which, however, I have not
read," — with something to the effect that there was no room
for poetry, — and signed " John Morley."
lOO AN ARTISTS REMINISCENCES [1862-70
This had the result of making me very shy of offering
any more MS. to editors, though I continued to write, simply
as an outlet for one's thoughts and ideas.
I forget whether it was before or after this that certain
sonnets of D. G. Rossetti's appeared in the Fortnightly, but
I shall never forget the impression they created. I had
essayed the Shakespearean form of sonnet, but these at once
instigated me to try my hand at the Italian kind of construc-
tion. In my own feelings I found sufficient excuse, as about
this time (it was really the year before) I had met the lady
who afterwards became my wife (Miss Mary Frances Andrews,
the second daughter of the late Thomas Andrews, Esquire, of
Wynchlow Hall, Hempstead, Essex).
She spent the winter of 1868-69 with her family in
Tavistock Square, and for long a certain corner house became
a centre of the deepest interest, and Bloomsbury a realm of
romance. With her brother and sisters, however, she departed
on a travelling expedition, and we did not meet again till
1870. Under these circumstances I sought what solace I
could in inscribing sonnets to the absent beloved one, in the
intervals of my ordinary work.
The influence of the Gloucestershire scenery is seen in
some coloured designs I did afterwards for a little book
entitled The Merrie Heart, published by Messrs. Cassell —
then Messrs. Cassell, Fetter, & Galpin. It was a com-
pendium of nursery rhymes from all sorts of sources, and
had other illustrations in black and white by different artists,
among which was Frederick Barnard. About this time I had
had an introduction to Mr. John Hamer (author of The
Smoker's Text Book), who then acted as reader or printing
adviser and art director to the firm, and several sets of
illustrations was the result. Huan and Anthy ; or. The Magic
of Kindness, was one of the books, by the brothers Mayhew ;
and another was King Gab and his Story Bag. This was
written by a Mr. Marshall, whose acquaintance I made. He
was quite an unconventional person, and wore a sort of French
undress shako, instead of the usual tile. He gave one the
impression of being under the influence of suppressed excite-
ment, and was certainly permeated with the newer ideas of the
1862-70] EARLY WORK lOl
time. He seemed extremely restless, and shortly afterwards
departed for a voyage round the world, but before doing so
he gave a farewell dinner to his friends. This took place, I
remember, at the old Gaiety Restaurant. A large number of
men were present, mostly writers on the press. Among the
guests was Mr. Moncure D. Conway, whom I met for the first
time, but who in after years I saw more of, and for whose
independence of thought and high character I have always
entertained the highest regard.
The late summer of 1869 I spent in North Wales, joining
a cousin of mine at Bettws-y-Coed, a favourite haunt of
landscape painters. I lodged with my cousin, who lived there
with another painter and his wife — Mr. and Mrs. Harrison.
My cousin's name was Fred Suker, but as he had a father
and a brother who also painted, he took the name of " Clive
Newcome," by which he became generally known, and won
considerable local repute for his landscapes, which had much
dexterity and charm, both in oil and water colour. White
umbrellas were as plentiful as mushrooms, and it was a
common sight to see men walking along with a canvas
suspended before and behind, like a tabard or a sandwich-
man — literally attired in landscapes.
The painters at Bettws for the most part were not very
serious artists, but generally lived by doing " bits " and
" effects " for tourists and visitors, who used to pour through
the district at that time of year.
The scenery was extremely pretty, but the lines of the
mountains generally rather broken and cut up, and not so
fine and sweeping as my favourite Derbyshire hills. Snowdon,
however, was impressive, and in making the ascent, which I
did with my cousin from the Capel Curig side, one fully
realised its height. We reached the summit near sunset,
passing through a field of cloud, which when we emerged
looked like a great sea of rolling billows breaking at our feet,
the sun shining out across them before he sank.
The startling and tragic drama of the Franco-German
War absorbed public attention in 1870. From the time
when the rotten and pretentious Second Empire of France, in
order, as it was supposed, to draw off the attention from
I02 AN ARTIST'S REMINISCENCES [1862-70
inconvenient home questions, planned the invasion of Germany
to satisfy the professional ambition and restlessness of the
army, to the sudden fall of Napoleon III. after Metz and
Sedan, and the collapse of the French after those events, when
the Germans turned the tables and laid siege to Paris, the
acts in this extraordinary drama followed one another in startling
rapidity, to culminate in an episode of still greater significance
and moment to the hopes of humanity, more especially of the
workers, than any that had preceded it — the establishment of
the Commune of Paris and its four months of exemplary civic
rule, from March 18, 1871, to June of the same year, when
it fell, not conquered by any foreign enemy, but before the
onslaughts of its own countrymen, and perished in blood and
fire — its members sacrificed in thousands to the savage
vindictiveness of the Government of Versailles, to its lasting
infamy in history.
But few spectators of this extraordinary drama, perhaps,
realised its full significance at the time. We were too near the
footlights. The Commune, its ideals and its acts, were entirely
misunderstood, or misrepresented in the English press, and it
is only recently, after the lapse of years, that its true aims, with
all its faults and almost superhuman difficulties, are beginning
to be apprehended as an attempt to establish a true civic
Commonwealth, on a basis of collective service and ownership.
The year 1870 also witnessed the downfall of the Papal
temporal power in Italy, and the political unity of the kingdom
under Victor Emmanuel.
For myself, I seemed to hear of these great events and
read of them in the newspapers as one in a dream. Though,
as I have indicated, by no means without political feeling and
sympathies, my real world was a dream-world, a cloister, or
quiet green garden, where one only heard afar and dimly the
echoes of the strife of the great world. In this mental retreat
one really lived and worked at that time, and more and more
so when one's whole being became coloured and fused with the
deepest and most vital of all human feelings — love.
In such a mood I first read Rossetti's sonnets and The
Earthly Paradise of William Morris, which was first published
in 1870, and found in both a most congenial atmosphere.
1862-70] EARLY WORK 103
To read the latter seemed like entering one of the delightful
houses or halls the poet himself helped to create and often
described, stone-pillared, open-timbered, and hung with arras
tapestries full of mythical histories and legends of races, and
glowing in gold and colour.
About the same time the decorative work of the firm in
Queen Square was getting known, especially among artists and
artistically-minded people. A reaction had begun against the
heavy and vulgar taste borrowed from the French Empire,
which had for twenty years or more dominated the Victorian
taste in English house decoration and furniture, and many
artists, even outside Queen Square, were making efforts under
new influences in more sincere and refined directions. The
increased study of Gothic architecture, the writings of John
Ruskin, the study of the Middle Ages, the study of Greek and
Italian art, and the influence of the collections at South
Kensington, must all be counted as factors in the new move-
ment, which reflected in individual hands many of these
different influences and sources of inspiration.
The success of the type of art associated with the name of
William Morris and his coadjutors was no doubt due — apart
from the effect of his own powerful personality and initiative
— to the practical nature of the experiment in the actual revival
of certain handicrafts, as well as the co-operative nature of the
enterprise, uniting, as it did, in the persons of the artists
concerned in it, architecture cabinet-work, decorative design
and painting, metal-work, pottery and tile-making, and
stained glass.
The first time I saw William Morris was from a window
in Queen Square. My friend H. Ellis Wooldridge had a
room he used as a studio a few doors below the house of
Morris & Company, on the east side of the square. Mr. Basil
Champneys, whom I met about this time, by the way, had his .
office at that time in the same house. We were leaning out
of the open window one summer's evening, chatting, and
watching the people passing to and fro across the quiet stone-
paved square (which always had a retired old-world and
rather Continental look at the south end), when we caught
sight of a sturdy figure clad in snuff-brown, striding along in
104 AN ARTIST'S REMINISCENCES [1862-70
a determined manner, with an oak stick in his hand and a
soft felt hat on. He turned his head as he passed, hearing
us talking, and glanced up, and we met quick, penetrating eyes
set in a handsome face, and a fair beard, with grave and
abstracted look, and probably a little fagged after a day's toil
at the works.
I really met William Morris not long afterwards at the
house of Mr. George Howard (now Earl of Carlisle), at a
dinner at which were also present Mr. (Sir) E. J. Poynter (now
President of the Royal Academy), Mr. (afterwards Sir)
Edward Burne-Jones, Professor Sydney Colvin, and I think
Mr. William De Morgan, Mr. Hungerford Pollen, and Mr.
Philip Webb, the architect of No. i Palace Green, then a
new house, just finished for Mr. Howard.
Morris had recently returned from a visit to Iceland, which
had proved so exciting and delightful to him that he hardly
seemed to care to talk of anything else. I remember his
giving vivid descriptions of his long pony rides, and camping
out among the mountains in that wonderful and romantic
island. Curiously enough, I had not long before had a hand
in a book on Iceland (by A. J. Symington) as a sort of
improver of some rather vague sketches by the author which I
put on the wood, assisted by a reference to a large French folio
on the same country illustrated by lithographs, so that Morris
may have found me less ignorant of the beauties and wonders
of the island than many, as among ordinary English folk Ice-
land was but little known and visited.
Our host on this occasion was also a recent acquaintance,
and moreover a patron, who took the kindliest interest in my
early efforts. I was also indebted to him for my introduction
to Burne-Jones about this time. Mr. Howard took me with him
one day to The Grange, and there for the first time I met the
artist for whose work no one, I think, at that time entertained
a more enthusiastic and profound admiration.
The well-known portrait by G. F. Watts represents him
at this period of his life with extraordinary verity. One
certainly felt that Burne-Jones lived in a world of dreams.
He was then surrounded with a vast quantity of work, and
pictures and designs in every stage nearly were to be seen in
1862-70] EARLY WORK 105
his studio, the more finished work being hung in the ante-
rooms. I remembered the design of" Fortune " in monochrome,
several of the large subjects of the Perseus series, and " The
Sleeping Beauty," the unusual " Pan and Psyche," " The Feast of
Peleus," " Venus's Mirror," and " The Days of Creation," and a
fine series of pencil designs illustrating Virgil's ySneids, which
were, I believe, originally intended to accompany Morris's trans-
lation. The sight of so much interesting imaginative work was
very inspiring, and no doubt one fell much under its influence
for some time.
Burne-Jones's whimsical, humorous way of talking was well
known to his friends. As we were departing, and he with his
little daughter (now Mrs. J. W. Mackail) stood at the door of
the pleasant hall at The Grange, Mr. Howard lit a cigar, and
little Miss Margaret remarked, " Look, smoke is coming out of
his mouth ! " " Yes, my dear," said Burne-Jones, " he is a bad
man ; he is on fire within."
One of our friends and fellow-students about this time
set up a picture-gallery in Wigmore Street, and all our set
contributed to stock it. It became quite a repository for our
school, and even sales were not un frequently made.
I rather think that it was owing to Mr. George Howard
having seen some works of mine at this gallery, or " picture-
shop," as we called it, that I made his acquaintance. He
himself was an enthusiastic painter, and worked hard at both
oil and water colour, and took the keenest interest in the
work of other artists, more especially of the romantic poetic
school. His taste, however, was sufficiently catholic to
include work by Alphonse Legros, E. J. Poynter, and Giovanni
Costa, the lifelong friend of Lord Leighton.
I must have met M. Legros about this time at Palace
Green, and I was instrumental in obtaining for him a com-
mission to paint a full-length life-size portrait of my Cheshire
friend, Mr. Randle Wilbraham, as a presentation portrait from
his tenants. The fine draughtsmanship, grave, reserved, rather
Holbeinesque treatment of Legros' portraits and figure subjects
commanded my admiration ; and I think the very first work
I saw of his was a large picture, " skyed " at the Academy, of
a group of people kneeling at a wayside shrine. I always
io6 AN ARTIST'S REMINISCENCES [1862-70
regretted that my deficiencies in the French tongue have
been obstacles in the progress of my acquaintance with this
distinguished artist, and prevented much intercommunication
between us.
Other distinguished foreign artists came to London after
the downfall of the brilliant short-lived Commune, and it is
noteworthy to recall that such artists as Courbet were associ-
ated with this great effort to establish a true collective civic
Government in the interest of the workers both of hands and
brains, rather than money lords.
Among others, M. Dalou, the gifted and original sculptor,
I remember meeting at Palace Green about this time, and he
set up a studio in Chelsea and worked for many years in
London. Another sculptor of considerable vogue, especially
for small portrait statuettes of ladies, was M. Amendola.
M. Gueraud, a remarkably tasteful and skilful mounter
of drawings, was a refugee of the Commune, and he has
remained ever since in London.
Another gentleman who became rather notorious in artistic
circles — totally unconnected with the Commune — was also
received at Palace Green. He played the part of art adviser
and dealer in " articles of vertu," but his own virtue proved
insufficiently substantial to stand wear and tear, and his place
soon knew him no more.
Among those who visited the Wigmore Street picture-shop
of our friend Prince, also a friend of the Howard family, was
the Rev. Stopford Brooke, famous for his Broad Church views
and eloquent sermons. He became one of my patrons, and
has quite a collection of my early landscapes, which were too
low in tone, I fancy, at that period for most people.
His brother-in-law, Mr. Somerset Beaumont, to whom he
gave me an introduction, proved a very liberal patron of my
work. He began by the purchase of several drawings from
the Dudley Gallery, among which was " The Red Cross Knight
in Search of Una," — the knight a small figure on horseback
wandering through a green landscape taken from one of the
Derbyshire " doughs." I recall going to see him in his
charming house in Park Street, with a pleasant window over-
looking Hyde Park. He was at that time most sympathetic
1862-70] EARLY WORK 107
and friendly, and was a valuable supporter for some years
afterwards.
Two of my landscape studies were bought by Mr. (after-
wards Lord) Frederick Leighton, to whom they were shown
by Mr. Howard, whose kindness and sympathy in these early
years I shall not easily forget, and I received a very kind and
encouraging letter from Leighton, expressing his appreciation,
and enclosing his cheque for " the very modest price " I asked
for the drawings — five guineas each, I think.
At the Dudley Gallery I continued to have considerable
success with my drawings, and one of peacocks on a terrace
with a landscape beyond, which was really taken from Rode
Hall, was not only purchased, but no less than two replicas
were asked for by different people.
I did not, however, cease my work as an illustrator, but
continued to do more work for Edmund Evans, and the demand
for new picture-books went on at the rate of two a year.
About 1869—70 they began to show something like a
distinct decorative treatment and style, as I endeavoured to
adapt them more both to the conceptions of children and to
the conditions of colour-printing. In this I found no little
helpful and suggestive stimulus in the study of certain
Japanese colour prints, which a lieutenant in the Navy
I met at Rode Hall, who had recently visited Japan in his
ship, presented me with. He did not seem to be aware of
their artistic qualities himself, but regarded them rather as
mere curiosities. Their treatment in definite black outline
and flat brilliant as well as delicate colours, vivid dramatic
and decorative feeling struck me at once, and I endeavoured
to apply these methods to the modern fanciful and humorous
subjects of children's toy-books and to the methods of wood-
engraving and machine-printing. The Fairy Ship, This Little
Pig went to Market, designed in i 869, and King Luckieboy s
Party (the verses and idea of which were supplied by me),
in 1870 made this new departure, and led on to their suc-
cessors, which shortly became numerous enough to be put
in a separate category and labelled with my name by Messrs.
Routledge.
Amid all this work, with improving prospects it was
io8
AN ARTIST'S REMINISCENCES [1862-70
natural that being " over head and ears in love " I should
be anxious to gain the consent of my still absent beloved to
marriage.
I was successful in this in the course of time. The lady
with her mother and sisters were in the spring of 1870 staying
at Carisbrooke, Isle of Wight, and my sister and myself were
asked down to stay, and the quiet garden of a delightful old-
fashioned house below
C , /,//nlh the old Castle saw
the consummation of
my hopes, and at
last I was actually
— engaged !
The year flew by
marked by delightful
and never-to-be-for-
gotten visits, first to
Oxford, in early sum-
mer, which seemed an
ideal dream-city such
as one might see
painted in a medi-
aeval missal, echoing
to the sound of
sweet - voiced choirs
in its solemn college
chapels, or the song
of birds in its tree-
shaded walks, and
green and golden
meadows bordered by
the silvery waters of the Thames or the Cherwell. With such
surroundings we spent days of golden joy that remain for ever
enshrined in the memory. Later in the summer I joined my
affianced at Ambleside, and spent three delightful weeks in
the Lake country in splendid weather, making excursions all
over that lovely district, which 1 now saw for the first time.
It was then less frequented, and the great stream of tourists
which now pour through in the summer season was not nearly
3>*ly as. '670
AT AMBLESIDE
1862-70] EARLY WORK 109
so much in evidence, and it was possible to enjoy seclusion,
even in the heart of Ambleside and Keswick, without any-
oppressive sense of the scenery being " run " by enterprising
commercialists for all it was worth. The spirit of Wordsworth
and the Lake poets still seemed to haunt the wild mountain
paths and rocky dells, and that country to me, indissolubly
bound up, as it ever will be, with some of my life's happiest
hours and associations, will always be a sort of earthly paradise.
The Rev. Stopford Brooke, who had taken a fancy to
my work, commissioned me to make him a water colour of
Wordsworth's Yews of Borrowdale, on which he wrote his
fine sonnet, and this I afterwards worked out from a study
made on the spot.
I was at Hazelford again in the autumn, and revisited my
old haunts, perhaps for the last time for many years. I stayed
and worked there into October, and from there paid another
visit to my Cheshire friends at Rode Hall, returning to winter
in the old quarters in London, finding my ladylove with her
mother and sisters had taken up their abode for the winter,
after many wanderings, at Surbiton, which necessitated frequent
journeys up and down from Waterloo for me on the winged
wheels of the South- Western.
CHAPTER V
MARRIAGE AND VISIT TO ITALY, 1871-73
THE extreme happiness of the first six months of our
engagement was sadly clouded in the winter of 1 870—7 i
by the illness of my lady, from the depressing effects of which
she did not recover for a long time.
In the summer of 1871 she was induced to visit her old
home at Hempstead, in Essex. Her eldest brother with his
wife then occupied the house and managed the farm. I went
down in due course on a visit, and was much charmed by the
delightful old-world feeling of the place, the fine old Essex
farmhouses which abounded in the neighbourhood, with their
Tudor chimney-stacks and wide fireplaces, and the old-fashioned
hospitality of their tenants.
Hempstead itself is historically interesting owing to the
fact of its association with Dr. William Harvey, the discoverer
of the circulation of the blood, in the seventeenth century. His
family seat, the old Wynchlow Hall, had been pulled down,
and only the moat remained, though a cottage marked the site
of the house. The Doctor's monument, however, was in the
village church, a marble bust on a bracket in front of a wall
tablet with a Latin inscription, placed by the Royal College
of Surgeons, the family arms and a seventeenth-century helmet
above.
Beneath the Harvey chapel annexed to the church was
the Harvey family vault — a large brick chamber to which one
descended by steps, and this was filled with leaden coffins of
an ancient type, shaped somewhat like terminal figures, each
bearing a face embossed in relief upon it at the head of the
coffin, and the name and date beneath.
no
1871-73I MARRIAGE AND VISIT TO ITALY ill
There were also several brasses in the church of fourteenth
and fifteenth century date.
Squire Andrews' farm, called Wynchlow Hall, had been
originally an old half-timbered house, with steep gables, and
plaster panels worked in patterns between the timber framing,
after the traditional local style ; but
the main part of the dwelling-house
had been modernised, and only one
wing remained of the old part, which
had probably been surrounded by a
moat, a relic of which formed a con-
siderable pond at the edge of the lawn,
gay that Jime-tide with yellow flags.
Near by was a charming old house
known as Church Farm, an ancient
half-timbered L-shaped house with fine
brick chimneys, and a few " Queen
Anne" additions in the way of a
pillared porch and a china cupboard.
There had been a wide ingle-nook,
which still retained the original iron
crane or ratchet for cooking over the
fire or roasting before it — a good piece
of blacksmith's work.
An interesting sight was the sheep-
shearing in the great barn. The big
doors were taken off their hinges and
laid flat, and on this improvised plat-
form the shearers did their work.
There were three of them, and it was
noteworthy to see the skill with which
they handled both the sheep and the
shears, getting the heavy fleeces ofl*
with the greatest neatness and despatch,
the sheep for the most part being very passive in their hands,
and certainly " before the shearers — dumb."
A little before my visit to Hempstead I had been com-
missioned by Mr. Somerset Beaumont to go down to
Northumberland to make for him two drawings, one of
MONUMENT TO DR. WIL-
LIAM HARVEY, HEMP-
STEAD CHURCH
112
AN ARTISTS REMINISCENCES [1871-73
Bywell Castle, and another of two churches which are features
of the place. Both subjects were by the river Tyne, here
flowing past the ivy-covered keep of the old Castle in falls
over a rocky bed. The seat of the Beaumonts was near by.
The country was a fine one, and beautifully wooded. I
stayed at a little old-fashioned village inn, and worked at
my drawings all day. I was greatly struck with the character
and beauty of the Border country, and visited the fine old
town of Hexham, with its noble church ; and Mr. George
Howard was kind enough
to give me the oppor-
tunity of seeing the very
beautiful family Castle of
the Howards — Naworth,
although they were not
living there at the time.
So 1 travelled along the
Newcastle & Carlisle Rail-
way one day, and alighting
at the little station close
to the park gates, walked
to the Castle, famous as
the home of " Belted Will "
(Lord William Howard of
Border fame), whose tower
and library of books is still
shown to visitors. I also
had sight of Lanercost
Priory, a beautiful ruin
down in the valley by the
stream which flows around the Castle. At the Castle was
Mr. Ferguson, the architect of Carlisle, who at that time
had been called in for some restoration work at the Priory,
and who afterwards added a new wing to the Castle.
At that time the Earl of Carlisle was living in retirement,
and the next heir was his brother, the Hon. Charles Howard,
the father of Mr. George Howard, who had extended to me
so much friendliness, sympathy, and courtesy at that time.
Deeply as the beauty and romance of the Border country
THE OLD HOUSE AT HEMl'STEAD, ESSEX
1871-73] MARRIAGE AND VISIT TO ITALY 113
appealed to me, my heart was really elsewhere — in fact, at
Hastings, where a certain lady was staying, and where before
June was over I found myself. How the time went I hardly
know, so quickly fled those summer days by the sparkling
sea, and along the downs to Fairlight Glen, beloved of
lovers, and immortalised by Mr. Holman Hunt in one of his
most beautiful landscape studies of the early pre-Raphaelite
Brotherhood days. Our marriage was at last fixed for the
following September — the 6th, Mrs. Andrews and her
daughters taking up their abode some weeks before in
Chandos Street, as the destined temple was All Souls',
Langham Place — commonly known as the " extinguisher "
church, from its peculiar plain conical spire.
I had duly paid my visit to an old gentleman seated in
a dingy office in Doctors' Commons, to whose presence I
was conducted, feeling rather nervous, by one of the harmless
necessary ticket porters in a little white apron, as described
by Dickens. There I duly took a solemn oath, and secured
(for a trifling consideration) that priceless and momentous
document, a marriage license. There were wedding breakfasts
in those days, and even speeches, — but all was over at last,
and escaping from the friendly shower of shoes and rice, we
were soon rumbling through darkest London in a brougham
and tell-tale pair of greys to Liverpool Street Station. Some-
where in the wilds of the City one of our horses fell, and we
were soon surrounded by a grinning London crowd, some
members of which, however, lent willing hands to get the
horse up, and this at last accomplished, presented themselves
at the carriage window for tips.
We had planned an extensive tour to Italy by way of
the Rhine and the Brenner Pass, but the journey was to
be taken in easy stages. The little green books of tickets,
from Messrs. Cook's at that time modest office in Fleet
Street, allowed for plenty of stoppages on our honeymoon-
pilgrimage to Rome. We went by way of Harwich and
Antwerp, but rested at Harwich the first night or two, and
took the night boat on the 9th, and after a calm passage
experienced the feeling of delightful strangeness of being in
foreign parts on steaming up the Scheldt to Antwerp in
114
AN ARTISTS REMINISCENCES [1871-73
1871-73] MARRIAGE AND VISIT TO ITALY 115
the morning, and leaning out of our hotel casement to gaze
across the Place de I'Europe to the Cathedral tower, rich with
the fantasy of the later Gothic time and instinct with the
feeling of Flemish art.
After exploring the Cathedral, the iron-work of Quentin
Matsys, and other wonders, duly noting the pictures in the
galleries, the great Rubens's and other masters, such as
Velasquez, Van Dyck, Raphael, De Hooghe, Teniers, Watteau
— though what seemed at that time to have charmed me
more than these renowned ones were some interesting primitive
pictures by Giov. (or Antonelli) Da Messina in the Museum
Gallery.
Our next stop was Cologne, by way of Malines, Louvaine,
Liege, Pepinster, Verniers, and Aix-la-Chapelle.
At Cologne we had a pleasant room overlooking the
Rhine at the Hotel de Hollande. My wife had travelled
on the Continent before with her people, and had stayed in
Germany, so that she was a more experienced traveller than
was I, besides having the advantage of being able to speak
excellent French, as well as a little German. We paid our
duty to the architectural wonder of the great Cathedral, and
visited many of the other churches and the various shrines
of art in the Museum, getting our first impressions of early
German art, and modern German life, thick and fast. We
only stayed at Cologne two or three nights, and passed
down the Rhine, by the railway, stopping at Bonn, seeing its
fine Minster church, and getting a nearer view of the seven
mountains and the Drachenfels, which loomed in the far
distance at Cologne, and wandering through the pleasant
chestnut avenues, noting Beethoven's birthplace in the
Rheingasse.
Then on again to Coblenz, passing Mehlem, Godesberg, with
its castled crag, Rolandseck, and Renagen, and through some
very lovely scenery — richly wooded hills, and green vine-clad
slopes.
At Coblenz our windows commanded the famous crags
and fortress of Ehreinbreitstein, to the top of which we
climbed for the view, where one sees the confluence of the
Mosel with the Rhine, and notes the difference of their
Ii6
AN ARTISTS REMINISCENCES [1871-73
c
It
ii
X <
1871-73] MARRIAGE AND VISIT TO ITALY 1 17
respective colours — the waters of the Mosel being reddish
and the Rhine green.
I was delighted with a picturesque bit on the Mosel, some
old houses and a bridge, which I sketched, and we spent a
day or two wandering about over the Bridge of Boats and
in and out of churches, and then went on to Bingen, passing
some lovely Rhineland scenery, past Bofifart, St. Goar,
Goarhausen, Badcrach, Assmanhauseii and its castled crags,
the banks of the river becoming very steep, the rocky slopes
covered with terraced vines. From Bingen we had a view
of Rudesheim across the river, a quiet little town then, before
the great " Wacht am Rhein " monument on the heights
above made it a tourist centre. I remember we wandered
into a vineyard at Bingen and ate of the grapes.
Mainz was our next halt, where we duly paid our respects
to Gutenburg and Schiller, whose monuments are there, and
were struck with the Romanesque cathedral of red sandstone,
rich in monuments and heraldic tombs of the seventeenth
century, and a fine late Gothic doorway, but noting in our
journal that " the restorations — the roof and portions of the
wall painted in fresco and gilded, were heavy and tasteless, the
effect of the new painting against the old stone work decidedly
heavy" ; saw a fine collection of MSS. and choral books at the
Museum, and among the pictures a Botticelli (?), a Tintoretto,
a Titian, and " Adam and Eve," by Albert Durer ; and after
strolling about the town and public gardens, and in and out
of various churches, we took up our carriages for Aschaffen-
burg, now a great railway junction. The town then was
quite a characteristic old German one, which might have
come out of an Albert Durer background. We noted " two
churches situated on a hill — one dating from the tenth century,
with a later Gothic tower, a lovely old cloister with several
early frescoes (apparently recently discovered) on the walls,
and many rich sepulchral monuments. There was a fine old
bridge over the Maine, and a palace in red sandstone dated
1606. There were pretty terraced walks, and the town was
full of ancient houses and doorways."
i. We left on a wet morning for Munich, passing through
some beautiful forest and hill scenery — fir and beech woods
ii8
AN ARTISTS REMINISCENCES [1871-73
1871-73] MARRIAGE AND VISIT TO ITALY 119
close to the line, and by many small old and quaint German
towns with steep roofs clustered together about their churches.
We reached Munich about ten at night, and went to an hotel
close to the Frauen Kirche, a fine early Gothic dark red brick
building, a comparatively plain interior, but containing the
monument of Maximilian in bronze with men-at-arms sup-
porters, and dated 1621. Then there were the Glyptothek
and the Pinacothek Galleries, which we duly essayed to see.
I was especially interested to see Holbein's fine folding altar
triptych of Ste. Sebastian, Sta. Elizabeth, and Sta. Barbara,
having known it in the photograph for long, also Albert
Diirer's Apostles, as well as fine works by Vandyck, Veronese,
- — -_ ^^^.^^^ K
SKETCH AT MUNICH (1871)
and Titian, and many other things of interest. We also duly
made our way to the Rhumeshalle and the colossal bronze
statue of Bavaria — which we ascended to the top floor or
head ! In my wife's journal, from which I have already quoted,
is the following : — " A walk in the Englische garten, a pretty
park-like place of considerable extent. Rapid streams flow
through it from the Isar, and at their junction there is a pretty
cascade. There was a little temple on a mound in the garden
from which we saw the towers of Munich."
We left Munich on the 25th of September for Innsbruck,
noting in our journal that "the scenery between Munich
and Rosenheim is mostly flat, varied occasionally by slightly
undulating green plains with fir woods. About Rosenheim
we saw the Tyrol mountains, dim and cloudlike in the far
I20 AN ARTISrS REMINISCENCES [1871-73
distance, but rapidly neared them, and the landscape became
alpine in character — the little chalets dotted on the mountain-
sides quite as they are in Switzerland and the churches with
green (copper) spires. From Kufste into Innsbruck " the
scenery is very fine, the mountains high, dotted with pines,
valleys opening out, showing higher ranges and peaks beyond
again, half veiled in clouds, through which traces of snow on
their summits could be seen. The railway follows nearly
the course of the river, crossing it once by a bridge at
Worgl."
We arrived at Innsbruck about six in the evening, and
next day we made our pilgrimage to the tomb of Maximilian
the First in the Franciscan church, with his colossal court of
kings and queens ; and the next day excurted to the castle of
Ambas, an hour from Innsbruck. " Passed a church with
two quaint colossal figures of knights on either side of the
doorway in niches. A pretty road past fir woods and water-
mills, and fields of maize. From a platform before the castle
there is a splendid view of the country, but the mountains were
enveloped in clouds, which lifted but slowly, though before we
returned the sun shone out, and the peaks showed out sharply
and clearly above the white masses of vapour. Returned
through large fields of maize, where, at intervals along the
roadside, were placed little shrines and crucifixes," — " saw the
moon rise over the mountains."
