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ILLUSTRATED HAND-BOOKS OF ART
EDITED BY EDWARD /. TOYNTER, R.A..

AND

OTHER WRITERS ON ART.

WATER-COLOUR PAINTING
IN ENGLAND.

BY GILBERT R. REDGRAVE.

ILLUSTRATED HAND-BOOKS OF ART HISTORY
OF ALL AGES AND COUNTRIES.

EDITED BY
Sir E. J. POYNTEE, P.E.A., Professor EOGER SMITH, F.E.I. B.A.

EACH IN CROWN 8VO, CLOTH EXTRA, ^S. 6d. PER VOLUME.

ARCHITECTURE : CLASSIC AND EARLY CHRISTIAN. By

Professor T. Roger Smith and John Slater, B.A. Comprising the Egyptian, Assyrian,
Greek, Roman, Byzantine, and Early Christian. Illustrated with too Engravings, in-
cluding the Parthenon, and Erechtheum at Athens ; Colosseum, Baths of Diocletian at
Rome ; Saint Sophia at Constantinople ; the Sakhra Mosque at Jerusalem, &c. New
and revised Edition.

ARCHITECTURE : GOTHIC AND RENAISSANCE. By Pro-

fessor T. Roger Smith and Edward J. Poynter, R.A, Showing the Progress of
Gothic Architecture in England, France, Germany, Italy, and Spain, and of Renaissance
Architecture in the same Countries. Illustrated with ioo Engravings, including many of
the principal Cathedrals, Churches, Palaces, and Domestic Buildings on the Continent.
New and revised Edition.

SCULPTURE : EGYPTIAN, ASSYRIAN, GREEK, & ROMAN.

By George Redford, F.R.C.S. With 160 Illustrations of the most celebrated Statue?
and Bas- Reliefs of Greece and Rome, a Map of Ancient Greece, and a ChronologicaJ
List of Ancient Sculptors and their Works.

SCULPTURE : GOTHIC, RENAISSANCE AND MODERN. By

Leader Scott. Illustrated with numerous Engravings of Works by Ghiberti, Donatello,
Delia Robbia, Michelangelo, Cellini, and other celebrated Sculptors of the Renaissance.
And with Examples of Canova, Thorwaldsen, Flaxman, Chantrey, Gibson, and other
Sculptors of the 18th and 19th centuries.

PAINTING : CLASSIC AND ITALIAN. By Edward J. Poynter,

R.A., and Percy R. Head,' B.A. Including Painting in Egypt, Greece, Rome, and
Pompeii ; the Renaissance in Italy ; Schools of Florence, Siena, Rome, Padua, Venice,
Perugia, Ferrara, Parma, Naples, and Bologna. Illustrated with 80 Engravings of many
of the finest Pictures of Italy.

PAINTING: SPANISH AND FRENCH. By Gerard Smith,

Exeter Coll., Oxon. Including the Lives of Ribera, Zurbaran. Velazquez, and Murillo;
Poussin, Claude Lorrain, Le Sueur, Watteau, Chardin, Greuze, David, and Prud'hon ;
Ingres, Vernet, Delaroche, and Delacroix ; Corot, Diaz, Rousseau, and Millet ; Courbet,
Regnault, Troyon, and many other celebrated artists. With about 80 Illustrations.

PAINTING : GERMAN, FLEMISH, AND DUTCH. By H. J.

Wilmot Buxton, M.A., and Edward J. Poynter, R.A. Including an account of the
Works of Albrecht Durer, Cranach, and Holbein ; Van Eyck, Van der Weyden, and
Memlinc ; Rubens, Snyders, and Van Dyck ; Rembrandt, Hals, and Jan Steen; Wynants,
Ruisdael, and Hobbema ; Cuyp, Potter, and Berchem ; Bakhuisen, Van de Velde, Van
Huysum, and other celebrated Painters. Illustrated with 100 Engravings.

PAINTING : ENGLISH AND AMERICAN. By H. J. Wilmot

Buxton, M.A., and S. R. Koehler. Including an Account of the Earliest Paintings
known in England ; the works of Holbein, Antonio Moro, Lucas de Heere, Zuccaro, and
Marc Garrard ; the Hilliards and Olivers ; Van Dyck, Lely, and Kneller ; Hogarth,
Reynolds, and Gainsborough ; West, Romney, and Lawrence ; Constable, Turner, and
Wilkie ; Maclise, Mulready, and Landseer, and other celebrated Painters. With a
Chapter on Painting in America. With 80 Illustrations.

WATER-COLOUR PAINTING IN ENGLAND. By G. R.

Redgrave.

THE MONK, BY WILLIAM H. HUNT.
In the South Kensington Museum.

ILLUSTRATED HANDBOOKS OF ART HISTORY

Edited by Sir E. J. POYNTER, P.R.A., and Professor
T. ROGER SMITH, F.R.I.B.A.

A HISTORY OF

WATER-COLOUR PAINTING

IN ENGLAND

BY GILBERT R. REDGRAVE

Author of " Lives of David Cox a?id Peter De Wint"

[REPRINT.]

SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE,
LONDON: NORTHUMBERLAND AVENUE, W.C
BRIGHTON : 129, North Street.
New YvXvk: E. S. GORHAM.

1905

PUBLISHED UNDER THE DIRECTION OF THE GENERAL
LITERATURE COMMITTEE

PKEFACE.

Perhaps the earliest attempt to write the history of the
English Water-Colour school will be found in the pages of
the Somerset House Gazelte, a weekly journal conducted by
W. H. Pyne. The editor contributed a series of articles
during the year 1822, which furnish authentic details con-
cerning the lives of Barret, Nicholson, Glover and certain of
the most eminent painters of that day, and the notices of the
Exhibitions of the Old Water-Colour Society, doubtless penned
by the same hand, are a storehouse of information for subse-
quent writers. When the author's father undertook, in 1857, to
form an historical series of water-colour drawings and to prepare
a catalogue of the artists' works, he was painfully surprised to
find how slight were the materials extant, and how little was
known concerning the painters of this country in the past. In
his preface to the South Kensington Catalogue, he says of water-
colour painting : — " Already the names of some of its first
professors are being lost for want of record, and their works
dispersed in folios and forgotten ; yet these men are the
founders of the art ; out of their practice, however imperfect,
arose the excellence and richness of the succeeding school ; and

vni PREFACE

while at the present time such efforts are making and such ex-
pense is very properly incurred, to trace step by step the history
of the revival of art in Italy, it is surely right to illustrate
the labours of our own countrymen who have founded a new
art, and to treasure up the incontestable proofs of its origin
and progress." The appreciation of this our native art, has
grown amazingly since the second decade of the present
century, when the Old Water-Colour Society secured their
new gallery in Pall Mall, and much has been written in recent
times about the masters of the English school. It may seem
to some, therefore, that but little need existed for a hand-
book, giving a few scant details of the history of water-colour
painting in this country : the author has, however, deemed
it advisable to bring together the facts already extant into
a small compass, and to furnish the student with a concise
account of the origin and progress of the art. The present
work differs in some respects from others of the same
character in that it is illustrated with reproductions from the
drawings by eminent painters, selected from the National
Collections at South Kensington, and in the Print Room of the
British Museum. For permission to copy these works the
author tenders his sincere thanks to the Lord President
of the Council on Education and to the Trustees of the
British Museum. It is always an important advantage in
a work of this kind when the student can consult for himself
the examples selected as illustrations, and every lover of
water-colour painting can himself examine the admirable
drawings in our public galleries.

For the general arrangement and subdivisions he has adopted,

PREFACE IX

the author is indebted to the " Introductory Notice " prefixed
to the Catalogue of Water-Colour Paintings in the South
Kensington Museum, prepared by his uncle, the late Mr.
Samuel Redgrave; and from his Dictionary of Artists of the
English School he has culled most of the details of the lives
of the painters.

Since this work was in the press the author has had the
advantage of consulting the admirable History of the " Old
Water-Colour'7 Society, by Mr. J. L. Roget, to whom he is
indebted for many important details respecting the founders
of the English Water-Colour school. He has attempted in
what follows to give a brief account of the art of water colour
painting as practised in this country, to show how the different
methods of working were gradually evolved, and to ascribe to
those artists to whom we chiefly owe the^e altered and im-
proved modes of working their due share of credit. He
desires to lay no claim to originality, and his work will effect
all that he anticipates for it if it saves the student the time
and trouble involved in seeking from a number of sources the
information here brought together into a form adapted for
easy reference.

G. R. R.

Muswell Hill,

October, 1891.

CONTENTS.

PAGE

INTRODUCTION — THE VARIOUS DESCRIPTIONS OF WATER-COLOUR

PAINTING • 1

CHAPTER I.

TOPOGRAPHIC DRAWINGS — PAUL SANDBY, R.A. — WILLIAM ALEX-
ANDER— JOHN WEBBER, R.A. — EDWARD DAYES — THOMAS
HEARNE 9

CHAPTER II.

JOHN R. COZENS — JOHN SMITH (WARWICK SMITH) — THOMAS GIRTIN
— GIRTIN'S METHOD OF WORKING — HIS CARTRIDGE PAPER —
LETTER FROM PROFESSOR RUSKIN 24

CHAPTER III.

FRANCIS WHEATLEY, R.A. — WILLIAM HAMILTON, R.A. — SAWREY
GILPIN, R.A. — JOHN HAMILTON MORTIMER, A.R.A. — WILLIAM
PARS, A.R.A. — MICHAEL ANGELO ROOKER, A.R.A. — SAMUEL H.
GRIMM — WILLIAM MARLOW — JOHN CLEYELEY — ROBERT
CLEVELEY — JOHN ALEXANDER GRESSE — JULIUS CESAR IBBET-
S0N — THOMAS STOTHARD, R.A. — WILLIAM BLAKE 39

CHAPTER IV.

JOSEPH MALLORD WILLIAM TURNER, R.A. — HIS EARLY DRAWINGS

— HIS LATER DRAWINGS — HIS INFLUENCE ON THE ART . . . 53

CHAPTER V.

THE SOCIETY OF PAINTERS IN WATER-COLOURS — ITS FORMATION —
THE FIRST MEMBERS — THE FIRST ASSOCIATES — THE SOCIETY
OF PAINTERS IN OIL AND WATER-COLOURS — THE GALLERY IN
PALL MALL EAST — THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF PAINTERS IN
WATER-COLOURS — OTHER WATER-COLOUR SOCIETIES 65

CHAPTER VI.

THE FOUNDERS OF THE WATER-COLOUR SOCIETY — GEORGE BARRET
— ROBERT HILLS — WILLIAM HENRY PYNE — NICHOLAS POCOCK —
SAMUEL SHELLEY — WILLIAM FREDERICK WELLS — WILLIAM
SAWREY GILPIN — FRANCIS NICHOLSON — JOHN VARLEY — COR-
M<;LIUS VARLEY — JOHN CLAUDE NATTES 80

CONTENTS. XI

CHAPTER VII.

PAGE

)RIGINAL MEMBEBS OP THE WATER-COLOUR SOCIETY— JOSH I' A
CBI8TALL — WILLIAM HAVELt — JAMES HOLWOBTHT — STEPHEN
FRANCIS RIGAUD — JOHN GLOVER — ANNE FRANCES BTBNE —
JOHN BYRNE — WILLIAM PAYNE — PAUL SANDBY MINN — THOMAS
EEAPHT — JOHN SMITH — AUGUSTUS PUGIN — JOHN JAMES CHALON,
R.A. — ALFRED EDWABD CHALON, R.A. — WILLIAM DBLAMOTTE
— ROBERT FREEBAIRN 99

CHAPTER VIII.

RAMSEY RICHARD REINAGLE— FREDERICK NASH — THOMAS UWIN8,
R.A. — WILLIAM TURNER (OF OXFORD) — JOHN AUGUSTUS
ATKINSON — EDMUND DORRELL — FRANCIS STEVENS (OF EXETER)
— JOHN THURSTON — WILLIAM SCOTT — CHARLES BARBER —
WILLIAM WESTALL, A.R.A. — PETER DE WINT 114

CHAPTER IX.

ANTHONY VANDYKE COPLEY FIELDING — DAVID COX — JOHN LIN-
NELL — FREDERICK MACKENZIE — JAMES HOLMES — HENRY JOHN
RICHTER — HARRIET GOULDSM1TH — HENRY C. ALLPORT .... 125

CHAPTER X.

RICHARD PARKES BONINGTON— FRANCOIS HUET-VILLIERS — SAMUEL
OWEN — FRANCOIS LOUIS THOMAS FRANCIA — ANDREW ROBERT-
SON— WILLIAM WOOD — WALTER HENRY WATTS — THOMAS BARKER
(OF BATH) — JOHN LAPORTE — JAMES GREEN — MARY GREEN —
ANDREW WILSON — WILLIAM WALKER — THOMAS ROWLANDSON —
HENRY EDRIDGE— LUKE CLENNELL — JOHN SELL COTMAN —
GEORGE VINCENT 141

CHAPTER XI.

GEORGE FENNELL ROBSON — JAMES STEPHANOFF — FRANCIS PHILIP
STEPHANOFF — SAMUEL PROUT — OPENING OF THE GALLERY IN
PALL MALI, EAST — WILLIAM HENRY HUNT 101

CHAPTER XII.

THE NEW SOCIETY OF PAINTERS IN WATER-COLOURS — THE DUDLEY
GALLERY — WILLIAM ANDREWS NESFIELD — HENRY GASTINEAU
— FRANCIS OLIVER FINCH— JOHN MASEY WRIGHT — JOHN
WHICHELO — PENRY WILLIAMS — ALEXANDER CHISHOLM —
RICHABD HAMILTON ESSEX — JOHN BRITTON, F.S.A. — CHARLES
WILD — JAMES SARGANT STORER — HENRY SHAW, F.S.A. —
DAVID ROBERTS, R.A 17^

CHAPTER XIII.