The next stage of our journey was from Innsbruck to
Verona by the Brenner Railway. Our journal says : " The line
by degrees ascending — the scenery most striking and beautiful
The Sill flows by the line as far as Brenner. The morning
was rainy when we left, but it cleared soon, and the clouds
rolled from the mountains, showing snow-covered peaks —
many tunnels, for the most part short ones. The Brenner-
See is a lovely little deep green lake, still as glass, reflecting
the pine woods on the mountain-side which rose steeply from
its edge. The air much cooler here. Glimpses of lovely
valleys, then Bozen, a picturesque old town with a Gothic
church, surrounded with vineyards." But the pine woods and
crags gradually gave way to softer features, and the train
soon descended into the vines and orchards of Italy. Verona
1871-73] MARRIAGE AND VISIT TO ITALY I2I
looked lovely in the moonlight when we arrived there, and
found pleasant quarters at the Hotel des deux Tours — an
old-fashioned hostelry with an open courtyard, the rooms
opening on to balconies surrounding it.
In the morning we saluted Mr. Ruskin's Gothic griffin at
the porch of S. Anastasia, and saw Titian's Assumption ; and
also visited the Roman amphitheatre and the Museo de Lepi-
daria ; the church of Sta. Maria Maggiore, and the Mantegnas ;
the famous tombs of the Scaligeri ; saw a festival in honour
of S. Anastasia, and admired Verona by moonlight. We were
strongly advised to hurry on to Venice to enjoy the scenic
effect by moonlight, and so, with regret, we cut our visit to
Verona rather short. Leaving Verona in the afternoon, we
got into Venice the same evening, and experienced our first
gondola, which took us from the station to a pension in the
old Giustiniani Palace, on the Grand Canal, kept by an ancient
gentleman, to whom we had been recommended. It was a
fine old Gothic palace, and our vast rooms lighted with candles
looked like a scene from some romantic play. From the
front windows, with balconies on the canal, we could see a
bit of the Rialto, and also the house in which Byron lived
at Venice.
Here we met two very agreeable English ladies — a Mrs.
Fulford and her sister — who joined us in many of our ex-
cursions about Venice, the artistic interest of which seemed
to me endless, and almost overpowering. We worked away
bravely, feeling, perhaps, that having but a short time in so
wonderful a place, we were in danger of taking in rather more
than was quite good for one, or at least more than one could
mentally assimilate or digest : but it was good to be there,
and the delightful impressions one did get are ineffaceable.
Here is an extract from the journal : " At night we went in
a gondola up the canal, under the Rialto, and round by many
canals, until passing under the Bridge of Sighs we came out
on the Grand Canal passing the front of the Ducal palace ;
here the moon showed over the buildings and shone on the
water, and the scene was very enchanting."
Certainly we quickly fell completely under the spell of
Venice. The wonders of St. Mark's, the treasures of the
122
AN ARTISTS REMINISCENCES [187 1-7:
Ducal palace, the richness of the churches, the glories of the
great Venetian painters in the Academia in their most splendid
achievements, and the more primitive but not less beautiful
jst.l m
VENICE — LORD BYRON S HOUSE
conceptions of Carpaccio, Giov. Bellini, and the early Venetian
school, tranquil and clear as the luminous air of the sweet
morning which precedes the ardours of noon and splendours
of sunset — such sights as these by day, and at night the city
1871-73] MARRIAGE AND VISIT TO ITALY 123
full of romance and mystery in her moonlit robe and jewelled
lights, flashing and dancing in the water everywhere.
A curtain of rain fell at last over this gorgeous dream,
SKETCH IN ST. MARK's, VENICE (1871)
and Venice, like Cinderella after the ball, hastened down
narrow wet alleys, and all her external glory temporarily
disappeared under umbrellas.
Of course we did not leave Venice without ascending the
124 AN ARTIST'S REMINISCENCES [1871-73
famous Campanile, since, alas ! fallen. Not having seen Venice
since that catastrophe it is difficult to imagine the Piazza — nay,
the city, without so conspicuous a feature. The natives of the
Piazza — the blue rocks, and feeding them — came in for a share
of attention also.
Away we went again on our Romeward journey, our journal
continues — " passing Padua, where unfortunately we could not
manage to stop to see the Arena Chapel. The Friuli moun-
tains looked very lovely in the distance as we left Venice, with
clouds smouldering on their summits. After Padua the line lay
through a marshy plain with innumerable willows and aspens.
We crossed a broad river, and reached Bologna between two
and three. We fell in with our friends here, and went on
all together towards Florence. We had but a glimpse of
Bologna, which looked very picturesque, with its towers and
outlying houses on the hills.
The country soon changed very much in character, at first
barren and mountainous, but changing to chestnut forests, and
rocky streams flowing through the wooded valleys, which were
seen momentarily between the almost endless succession of
tunnels (forty-two !). The prospect grew wider as we neared
Florence, but at Pistoia it was already dark."
It was another exhilarating moment the first sight of that
memorable cluster of domes and towers, the Duomo, Giotto's
Tower, and the Palazzo Vecchio. Michael Angelo's David
was then standing in the historic Piazza della Signoria. Long
had the cast been familiar to one in the South Kensington
Museum. Leighton's brilliant illustrations to Roniola had
been so full of the character of the place, too, that Florence
had quite a familiar look, and there was a pleasing excitement
in discovering spots one had seen pictured or described — and,
indeed, there was plenty to see. First was the Duomo —
" solemn, and dimly lighted by small windows filled with
mosaic-like glass of deep colour." The Donatello statues and
an interesting picture of Dante at the gates of Florence, with
Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise in the background, by Dominico
di Michelino, 1465, claimed attention; and the sculpture by
Michael Angelo in the choir, and the reliefs of Luca della
Robbia over the doors of the sacristy. We noted " the old
1871-73] MARRIAGE AND VISIT TO ITALY 12$
priests sitting in the choir in crimson copes with white and
black robes underneath, chanting monotonously," and in the
Baptistery, Ghiberti's gates, long ago familiarised by the casts
at South Kensington. Then to the fascinating Uffizi and
Pitti galleries, with their gems of Florentine art. Botticelli
was not at that time in the honoured places, not having been
re-discovered by the critics, but more or less scattered, and
sometimes " skyed " in less important rooms, but I shall never
forget the charm of his beautiful " Spring " and the " Venus,"
The time was all too short to do justice to the wealth of
artistic beauty in these galleries, and so many other things
claimed attention. We visited Santa Maria Novello and Santa
Croce, and even ascended the Tower of the Signoria, — " more
than four hundred steps," — where we had " a magnificent
prospect of Florence and the country round Fiesole and the
great plain to the south-west with the mountains beyond,
and all the city with its tile roofs and church towers clustered
below bright in the midday sun." The journal adds, " In
the evening took a walk by the Arno in the light of a
gorgeous sunset."
On Thursday, October 12, we started on the last stage
of our journey to Rome, on a wet morning, " and though our
way lay through a most interesting and lovely country —
orchards, vineyards, and maize-covered land with mountains
beyond — the view was spoiled by a mosaic of raindrops on
the railway-carriage window." Arezzo, Perugia, Assisi were
passed, and the lake of Trasimeni ; a mountainous part
was entered soon after Foligno, and very fine landscape.
Nearing Rome, we crossed the great plain of the Campagna,
where we saw herds of cattle. " All roads lead to Rome,"
but we arrived in pouring rain when it was almost dark, and
nothing was to be seen from beneath the hood of the carrozze
which took us to our quarters in the Piazza di Spagna. Even
here from our window next morning we could only see a bit
of the " Collegium Urbanum de Propaganda fide " and the
top of the church of St. Andrea delle Frate.
Arrived in Rome, the next step was to find an apparte-
menty and we commenced our search the very next morning,
and, by the assistance of a compatriot, found one in the Via
126 AN ARTIST'S REMINISCENCES [1871-73
San Nicolo Tolentino. An English sculptor (Mr. Charles
Summers), who hailed from Australia, had some unoccupied
rooms to let over his studio, and we decided to take them
for the winter.
My old friends the Wilbrahams, who had often visited
Rome in earlier days, gave me a sheaf of introductions to
residents, but until we were settled in our new quarters we
did not hurry to present them, but preferred to wander about
and get our own impressions unaided. The Forum had a
very different aspect in those days, the new excavations
not having extended much beyond the Basilica Julia, but a
portion of the Via Latina was uncovered, showing the ruts
worn in the paving-stones by the wheels of the ancient biga,
and probably the wine carts. An avenue of acacia trees led
up to the Arch of Titus, and the palace of the Caesars had
not lost its aspect of a Roman garden, with fountains and
orange trees, although excavations had been begun, and a
fine painted chamber had been unearthed with deep red walls
and hanging garlands. Some of the most beautiful views
(or, rather, a panorama) of the city I have always thought
were to be obtained from the high ground of the Palatine.
The Italian Government under King Victor Emmanuel had
only recently taken possession, and the Pope was posing as
a prisoner in the Vatican. Signor Rosa was appointed
Minister of Public Works, and looked after the antiquities,
and his first acts were to thoroughly weed the great ruins —
such as the Coliseum and the Baths of Caracalla. Those
who had known Rome in the old Papal neglected and
picturesque days deplored the new treatment, though others
admitted it certainly tended to the better preservation of
the ancient buildings. The Coliseum certainly looked bare,
and was extensively buttressed with new brickwork, and
the Baths of Caracalla did not suggest the overgrown
solitude where Shelley wrote his Prometheus Unbound.
Archaeology was getting the better of artistic interest — other
than architectural, perhaps, but still from either point of view
the material was abundant.
One of the first persons I met in Rome was Frederick
(afterwards Lord) Leighton. I turned in at Piale's Library
1871-73] MARRIAGE AND VISIT TO ITALY 127
one evening, and sat down to look at the English papers
in the empty reading-room, when who should come in with
the same purpose but the great man. I had not long before,
in London, been to his studio at one of his princely receptions
in Holland Park Road, and felt somewhat shy in so dis-
tinguished a presence. In spite of his grand manner,
however, Leighton was most kind-hearted, and one of the
things that will always be remembered by those who knew
him was the willingness and good-nature with which he
would take the trouble to look at and give friendly advice
about young and unknown artists' and students' work, and
he was an excellent critic, but a kindly and sympathetic one.
He at once gave me an introduction to W. W. Story,
the eminent American sculptor, then at the height of his
fame, who had made Rome his dwelling-place, and whose
interesting book, Roba di Roma, I had recently read. The
Storys then lived in a magnificent apartment in the Barberini
Palace, in the Via Quattro Fontana, and were in the habit
of giving receptions largely attended by the English and
American visitors to Rome of the prouder sort.
We paid Mr. Story a visit at his studio, also, I remember.
He had just finished a life-sized model in clay of Cleopatra,
and standing by it in a graceful attitude he explained his
intentions in the work, delicately touching or stroking it
here and there the while with a small modelling tool. He
was a brilliant conversationalist — a slight American delibera-
tion being noticeable in his speech.
Another introduction of Leighton's was to his old friend
Professor Giovanni Costa, the distinguished painter, whose
works are well known and so much admired in England, and
who had quite an English following in landscape, among
whom may be counted the Earl of Carlisle, the late M. R.
Corbett, A.R.A., and Mrs. Ridley Corbett. His studio was
then in the painter's street of studios under the Pincian
Hill — the Via Margutta. He showed us a wonderful number
of beautiful studies of landscape — mostly small oil studies
done on wood panels, but besides these he was at work on
two large pictures, one of a view near Via Reggio, Leghorn,
and the other of a nude nymph in a wood. Both of these
128
AN ARTISTS REMINISCENCES [1871-73
were included in the recent exhibition of Giovanni Costa's
works at the Gallery of the Royal Society of Painters in
Water Colours.
He had taken active part in the Italian struggle for
political freedom and unity, and had experienced many
vicissitudes of fortune in his life, but there was little to
suggest revolutionary fire or fervour in his manner and
appearance, and still less in the poetic, pensive, and generally
tranquil or pastoral feeling in his landscapes. He became
a member of the municipality
of Rome, who at his death
organised a public funeral in
his honour, for which his
English friends sent a
memorial wreath. He was
full of artistic sympathy and
helpful criticism for one's
work.
With Mr. Summers (our
landlord) as a pupil at that
time was Mr. J, W. Swyn-
nerton, a rising young
sculptor, who has since won
a good position, and has ex-
ecuted many important works.
Inquiring at our door for this
gentleman came one day, soon
after our arrival at San Nicolo
Tolentino, Mr. Edgar Barclay, whose acquaintance I had
previously made in London. He had had a remarkable success
with a large picture at the Royal Academy showing the Ana
Capri steps with the peasants going up and down (before the
road was made this was the only highway to the upper town
on the high tableland, and the immense flight of stone steps,
with little shrines at the resting-places at intervals, dotted with
figures of the Capri girls in bright-coloured kerchiefs, and fisher-
men carrying jars of water, and fruit or other provender, was
extremely picturesque). Mr. Barclay came to stay that winter
in Rome, and painted many Italian subjects at that time.
WE TAKE STEPS TO SECURE APART-
MENTS (ROME, 1872)
1871-73] MARRIAGE AND VISIT TO ITALY 129
I soon found myself in quite a circle of artists, chiefly
English and American, who were then living in Rome. Chief
among the latter was Elihu Vedder, whose work was already
known in England, and who later distinguished himself by
a series of designs to the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. He
had painted the Fable of the old man and his son and the
ass, as a series of small pictures, and given it a new feeling
by introducing as backgrounds bits of old Italian towns.
At the time I saw him he seemed interested in costume
pictures of Carpaccio inspiration, but later showed considerable
imaginative feeling for classical and mythological subjects
treated from a more or less decorative point of view.
One striking work I remember was " The Lair of the Sea-
serpent," the glittering coils of which were half seen twisted
among sand dunes of a wild and solitary shore. Mr. Vedder
was not only a versatile artist but a very genial companion,
with a whimsical humour of his own.
A sort of sketching club was presently formed which met
at different studios, each member being host in turn. A
subject was given out by the host of the evening, and the
members then set to work to realise it in paint, clay, charcoal,
or other media. Then the sketches were shown, and the
evening finished in talk and smoke. Besides Mr, Vedder,
several other interesting and agreeable American artists joined
the circle. Among these was Charles Caryl Coleman, who
had the most gorgeous studio of bric-a-brac of any. He loved
splendour generally, but was a most kindly and genial host
and a brilliant painter with decorative feeling.
Another was Mr. Crowninshield, who did very effective
water-colour studies of old Italian towns with well-defined
masses of light and shade. I first saw him in a slender out-
rigger with a pair of sculls testing the strength of the Tiber
stream, while a large crowd looked on.
He recently published a volume of poetry at New
York, where in later years I again met him at the Centurv
Club.
Another genial man was Reinhardt, an American sculptor
— a universal favourite, whose early death was much
deplored.
I30 AN ARTIST'S REMINISCENCES [1871-73
Mr. Eugene Benson was another American artist of
cultured tastes and much originality of conception, who had a
literary side as well. With him and Mrs. Benson and Miss
Fletcher (his stepdaughter) we became very friendly while in
Rome that winter. They afterwards went to Venice, where
they settled to live in a fine old palazzo on the Rio
Marin.
Miss Fletcher later in England became known to fame as
a novelist and playwright under the nom de plume of George
Fleming.
Other friends were Mr. and Mrs. Jerry Barrett, who were
close neighbours on the " Piano " above us in San Nicolo Street,
and with whom we often spent pleasant evenings. They
both painted, and were enthusiastic about a recent stay in the
island of Capri, where they had been with an English artistic
circle including Mr. Edward Blount Smith, Mr. Edgar Barclay,
Mr. Goodall, Mr. Maclaren, and other artists who lived on the
island. It was a favourite resort with artists of every nation-
ality, and the well-known Farraglione rocks and other char-
acteristic spots there appeared in many a studio, with studies
of the fascinating Capri girls.
From the Wilbrahams I had an introduction to one or two
of what might be considered quite old-time Roman artists :
Mr. Glennie, a member of the R.W.S. ; Mr. John Coleman,
famous for his buffaloes, for instance. Another was Mr. Penry
Williams, who had a considerable repute in the " forties " for
his water-colour pictures of groups of Campagna peasants, in
the smooth and somewhat sentimental and artificial operatic
taste of those days. He had a studio near the Spanish Steps,
upon which he could find his models at any hour of the day,
as there were always groups of these models turned Roman
peasants or Roman peasants turned models — one was never
quite sure which — haunting the steps, sitting in rows and
groups, in their picturesque festa costume, the brown faces and
black hair of the women telling strongly beneath the white of
their square linen head-dresses and shirts, and the bright reds,
greens, and dark indigo blues of their bodices, aprons, and
petticoats relieved against the warm greys of the stone steps.
One met their semblances again and again, posing with rather
1871-73] MARRIAGE AND VISIT TO ITALY 131
conscious art in countless pictures and studies in studios of the
Roman artists, and there was a considerable trade (shall we
say !) in pictures composed of such elements to answer the
Roman visitor's and tourist's demands.
I could not but be charmed with the picturesqueness and
fine colour of many of these Roman models. There was one
well-known figure, a fine-looking man who — from his dignified
bearing, I suppose — was called " the Count." He wore his
ragged blue cloak with the air of a Roman senator with his
toga. I made a study of him, and introduced him with a
peasant woman and a Bambino in swaddling clothes into the
foreground of a large water colour I did at this time of the
Arch of Titus which I sent home to the Dudley Gallery, where
it appeared, with another drawing of a Capuchin monk in his
brown habit and black scull-cap with the well-known church in
the Piazzetta Barberini as a background ; also a picture of
" The Grotto of Egeria " — a favourite spot with us on the
Campagna by the stream Almo, sung of by Horace, outside the
Porta San Sebastiano, near a lovely ilex " boschetto " known
as the Grove of Egeria.
I print here a kind letter I received later from Leighton
about these pictures, one of which he had seen on my easel
when he called on us in San Nicolo Tolentino.
"Athen/EUm Club, Pall Mall
Afarch i, 1872
" Dear Mr. Crane, — I reproach myself with not having
sooner acknowledged your letter of January 31st announcing
to me the despatch of your three drawings to the Dudley
Gallery, but you know what are the demands on a busy
man's time. I have seen your drawings all three — one was
an old friend ; of the other two, the Grotto of Egeria with
the ' sacrum nemus ' most attracted me through its refined and
sober harmony. The quality of your light is always particularly
agreeable to me, and not less than usual in these drawings.
Some day you will perhaps allow me some little criticism of
detail : — meanwhile, I am glad to hear that you have made
friends with my excellent Costa, who as an artist is one in
hundreds and as a man one in thousands. Pray remember
132
AN ARTISrS REMINISCENCES [1871-73
me most kindly to him, as also to Barclay and the Stones, and
believe me, in much haste, yours very truly,
" Fred Leighton
" Have you sketched in the * valley of Poussin '? It strikes
me that old castle would take you by storm."
Other interesting and valuable friends at this time were
Mr. and Mrs. Sotheby. Both had
unusually refined taste and feeling in
art, and finding many interests in
common we frequently exchanged
visits, and constantly accompanied
them in long drives to different places
of interest in Rome and sometimes
far away on the Campagna. Mrs.
Sotheby was an enthusiast for early
Italian art of all kinds, and was one
of the first to revive the art of
decorative needlework after Mrs.
Morris and Lady Burne-Jones. She
used to work with Roman coloured
cottons on linen. My wife and the
Misses Barclay, sisters of the painter,
all worked at different forms of
needlework at this time, and I sup-
plied some designs. Mr. Sotheby
used to find short Latin inscriptions
for his wife to work on scrolls in
her needlework pictures, somewhat
in the spirit of mediaeval tapestry, of which they were very
fond, and had acquired some to hang their appartement
with.
I had painted my wife in our room with some fanciful
decorative addition in this way as a background, and the
Sothebys were so taken with this treatment of a portrait that
I was commissiond to paint one of Mrs. Sotheby in a similar
manner. I did her in profile in a white dress of India muslin,
with a Venetian glass bowl in her hands with daffodils in it,
THE BREAKFAST BOY,
QUATTRO PIANO (ROME,
1872)
1871-73] MARRIAGE AND VISIT TO ITALY
133
against a background of old Italian silk, and a scroll above
with the motto, " Nel tempo dolci che Fiorisci e colli."
This portrait and the one of my wife I named " At Home :
a Portrait" were sent to the Royal Academy in 1872, but
only the latter was placed. This picture at the death of the
owner some years afterwards turned up at Christie's, and was
secured by my wife.
In January we changed our quarters, quitting S. Nicolo
Tolentino for the Via Gregoriana, where we had found a pretty
YO U T H
EVE-MlSfC /SOKIMING
AN ALLEGORY OF THE DINNER BOX (ROME, 1872)
little appartement with a balcony overgrown with Banksia
roses.
Curiously enough, our padrone was named Pistrucci, and
turned out to be the son of the Pistrucci who designed the
English coinage in the latter days of George III. and also
George iv., and I remember his showing us some specimens
of his father's work in that way.
Before we had moved, however, and just before Christmas
our friend Mr. George Howard surprised us with a call one
evening. He and his family were on their way to Naples,
and in passing through Rome, knowing we were there, in his
134 AN ARTISTS REMINISCENCES [1871-73
friendly way he came to look us up. Before leaving England
I had completed a picture for him. The subject was a pilgrim
in a traveller's cloak and petasus, carrying a staff and a lamp,
wandering on a plain intersected by a winding river, with
mountain ranges beyond and at intervals on the banks ruined
temples and relics of ancient faiths — rather a re-echo of the
motive previously embodied in the drawing before mentioned,
" Ormuzd and Ahrimanes." This picture, I heard long after-
wards, had been presented to Mr. Frederic Harrison, who had
admired it, and it had been re-christened " The Positivist
Pilgrim," in allusion to the philosophy of Auguste Comte,
of which Mr. Harrison was so distinguished and able an
exponent.
We continued to extend our acquaintanceship in Rome,
chiefly in the English and American colony. At the Hotel
Molaro, nearly opposite to us, lived Mr. Healy and his family.
He was an American portrait painter of considerable repute
in his own country. They used to give evening conversazioni,
and I remember on one occasion, in the spring of 1872,
General Sherman, who had been Commander-in-Chief of the
Northern forces in the American Civil War, was the principal
lion, a tall, thin, keen, but kindly-looking American. Most
of the American painters in Rome at that time, by the way,
had been in the war, if not all of them, " with Grant."
I was sketching one morning in the early spring at
a spot I had discovered outside the Porta del Popolo. A
gap in the hedge of a vineyard disclosed a view across the
bare ranks of canes put up for the vines to cling to, across
a level middle distance and some green slopes, to where
the dome of St. Peter's loomed largely on the horizon. The
rising ground on which I stood was Monte Prioli, and about
the highest point stood a villa. While I was at work,
a carriage came up the narrow road which led up to the
villa. It stopped, and presently a servant stood at my
elbow with a message from the two old ladies in the carriage
offering me free entry into their grounds. These ladies
were the Misses Haig (of Bemerside), who lived in the
villa just above, named after them the Villa Haig; a
charming house, surrounded with a terraced garden and
1871-73] MARRIAGE AND VISIT TO ITALY 135
vineyards, and commanding lovely views of Rome. The
ladies were very kind and hospitable, and I made several
drawings there, and, with my wife, exchanged visits. They
were rather frail and in indifferent health, and had been
seeking for an heir to their estates, and had at last found
one in a certain Captain Haig. They were very fond of
recalling the verse from one of Thomas the Rhymer's
prophecies, as given by Scott, I think, which runs —
* ' whate'er betide,
Haig shall be Haig of Bemerside,"
and adding, " There always has been a Haig of Bemerside
ever since ! "
The spectacular effects in Roman life, we were told by
the old residents, were not to be compared to those of the
old days. Nevertheless, the festivals seemed to be kept at
the great churches much as usual. We saw much ecclesiastical
ceremonial splendour at Sta. Maria Maggiore, and S. Giovanni
Laterano, and the curious epiphany celebration at the Ara Cceli
Church, where little children could be heard preaching, was
very quaint. Crowds pressed to see the group of the Adoration
of the Magi, realistically represented by life-size wax figures.
The Roman Church certainly seemed to be much more
really the church of the people than the churches are in
our cold Protestant country, and at some of these festivals
one had the feeling of long usage and old tradition passed
on from the old pagan days with but little difference
of spirit, and reflecting the character of an emotional and
imaginative race.
The Carnival was a curious and interesting episode in
Roman life, and very fresh to us. At that time they had
the race of riderless horses (Barbari) down the Corso from
the Piazza del Popolo, the starting-place. About half a dozen
or more horses were led out, and had to be held pretty hard
by the men, as they were excited by the crowd and seemed
only too eager to start. They had a light sort of harness on.
The signal was given, and away they galloped at full speed,
the people, who were all over the street, having only just time
to squeeze themselves on to the pavement each side the
136 AN ARTIST'S REMINISCENCES [1871-73
long straight Corso. They were stopped at the other end,
where the Corso ran in to a narrow street, by a huge heavy
cloth hung right across and down to the ground. The horses
ran against this, and it stopped them at once. The street
was called "Via dei represi di Barbari."
All sorts of masques and every kind of costume or
disguise were worn, punchinello and pierette perhaps predom-
inating. The masqued women always spoke in the same
artificially high voice, and as different groups of masquers
met each other, there was often a sustained and lively
conversation at this high pitch. The spirit and go with
which the citizens and citoyennes thre^v themselves into the
play — for it was really like a play going on in the streets —
was amazing. In the Corso anyone was liable to get well
peppered with plaster confetti, People at the balconies had
troughs of it, and literally shovelled it down on the crowd.
I saw Prince Humbert (afterwards King of Italy) amusing
himself in this way.
Then a day was given to the battle of the flowers, when the
ammunition is changed, but the fusillade is carried on as briskly
as before between the occupants of carriages and those in
the balconies, and taken up by the foot passengers. Pro-
cessions of fantastic cars full of quaint masquers continually
passed up and down the Corso, I remember one filled with
people each having a different kind of beast's or bird's head
on ; another was a carriage full of storks, red-legged and
red-beaked, with proper black and white plumage, with a
basket of babies in their midst and a stork coachman and
footman on the box. A caricature of an English sporting
gentleman and lady in fox-hunting dress, on horseback,
but with enormous pantomime heads on, rode down the
Corso ; and, as a suggestion of ancient Rome, a biga full
of helmeted and crested warriors of the Empire period. The
last night of the Carnival was signalised by the " Moccoletti " —
a sudden burst of lighted tapers dancing about in the dark
crowd like fireflies in the twilight, and then everybody tries
to blow everybody else's taper out, in order to cry triumphantly,
" Senza Moccoli ! "
The artists of Rome, too, had a special festival of their
1871-73] MARRIAGE AND VISIT TO ITALY
137
own later on in April, which afforded another opportunity
for masquerading. The central feature of the one I remember
was a gorgeous domed Moorish divan on wheels, with an
Emperor of Morocco and his harem sitting inside ; behind and
before went a great company of artists of all nationalities
in all sorts of costumes — some as seventeenth-century Spanish
cavaliers on horseback, some as burlesque field-marshals
with enormous cocked hats, jackboots, and sabres riding on
donkeys. The caterer for the picnic (a well-known artists'
colourman) was attired as a sort of white wizard, with a tall
^t UVNCH AT CER.VA.TCO'72j
THE CERVARO FESTIVAL (ROME, 1872)
conical hat, and a long robe on which were painted lobsters,
salad, and other suggestions for luncheon.
Numerous carriages filled with spectators in ordinary
attire followed this strange procession a long way out over
the Campagna to the Cervaro Caves, the appointed spot for
the picnic, unfortunately on this occasion rather spoiled
by the rain coming on, which necessitated feeding under
the hoods of our carriages.
A favourite excursion with the leisured crowd of Roman
visitors and residents was to drive out to the meets of the
Roman foxhounds, which was always a picturesque spectacle :
riders dashing about on fine horses on the springy turf of
138 AN ARTISTS REMINISCENCES [1871-73
the undulating Campagna, the crowd of smart people in the
carriages looking on, amid a chorus of neighing from the
excited steeds.
The house of Savoy was a good deal in evidence, too,
in Rome in those days. The swarthy old King Victor
Emmanuel the First was frequently to be seen driving on
the Pincio and in the Borghese, and the popular and beautiful
Princess Margharita with Prince Humbert, who also was
fond of riding in the Borghese, and very fine horses, too.
W.E.R.D.I. was a frequent inscription scrawled in chalk
on walls and hoardings, its signification being, " Viva Victor
Emanuele Rey d'ltalia." The air, too, was full of the strains
of the Royal Hymn, mostly from the bugles of companies
of the Bersaglieri, who constantly marched through the streets
at a pace that was almost the double, with their broad-brimmed
round-crowned hats and plumes of cock's feathers fluttering
in the wind.
Italy had sustained a great loss in the death of her
renowned patriot and philosopher, Giuseppe Mazzini, and
the Roman Municipality arranged a funeral procession in
his honour.
The scene in the Piazza del Popolo on the morning of
March 17, 1S72 (Sunday), was very striking. A colossal
white figure of Italy appeared upon a car drawn by six
horses in black housings, the figure being in the attitude
of placing a wreath of bays upon the head of Mazzini, whose
bust was placed in front. On either side the car marched
a line of citizens bearing standards in the form of Roman
tablets upon staves, on one of which was inscribed the
words, " Gloria al martiri della Liberia," and others bore
the names of distinguished men who had written and fought
for Italian freedom and unity.
The beauty of the Italian spring was upon us, heralded by
a cloud of almond blossom upon hills and in the vineyards,
and the white-blossomed trees seemed to re-echo the touch of
distant snow on the Sabine mountains. I found a subject on
the Pincio, a view of Rome, with almond trees in front and
two figures gathering flowers on the sloping gardens, which I
sent to the Dudley. Also " A Herald of Spring " — a figure
<; CO <a
O - o
1871-73] MARRIAGE AND VISIT TO ITALY 139
in a pale green robe and pink scarf coming down a Roman
street in the early morning with a basket of daffodils on
her arm.
This picture also went to the Dudley and was sold to a
lady whom, about twenty years afterwards, we met in London,
and bought back the picture, for which my wife had a peculiar
affection, she too having been the model for the figure.
So our first winter in Rome passed away, in work, in
making many new friends and acquaintances, in study and
sight - seeing, and absorbing unforgetable influences and
suggestions, especially from such wonders as Michael Angelo's
frescoes in the Sistine Chapel, from the beauty both of art and
nature, of new and old in that wonderful city where the remote
past and the most modern present see each other reflected in
the glass of time.
On the 1 8th of May we quitted Rome and travelled to
Naples, intending, despite the heat, to spend our summer in
Southern Italy. It certainly was the strongest sunshine we
had ever experienced. I shall never forget my first sight of
the bay, the blue sea sparkling with the sun's diamonds, the
clear horizon, the deep blue vault rapidly melting into the
dazzling light of the lower sky. Shelley's lines recurred as
the truest description —
" The sun is warm, the sky is clear,
The waves are dancing fast and bright,
Blue isles and cities, mountains near
The purple noon's transparent light."
From our hotel on the Chiaia we looked out on a new world.
It was the festival of Monte Vergine, and the people were keep-
ing it with true Southern fervour. Large ramshackle landaus
with three horses abreast were driven rapidly up and down the
quay, filled with Neapolitan families out for their holiday, the
bright kerchiefs and gay frocks of the women giving spots of
colour to the scene. The noise, too, was incessant, begin-
ning with the goats' bells when the herds were driven in in
the early morning with their milk supply, followed by all sorts
of street vendors' cries in every key throughout the day, the
rumbling carts and the jingling of the mules' bells to the
I40
AN ARTISTS REMINISCENCES [1871-73
accompaniment of the cracking of whips of the vetturini, who
nearly drove over us in their anxiety to secure a fare.
The quietude of the Museum, apart from the enormous
interest of its artistic treasures of antique sculpture and
bronzes, was grateful.
There had recently been an eruption of Vesuvius, but now
it only showed a sullen red glow in the evening, though there
was always a long pennon of smoke and cloud streaming from
its summit.
We were rather glad to move on along the coast to
Castellamare, from whence we had our first sight of Pompeii,
with its thrilling impressions and the irresistible suggestion of
its quite recently
'^X^ ^^5 suspended life.
Passing on to
Sorrento, we found
delightful quarters
at La Cucumela, an
hotel and pension
which had formerly
been a monastery ;
a spacious building,
with a large cortile
in the midst of
which was a re-
markable old well.
We had rooms opening on to a terrace with a vine pergola
over it, commanding a lovely view across the bay to Naples,
with Vesuvius a little to the eastwards, with the little white
towns dotted like jewels along its base, and to the right and
behind us the Piano of Sorrento, rich with orange and lemon
groves, and the ravine and its crags above and beyond en-
closing us in a sort of amphitheatre.
A little path led down to the sea by some steps cut in the
rather steep cliff of yellow volcanic tufa pierced with caves and
rising abruptly from the black sands, glistening like emery
powder, on which the fishermen spread out and mended their
nets. Lovely bathes were to be had there .in the early morn-
ing, the water being a clear translucent green to look into,
PESTS OF SOUTHERN ITALY (1872)
1871-73] MARRIAGE AND VISIT TO ITALY 141
and its surface, under the summer sky, blue as lapis lazuli
or pure cobalt. The days were warm, but there was always
a breeze from the sea in the evenings, and in the darkened
rooms with their tiled floors it was possible to keep cool even
at midday.
It was delightful to find great bushes of myrtle in full
flower among the limestone rocks of the ravine, and to come
upon orange lilies growing wild in the woods. The walks
were truly delightful at Sorrento, and I found plenty of
fascinating subjects for sketching and study.
In the Cathedral here we saw a striking procession on the
30th of May : a bishop and several cardinals in full canoni-
cals followed by what appeared to be certain guilds. There
were four companies of men, each under a different banner.
They wore a sort of mediaeval-looking white robe with a hood
over their ordinary dress, and each carried a candle. Over
the white robe was worn a short cape with an embroidered
badge on the right shoulder. The colour of this cape varied
with each company, one wearing purple capes, another blue,
and a third black and white.
In June we went back to Naples and took the boat to
Capri. In those days everything had to be carried up from
the Marina. Visitors rode up the steep rocky path to
the town on donkeys, and their luggage was generally
carried on the heads of bare-footed men and women and
boys, who clustered round the visitors as they landed and
seized their belongings to carry up to the hotel.
At Capri we met several artists, among them Mr. W.
Maclaren, who was a resident at that time and had a studio.
He was known for his graceful pictures of Capri life. Mr.
Binyon was another resident artist, who found his subjects
mostly by the sea ; and Mr. Talmage White was another, and
a very able draughtsman of landscape ; Mr. Howard Goodall,
a nephew of the late Academician, whose life was blighted
by a sad tragedy at Capri, where he had accidentally shot
his brother. There were some Danish and Swedish artists,
too, at the hotel, who were very pleasant. Studios and
artists abounded at Capri, and the inhabitants were well used
to being requisitioned as models. Capri was supposed to
142
AN ARTISrS REMINISCENCES [1871-73
have been colonised by the ancient Greeks, and certainly
some of the types among the Capri girls were very suggestive
of Greek origin.
Mr. Wreford, the Naples correspondent of the Times, at
that date had a small villa high up opposite the famous cliff
from where, a legend has it, the Emperor Tiberius used to
amuse himself by flinging Christians,
The first road in Capri was commenced while we were
there, but at that time not
a single wheeled vehicle
was to be seen in the
island, and for the very
sufficient reason that it
would have been useless.
At the opening of the
works I remember meeting
the two Miss Edenboroughs,
one of whom afterwards
became Mrs. Arthur Murch,
and after his death Mrs.
Ridley Corbett, herself a
charming artist of the
Costa school, besides being
a personality of wonderful
grace and charm.
Mr. Arthur Murch was
there too. He was a
singularly painstaking
artist, but did not produce
much. I recall, however,
a striking black-and-white design he contributed to Dalziel's
Bible, somewhat in the method of E. J. Poynter's drawings
in the same work.
A Mr. Norton was also of the company on that occasion,
who had a reputation for considerable eccentricity in the island.
I happened to hear a fragment of his conversation, which was
sufficiently weird. " Well, how are you, Norton ? " said a cheer-
ful, matter-of-fact sort of man, addressing him. Mr. Norton
slowly and solemnly, in a deep voice, replied, " I have
WATILR-SPOUTS (CAPRI, 1872)
1871-73] MARRIAGE AND VISIT TO ITALY 143
been trying to keep the worlds of passion and reason distinct
from any influence of this sublunary sphere " (!). Even this did
not bowl the cheerful friend over — who might, however, have
been accustomed to such remarks — for he gaily assented,
saying, " Yes, that's the main point."
While in Capri we experienced what the heat of a South
Italian summer could be. We had, however, much stormy
weather with thunder, and on one occasion beheld no less than
two water-spouts just off the island, which fortunately dispersed
in the sea, instead of sweeping over the island — and there were
records of such happenings.
In September we brought our stay in the picturesque and
pictorial island to a close, and took boat for Amalfi. It was
a small fishing-boat with lateen sail and four men to row. It
was so calm that they practically rowed the whole way, sup-
leaving CAPRI (1872
porting themselves on figs and bread. We numbered three
passengers with baggage, for my wife had induced a Capri
girl (named Serafina) to accompany us as her maid. She
was a very cheerful, merry creature, and could turn her hand to
most things ; but I do not think she had ever left the island
before, so that the mainland was as strange to her as a foreign
country. Leaving Capri about two o'clock in the afternoon,
we reached Amalfi about eight in the evening, when it was
almost dark, but illuminated by the wonderful phosphorescence
breaking from each stroke of the oars, or outlining the edges
of the sea lapping against the rocky coast. We passed the
islands of the Sirens, but were not beguiled to the barren
rocks, though in the beauty of the glowing rose and opal of
the September sunset such legends might well seem reason-
able on such a romantic coast.
We landed on the beach at Amalfi, looking mysterious in
144 AN ARTISTS REMINISCENCES [1871-73
the twilight, with twinkling lights in windows here and there,
and took up our quarters at the Albergo Cappucini, on the
quay. There seemed to be a more distinctly Southern and
even Eastern feeling about Amalfi and the neighbouring
towns, such as Atrani and Minori, on that side of the promon-
tory than their distance from Naples seemed to account for.
Perhaps this may be owing to the evidences of Saracenic
influence and occupation in the architecture and general
character and life of the district.
At the hotel we met Mr. Harry Clarke Jervoise, who we
understood was connected with the British Embassy at Rome,
and as we talked of visiting Paestum, he advised us not to do
so, as he considered at that time there was considerable risk of
being stopped by brigands, who were by no means unknown
in that neighbourhood. In the face of this we thought best
to forego our sight of the temples, though they were almost
within view across the gulf.
We made an excursion, with Mr. Jervoise, to Ravello, on the
rocky heights above Amalfi, a steep climb by rocky paths am
flights of steps, but most rewarding and full of interest, Th*
Cathedral possessed a very fine pulpit of the thirteenth century
of the columned Pisan type supported on carved lions. The
columns and the marble sides of the pulpit, however, were
richly inlaid with mosaic. The bronze doors, too, of the twelfth
century were very notable. There was a fine Saracenic tower,
and many relics of the former importance of the place, and
here, amid its romantic ruin, an Englishman had made hi,
home, in an ideally situated villa, with a lovely garden.
The Cathedral of Amalfi, too, was full of interest, with its
classical sarcophagi carved with the story of Proserpina and
the marriage of Peleus and Thetis, relics of paganism sheltered
under a Catholic roof, though it might be said paganism and
Christianity were wonderfully blended in Southern Italy.
There was a great church festival while we were at
Amalfi, and we saw an imposing procession, accompanying the
image of the Madonna and Bambino, borne under a canopy,
preceded by a bishop and other church dignitaries in their robes,
attended by long lines of candle-bearers and a band of music.
This procession — a stream of crimson and gold — relieved
FREEDOM
WALIER CKANE, ig
1871-73] MARRIAGE AND VISIT TO ITALY 145
against the yellow and white houses along the quay, with the
sparkling blue sea in front, made a striking spectacle. In the
evening a great troop of people wound their way along a steep
cliff-path to a high point to the westward, where the occasion
was emphasised in a somewhat deafening manner by means
of rows of old gun-barrels fixed to the ground charged with
powder and let off in volleys at intervals, and in further eleva-
tion of spirit huge fire-balloons were sent off the cliff, one in
the shape of a huge fish and another in the form of a man,
and the delight of the people in watching these quaint figures
hover over the sea was extreme ; gradually they dipped and
disappeared into it — the human-shaped one first most coyly
dipping his toes and rising again two or three times in a most
realistic way.
With the other attractions of Amalfi must be named the
Cappucini, then a recently dismantled convent of the order,
with a delightful old garden and lovely vine pergola overlook-
ing the sea, a calvary under the overhanging cave-like cliff,
and a cloister with interlaced Saracenic arches. An hotel has
since been established here, and I think I have seen the per-
gola on a postcard ! We found a delightful walk up through
the Valle dei Molini, or Valley of the Mills. A mountain
stream found its way through the town to the sea, turning
in its rapid course the wheels of many paper mills. Many
of these were medieval buildings built on arches over the
stream. A coarse kind of grey and brown wrapping-paper
was made at these mills, and figures of men would be met
moving up and down by the stream balancing huge bundles of
rags upon their shoulders, and steadying themselves by long
staves — their appearance suggestive of Christian in the
PilgriifUs Progress \ but presumably they got rid of their
burdens only to bear others like unto them.
One of the quaint sights at Amalfi was the washing of
pigs in the sea. The pigs were led down to the shore by their
owners and washed in the sea, and they seemed to take to the
operation quite kindly.
A bold speculator had put up a small bathing house of
wood, hearing perhaps there were English people at the hotel.
The sun was too scorching in the morning, but about five
146
AN ARTISrS REMINISCENCES [1871-73
ni^er fAMiuY en tm» y^ tuooc ,
o'clock in the afternoon, when it had passed behind the cliffs, a
bathe was very enjoyable, and the little house was very useful ;
but alas for the frailty of human
things, and bathing huts in par-
ticular ! — a storm arose one night,
and no trace of it remained the
next morning.
From Amalfi we journeyed (in
one of those huge ramshackle
barouche-landaus drawn by three
horses abreast which was then
the usual method of travelling
by road in South Italy) along
the coast to Cava dei Terreni, a
delightful spot among hills and
chestnut woods, a little inland
from the sea, command-
ing a view of the Gulf of
Salerno and the town of
Vietri. Here, in a delightful
old mansion, a brother and
two aged sisters kept a
sort of quiet pension for
visitors. There was a
charming old formal garden
behind with box hedges
and pomegranate trees and
hydrangeas, and in front a
vineyard where, as one
walked, the pendent bunches
" into our hands themselves
would reach."
In our rambles about
this delightful country we
used to find the wild cu-
cumber, a yellow thistle,
and quantities of pink
cyclamen.
A QUIET APARTMENT (ROME, 1873) Not far off WaS E
BCTW.EEM-PeCkVOVO.lNC^NAfnoN-OB.-tMCWEPeOPLt AC*
1871-73] MARRIAGE AND VISIT TO ITALY 147
famous monastery, SS. Trinita della Cava, close to the old
town of Corpo di Cava, surrounded with ancient overgrown
turreted walls, set amidst green wooded hills — like a town
in a mediaeval tapestry.
The monastery was famous for its library, and its archives
alone were said to consist of no less than forty thousand parch-
ment rolls, and the library to contain upwards of sixty thousand
MSS. on paper. The monks showed us some curious papal
bulls and other documents, with their ponderous seals attached,
dating from the ninth to the eleventh century, also a curious
map of Europe showing the branches of the Roman Church.
There were some fine illuminated MSS. as well as some early
printed books — I noted a Petrarch of 1492 with woodcuts of
the Triumphs.
There were two fine carved doors in the church. There
was also a picture-gallery containing works by Andrea da
Salerno — the principal old master of the district.
Within our view at Cava dei Terreni was a green hill —
S. Liberatore — and on its shoulder the quail-catchers spread
their nets. These were suspended between poles and hung ver-
tically to catch the flights of quails as they flew over the hills
in the autumn. The birds flew straight against the fine nets,
stretched at some tension, and fell and were captured, poor
things ! The slopes of this hill were covered with thickets
of arbutus trees.
So in pleasant rambles about this delightful region the
days sped away, and the time came when we must make our
way back to Rome.
Heavy rains, thunder and lightning, were the accompani-
ments of our journey. After a night at Naples we went on.
Between Anagni and Segni a swollen stream had broken
the railway bridge, and we had to get out of our train and
make our way across temporary planks to another train in
waiting on the other side — in the rain, too !
However, Rome was duly reached on the evening of
October 10, 1872.
After much getting up and down flights of stone steps in
search of apartments we found one in the Via San Giuseppe
(a little street running into Capo le Case from the Babuino,
148
AN ARTIST'S REMINISCENCES [1871-73
opposite the church of the same name). Here we settled
ourselves quite comfortably for the winter, and I was able
to carry on my work in the sitting-room, the windows of
which looked towards the north. Several of the early series
of children's picture-books were designed here — Mother
Hubbard, for instance, whose famous dog I took the liberty
of depicting as a poodle, that type flourishing at that time in
Rome. The drawings were made on card in black and white
and sent to London through the post to Mr. Evans, who had
them photographed on to the wood and engraved, returning
there's no place like home (ROME, 187I-3)
me the proofs to colour. This method of working now
beginning to supersede the old practice of drawing direct on
the block for the engraver. It certainly had its advantages,
not the least among which was that of being able to retain
the original drawings.
Drawing for publishers was varied by making water-colour
studies out of doors, or finished drawings to send home to
London exhibitions.
We looked up our friends, too, and made new ones. My
wife set up " At Home " days, and we soon had quite a
circle about us. Among the numerous people we met during
the winter may be named Frederick Leighton (whom I
o <
1871-73] MARRIAGE AND VISIT TO ITALY 149
met at the palace of the Caesars one afternoon) and his
friend Signer Costa, whose acquaintance we renewed, who was
always most genial and sympathetic, also Alphonse Legros,
who with his wife and son spent a few weeks in Rome. I
remember he induced me to make a copy of a part of one of
Raphael's frescoes in the Stanzi of the Vatican — the group of
the four bearers of the Papal chair in the corner of the lunette
of the Miracle of Bolsena, Legros himself at first intending also
to work there ; but when I had obtained permission from the
authorities and the use of a staging, I found that M. Legros
had decided upon copying a part of another Raphael — a
fresco in the church of Sta. Maria della Pace, where he had to
perch himself over a door, so that I did not have his com-
panionship in (it must be confessed) my not very congenial
task in the Stanzi, one I should never have attempted had
it not been for his emphatic advice, for I always hated copying ;
so in the end we both worked away in solitude — not that, as
far as I was concerned, intercommunication could have been
very fluent or complete, owing to the fact of French being
the only medium, and I was no good at tongues.
I recall a curious little sketch which Legros made on a
scrap of paper to explain his position in copying the fresco,
a very cramped one over the church door and in the dark,
the most conspicuous object in his sketch being " mon
chapeau," a tall hat carefully placed by his side and put in
in solid black.
My early patron, Mr. Somerset Beaumont, also came to
Rome, and I visited many of the galleries in his company.
He found me at work upon a design, conceived some
time before, suggested by Shelley's lines on " The Death of
the Year," a procession of the Months following the bier of
the Year, preceded by a winged figure swinging incense, and
a priest-like one in a cope reading from a book and passing
into a pillared porch of a temple — the House of Time. This
work had been seen and purchased by Miss Monk, who called
on us, having previously bought in London a water-colour
picture of mine (an Annunciation). Curiously enough, the
work was discovered by her at a saddler's in Mayfair, who
said that he had taken it for a debt. On inquiry I found that
150 AN ARTIST'S REMINISCENCES [1871-73
our friend Prince, who had set up the picture-shop in Wigmore
Street, had with his partner made a failure of it. A number
of my drawings left at his gallery disappeared. The place
was closed, and no satisfaction could be obtained, since the
proprietors both decamped.
Mr. Stopford Brooke some time afterwards showed me
quite a number of my early landscapes (more lost sheep from
Wigmore Street !) he had found at Attenborough's shop in
the same neighbourhood and bought for his collection. This
kind of thing (however gratifying) was not calculated to in-
crease one's material prosperity !
However, Mr. Beaumont, taking a liking to this pro-
cessional picture, and finding it already bought, commissioned
me to paint him a similar subject, which I afterwards carried
out in oil on returning to England, and entitled " The Advent
of Spring."
I also, during this winter, completed a drawing of a vine-
yard for the Hon. Lyulph Stanley, who wanted one inspired
by the Virgilian line of " How to train on elms the gadding
vine," Mr. Stanley and his bride (Miss Bell, daughter of Sir
I. Lowthian Bell), whom I afterwards painted, being among
our visitors in San Giuseppe.
Others were Lady Elizabeth Butler, Edward Clifford the
artist, the Hon. Mrs. Walpole, the Hon. Mrs. Brownlow de
Grey, Mrs. Foljambe, and other Roman residents. So our
time passed, constantly varied by visits to the inexhaustible
treasures of Rome, villas, palaces, churches, galleries, ruins,
archaeological discoveries, walks and drives. A favourite
ramble of ours was in the grounds of the Villa Pamfili Doria,
where in February, on a certain grassy knoll, quantities of
lovely anemones might be gathered, ranging in colour from
pure white through delicate lavenders and pinks to full deep
red. These flowers were all single, and such as are grown
in our gardens, but there wild.
We saw about this time a curious performance of
marionettes at the Teatro Valletta. The piece was called
" Cassiere e Mephistophili." The queer little puppets were
worked by strings by women from a staging above, con-
cealed by the curtain, and the parts recited by them, so
'z '^
X H
1871-73I MARRIAGE AND VISIT TO ITALY 151
that each puppet appeared to have an individual voice ; and
the illusion was fairly complete, save perhaps when one of
the characters came on the stage with rather too impetuous
a rush, and losing its centre of gravity had to be pulled up
by the suspending string. At the end of the performance
the curtain was drawn right up, and one could see the ladies
who managed the puppets apparently attired in long canvas
trousers arranging the strings of the marionettes and making
them comfortable for the night, or perhaps ready for the next
performance.
It was just past the middle of February, while the Carnival
was in full swing, that an important event happened in our
little household — the arrival of our firstborn.
I remember being well peppered with confetti in crossing
the Corso to get to the post-office in the Piazza Colonna
to send a telegram to England announcing the news to our
circle.
The event necessitated a visit to the British Legation
also, for registration purposes, as well as to the Roman
authorities ; " L'Ufficiale Sanitario " afterwards paying us a
visit to verify the fact and to see that no deception had been
practised upon S.P.Q.R.
It was a somewhat anxious time, and though in the end
all went well, and the kindness and solicitude of our friends was
most gratifying, I do not know that I should be prepared
to recommend anyone to be born in Rome !
Our thoughts naturally turned homewards, and though we
did not actually leave Rome till as late as the 1 4th of May,
we began to make plans for returning to England.
Our excellent Serafina from Capri, who was to have
accompanied us home, seemed to droop rather, and already
felt home-sickness, and owing to this, or being urged by
private affairs, her heart failed her, and she decided to return
to Capri, so a substitute had to be found.
I had, too, some little commissions to finish. Among these
was a drawing of Keats' grave at the Protestant Cemetery,
which I had undertaken for Mr, George Howard, for whom
the previous spring I had done a drawing of Shelley's tomb.
Working in that restful garden, beneath the murmur of
152 AN ARTISTS REMINISCENCES [1871-73
the cypresses, one might almost feel the spirits of the
poets still haunted the place, and could understand the feel-
ing expressed by Shelley that " it might make one almost
in love with death to think that one should be buried in
so sweet a spot."
As an ardent admirer of both poets I was proud to offer
my small tribute to their genius and memory.
While drawing at Shelley's grave my thoughts shaped
themselves in the following sonnet : —
Cor Cordium
Tread softly, here the heart of Shelley lies :
His grave a garden, 'neath the cypress wood
Stirred with the tongues his spirit understood,
And spake in deathless song that vivifies
Men's souls made heavy with the world's sad cries,
Still when the darkness hides the dragon brood
Of evil, and while yet innocent blood
Is shed, and Truth and Falsehood change their dyes.
Thy voice is heard above this silent tomb,
And shall be heard until the end of days
While Freedom lives, and whatsoever things
Are good and lovely — still thy spirit sings ;
And by thy grave to-day fresh violets bloom,
But on thy head imperishable bays.
As connected with the memory of Shelley one may
mention that among the English visitors wintering in Rome
whom we met were Mrs. and Miss Trelawney, the wife and
daughter of Captain Trelawney, the friend of the poet, who
wrote the " Memorials." I have some recollection, too, of
seeing somewhere Captain Trelawney himself, whose striking
face was immortalised by Millais in his picture, " The North-
West Passage."
We met also a remarkable Shelley enthusiast in the person
of Captain Silsbee, an American, who was deeply read in
Shelley's poetry and the Shelley literature, his intense interest
in both being only divided by an almost equally intense
admiration for Japanese art, not then by any means common.
At last the day of our departure came, and, after a fare-
well glimpse of the Coliseum by moonlight, we said good-bye to
1871-73] MARRIAGE AND VISIT TO ITALY 153
Rome, and started on our way back to England, breaking the
journey first at Florence, where one renewed one's acquaintance
with some of the art treasures, also at Turin (returning by the
Mont Cenis tunnel), at Macon, and at Paris, as with a nurse
and a baby it had to be taken rather easily. However, in due
time we reached Charing Cross, and were put up for the first
few weeks at my mother's house at Hammersmith, until we
could find a home for ourselves. She was then living at
Sussex House, on the Upper Mall, a .charming old eighteenth-
century brick house, originally built for a Duke of Sussex, and
since divided into two houses. It had a long, old-fashioned
garden in the rear, and a small forecourt with a flagged way to
the front door ; the staircase was interesting, with rich and
varied balusters and carved treads. This house, later, became
associated with William Morris (who lived at Kelmscott House,
a few doors farther on the Mall) and the Kelmscott Press, he
having used it for the work of the Press, and since his death
it has been used by Mr. Emery Walker, for his work in
connection with the preparation of process plates and printing.
Opposite was " The Doves," famous as marking a critical point
on the river in Oxford and Cambridge boat-races, and now
giving its name to " The Doves Bindery " and " The Doves
Press " of Mr. Cobden Sanderson and Mr. Emery Walker,
his partner in the latter enterprise.
At Sussex House we spent some pleasant summer days —
" when the bean was in flower " — tempered by the anxiety
of house-hunting, but at last we discovered a suitable sort of
nest in Wood Lane, Shepherd's Bush, then a country lane
leading from the Green to Wormwood Scrubbs, crossed by the
viaduct of the Metropolitan Railway, here carried at a high
level on a long line of brick arches, which might, in imaginative
moods, form a poor substitute for the Claudian aqueduct to
eyes still haunted by reminiscences of the Roman Campagna
and anxious to mitigate the descent into a London suburb.
CHAPTER VI
LIFE IN THE "BUSH," 1873-1879
WOOD LANE, Shepherd's Bush, where we had decided to
make our home, at that time only had an irregular line
of old-fashioned detached houses along a part of its east side.
These houses mostly dated from the early years of the nine-
teenth century, and they all possessed gardens of various and
some of considerable extent, with the further advantage of
orchards and meadow-land, bounded by a fine belt of trees
which effectually shut out " the hideous town," and made a
pleasant oasis in the midst of brick fields.
The house we pitched upon was named " Florence," which
had an agreeable suggestion of Italy about it, and there was
a pleasant lawn with old apple trees upon it, no doubt
originally part of the orchard which still existed beyond the
boundary wall. An attractive feature was a large square
living-room with French windows opening on to the garden,
while a drawing-room of the same size above served me for a
studio. Here, then, after twenty months' wandering, we set
up housekeeping.
Our neighbours, only a few doors off, at Beaumont Lodge, at
that time were Mr. (now Sir) Edward J. Poynter and his wife,
who became very friendly, and frequent visits were exchanged
between the two houses. Mrs. E. J. Poynter was an
accomplished pianist, and after dinner frequently gave us some
charming music, accompanied on the 'cello by Mr. Mackenzie.
Our acquaintance with the Poynters led to again meeting the
Burne-Jones's, who were not so far away at the Grange. I
think it was there that I first met Mr. Spencer Stanhope, for
whose work I had long entertained a great admiration. It
was kindred in sentiment and treatment to the early work of
1 873 79] LIFE IN THE "BUSH" 155
Burne-Jones, but quite distinct and individual. I recall a
beautiful picture, called " The Mill," of a girl in a boat, reading, in
a black dress, with a background of picturesque mill buildings
reflected in a still pool beneath a wan sky, the tone
and poetic and decorative feeling of the whole being
delightful ; also a powerful decorative design of a woman in
golden-orange against the dark boughs of a cedar tree,
Miriam watching the bodies of her sons I think the subject
was, and the picture was in the Academy, Mr. Stanhope may
be said to have drawn his inspiration from much the same
sources as Burne-Jones, and, like him, showed in his early
works the influence of D. G. Rossetti, though, later, more
strongly that of the Florentine Quattro-Centi painters, whose
method of painting in tempera Mr. Stanhope was, I think, the
first among living English artists to revive.
His health not permitting him to live much in England,
he afterwards took up his residence permanently in Florence,
where his delightful villa at Bellosguardo is well remembered
by his friends.
I soon settled down to work, and commenced the pro-
cessional picture commissioned by Mr. Somerset Beaumont
in Rome, which I entitled " The Advent of Spring." Spring
appeared robed and crowned, her train held up by amorini,
and she walked under a canopy supported by four maidens ;
before her were piping shepherds and nymphs dancing,
and others trooped behind. At the end of the procession,
which emerged'!' from a wood, a figure cloaked in grey was
shown seizing one of the nymphs and snatching flowers
from her apron, suggesting a last assault of wintry weather.
The green hilly landscape, interspersed with buildings and
blossoming trees, was more or less founded on, or reminiscent
of, some of my Roman studies.
Work for the publishers, too, was resumed, and the series
of coloured picture-books for children which, in association
with Mr. Edmund Evans as the engraver and printer, had
been commenced in 1865 for the house of Routledge, and
a new and larger series started, which included Aladdin, The
Yellow Dzvarf, Beauty and the Beast, Princess Belle - etoile.
Goody Two Shoes, and The Hind in the Wood.
156 AN ARTIST'S REMINISCENCES [1873-79
While I was away in Italy, the publishers, who at first
were by no means converted to the efforts we were making to
get more artistic colour and treatment in these books, per-
ceiving a growing demand for them, issued a set of my
sixpenny books bound together, and called it Walter Cranes
Picture Book, but without my knowledge. This volume,
though far from being what I should have approved in its
general format, certainly served as a poster for me, and was,
I believe, a commercial success, but as I had no rights in it,
it was of no benefit to me in that respect.
My drawings for these books were done for a very modest
sum and sold outright to the publishers. The engraving and
printing was costly, and very large editions had to be sold
in order to make them pay — as many as 50,000 of a single
book, I was told, being necessary. However, if they did not
bring in much money, I had my fun out of them, as in design-
ing I was in the habit of putting in all sorts of subsidiary
detail that interested me, and often made them the vehicle
for my ideas in furniture and decoration.
This element, indeed, in the books soon began to be
discovered by architects and others interested in or directly
connected with house decoration, and this brought me some
occasional commissions for actual work in that way in the
form of friezes or frieze panels. Mr. E. J. Tarver, an architect
(long since deceased), got me to design and paint a frieze in
panels of animals and birds for a house in Palace Gardens
(Mr. De Murrietta's), and through him I also, later, did a
series of frieze panels (the subjects being from Aisop^s Fables)
in raised gesso for the house of Mr. Lee of Worcester, of the
well-known firm of Lee & Perrins. This must have been my
earliest work in this material. E. J. Tarver was a friend of
Mr. R. Phene Spiers, who was one of my old colleagues, on the
Committee of " The Quibblers." They, with a small group of
architects, formed a sketching club which met at each other's
houses, when a subject was given by the host of the evening,
and sketches were made by the guests. This society was
called " The Picts," if I remember rightly.
About this time, also, I painted a triptych on panels for
an old oak chimneypiece (at Boarzell) in the country house
1873-79] LIFE IN THE "BUSH" 157
of Mr. Gregory, formerly M.P. for East Sussex. The subjects
were from Winter's Tale. Perdita giving flowers to the
guests at the sheep-shearing in the centre, the shepherd
finding Perdita as an infant in the first panel, and Hermione
discovering herself to the king in the third.
In 1 874 was commenced the well-known series of children's
story-books by Mrs. Molesworth, issued by the house of
Macmillan. The first was Tell me a Story. I remember
being introduced to Mrs. Molesworth in the late Mr. G. L.
Craik's office. Mr. Craik then acted as reader to the firm,
and he arranged with me to supply the illustrations to these
very pretty stories, which I continued to do for many years.