GEORGE CATTERMOLE — JOSEPH NASH — TAMES DUFFIELD HARDING

WILLIAM EVANS (OF ETON) — GEORGE CHAMBERS — JOHN WILLIAM
WRIGHT— JAMES HOLLAND — OCTAYIls OAKLET— JOHN BURGESS

Xll CONTENTS.

— SAMUEL JACKSON — CHARLES BRAN WHITE— CHAKLES BENTLEY
— ARTHUR GLENNIE — JAMES W. WHITTAKER — DAVID COX,
JUNIOR— JOHN CALLOW — WILLIAM JAMES MULLER — FRANK
STONE, A.R.A. — FOREIGN ARTISTS — EGRON S. LUNDGREN — OTTO
WEBER 189

CHAPTER XIV.

NEW WATER-COLOUR SOCIETY — LOUIS HAGUE — EDWARD HENRY
WEHNERT — HENRY F. TIDEY — HENRY WARREN — AARON EDWIN
PENLEY — THOMAS MILES RICHARDSON — THOMAS SEWELL ROBINS
— WILLIAM HENRY KEARNEY — G. H. LAPORTE — JOHN CHASE —
HENRY PARSONS RIVIERE — H. CLARK PIDGEON — WILLIAM LEE —
GEORGE B. CAMPION — JOHN WYKEHAM ARCHER — WILLIAM
LEIGHTON LEITCH — HENRY JOHN JOHNSON — JAMES FAHEY —
BENJAMIN E. GREEN— JOHN SKINNER PROUT — MICHAEL ANGELO
HAYES — HENRY BRIGHT — CHARLES VACHER — JOHN HENRY
MOLE — GEORGE SHALDERS — FREDERICK JOHN SKILL — AUGUSTUS
JULES BOUVIER — THOMAS LEESON ROWBOTHAM — THE LADY
ARTISTS — MARY HARRISON — ELIZABETH MURRAY — FaNNY COR-
BAUX — ELIZA SHARPE — LOUISA SHARPE — MRS. BROOKBANK —
NANCY RAYNER — MARGARET GILLIES — MRS. H. CRIDDLE —
HELEN CORDELIA ANGELL — MARY LOFTHOUSE 212

CHAPTER XV.

FRANCIS WILLIAM TOPHAM — EDWARD DUNCAN — JOSEPH JOHN
JENKINS — GEORGE HAYDOCK DODGSON — WILLIAM COLLTNGWOOD
SMITH — GEORGE JOHN PINWELL — ARTHUR BOYD HOUGHTON —
FREDERICK WALKER, A.R.A. — JOHN FREDERICK LEWIS, R.A. —
SAMUEL PALMER — GABRIEL CHARLES DANTE ROSSETTI — SAMUEL
READ — ALFRED PIZZEY NEWTON — HENRY RRITTAN WILLIS —
THOMAS DANBY — RANDOLPH CALDECOTT — PHILIP HENRY DELA-
MOTTE— THOMAS MILES RICHARDSON — WALTER GOODALL —
FREDERICK TAYLER — PAUL JACOB NAFTEL — MAUD NAFTEL . . 224

CHAPTER XVI.

COLLECTIONS OF WATER-COLOUR DRAWINGS IN ENGLAND — THE
SOUTH KENSINGTON MUSEUM — DRAWINGS BY JOHN CONSTABLE
— THE SHEEPSHANKS COLLECTION — THE HISTORICAL COLLECTION
OF WATER-COLOUR DRAWINGS — THE PRINT ROOM OF THE BRITISH
MUSEUM — WATER-COLOUR DRAWINGS IN THE NATIONAL

gallery — turner's Liber Stucliorum — DRAWINGS by de

WINT AND CATTERMOLE — THE GALLERY OF BRITISH ART . . 242

CHAPTER XVII.

MATERIALS USED BY WATER-COLOUR ARTISTS — PERMANENCE
OF WATER-COLOUR DRAWINGS — EXPERIMENTS MADE — REPORTS
FROM A COMMITTEE OF EXPERTS — THE STABILITY OF SINGLE
COLOURS AND MIXED COLOURS— GENERAL CONCLUSIONS . . . 251

LIST OF PLATES.

The names of the artists are arranged in chronological order.
B.M., British Museum; S.K.M., South Kensington Museum.

JOHN ROBERT COZENS . . (b. 1752 . . d. 1799.)

View in the Camjmgna, Home (S.K.M., Dgce Collection) . 27

II.
FRANCIS W11EATLEY, R.A. . . (b. 1747 . . d. 1801.)

The Little Gleaners (B.M.) 41

III.
THOMAS GIRTIN . . (b. 1775 . . d. 1802.)

Ripon Cathedral, from the Meadows (B.M.) , 3.r)

IV.
EDWARD DAYES . . (6. 1763 . . d. 1804.)

Cottage at Corwen, Monmouth (B.M.) 17

V.
WILLIAM ALEXANDER. .(6.1767. . A 1816.)

('hincse Canal and Ih/dge (B.M.) 13

VI.
THOMAS HEARNE . . (b. 1711 . . d. 1817.)

Garisbrook Castle (B.M.) 21

XIV LIST OF PLATES.

VII.

PAGE

HENRY EDRIDGE, A.R.A. . . (b. 1769 . . d. 1821.)

Singer's Farm near Bushey (B.M.) 153

VIII.

THOMAS ROWLANDSON . . {b. 1756 . . d. 1827.)

Portrait of George Morland (B.M.) 149

IX.
GEORGE FENNEL ROBSON . . (b. 1790 . . d. 1833.)

View of Durham (Mrs. R. Redgrave.) 165

LUKE CLENNELL . . (6. 1781 . . d. 1840.)

Newcastle Ferry (B.M.) . 157

XI.
JOHN VARLEY . . (b. 1778 . . d. 1842.)

Landscape with Lake (B.M.) 95

XII.
GEORGE BARRET . . (b. 1774 . . d. 1842.)

Classic Composition (S.K.M.) 79

XIII.
JOHN SELL COTMAN . . (6. 1782 . . d. 1842.)

The Windmill (S.K.M.) 161

XIV.
WILLIAM HENRY TYNE . . (b. 1769 . . d. 1843.)

A Rustic Landscape (B.M.) 87

XV.
ROBERT HILLS . . (b. 1769 . . d. 1844.)

Deer in Knowle Park (S.K.M.) 83

LIST OF PLATES. XV

XVI.

PAGE

WILLIAM JAMES MULLER . . (b. 1812 . . d. 184'..)

Moel Siabod (S.K.M.) 203

XVII.
PETER DE WINT . . (6. 1784 . . d. 1819.)

Torkseij Castle (S.K.M.) 121

XVI II. and XIX.
JOSEPH MALLORD WILLIAM TURNER . . (b. 1775 . . d. 1851.)
Magdalen Bridge and Tower, Oxford (B.M.) ..... 55
Old London Bridge (S.K.M., Jones Collection.) .... 61

XX.

SAMUEL PROUT . . (b. 1783 . . d. 1852.)

The Porch, Ratisbon Cathedral (S.K.M.) 171

XXI.
FREDERICK MACKENZIE . . (b. 1787 . . d. 1854.)

Antwerp Cathedral (B.M.) 137

XXII.
JOHN JAMES CHALON, R.A. . . (b. 1778 . . d. 1854.)

Cattle in a Meadow (B.M.) HI

XXIII.
COPLEY FIELDING . . {b. 1787 . . d. 1S55.)

View of Ben Lomond (S.K.M.) 129

XXIV.
WILLIAM HAVELL . . (b. 1782 . . d. 1857.)

The Old Keep, Windsor, from the Thames (S.K.M.) . . 103

XXV.
SAMUEL OWEN . . {b. 1768 . . d. 1857.)

Dutch Vessels (S.K.M.) 145

Xvi LIST OF PLATES.

XXVI.

PACK

DAVID COX . . (6. 1783 . . d. 1859.)

Pont Aber, Wales (B.M.) 133

XXVII.
DAVID ROBERTS, R.A. . . (b. 1796 . . d. 1864.)

Mint St. Michel (B.M.) 187

XXVIII.
WILLIAM HENRY HUNT . . (b. 1790 . . d. 1831.)

The MonJc (S.K.M.) Frontispiece

XXIX.
OEORGE CATTERMOLE . . (&. 1800 . . d. 1868.)

Cellini and the Rollers (S.K.M.) .191

XXX.

JOHN FREDERICK LEWIS, R.A. . . (b. 1805 . . d. 1876.)

A Halt in the Desert (S.K.M.) , 229

XXXI.
JOSEPH NASH . . (b. 1808 . . d. 1878.)

Spehe Hall, Lancashire (S.K.M.) . 195

XXXII.
LOUIS HAGHE . . (b. 1806 . . d. 1885.)

The Guardroom (S.K.M.) 209

XXXIII.
FREDERICK TAYLER . . (b. 1804 . . d, 1889.)

Otter Hounds (S.K.M.) 237

HISTORY OF WATER-COLOUR PAINTING
IN ENGLAND.

INTRODUCTION.

The Various Descriptions of Water Colour Painting.

Water-colour painting has often been claimed as the most
truly English of our national attainments in the fine arts, and
few who have carefully examined the continental galleries will
care to dispute the fact that this art as practised in our own
country has, in the hands of a series of skilful exponents,
achieved a position of individuality and commands a degree
of success unrivalled by any of the foreign schools.

When we endeavour to trace the ancestry of the water-
colour art of to-day and to show its descent from the times
of the Elizabethan miniaturists, the " limmers," of quaint
Master Richard Haydocke,1 — Nicholas Hilliard and his" schol-
ars," through the foreign artists in tempera of the Dutch
school, — Ostade and his contemporaries, we encounter very
serious difficulties. The Dutch masters produced, it is true,

1 A Tracte containing the Artea of curious Paintinge Carvinge and
Buildinge by R. H., Oxford, 1598.

WATER-COLOUR PAINTING IN ENGLAND.

many works in transparent colour, previous to the period
of the "stained" or "tinted" drawings which were the
precursors of the earliest English water-colour paintings, but
in the attempt to prove this mutual relationship we are beset
by so many contradictions that we are compelled to abandon
any theory of continuous tradition or descent. The origin
of the modern practice of the art must undoubtedly be
sought in the works of the topographer or antiquarian
draughtsman of the last century, whose delicate and refined
sketches in pencil or pen and ink, washed in with simple
tints of Indian ink or sepia, were the true forerunners of
the beautiful paintings in transparent colours, the veritable
water colour drawings of the present English school.

We propose in our introductory chapter to glance rather
more in detail at each of these various methods of painting
and at the results obtained by them, before passing on to the
history of English water-colour painting, which for the
purpose of discussion may be divided into three periods.

I. Early period, prior to 1780.

II. Middle period, from 1780 to the establishment of the
Water-Colour Society in their new gallery at Pall Mall East.

III. The Later period, from the final removal of the
Water-Colour Society to Pall Mall to the present time.

We are aware that these divisions are somewhat arbitrary,
but they will be convenient for purposes of classification, and
as the progress of the art was greatly influenced by the
instruction of the Water-Colour Society on a sound and
firm basis, we may well describe this event as an epoch
in its history.

Most of the older writers on painting in this country distin-
guish between "oile-worke" and " distenipour," and Haydocke,

NICHOLAS HILLIABD— I8AACKE OLIVER. '.',

who translated Lomazzo's treatise on painting in 1598, very
concisely describes the varieties of the tempera painting in

use in liis day. He says : — "In Distempour the colours are
grounds with water and bounde with glew, sise, or gummes
of diverse sortes ; as gumme hederte, dragagant, or Arabicke.
which is held the best. The wdiite of an egge is also used, as
chapter the fourth teacheth ; and sometimes the yolke, as
George Vasary prescribeth. Of Distemper I note three
kindes : In Sise, used by our common painters upon cloath,
walles, etc. In Washing, with gummed colours, but tempered
very thinne and bodilesse, used in mappes, printed stories, etc.
And in Limming, where the colours are likewise mixed with
gummes, but laied with a thicke body and substance : wherein
much arte and neatenesse is required. This wTas much used
in former times in Church bookes (as is well knowne), as also
in drawing by the life in small models, dealt in also of late
yeares by some of our Country-men, as Shoote, Bettes, etc.,
but brought to the rare perfection we now see by the most
ingenious, painefull and skilfull Master Nicholas Hilliard, and
his well profiting scholler Isaacke Oliver ; wThose farther
commendations I referre to the curiositie of their workes."

We have thought it well to preface our remarks on water
colour painting with this somewhat lengthy extract because it
sets forth the practice of the early masters, whose work must
receive passing notice in a history of the art in this country.
We have mention made here first of the common distemper-
colour of the journeyman painter which was mixed with size
and concerning which we need say nothing further ; this work
is carried on unchanged to the present day, and except in
various descriptions of scene painting, or as Haydocke terms
it, painting upon "cloath," it scarcely requires notice among the

b 2

WATER-COLOUR PAINTING IN ENGLAND.

fine arts. Second, our author refers to "washing," used, he
tells us, " in mappes, printed stories, etc." This was the true
transparent water colour as we understand the term at the
present day, though in the sixteenth century this kind of
tinting was not carried on by artists, but by those engaged
in colouring wood-cuts and engiavings in order to produce
maps and picture books.

The third description of work, which Haydocke styles
" limming," was the well known "tempera painting," pro-
bably the most ancient art in the world, as it nourished and
was brought to great perfection in Egypt more than 4,000
years ago, and was used by the Etruscans and Romans for
the purpose of mural decoration.

No other kind of painting was in fact known, if we are to
rely upon the historian, until the brothers Van Eyck made
use of oil as the vehicle or binding medium, and originated
the comparatively modern process of oil painting ; an art
which according to Vasari was in his time rapidly displacing
fresco in Italy. In tempera painting the pigments are pur-
posely mixed with white or with some opaque substance to
prevent the transmission of light from the ground, and the
colours are " laied with a thicke body and substance," more in
the manner of oil painting than in that of the transparent
washes such as are employed by the modern water-colour
painter. Familiar instances of the use of tempera on paper
are furnished by the Raphael cartoons, now at the South
Kensington Museum, while the well known series of The
Triumphs of Julius Ccesar, by Andrea Mantegna, preserved at
Hampton Court, are executed on canvas in distemper colours.

We owe the practice of this art and its preservation
through the dark ages to the missal-painters and illuminators

EARLY MINIATURISTS.

in whose hands tempera painting attained a very high degree
of perfection. Some of the church books and illuminations of
the fourteenth and fifteenth century are exquisite examples
of this description of work, and Shute or Shoote and Bet
mentioned by Haydocke, as also their more eminent successors,
Milliard and the two Olivers, all worked in distemper, or
''body-colour," as it is sometimes termed. This school of
miniaturists of Tudor and Stuart times raised portraiture or
"limning in little" to the rank of a fine art, and in so far
excelled the illuminators who preceded them, but to whom
they were indebted for the entire rationale of their art. These
painters employed a mixture of white almost as freely as did
the earlier missal painters, like them also they made copious
use of gold in the embroidered work and ornaments of their
portraits. Thus in a portrait by Oliver, of Henry Prince of
Wales, son of James II., the brocaded tunic of the prince is
covered with gold enrichments, while opaque colours are used
throughout, except for the flesh. Even the Olivers however
showed signs of departing from the practice of the earlier
masters of the school, and laid on large masses of colour in
the draperies with transparent pigments, possibly on account
of the greater freedom in handling thus attainable. Somewhat
later, about the middle of the seventeenth century, many
changes crept in, and the style of working was greatly
modified.

A most instructive series of miniatures to the number of
fifteen, contained in a pocket-book said to have belonged to
Cooper, to whom they are attributed, though they would appear
more probably to be the work of Flatman, have long been
exhibited at the South Kensington Museum, and the author's
relatives have thus described in the(7< ntwry of Painters the mode

WATER-COLOUR PAINTING IN ENGLAND.

of working adopted by this artist. Owing to the unfinished
state of several of the portraits a very accurate opinion can be
formed on this point. All the works are executed on thin
sheets of cardboard. " The outline was first suggestively
sketched, and then the smooth surface of the card under the
flesh was covered with a thin wash of opaque white, which, as
he used it, must have been an excellent pigment, as it has not
changed in any instance. Then with a brownish lake tint the
features have been most delicately and beautifully drawn in,
and the broad shades under the eyebrows, the nose, and the
chin have been washed in flatly with the same tint. This
seems to have completed the first sitting. In the next, the
painter put in the local colour of the hair, washing in at the
same time its points of relief or union with the background,
in many cases adding a little white to his transparent colour
to make the hue absorbent, and to give it a slight solidity.
The shadows of the hair were then hatched in, and the features,
and face, in succeeding sittings, hatched or stippled into
roundness. Finally the colours of the dress were washed in
in some cases transparently, in others with a slight admixture
of white, and the shadows of the dress were given with the
local colours of the shadows." Here we have a much more
extensive use of transparent colours than was apparent in the
works of Hilliard, and it is clear from the catalogue of Van-
derdort that certain foreign artists, prior to the time of
Charles I., worked wholly in pure water-colours, as we read of
a "limned picture done upon the right light of the Emperor
Rodolphus II. painted upon parchment being transparent, to
be seen on both sides holding against the sky." This was the
work of Frossley, the imperial court limner, and Rudolf II.
reigned from 1576 1612.

THE DUTCH SCHOOL OF WATKIW nr,OUR PAINTERS.

A considerable school of water-colour painters nourished in
Holland in the middle of the seventeenth century, prominent
among whom was Adrian Ostade (1613-1671), whose works
are well known in this country. Other artists of the Dutch
school, slightly later in point of date, but still employing
transparent colours with great skill, were Fyt (1025 — 1671),
Du Sart (1655—1704) and Backhuysen (1631— 1709), the last
two exercised their profession until the early years of the
eighteenth century. The method of working employed by
Ostade can be easily discovered by a careful examination of
his drawings. He seems to have sketched in his outlines
with a reed pen, and then to have added broad tints of brown
or grey to indicate the shadows and the effects of light and
dark, much in the same way that the masters of the Dutch
school obtained the chiaroscuro of their marvellous etchings.
Many of the studies of Ostade go no further than this, but in
course of time the hues of draperies and of landscape back-
grounds were added, and the works bear to a great extent the
character of finished drawings. The tints used are generally
semi-opaque — that is to say the colours were probably mixed
with more or less white, but the drawings of Ostade in-
variably retain strong evidences of having been originally
studies in monochrome, worked up or rendered more attractive
by subsequent tinting. Many of the artists of this school
used the pen with great freedom and effect, especially in their
landscapes, wherein the forms of the foliage are carefully
denned in outline and made out with the prevalent grey
shadow of the ground tint.

Though the above is a fair description of the general
practice of the Dutch school of water-colour painters, from
whom sonic have considered the methods ol the earlier

8 WATER-COLOUR PAINTING IN ENGLAND.

English artists were derived, we must admit that towards the
close of the century many modifications were apparent, and
secondary tints of local colour took the place of the more
delicate washes of Ostade, but the former plan of working
over a grey ground still prevailed, and we find on the Con-
tinent but scant indications of the abandonment of this
initiatory tinting process and the use of pure local colours
which was the distinguishing feature of the practice
of the English School.

While we are discussing the methods of water-colour paint-
ing in vogue on the Continent during the last century, we
ought not to omit all reference to that description of tempera
painting which prevailed extensively in Italy, France and
Switzerland, and led to the production of many highly
finished and important works, the so-called guash drawings,
a very fine example of which is the scene in the gardens
of a palace, probably painted by Blaremberg, which forms
part of the Collection at the South Kensington Museum. The
features of the royal personages are in this work most care-
fully finished, and the details are painted with the minute
elaboration of a miniature.

The early water-colour drawings of the Dutch school may
be studied with great advantage in the collection at the British
Museum, where a splendid series of drawings of the seven-
teenth and eighteenth centuries has been brought together.

CHAPTER I.

Topographic Dr caving s — Paul Sandby, JR. A. — William Alex-
ander— John Webber, R.A. — Edward Dayes — Thomas
Hearne.

We have seen in our introductory remarks that the art
of miniature painting in tempera, which had flourished in
England since the days of Queen Elizabeth, had been consider-
ably modified as respects its practice by Cooper and his
successors, while on the Continent, though some able artists
at the close of the seventeenth century still worked in pure
distemper, others employed semi-transparent colours on a
ground-work of monochrome — this latter plan of working
being especially favoured by the Dutch artists, of whom we
have selected Ostade as the representative. A careful examina-
tion of the drawings by the earliest masters of the art of true
water-colour painting as practised in England during the last
century, has led those most competent to form an opinion to
declare that our modern art of painting in water-colours grew
out of neither of these methods, but was derived from the
much humbler work of the topographer, from whose technique
wo shall now attempt to show that this art may be clearly
and distinctly traced.

The interest that was aroused in this country in antiquarian
resea relies about the middle of the last century, and the study
of the remains of ancient architecture, gave abundant, employ-

10 WATER-COLOUR PAINTING IN ENGLAND.

ment to skilful draughtsmen, whose practice was mainly
confined to careful outline drawings of buildings and archi-
tectural features, with a rather mechanical system of indicating
foliage and landscape details. To the outline was sometimes
added a general scheme of light and shade in tints of Indian
ink, grey, or sepia, the warmer colour being occasionally
used in the foreground, and the cold and retiring tints being
so employed as to give an approximate idea of the aerial
perspective. In course of time simple washes of local colour
were used in conjunction with a careful outline, which outline
disappeared more or less completely as the work progressed, or
was, in other examples, accentuated by the use of the reed-pen
and made a prominent feature of the drawing. Each of these
methods had its followers, and among the early masters of the
English water-colour school we may readily distinguish the
exponents of both systems of working. Among the foremost
of those who practised this description of topographical drawing
we may mention Paul Sandby, "Webber, Dayes, and Hearne.
William Alexander's Chinese drawings belong also to this
period, and there are several other less known artists who
worked about this time, and who deserve to rank among the
founders of our English school of water-colour painting.

The topographer, from the very nature of what was expected
of him, was a merely literal transcriber of nature. He had not
to occupy himself with fanciful effects of storm and sunshine,
or with the beauties due to the ever-changing play of light
and shade. He could not venture upon composition, as the
artist understands that license which enables him to vary and
adapt the features of the landscape before him to suit the
exigencies of the picture. He was often enough bound to
remember the engraver who was to follow him, and who
was virtually his master, in that the drawing was destined

TOPOGRAPHIC DRAWINGS. 11

to be interpreted by him into black and white. The engraver

required a broad and massive rendering of the architecture,
and would resent as an Impertinence any attempt to intro-
duce accidental shadows and effects.

The art of the topographer was therefore clearly a very
ricted one as to its aims, and there were scant opportuni-
ties for the exercise of many of the higher qualities of the
painter. The works of these early men often fail consequently
to interest us as pictures, though we may admire the delicacy
and fidelity of the draughtsmanship, and appreciate the evident
patience and care bestowed upon them. There is a sombreness
and a tone of subdued melancholy in the drawings of this
date, which was heightened and intensified by the method in
which they were mounted and the grey paper, ruled with
numerous lines of tinted border, which surrounded them.
The attractive white mount which in Liter times did so much
to enhance the wrork of the water-colour painter was a
comparatively recent acquisition and one of doubtful value,
and though the exigencies of the crowded modern picture
gallery have caused this feature of late years to give place to
the more compact gold mount, we are bound to admit that, for
the brilliant and high-toned drawings of recent times, the
white mount was a useful corrective. Notwithstanding the
lack of colour there is however a poetry and grandeur about
the art of some of the earliest of our water-colour painters,
notably in the works of Cozens, who was one of the iirst to reap
the advantage of Italian travel, and in some directions also
in those of Girtin, for which the more brilliant colouring of
the modern school scarcely compensates.

It is not exactly an easy matter to (race step by step the
stages by which the tinted sketch of the topographer became

12 WATER-COLOUR PAINTING IN ENGLAND.

the highly-coloured work of the water-colour painter ; an
examination of the beautiful little drawing by T. Malton of the
Eleanor Cross at Waltham, in the galleries at South Ken-
sington, will give the student an admirable illustration
of the delicacy with which the older men were capable of
handling colour, and in this respect the works of Girtin in his
younger days may be studied with advantage. Dayes, whose
Instructions for Draiving and Colouring Landscapes, published
in 1808, have been quoted as authoritative on the practice
of water-colour painting at that time, was a topographical
draughtsman, as also a miniature painter, and the contemporary
of Sandby and Cozens, and he was doubtless familiar with
their methods of working. He describes very minutely the
mode of laying on the colours in the different parts of the
drawing ; the shadows and middle tints he tells us should be
made with Prussian blue and a brown Indian ink, the sky
with " Prussian blue rather tender," the shades of the clouds
with Prussian blue and Indian ink, and he advises workinsf
forward from the distance into the foreground, leaving out
the blue in the advance, until the foreground is reached,
which is to be worked with brown Indian ink only. Finally,
the darker parts of the foreground are to be retouched with
Vandyke brown. This would seem to accord in every respect
with the method pursued by Cozens in his best period, and it
was upon such a foundation as this that the true water-colour
art of to-day was based. While we may instance Cozens as
a genuine exponent of the older school, we must concede to
him also the credit of being one of the first to shake himself
free from the traditions of the topographers, and to exalt
water-colour painting to the rank of a fine art.

An interesting feature of the period which marks the dawn

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PAUL SANDBY. 15

of the improved practice of the art <>f writer colour painting, was
the patronage afforded by distinguished amateurs to the artists
of that date. William Alexander was selected to accompany
Lord Macartney's embassy to China in 1792, and Cozens was
sent to sketch in Italy for Mr. Beckford. Paul Sandby was
high in the favour of George III., and John Smith travelled
with the Karl of Warwick in Italy and acquired the cognomen
of "Warwick" Smith.

Paul Sandby, It. A., who was born at Nottingham in 1725,

and lived on until 1809, has often been styled the "father of

water-colour art," partly on account of his patriarchal age

and partly because of the early period at which he practised ;

he belonged to the ranks of the topographers, and never freed

himself entirely from the trammels of their art. He was also

a skilful worker in the still earlier manner of tempera painting,

and a good example of this phase of his art is to be seen

at South Kensington — An Ancient Beech Tree (No. 383).

Sandby was an original member of the Royal Academy, having

been elected on its foundation in 1768, and he was a very

constant contributor to the exhibitions. He was employed in

his earlier life as a Government draughtsman, first in the

Military Drawing Offices at the Tower, and subsequently on

the survey. From this work he seems to have retired in

1752, when he came to reside at Windsor with his brother

Thomas, the deputy ranger of the Great Park, also an artist

of much skill. While here he secured the patronage of Sir

Joseph Banks, and accompanied him to Wales. In 1768 he

was appointed the chief drawing master at the Royal Military

Academy, an office he retained for upwards of thirty years.

lie was in great request as a fashionable teacher of drawing,

and was selected by George III. to instruct the royal children.