In the summer of this year we paid a visit to the house at
Hythe, near Southampton, of Mr. and Mrs. Roland, friends
we had met in Rome, who had settled there in a pleasant
country house commanding a view of Southampton Water and
the Solent. Here we were introduced to an early form of lawn
tennis, called " sferistiki " (or something like that, which sounded
like " very sticky "), probably derived from the Italian game of
Sferisterio, or Pallone, we had seen played in Rome.
Mr. Roland had accompanied Layard on his Eastern travels,
and had been also with the traveller Urquhart, whose book on
the Lebanon he presented me with.
From the Rolands we went on to Swanage, with our little
Beatrice. Swanage was then unconnected with the main line by
railway as now, and a drive by coach of some eleven miles was
necessary. It was then a very charming primitive little village.
In the autumn of 1874 I experienced one of the saddest
losses in life — the death of my mother. She had struggled
with remarkable fortitude against ill-health and adverse circum-
stances for years, suffering from a distressing cough, but her
energy, spirit, and self-sacrifice were wonderful. She began to
fail towards the end of the summer, and after a few weeks
passed away at Sussex House in September of that year, the
house being afterwards given up. Pleasant neighbours had
been found by my sister and brother at Hammersmith in
the Gibson family, who occupied Bridge House, on the
Mall, and one of the sons being at Oxford and another
at Cambridge, their house was naturally distinctly interested
158 AN ARTIST'S REMINISCENCES [1873-79
in the annual inter-university race on the Thames, and was
full on such occasions, as hospitable riverside houses are
apt to be. Several of the daughters were studying art, and
this formed another sympathetic link ; they were also among
the early revivers of taste in furniture and decoration, two
of the ladies even opening a shop for artistic furniture stuffs
and bric-a-brac. In this they were assisted by Mr. Chambery
Townsend, an architect of much refinement of taste (who
afterwards married one of the Misses Gibson). One of the
wallpaper patterns issued by Morris & Company was said to
have been discovered by this gentleman on the wall of an
ancient house and offered to the firm.
Speaking of wallpapers reminds me that it was in 1875
that I designed my first. Mr, Metford Warner, of the famous
firm of Jeffrey & Co. (the same who printed all William
Morris's papers), called upon me and commissioned me to
design a nursery wallpaper — no doubt in consequence of seeing
my children's books. The design was in three columns divided
by a narrow border, each column containing a group illustrative
of a nursery rhyme, — Bo Peep and Boy Blue and the Queen
of Hearts figured in it, — and it was for machine-printing,
which necessitated the outlines of the faces being formed of
brass wire (which was not particularly favourable to subtlety
of expression), but one relied more upon the decorative effect
of the general distribution and colour.
It seemed to be successful, and was even imitated in its
main motive in a paper brought out by a rival firm — a
compliment of very doubtful advantage. With this design,
however (the forerunner of many), a connection was established
with the firm of Jeffrey & Co., which has continued up to
the present time, a period of thirty years. Another design
in which " Little Queen Anne " appeared, which was of a
distinctly vertical character, was presently imitated as a
floorcloth by another firm, whose enterprise was more to their
credit than their taste or honesty ; but the copyright of a
design only protected its use in the same material in those days.
In 1875, too, appeared Mrs. Mundi at Home, an
attempt in quite a different mode and with quite a different
aim from those of the children's books. It was playful,
1873-79] LIFE IN THE «BUSH'^ 159
fantastic, and allegorical, a medley of all sorts of characters
and subjects, astronomical, political, social, with satirical or
humorous allusions to current events and notabilities of the
time.
These mixed elements I endeavoured to combine in a
series of designs in outline, and accompanied them with
descriptive verses — the second title of the book being " Lines
and Outlines."
On the appearance of Mrs. Mundi I had a very friendly
letter from Mr. Linley Sambourne (the famous Punch artist),
whom I did not then know personally, expressing his interest
in the work and the wish to make my acquaintance, as he
thought we should have " many ideas in common." But, as
one of my reviewers said (who I suspect was my friend Wise),
in concluding a notice of the book, " Sic transit gloria (Mrs.)
Mundi" (!).
The book was published by the then existing firm of
Marcus Ward & Co., for whom I had already designed
other things, including a set of Christmas cards and a set of
valentines. The latter designs were afterwards re-published
by them in a book, together with some early designs by Kate
Greenaway of figures in mediaeval costume, but I had nothing
to do with the scheme or arrangement of the book, and I
never considered the reproductions of the valentine designs at
all satisfactory, as they were copied on to the stone and much
of the character lost in the process, under which they had
caught — not the measles — but a certain lithographic-mealiness
which is very objectionable.
This was before my elder brother (Thomas) was appointed
Art Director to the firm, a post he occupied for many years —
in fact until the firm dissolved. He had always shown taste
in drawing, and developed considerable facility in floral design,
for which he found much scope in the many publications of
the firm in the direction of decorative Christmas cards,
calendars, and books printed in colours, and much of his work
appeared in such forms (though among other things he designed
the facade for the new business premises of the firm in
Farringdon Street), as well as, later, in coloured picture-books,
for which he designed the purely ornamental pages, while
i6o AN ARTIST'S REMINISCENCES [1873-79
the figure designs were produced by a very talented cousin
of ours, Mrs. Houghton inie Bolton), a daughter of my father's
sister, who lived at Warrington. This lady studied at the same
local school of art as Mr. Luke Fildes and Mr. Henry Woods
before they came to London, and early showed remarkable
artistic feeling and decorative taste, which found expression in
a variety of ways, besides in the publications above mentioned.
I continued to paint in oil, and to offer at least one
picture each year to the Royal Academy, but had met
with nothing but rejection since 1872. The same fate
(or shall we say distinctionT) attended a picture produced
this year, entitled " Amor Vincit Omnia " — a fanciful allegory
rather in what might be called a Spenserian vein, showing
an Amazonian city surrendering to General Love and his
forces, with reminiscences of Rome and Florence in the back-
ground. This picture was many years afterwards bought
by Sir Francis Gore.
The Dudley Gallery, however, enabled me to show my
water-colour work, and I continued to send there, eventually
serving on the Committee, where my colleagues were Ernest
Waterlow (now Sir, and President of the R.W.S.) ; G. D. Leslie,
R.A. ; H. S. Marks, R.A. ; Frank Walton, R.I. (now President
of the Royal Institute). Exhibitions of works in oil were also
organised in the winter months under the same Committee,
which gave one further opportunities of exhibiting.
About 1876 Sir Coutts Lindsay projected his scheme for
the Grosvenor Gallery in Bond Street. He felt that many
most distinguished artists were either very inadequately repre-
sented at the exhibitions of the Royal Academy, being either
entirely ignored or indifferently treated by them, while there
were others who never submitted their work to that body at all.
Among these were painters of such distinction as Edward
Burne-Jones, Alphonse Legros, J. McNeill Whistler, R. Spencer
Stanhope, Cecil Lawson, W. Holman Hunt, and many less
known younger artists.
Except at the Dudley Gallery, I do not think Burne-
Jones had publicly exhibited at all since the affair at the
Old Water Colour Society, and the wonderful work he had
been doing since those days was entirely unknown to the
1873-79] LIFE IN THE "BUSH" 161
general public, though it had long been the object of en-
thusiastic admiration by an inner circle of devoted admirers.
In inviting the artists named and others to contribute to
his exhibition, Sir Coutts no doubt relied largely upon the
support of Burne-Jones and the interest his work would create.
He, however, was very catholic, and included several amateurs
(of whom he himself was the most distinguished) in his first
exhibition.
He also very kindly extended his invitation to me, and I
remember his calling at our house one Sunday afternoon, with
Lady Lindsay, to speak of his scheme, and to ask me to send
to the exhibition, which was to open in the spring of 1877.
I had brought back a considerable number of water-colour
studies and sketches from Italy, and these had interested the
few who had seen them. Among others, Burne-Jones, who
was good enough to bring Mr. William Graham, his then
almost exclusive patron, who was acquiring a wonderful
collection of the painter's works (which I afterwards saw at
his house), and who I remember saying on this occasion, that
in regard to the possession of works by Burne-Jones, " were
it not for one or two rivals about the town, he should have
been quite happy."
I had a picture on the easel at that time which had won
much sympathy from Burne-Jones, who wrote about it as
follows : —
"The Grange
" My dear Crane, — Will you kindly tell me the ransom
of that beautiful * Domus Temporis ' ? I know a lady very
anxious to possess one of your works, and if I could say
distinctly that I remember one for sale at such a sum it might
hasten matters.
" The bearer of this is an admirer of yours (who happens
also to be my son). If at any time he may see your studio, it
would be a great treat to him, and he has more comprehension
of pictures than his years would promise — but never when you
are busy.
" To-morrow week, if you and Mrs, Crane would like to
come to my studio, I shall be very glad. — Ever yours truly,
" E. B.-J."
1 62 AN ARTIST'S REMINISCENCES [1873-79
He afterwards brought Mr. Graham to see this picture, with
the idea he might like to buy it. I had entitled the picture
" Winter and Spring." It showed a ruined house of a Roman
or Renascence character. The figure of Spring in a light green
robe was hanging a garland over the broken doorway, while
crouched on the steps below sat another figure (Winter)
wrapped in a grey mantle. Through the door in the atrium
was seen a bronze figure of Time on a pedestal, with a sickle
and an hour-glass, and through the ruined archway beyond
the dark horizon of the sea.
Mr. Graham, however, seemed much more interested in
my Roman and Italian studies in the folios, and in turning
these over, selected several and put them aside, wishing to
purchase them ; but I did not wish to offer them for sale, so
that no business was done. I remember his advising me to
stick to landscape, on the ground that there were so few in
England who were interested in imaginative art. He
reminded me that there was only one Burne-Jones, and
apparently the country could not support more of that way
of thinking. I listened respectfully, but I remained uncon-
vinced, though from the commercial point of view, at least,
he may have been right.
Mr. Graham went so far, however, as to request me to
send " Winter and Spring " to his house, saying he thought
" a friend " might like it. He sent it back to me again in a cab
in a day or two, so I suppose it did not suit. This picture
afterwards was exhibited at the Dudley, and was purchased
by Mr. Eustace Balfour.
I should mention that in the summer of 1875 ^ had quite
unexpectedly met my old friend J. R. Wise again. My wife
and I had taken our little one to Whitby for a few weeks, and
were much charmed by the old red-roofed fishing town below
the green slopes, with the ruined Abbey and church on the hill
above.
One day, walking towards Sandsend, I saw the well-known
and rather unusual-looking figure of my old friend on the
road some way in front. I soon overtook him ; but he hardly
recognised me at first. I found he had been living in retire-
ment at a remote farmhouse near Sandsend, carrying on his
1873-79] LIFE IN THE "BUSH" 163
literary work. He did a good deal of reviewing for the
Westminster Review, the Saturday, and other journals, and
his room was full of books.
A work that had recently made a profound impression
upon me was the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, translated by
Edward Fitzgerald (which I was glad to introduce to my
friend's notice). It was then only known to comparatively
few, but since has become " familiar in men's mouths as
household words," and has appeared in endless editions.
I first saw it at The Grange, in the beautiful illuminated
MS. form, belonging to Lady Burne-Jones, in which the
Rubaiyat had been enshrined by William Morris, who wrote
the script with his own hand, and in the illuminated borders
and pictures his collaborators were Burne-Jones and Fairfax
Murray. Shortly afterwards meeting Mr. Frederic Harrison,
he showed me a copy — one of the original little square ones
published by Quaritch — which belonged to Mr. John Morley,
who had lent it him, and who now allowed him to lend it to
me. These copies were then very scarce, though I remember
Mr. Quaritch at a dinner of the " Odd Volumes " in later years
telling the story of their publication and the difficulties he
experienced in getting rid of them at any price, though they
finally were put outside the shop, I think he said at a penny
apiece ! Another edition was, however, published, and I, later,
acquired a copy for myself.
The vivid and significant imagery, the oriental richness
and colour, the pathetic or satiric philosophy, its extra-
ordinarily modern touches, and the general aptness of its
reflections on life, together with the fascinating music of the
quatrains, so completely enchanted one that it awoke a sort
of echo in one's mind, which gradually took shape in a series
of verses of similar construction but very different sentiment
and ultimate aim, and which, with accompanying illustrations,
I afterwards wrote in a script of my own, and they were
eventually published under the title of " The Sirens Three," in
the English Illustrated Magazine in its early days, when under
the editorship of Mr. Comyns Carr, and afterwards issued as a
volume by Messrs. Macmillan & Co. in 1885. The blocks
were facsimiled from my drawings, and the designs contained
1 64 AN ARTIST'S REMINISCENCES [1873-79
many nude figures, and this circumstance brought* the wrath of
many fierce puritanical correspondents down upon the editor's
head, so he afterwards told me !
While at Florence House I completed a portrait of Mrs.
Frederic Harrison — a small full-length in oil, the lady seated
in her own drawing-room, with the Morris daisy paper on the
wall, and Eastern rugs, Chinese vases, and other accessaries
carefully represented around her.
Another portrait on much the same scale I did about the
same time, but in water colour, was that of Mrs. Lyulph
Stanley, who had a dress specially designed and made for the
occasion. Here again I made a faithful record of the actual
background and accessaries, a principal feature of which was
a marble Queen Anne mantelpiece by which the lady was
standing. This portrait was afterwards exhibited at the
Dudley Gallery.
About this time the Royal School of Art Needlework was
established in Exhibition Road, South Kensington, by the
exertions of Lady Marian Alford, Mrs. Percy Wyndham (who
was especially keen), and other grand dames, headed by H.R.H.
Princess Christian, who was President. Miss Wade was manager,
and a sort of Advisory Committee was formed, of which William
Morris, George Aitcheson (afterwards R.A.), Fairfax Wade,
and myself were members, and Miss Burden (sister of Mrs.
William Morris) was appointed chief instructress in the School.
At the Philadelphia Exhibition the School had a show, and I
designed hangings for their room, besides many other designs
from time to time for screens, panels, and other things, in which
I introduced figures, birds (notably peacocks), and animals, and
many of them are still worked, I believe.
Among our visitors at Florence House may be mentioned
Mr. Luke Fildes and his wife, Mr. Thomas Armstrong (who
became godfather to our elder son, Lionel), Mr. and Mrs. (now
Sir and Lady) Alma Tadema, and Mr. and Mrs. George
Simonds, Miss Greatorex (the late Madame de Gorloff),
and Madame Bodichon (a pioneer in the modern woman's
movement), Mrs. Eustace Smith, and Sir Charles Dilke, Mr.
and Mrs. Frederic Harrison, Mr. and Mrs. Lyulph Stanley,
Mr. and Mrs. William Allingham, Mr. and Mrs. Comyns Carr,
t873-79] LIFE IN THE "BUSH" 165
Mrs. Russell Barrington (who frequently wrote most sym-
pathetically about my work, and was always especially
interested in the Italian studies I brought home).
In addition to these we made the acquaintance of the Rev.
H. R. Haweis and Mrs. Haweis, who then lived in Wimpole
Street, and were in the habit of giving large evening receptions.
At one of these I remember meeting Gustave Dore, whose
work as an illustrator of Don Quixote and of the Bible was
then very much in evidence in England, and I think his
Picture Gallery in Bond Street was also started, and attracted
the British public in considerable numbers.
In appearance Dor^ was unmistakably French, but
exceedingly quiet in manner and uncommunicative. He
looked prosperous and inclined to be stout. He spoke in
English, though I do not recall much more than monosyllables,
and his smooth face and small moustache did not suggest the
romantic and grotesque imagination which many of his
designs, notably the earlier work, such as those to the Contes
drolatiques undoubtedly possess.
Another house we frequented was that of Mr. J. P.
Heseltine, who had had a delightful one built for himself in
Queen's Gate by Mr. Norman Shaw in his earlier rather
Flemish manner. It was the first to break the monotony of
the grey stucco. Here I met the architect himself, also
Charles Keene and other artists.
Mr. Heseltine (now one of the Trustees of the National
Gallery) had an interesting collection of pictures, and even
acquired one of mine from the Dudley, " The Earth and
Spring," a water colour for which I had also written a
sonnet.
I remember seeing Mr. Fildes' famous picture of " The
Casuals" on his easel at King Henry's Road — the picture
which (in its early form in black and white in the Graphic
had attracted the attention of Charles Dickens) had made
the artist's reputation. He was recently knighted.
In May 1876 we had an addition to our family, our son
Lionel arriving. Overleaf is a sketch of him at two years old.
About this time, too, we were in treaty with the Poynters for
the transference of the lease of the house (Beaumont Lodge)
1 66
AN ARTISTS REMINISCENCES [1873-79
L.r.c.
to us. Mr. Poynter, at that time head of the Slade School at
University College, relinquished this post for the appointment
as head of the National Art Training School at South
Kensington, which he had just been offered. Wishing to be
nearer to his work there, and being provided with a studio, he no
longer required the one he had in his garden (which, on his
taking Beaumont Lodge, had been converted into a spacious
studio out of the stables by Mr, Philip Webb). I was in want
of a studio, the lighting not being sufficiently good in the
room I used at Florence House, and although we liked our
house, it came about that
5LP. '7187a the combined advantages
of the studio and the large
garden at Beaumont Lodge
carried the day, and we
decided on making the
move, though it involved
heavier responsibilities in
the matter of rent and taxes.
I had, however, already
worked in Poynter's studio,
as he had kindly lent it to
me in order to work out
a frieze I had been com-
missioned to paint for Mrs.
Eustace Smith's boudoir in
the house at Prince's Gate.
This consisted of a design
of white cockatoos with lemon and orange crests on a gold
ground, connected by fanciful scroll-work in bronze green and
red. This frieze brought me the acquaintance of Mr. George
Aitcheson, for whom I afterwards did other designs. About
the same time Sir Charles Dilke, to whom I was introduced
by Mrs. Eustace Smith, wished me to make a water-colour
drawing for him of Medmenham Abbey, showing John
Wilkes's famous inscription over the doorway, " Fait ce que
voudras" and I went down in the autumn of 1875, I think, to
do this, staying at the inn there, which is in the Abbey
grounds, close to the Thames side. Many of the meadows
SKETCH OF LIONEL FRANCIS CRANE
AT TWO YEARS OLD
1873-79] LIFE IN THE "BUSH" 167
were flooded, and rich-toned autumn woods reflected in the
silver streaks had a beautiful effect, and induced me to make
an extra drawing, which was promptly bought by Mrs. Eustace
Smith. At Medmenham I remember meeting Mr. Keeley
Halswelle, who lived and worked then mostly on the
Thames, and had recently renewed his reputation by pictures
of the river in which showery skies played an important
part.
The flitting (though it was not a long flight) was not
made under very favourable auspices, as my wife had not re-
covered her health, and to save her the discomfort and worry
involved in changing houses the Hon. Mrs. George Howard
(now Lady Carlisle) most kindly proposed her, with the baby,
staying a week or two at Palace Green, their new and beautiful
house, Which had been designed and built for them by Mr.
Philip Webb. This was gladly accepted. Nothing, indeed,
could exceed the friendliness of Mr. and Mrs. Howard to us
at that time. Mr. Howard offered me an important piece of
work, too. This was to carry to completion a frieze which
had been designed and commenced by Burne-Jones for the
decoration of the dining-room at the Palace Green house.
The subject was the story of Cupid and Psyche, arranged as
a series of panels of different lengths, but all, of course, of
the same depth, to fit together as the structural necessities
of the room allowed. The designs themselves were more or
less adapted from a series of woodcuts which had been
designed by Burne-Jones and cut on wood by William Morris,
and were part of a series of designs which had been projected
by them for an illustrated edition of The Earthly Paradise,
but which were never completed. The frieze was to be
painted in flat oil colour on canvas enriched with raised
details gilded somewhat after the manner of Pinturrichio.
The canvases — in various stages, some blank, some just
commenced, some, in parts, considerably advanced — were all
sent to my new studio at Beaumont Lodge, and I started on
the work, having the prints from the woodcuts above
mentioned to go by. One or two of the subjects, such as
" Zephyrus and Psyche," " Cupid finding Psyche asleep," and
" Cupid recovering Psyche from the effects of the Opened
1 68 AN ARTISTS REMINISCENCES [1873-79
Casket," had been treated by Burne-Jones in water colour as
completed pictures, but in the frieze these formed groups,
and became parts of larger compositions containing several
incidents in the story. One subject, " Psyche received by
the Gods and Goddesses," where the figures were on a
THE GODS RECEIVING CUPID AND PSYCHE (l)
Early design hy Sir E. Burne-Jones. Engraved on wood by William Morris
{Adapted as a panel at Palace Green)
smaller scale, filled an alcove at one end of the room on
the eye-line.
In the treatment I allowed myself considerable freedom,
especially in the subjects not already commenced or carried
1873-79]
LIFE IN THE "BUSH''
169
far, though I endeavoured to preserve the spirit and feeling
of the original designs. One of the canvases, representing
the procession conducting Psyche to be sacrificed to the
demands of the unknown monster, had been considerably-
advanced before it reached me, and this one Burne-Jones
THE GODS RECEIVING CUPID AND PSYCHE (2)
Early design by Sir E. Burne-Jones. Cut by William Morris
desired to reserve for himself to finish as a separate picture,
which he afterwards did, and I started the subject afresh on a
new canvas for the frieze. When I had carried the painting
of the frieze as far as I could in the studio, the canvases
went back to Palace Green, and were put up in position on
170 AN ARTISTS REMINISCENCES [1873-79
the wall. Burne-Jones then joined me, and we both worked
on the frieze, in situ, from trestles.
The whimsical humour of the artist, which was his usual
mood in everyday life, would never have been suspected by
those who only knew him in his romantic, pensive, and poetic
designs. He was always playing. I remember, while at
work on this frieze with me, he pretended to assume the
manner and language of the ordinary British workman " on
the job," with a touch of caricature, of course, and when
Mr. Howard came in to see the progress of the work, he,
Burne-Jones, would by remarks to me, in sotto voce, insinuate
the broadest hints about prospective cigars and drinks we
were to enjoy at our host's expense.
The work was finished at last, and there was a Christmas
party at Palace Green to celebrate the event, a family gathering
of the Howards and the Stanleys and Ogilvies (I think the
Dowager Lady Stanley of Alderley, whom we used to meet
at this time at Palace Green, and the Countess of Airlie
were present on this occasion, and the young Lord Ogilvie,
who since succeeded his father in the earldom, and lost his
life in the South African War), with a few artists and their
wives added — to wit, the Burne-Jones's, the Poynters, and
ourselves, and we had a merry evening, diversified with "dumb
crambo " and country dances.
At Palace Green I remember, too, meeting Mr. James
Bryce, who was my opponent in a game at lawn tennis, Lord
Carlisle and he playing against Mr. Stafford Howard and
myself. The green where we played is now being built
over.
It was Lord Carlisle (then Mr. George Howard) who I
remember brought Mr. Henry James to see us at Beaumont
Lodge. He made some remark in admiration of the artistic
treatment of the house and of English houses generally, when
Mr. Howard said that he must not suppose that they were all
like ours, or that artistic feeling was by any means the rule
in English interiors.
My old friend Wise having occasion to leave his hermitage
at Sandsend and come up to London, paid us a visit, and we
afterwards joined him in the course of the summer or early
1873-79] LIFE IN THE "BUSH'' 171
autumn in the Forest of Dean, where he had taken up pleasant
quarters at Speech House, an old-fashioned hotel in the midst
of the woods, where formerly forest courts were held. It was
an interesting district, and we took the opportunity to see
Tintern Abbey and the Wye.
Mr. Poynter had recently completed his picture of
" Atalanta's Race " for the billiard - room of the Earl of
Wharncliffe at Wortley Hall, and he proposed to complete
the decoration of the room by some scheme of ornamental
design. Mr. Poynter having his hands full, was kind enough
to recommend me for the work, and I was invited down to
Wortley Hall in November, in order that I might see the
room and devise a scheme of decoration for it.
Both Lord and Lady Wharncliffe were very kind and
hospitable, and pressed me to stay a week. Among the
house party were Colonel Thynne, the Hon. Gerald Lascelles
and his wife, Colonel Stanley (afterwards Lord Derby), and
Archibald Stuart-Wortley, the painter. Shooting was the
main pursuit, and was organised at Wortley on a considerable
scale. One of the days there was a great drive through the
woods, and an army of beaters was engaged, who seemed to
do their horrid work very thoroughly, and as the line of guns
advanced, steadily tramping through the underwood, they
were kept busy by the cries of the keepers, " Rabbit back ! "
or " Hare forward ! " as the poor frightened creatures sprang
out of cover in desperate attempts to escape, but the sportsmen
being good shots, gave them very little chance. There are
few sounds more heart-rending than the scream of a wounded
hare : then the rows of slain laid out in the stable-yard at
the end of the day did not make one exactly in love with
modern " sport." (I had previously seen something of the
old-fashioned sort with dog and gun on the Derbyshire
moors.) The bags made were certainly very large, and
numbers seemed rather the object. I remember Archie Stuart-
Wortley, who was a very keen sportsman (and who painted
pictures at that time chiefly for sportsmen), carefully counting
the number of brace, separating them with the butt end of his
gun, as he went along the lines of fur or feathers as they lay
in long rows on the flagstones of the courtyard.
172
AN ARTIST'S REMINISCENCES [1873-79
A brake and pair generally drove the shooting party to the
scene of operations, and I remember on driving through the
park we passed the American bison which his lordship had
imported. This strange-looking beast was reported to be
savage, but I wanted to make a sketch of him, so I got off the
brake, while the party went on, and managed to get a note
from a respectful distance, Stuart- Wortley afterwards jocularly
remarking, when I rejoined the shooting party, that he fully
expected to hear the shout raised, " Crane ! mark down ! " in
anticipation of the bison's reception of me — but he could not
have been as black as he was painted. A picnic luncheon
• • ";• >•?♦;' c •;
PHEASANT-SHOOTING AT WORTLEY (1876)
"Col. Thynis expectans — rocketans est phasis in alto
Keeper cum canibus, rapidus dum defluit amnls."
varied the proceedings in the middle of the day, the ladies
sometimes joining the party to witness the shooting in the
afternoon, though none of them handled a gun themselves.
One of the days was devoted to pheasant-shooting. The
guns were stationed at intervals along the grassy bank of a
stream, which formed a stretch of greensward in front of the
woods, each sportsman having his attendant ready with a
second gun loaded. The birds were driven out of the woods
by the beaters, and flying across the open were shot.
To a little pencil sketch I made of this scene, while the
sportsmen were waiting for the pheasants to appear, Lord
Wharnclifife appended a Latin verse of his own composing.
Game-cards on the dinner-table in the evening gave the
1873-79] LIFE IN THE "BUSH'' 173
names of the parts of the estate shot over during the day, and
the number of brace killed.
In the evening Lady Wharncliffe sometimes took up her
embroidery frame, and the company would amuse them.selves
by singing "nigger" songs, or in other light and gamesome ways,
till the ladies retired, and the men adjourned to the smoking-
room, not turning in generally till about two in the morning.
I did not find this sort of life very favourable to designing,
and so did not make much progress with my scheme for the
decoration of the billiard-room while there, beyond taking the
measurements, and though afterwards, on returning home, I
made a coloured sketch for the ceiling and frieze, the work
was destined never to come off.
Somehow the Earl seemed to change his plans — at
least, he wrote requesting me to defer the work for the
time being, and if I had other " irons in the fire," as he ex-
pressed it, he hoped I would be able to attend to them first.
I had intended a rather elaborate scheme, including a painted
ceiling with Night and Day and the Hours, and a frieze in
relief, and I fancy my estimate came to rather more than his
lordship intended to spend on the work, and I presume the
two large pictures by the present President of the Royal
Academy painted for the same room must have cost him a
considerable sum. One of these, as I have mentioned, was
" Atalanta's Race," but the first illustrated the old ballad
commonly known as " The Dragon of Wantley," properly
" Wortley," and showed the heroic " More of More Hall "
engaged in his famous fight with the scaly monster while
the captive lady waited to be rescued. The background
commemorated the lovely scenery of the Wortley estate, with
its richly wooded hills and shining river flowing between.
Both these works were seen in the Academy Exhibition at the
time they were painted.
Eventually the decoration of the billiard-room at Wortley
was undertaken by Sir E. J. Poynter himself, which after all,
since he had already furnished the central features in these
pictures, was perhaps the most fitting solution ; but it was
friendly of him to suggest a comparatively unknown artist,
as I then was, for the work.
174 AN ARTIST'S REMINISCENCES [1873-79
However, my hands were full enough. I had projected
an important picture for the forthcoming first Grosvenor
Gallery Exhibition in response to Sir Coutts Lindsay's in-
vitation, which I hoped to finish in the intervals of my book-
work. This was " The Renascence of Venus." My friend
Wise had seen the coloured sketch for this picture, and
seemed so struck with it that he made what he termed a
" sporting " proposal in regard to the picture. This was
that he would, to secure me against loss, and to enable me
to complete it on the large scale I had projected, advance
me a part of the price, on the understanding that if a pur-
chaser came forward on its being exhibited the money was
to be returned to him. I thought this extremely good of
him, and the help was very timely. I was able to finish
the picture, and in due course it went to the Grosvenor
Gallery, where it occupied a fairly good place in the neigh-
bourhood of the fine group of Burne-Jones's pictures in the
large west gallery.^
^ The picture was well received by the critics, for a wonder. Some of their com-
ments were curious. The World said : ' ' Mr. Burne-Jones's mysteries and miracle
pictures find support in such contributions as Mr. Walter Crane's ' Renaissance of
Venus.' " The Daily Telegraph remarked that though "an artist inexpressibly dear to
all the patrons of children's picture-books, shows that he can be occasionally on
grave labours bent in (70) the delicately drawn and more delicately coloured
'Renaissance of Venus.'" TYie Examiner viz.% patronising but encouraging : "Mr.
Crane has still much to learn in the matter of expressive draughtsmanship, as the nude
figure of Venus testifies ; but the design of his work as a whole exhibits a very
remarkable feeling for ornamental beauty, and the execution of certain parts of it —
of clear sea water, distant landscape, and the almond tree delicately traced against
the sky — is a marvel of pure colour and sound workmanship. Of all the younger
essays in imaginative painting to be found in the Gallery, this is, indeed, to our
thinking, the most original and the most hopeful."
Mr. William Rossetti was good enough to write in the Academy that "Mr.
Crane's chief contribution is rather high up ; however, it can be adequately estimated.
It is named ' The Renaissance of Venus,' a title which one has to think over a little
before one hits upon any genuine meaning for it ; but we suppose it to signify sub-
stantially ' The Re-birth of Beauty ' ; Venus, as the symbol of beauty, re-bom at the
period of art and culture. At any rate, Mr. Crane has painted a charming and
delicious picture, full of gracious purity — one which holds its own well even against
such formidable competition as that of Mr. Burne-Jones. We see a liquid bay and
sands, the ruins of a classic temple, three women bathing, an almond tree in bloom,
white doves darting and hovering about, and in the left foreground the queenly
apparition of Venus. As in Mr. Armstrong's picture, blue is here the predominant
colour, but in a lighter way ; a sweet, clear, brilliant blue, not chilly, but softly
limpid."