16 WATER COLOUR PAINTING IN ENGLAND.

Sandby was the first English artist to practise in aqua-tint,
and he published his Welsh sketches in this style of engraving.
In 1780 he produced his engraved Vieics in the Encamp-
ments in the Parks, and gave evidence of the great perfection
to which he had brought this art. Many of his best works are
carefully finished with the pen, and his figures are well in-
troduced and boldly drawn. In later life he seems to have
been influenced for good by the art of Cozens, though he never
entirely adopted the modern method of pure water-colour.
Sandby was fond of the society of his brother artists, many of
whom were among his warmest friends, and he was widely
known and talked about in his day. His work however does
not entitle him to high rank among the founders of the
water-colour school. Many of his best drawings were executed
in the vicinity of Windsor and Eton.

William Alexander was in his method of working also essen-
tially a topographer, but he wras no doubt a keen observer of
nature, and his Chinese subjects are many of them skilfully
painted with a nice feeling for local colour. Concerning the de-
tails of this artist's life we learn that he was the son of a coach-
maker, and was educated at the Grammar School of Maidstone,
in which town he was born in 1767. He came to London in
1782 to study as an artist, and he worked first under William
Pars, and subsequently, after the death of Pars, under Ibbetson.
In 1784 he was admitted a student of the Royal Academy. He
left England in 1792, having been appointed the draughtsman
to Lord Macartney's Chinese mission, and remained abroad
two years. On his return he married, but his young wife
died soon after, and her death proved a terrible blow to him
and left a lasting impression on his character. He was
appointed professor of landscape drawing to the Royal

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WILLIAM ALEXANDER. 19

Military Academy in 1802, and in 1808 resigned this office,
having been selected as an assistant keeper in the department
of antiquities at the British Museum. For many years he had
el large of the prints and drawings, of which collection he was
the first keeper. He turned his Chinese travels to rare
account, for in 1797 Sir George Staunton's description of the
Chinese embassy was illustrated with engravings from his
designs. He published between the years 1798-1805 many
masterly collections of etchings depicting Chinese life and
character, and in the former of these years he issued a series
of drawings representing Chinese scenery. He furnished the
illustrations to Barrow's Travels in China which appeared in

1804, and the Cochin China of that author issued in 1806.
His own work on the Costumes of China was published in

1805. He laboured hard at the British Museum in preparing
accurate drawings of the antiquities, sculptures, terra-cottas,
&c, which came out at various intervals between the years
1810-1815, and he produced many views for the Beauties of
Great Britain, Architectural Antiquities, and the Britannia
Depicta. He died at Maidstone at the age of forty-nine of
brain fever on the 23rd July, 1816, and was buried at
Boxley.

Alexander was a distinguished antiquary as well as an
artist and a gentleman of cultivated tastes : his water-colours
are minutely finished, and bear abundant evidences of extreme
accuracy and great powers of observation. He worked at first
wholly on the method of the topographers, and used the pen
freely in his earlier drawings, which were delicately shaded in
Indian ink, the local colour being charmingly touched in at
times. He was an architectural draughtsman of great skill, as
evinced by his views of ancient buildings, and his Chinese

20 WATER-COLOUR PAINTING IN ENGLAND.

sketches are instinct with life and character. We have
reproduced one of these scenes from a drawing in the British
Museum, depicting a river or canal crowded with boats and
junks, the perspective of which is clever, and which will serve
to give a good idea of his early manner. Two of his Chinese
views are in the historical collection at South Kensington.

John Webber, R.A., born in 1752, was another of the group
of artists who mark the transition from the earlier or stained
manner to the present method of water-colour painting. He
was the son of a Swiss artist, and was born in London, but
studied for five years in Paris. On his return to England he
accompanied Captain Cook in 1776 on his last voyage, and
was absent for four years. During this period he worked
most industriously at his art, and subsequently exhibited
many of his sketches at the Royal Academy. He became an
associate of the Academy in 1785, and in 1791 was elected a
full member. In such of his works as have come under our
notice the colour is feeble, and the old influence is clearly
manifest. He died in 1793.

This would appear to be the place to allude briefly to the
career of Edward Dayes who was a pupil of Pether, and who
as a writer on water-colour painting, and a well-known teacher
in his time, being able to number Girtin among his pupils, was
not without his influence on the art. He began as a topo-
grapher, but he drew the figure with taste and skill, and
he painted well in miniature. He was a frequent exhibitor at
the Royal Academy from 1786 onwards, and in his later years
he produced some fine specimens of true water-colour drawings.
Dayes died by his own hand in 1804. We have already
mentioned his Instructions for Drawing and Colouring Land-
scapes, published after his death by his widow in 1808. He

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THOM \s HEABNE. 23

also wrote An Excursion through Derbyshire and Yorkshire. and
produced some excellent mezzotint engravings. We illustrate
his art by one of his works in the British Museum collie; ion,

a pleasant little drawing of a Cottage at Cor wen, Monmouth.
Thomas Beaene, born near Malmesbury in 17 U, belongs

also to this period, and distinguished himself above all his
contemporaries by the excellence of his topographical and
antiquarian drawings. He first studied as an engraver, but
accompanied the Governor of the Leeward Islands in 1771, and
remained with him for over three years, engaged in drawing
and sketching the lovely scenery of the West Indies, which
gave a new direction to his art. On his return he worked
with Byrne on lite Antiquities of Great Britain. We have
selected from the British Museum collection a small drawTin£
of Carisbrooke Castle, which is a good example of his style, and
which was perhaps intended for the above work. He was a
prolific draughtsman, but scarcely rose beyond the best efforts
of topographical art. He died in London in 1817, and was
buried at the expense of his friend Dr. Monro, to whom the
rising school of water-colour painters owed a deep debt of
gratitude, and of whose name we shall have to make frequent
mention.

In thus singling out for description a few of the prominent
artists of the period immediately preceding the rise of the
modern water-colour school, we have endeavoured by a brief
review of their work to indicate how, by almost insensible
degrees, the washed drawings of the topographers became
merged into the coloured drawings of the close of the
eighteenth century, and we shall in our next chapter discuss
the art of some of the early masters and the founders of water-
colour painting as now practised in England.

CHAPTER II.

John R. Cozens — John Smith {Warwick Smith)— Thomas Gir
tin — Girtin's Method of Working — His Cartridge Paper —
Letter from Professor Ruskin.

In the foregoing account of the early period of the art of
water-colour painting in this country, we have seen how the
tinted style of the topographers appears to have laid the
foundation for a more faithful rendering of nature, or one
in which the true local colouring was represented. This
practice grew out of the earlier methods of working, and
gradually developed into the modern style of water-colour draw-
ing. The tinted work of the topographers did not naturally
become all at once extinct, but lingered on for many
years side by side with the improved and richer colouiing
of the younger men, and we have now to deal with the
art of those masters in whose able hands the new style, if
we may so term it, gained strength and vigour and became a
noble and living art.

Doubtless the foundation of the Royal Academy in 1768
was not without its influence on water-colour painting, though
in all that concerns the patronage of this art it had, as far
as we can judge, but little effect. The painters in oil retained

JolIN ROBERT I OZENS. 25

the best rooms for their own {»ic( inc.-;, and the water-colour
drawings were relegated to a dingy room on the lower floor
of Somerset House. This has been described as a species
of condemned cell, which the water-colours shared with those

oil pictures for which space could not be found on the
principal floor. The scant courtesy shown to painters in
water-colours led, as we shall see later, to the establishment
of the earliest Water-Colour Society, but between that event
and the decline of topography there was a long interval,
during which the new art was making giant strides. It may
be well to single out for notice a few names among the many
distinguished artists who worked at this time and contributed
to the progress and development of the art. Foremost among
those who constitute a kind of connecting-link between the
old art and the new was John It. Cozens [1752-1799], whose
father, Alexander Cozens, also an artist, was the natural son of
Peter the Great, by an Englishwoman whose acquaintance the
Czar formed while he was studying the art of ship-building at
Deptford. Young Cozens gave early promise of ability as a
painter, for Leslie tells us in his Handbook that he had seen a
•• small pen drawing of three figures on which is written ' Done
by John Co/ens, 1761, when nine years old.' " Cozens made
good use of a visit to Italy at the instance of Mr. Beckford,
in whose service all the best years of his life were spent, and
his Italian pictures are full of poetry and painter-like qualities,
rising in these respects far above the rather commonplace art
of the topographers.

We are enabled to reproduce an interesting example
of his work about this period, the Scene i)i (he Campagna,
which, together with several other drawings by him, forms
part of the collection bequeathed to the South Kensington

26 WATER-COLOUR PAINTING IN ENGLAND.

Museum by Mr. Dyce — No. 705. This fine work contains
in the warm shadows and the foreground tints many
indications of the approach to true local colouring, while
retaining in the handling of the sky and the distance the
mannerism of the earlier school. Cozens was one of the many
painters assisted and encouraged by Dr. Monro, and after
the loss of his reason in 1794 he was generously supported
until his death by Sir George Beaumont. His Italian sketches,
executed for Mr. Beckford to the number of ninety- four, were
sold at Christie's in 1805, and realised £510. His art has
been highly commended by such competent critics as Constable
and Leslie; the former artist once declared that "his works
were all poetry," and that he was "the greatest genius that
ever touched landscape," and Leslie praises him in scarcely
less measured terms. He certainly makes us feel how much
is possible in the art of the water-colour painter without
recourse to local colour. Turner asserted concerning a picture
which had been exhibited by Cozens at the Royal Academy
in 1776 that " he had learned more from it than anything he
had seen." It would be interesting to know where this picture
was visible, at a time when Turner would be of an age to
appreciate it. Perhaps it was among the treasures in the
collection of Dr. Monro.

Another painter of the school of the transition whose works
had an undoubted influence in advancing the progress of the
art was John Smith, familiarly known by his contemporaries,
as we have seen, as " Warwick " Smith. He was a native of
Irthington in Cumberland, and though brought up in the tradi-
tions of the topographers he almost wholly emancipated himself
from the mere tinted style, and in his most mature work used
local colour freely and boldly. He leaned rather towards mere

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Warwick" smith. 20

prettiness in art, and had a considerable appreciation of elegance
in composition. Some of his small and minute Italian sketches
in the historical collection at South Kensington have however
a pleasing freshness and charm. He became a member of the
Water-Colour Society in 1806, and subsequently in 1816 was
• lifted its president. He continued to reside in London until
his death in 1831, at the ripe age of eighty-two.

It is no easy matter to assign to each of the artists of this
period his due relative share in the changed methods of work-
ing. Speaking only from the drawings of John Smith which
have come under our notice, we should regard the statement
concerning him, quoted from the Review of Publications of Fine
Art, viz. that " he is the father of the system of colouring on
paper which at present prevails almost universally," to be
highly exaggerated, for in the most important of his drawings
at Kensington, the Veil <V Aosta, No. 454, painted in 1803, when
the new style of working had become firmly established, the
execution is cramped and commonplace, and in his best period
in our estimation he fell far short of Girt in.

The authors of the Century of Painters have very carefully
described the above picture, and we venture to reproduce the
account they there give of the method of working pursued by
Smith. They say " This large picture is a studio work, and has
none of the freshness of nature or of his own earlier tinted
drawings; the general colour is a neutral brow n-vellow or
brown-green ; the shadows of the trees, foreground etc., have
the grey mingled with the local colour, an advance on the
former method; the lights of the foliage are hugely taken out
and there is an evident attempt to work in the new manner
described by Dayes who, after explaining the practice of tinting
- (he other method is 'by the dead-colouring the drawing

30 WATER-COLOUR PAINTING IN ENGLAND.

all over, making light, shade, and middle tint, as is done in oil-
painting (only preserving the lights) and which is of course the
most complex, and so proceed strengthening each part until the
whole is finished.' "

The most undoubted genius of the early English water-colour
school was Thomas Girtin, who during his brief career gave
evidence of a power far in advance of most of his contempora-
ries. He was a Londoner, born in South wark in 1775, and
he passed the greater part of his life in the metropolis, visiting
however from time to time the most paintable parts of England
and Wales and even extending his excursions to Scotland.
Girtin seems to have painted with great rapidity, and contrary
to the practice of his day he is said to have generally com-
pleted his drawings on the spot. He was first taught by a
drawing-master of the name of Eisher, and he subsequently
studied under Dayes. He also owed much to Dr. Monro, who
lived in the Adelphi Terrace, and besides being himself a
noted connoisseur, possessed a valuable collection of paintings
which he encouraged his jwoteges to copy. The doctor gathered
round him a school of young painters, among whom were, as we
have seen, Cozens, as also Francia, Yarley, Edridge, and Turner.
They met at his house on stated evenings for the purpose of
study, and constituted a species of sketching club. We learn
again and again, in glimpses of the artistic biography of this
period, of the many kind actions of Dr. Monro, and his house
towards the close of the century was a veritable rallying point
for the rising artists of the day.

Girtin, if not the originator of a new style of working, was
at any rate the first who successfully attempted to represent in
water colours the grandeur and sublimity of mountain scenery,
and to imitate the bold contrasts of light and shadow, of gloom

THOMAS OIRTTN. 31

and sunshine which occur in nature. He seems to have been
fascinated with these effects, and to have sacrificed all other
considerations in his attempt to transfer them to his portfolio.
He avoided and even suppressed minute details, and lays
himself open to the charge of slovenliness from the broad
generalisations he affected. He had certain recipes, like most
artists, which led to undoubted mannerisms in his work ; thus
he forced his high lights at the expense of masses of broad
shadow, for which it is sometimes difficult to account, but if
we compare his sunny landscapes with the tame and thready
work of the topographers we shall appreciate the vast step in
advance he was able to achieve upon the best performances of
the earlier masters. He was, with Turner, one of the first
artists to realise the important gain in the matter of crispness
to be secured by working with a full brush. He was fond of
opposing warm and cold tints, and made large use of indigo,
which subsequent investigations have shown us to be a most
treacherous colour in point of stability. Girtin had a true eye
for pleasing contrasts of colour, and his tints were generally
harinonious and well chosen.

It is sometimes difficult, owing to the faded state of their
works, to pronounce an opinion upon the methods of the older
masters in respect to the mixture of their colours and their
modes of working.

in (lie firsl volume of the Somerset House Gazette a detailed
account Lb given of Girtin's mode of working, which no doubt
relates to his practice dining the later years of his life, and
which is mosi valuable as affording an indication of the
technique <))i the ait at that date. He began with the sky —
"The azure spaces were washed with a mixture of indigo and
lake, and tho shadows of the eleuds with light rod and indigo,

12 WATER-COLOUR PAINTING IN ENGLAND.

Indian red and indigo, and an occasional addition of lake.
The warm tone of the cartridge paper frequently served for the
lights without tinting, acquiring additional warmth by being
opposed to the cool colour of the azure and shadow of the
clouds. . . . When he had accomplished the laying-in of- the
sky, he would proceed with great facility in the general
arrangement of his tints on the buildings, trees, water, and
other objects. Every colour appeared to be placed with a most
judicious perception to effecting a general union or harmony.
His light stone tints were put in with thin washes of Roman
ochre and the same mixed with light red, and certain spaces
free from the warm tints were touched with grey, composed
of light red and indigo, or, brighter still, with ultramarine and
light red. The brick buildings with Roman ochre, light red
and lake, and a mixture of Roman ochre, lake and indigo, or
Roman ochre, madder brown and indigo ; also with burnt
sienna and Roman ochre, madder brown and Roman ochre and
these colours in all their combinations. For finishing the
buildings which came the nearest to the foreground, where the
local colour and form were intended to be represented with
particular force and effect, vandyck brown and Cologne earth
were combined with these tints, which gave depth and richness
of tones that raised the scale of effect, without the least dimi-
nution of harmony — on the contrary, the richness of effect was
increased from their glowing warmth, by neutralizing the
previous tones and by throwing them into their respective
distances or into proper keeping. The trees, which he fre-
quently introduced into his views, exhibiting all the varieties
of autumnal hues, he coloured with corresponding harmony to
the scale of richness exhibited on his buildings. The greens
for these operations were composed of gamboge, indigo, and

thm.mas GIRTIN.

burnt sienna, occasionally heightened with yellow lake, brown
pink and gamboge, these mixed too sometimes with Prussian
l)lne. The shadows for the trees with indigo and burnt sienna,
and with a most beautiful harmonious shadow tint, composed
of grey and madder brown, which perhaps is nearer to the
general tone of the shadow of trees than any other combina-
tions that can be formed with water colours. Girtin made his
greys sometimes with Venetian red and indigo, Indian red and
indigo, and a most useful and harmonious series of warm ami
cool greys, of Roman ochre, indigo and lake, which, used
judiciously, will serve to represent the basis for every species
of subject and effect, as viewed in the middle grounds under
the influence of that painter's atmosphere so prevalent in the
autumnal season in our humid climate, which occasionally
exhibits to the picturesque eye the charms of rich effects in a
greater variety than any country in Europe." No wonder that
we read further that " His palette was covered with a greater
variety of tints than almost any of his contemporaries." No
Less than fifteen pigments arc included in the above description,
a number which would probably satisfy most of the water-
colour painters of the presenl day, and one far in excess of
those in common use by (he earlier masters of the art.

Girtin was fond of a peculiar quality of coarse, wire-laid
cartridge paper, which was sold by a stationer at Charing
Cross, and which was folded up the middle into quires. This
crease was the cause, very often, of a darker tint in sky and
landscape, owing to the wearing away of the size at the place
where the paper was folded, and we learn that this defect
came in time to be prized by connoisseurs as a proof of
authenticity in works thus marked. The dark line caused in
this way may be plainly observed in one of the drawings at

o± WATER COLOUR PAINTING IN ENGLAND.

South Kensington, the View of Chepstow Castle, and the coarse
markings of the paper are also very perceptible. Girtin, who
was a frequent exhibitor at the Academy from 1794 onwards,
sent his last picture to the exhibition of 1801. This work
was in oil, a medium he adopted on rare occasions towards the.
end of his life, when he produced also a panorama of London.
The canvas was painted from the roof of the Albion Flour Mills,
and it was on view at the time of his death, which took place
from heart disease, at the early age of twenty-seven, on November
9th, 1802. He had married in 1800, and shortly afterwards was
compelled to go abroad for the benefit of his health. He visited
Paris just after the Peace of Amiens, and produced there a
number of vigorous drawings which were purchased by the Earl
of Essex, and by him presented to the Duke of Bedford. Some
of these views were subsequently engraved and published by
his brother John, after Girtin's death, in 1803.

Contemporary writers have charged Girtin with excesses,
and with leading a wild, irregular life, and this seems to some
extent borne out by the fact that he was a boon companion of
the unfortunate Morland ; but he was of a shy and retiring
disposition, and he may at times have been led to seek the
company of his inferiors. If he was dissipated, he at any rate
worked hard, for the number of his drawings is very considerable.
He is said to have been of a kind and friendly disposition, and
he was known to his intimates as "honest Tom." Girton's
services were in much request as a fashionable teacher, and he
found many friends among the wealthy and noble patrons of
water-colour painting. He was for a time the travelling com-
panion of Mr. James Moore, the well-known antiquary ; he
taught sketching to Lady Gower and Lady Long, who after-
wards became Lady Farnborough, while the Earl of Harewood

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not onl) gave liim the advantage of his society, but had ;t
room kept for his exclusive use at Earewood Souse, where he
lived for long periods together \ and where, according to Mr.
Jenkins, he made some of his most important drawings. !1<'
was also patronised by the Hon. Spencer Cowper, Lord
llardwickc, the Earls of Mulgrave and Buchan, and General
Phipps.

Our artist has been credited, on somewhat slender grounds,
with the formation of a sketching society of young painters,
which met at Great Newport Street ; a minute of the first
meeting of this .society on May 20th, 1799, is preserved on the
back of a water-colour drawing, by Francia, at the South Ken-
Bington Museum. Many of Girtin's best works passed into
the hands of the aforesaid brother, John, who acted as his
intermediary with buyers, and shortly after his death the house
where this brother resided in Castle Street, Leicester Square)
was burnt down, and with it a large collection of Girtin's
drawings. The subject we have selected to represent this artist,
A View of lti pan Cathedral, forms part of the collection at the
British Museum, where many fine examples of his art are pre-
served. The cathedral seen from the S.W. occupies the middle
distance of a broadly-treated landscape, bright and sunny in
effect ; the foliage however is somewhat mechanical in treat-
ment. Prom its g.ncral handling we believe this to be one of
his earlier works, probably undertaken during one of his tours
to the north, and painted on the spot.

It is interesting to record the fact that some unknown
friend, who it is suggested may have been Turner, erected a
monument over his remains in the churchyard of St. Paul's,
Covent Garden. The age on his tombstone i^ stated at twenty-
seven, which would place the year of his birth in 177o and not

38 WATER COLOUR PAINTING IN ENGLAND.

in 1773, a date which has been adopted by several of his
biographers.

We cannot dismiss the account of this artist without a pass-
ing tribute to his influence on the rising school of water-colour
painters. Though his contemporary Turner, in the course of a
long life, which was denied to Girtin, achieved undying fame,
we feel that he owed much to a careful study of Girtin' s
methods, and it is difficult to over estimate the importance of
the work of a Girtin at this period of the art. With respect
to the benefits conferred by him upon Turner, the following-
letter from Professor Ruskin to Girton's great grandson, Mr.
F. P. Barnard, quoted by Mr. Cosmo Monkhouse in his
Earlier English Water-Colour Painters, bears important
testimony.

" Bbantwood, Coniston, Lancashire.
" 16th June, 1887.

" Dear Sir, — I have the deepest and fondest regard for your
great grandfather's work, holding it to be entirely authoritative
and faultless as a type, not only of pure water-colour execu-
tion, but also of pure artistic feeling and insight into what is
noblest and most capable of enduring dignity in familiar sub-
jects. He is often as impressive to me as Nature herself ; nor
do I doubt that Turner owed more to his teaching and com-
panionship than to his own genius in the first years of his life.

" Believe me,

" Your faithful servant,

" John Ruskin."

CHAPTER III.

Francia Wheatley, R.A. — William Hamilton, li. A. — Sawrey
Gilpin, li.A. — John Hamilton Mortimer, A.R.A. — William
Pars, A.M. A. —Michael Angelo Booker, A. li.A. —Samuel
If. Grimm— William Marloiv — John Cleveley — Robert
Cleveley — JoJin Alexander Grease — Julius Cccsar Ibbetson
— Thomas Stothard, li.A. — William Blah,.

Before we pass from the period of the transition which,
beginning with the methods of the topographers ended with
the employment of transparent local colour, the characteristic
treatment of the English school of water-colour painting, we
must glance at the works of certain men who, though usually
classed among the oil painters, were none the less true ex-
ponents of the art of water-colour, and to whom we owe many
beautiful and interesting drawings. Foremost among these
artists we must place Francis Wheatley, li.A. , who was born
in the vicinity of Covent Garden in 1747. He was the son of
a tailor, who early perceived the boy's fondness for art, and
placed him under a good drawing master. He subsequently
worked at Shipley's school and became a student of the Royal

Academy. lie distinguished himself greatly thus early in his
career and carried off several of the premiums of the Society
of Arts, which at all times seem to have proved valuable

40 WATER-COLOUR TAINTING IN ENGLAND.

incentives to rising artists. While quite a young man
Wheatley formed some very imprudent friendships, and was
led into extravagance and debt, though his undoubted talent
procured him constant employment. Among other engage
ments he assisted Mortimer in painting the ceiling of Brocket
Hall, for. Lord Melbourne, and he also took part in the
decoration of Vauxhall. Forced eventually to quit London
in order to escape from his creditors, he fled to Dublin with
the wife of a friend with whom he had formed a liaison. In
Dublin he met with considerable success, and painted a large
canvas of the Irish House of Commons, but on the exposure
of the deception he had practised by the introduction as his
wTife of the lady who had accompanied him, he was compelled
to leave Ireland, and he then returned to London. He appears
to have speedily found employment as a portrait painter, in
which art he became very proficient. In working in water-
colour, which he practised largely for book-illustration and
similar purposes, he drew in the outlines with the pen, washed
in the shadows with Indian ink, and added the local colour in
slight tints. His works were very popular, and many of them
have been engraved. He himself was an etcher and scraped
in mezzotint. In the last few years of his life he was a
martyr to gout, and was compelled to become a pensioner on
the Royal Academy, of which he had been elected an associate
in 1790, and a full member in 1791. He died in June, 1801,
at the age of fifty-four. The landscapes of Wheatley evince
considerable taste, and he excels in the grouping of his figures,
but his rustics, especially the females, are meretricious and
unreal. We have selected for illustration The Little Gleaners,
which forms part of the British Museum collection, and will
serve to give a good idea of the nature of his art.

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WILLIAM HAMILTON BAWREY GILPIN. L3

William Hamilton, R.A. was another member of the
Academy who worked both in oil and water-colours, and enjoyed

considerable success as a portrait painter. He was also much
employed as a book-illustrator, and was very popular in his
day. His water-colour drawings are tasteful and luminous,
but his figures lack character, and his female figures are often
tawdry and theatrical. Hamilton was born at Chelsea in
1751, and studied in Italy under Zucchi, and subsequently at
1he schools of the Royal Academy. He was elected an
associate in 1784, and in 1789 a member of the Academy. He
died of fever in 1801, and was buried at St. Anne's Church,
Soho. A carriage painted by him for Lord Fitzgibbon, for
which he received 600 guineas, is now in the South Kensington
Museum. His work is, perhaps, best known in connection
with Boydell's Shakespeare, for which he designed many of
the illustrations.

Sawrey Gilpin, E. A., the animal painter, was likewise one
of the early members of the Academy who painted largely
in water-colours. Gilpin was descended from the eminent
Bernard Gilpin, called the " Apostle of the North," and was
born at Carlisle in 1733. Though trained for a business
career, his predilections for art led him to become a pupil of
Scott, the marine painter, who then lived close to Coven t
Garden, and in this neighbourhood young Gilpin was accus-
tomed to study the horses in the market carts, and he thus
acquired a fondness for drawing animals. In 1758 he went
to Newmarket and acquired a reputation for his portraits of
horses. The Duke of Cumberland, then ranger of Windsor
Park, took a fancy for the young artist, ami gave him apart-
ments witli every facility for his improvement. He was for a
time the president of the Incorporated Society of Artists and

44 WATER COLOUR PAINTING IN ENGLAND.

in 1795 he became an associate of the Academy, and two years
later a full member. He excelled in the drawing of horses,
but his studies of wild animals are truthful and spirited. He
was an expert etcher and a successful book-illustrator. He
designed the plates for a book by his brother, the Rev. W.
Gilpin, the Lives of the Reformers, and likewise for his work on
Forest Scenery. His son, W. S. Gilpin, also attained to emi-
nence as a water-colour painter. Gilpin spent the close of his
life at the country seat of Mr. Samuel Whitbread, but died at
Brompton in March, 1807. Two of his drawings in the collec-
tion at Kensington are in the old stained manner, though the
sketch of Fonthill, dated 1797, has considerable local colour.

John Hamilton Mortimer, A.R.A., born at Eastbourne in
1741, imbibed a love of art from an uncle who was a painter
of some skill. He studied under Hudson, and later at the
St. Martin's Lane Academy. He obtained several of the
Society of Arts' premiums, and though looked upon as of
much promise, he did not fulfil the anticipations of his friends.
He, too, like Wheatley, fell into extravagance and excess, and
though at one time elected Vice-President of the Incorporated
Society, he painted but little. In 1775 he married and turned
over a new leaf, settling for a time at Aylesbury, but he did
not long survive, and died of fever in 1779, at the early age
thirty-eight. He never in his water-colour art, by which he is
perhaps best known, attained to the perfection of the later
style ; his drawings are in the stained manner, but they are
spirited and well composed. He revelled in the grotesque,
and, possessing a vivid imagination, delighted to depict scenes
of violence and brigandage, his favourite imaginings being
strained imitations of Salvator Rosa. He was a skilful etcher,
and produced many plates from his own designs. The design

MICHAEL ANGELO ROOKKR. 45

of the great window of Salisbury Cathedral was executed by
him, and lie made the cartoons for the stained glass at Braze-
nose College, Oxford.