1873-79] LIFE IN THE "BUSH" 175
This gallery had a deep coved frieze immediately below
the top lights, and this frieze was decorated from the designs
of Mr. Whistler, and consisted of the phases of the moon
with stars on a subdued blue ground, the moon and stars
being brought out in silver, the frieze being divided into
panels by the supports of the glass roof. The " phases "
were sufficiently separated from each other. The walls were
hung with crimson silk damask of an Italian eighteenth-
century pattern divided by white and gold pilasters. I never
thought this silk suited either the pictures or the cooler
scheme of the cove. It was, however, a notable exhibition
and a notable event in the artistic world.
The group of works of Burne-Jones occupied the whole
of one end of the gallery, and extended part way down on
each side. It included many of the artist's important works
which have since become so well known by reproductions,
such as the " The Days of Creation," " Venus's Mirror,"
" Merlin and Mimue." There were also fine works by
Alphonse Legros and J. McNeill Whistler (it was, I think,
in this exhibition that Whistler had his picture of fireworks
at Cremorne, which so offended Ruskin that it caused him
to write in his notes published on certain pictures of the year
the famous passage which became the subject of libel action
brought by the painter against the critic, resulting, after a
long trial in which various well-known artists gave evidence,
in a verdict for the plaintiff" — damages one farthing), W. B.
Richmond, Albert Moore, Holman Hunt, R. Spencer Stanhope,
besides a few Royal Academicians, such as J. E. Millais and
G. F. Watts and Leighton, and I think also Alma Tadema.
This first Grosvenor Gallery Exhibition was a mixed but dis-
tinguished show. Though Sir Coutts did not take any decisive
line in opposition to the Academy, his object was to show the
works of painters who had been rather ignored by that body
for the most part, so that though he might be said at first to
have, like King David, gathered unto him all those who were
discontented and distressed, and more or less in revolt against
Academic tradition, he seemed quite ready to accept the sup-
port of certain members of that body as well as that of some
amateurs. The position at once taken by the Grosvenor
176 AN ARTIST'S REMINISCENCES [1873-79
Gallery, however, made it at once one of the most formidable
rival shows the Academy have ever had, and no doubt the
soirees held there and Lady Lindsay's Sunday afternoon
receptions, which were attended by Royalty, the aristocracy,
and the fashionable world, as well as the artists and the
intellectuals, helped to increase the prestige of the Gallery
from the worldly point of view.
Messrs. Comyns Carr and C. E. Halle were appointed by
Sir Coutts to help him in the direction and management of
the Gallery, and he latterly left much in their hands, although
at one time one had the impression that he (Sir Coutts)
desired to fill the part of a sort of modern Lorenzo Magnifico
and befriend, if not to champion, the cause of art and artists
generally. He called a meeting of artists to confer on the
copyright question (at the Gallery), I remember, which was then
certainly in a very unsatisfactory state. The meeting was a
very representative one, and certain resolutions were passed for
the better protection of artists — painters, at all events. William
Morris, who was present, thought the interests of decorative
artists had been rather overlooked, as indeed they were.
In the summer of 1877 we went to Bamborough with
our two young children — I think on the recommendation of
Mr. Howard, who had shown me some admirable studies
he had made there. It proved a long journey and difficult,
with children and nurses ; but we were charmed with the place
when we did eventually get there — the unusual aspect of
the Northumbrian village (the home of Grace Darling and
the scene of her heroism), with a thick grove of trees covering
its green, and the noble keep of the great castle rising into
view at the end of the straggling street which led down to
the sand dunes and the sea. There was a lovely stretch of
sand, and an entire absence of the common objects of an
ordinary seaside resort, and nothing to spoil or vulgarise the
romantic interest of the country, framed inland by the Cheviot
Hills. I found plenty of subjects, and among others
Spindleston Heugh gave me in its curious legend of " The
Laidley Worm," associated with the spot, materials for a
romantic picture which I afterwards carried out and exhibited
at the Grosvenor.
C S
O if
1873-79] LIFE IN THE "BUSH" 177
From Bamborough we paid a visit to Naworth Castle, the
beautiful country home of the Howards, near the Cumberland
border, before returning to London,
I think it was in the autumn of 1877 that we had what
we called our " house-warming," and gathered all our friends
together, holding open house and studio. The company in-
cluded most of those already mentioned, I think. The Countess
of Lovelace (then Miss Stuart- Wortley) was also present.
Previously to this, but the same year, we had met for the
first time Mr. William Blake Richmond (now Sir and K.C.B.) at
the house of the late J. C. Moore, the eldest brother of the
three distinguished artists of that name (the other two being,
respectively, Albert Moore, the decorative figure painter, and
Henry Moore (afterwards R.A.), the famous sea painter). Mr.
J. C. Moore then lived in Kensington Square, No. 8, a charm-
ing eighteenth-century house, since unfortunately pulled down
to make way for the commonplace buildings which have
invaded the old square on the eastern side and quite put it
out of countenance.
J. C. Moore's work was less known than that of his
brothers', though he was the elder, but his landscape studies
in water colour of Rome and the Campagna had a singular
refinement and charm, as also, latterly, his portraits of children,
which had a considerable vogue.
I was glad to meet Richmond the younger (his father, Mr.
George Richmond, the Academician, was then alive), as I had
often admired his work, and we found as we exchanged ideas
we had many sympathies in common, and frequently paid
visits to each other's studios. In those days there was gene-
rally a lawn-tennis party on Saturdays at Beavor Lodge, in
the charming garden of the old house. Both Richmond and
myself were fond of the game, and with his brothers and
other young men who met there, among whom was Mr. Erat
Harrison, the artist (who worked as a pupil in Richmond's
studio at the time), a good set was generally to be had, and
the guests frequently stayed on to an informal dinner or
supper, and pleasant evenings were spent afterwards in the
studio, which was always full of interesting work in painting,
modelling, and decoration.
178 AN ARTIST'S REMINISCENCES [1873-79
In the midst of more ambitious work, however, I kept
my book-work going. The series of children's picture-books
issued by Messrs, Routledge & Co., which had been added
to year by year, had now come to an end with The Sleeping
Beauty in the Wood. I had offered to continue them if
granted a small royalty, but as the firm took the line rather
of the provincial trader who said, " We lose on every article
we sell, it is only the quantity that makes it pay," there
was nothing further to be hoped for in that direction, so I
struck. Taking counsel with my friend the printer, Mr.
Edmund Evans, we planned a book of another order, and
The Baby's Opera was the result.
I remember my wife and I went to stay at Mr, Evans's
charming house at Witley, in Surrey, and it was there that
the general idea and the size and bulk of the book were
settled upon, Mr. Evans's experience as a printer being
most valuable in the practical details of cost and make up,
and he supplied me with a dummy book, so that I was
enabled to design the volume complete, with the pages in
relation to each other and in strict accordance with the exi-
gencies of the press and the cost of production.
Mr. Evans's house was pleasantly situated on the brow of a
hill commanding a view of Blackdown and the sunny Weald,
associated with the home of Tennyson. His immediate neigh-
bour was Birket Foster, who had built himself a half-timbered
Elizabethan-looking mansion, surrounded by gardens, close by,
so that one could walk from the grounds of one house to the
other. Mrs. Evans was related to Birket Foster, and I was
introduced to him on the occasion of this visit. He was a
large, burly man with a keen look, and proud of his house
and possessions. I think he said he considered his greatest
treasure a little drawing by Frederick Walker, I had always
admired this artist greatly, and in common with many lamented
his untimely death, which had then happened quite recently ;
but what interested me most at that time in Birket Foster's
house was a room — the dining-room, I think — decorated with
a complete series of pictures by Burne-Jones, a fine series of
designs illustrating the history of St. George, and belonging
to the painter's earlier middle period. Another extremely
1873-79] LIFE IN THE "BUSH" 179
interesting work was the original cartoon of Burne-Jones for a
stained-glass window at Oxford (I think for Exeter College
Chapel), in which the history of S. Frideswide was depicted.
The design showed the influence of D. G. Rossetti, and was
crowded with figures and detail on a small scale, and deep and
rich in colour.
The Baby's Opera turned out a great success, although at
first " the Trade " shook its head, as the sight of a five-shilling
book not decently bound in cloth and without any gold on it
was an unheard-of thing, and weighing it in their hands and
finding it wanting in mere avoirdupois weight, some said,
" This will never do ! " — but it did. The first edition of
10,000 copies was soon exhausted, and another was called for,
and another, and another. It has long passed its fortieth
thousand, and, like " Charley's Aunt," is still running.
No doubt the combination of favourite nursery rhymes with
pictures, as well as the music of the old airs, made it attractive,
and commended it to mothers as well as children.
I was indebted to my sister for the arrangement of the
tunes, which she collected with considerable care and research ;
but she was a pianist of much taste and skill, and possessed a
considerable knowledge of music, both ancient and modern,
and the task was a congenial one, I feel sure.
I received many gratifying letters about the book, and
perhaps I may quote one from Professor von Herkomer, which I
thought as coming from an artist of his distinction a particularly
spontaneous and generous tribute.
"Dyreham, Bushey, Herts
December 8, 1876
" Dear Sir, — I have not the pleasure of knowing you
personally, but I hope you will allow me to express my great
admiration for your last book, Baby's Opera. The sweet
humour, the dainty design, and the good drawing of the
pictures make it a delight for every person of taste, no matter
what age he or she may be.
" Wishing you may enrich the world with many such
books yet, I am, dear Sir, yours very truly,
" Hubert Herkomer
"W, Crane, Esq."
i8o AN ARTIST'S REMINISCENCES [1873-79
The success of Babys Opera made the publishers " ask for
more," and I had a visit from Mr. Edmund Routledge (whose
daughters I had painted, by the way, in the spring of that
year (1877), a water-colour picture of the two young girls full
length sitting upon a settee) to ascertain whether I would do
another at once, as he said people were already asking " what
was to be Walter Crane's next book."
Having my hands full of other work, and not wishing to
produce a less spontaneous book simply to meet commercial
demands, I was not prepared to accede to his wishes. He
had suggested a Birthday Book, too, an idea which I did not
care for, so that I did not follow up this success immediately.
This unbusiness-like laxity on my part at least gave
others their opportunity, and if I had opened the door with
a new class of books, others soon pressed in.
Among Messrs. Routledge's Christmas announcements (in
the AthencBum) for that year I was rather startled to observe
" Companion Volume to The Baby's Opera " (!), Miss Kate
Greenaway's first children's book, Under the Window, being
thus introduced to the world by the publishers. This I
thought quite misleading, and wrote to protest, and the
announcement was withdrawn. Miss Greenaway, in collabora-
tion with Mr. Edmund Evans as the colour-printer, had pro-
duced a pretty book of nursery rhymes, with illustrations,
treated, as far as the outline and flat tint method went, in a
similar way to mine, but less formal, without the decorative
borders, without the music, and of quite a different size. Her
success from the appearance of this book was assured. She
followed it up quickly, too, so I imagine she made more hay
while the sun shone than I did, which, for the time at least,
shone brightly enough for her, even if it did not shine so
long.
1 did not meet Miss Greenaway till some time afterwards,
and only once. The occasion was an amateur dramatic per-
formance in which Mr. Lionel Tennyson (second son of the
poet) and Miss Eleanor Locker, the daughter of Frederick
Locker (afterwards Locker- Lampson), took part. I do not
recall the name of the play, but it was given in some hall in
or near Argyll Street, Oxford Circus. I forget how we first
1873-79] LIFE IN THE "BUSH" 181
became acquainted with Frederick Locker. He was very
friendly and agreeable, and we exchanged many visits both
before and after his second marriage. He was a great admirer
of Stothard and Chowdowiechi, and had a considerable collec-
tion of the small graceful book illustrations on steel of both
artists arranged in a large folio book. He was an early
collector of book plates, and had one of his own designed by
H. S. Marks, and commissioned me to design him another,
its main feature being a quasi-classical lady, or muse, seated.
In acknowledging the design, his letter ran as follows: —
" 25 Chesham Street, S.W.
1st June [1876]
" My dear Crane, — I am very glad to hear about Mrs.
Crane. We had not heard the good news. I trust she will
go on well and make a good recovery. I congratulate you on
your son.
" The design is delightful, just what I wanted. Perhaps
the expression of the Muse is a sight too elevated, but in that
you flatter me !
" Tell me what I am in your debt. Write soon, and I
will send you a P.O. order. Do not postpone this, as the
workman is worthy of his hire, at least I feel so when I dis-
pose of my fine art (verse). — Yours ever, F. L."
In reply to this, I pointed out that the lady was at
least seated on a modern drawing-room chair, and could
not be considered inappropriate to the author of Vei^s de
Societe.
The characteristic sketch by Du Maurier of Frederick
Locker gave a very excellent idea of him.
The connection of the name of Locker with that of Tenny-
son being close — the daughter of the former having married
the second son of the latter — this seems a not inappropriate
place to recall a meeting with the great poet himself, which
must have been somewhere about this time, though I do not
remember the exact date. My wife and I had been invited to
dinner at the Rev. Stopford Brooke's house in Manchester
Square to meet the great man, and in due course we were
1 82 AN ARTIST'S REMINISCENCES [1873-79
introduced. He was accompanied, as was usually the case in
his later days, by his eldest son, Hallam Tennyson (who has
since succeeded him in the title). He was evidently devoted
to his father. The poet himself was brusque and almost
rough in his manner, and had a strong burr in his speech, and
spoke in a deep voice, which occasionally became rather like a
growl, especially when he objected to some dish that was
served at the dinner. He was rather taciturn at first, but
melted by degrees, and even told stories (after the ladies had
retired) ; and after dinner in the drawing-room we had the
unusual pleasure of hearing him read a poem of his own.
This was the " Ballad of the Fleet." The poet read in his
deep, impressive voice in a way which reminded one of his
own description in the " Morte d'Arthur " of how the poet
Everard Hall (which may have been himself)
" Read, mouthing out his hollow o's and a's.
Deep-chested music "
Before he began he solemnly enjoined the whole company
— almost swearing everyone — to the strictest secrecy as to the
poem, or his having read it ; and when the reading was finished,
and when the applause and gratitude of the small audience
(which consisted of Mr. Stopford Brooke, his sister, and his
daughters, my wife and self, and Mr. Frederick Wedmore)
had subsided, the Laureate growled out, " Yes, and to think
that those wretched fellows of the Nineteenth Century only
gave me three hundred pounds for it ! "
As the poem shortly afterwards appeared in that
magazine, I presume the injunction to secrecy referred to
the fact of the poet's giving the reading, as if generally
known he might have been pestered with invitations to
repeat it.
One might really have supposed Tennyson to have been
one of the ancient bards, his appearance (Watts's portraits
represent him admirably) quite bearing out the idea, and his
sympathies being entirely with warriors and their deeds, and
his hero, the dogged Sir Richard, who said " Fight on " to the
last. I remember his making some disparaging remark re-
ferring to modern living statesmen as compared with these
1873-79] J-IFE IN THE "BUSH" 183
old Elizabethan admirals, and saying, in regard to their
fighting qualities, " That's rather better than your Gladstones
and Brights," and he turned rather savagely on me when I
ventured to suggest that there might be peaceful ways of
serving one's country also. One was not altogether without'
some suspicion that his ruggedness was partly assumed as a
sort of cloak sometimes.
I remember William Morris describing Tennyson's way of
approaching a picture to show that he had, or affected to have,
but little appreciation of painting. Staring fixedly at the
canvas he would growl (according to Morris), " What's that ? "
The answer perhaps was " A man," but this information only
led to a further question, " What's he doing ? " which was not
very hopeful for the painter 1 This seems curious when one
considers how rich in pictorial suggestion Tennyson's poems
are, and how great his powers as a word-painter.
It was some time in 1877, I think, that our friend Mr.
Thomas Armstrong brought Randolph Caldecott to our house.
He never looked strong, and his quiet manner, low voice, and
gentle but rather serious and earnest way of speaking did not
suggest the extraordinary vivacity and humour of his drawings,
though an occasional humorous remark may have betrayed
a glimpse of such qualities. He consulted me as to his
plans and dealings with publishers in regard to the picture-
books he was then preparing (Edmund Evans again being the
printer), the series which afterwards became so popular, and
I think he may have benefited a little by my experience in
the same sort of work — I mean as regards publishing arrange-
ments — as his books were brought out at a shilling, and he was
able to secure a royalty on them, which I could never get on
my sixpenny toy-books.
His first was The House that Jack Builty which appeared
in I 878, so that Caldecott's work and Miss Greenaway's books
for children became known to the public about the same time.
Before these, however, Caldecott had done his charming illustra-
tions in black and white for Washington Irving's Old Christmas
and Bracebridge Hall, issued by the house of Macmillan. His
picture-books became immensely successful, and I think
perhaps he caught the more popular English taste to some
1 84 AN ARTIST'S REMINISCENCES [1873-79
extent by his introduction of the sporting element. His
Three Jovial Huntsmen will not easily be forgotten.
Caldecott used to ride himself, and event hunt, and on
some occasions rode down to Beaumont Lodge on horseback.
I remember, on one of his visits, that, to please our little
daughter, he decked a stuffed peahen we had with chaplets
and flowers arranged with quite a decorator's taste.
Punch had a rhyme running —
" The Christmas voUimes well deserve their gains
Of Caldecott, Kate Greenaway, and Crane's,"
which was illustrated by the inventive pencil of Mr. Linley
Sambourne, who introduced our portraits into his cartoon. I
had appeared too, in the same journal, on a former occasion —
with a bird's body and wings — drawn by the same hand.
The success of Baby's Opera even attracted the attention
of the Editor of Pmich, then Mr. (now Sir) F. C. Burnand,
who despatched a brief note to me, of which the following is a
copy : —
"Garrick Club, W.C.
" Dear Sir, — Would you be open to a Christmas book
with me? — Yours truly, F. C. BuRNAND
" I have the notion."
I did not, however, feel at liberty then to take it up,
having my hands full, and so there was another might-have-
been to be recorded.
Still another might-have-been must be mentioned. " Lewis
Carroll " (Mr. C. L. Dodgson of Christ Church, Oxford) wrote
to me early in 1878, saying he had been looking out for a
new illustrator for a forthcoming work of his, as after
Alice in Wonderland and Alice through the Looking-Glass,
Tenniel would do " no more." This Mr. Dodgson evidently
greatly deplored, and naturally felt that it would be most
difficult to find a substitute. His letters gave one the im-
pression of a most particular person, and it is quite possible
that he may have led Tenniel anything but a quiet life during
the time he was engaged upon his inimitable illustrations to
1 873-791 LIFE IN THE "BUSH'' 185
the immortal Alice. The letter from Mr. Dodgson given here
must have been his second letter : it is quite characteristically
theoretic and ingenious.
" Christ Church, Oxford
Jan. 22, 1878
" My dear Sir, — I have read and re-read, with much
interest, your letter dated Dec. 30, and will now make some
remarks on it.
" As to terms, I quite see that it is fair to charge for two
or three drawings at a higher rate than for a large number.
But you did not at all misunderstand me : I am not contem-
plating a book with fifty pictures now. No such book is at
present in existence. I was merely pointing out what it would
come to if I were to write such a book and pay for the
pictures at that rate. However, it is satisfactory to know that
the rate in such a case would be lower — and your suggestion
of ' sharing profits ' is well worth considering
" You are probably more learned on the subject of ancient
art than I am : but my theory is that among savages there is
a much earlier stage than outline drawing — viz. mere repro-
duction (in clay, etc.) of the solid form. I imagine that you
would find idols and other representations in solid form among
nations where any kind of drawing is unknown. The next
step I should expect to be alto-relievo (arising from the discovery
that you can only see one side of an image at once) : and this
would gradually flatten down. Then the effect (with a side
light) would be of a flat surface with strong black lines of
shadow marking the outline of the form represented. And
the next step would be to paint lines representing these
shadows: and such lines would be broad at first, and would
narrow on discovering that their breadth was not an
essential feature. However, this is all rather theory than
actual knowledge.
" I have now made up my mind to get you to do Bruno's
Revenge at anyrate. But instead of making them all full-page
pictures, suppose you give me £60 worth of work, in any
sizes and shapes you think proper, keeping the Alice page as
your outside limit. You can take your own time for it (up to
a year, let us say), and can either draw on the wood at once,
1 86 AN ARTIST'S REMINISCENCES [1873-79
or on paper and transfer to wood (at your own expense),
keeping the drawings yourself. I shall be glad to hear
whether this proposal is satisfactory to you. — Believe me
very truly yours, C. L. DODGSON "
I believe I agreed to meet his views if possible, but my
hands were so full of all sorts of other work that I fear the
year went by without my being able to take the matter up.
The story, too, of which . he sent me a portion, was of a very
different character to Alice — a story with a religious and
moral purpose, with only an occasional touch of the ingenuity
and humour of Alice, so that it was not nearly so inspiring or
amusing. It afterwards appeared, I think, with illustrations
by Mr. Harry Furniss.
The argument in Mr. Dodgson's letter about outline was
drawn forth, I think, by his rather objecting to my use of a
rather thick woodcut sort of line in my illustrations to Mr.
Molesworth's stories, which appeared to have sent him to me
in the first instance, and by my defence. I can well under-
stand that after Tenniel's hair-like pencilling, mine probably
looked rough and coarse to him.
I think it was through our mutual friend Mr. Armstrong
that we first met the Du Mauriers, and I remember my wife
and I rode over to see them while they were living at the
house on the top of Hampstead Hill at the period when bits
of old Hampstead frequently appeared in the backgrounds
of the artist's Punch drawings, and I think also the big
St. Bernard was then alive.
Later I was a collaborateur with Du Maurier in a work
of a rather unusual sort — at least for him. A gentleman
(introduced by Caldecott, by the way) wanted a silver cup, or
centrepiece, on a large scale, and wished a rather elaborate
scheme of design carried out in it, beginning with primitive
man and apparently ending with a modern fashionable garden-
party. The earlier periods of civilisation were to occupy the
massive stand of the cup, and these I was to design ; but Du
Maurier was wanted for modern society upon the outside of
the bowl of the cup. My designs were to be in relief, but Du
Maurier's were to be engraved on the surface of the silver,
1873-79]
LIFE IN THE "BUSH"
187
I believe. He was rather puzzled with the commission, I re-
member, and came to see me about it. Eventually he did a
sort of extended frieze of Punch drawings representing modern
society amusing itself according to the seasons, and introducing
his favourite types — elegant ladies, bishops, swells, and children.
My designs were modelled in wax for casting in silver by
Messrs. Hunt & Roskill's artists at their works, where I went
to see them in progress, and the cup was made to a section
I had furnished.
At an evening at some friend's house, I remember hearing
Du Maurier sing an amusing song in German broken English,
playing the accompaniment himself in quite an accomplished
drawing-room entertainer's manner. This was long before
Peter Ibbetson and Trilby^ and before the world had any
ALLEGORICAL SKETCH FOR BASE OF SILVER CUP
idea of his resources as a novelist. His fellow-students in
Paris, upon whose experiences and manner of life many of
the incidents in Trilby were founded, discovered themselves and
their friends also under thin disguises as characters in the book,
and were wont to smile knowingly, as if they were aware of
exactly how much dressing and make-up they and the incidents
had received at the hands of the versatile artist-novelist.
I recall his telling me about his first interview with the
telephone at some inaugural trial when it was first introduced.
Du Maurier, as the representative of Punchy was requested to
send a message, but he couldn't think of anything to say at the
moment ; but there being no escape, he tried Mr. Punch's time-
honoured war-cry — or whatever it is — and shouted " Roo-ti-
too-it " down the receiver, but felt rather " stumped " when the
humour of it failed to impress the man at the other end, who
merely said, " I beg your pardon ? "
1 88 AN ARTISrS REMINISCENCES [1873-79
In 1878 I completed a large picture for the Grosvenor
Gallery Summer Exhibition. This was " The Fate of Per-
sephone." Pluto and his black horses and gilded biga are
supposed to have suddenly emerged from a volcanic fissure in
the earth in Enna, and surprised the goddess as she stooped
to pluck the fateful narcissus. Her figure, in white with a
yellow mantle, is relieved against the black horses rearing up
behind her, as Pluto, in Roman armour and fanciful helmet,
lays his hand upon her. Her three frightened maiden
attendants, like the fates, witness the scene, divided from
Persephone by the crack in the earth. The foreground is
covered with flowers, chiefly narcissus and anemones ; a
mountainous country sloping to the dark horizon of the sea
with blossoming orchards and the walls and towers of a city with
a peak in eruption beyond form the landscape background.
A pomegranate tree in blossom in front suggests the legend of
Persephone and the promise of her return to earth, while a
tiny figure on the mountain was meant to indicate the sorrow
of Demeter.
This picture is now in the public gallery at Karlsruhe,
having been purchased while on exhibition in Germany for
that collection.
Mr. George Howard at that time in a letter written from
Venice says —
" I have not seen many newspaper criticisms of the
Grosvenor, so I do not know what our instructors say about
your work this time, but I heard from Ned Jones [E. Burne-
Jones], whose opinion we value a little more, who was really
greatly pleased with your ' Proserpine.' " He adds, " I am very
glad to hear that you are doing another Baby-book. It can't
be as good as the last, but if it is at all like it, it will do. I
am also glad to hear that ' Psyche ' is getting on. I shall be
very anxious to see her when I get home. I suppose that I
shall stay in London this next winter, and her presence will
tend to cheer me in the absence of Italian sun.
" Here there is little contemporary art going on, so far as I
know.
"One Bunney, a friend of Ruskin's, does wonderfully accurate
1873-79] LIFE IN THE "BUSH" 189
topographical drawings, chiefly of architecture. There is also
a young landscape painter — Williams — who does pretty things,
but not in a very good style."
The " Baby-book " my friend speaks of was The Baby's
Bouquet, which I was then scheming as a companion to The
Babys Opera, and it was published for the Christmas season
of '78-79. It was a book of the same size, and my sister
again selected and arranged the musical accompaniment. The
rhymes and songs included one or two French and German
ones. This book, like Baby's Opera, however, is still before
the public, and though it never quite reached the same numbers
as its predecessor, it was quite successful, and keeps fairly up
with it in popular favour.
There was an " Exposition Universe! " at Paris in this
year 1898 (and my "Venus" was invited to appear in the
British Fine Art section), and my wife and I went over for a
little visit in the course of the summer, and saw the wonders of
the fair. Bartoldi's colossal statue of Liberty, destined for New
York harbour, was shown there, I think in the model stage,
and there was a central " Street of Nations " which was very
picturesque and amusing. Entering by way of the Trocadero,
then quite new, on a sunny morning, with the fountains playing
and the buzz of a very cosmopolitan crowd, it was a gay scene
enough. There were miles of pictures and sculpture as well
as of machinery, an enormous captive balloon that looked,
when tethered below the buildings, as if some fairy had blown
a huge dome, like a bubble, over some fantastic palace.
There were all the usual attractions — and repulsions — of such
shows, which usually suggest the vast departments of a gigantic
Universal Provider, relieved by some genuine and interesting
art, and, in spite of blatant commercialism, a certain stimulating
feeling of the oneness of the world, and the wonderful results
of human invention and co-operative human labour — and the
thought of what they might yet accomplish in a true
commonwealth ! It was fine summer weather, and we had a
pleasant time altogether.
After the " Psyche " frieze was finished, I was asked by Dr.
William Spottiswoode (the eminent printer and scientist, to
I90 AN ARTIST'S REMINISCENCES [1873-79
whom I was introduced by Sir E. J. Poynter) to undertake a
rather extensive work — the interior decoration of the large
saloon at Combe Bank, near Sevenoaks, his country home.
The ceiling was flat, divided into panels by existing mouldings,
and he wished me to furnish a design for the whole in relief.
There was also the chimney breast to be treated and the doors.
I prepared plans and drawings for this work, which
naturally occupied a considerable time in completion, and I
needed assistance.
As it happened, about this time a man who worked as a
sculptor's assistant or " studio ghost " called to see me with, I
think, a recommendation from Richmond. He bore in his
hands a cast of a bull's head from nature, which he offered for
sale. The man was in very low water and in need of work,
so I bought the bull's head and started him modelling
something from a drawing, and he succeeded so well that I was
able to keep him going on preparatory and subsidiary work,
in which he was a most useful assistant — although rather
uncertain sometimes. His name was Osmund Weeks.
I had devised a scheme for this ceiling embodying the sun
and the seasons and signs of the Zodiac in the centre in a
circular panel, supported from two sides by large winged
figures. The side panels had borders of small figures of
the Hours with hour-glasses intertwined with the snake of
time, and four small square panels represented Morn, Noon,
Eve, and Night respectively. Four large panels at each angle
of the ceiling were filled by figures of the planets — Venus,
Mars, Neptune, and Uranus — and in circular panels at the
centres of each side and ends were Jupiter, Saturn, Mercury,
and the Moon.
The figures were all modelled direct in gesso composed of
fine Italian plaster of Paris mixed with thin glue, or size, and
worked with cotton-wool soaked in the gesso on fibrous plaster
panels which were made for me by Messrs. Jackson of Rath-
bone Place ; the repeating borders and mouldings being cast
in plaster.
The whole ceiling was coloured by bronze and white metal.
The design is reproduced in Millar's work on Plastering^
Plain and Decorated.
i( y '"\
h,:'' 0>
1873-79] LIFE IN THE "BUSH" 191
The chimney breast I designed was a semi - classical
s+^ructure in wood, with pilasters at each side, and semicircular
recesses over a high mantelshelf, below which, in a semicircular
tympanum, I designed a relief of the Fates, working in a web,
the net of which radiated outwards from the centre to the edge
— shell-wise. Every detail was specially designed, including
the cheeks of the fireplace, in brass repousse, the basket grate
and the fireirons and standards and the fender.
The walls were hung with a stamped and gilded Renascence
design I had made for Messrs. Jeffrey & Co., and there was
a frieze composed of certain late Venetian paintings (previously
acquired by Dr. Spottiswoode) of Amorini in procession or
playing, carrying fruits and emblems, etc. The intervals
between these canvases I filled by similar figures in metallic
colours. The doors and shutter panels I also decorated by
figure designs painted on canvas and affixed, treated as to colour
in the same metallic way, so that the prevailing tone of the
room was bronze and silver.
Dr. Spottiswoode was a most appreciative as well as a
most considerate client and kind host. He would constantly
spontaneously send me what lawyers would call " refreshers,"
as the work necessarily took a long time to complete (I
think about two years), and was expensive.