In strict historical sequence we should before this have
mentioned William Pars, A.R.A., born in 1742, a portrait
painter, who practised also in water-colours in the stained
manner, and died in Rome in 1782. He travelled much on
the continent, where he successfully delineated the ancient
architectural remains, working for the Dilettanti Society and
for Lord Palmerston ; he likewise accompanied Dr. Chandler
to Greece. Some of his Swiss views have been engraved by
Woollett, and Sandby reproduced certain of his drawings in
aqua-tint.

Michael Angelo Rooker, A.R.A., was another water-colour
painter who entered the ranks of the Academy. He was the
son of an engraver, born in London in 1743, and brought up
by his father to succeed him in his profession. He studied
under Paul Sandby, and from the date of his admission as a
student (1700) he was a constant exhibitor of water-colour
views at the Academy. Rooker attained much excellence as
an engraver, and for many years he both drew and engraved
the headings of the Oxford Almanack. In consequence of
injury to his eyesight he had to relinquish this art, when he
secured the appointment of principal scene painter to the
Haymarket Theatre. Though a well-read man he was re-
served in his manner and reluctant to display his drawings.
I le is said to have become dejected by the loss of his employ-
ment at the theatre and to have never rallied. He drew with
taste and skill, and his works are graceful and well composed.
The animals and figures in his drawings are well introduced,
ami his colouring is always delicate and refined. His death

46 WATER-COLOUR PAINTING IN ENGLAND.

took place in 1801. His works were subsequently sold by
auction and realized the respectable sum of £1,240.

We feel conscious that we have omitted many men belonging
to the earlier period of the art, who, from the mere historical
point of view, are worthy of more than passing mention,
and before we proceed to what we have termed the middle
period, and that prior to the foundation of the "Water-Colour
Society, which we have dealt with as a period of transition, we
may briefly recall a few names of the older masters who passed
away about this time.

Samuel H. Grimm, who was of Swiss parentage, came to
London with his father, a clever miniature painter, about
1778, and was much employed in topographical work for
Sir E. Kaye, Sir William Burrell, and others. He occa-
sionally worked for the Society of Antiquaries, and his views
of Cowdray House are published in the Vetusta Monumenta.
Upwards of 500 of his drawings, mostly in pen and ink and
shaded with bistre, were sold by auction after his death. He
was a good caricaturist, and many of his humorous subjects
were published by Bowles. Grimm died at the age oi sixty
in 1794, and was buried at the parish church of Covent
Garden. His work, as early as 1778, showed an extensive
use of local colour, and in this respect he was considerably in
advance of his contemporaries. He also used body colour
both in his high lights and in his clouds, perhaps a reminiscence
of the continental yuash drawing. The buildings are accurately
drawn, frequently outlined with the pen, but his foliage is
stiff and mechanical.

William Marlow, who was born in South wark, in 1740,
practised both in oil and water-colours, and enjoyed in his
day a considerable reputation. He studied under Scott, the

JOHN CLEVELEY. 47

marine painter and friend of Hogarth, and afterwards at the
St. Martin's Lane Academy. He was a member of the In-
corporated Society of Artists, and exhibited from time to
time at the Spring Gardens Rooms. After three years spent
in Italian travel, from 1765 to 1768, at the advice of the
Duchess of Northumberland, who was an admirer of his art,
he established himself in London, and became an exhibitor at
the Royal Academy. He painted from his Italian sketches,
and from them he also produced some successful etchings. His
water-colours are rather feeble, in the early stained manner,
but some of his views on the Thames are truthful and delicate
in colour. Several of his best works are at the Foundling
Hospital. He realized a moderate competence, and died at
Twickenham, where he had long resided, in 1813, at the age
of seventy-three.

Among the early school were several skilful marine painters
— two artists bearing the name of Cleveley specially distin-
guished themselves. John Cleveley, born in London about
1745, early evinced a taste for art, and being engaged in the
dockyard at Deptford had his inclinations directed towards
marine subjects. He studied under Paul Sandby, who was
the professor at the Royal Military School, and became pro-
ficient in the art of water-colour painting. He was a frequent
exhibitor at the Academy from 1770 onwards, and in 1774 he
was appointed draughtsman to Captain Phipps in his voyage of
discovery to (lie north seas. He also accompanied Sir Joseph
Hanks on a subsequent expedition to Ireland. Towards the
close of his life he resided in Pimlico, and his death took place
in London in 1786. We possess works by him both in oil and
water-colours, but he excelled in the latter medium. Many
of his drawings are carefully executed, and his colouring was

48 WATER-COLOUR PAINTING IN ENGLAND.

spirited and more boldly conceived than would have been
expected at this early period.

Another Cleveley, whose Christian name was Robert,
painted about the same time, but we are unable to discover
that any relationship existed between these artists. Robert
Cleveley also exhibited marine subjects at the Academy, and
he practised both in oil and water-colours. He achieved con-
siderable distinction in his profession, and his portrait was
painted by Beechey and afterwards engraved. We learn from
the print that he was marine painter to His Royal Highness
the Prince of Wales. He died from a fall over the cliffs
at Dover while on a visit to a relative there, in 1809.
Robert Cleveley belongs more to the ranks of the oil painters,
though his drawings testify to the possession of undoubted
ability. There are examples by both the Cleveleys in the
collection at South Kensington.

John Alexander Gresse, or Greese, as the name is some-
times spelt, was born in London in 1741, though his parents
were foreigners. He was brought up as an artist and studied
under Cipriani and Zuccarelli, but he seems to have lacked
energy and perseverance, and did not fulfil his early promise.
He became in later life a fashionable drawing-master, and he
was appointed by George III. to teach the princesses. Greese
was very corpulent, and was nicknamed by his intimates
"Jack Grease." His father, a man of property, the owner
of Gresse Street, Rathbone Place, was able to leave his son
in comfortable circumstances, and he became a collector of
works of art, and amassed a collection which took six days to
disperse by auction after his death in 1794. There is in the
historical collection at South Kensington an unfinished work
by Gresse, which is well worthy of attention by those into-

JULIUS CESAR [BBET80N. !'•

rested in the methods of the earlier masters. Jt bears many

evidences of being a true study from nature executed out of
doors. It is a view of Llangollen Bridge, No. 1731-71. It
will be seen that the forms have been at first carefully and
firmly drawn in with the pen, special touches and methods of
handling being employed to indicate variations in the foliage,
the whole is then broadly made oul into masses of light and
dark by means of delicate washes of Indian ink. The next
process seems to have been the deepening of the shadows by
the use of darker tints of ink, and certain portions of the
mountains and middle distance have then been completed by
passing light washes of true local colour over the grey ground.
Part of the foreground remains wholly untouched, but the
foliage in front of the bridge has been brought nearly to com-
pletion. This work presents us with an admirable illustration
of the whole j^'c-cess of tinting, and it serves also to show
how well this method of working was adapted to the purposes
of the topographer, who looked mainly for the accurate de-
lineation of nature.

Julius Cesar Ibbetson obtained his name in consequence
of the operation by which he first saw the world, his mother
haying died in premature labour ; he was born at Masham in
Yorkshire, December 29th, 1759. Ibbetson was educated for a
time by the Moravians. From early youth he showed, he tells us,
a violent propensity for art, and at the age of seventeen he
painted the scenery for a piece acted at the York and Hull
Theatres. In 1777 he made his way to London to pursue his
studies, and fell into the hands of a picture dealer, for whom
he worked several years. Aiter making the acquaintance of
Captain Baillie he in time formed a connection and prospered
as an artist. In 1788 lie accompanied Colonel Cathcart's

50 WATER-COLOUR PAINTING IN ENGLAND.

embassy to China, but the vessel returned owing to the
colonel's death on the voyage. Ibbetson painted both in oil
and water-colours, and though his works possessed considerable
merit he appears to have met with few purchasers. He was
fond of painting in a subdued key, and his colouring has a
tendency to a clayey hue. He published in 1803 An Accidence,
or Gamut of Painting in Oil and Water-Colours. He was a
boon companion of Morland, and his later years were marred
by intemperance and extravagance. To this he appears to
some extent to have been driven by domestic affliction, for
after the loss of eight children in succession his wife also died,
and he himself had a severe attack of brain fever. On re-
covering from this illness he found that he had been robbed
of nearly all he possessed, and he then broke up his household
and sought distraction in doubtful company. Ibbetson married
again in 1801, and to escape former creditors he fled to
Masham, in Yorkshire, where he died, October 13th, 1817.

Among the circumstances which contributed to the success
of many of the earlier water-colour painters was the wide-
spread demand that arose at the close of the last century for
book illustrations, not only for works on topography and
travel, but for books in all classes of literature. This phase
of art work had undoubtedly much influence upon Turner's
career, and in the case of some of his contemporaries it turned
them aside permanently from less profitable walks of art. At
the time of the foundation of the Royal Academy some of its
earlier members were largely employed by the publishers, and
Cipriani and Angelica Kauffman are widely known by the
elegance and taste of their works in this direction.

Thomas Stothard, R.A. [1755—1834], who began life as
a pattern-drawer for the Spitalfields silk-weavers, early turned

WILLIAM BLAKE. 51

his attention to book illustration, and produced many of the
designs for Bell's Ports. In his illustrations for the Novelist's
Magazine he showed the highest excellence in this branch of
art, and his ability was speedily recognized by the Royal
Academy, as he became an associate in 1791, and lie attained
full Academy honours three years later, in 179-i. His larger
works in oil are disappointing, and fall far short of his elegant
and refined drawings delicately tinted in Indian ink. He was
much employed as a designer for plate, and his " Wellington
Shield " is a famous example of his skill in this branch of art.
He is said to have produced upwards of 5,000 designs.

Perhaps here, too, we may speak of William Blake, whose
reputation as a painter and poet has been much enhanced by
recent writers. He was born in London in 1757, and was the
son of a hosier. Owing to his love of art, even as a child, he
was apprenticed to Basire, the engraver, and for many years
la- worked for the booksellers chiefly from some of Stothard's
earlier designs. He married at the age of twenty-six, and for
many years his life was a hard struggle, during which he
produced a series of extraordinary works written, designed.
and engraved by himself. Taught by necessity lie invented a
process by means of which he was enabled with the help of
his wife to produce his own books. He engraved his poetry
and illustrations on copper-plates by drawing with some

medium which the acid would not attack, and then biting the

ground with acid. Thus he obtained the subject in reb'ef,
and from these plates he drew off impressions at a common

printing press. The sheets were roughly coloured with
the commonest pigments, which most probably he prepared
himself — Dutch pink, ochre, and gamboge. In spite of the
rudeness of the workmanship many of these engravings are

F L'

52 WATER-COLOUR PAINTING IN ENGLAND.

singularly pictorial, and the subjects are as strange as the mode-
rn which they are produced. Poor Blake had visions, and saw
in spirit the secrets of Heaven and Hell. Many of his works
are absolutely unintelligible, but his Booh of Job, published in
1825, which consists of twenty-one plates, abounds with grand
and dignified designs. This artist's life was a constant conflict
with poverty, and he died in his seventieth year, August
12th, 1827, when his remains were laid in a common grave in
Bunhill Fields burial-ground.

We have still on our list the names of many less well known
artists who belong to the older school, or who did not live
long enough to witness the establishment of the Water-Colour
Society, but we must press onward to the completion of this
section of our work, and devote our next chapter to Turner,
who, during his early days, was as we have seen the contem-
porary of Girtin, but whose career brings us to the middle of
the present century. Turner belongs to no school of water-
colour painting, and he stood aloof from the societies. In his
various phases he represents the transition from the old style
to the new, as well as the art in the fulness of its mature per-
fection. Turner will ever rank as one of the most glorious
exponents of water-colour painting that any country has pro-
duced, and it is fitting therefore that we should speak of him
thus early in the history of the art, which he, more than
any other painter, has raised to the highest place in public
estimation.

CHAPTER IV.

Joseph Mallord William Turner, R.A. — His Early Drawings—
His Later Drawings — His Influence on the Art.

Joseph Mallord William Turner, born April 23, 1775,
in Maiden Lane, Covent Garden, was the son of a hairdresser
in a very humble way of business. At the age of fourteen
he entered the schools of the Royal Academy, and in addition
to this he studied perspective under Malton. He worked, as
we have seen, with Girtin at the house of Dr. Monro, and
was for a while employed by Hard wick, the architect. He
afterwards maintained himself by giving lessons, colouring
prints, and putting in the backgrounds to architects' per-
spectives, producing all the time very numerous sketches
round London. As he became better known, and as he
improved in his art, he extended his rambles and made
excursions into Yorkshire, Wales, and along the south coa>t,
and worked assiduously for the topographers. At a corn-
par;) ti\ el v early age Turner found himself compelled to earn
his living by his art ; and he had, moreover, opportuni-
ti.'s for improvement of a peculiarly varied character. A
crueful examination of the works of Girtin and Cozens leads
us to believe thai bo them and to his studies at Dr. Monro's he

54 WATER COLOUR PAINTING IN ENGLAND.

was, in the first instance, much indebted for his methods of
treatment, but he was one of the earliest to discard the rigid
and formal mannerisms of the topographers, and to avail him-
self of the broader and bolder colouring of the new school.
Turner's genius was incapable of being fettered or tied down
to any traditional method of working, he went at once to
nature, and endeavoured to transfer to paper the effects of
which he was a diligent observer. While in the case of many
other artists we have mentioned we have rather to infer
their systems of working from their finished drawings, or to
puzzle out for ourselves or from the descriptions of contem-
poraries their mode of painting, Turner has left for us a rich
storehouse of his sketches which presents us with a faithful
record of the manner in which he approached nature and of
the processes by which he worked out his effects.

The collection of his sketches in the National Gallery is,
indeed, a mine of wealth for students of all time, and shows
how the genius of the painter was thus nourished by constant
recourse to nature. It would seem that he went about, pencil
in hand, and was ever on the watch for beauty in form and
colour. Many of his slighter sketches consist but of a few
hasty lines with rapid notes of local tints. A passing cloud
or a sweeping line of distant mountains attracted his attention
and was jotted clown at once, with here and there a wash of
colour laid on with a full brush, but with astonishing sharp-
ness and precision. The transition from these sketches to his
more finished works can also here be studied, and the secret
of his brilliant colouring becomes apparent. Instead of sacri-
ficing his lights in the attempt to render his shadows more
powerful, Turner seems to have put in the shadows in their
true key and colouring, and he sometimes oven, in order to

MAGDALEN BRIDGE, OXFORD. By J. M. W. Turneb, R.A.

//< (he Print Room, British Museum.

.i. m. w. Ti i;m 57

! breadth, appears to have gone to the other extreme and
to have sacrificed his lights by limiting the range between
light and dark. This latter practice was the outcome of his
maturer years, and the pictures of that date are sometimes
almost devoid of shadow in the effort after intense illumina-
Ele was fond of laying in his warm and cool colours by
means of transparent washes, paying little regard to detail,
but keeping the masses opposed to each other. He thus
employed many successive washes varying but little in tint,
to indicate the local colouring of objects in light and shade.
His wonderful atmospheric effects are mainly clue to the
delicacy of these washes ; he also abraded or rubbed away the
surface of the paper and then wrought out the details of form
by means of rich luminous shadows, always keeping studiously
before him the gradations due to distance. In this way he
obtained great breadth and maintained at all stages of his
work the true general effect he had in view.

Turner seems to have been marvellously fertile in expedients
by which to attain quality and texture in his sketches. He
was clearly aware of the advantages to be secured by damping
his paper and picking out portions of the tint by blotting with
a rag Or porous paper, and he used this method to gain bright
little spots of high light amidst his shadows. Again, he
worked up to the edges of his lights with a full brush of
colour and thus obtained sharpness of form and outline. He
■ ven cut off a layer of paper with the knife to take out a high
light; and though he never employed white, or opaque pig-
ments, he was able to produce all the effects duo to their use.
He was very expert in stippling to attain evenness of tint,
and he doubtless employed glazes or flat washes of brighter
or cooler colour. Though he discarded white as a pigment he

58 WATER-COLOUR PAINTING IN ENGLAND.

was well aware of its advantages on grey or toned paper ;
and many of his studies for skies are so treated. He used
white, in fact, merely for the sake of rapidity, but he invari-
ably avoided it in his finished pictures. While speaking thus
of the plan upon which Turner worked, we may glance aside
for a moment to direct attention to the interesting series
of studies by Constable recently presented to the South
Kensington Museum by his daughter, which show how atten-
tively another master-miud drew his inspirations from nature.
Turner's art during his long career went through many
changes, and his work has been grouped under three periods —
the earlier, the middle, and the later style. He won his spurs
and gained admission to the Royal Academy as a water-
colour painter. His earlier works are, we must confess, dis-
appointing, and bear little evidence of his future powers.
Many of them are copies of prints, sketches of buildings near
London, and reproductions of works by Cozens, Hearne, and
others. Here and there we find indications of original obser-
vation and some signs of an attempt to represent natural
effects. Much of his time at the outset was devoted to topo-
graphical and architectural studies. These are noteworthy for
the grace and delicacy of their outlines and for their careful
drawing. During all these 3 ears he was storing his mind
with the facts of nature, to be hereafter re-coined and re-
created by his marvellous pencil. His Academy associateship
dates from 1799, and in 1802 he was elected a member.
Even at this time he was working much in oil. As early
as 1793 he exhibited The Rising Squall, and in 1796 a
subject-picture entitled Fishermen at Sea. Marine subjects
at the beginning of his career had great attractions for
him, and he was at this period inspired more or less by the

J. M. W. TURNEE. 59

works of the Dutch School. When he had once begun to
paint in oil, Turner used this medium almost entirely for
his exhibited works, though throughout life he appears to
have used every other medium but this for his sketches.
There is a strong iniitativeness in much of Turner's art.
Sometimes he sought to compete with Wilson, then Claude
was the object of his rivalry, but the power of his genius
raised him above and beyond these tricky performances ; and
in his best pictures, or those wherein he sought to give us
his own perceptions of natural beauty, his art is unequalled.
In the period from 1800 to 1820, during which his finest oil
pictures were produced, he sent but few water-colour drawings
to the Exhibitions, but he employed this medium freely in his
studies for the engravers.

From 1808, when he commenced his Liber Studiorum, he was
fully occupied by the publishers, and as an illustrator of books
he must ever take a very high rank. We may mention,
among others, The Rivers of France, England, and Wales,
Southern Coast Scenery, and Rogers's Italy, as examples of
his skill in this direction ; and as his ait was in great request,
he was able to drive close bargains with the publishers.

Shortly after he became an associate, Turner established
himself in a house in Harley Street. He subsequently resided
at Hammersmith, and then spent some years at a small house
at Twickenham. The last part of his life was passed at Queen
Anne Street, where he surrounded himself with his pictures
and lived in retirement. Secretive in his habits, he loved to
make his journeys alone and to withdraw himself for uncertain
periods from the knowledge of his friends and household.
His death took place, while his whereabouts were thus un-
known, in a small cottage at Battersea, where he passed under
the assumed name of Brooks, on the li»th December 1801.

60 WATER-COLOUR PAINTING IN ENGLAND.

He received a public funeral, and was buried with high
honours at St. Paul's Cathedral.

Turner left the bulk of his property for the benefit of art
and artists, but owing to the vagueness of his will drawn up by
himself, his affairs were thrown into Chancery, and after a long
and tedious litigation, out of the original estate valued at
£140,000, the Royal Academy received .£20,000, his pictures
and drawings were assigned to the National Gallery, his real
estate passed to his heir-at-law, and his large collection of
prints and other property to the next of kin.

Concerning his art, we quote from the Century of Painters :
" He repudiated the mere imitation of Nature, and never cared
to represent her commonplace aspects — those, indeed, which
from their abiding are the only aspects that can be literally
copied. Although he made hundreds of studies from Nature
he never seems to have painted a picture out of doors. He
cared only to reproduce those varied effects which are fleeting
as they are beautiful — like the passions which flit across the
human countenance and can raise the most commonplace and
stolid face into the region of poetry, or those expressions which,
whether on the face of man or the Avide-spread champaign, pass
on as suddenly as they arise and can only be reproduced by the
hand of genius, working with the stores of a schooled memory
enriched by the treasures of long and patient study. Moreover,
Turner's art was completely an art of selection — of selection
as to time and circumstance, as to effect of light, shade, or
colour ; of selection by omission or addition of parts. Of what
are called ' views ' he painted few or none in oil ; and those in
water colours which are illustrations of scenes and places, are
so idealized by the poetry of effect — by the time of day chosen,
by the adoption of a treatment forcing into prominence tlio
principal object (as in the impressive drawing of Norham Castle

t^ .a

« s

j. m. w. turner. c,p>

on the Tweed), by I be accessories of cattle or figures <>t incidents
of life and action— as entirely to remove them from imitative
realization of scenes or places."

It is quite impossible to do justice to the art of Turner
with any illustrations within the scope of a work such as this.
We have chosen two drawings, the one to bring before our
loaders his earlier stylo, and the other an example of the
luminous productions of the latter part of his life. In the
Magdalen Bridge and Tower, Oxford, from the collection at
the British Museum, we see this artist's skill in depicting
architectural subjects, and in the Old London Bridge, from
the Jones collection, we find the highly idealized treat-
ment with which he loved to handle such scenes in his
maturer years. The confused lines of shipping and the numer-
ous figures in the foreground present a mass of rich and
brilliant colouring which would in the hands of almost any
other artist crowd out the bridge, the principal object of the
picture. But how truly lias Turner conveyed to us the lesson he
desired to bring before us, and how ably has ho, without any
strong contrasts of light and shade, given us the relative
positions of foreground and distance, of sky and water ! This
little picture (the original is only 12 inches by 7 inches) is a
marvellous epitome of Turner's art.

Some critics, who have failed to appreciate the poetry in
which Turner revelled, have censured the carelessness of the
drawing in many of these later pictures, and it has even been
asserted that he was unable to draw the figure. It seems
scarcely necessary to refute Mich statements as these, for a
glance at the rooms full of studies in the National Gallery
would disprove the fact. The truth is that in his attempts to
give us luminousness and brilliancy he sacrifices form and
detail, but he knows well enough the value in certain cases of

64 WATER-COLOUR PAINTING IN ENGLAND.

careful and minute drawing, and the studies for many of his
book illustrations are almost microscopic in the delicacy and
refinement of their execution.

The art of Turner has been so ably dealt with by some of
the best writers of modern times, and his influence on his
brother artists has been so fully discussed, that in a brief
account, such as this is, of water colour painting it seems
needless to dwell on these matters. His eminence as an oil
painter for a time obscured his fame in the medium in which
he first wrought, but in these later days his water-colour
drawings have been increasingly sought after, and those of
his best or middle period have been contended for by col-
lectors wholly regardless of cost. It has been pointed out
that from the date of his election as an Associate of the
Royal Academy, Turner eschewed representative landscape
and mere topographical art, and soon after he began to work
in oil a great change came over the manner in which he
approached nature. This change is equally apparent in his
water-colour drawings, and the way in which he glorified the
commonplace aspects of landscape scenery gives a charm to
his sketches which we seek for in vain in the earlier efforts of
our English water-colour painters. When Turner began, in the
old laborious way, to draw from the buildings round London,
water-colour painting, as we now understand it, had not come
into existence. During the course of his career the art
attained its zenith, and few will deny to Turner a mighty
influence in shaping its development. We have , treated of
him somewhat out of his natural historical place, and we must
now revert to the early days of the water-colour societies :
these societies, to which as we have already stated, Turner
never belonged, enabled the exponents of the art for the first
time in its history to take an independent standpoint.

CHAPTER V.

The Society of Painters in Water-Colours — Its Formation —
The First Members — The First Associates — The Society
of Painters in Oil and Water-Colours — The Gallery in
Pall Mall East — The Royal Society of Painters in Water-
Colours — Other Water-Colour Societies.

As the new art gained strength and vigour and grew in
public estimation, the water-colour painters could not but fail
to feel dissatisfied with the treatment they received in the
Royal Academy exhibitions, at that time the only means of
making their work known to their admirers. The so-called
" Miniature Room " devoted to them was ill-adapted for its
purpose, and the space available was too limited ; they
perceived, moreover, that their contributions could not be
seen to advantage side by side with the more powerful
works painted in oil. The ranks of the water-colour painters
were not without fitting representatives among the Academi-
cians, and there was no lack of good-will towards them ;
the difficulty was indeed chiefly want of space.

The feelings above alluded to in course of time resulted
in proposals for a separate exhibition, and it appears
that it was mainly owing to the efforts of William Wells

WATER-COLOUR PAINTING IN ENGLAND.

that these ideas took definite shape. About the year 1802
Wells printed, and caused to be circulated among those
who practised water-colour painting, a letter begging them to
unite and form a society, not necessarily in hostility to the
Royal Academy, but for the promotion of their own art. This
letter seems to have met with but little enthusiasm ; the water-
colour men dreaded to put themselves in open rivalry with the
Royal Academy, and they were unwilling to bestir themselves
on their own behalf. Wells, however, persevered in his scheme
and ultimately found several kindred spirits to join him in the
new undertaking. The plans for the Society of Painters in
Water-colours were the subject of long and anxious delibera-
tion, the meetings connected with its formation were held at
the house of Shelley, the miniature painter, in George Street,
Hanover Square, and the ten original members, the real
founders of the Society, on the 30th November, 1804, were
Hills, Pyne, Shelley, Wells, Nattes, Gilpin, Nicholson, Pocock,
and the brothers John and Cornelius Varley. At their first
meeting, which was held at the Stratford Coffee-house in Oxford
Street, Gilpin took the chair, and in addition to the founders
the following members were elected by ballot : Barret,
Cristall, Glover, Havell, Holworthy, and Rigaud. Shelley
became the treasurer, and Hills was elected the secretary
of the new Society. The selection of names was no doubt a
good one, as it included many of the most distinguished ex-
ponents of the new art. In our arrangement of the above
groups we have followed the sequence as given by Roget in
his recent History of the ' Old Water-Colour ' Society ; former
writers, no doubt on insufficient data, have placed Barret along
with the foundation members and included Nattes and the
two Varleys in the list of those elected subsequently.