The following letters are characteristic : —
" Dear Mr. Crane, — Many thanks for your note. We
are very glad that my suggestion recommends itself to your
mind. We have full confidence in your skill in making your
work harmonise with the old paintings. Although I do not mean
to undervalue the difficulty of the task, I am sure that you
will do your best towards this, as the paintings were the
fons et origo of the whole business, and we set store by them.
The silk for the walls is also ancient, from some Italian
church or palace.
" One more thing. Could not you and Mrs. Crane come
down on the Saturday, August 16, instead of the Monday?
We expect John Collier and his bride, and perhaps one or
two other friends. — Believe me yours very sincerely,
" W. Spottiswoode " -
192 AN ARTIST'S REMINISCENCES [1873-79
The above was a type-written letter, a method Dr.
Spottiswoode was one of the earliest to use, I think. He
was in the habit of using the typewriter for his scientific
work, and so got into the way of adopting it for private corre-
spondence. The silk for the walls was not finally used, as my
stamped design suited the general scheme best.
Dr. Spottiswoode was also the first, I think, to use the
electric light for domestic purposes. He used, when in
residence at Combe Bank, to have a light going like a beacon
on the top of the house.
The following was in autograph, and shows how gracefully
he could send one money : —
" Her Majesty's Printing Office, East Harding Street
Fetter Lane, E.G., Feb. 13, 1880
" Dear Mr. Crane, — Perhaps the enclosed may be a not
unwelcome ' Valentine,' although I hope it may reach you
overnight.
" This makes £'JOO, I think. — Yours very sincerely,
"W. Spottiswoode"
Dr. and Mrs. Wm. Spottiswoode entertained at that time
very largely, and frequently invited very large afternoon parties
in the summer down to Combe Bank. Special trains conveyed
the guests from Charing Cross to Sevenoaks, and at the station
brakes and carriages of different kinds were waiting to drive
them to Combe Bank, a distance of three or four miles.
At these receptions many well-known and distinguished
people were present, especially eminent men of science, the
Royal Society being strongly represented.
It was at Combe Bank that we first met Professor Huxley
(whose daughter, a talented artist, was the " bride " of the
Hon. John Collier mentioned in Dr. Spottiswoode's letter
given above). I remember he said that watching the different
methods in which his daughter and his son-in-law (John Collier)
worked (I think when they were both drawing the Professor's
portrait), he said he had come to the conclusion that the first
might be called " a creatist," and the second " an evolutionist,"
as in the first instance the likeness was at once visible in the
'873-79]
LIFE IN THE "BUSH"
193
sketch, and it did not advance much farther ; while in the
second the likeness was not recognisable at first, and only by
degrees was made apparent and got more and more like as
it was completed. This was a characteristic and interesting
application of scientific observation to the artistic temperament.
A little caricature I made at the time we were staying
at Combe Bank, our little daughter Beatrice being with us,
shows her among the Lions — the Lions being Dr. Wm.
Spottiswoode, Sir Fredk. Pollock, Professor Huxley, and the
Hon. G. C. Brodrick, who were of the house party at
the time.
■TKlHoh.
ii^,.U. br\ij'nSf>mu/oi>h Sir r Pol/ocic Pfof.H^Tdey
Hi,
BEATRICE AMONG THE LIONS AT COMBE BANK (1881)
The great evolutionist philosopher, Herbert Spencer, was
also a guest at Combe Bank. I remember seeing him at one
of the afternoon receptions in deep converse with another
savant, in a frock-coat of antique cut and ample cravat in
the style of the early " fifties." He was a very distinct figure
in a fashionable crowd of the early " eighties."
Professor and Mrs. Tyndall were generally seen at these
gatherings, and on one occasion we were guests in the house
at the same time. The Professor was extremely genial, and
always full of interesting talk — at that I think it mostly
turned on his Alpine experiences. Among the Spottiswoodes'
13
194 AN ARTIST'S REMINISCENCES [1873-79
guests were individualities as diverse as Moncure D. Conway,
Matthew Arnold, and Oscar Wilde.
Of Matthew Arnold I recall our host telling us that he had
been trying for years to induce him to lecture at the Royal
Institution, and that he had at last consented, but on one
condition — that his wife should not be present ! Whether
this was an indication of extreme shyness or nervousness I
do not know, but there was no appearance of either on the
occasion I heard Matthew Arnold lecture at the Royal Insti-
tution. He wore a single eyeglass, which always seems to
give an air of deliberation, if not of superiority. He spoke
very calmly and distinctly, and his subject was " Equality " —
an essay afterwards published. I remember his delivery of the
famous sentence —
" Inequality materialises the upper classes, vulgarises the
middle classes, and brutalises the lower classes."
Of Moncure Conway I have already spoken. He was
always very friendly, as also Mrs. Conway and his son and
daughter. Mrs. Conway was a sister of R. H. Dana, who
wrote Two Years Before the Mast, a book which had a con-
siderable vogue, and gave a very vivid idea of what a sailor's
life is really like.
The ill-fated Oscar Wilde was a notable figure in Society
at that time. He had come up from Oxford, the winner of
the Newdegate prize (for poetry), full of brilliant promise,
singularly gifted and sympathetic with all refined forms of art,
and, despite some occasional affectations, inspired by a really
genuine love of beauty. He led the so-called " .Esthetic "
movement of the early " eighties," and was constantly cari-
catured in Punch, which was particularly satirical on the
subject. Some thought, indeed, that Du Maurier, who was
answerable for the creation of Postlethwaite and Maudle,
was rather unduly bitter against the sources of some of his
own inspiration, seeing that he was at one time certainly
influenced as a designer by the pre-Raphaelite, or rather the
modern primitive-romantic school of D. G. Rossetti, then called
intense.
Oscar Wilde was certainly the petted favourite of Society
at one time ; no private view or first night was complete without
1K#
PAGE FROM THE GLADSTONE GOLDEN WEDDING ALBUM
DESIGNED l!Y WALTER CKANE, i88q
1873-79] LIFE IN THE "BUSH" 195
him. If he ever fooled people he was also befooled. He
squandered the most brilliant talents on trifles, but showed even
in his brilliant trifling gleams of real power and imagination.
He would have been happy in pagan times, but could not
adjust himself to modern British suburban ideals or morals.
He fought the Philistines with delicate weapons, and at last,
defying them, and overstepping ordinary bounds in the pursuit
of pleasure — though perhaps not more guilty of perverted
excesses than some others — he committed the fatal crime of
being found out, was instantly dropped by Society, and so
fell, and was crushed by the heavy foot of the Law. In
De Profundis he seems to give an analysis of his own nature
as well as of his feelings.
I never saw much of him and latterly quite lost sight of
him, but in his earlier days used to meet him here and there
in the world, and he came to our house several times with
his wife, and we exchanged visits. He got me to do some
illustrations to a book of stories he published under the title
of The Happy Prince, and Other Stories, and at one time he
edited Little Folks, a magazine for children published by
Messrs. Cassell. Our daughter in her childhood showed
considerable taste for writing verse, and he, being shown a
little poem of hers (" Blush Roses "), wanted it for the magazine,
where it duly appeared, accompanied with a design of my
own.^ The following note refers to this : —
"16 TiTE Street, Chelsea, S.W.
" My dear Crane, — Many thanks for the charming design
and for Beatrice's pretty little poem. I will have it reproduced
at once. — Very truly yours, OscAR Wilde
" (A horrid pen.) "
It was at Oscar Wilde's house in Tite Street that I met
on one occasion Sir Richard Burton, the famous Eastern
traveller, Arabic scholar, and translator of the Arabian Nights.
^ A series of verses written by her on "The Months," and illustrated by me,
appeared in Little Folks afterwards, and these were also issued by Messrs. Cassell in
a separate form. She also contributed some short stories'for children to the same
journal.
196 AN ARTIST'S REMINISCENCES [1873-79
It was in his later days, when he seemed somewhat bowed by
age and infirmity. The rest of the company were mostly stand-
ing up and talking, as is usual at afternoon " At Homes," but
Burton remained seated in an arm-chair, like a monarch, and
people were brought up by the host to be presented to him.
One had the impression of a massive personality, and one
with whom it would not be pleasant to quarrel. I always
thought Leighton's portrait of him extremely fine, though
perhaps a little less rugged than the reality ; but of course
Burton was much older and greyer than the date of that
portrait when I saw him.
In 1878 Mr. Sidney Colvin introduced to me Mr. Robert
Louis Stevenson, who was just about to publish, through
Messrs. Kegan Paul & Co., his first book, and they wanted
a frontispiece for it. He writes characteristically to me about
it, and with all a young author's impatience, and is amusing,
but a little " cheeky " perhaps.
"BuRFORD Bridge Inn, Box Hill
Dorking, Surrey
" Mr. Crane,
" Dear Sir, — I hope that is the orthodox beginning.
Mr. Kegan Paul has asked me to call on you ; and I have
tried to do so. Owing to time and tide, that could not be, so
I take the other liberty of writing,
" You have written to him promising a frontispiece for a
fortnight hence for a little book of mine — An Inland Voyage —
shortly to appear. Mr. Paul is in dismay. It appears that
there is a tide in the afiairs of publishers which has the
narrowest moment of flood conceivable : a week here, a week
there, and a book is made or lost ; and now, as I write to
you, is the very nick of time, the publisher's high noon.
" I should deceive you if I were to pretend I had no more
than a generous interest in this appeal. For, should the
public prove gullible to a proper degree, and one thousand
copies net, counting thirteen to the dozen, disappear into
its capacious circulating libraries, I should begin to perceive
a royalty which visibly affects me as I write.
" I fear you will think me rude, and I do mean to be
1873-79] LIFE IN THE "BUSH" 197
importunate. The sooner you can get the frontispiece for
us, the better the book will swim, if swim it does. — Believe
me yours very hopefully,
" Robert Louis Stevenson
" My mother (a good judge) says this is obscure and
affected. What I mean is, couldn't you get that frontispiece
sooner ? R. L. S.
" My mother says the last is impolite : couldn't you as
a favoui^ get the frontispiece sooner ? R. L. S."
The frontispiece was duly designed and engraved on
wood. It shows Fan among the reeds by a riverside, with
his pipes, resting after the classical river-god manner on a
hydria from the mouth of which the water flows. R. L. S.
and his friend are seen paddling their canoes beyond the
reeds, and on the crest of a hill in the distance a ploughman
appears against the rays of a setting sun.
The subject is framed by an architectural border in which
the two canoes Aretkusa and Cicarette figure, and a medallion
of a centaur bearing off a nymph, all of which details are
allusive to passages in the book, which was very charmingly
written. So that I may be said to have helped to launch
Stevenson's first (canoe) book, which was to be the forerunner
of such a remarkable literary career. The following year
Stevenson brought out, through the same house, another book,
Travels with a Donkey in the Cevennes, and again I was called
upon to furnish a frontispiece, in which I introduced various
incidents in the travels in what one reviewer described as a
" Bunyanesque " way. We had an amusing correspondence
over this one too, but I have unfortunately mislaid Stevenson's
letters. I wanted his portrait for it, I remember, and he sent
me several — one in a velvet jacket and grey felt hat was
labelled " The Baronet."
I met Stevenson once or twice about this period at the
Savile Club, in its old quarters in Savile Row. He used to
stand on the hearthrug in the smoking-room, the centre of
an admiring circle, and discourse, very much in the same style
as that in which he wrote. It gave one the impression of
198 AN ARTIST'S REMINISCENCES [1873-79
artificiality rather — I mean his manner of speaking and choice
of words, as if carefully selected and cultivated. If a remark
was offered by one of the company he would perhaps accept
it, and turn it about, much as a conjurer does when he borrows
a handkerchief or a hat from someone in his audience ; or
perhaps he would work it into his next sentence, returning
it to his interlocutor improved — wrapped in silver paper,
metaphorically speaking.
His personal appearance was quite as unusual as his
speech. A long, pale thin face and lank hair, quick and
penetrating eyes, and a rather sardonic smile. The world
in general, especially in clubland, wore white shirts and collars
as a rule, but Stevenson sported black ones.
I never saw him afterwards, nor was I called upon again
to illustrate anything of his.
The two books I speak of were both, I believe, extremely
successful. I have a copy of each in the original cloth as
first published.
Another member of the Savile at this time who sought
my co-operation in a book was Professor J. M. D. Meiklejohn
of St. Andrews University. He had a scheme for a primer
embodying a method of teaching to read by associating words
with the objects they signify, and without forcing a child to
learn the series of misleading and cumbrous sounds which
represent the letters of the alphabet.
He planned a book called The Golden Primer, to be issued
as a Christmas book full of pictures in colour, which I supplied
to his text, and I believe it had considerable success. He
intended to follow it with others, covering the whole field of
an educational course, but did not live to carry out his schemes.
Professor Meiklejohn was a very hard worker, and such books
as these were only done in the intervals of heavy educational
works — courses of lectures, and so on. He was most enthusiastic
as to what might be done to improve the methods of teaching
to read, and most pleasant and sympathetic to work with.
The direction in which he was labouring as a pioneer has since
been pursued by others, and the children of the present age
must be having a better time of it than their fathers and
mothers in acquiring the art of deciphering the English language.
1873-79] LIFE IN THE "BUSH" 199
I did a large number of drawings for him for The Golden
Primer, and drew them on a large scale, so that the Professor
could use these illustrations when he lectured on the subject,
and they were reduced for the book.
Professor Meiklejohn died at Ashford, April 16, 1902.
One of our visitors about this time at Beaumont Lodge was
Mr. William Russell, a connection of the Duke of Bedford, a
very complete picture of an old gentleman of a past age, both
as to manners and dress. He was a friend of Mr. Louis Huth,
and was himself a collector, and among other things collected
my picture-books, which were the prime cause of his friendly
interest in us. He got me a commission from the Duke to
draw out on a large scale the ducal arms, to form the centre
of a portiere to be embroidered, I think, at the School of
Needlework for the Duke's house. I remember Mr. Russell
taking me to see the Duke and Duchess in their London house
to talk about the work. We lunched with them, but the
Duke's own lunch appeared to consist simply of a cup of
cocoa. He was a small man, and in appearance resembled
the later portraits of Lord John Russell in the days when he
grew a beard.
Mr. Leyland of Prince's Gate I also met about this time.
He was a notable patron of art and very wealthy, but became
still more celebrated as the owner of the famous peacock room
decorated by Whistler.
I recall a dinner in that room he gave to a company of
artists, most of them exhibitors at the Grosvenor, I think, as
well as some R.A.'s. Burne-Jones was there, and Val. Prinsep,
G. H. Boughton, E. J. Poynter, T. Armstrong, Spencer
Stanhope (I think), Comyns Carr, and others. I sat next to
Burne-Jones, and the conversation happened to turn on
Whistler's work, and I expressed my appreciation of its artistic
quality. I was rather surprised to find, however, that Burne-
Jones could not, or would not, see his merits as an artist, or
recognise the difference of his aims. He seemed to think
there was only one right way of painting, and after a little
discussion, he said, with some emphasis, '* This is the only
time we ever had a difference and — it shall be the last ! " I
forgot, or did not realise, that the libel case of Whistler v.
200 AN ARTIST'S REMINISCENCES [1873-79
Ruskin was about to come on, in which Burne- Jones was an
important witness for the defendant, and, in fact, though much
against the grain, and only under the strongest pressure from
Ruskin, he undertook to appear in court for him. Under the
circumstances he could hardly afford to allow any credit to
Whistler.
Mr. Leyland had a fine collection of D. G. Rossetti's
pictures, chiefly of the later period. He was also the owner
of Burne-Jones's "Venus's Mirror." I remember his saying
something kind about my " Venus," but he did not offer to
purchase it.
On another occasion he and his daughters gave a fancy
dress ball, which was largely attended by artists and their
wives and daughters. There were many good costumes, and the
sight was a pretty one, in the handsome house adorned with so
many fine pictures, and affording so decorative a background
as the peacock room, which was used for the supper.
Another notable artists' fancy ball about this period which
my wife and I attended was given by Mr. and Mrs. G. H.
Boughton, as a kind of house-warming on the occasion of
entering their new house (from a design by Mr. Norman
Shaw, I believe) on the summit of Campden Hill. Each guest
on entering wrote his or her name in a large book with the
character each represented opposite. There were a very large
number of guests, and they included, I think, most of the
artistic celebrities of London. The stream of many-coloured
costumes on the picturesque staircase, where there was a
tremendous crush, formed a curious sight. Amid the dresses
of all periods appeared a grey-haired, amiable-looking gentleman
in his shirt and dress trousers only. This was puzzling to
most people, until he explained that he was one of the
" Corsican brothers," — I suppose the ghost of one, rather, as a
red silk handkerchief on his left side was supposed to indicate
the result of the duel.
Among the guests was the great Whistler disguised as a
Spanish cavalier in black, with a big sombrero. I was all in
white, as Cimabue, so we presented a complete contrast both
of style and colour, which may have been quite symbolic ! I
had met him previously at one of his own private views, and
1873-79] LIFE IN THE «BUSH'' 201
said to him by way of greeting that I thought I had had the
pleasure of meeting him before ; but he was not at all inclined
to be friendly, and only said drily, " Very likely," — and we
didn't get any further.
I imagine he always had the idea that I belonged to a
necessarily hostile camp ; for on another occasion, much later,
I met him coming into the Grosvenor Gallery, on a varnishing
day, I think, arm-in-arm with Mr. Theodore Rousell, a close
friend of his at that time. Mr. Rousell, whom I knew, dropped
his arm and came forward in a very cordial way to greet me,
and was eager to introduce me to Whistler, — whom he had
previously told me had actually admired a drawing of mine ! —
but as we had met before it was unnecessary. Whistler's
manner, however, was just as cold as before, so — " we
measured swords and parted."
About this time, I think, I had a visit from Mr. Alfred
Waterhouse, the eminent architect, at that period engaged upon
the Manchester Town Hall. He was anxious to persuade the
City Councillors to adopt a good scheme of decoration for
the rooms, and his idea was to secure the co-operation of
certain artists with mural and decorative feeling for the
proposed work, on the supposition that different rooms might
be allotted to different artists. He had invited W. B.
Richmond and myself to suggest subjects and give estimates
for painting them, which we did. In fact, I think it was
Richmond who suggested to Mr. Waterhouse he should call
on me. However, nothing came of it, as the Manchester
authorities preferred to have portraits of Manchester worthies
on the walls of the rooms instead of any decoration — apart,
of course, from the large hall where Madox Brown was finally
commissioned to paint his famous series of frescoes and mural
pictures dealing with the history of Manchester.
It was not until some years later that I made the
acquaintance of Madox Brown himself, when our mutual friend,
Charles Rowley of Manchester, brought him one day to see us
at Beaumont Lodge.
My friend J. R. Wise now had a great scheme in which
he wanted to engage my services as illustrator.
He had had an accession of fortune through the death of
202 AN ARTIST'S REMINISCENCES [1873-79
his uncle, Hurrell Froude (who had himself written a curious
book of verse, with the title Stones from a Quarry^ under
the nom de plume of " Henry Brown "), and was now apparently
in much easier circumstances than of old, I was glad to find.
He had written The First of May, a Fairy Masque^ and
proposed to publish it as an illustrated gift-book. He was
lodging in the village of Edwinstowe, in Sherwood Forest, a
district of which as an old Forest lover he was exceedingly
fond, and in the spring of 1878 he asked me down to stay with
him, and then read his poem to me, and I began to make
some preliminary designs for it, and together we made out a
scheme of arrangement and list of illustrations for the whole
book.
During the summer I paid him another visit, and on that
occasion we were both invited to stay at Newstead Abbey, then
occupied by a family of the name of Webb, with whom
Wise had become acquainted. It was very interesting to
see the ancient home of Lord Byron, and the Webbs were
most hospitable, and showed us all the treasures of the
house.
We also made an excursion together to see Wingfield
Manor House, a very fine example of a fortifiable stone house
of the fifteenth century, partly ruinous and partly occupied as
a farmhouse, but retaining its fine gateway and flanking
towers. We afterwards went on to Helmsley, in Yorkshire, with
the object of seeing Rievaulx Abbey, staying at the inn in the
village, where I remember we met Mr. Inchbold, the landscape
painter, who was in his day associated with pre-Raphaelite
methods and who had a considerable repute.
I did some water colours of the fine ruined Abbey church
and refectory, surrounded by the rich woodlands of that
beautiful valley and encircled by the running stream. I was
sketching one evening, on the north terrace of Duncombe
Park, one of the Roman temples which stand in contrast to
the Gothic abbey below, when Lord Faversham and his
shooting party came along ; old Lord Winchilsea was of the
party, an old-world-looking sportsman in brown. The house
is a characteristic example of Vanbrugh's design.
After leaving Wise, I paid a visit to Naworth Castle, and
THE ROLL OF FATE
WAr.TER CKANE, 1882
(Somerset Jie.iiiiiiont Colt.)
1873-79] LIFE IN THE "BUSH" 203
made a drawing of the garden and gate-house, with the repre-
sentatives of three generations on the terrace, as Mrs. Howard
said at the time, including the Hon. Charles Howard, his son
George Howard, and his son's son — also Charles (now Lord
Morpeth).
This drawing was afterwards sold at the Grosvenor Gallery,
where it was exhibited the next year.
Mr. Philip Webb was staying at the Castle at this time.
He had been designing some interior oak fittings, and had
made a delightful panelled room for Lady Carlisle in one of
the towers. The family now wanted to build a new wing, but
Webb as a staunch member of the Society for the Preservation
of Ancient Buildings would have nothing to do with it. " No,"
he said ; " you must pay me off now. I can't do any more."
From Naworth I joined my wife and little ones at Deal,
where they were enjoying the sea air, the ships in the
Downs, and the sight of Walmer Castle, and we had some
rides about the country, and visited the old town of
Sandwich.
I joined my friend Wise again in the spring of 1879, to
carry on the work of illustrating his book. It was an unusually
cold and inclement spring, and the trees were very slow in
getting their greenery on, even in May, when the country
in these parts hardly looked more advanced than it often is in
March. North-easters prevailed generally. The Forest, how-
ever, about Edwinstowe and Ollerton was very beautiful, and I
returned there in the summer, with wife and children, to enjoy
it better and see it in its full panoply of leaves and bracken, also
to carry on the work of the designs to The First of May, which
took some time, as there were many pages, and each page had a
decorative border and figure design upon it, while the whole of
the text I inscribed to be in harmony with the designs. The
drawings were made in pencil, and were afterwards reproduced
by photogravure by Messrs. Goupil & Co., the plates being done
in Paris. The reproductions on a slightly reduced scale were
very well done, and gave the silvery delicate effect of the pencil
drawings very successfully. A letter from J, R. Wise I give
here shows his state of feeling about the work at the outset,
and his extreme thoughtfulness. '
204 AN ARTIST'S REMINISCENCES [1873-79
" DuNSLEY, Whitby
July 5, 1878
" My dear Crane, — Just the shortest of notes to know
whether your plans will admit of your reaching Yorkshire this
summer.
" Please, however, do not put yourself out on my account.
I have great misgivings about the success of The First of
May, even should it appear under your auspices, and feel
unwilling that you should risk your reputation over such a
hazardous enterprise.
" I have had the enjoyment of writing it, and that is after
all sufficient for me.
" I venture to speak thus plainly, so that you may fairly
understand the situation,
" Let me, however, have a line from you, so that I may be
able to arrange my plans.
" I trust that both you and Mrs. Crane have enjoyed the
Paris Exhibition, and with kindest regards to you both, very
sincerely yours, John R. Wise
" P.S. — Remember I think nothing about my play. It can
well afford to wait ten years before it is published, as it has
waited so many. Let this be your last concern,"
I varied my work by making some water-colour studies of
the delightful Forest scenery. Edwinstowe was not far from
Thoresby Park, the seat of Earl Manvers, a large mansion of
mid-nineteenth-century design (by Salvin), and near to some of
the finest woods, though the house stood divested of trees.
Rufford Abbey was also in the immediate neighbourhood, and
the " Dukeries " not far off. We made a driving tour to
Roche Abbey (a striking ruin by the waterside), and passed
through the whole district, my wife, who was always an expert
driver, driving Wise and myself on a dog-cart the whole
distance and back.
In the autumn I joined my friend Wise again, alone, at
Edwinstowe, to work at our Fairy Masque, and made
considerable progress with the designs, with which he was
highly delighted. To make a diversion, we made a little
[873-79]
LIFE IN THE "BUSH
205
walking tour, visiting Hardwicke Hall and Bolsover Castle.
The tapestries, the plaster decorations in coloured relief, the
pictures and old furniture of the first named, that fine old
Elizabethan mansion of which the Duke of Devonshire is the
fortunate owner, interested me vastly, and its striking situation
on the top of a steep green hill gives it a unique character, the
towers rising above the fine trees of the park as one ascended
the hill.
We had walked from Mansfield in the morning — thirteen
OLD INN WINDOW AT BOLSOVER, WITH SKETCH OF J. R. WISE
miles, I think. The day was hot, and after a hearty lunch and
rest at the inn at Hardwicke we started up the hill to see the
Hall. I began to sketch, but suddenly turned so faint I had to
give it up and sit down on the grass in the shade, leaning against
a tree, to the great alarm of my friend, as I afterwards learned,
who thought I was going " off the hooks " there and then !
Probably the long walk, the heat of the weather, the lunch and
taking the hill too soon after it would be sufificient to account
for my sudden faintness, which never, however, returned.
206 AN ARTIST'S REMINISCENCES [1873-79
As to other work that year, I had exhibited in the
Grosvenor a picture entitled " The Sirens," showing three
lightly-clad ladies dancing on a seashore, their draperies
floating and fluttering as they moved, their eyes turned
towards the ship of Ulysses, which is seen drifting slowly past
in a diaphanous haze, through which a full moon rises over an
opal-coloured sea.
This picture was ultimately purchased by Mr. Graham
Robertson, who in his early days entertained a warm apprecia-
tion of my work.
My official connection with South Kensington and the
Science and Art Department dates, I believe, from this year
(1879). (Sir) E. J. Poynter was, as I have already men-
tioned, the Art Director, and the following letter refers to
my appointment as one of the examiners of the works sent
up from the art schools of the country for the national
competition : —
"Science and Art Department
South Kensington
Monday, March 31, 1879
*' My dear Crane, — Make the attendance convenient to
yourself: we shall be sorry not to have your assistance all
through, but it will be better that you should come in later
than not at all. I do not think there will be any need to
make up the days that you are not here, as we shall arrange
that the last two days of every week will be given to awarding
the prizes ; and the result will be that the first two weeks we
shall have to do without your help. — Very truly yours,
"Edward J. Poynter"
Among my first colleagues at that time, I remember, were
William Bell Scott, the painter, and Solomon Hart, R.A. Mr.
F. Barwell was also with us, and Mr. Eyre Crowe, A.R.A.
I remember Solomon Hart offering to put my name down as
a candidate for membership of the Athenaeum Club, but as he
said it would be about twenty years or so before there would
be a chance of election I did not feel particularly keen.
William Bell Scott (the brother of David Scott) I was
particularly interested to meet, as I had been struck some
» 873-79]
LIFE IN THE "BUSH''
207
2o8 AN ARTIST'S REMINISCENCES [1873-79
years before by a series of pictures of the history of the
Scottish or English border he had painted for the house of
Trevelyan, which were exhibited for a short time in London —
also as the friend of W. J. Linton, and of the Rossettis and
their circle. Among the numerous rhymes in which D. G.
Rossetti was in the habit of libelling (and labelling) his friends,
Scott is immortalised.
I never, however, met D. G. Rossetti, though if I had been
persevering I might have got introductions, no doubt, knowing
so many of his friends. I understood, though, that he did not
desire to extend his acquaintance, and so I did not like to
intrude.
The same with regard to Thomas Carlyle, whom I might
have approached, but I heard such unfavourable accounts of
the way in which he, in his later days, was as likely as not
to receive strangers that I did not venture to thrust myself
on the privacy of the Sage of Chelsea.
CHAPTER VII
RECORD OF WORK— ITALY REVISITED, 1880-84
IT was not until the spring of 1880, I think, that I finished
the set of drawings for The First of May. The work
was pubHshed by Messrs. Sotheran & Co. the following year.
Owing to the generosity of the author, I was enabled
to present a few copies to my friends of this rather costly
work, which was issued in two forms, one at ten guineas, and
the other at six guineas, all limited in number, and I remember
having to convert myself into a signature-writing machine
at the publishers', as each copy had to be signed by me and
numbered before being issued.
Among the letters received, the two following are
especially interesting as coming from such distinguished
artists, and on this account I may perhaps be pardoned for
producing them, in spite of their flattering terms about
my work.
"The Grange
" My dear Crane, — What a gift ! Only kings send
such presents to other kings — is it possible that we are
after all in that category? But it is a splendid book, and
will be a great treasure to me, and one of my chief possessions,
and how can I thank you enough ? I hope the whole country
will be as grateful as it ought to be. — Yours very truly,
"E. BURNE-JONES"
The following is from (Sir) W. B. Richmond : —
" My DEAR Crane, — To express in terms that would
not appear extreme, alone could I acknowledge and thank you
for the most valuable and lovely gift. From page to page,
14
2IO AN ARTIST'S REMINISCENCES [1880-84
fancy is led on, the design is the more beautiful than the
previous one, more precious in sentiment and more lovely
in execution.
" While such poetic work is being done as yours always is,
and especially this your latest publication, we cannot say that
the more imaginative side of our delightful art has no vitality.
" Recognition you will and must have in a marked
degree by all who know, and alone from those is it pleasant
to an artist in reality.
" I quite hoped to have been to see you on Friday, but
now that Oxford work has begun, the whole of each Friday
is spent there trying in some shape or form to knock into
people's heads something good concerning art.^
" Thank you, my dear brother painter, for your gift, and
accept my very sincere congratulations on the exquisite
results of your labour. — Ever yours sincerely,
" W. B. Richmond "
This year we changed our quarters from Edwinstowe
to Cromer, then a quiet little place consisting of a cluster
of houses huddling around a tall square pinnacled tower,
a landmark for the country round. It had not then been
" boomed " as a seaside resort, and villadom had not arrived
to take up *' desirable building sites." Our lodgings were
on an old-fashioned little parade of modest houses on the
top of a green bank facing the sea.
Sherringham, which we visited in our walks while at
Cromer, was then a most primitive little fishing village,
innocent of asphalted esplanades, grand hotels, and detached
villas, and with no railway nearer than Cromer. We also
had a glimpse of the Norfolk Broads about Wrexham.
I liked Cromer and its neighbourhood so much on this
visit that I induced my wife to spend our summer holiday
with the children there. We now had three, our second son
(Lancelot) having been born in January of this year — in
extremely cold wintry weather, I remember. I give a little
sketch of him done in the following summer (1881).
1 This is an allusion to his work as Slade professor at Oxford, where Richmond
had recently been appointed to the chair vacated by Ruskin.
1880-84] RECORD OF WORK— ITALY REVISITED 211
In due course we found ourselves at Cromer, having
taken the same rooms when I had stayed with Wise in the
previous May. It was the custom for visitors to pitch their
Httle bathing tents on the shore, many preferring them to
the cumbrous bathing machine. We also had a tribal tent
of this sort, but one morning my wife while making her
toilette after bathing was startled by a heavy tread outside
and a rough voice demanding that the tent should be struck,
as Lord Suffield's foreshore rights were being infringed —
or words to that effect.
I immediately wrote to his lordship protesting against
this conduct on the part
of his Cromer agent, and
presently received a polite
note that our tent should
not be interfered with in
any way during our stay
at Cromer. I do not
know how the foreshore
question was ultimately
settled.
The Duchess of St.
Albans was staying at
the hotel, and a friend
of Wise's whom I had
met in the spring, an
architect of Nottingham, Mr. Hine (who was staying at
Cromer with his daughter), took me to call on the Duchess,
she having expressed a wish to make my acquaintance. She
was a very charming lady, simply dressed in the seaside
fashion of those days, which consisted chiefly of a tight
jersey and skirt, and being in black the effect of the severe
simplicity of such a costume was increased.
At Cromer at that time were staying Mr. F. G. Stephens
(the well-known art critic of the Athen(2um for many
years), with Mrs, Stephens and their son Holly (now a
successful engineer), then quite a young boy. We had not
at that time become personally acquainted, but I knew
them by sight, and I knew of Mr. Stephens's interesting
SKETCH OF LANCELOT CRANE AT THE AGE
OF ONE YEAR AND SEVEN MONTHS
212 AN ARTIST'S REMINISCENCES [1880-84
connection with the pre-Raphaelite movement in its early
days, and that he sat to Millais for his picture of " Ferdinand
and Ariel," and also for the lover of Isabella in the banquet
scene by the same painter.
We happened to see the Stephens's one day. He was
busily engaged in rubbing a fine brass in an interesting
church near Cromer, famous for its brasses.
He was one of the earliest of my critics to appreciate
my work, and his remarks in the Athenceum^ though
variable, had been in the main favourable, and he had
emphatically and cordially welcomed my children's books,
and was one of the first, if not the first, to recognise
their aim.
He afterwards wrote an account of my work in
the Portfolio — a journal of art published by Messrs.
Seeley & Co. His death occurred in the present year.
Mr. Cyril Flower (now Lord Battersea) was also staying
at Cromer, where he afterwards built a house, and we made
his acquaintance. I remember his driving over to East
Runton — to which place we had moved on from Cromer —
in, a pony-chaise with some of the Duchess's children. He
was always very genial and good-natured, and seemed to
take a kindly interest in us and our little family at that
time. I think it was through him that we received a very
kind invitation from the Marchioness of Lothian — the then
mistress of Blickling Hall, which we had expressed a wish
to see — to come over with our babies and make a short
stay, which we did.
A tragic event happened during our sojourn at East
Runton. One of the village boys was bathing with others
in the shallow water which covered a slightly raised plateau
of sand (over which there was a strong undertow when the
tide ebbed) on the shore at East Runton. The beach was
full of visitors and children, some bathing, and all happy
and basking in the sunshine of a beautiful summer morning.
The boy was a good swimmer, and seemed to be diving,
but no one noticed him particularly, until a cry was raised,
and his head disappeared beneath a wave. A man who
had just left the water plunged in again to where the boy's
1880-84] RECORD OF WORK— ITALY REVISITED 213
head appeared for the last time, but in vain. Boats were
got out and eager search was made, but it was only when
the tide turned that his body was recovered, and a sorrowful
little procession passed our house to the village. We
went to pay a visit of condolence to the poor mother
afterwards.
We left East Runton for our visit to Blickling, driving in a
closed carriage with our children, it being a very wet day.
We arrived about five in the evening in the pouring rain, and
just as the carriage had drawn up, past the long walls of
clipped yew which made so fine an approach to the front, the
figure of a rather attenuated lady in a waterproof, shining in
the wet, without an umbrella, came up to welcome us. This
was our hostess, Lady Lothian, and very hospitable she was to
us, and greatly we enjoyed the charm of her beautiful Jacobean
mansion — one of the most complete, I suppose, of the date in
England. I made a drawing of the gateway (dated 161 9)
from the court, and one of the house from the garden, which
I presented to our hostess. The colour of the house was
delightful in low-toned red brick and warm grey stone quoins
and dressings. The famous Library was the great feature
inside the house, with its wonderful emblematic ceiling in
plaster relief.
A great sorrow had fallen on the house in the death of
the young Marquis. Watts had painted a portrait of him in
life, and had since designed a monument, which was then in
the church near the gates. This consisted of a recumbent
effigy of the Marquis, with kneeling guardian angels, one at
the head and one at the feet. These were carved in marble.
Lady Lothian's fancy was to have none but white birds and
animals on her estate, and so we saw white cattle, white doves,
white fowls and peacocks everywhere, and the effect of these
creatures moving or flying about among the old buildings, or
relieved against the dark yew hedges, was exceedingly pretty.
Among the circle we met at The Grange were Mr.
William De Morgan and his sister. Miss Mary De Morgan,
and Mr. Fairfax Murray. Miss De Morgan had recently
published a charming book of fairy tales {On a Pincushion)
which her brother had illustrated. She had since written some
2 14 AN ARTISTS REMINISCENCES [1880 84
more, and had asked me, through Burne-Jones, whether I would
illustrate them. William De Morgan was too busy with his
pottery to be able to do the pictures. He was then working
in Chelsea at the Orange House Pottery, and Mrs. De Morgan
was then alive (the widow of the distinguished Professor De
Morgan), and she lived in one of the charming old houses
in Great Cheyne Row, with her son and daughter.
Miss De Morgan's book was entitled The Necklace of
Princess Fiorimonde. It was published by Macmillan & Co.,
and appeared in 1880.
Another work I had undertaken for the same firm about
this time was an illustrated edition of the Haus Mdrchen of
the brothers Grimm, the translation of which had already been
undertaken by my sister, at the suggestion of Mr. G. L, Craik.
(Mr. Craik had married Miss Mulock, some of whose work I had
illustrated for Macmillan, and my sister often stayed with
them at their house at Shortlands, in Kent.)
This work was some time in preparation, as there were
a large number of designs in the form of head-pieces, tail-
pieces, and full pages in black and white, and all were engraved
on wood by Messrs. Swain.
While I was at work on some of these designs in my
studio at Beaumont Lodge I had a visit from William Morris,
who was just experimenting in the weaving of arras tapestry,
and had set up a loom at his house at Hammersmith and
woven the first piece (of a scroll-work design) with his own
hands. He now desired to introduce figures, and asked me
to do him a design with plenty of trees in the background,
which, he said, were always good to work in tapestry. Seeing
the " Goose-girl " design, which I had just completed for the
Grimm book, as a decorative full page with a border, he said
he should like me to work it out large for a tapestry. This I
accordingly did, making the cartoon 8 feet by 6 feet, and
colouring it. This cartoon was worked out in arras tapestry
at Merton, it was exhibited at the winter exhibition of design
at the Grosvenor in 1881, afterwards at many other places,
both here and on the Continent, and it was finally purchased
by the South Kensington (Victoria and Albert) Museum,
where it now hangs. It was, I believe, the first figure piece
1880-84] RECORD OF WORK— ITALY REVISITED 215
done at Morris's works, but many of Burne-Jones's designs
were done afterwards.
My wife having written to Morris to ask him whether she
could get some flannel dyed the beautiful blue of his famous
shirts, she received this letter from him : —
"Kelmscott, Lechlade
August 23 [? 1 8-]
" Dear Mrs. Crane, — The stuff my shirts are made of
is cotton : I daresay we could get it for you, if you wanted it.
" On the other hand, if you want flannel dyed to that shade,
or as near to it as wool would be to cotton, we can do that for
you at Merton, if you will send us the stuff; only sometimes we
cannot do things as quick as they are wanted : but I would
do my best in the matter with great pleasure. — I am, yours
very truly, WiLLIAM MORRIS "
About this time Leighton was planning his Arab Hall, as
an addition to his house in Holland Park Road. Mr. George
Aitcheson was his architect, and he asked me to undertake the
designs for the mosaic frieze which surrounds the hall. I had
some correspondence with Leighton over the designs, which
were submitted to him in the form of small scale sketches.
The following is one of the letters he wrote at the time : —
"AtheN/EUM Club, Pall Mall
" Dear Crane, — Many thanks. Cleave to the Sphinx and
Eagle, they are delightful. I don't like the Duck-women. By
the bye, what do you say to making the circles in the returns
starry heavens instead of another sun and moon ? — In haste
great, yours sincerely, Fred. Leighton "
The " Duck-women " above mentioned were in a suggestion
of mine for a design (in one of the circles) of Sirens, after the
traditional treatment seen in Greek gems, representing these
creatures on the rocks seeking to ensnare the Argonauts.
Leighton had evidently taken the old Saracenic palace at
Palermo called " La Zisa " as the model both for the mosaic
treatment and the plan and proportions of his Arab Hall.
2i6 AN ARTISTS REMINISCENCES [1880-84
I remember he sent me a photograph of the mosaic frieze at
La Zisa, wishing me to adopt a similar arrangement — so far
as the circles on a gold ground went ; but I did not realise till
many years afterwards, when I visited Palermo, how closely
the plan and proportions of the old palace hall had been
followed.
It was Leighton's intention to have carried out mosaic
decoration on the interior of the dome of his Arab Hall, for I
remember his saying to me that, when he was able to afford it,
he hoped to " let " Burne-Jones and myself " loose " there ; but
this never was realised.
In December 1880 I was invited by Lady Pembroke for
a few days' stay at Wilton. The idea was that I should be
interested in the Wilton carpets and make a design for one
introducing the arms of the house of Pembroke. I was duly
shown through the works in the village, and saw the looms
and the hand-weavers at work. There was, of course, an
immense amount of artistic interest in the house as well
as out, with its collection of antique sculpture and the superb
Inigo Jones double-cube room, with the Vandyke portraits as
panelled pictures on the walls-^ besides the Italian garden and
the Holbein porch.
Among the guests were Lord and Lady Brownlow, the
Hon. Sydney Herbert (the present Earl of Pembroke), and the
Earl and Countess of Wemyss.
I do not suppose that the Earl of Wemyss in conversing
with me had any recollection of his visit (when Lord Elcho) to
Linton's office in Essex Street in 1 8 5 9, or could possibly
identify me as the small boy who went to inform Linton of
his lordship's arrival, on the business of his book on the rifle-
volunteer and his equipment — and I did not attempt to revive
his memory.
I afterwards visited Lord Pembroke's house in Carlton
House Terrace, and had the great pleasure of seeing the
room decorated by Watts's paintings there.
Somehow or other the design scheme for the carpets fell
through, nor did it fare better with a picture of mine, " Europa,"
for which Lady Pembroke seemed to entertain a passing fancy,
as, though sent on trial, no place could be found for it, and
1880-84] RECORD OF WORK— ITALY REVISITED 217
" Europa " — born to be a traveller — eventually found a home
in Germany,
I afterwards had a little newspaper controversy in the
Westminster Gazette with Lord Pembroke on the subject of
the unemployed, over-population, and Socialism. He was a
large handsome man, I remember, but did not seem to enjoy
good health, and died young.
Another house in Carlton House Terrace where we were
occasional guests was that of Sir Matthew White and Lady
Ridley, who used to give large receptions. She was a very
amiable lady and kind hostess, but the company was generally
rather a proud one.
I remember seeing the late Marquis of Salisbury there,
among other eminent Conservative politicians, and thought
how well Tenniel and, later, F. C. G. had emphasised his
outward characteristics,
Mr. Balfour, whom I saw later, at Stafford House, allowing
for exaggeration, was equally like — himself, I was going to say
— I mean his caricatures.
At the instance of Mr. George Aitcheson about this period
I also undertook other mosaic designs for the town house of
Mr. Stewart Hodgson in South Audley Street, which the archi-
tect had just designed for him. Leighton had painted two
frieze panels, treating the theme of Music, for the drawing-
room. There remained four smaller panels to be filled, and
for these I designed " Earth," " Air," " Fire," and " Water," as
well as two smaller arched panels in recesses of " Stags
Drinking " and " A Faun and a Satyr." These designs,
also, were made in colour, and carefully tesserated, and
carried out with remarkable skill by the Murano Company
at Venice.
As to pictorial work, I had become interested in tempera
painting, and sent a picture in this method to the Grosvenor
that year. This was " Truth and the Traveller." It was
painted in some colours, prepared with starch, which W. B
Richmond had recommended to me. I also enlarged and
carried out in the same method one of the designs in The
First of May, using a wet plaster ground. This work I
called the " Advent of Spring."
2i8 AN ARTIST'S REMINISCENCES [1880-84
My assistant, Osmund Weeks, was still with me, and was
very ingenious in preparing plaster grounds and fibrous
plaster panels to paint on, but while the Combe Bank
modelling-work was being carried on, a fine white dust
settled upon everything in the studio, which was not got
rid of for some time, till I was able to use an adjacent
coach-house as a modelling-room. Other work of the sort,
too, came in, and I was able to keep Weeks going for a
long time. We had made the acquaintance of Madame
Coronio, and of her brothers, Mr. Constantine, Mr. Luke,
and Mr. Aleco lonides.
The latter had a house in the Holland Park quarter which
he had called in Mr. Philip Webb to make interesting. It
was originally a builder's house of a not uncommon Bayswater
type, though its detached situation in garden-ground with the
front entrance in an outer wall gave it a certain character.
Webb had made some charming additions to its interior, and
among other changes a tiled roof had been substituted for the
original blue-slate one. The architect, however, described the
house as hopeless : " It was like a feather-bed — shapeless, and
when you pushed it in one direction it stuck out in another."
I was called in to decorate the ceiling of the dining-room, and
to add a frieze. The room already had a fine Spanish stamped
leather on the walls and some charming wood-work designed
by Webb.
I designed a coffered ceiling in relief, taking the vine as
the ornamental motive, and — thinking of Omar Khayyam — I
placed an inverted cylix to serve as a boss at each junction
of the panel mouldings. The frieze illustrated ^sops Fables
in a series of panels, each divided by vertical pilasters panelled
with arabesques.
The ceiling and frieze were, when fixed, covered with silver
leaf, and then tinted and toned with various lacquers. After-
wards small designs worked in gesso in low relief, in situ, were
added as fillings in Mr. Webb's panelling at the end of the room
and in the fireplace, a long panel above the latter being decor-
ated with a design (also in gesso) emphasising the motive of
the vine by a symbolic group framed by an inscription from
the quatrains of Omar.
1880-84] RECORD OF WORK— ITALY REVISITED 219
The house was quite a treasury of art, and apart from
beautiful oriental china and metal-work and curios of all kinds,
contained tapestry and decorations and furniture by William
Morris, pictures by Burne-Jones and F. Sandys, Greek vases
and a choice collection of Tanagra figures. For these latter I
afterwards designed a sort of temple-like cabinet placed in
the position of an " over-mantel." This was ebony, with gilded
recesses to hold the figures.
SKETCH ON BOARD A YACHT
The work at Holland Park, following the Combe Bank
work, also took a considerable time in completion ; but Mr.
Aleco lonides was a most amiable and generous client, and
seemed rather to enjoy work going on in his house, and
was certainly in possession of ample means to gratify his
wishes.
The following summer I was invited to join him with a
party on a yachting cruise.
The party were to start from Liverpool Street and embark
2 20 AN ARTISTS REMINISCENCES [1880-84
at Brightlingsea. I, however, missed the train, and had to join
the party at Ryde, so I lost the first part of the voyage. The
party consisted of four men, I think, and two ladies (Miss
Sechiari, daughter of Madame Coronio, and Miss Edith
Gellibrand). I was never much of a sailor, and being
somewhat breezy when we left Ryde, it took me some little
time to get my sea legs, though there were intervals when I
could make sketches on deck. The yacht was a 40-ton yawl,
and she sailed well, the cabins small, but compact and well
appointed. Our destination was Torquay, and it was interest-
ing to mark the various features of the coast as we sailed along.
Our morning bath was an enlivening shock administered by
one of the crew with a bucket or two of sea-water thrown over
one on deck — the ladies having a luxurious bathroom below ;
the intellectual amusements consisted mainly in shooting at a
champagne bottle, trailed astern, with an air-gun, and playing
" Grab " in the saloon in the evening.
I had not seen Torquay since leaving it as a boy in 1857,
four-and-twenty years before, and as we entered the bay and
anchored outside the harbour it was interesting to recognise
the old landmarks and the spots so familiar in early days.
Landing, we paid a visit to Mr. Ralli, a friend of my
host's, who had a villa somewhere on the hills above the
town. He appeared to amuse himself by rapid speculations
on the Stock Exchange, as he was receiving telegrams every
few minutes.
He drove our party in a phaeton and pair to Dartmouth,
where we saw the old Britannia training-ship in the river,
passing it in a steam launch which took us up to Totness,
where we had a look at the old town, and returned to
Dartmouth, and so back to Torquay, re-embarking in the
yacht for the return voyage to Ryde. We enjoyed a
splendid sail before the wind all the way up the Channel
and through the Solent, with the spinnaker out. Altogether
it was a pleasant trip, and one went back to town feeling
very fit.
We were deliberating where to take our children that
summer, and had heard of a house at Richmond, in Yorkshire.
With our friend Edward Blount Smith (one of our old friends
1880-84] RECORD OF WORK— ITALY REVISITED 221
of the Roman days), a landscape painter of much feeling and
refinement, I travelled down to look at the place, which,
though extremely striking and interesting as a town, did
not seem particularly suitable for children on a holiday. So
after a rapid survey and a night at the hotel, we returned to
town and reported.
I had been invited to Naworth Castle again, to take part
in a play the house party were getting up. This had been
written by the Rev. Stopford Brooke, and its title was
Riquet with the Tuft, an amplification and treatment in verse
If
V
SKETCH OF THE REV. STOPFORD
A. BROOKE (naworth, i88i)
SKETCH OF T. J. COBDEN-
SANDERSON (NAWORTH, 1881)
of the old fairy tale, with some charming scenes and songs in
it. Mr. Brooke was himself one of the house party. The
leading rdle of the Prince Riquet with the Tuft was taken by
T. J. Cobden-Sanderson, who described it as " Hamlet with a
hump." To E. R. Hughes was assigned the part of the Court
painter ; Charles Howard, the eldest son (now Lord Morpeth),
took the part of a prince-suitor to the princess, represented by
his sister (now Lady Mary Murray). I was to take two parts —
one of the old gardener in the first scene, and one of the
rejected suitors in another. Great preparations were made.
A stage was erected at the top of the great hall, we were all
learning our parts, the costumes were ready, the rehearsals
222 AN ARTIST'S REMINISCENCES [1880-84
were in full swing, the guests were invited, when — ^news arrived
of the death of Lord Lanerton at Castle Howard, and every-
thing was put off.
It was at Naworth that I met Sir Wilfrid Lawson, who
was, of course, a neighbour of the Howards, and it may have
been in a great measure due to his influence that the Earl
and Countess and their family afterwards took up the teetotal
cause, which they did with great energy, and, being land-
owners, had considerable powers in respect of public -houses on
their estates, which it was said they were not slow to exercise.
As regards the drink question, I always felt that excessive
drinking was rather an effect than a cause of misery and
poverty.
By the death of Lord Lanerton the Hon. Charles Howard,
Mr. George Howard's (the present Earl) father, was brought a
step nearer to the earldom of Carlisle ; but he did not survive
his elder brother, and the earldom eventually fell to our
friend Mr. George Howard, who sat in the House of Commons
as member for the division of his county, until, in the natural
course of events, he went up higher — though, probably, if he
had had his choice, he would have preferred to spend his time
in his studio, or painting in Italy. He wrote to me about
this period from the Library of the House of Commons, as
follows : —
" I have been wishing to call on you for a long time, but
my time gets so filled up now that I have to waste so much
of it down here, that I have not been able to manage it.
" I had a large number of wallpapers of your design sent
to me by the manufacturer. The blossom patterns are
specially lovely ; but he has not sent me the nursery wall-
paper.
" I am anxious to see the drawings you have done for
Miss De Morgan's book. I have been working hard at my
landscapes, but have not been out anywhere."
My early friend, Mr. Somerset Beaumont (brother-in-law
of the Rev. Stopford Brooke), was another gentleman who
found himself in the House at one time (as member for
r^j-^rio t . ic>'-»'> Mil
1880-84] RECORD OF WORK— ITALY REVISITED 223
Wakefield), but apparently without the slightest taste for and
very little interest in politics, and he was glad to retire from
the turmoil of party strife. He writes about this time from
Shere, in Surrey, where he had bought a house, to ask if I had
any pictures at any of the winter galleries, and expressing a
wish to see them if I had, and he is good enough to say that —
" I am surrounded in my habitation by works of your
creation : they all improve upon acquaintance, and find them-
selves in sympathetic company of some of Costa's and poor
F. Walker.
" I did not see the Grosvenor Gallery collection, as I
returned very late to England ; but I was glad to hear you
found a Gallery where you could give free scope to your
genius and fancy.
" The scenery about here is quite lovely, and infinite
variety of form, outline, composition, and colour. Then the
human beings are as courteous, picturesque, and unaspiring as
Ruskin himself could possibly desiderate.
" I hope you will see it all some time. This winter I am
going to Egypt and some other Mediterranean shores I have
not yet seen.
" I hope Mrs. Crane and the children are quite well.
Pray give my kind remembrances."
It was during the winter of 1881 that a group of
designers and decorative artists formed themselves into a little
Society to discuss subjects of common interest to themselves
and bearing upon various branches of design. The idea was
initiated by Mr. Lewis F. Day, whom I had not seen since the
old days of " The Quibblers," and it was pleasant to renew my
friendship with him when he invited me to join this Society.
The other original members were Mr. Henry Holiday,
Mr. Hugh Stannus, Mr. T. M. Rooke, Mr. G. T Robinson,
Mr. (now Sir) James D. Linton, Mr. E. F. Brentnall, Mr.
Sacheverell Coke, Mr. J. D. Sedding, Mr. H. Arthur Kennedy,
Mr. George Simonds. Mr. H. M. Paget, Mr. Henry Page,
Mr. T. Erat Harrison, and Mr. J. T. Nettleship joined us
later. We used to meet at each other's houses or studios
224 AN ARTISrS REMINISCENCES [1880-84
about once a month from October to May, the host of the
evening being responsible for the refreshment of both the outer
and the inner man, and he had to provide a paper or open
a discussion on some subject or question of decorative art.
The name " The Fifteen " was adopted from a popular
puzzle with which people were wont to exasperate their spare
moments about this time — some trick with fifteen numbers
and one blank in a square box. We never, however, really
numbered fifteen. Some joined and some left, but we kept
our meetings up for two or three years, and should, no doubt,
have existed longer, but for the ultimate but natural
absorption of our members into a larger Society, which was
formed in 1884, with similar objects to ours, namely, "The
Art Workers' Guild," but which was able more effectively to
raise the banner of Decorative Design and Handicraft and to
gather under it a larger and wider representative group of
artists. Mr. George Simonds, the sculptor, was the first Master
of the Art Workers' Guild, and Mr. J. D. Sedding the second,
the gifted and most sympathetic architect, whose early death
was profoundly regretted by all who knew him. " The Fifteen "
was really born in a snowstorm. The first meeting was at
Mr. Lewis Day's house in Mecklenburg Square, on a certain
Tuesday in January, I think — known as " Hurricane Tuesday."
In fact, Beaumont Lodge was almost buried in the drifts of
snow, and the blizzard was so severe that I did not turn out.
However, there were a dauntless few who made a quorum and
started the Society, which was the means of bringing forth
many interesting papers and pleasant fireside discussions.
In December 1881 my friend Edward Blount Smith
proposed I should join him on a little trip to Italy. Rome
was his destination, but we stopped on the way at Paris, at
Turin, and at Genoa, where we visited the tomb of Mazzini
in the picturesque cemetery outside the town, full of very
extraordinary examples of modern Italian sculpture. Mazzini's
tomb was in strong contrast to most of its neighbours —
dignified and massive in its Doric simplicity and seventy.
The Genoese palaces commanded our admiration in the
splendour of their painted and stucco interior decoration,
telling of the former wealth and importance of the port. The
1880-84] RECORD OF WORK— ITALY REVISITED 225
city showed abundant signs of preparation for the Christmas
feast, whole bay trees being used to decorate the butchers' shops,
which were then quite as much in evidence as in our own
country at this season.
We spent Christmas Day, however, in Pisa, and they
brought us with pride an English plum-pudding at the
restaurant where we dined — if, indeed, our Christmas pudding
can be called our own, and has not been imported at some
remote time, together with raisins and currants.
I had not seen either Genoa or Pisa before, and of course
■W^ C\e*voa..
SKETCH Of'mAZZINI'S TOMB (GENOA, 1882)
found both very interesting, and we sketched as we went
along. I remember making a little coloured sketch of the
Baptistery and the Leaning Tower from outside the gate.
Fair indeed they looked in the clear sunlight of that winter
day, with the purple mountains behind them.
We drove out to the great pine forest of II Gombo,
which had been a favourite sketching-ground with Edward
Smith before. The beautiful silhouettes of the dark stone
pines relieved against the ultra-marine of the Carrara Moun-
tains in all the grandeur of their sculptured masses can never
be forgotten, or the impressive gloom in the forest over-
shadowing the dark waters of the Fiume del Morte.
From Pisa we went to Florence, and it was a joy to renew
15
2 26 AN ARTISTS REMINISCENCES [1880-84
one's acquaintance with its beauties and wonders of art, first
seen ten years before.
Continuing our journey to Rome, we stopped at Arezzo,
where we saw the fine Piero della Francesca frescoes in the
church, and after a night there, in a somewhat primitive hotel,
went on to Perugia, where we spent a few days. Leighton
had told me that though it was true they had put on what
he called " a dickey " in the shape of a brand new Piazza
Vittorio Emmanuele, the mediaeval town was still intact
behind it, and so we found it.
The air was very still, and the valleys appeared in the
mornings and evenings wrapped in layers of thick white mist,
through which the tops of the mountains appeared like islands
in a silver sea.
From Perugia we went to Assisi, where we were much
charmed with the beautiful Lower church of the famous
Monastery, its vault adorned with the frescoes of Giotto.
Our last resting-place before Rome was Orvieto, so
strikingly situated upon its steep, with commanding views
up and down the valley of the Tiber, with its shrine-like
Cathedral, and the strong frescoes of Luca Signorelli, and its
west front rich in thirteenth-century sculpture and sparkling
with gold and mosaic. The church was blocked with scaffolding
at the time of our visit, and extensive repairs were going on ;
but under the wise direction of Signor Boni much interesting
work has been preserved from decay and neglect.
At Rome we met Vedder and many of our former
artist friends of the old circle and some new ones, among
whom was Mr. Ross, a genial and versatile Norwegian
painter.
After a pleasant few days' stay, during which I found time
to make several drawings and to discover considerable changes,
notably in the appearance of the Forum, which had been
extensively excavated since I had made my drawing of the
Arch of Titus in 1871, with the avenue of acacias, which had
now gone, I left my friend in Rome, and started homewards
alone, but having a great wish to see Ravenna I made a detour
at Bologna to visit that wonderful treasury of Byzantine
architecture and mosaic. The mosaics in the churches at
1880-84] RECORD OF WORK— ITALY REVISITED 227
that time had not been touched, and wonderfully impressive
they were. There was a pathetic, melancholy feeling about
the old city, as of departed splendour, and memories of Dante,
whose tomb it contains — grass growing in many of the streets,
and the level marshy country around bordered with pine forests
increased this impression,
I broke my journey, too, at Siena, and saw that most
interesting and delightful city for the first time, and enjoyed
the treasures of art in the Cathedral. On the way to Florence
I stopped at Poggibonsi, and took the six miles' drive in a
L.'^ ' ■'^ TL..*!..'-' -=V*iK".jKnJiJ.«&
SKETCH AT VENICE (1882)
vetture to San Gimignano — a unique place, and an almost
perfect example of an Italian mediaeval town, complete with
its gates, walls, and towers, though only thirteen of the latter
were left — out of fifty, it was said.
I also touched at Venice on my way home, arriving, I
remember, about six on a morning early in January. I was
rowed from the station through the silent deserted canals,
a solitary light reflected on the dark water here and there,
and as I was landed on the hotel steps the Ave Maria
sounded, and my gondolier stopped, and putting his hands
together, muttered a prayer.
2 28 AN ARTIST'S REMINISCENCES [1880-84
I paid my devotions, later, at the great shrines of art —
St. Mark's, the Accademia, the churches, and I made a
drawing of the island of San Giorgio, which I afterwards
exhibited at the Institute of Painters in Water Colours.
From Venice I went through to London. In the train I
met an Oxford professor of science, and during the usual
pause in Paris we dined together, and nearly missed the train
to Calais. He was anxious to bear home as a trophy a yard
of bread, and duly secured one at the restaurant, but in the
haste of our rush to catch the train the yard of bread was
after all forgotten.
Before that January was past a sad sorrow fell upon
us in the death of our fourth child, a little son who had been
born in the previous June. The heavy fogs which visited
London at that time proved fatal in their effects, and our
child, who never seemed very strong from the first, succumbed
to a cold which settled on the lungs.
This upset us so much that, after laying him to rest at
Kensal Green, we determined to leave our house for some
time.
We went, in the first place, to Eastbourne with our two
little boys and a nurse, but after stopping there a while
turned inland, and eventually discovered a retreat near
Sevenoaks — a delightful house on the side of a hill over-
looking Sevenoaks Weald. It had been an old manor-house,
and retained a fine old Gothic hall with open-timbered roof.
This and the house, however, had been " restored " and added
to, with the idea of making it a modern country residence,
and there had been no attempt to make the modern part
harmonise with the old hall. There was a farm attached of
about two hundred acres in extent, and this was managed by
a steward, who with his family lived in a part of the house.
We had abundance of room, and the old hall was a
delightful place for the children to play in in bad weather.
One of the rooms had a good north light, and I was able to
paint and carry on my work. So we stayed on here through
the spring, until the copses were blue with hyacinths and the
valley filled with the song of nightingales.
I find a letter from Professor Herkomer, dated May 27,
1880-84] RECORD OF WORK— ITALY REVISITED 229
1882, acknowledging one of my books I had sent him, pro-
bably Pan-pipes.
The letter is headed with his shield bearing a scroll-work
design of German type entwined with his motto on a ribbon,
" Propria Alis." It runs as follows : —
" My dear Crane, — My daughter and I thank you
sincerely for the gift of your beautiful book. This surely
cannot, and must not be the last ! Just at such a time when
such imitation as Kate Greenaway and her crew are taking
away the masculine tendency you started, you are more than
ever needed.
" I enjoyed the other evening thoroughly. — Ever yours,
" Hubert Herkomer "
This year saw the appearance of Grimm's Household
Stories, which my sister had translated, and for which I had
furnished a large number of illustrations in the form of full
pages with headings and tail-pieces to each story. These
were engraved on wood by Messrs. Swain, and the book was
printed by Messrs. R. & R. Clark, and no pains were spared
upon it. It was called " The Crane Edition," and has been
reprinted several times, remaining still a favourite with the
public.
Another book published this year was Pan-pipes^ a book
of old songs with the tunes. In this I had the advantage of
the co-operation of Mr. Theo. Marzials, himself a most
charming song composer. The book was in oblong form, so
as to be convenient on a piano, and to each song there was
a coloured design, taking the form of a decorative border
enclosing the music. It opened with the delightful " Tudor-
esque " melody, as Marzials called it, of Mr. Malcolm Lawson's
setting of Marlowe's words, " Come live with me and be my
love"; but this was the only modern exception, as the rest of
the airs were all arranged by Mr. Marzials from the old
traditional ones. Marzials himself seemed really more like
a troubadour than a modern person, and was always most
delightful to meet, apart from his musical gifts.
While at Wickhurst the sad news arrived of the sudden
230
AN ARTIST'S REMINISCENCES
1880-84
death of my sister. She was at the time among her friends
in the north of England, engaged in giving the series of
lectures which were afterwards pubHshed by Macmillan & Co.
under the title of Lectures on Art and the Formation of Taste,
with a memorial Introduction by my brother and myself. It
was in March, and my sister, never very strong, must have
rather over-tasked herself, as after one of the lectures she fell
suddenly ill, and died very shortly afterwards at the house of
the friends she was with. My brother went down immediately
PORTRAIT OK LUCY CRANE (1882)
(Given in '''Art and the P'ormation of Taste")
to make the final mournful arrangements, and she was laid
in the family grave at Kensal Green.
I have already written of her remarkable musical accomplish-
ments. She was also skilled with her pen and pencil, and had
shown remarkable refinement and a cultivated taste, both in
art and literature. She had projected a visit to Italy, to which
she was looking forward with immense interest, before her
untimely death. Altogether this was a sad spring-time for us.
My picture this year for the Grosvenor, " The Roll of Fate "
1880-84] RECORD OF WORK— ITALY REVISITED 231
(painted at Wickhurst), with the verse from Omar, was expressive
of one's feelings at the time : —
"Would that some winged angel ere too late
Arrest the yet unfolded scroll of Fate
And make the stern recorder otherwise
Enregister — or quite obliterate.
O Love, could you and I with him conspire
To grasp this sorry scheme of things entire,
Would we not shatter it to bits, and then
Remould it nearer to the heart's desire."
To set against the domestic sorrows of this year I had
the great gratification of hearing from Mr. G. F. Watts that
he desired to possess my picture, " The Renascence of Venus."
An artist's appreciation and sympathy is always doubly
gratifying, and that one of Mr. Watts's eminence should think
so highly of a work of mine was particularly so to me.
Here is the letter he wrote at the time : —
" Little Holland House
July 5, 1882
" My dear Mr. Crane, — I have always desired to possess
your picture, ' The Birth of Venus,' and as long as it remains
unsold I shall find some pleasure in the possibility, but
certainly I should not consider myself justified in offering you
a smaller price than the one you name. I know it was what
you had fixed upon the work, and only think it too small.
The expenses of my building and framing my pictures for
the collection at the Grosvenor have crippled me, so that I am
unable to gratify my longings at present, but I may have some
better time later. I am glad you like the effect of the paper
ground. — Yours very sincerely, G. F. Watts "
" If you are leaving your old house, you may find some
difficulty in placing your pictures. I know I did, and do for
that matter. If so, and you see no chance of disposing of your
picture, will you let me have it and pay for it by instalments ?
say i^5o at a time [the price was ;^30o]. I might hesitate to
make such a proposal in general, but I think you will under-
stand that nothing can be further from my mind than an offence."
2 32 AN ARTISTS REMINISCENCES [1880-84
In reply to my letter agreeing to his proposal he wrote
again : —
" Little Holland House
July 8, 1882
" Dear Mr. Crane, — I shall be delighted to have the
picture, and will try and be not very long about the payment
of the whole sum ; but I have very particulai'- reasons for wish-
ing to be able to hang up the picture as a lent picture. I m|ay
as well say, not to make a mystery, that there are certain
people of my acquaintance who wanting money might think
that I am not behaving in a friendly manner in making
purchases I can do without, instead of lending or giving
such purchase money (this is between ourselves), and I think
you will understand it, so please let me have the picture for
a very short time as a loan. — Yours very sincerely,
" G. F. Watts "
Mrs. Russell Barrington, who has always been very
sympathetic about my work, and has frequently written about
it from time to time, sent me a very kind letter. She being
a next-door neighbour, saw a great deal of Mr. Watts, and
therefore her letter written at the time my picture was sent to
Little Holland House may not be without interest here. It
is as follows : —
" My dear Mr. Crane, — I must write and tell you what
delight your beautiful picture gives. Mr. Watts is really in
ecstasies over it, says in all pictures old and new he never saw
such an exquisite silvery tone . . . and that he never did
anything so good . . . that he is quite in love with the
' Venus ' ... in fact, is quite enthusiastic.
" It is so nice to see a beautiful thing in a house where it is
loved. We speculate how far it is tempera and how far oil,
will you give us a little light ? And, by the bye, Mrs. Merritt
asked me the other day if I could find out how the last book
of yours was done, the big serious work I mean [Fiist of May\.
The process of engraving she meant, and whether it was photo-
graphed. If not too much trouble, will you tell me ?
" I wonder if the pool and the reeds have got into a sketch
1880-84] RECORD OP WORK— ITALY REVISITED 233
yet [a reference to a spot near Tunbridge Wells I think she
had seen on a visit to us]. Please remember me most kindly
to Mrs, Crane and the dear chicks, and promise me, if you
can, to give us an evening and dine with us, if you are coming
to town, and will write a card to say when it will be. — Yours,
very truly, E. I. Barrington
"4 Melbury Road, W.
July 28 "
Mr. Watts's opinion of my picture seemed, too, to stand
the test of years. I had later many letters from him in which
he repeatedly records his opinion, and expresses his intention
of presenting it to the Tate Gallery. Here is one in answer
to a request to lend it to an exhibition : —
" LiMNERSLEASE, GUILDFORD
November 13, 1900
" My dear Mr. Crane, — Of course I will lend the
pictures with a great deal of pleasure — glad that your picture,
which I always admired so much, should be seen. I have
never lost my admiration for it, and feel I ought to have pro-
fited more from my appreciation of the qualities in it which
my work does not possess. I shall, with your permission, give
it to the Gallery of British Art. I always regret not seeing
more of you. — With regards to Mrs. Crane, very sincerely
yours, G. F. Watts
o "
He writes again on October 24, 1902 : —
" I do not doubt * Venus ' has been much admired ! My
opinion, which has never changed, was proved by my purchase
of it, for I never was a picture-buyer. Your place in art will
always be among the highest. I do not greatly value con-
temporary opinion.
" I want to give the ' Venus ' to the Gallery of British Art
[Tate]. I do not think you are represented there."
Again, July 5, 1903, just a year before his death, he
writes : —
234
AN ARTIST'S REMINISCENCES
1880-84
" I do not think you are represented in the National
Gallery of British Art at Millbank, and if you do not object
I shall present the picture to it. — Very sincerely yours,
" G. F. Watts
"If the picture is not in your way, will you let it remain
till I have made arrangements ? " ^
Our little daughter (now nine years old, I give a sketch
of her done at Little-
hampton later) had been
previously sent to a school
at Tunbridge Wells, so
that it was conveniently
near to see her and have
her over to stay.
In the early summer,
however, to be still nearer
to her, we took up our
abode at Tunbridge Wells,
finding comfortable (but
expensive) quarters over-
looking the Common in a
little furnished cottage in a
large garden.
While at Tunbridge
Wells I was invited to
read a paper during the
University Extension
courses which were ar-
ranged in the vacation at
Oxford that year. Pro-
fessor York Powell had
asked me to undertake this, and I was his guest at his rooms
in Christchurch College for the night. His other guest was
Mr. W. B. Yeats, whom I met for the first time, a very young
man with long black hair, pale face, and slight stoop, then
unknown to fame, whose quiet manner and dreamy look no
doubt concealed unknown depths of poetic imagination.
^ The picture was then in my studio, having just relumed from its Continental lour.
SKETCH OF BEATRICE CRANE
(UTTLEHAMPTON, 1882)
i88o 84] RECORD OF WORK— ITALY REVISITED 235
My subject was " The Architecture of Art " (included in
my Claims of Decorative Art, afterwards printed), and I
illustrated it as I went along by rapid sketches on the
blackboard. We dined in the common room with the
Master and Fellows afterwards, and everybody was very
agreeable.
Professor York Powell I had met in London. He had a
house at Bedford Park, and was a near neighbour of another
friend, Mr. T. Erat Harrison, the artist. He used also occasion-
ally afterwards to attend the Socialist meetings at William
Morris's at Kelmscott House, and was a guest of the Art
Workers' Guild sometimes. An extremely interesting man,
full of learning, yet most retiring and modest. He had an
observant, contemplative manner, behind the facial outworks
of glasses and a pipe, and a personality which gave one the
impression of suppressed force and reserve of power.
At Tunbridge Wells I think we stayed until August,
seeing a few friends from town occasionally, and then moved
on to Littlehampton — a place I had not seen since i860.
While here, Mr. E. R. Hughes came to stay with us and
paint a portrait picture of our two boys.
The place had grown a bit as a seaside resort, but the old
jetty was there, and Arundel Castle stood as of old. The
sands were wide and safe, and it was a good place for
children.
We used to hire tricycles of I know not what antique
make, and trundle along on these " old crocks " to our infinite
satisfaction, and fortunately the country was very level. The
Safety bicycle had not then appeared, and there was nothing
between the " ordinary " (with its extraordinary big wheel) and
a heavy tricycle.^'
It was indeed the heroic age of the bicycle. The intrepid
way in which the young men of the period mounted and rode
those high-steppers and endured the bone-shaking over a fifty-
^ We had tricycles at Beaumont Lodge, and I recall one occasion when Mr.
Watts came to see us he was induced to take his seat on one, and went wobbling
about the lawn with some satisfaction, but I do not think he ever set up one for
himself. He used to ride on horseback a good deal, but now complained of the
danger of the slippery wood pavements and the time it took to get out of London,
and s(j had some idea of taking to the wheel as a substitute, I fancy.
236 AN ARTIST'S REMINISCENCES [1880-84
inch wheel, innocent of pneumatic tyres, was amazing. One
used to see the Clubs turning out in all their bravery on a
Saturday afternoon on any main road out of London — troops
of wheelers in their close-fitting neat uniforms of dark blue or
grey, with tight knee-breeches, like young men out of W. S.
Gilbert's opera Patience, preceded by buglers to clear the
way.
Patience reminds me that when Mr. W. S. Gilbert was
considering the setting of this opera, in which he caricatures
the aesthetic movement, he consulted me as to suggestions for
stage costume and scenery. I remember going to see him
when he lived in The Boltons, when he explained his ideas on
the subject. As a supporter at the time of what was described
in his opera as the " greenery yallery Grosvenor Gallery," I
was a little afraid of his wanting to guy the Burne-Jones
School too much, and I remember saying that I naturally did
not want to lend a hand to pull to pieces my own nest ; but as
he seemed to want something really beautiful as a setting, I
was induced to make a sketch for a garden scene ; but I don't
think I could have quite lent myself to the comic and satiric
spirit of his opera, and my plan was not actually followed,
though I detected that hints had been taken from it when I
saw the opera produced — though I cannot say I found myself
in any way enriched.
The wariness of a man of business and the alertness of a
theatrical manager were the qualities that seemed most in
evidence in my personal impression of the ingenious humorist
and comic poet. One arrangement in his room struck me as
very convenient and practical, and that was the wide mouth
of a convenient shoot for letters. He got rid of his letters for
the post in this way at once, as they fell into some receptacle
in the hall below, and got posted — or perhaps posted them-
selves !
Later, when the new Savoy Theatre was being projected —
at the suggestion, I believe, of Mr. Arthur MacMurdo — Mr.
D'Oyley Carte consulted me about the decoration and planning
of the theatre. I remember meeting him and Mr. Michael
Gunn about the business, and I made some suggestions and
sketches. I wanted them to adopt the ancient Greek and
1880-84] RECORD OF WORK— ITALY REVISITED 237
Roman plan for the arrangement of the seats for the stalls
and pit — the seats to be built in curved tiers, rising step by
step from the floor in front of the stage.
It all came to nothing, however, and the next thing I
heard was that Messrs. Collinson & Lock had been commis-
sioned to carry out the work on another scheme.
This reminds me of the too sympathetic solicitor in the
Bab Ballad who, after expending an immense amount of
interest (and even tears) on a case, when
he was consulted, his client " the Captain,"
after all,
" toddled off next door,
And gave the case to Mr. Cobb."
To return to Littlehampton : we
finally determined to spend the winter
in Rome again, and so towards the end
of September we with our little family
worked along the coast to Folkestone,
from where we presently took steamer to
Boulogne. Our party had been increased
by a young lady, Miss Fyfe, who acted
as governess to the children. We got
through the usual discomforts of the long
journey, taking it in fairly easy stages, and
in due course found ourselves in Rome
once more.
Our first business was to find quarters, memory sketch of
which we did before many days in our old (IomeViW)''^^'*
neighbourhood, finding a suitable apparte-
ment in Capo le Case, within a stone's throw of where we had
been located in 1873, in San Giuseppe. We had the top
floor or piano, with access to a loggia — or flat asphalted roof
— open to the sky, decorated with pots of small lemon and
orange trees, which was very pleasant.
On the piano below us, in the same house, lived at that
time no less a literary celebrity than Ibsen, then not widely
read or known in England, though he had made a consider-
able repute as a dramatist in his own country, in Germany,
2 38 AN ARTISTS REMINISCENCES [1880-84
and on the Continent generally. We never became personally
acquainted, however, though our friend Mr. Ross, the Nor-
wegian painter, had some acquaintance with the dramatist.
I often saw him taking his constitutional on the Pincio.
He usually appeared in a long grey frock-overcoat reaching to
his heels, and a very wide, curly-brimmed silk hat, and he
walked with a heavy cane, so that altogether he rather
suggested an old-fashioned doctor of medicine, and his face,
with shaved chin and grey side-whiskers and pince-nez,
certainly bore out the impression.
We renewed our acquaintance with many old friends in
Rome, and made many new ones. Among the latter must be
named Madame Helbig, the wife of Professor Helbig, the head
of the German Archaeological Institute at that time, and their
residence was close to the Tarpeian Rock. Madame Helbig, a
striking figure and a most accomplished and learned lady, took
the most friendly interest in us and our children, and even
took charge of our little daughter's music lessons for a time.
She was indeed a most genial and generous soul, and carried
a large heart and a wide mind in an ample frame.
Another interesting personality was Miss Beresford, whose
early death was much deplored. She was a great friend of
Madame Helbig's, and they frequently met at our rooms.
Another frequent visitor was William Davies, known as
the author of a book of poems. He used also to make little
etchings of Roman subjects, and had a copperplate press in
his rooms, where he printed them. He induced me to try my
hand, and I did one or two small plates ; but I never took
heartily to etching as a method of expression.
William Davies had some acquaintance with the Rossetti
circle, and Smetham, who was also known to Rossetti, was a
particular friend of his. Davies was an accomplished Italian
scholar and a great student of Dante, and had an immense
love for Italy and Italian life.
I regretted that unfortunate circumstances afterwards hope-
lessly estranged us, as at the time we saw much of Davies
and even had a scheme for a children's book together, for
which his friend Ross composed tunes and Madame Helbig
arranged them — but alas ! it never saw the light.
1880-84] RECORD OF WORK— ITALY REVISITED 239
Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Murch were then living in Rome, and
at their rooms we met Mrs. Lynn Linton again, I remember;
Mr. Ridley Corbett also (afterwards A.R.A.), who had a studio
in the Via Sistina, and Mr. Alfred Gilbert, the sculptor, and
his family. The latter was then comparatively unknown, but
the tide was just about turning with him at that time, after
a hard struggle, and important commissions were coming in.
Leighton had bought one of his works, and his generous
appreciation did much to bring the extraordinary genius of
Gilbert to the front. He seemed to me always to show a
tendency to waste his powers, and I fear his artistic fastidious-
ness compelled him often to destroy exquisite preliminary
suggestions and sketches for his work. There was always a
sense of unrest and strife, as if with an invisible enemy about
him, and he gave one the impression of a man who had never
emerged from his " sturm und drang " period.
We renewed our acquaintance with Costa, who since we
had last met had taken to himself a charming wife, and now
had a little daughter. Signora Costa was a delightful Italian
lady and very lively and good-humoured, and we became great
friends.
The Costas had a country retreat near Bocca d'Arno
(where M, R. Corbett frequently worked). Here is a greeting
sent to us for a New Year written by Costa himself —
" II Sigr. Walter Crane e Signora
Spero vorranno accettare gli
Auguri di felicita per il nuovo
Anno, che gli invia il di sono.
" CoUega amico e servo
" GocATO Giovanni Costa
" Marina di Pisa"
No sooner had we arrived in Rome than I received a
letter from Dr. Nevin, who was the clergyman of the
American church (designed by Mr. G. Street) in Rome.
This was to ask me to undertake the design and painting
of an important frieze for the newly built house at Newport,
R.I., of Miss Catherine Wolfe of New York. It was for the
decoration of the dining-room. The subject was to be taken
from Longfellow's " Skeleton in Armour." There was an old
240 AN ARTIST'S REMINISCENCES [1880-84
tower at Newport which was said to be a rehc of the early-
Norse discoverers and settlers in America, long before
Columbus, and stones with runic characters incised upon
them were said to have been found in the neighbourhood.
Others, however, said the reputed tower was only the base
of a mill ; but the States are not wealthy in antiquities, and
it seems cruel to deprive Newport of the interest of such a
promising relic. I was desired to introduce this tower into
the frieze, and I had a photograph of it to work from. There
were four lengths of frieze of about twenty-four feet each for
the four sides of the room, one of which was invaded by the
window heads. I schemed a continuous sort of decorative
picture, the incidents succeeding one another without formal
break or division into panels, and then painted the frieze
(which full size was about three feet deep) in flat oil colour,
each length being on a continuous roll of canvas worked upon
wooden rollers, around which it was looped, and could be run
forwards or backwards by handles affixed to the same.
It was necessary for such a work to take a studio at once,
and I found one in the Via Sistina, very near our appartement
— not a particularly good one, it is true, but studios were
scarce, and I made it do.
My neighbours on the same floor were the late Lord
Lamington and his family, I remember.
I had rather contemplated being free to make studies in
and about Rome, as in the old days, but as I accepted this com-
mission, I had to practically stick to my studio most of my
time, and even then did not finally complete the frieze until
I returned to England, though the greater part of it was
sent to Newport direct from Rome when finished.
During the progress of the work I had a visit from Sir
Augustus Paget, then English Ambassador at the Italian
Court. He brought some beautiful lady with him, whose
name I did not catch, but she was very appreciative about
the designs. I remember calling at the Embassy and seeing
Lady Paget and her daughter, afterwards Lady Windsor and
now the Countess of Plymouth, and we attended a reception
there in the course of the season.
I afterwards met Lady Paget at one of Leighton's recep-
1880-84] RECORD OF WORK— ITALY REVISITED 241
tions at Holland Park Road when the Arab Hall was com-
pleted, and she expressed her approval of the mosaics.
We sometimes indulged, my wife and I, in a ride on
horseback out into the Campagna, a diversion of which we
were both always fond. We got very good hacks in Rome,
and certainly it was the pleasantest way of seeing the country.
Dr. Nevin, a keen horseman, accompanied us on one occasion,
and we had a long ride outside the Porta Pia, encountering
near a farm the wolfish dogs of the herdsmen, which flew
at us as we rode by, but did no damage. I remember his
relating some of his experiences in the American War, in
which he served as an aide-de-camp. He spoke of spending
thirty-six hours in the saddle sometimes, and when sleep
overcame him he would dismount, and hooking the bridle
over his arm, secure a nap underneath his horse with no fear
of being trampled on.^
Dr. William Spottiswoode and his wife came out to Rome
during the spring, and paid us a visit. He was then out of
health, and unfortunately he contracted a fever while in Rome,
from which he never recovered. In him I lost a valuable
friend and the most considerate and generous client I ever
had.
Another interesting man I met in Rome at this time was
Mr. Wentworth Buller, who first taught William Morris to
work in the high-warp loom, which led to his revival of arras
tapestry. Buller was an enthusiast for hand-weaving and
had an extraordinary knowledge of Oriental carpets and
woven stuffs, especially Persian silks. He had a fine
^ As I write, the announcement of Dr. Nevin's death meets my eye, with an
account of him in the Morning Post (October 2, 1906). He seems to have kept
up his riding to the last, as he is reported to have died while hunting in Mexico.
I find a letter from him dated Rome, October 23, 1883, in which he speaks of
having been delayed on his return there at Paris and Venice. He " was charmed, by
the way, at the latter place with some small mosaic cartoons of yours that I saw in
execution at the Cia-Venezia Murano." (These were probably some of those I
designed for Leighton's Arab Hall or for Mr. Hodgson's house.) He sends me
"the architect's measure for the windows in Miss Wolfe's house," and incidentally
mentions the frieze, asking for a complete set of the photographs from it, and
concludes: " Rome is lovely, as ever, and I wish you were to be here this winter.
Kind remembrances to Mrs. Crane. — Very truly yours, R. J. Nevin."
He was certainly the most genial and unaffected clergyman I had ever met,
16
\
242 AN ARTIST'S REMINISCENCES [1880-84
collection of such things. He was full of the discovery he
had made that the finer Persian rugs were made of goat's
hair. I remember he got me to design some animals treated
rather in the Persian manner for some work he was then
engaged upon ; but he too, unfortunately, fell a victim to
what was called Roman fever. As a memento he left me a
very interesting piece of silk, of Persian design but of his
own weaving. This his sister sent to me after his death.
He was connected with the Buller family of Devonshire.
We had some very pleasant and interesting excursions
to Frascati and Albano and the ruins of Tusculum. Mrs.
Burtchaell (a lady who lived in Rome and had started a
school of embroidery among the women, with a view to
perpetuating the characteristic traditional patterns of the
Campagna peasantry) and her daughters and Dr. Nevin
were of the party, and we formed quite a cavalcade (on
donkeys !).
Tivoli, too, was again visited, and our youngest child not
seeming well, it was thought a stay there might be beneficial,
and my wife took him there ; but the hotel, it was to be
feared, was not sanitary at that time, so that any benefit
from the air of the hills was counteracted, and I believe the
seeds of typhoid fever were caught there by my wife, though
our little son got better.
This proved a most serious disaster, for although the fever
did not manifest itself definitely for some time, we determined
to make for home. My wife was far from well when we
started. We had intended to break the journey at Florence,
but finding her apparently better on reaching there, we went
on to Lucerne. There a Swiss doctor whom we called in
looked grave, and said that if she went on it would be at
considerable risk, and it must be at our own. This anxiety
clouded the sunshine and beauties of Lucerne, then fresh
and smiling in its new spring dress, the little villages by
the lake looking as if they had just been taken out of toy
boxes and planted there.
We determined to go on, however, and in due course
reached our roof-tree on the evening of June 5, 1883.
I called in our doctor, who at once ordered the patient
1880-84] RECORD OF WORK— ITALY REVISITED 243
to bed. A nurse was installed, and straw laid down in the
road, as quiet was essential, and every measure was taken to
fight the fever, but it was an anxious time, only cheered by the
kindness of friends, and it was not until the 24th June that
my wife was able to sit up for an hour ; but from that
time she improved, although the effects of such an illness
were felt for a long time afterwards, and a depression of
the nerves remained, which it took many months to recover
from.
In the autumn we paid a visit to Mr. and Mrs. Turnbull
at their charming country home, near Ashburton, in Derby-
shire. They were old friends of my late sister, and they had
been among our visitors in Rome the previous winter. They
had purchased a picture of mine which I had worked out
the previous summer at Tunbridge Wells, and which was in
the Grosvenor Gallery in the summer exhibition of 1883.
This was in water colour, and the subject, " Diana and
Endymion," altered in the catalogue to " Diana and the
Shepherd." ^ I had sent it in a silver instead of a gold
frame, but this dismayed the Management so much that I
was implored to have it gilded.
In addition to this picture, I exhibited a portrait of my
wife and two portions of the Newport frieze, " The Viking's
Wooing " and " The Viking's Bride."
I revisited this autumn my old haunts in Derbyshire also,
with my wife, stopping at the little fishing inn at Lead Mill.
There was little change in the aspect of the valley, but time
had made gaps in the old inhabitants, and my former hosts
at Hazelford were no more.
' In connection with this picture, " Diana and the Shepherd," it may be interest-
ing to note that among my hostile critics (I always had plenty of them) was Mr.
Harry Quilter, who then wrote in the Spectator. He had seen me in Rome the
winter before, and so he thought he would be down upon me, and having abused
the picture generally, wrote that it was strange that an artist who had studied so
long in Italy could not paint an olive tree. As it happened, the background for this
picture had been found on Tunbridge Wells Common, so I was able to turn the
tables on him on this point.
It is only fair to acknowledge, however, that some time afterwards Mr. Quilter,
in his own magazine, the Universal Revie^v, an Art Review he conducted for a
lime, in writing of a later illustrated work of mine, handsomely withdrew his former
disparagement of my artistic capacity.
244 AN ARTISTS REMINISCENCES [1880-84
The Institute of Painters in Water Colours had been busy
considering a scheme of re-organisation. They had had a
gallery in Pall Mall nearly opposite Marlborough House, where
their exhibitions had been held for many years since they
seceded from the old society.
A meeting was called of unattached painters in water
colours, but chiefly, I think, of members of the two committees
of the Dudley Gallery general exhibition of water-colour draw-
ings, and members of the Institute, to discuss a proposal for
amalgamation, and a scheme for the acquisition of new galleries
in connection with a company then being formed — the
Piccadilly Art Galleries Company.
As a result, most of the members of the Dudley committee
joined the Institute, or rather were elected into it, I being
among the number, and the new galleries in Piccadilly were
opened. I exhibited my water-colour work there from this
time onwards for about seven years, and also joining the
Institute of Painters in Oil, who held their exhibitions in the
winter. This gave me another opportunity for showing my
work in oil.
" La Belle Dame sans Merci " appeared there in the follow-
ing year, 1884, and "Beauty sat Bathing by a Spring," also
a study made in the Beaumont Lodge garden, I entitled
" In a London Garden," though the fact of its being so was
openly discredited by some of my critics.
I was also busy with an elaborate design for a picture
completed and exhibited the following year (1884) at the
Grosvenor. This was " The Bridge of Life." I had made a
large number of designs for it, and had been meditating it,
while the genesis of the picture owed something to my visit
to Venice, and I think the design was suggested by the sight
of the small marble foot-bridges over the canals, approached
by steps each way, and the stream of people passing across
them of all ages, while the black gondolas passed to and fro
beneath — some of the earlier sketches for it, in fact, quite
followed, on slighter lines, the Rialto type of bridge, but in
adapting the suggestion to a purely allegorical idea much
simplification became necessary.
My own description, given in a preface to a catalogue of
1880-84] RECORD OF WORK— ITALY REVISITED 245
an exhibition of my works some years later, may perhaps be
given here —
" The legend is perhaps not difficult to read, though it is an
age that loves not allegory. The thread of life from the staff
of Clotho woven into its mystic and complex web by Lachesis,
and severed at last by Atropos. The boats of life and of death
meeting under the frail bridge. From the one, Young Life
disembarking, and climbing the stairs, fostered by father and
mother, led and guided and taught by Eld : following its child-
like play, till made the sport of Love in the heydey of youth :
till the trumpet of Ambition is heard and * the middle of life's
onward way ' is reached.
* We look before and after,
And sigh for what is not ;
Our sincerest laughter
With some pain is fraught.'
Fortune and Fame pursued and ever eluding the grasp :
till the crown perhaps is gained, but the burden of the intoler-
able world has to be borne. Lot's wife looks wistfully back.
Tottering Eld is led by Youth ; the eyes of the old man
resting on the boat with its dark freight, while the boy is
intent upon tasting life's apple. Hope holds her little lamp,
led by Love, even on the descending steps of life ; when
farther down the frail glass of existence is shattered, and the
mourners weep and strew the memorial flowers over the silent
dead."
A letter of the late Randolph Caldecott may be of interest
here. It refers to the silver cup, mentioned in the previous
chapter, in which Du Maurier collaborated with me as a
designer. It appears the work had in the first place been
offered to Caldecott, who took alarm at the prospect of working
for so exacting a client, and — wisely, perhaps — declined to
attempt to meet his ideas, which were certainly extensive.
" Broomfield, Frensham, Farnham, Surrey
January 25, 1884
" My dear Crane, — Perhaps you may be able to find a
few minutes to read the accompanying amusing rigmarole in.
246 AN ARTIST'S REMINISCENCES [1880-84
" I had an interview with the interesting writer at the
beginning of the month. He asked me to undertake part —
a small part or a large part — of the getting-out of the cup : or
rather, he had been recommended to apply to me by several
artists, so he wanted to find out whether I had anything to
show him that would justify him in giving me the work (or
part of it) to do.
*' Before we parted I think he would have entrusted a
portion of the work — all the reliefs of the base — to me ;
but I was fearful of being worried by a man of so many
beautiful ideas, and I knew that I had enough work already
promised.
" I told him he would have to be always near the cup
in order to explain to gazers the beautiful meaning of the
pyramidal base, etc., and I said that if he had put the whole
thing into my hands — designing, modelling, and getting it
reproduced in silver — I might have undertaken it ! ! ! He, or
they, will spend £600 on the cup. I reprimanded him for
having promised the reproduction of the thing to Hunt &
Roskell. I further told him to put down his notions on paper,
and I would show them to some artists. He has so done — and
before asking T. Armstrong if he knew of any rising geniuses
who could help Mr. S r I thought I would venture to place
the thing before you. Although you must be very busy and
be above bothering with the man's notions, yet it occurred to
me that you might possibly see your way to designing the four
reliefs — perhaps modelling them too — and fixing the exact
general design of the cup.
" Pardon me for troubling you on the chance that you
might take an interest in the matter. I do not suppose that
the scheme is in a form to tempt y 