THE B0CIBT1 <-r PAINTERS IN WATER-COLOURS. 67

The rules drawn up for the administration of the Society
and for tli<i management of its exhibitions were prudent and
well devised, The main features were that there should be an
annual display of original works in water-colours, to be con-
tributed exclusively by members; the number of members was
fixed at twenty-four ; the officers were to be elected annually,
but were to be eligible for re-election. Roge\ tells us that
•• < hit of the profits of the exhibition, should there be any,
after payment of expenses, a sum was to be set apart for the
expenses of the following year, and the residue was to be
divided among the members in sums proportioned to the value
of the drawings sent and retained for exhibition." The rooms
chosen for the first exhibition had been built by Vandergucht,
the en grj i ver, in Lower Brook Street. The C4allery was opened on
April 22nd, 1805, with a collection of 275 drawings ; the price
of admission, including the catalogue, was fixed at one shilling.
A novelty in connection with this exhibition was the provision
of an attendant, with a priced list of the pictures on sale, who
entered the names of the buyers in a book and took a deposit
of 10 per cent, to secure the purchase. This appears to have
been an innovation, and the practice obtains to the present day.
In order to secure the requisite funds for the establishment of
tiie gallfiy, each member was called on to contribute £2, but
after the first exhibition, which appears to have been wry
BUCCessful, and which was visited in the seven weeks that it
remained open, by upwards of 12,000 persons, the amount of
the deposit was reduced one-half. The sales in the first year
amounted to £2,860, the profits from admission, <fec, being divided
amongst the members in the proportion of a percentage io each
exhibitor on the value of the works he contributed. Eoget
gives a statement of the valuation of their works by the artists

WATER COLOUR PAINTING IN ENGLAND.

and deduces from this the average price per exhibit fixed by
each contributor and the consequent order of self -estimation.
The list is as follows : —

Shelley '.

£26

Wells . .

. £7 0

Glover

10.

Oistall .

6 13

Pocock

11.

Havell .

5 14

Nattes

12.

Nicholson

5 12

Hills . .

13.

J. Varlev

4 14

Bigaud

14.

Barret .

4 9

Gilpin.

15.

Pyne .

4 8

Hoi worthy

16.

C. Varlev

3 14

According to Eoget the average price of a drawing was
about .£10 lis. The admission money, which amounted to
£577, left a surplus after deduction of all expenses of nearly
£272, and this was duly divided among the members in shares
ranging from <£61 18s. Qd., to Shelley clown to £5 7s. 6d., to
C. Yarley in accordance with the value of their contributions.

Before the second exhibition certain " Fellow Exhibitors,"
subsequently called " Associate Exhibitors," were elected, the
first nine of them being Miss A. F. Byrne, J. J. Chalon,
W. Delamotte, B. Freebairn, P. S. Munn, R. It. Reinagle,
John (Warwick) Smith, F. Stevens, and John Thurston. The
number of these privileged exhibitors was limited to sixteen,
and it was further agreed that from this class two new mem-
bers should be elected each year until the total of twenty-four
members was reached, after which no fresh addition was to be
ii wide. The associates were it appears limited to five works
tii eh. In the second exhibition, which also took place at Lower
Brook Street, the works were 301 in number, and the sales
reached £2,595. On this occasion the surplus divided was
£440 and it rose to £471 in 1807. In this yearThos. Heaphy

TIIK FIRST MEMBERS AND ASSOriAl 69

and A. Pugin were elected as new associates, out of nineteen
candidates ; Reinagle, and "Warwick" Smith were advanced to
membership and J. C. Nattes was expelled for having exhi-
bited in his own name the works of certain outsiders, osten-
sibly for the purpose of increasing his share in the percentage
of profits. In the following year T. Heaphy and J. J. Chalon
wore added to the list of members, and appear as such in the
catalogue for 1808.

In January, 1808, "William Turner and J. A. Atkinson were
elected associates. The exhibition in this year was visited by
no less than 19,000 persons, and the profits divided were £445 ;
Turner and Atkinson in the same year became full members.
The receipts in 1809 enabled a surplus of £626 to be divided
among the members, and substantial testimonials were voted to
the officers. The associates elected in this and the succeeding
years were according to Roget as follows : — Thos. Uwins, Wm.
Payne, Edmund Dorrell, and Chas. Wild, in 1809; F. Nash,
P. De Wint, A. V. Copley Fielding, Wm. Westal], and W. Scott,
in 1810; and David Cox, L. Clennell, and C. Barber in 1812.
The list of new members comprises F. Stevens and E. Dorrell
in 1809 ; F. Nash and Thos. Uwins in 1810 ; P. De Wint and
Wm. Westallin 1811 j and C. Wild and A. Pugin in 1812.
The possible number of members was raised in November
1810, to thirty, though in point of fact the number never
exceeded twenty-five. The profits in 1810 were ten per cent.
on the declared value of the works, and in the following
year each member received Is. 7d. in the pound. From this
time the profits sank rapidly, though the exhibitions increased
ininterest and in the variety of the subjects. The third exhibi-
tion was held in the rooms a( one time occupied by the Royal
Academy, near Carlton House, in Pall Mall. The fourth ex-

70 WATER-COLOUR PAINTING IN ENGLAND.

hibition was opened at No. 16 Old Bond Street, and the next
year, in 1809, the Society migrated to the great rooms in
Spring Gardens, where also its eleven following exhibitions
took place.

Gilpin, the first President, resigned in 1806, and his place
was occupied, 'pro tern, by "Wells. Pocock, wrho had been
elected, declined to serve, and in 1807, Glover became the
President, for a year and was followed by Beinagle who filled
the chair until 1812.

W. Sawrey Gilpin was the son of the Royal Academician of
that name mentioned in our third chapter. It has been thought
by some that his reputation, founded chiefly on the connection
he had formed as a fashionable teacher, wTas injured by the
public exhibition of his works side by side with those of some
of the best masters of the art, and he withdrew early from the
unequal contest. According to others his retirement was owTing
to his appointment as teacher of landscape drawing at the Koyal
Military College at Great Marlow ; at any rate he was one
of the members who seceded from the Society on its disrup-
tion in 1812, though we find his name as an exhibitor with
them in 1814, and for the last time in the following year.

The rule that each member could by affixing the price of his
works regulate his share of the division of profits wras not
adhered to in the case of Shelley, the miniature painter, who
as we have seen at first secured the lion's share of the admission
money, and, perhaps annoyed by this decision, he resigned the
treasurership in 1807, though he continued to exhibit until
his death, two years later. On his retirement, the post of
treasurer was accepted by Reinagle. W. H. Pyne relinquished
his membership in 1809, probably because his literary pursuits
prevented him from devoting himself to his art. Miss Byrne,

DISRUPTION OF THE FIRST SOCIKTY. 71

the first lady exhibitor (who was gallantly exempted from any
risks that might arise from losses instead of profits out of
the annual exhibitions), was in addition to this privilege
granted a share in the receipts, but it was at the same time
declared that ladies were not eligible as members, nor had they
any voice in the management of the Society's affairs. At the
close of the eighth exhibition, the class of associate exhibitors
comprised Copley Fielding, P. S. Munn, A. Pugin, W. Payne,
W. Scott, and C. Wild ; the number of members now standing
at twenty-five, as Heaphy had resigned in that year.

The iwestige which had attached to the new venture was
unmistakably on the decline, the exhibitions no longer ob-
tained their former success, the pictures remained unsold, and
the public did not throng to the exhibitions. The surplus in
1812, was so small (.£121) as to excite reasonable apprehension
of a future loss. What was to be done1? Hitherto the
members had worked together harmoniously, but want of
success led to disaffection. It was at first suggested that all
painters in water-colours should be invited to co-operate.
Glover, who had turned his attention to oil-painting, pro-
posed that works in oil should be admitted to the exhibition.
This suggestion, nullifying the very conditions on which the
Society was founded, was warmly combated by certain of the
members, but the proposition, was ultimately adopted, and it
was resolved at a meeting, held at Glover's house in November,
1812 to accept oil pictures at the next exhibition. On learning
this decision Chalon, Dorrell, and Stevens tendered their resiff-
nations, and Reinagle, the president, appears to have agreed
with them, as he took no further share in tho Society's affairs.
This persistence of Glover was the main cause of the disruption
of the Society, and led to t!u dissolution which took place at a

72 WATER-COLOUR PAINTING IN ENGLAND.

meeting held at the house of Hills, the secretary, on the eighth
anniversary of its foundation, when the following resolution
was passed : — " That this Society having found it impractic-
able to form another exhibition of water-colour paintings only,
do consider itself dissolved this night."

Another cause which brought about this result was, besides
the want of success in the exhibitions, the difficulty of finding
rooms in which to hold them. We have seen the numerous
migrations undergone by the Society during the first few years
of its existence, and a committee appointed to consider this
subject reported that the interests of the Society had been
materially affected by these frequent changes of locality.
They recommended that some rooms forming part of the
Lyceum Theatre in the Strand, should be acquired at a cost
which the members were unwilling to face ; and at length,
yielding to these combined difficulties, the first Society came
to an end.

Twelve of the members, more courageous than their
brethren, at once resolved on the reconstruction of the body
under the title of the " Society of Painters in Oil and Water
Colours." These were Barret, Cristall, Copley Fielding, J.
Holmes, J. Linnell, Havell, Holworthy, Nicholson, Smith,
Uwins, and the two Yarleys. To these must be added David
Cox, Glover, Miss Gouldsmith, F. Mackenzie, Turner, and H.
Ilicliter, who were elected before the first exhibition which was
held in the old rooms in Spring Gardens in 1813. A notice to
the following effect is prefixed to the catalogue. " The Society of
Painters in Water-Colours, stimulated by Public Encourage-
ment, and gaining Confidence from Success, have ventured this
year on a considerable extension of their Plan. Pictures in Oil
and in Water Colours, Portraits, Models, and Miniatures are

TIIE RE-ORGANIZED SOCIETY. 73

admitted into the present Exhibition ; and should these in-
creased efforts receive from the Public that liberal support
which has always accompanied the former exertions of this
Society, every Year may produce fresh sources of Amusement,
and each succeeding Exhibition become more worthy of Appro-
bation and Patronage." To this exhibition, which was styled
the " ninth," taking no notice of the dissolution of the original
body, twenty-nine outsiders were for the first time admitted,
and these mixed exhibitions were continued with moderate
success until the rooms in Spring Gardens were demolished
in 1821. The members added to the Society during this
period were in 1814 G. F. Eobson, and W. S. Gilpin; in 1818
H. C. Allport; in 1819 J. Stephanoff ; and in 1820 S. Prout.
Each year contributions were received from outsiders averag-
ing about fifty in number. So far as we can learn these
exhibitions did little more than pay their way. In 1817
there was a small surplus and the committee advised that in
lieu of dividing the profits the surplus should be invested.
This proposal was adopted, and the sum of £100 was funded.
Glover disapproved of this use of the surplus and resigned
on December 23, 1817. His place was filled by the election of
Allport. In 1819 the system of offering premiums for the
host works was instituted and three premiums of £30 each
were offered to the members as an inducement to produce
works of greater importance both in oil and water-colours.
Tho works had to be of a large size ; the first premiums were
awarded to Barret, Cristall, and C. Varley.

We next find the old Society at the Egyptian Hall, where
they remained for two years, and in 1821 they very wisely
reverted to their original scheme of confining their exhibition
to works in water colours, and they determined, moreover, for

74 WATER-COLOUR PAINTING IN ENGLAND.

the future not to admit the drawings of outside exhibitors.
The resolution to exclude oil-paintings was taken at a well
attended meeting on June 5, 1820. This change is announced
in a preface to the catalogue, which also contains an ably
written review of the then position of the art and a disserta-
tion combating the theory of the want of permanence of
water-colour paintings. The Society at this time was com-
posed of seventeen members with five associate exhibitors ;
the new members being C. Wild (re-elected), and Mrs. T. H.
Field, the associates were W. J. Bennett, H. Gastineau, J. D.
Harding, W. Scott, and Wm. Walker.

Some alterations were at this period (1820) made in the con-
stitution of the Society ; while the number of members was
restricted to twenty, a body of associate exhibitors Mas
sanctioned, limited to twelve, from whom future members
were to be elected at the rate of at least one every year,
should there be a vacancy. The system of premiums was
continued. Cristall was elected as the new president, and
Fielding remained secretary. In the following year AH port
resigned his membership to devote himself to oil-painting, and
J. D. Harding was elected in his place. Holmes and Eichter
ceased to contribute, and in accordance with the rules forfeited
their membership. We cannoo from this period chronicle the
changes in the Society, they are set forth at length in Roget's
recent History. The Society was now firmly established, and
shortly afterwards G. F. Robson, one of the most energetic
of their number, in conjunction with C. Wild, taking advan-
tage of the alterations at Charing Cross, obtained possession
of the convenient and well-situated Gallery in Pall Mall
East, which they still occupy. This final move proved the
commencement of a long career of prosperity, and since the

TIIE GALLERY IN PALL MALL EAST. 75

date of their first exhibition in this new Gallery, in 1823, the
progress of the Society has been one of uninterrupted success.
In 1882 by permission of Her Majesty, the word "Royal"
was prefixed to the title of the Society.

While treating of the water-colour societies, we must not

omit all mention of the rivals and competitors who almost

from the inception of the movement attempted to participate

in the success of the independent exhibition. As early as the

year 1808 an exhibition was opened in Lower Brook Street, in

the rooms vacated by the older society, by the "Associated

Artists in Water Colours." The eleven original members

of this body were W. J. Bennett, H. P. Bone, James Green,

J. Laporte, Andrew Robertson, W. J. Thompson, F. Huet-

Villiers, W. Walker, jun., W. H. Watts, H. W. Williams,

and A. Wilson. Their numbers were subsequently raised to

eighteen by the election of A. Chalon, Mrs. Green, S. Owen,

J. Papworth, Miss E. Smith, W. Westall, and William Wood,

and to these were added eighteen " fellow exhibitors." The

President of the Society was W. Wood, J. Green was the

treasurer, and A. Robertson was the secretary. The records

of this Association are extremely scanty ; they had no desire to

oppose the older body, and they appear to have welcomed to

their exhibitions the works of other artists not members. Their

scheme, though it was at first fairly well received, seems to have

met with but little permanent public support, and after their

fifth exhibition in 1812 we can trace no further mention of

them. Their exhibitions from 1810 to 1812 were held at 16,

Old Bond Street, and in the former year tho name of the Society

was changed to tho Associated Painters in Water-Colours.

David Cox succeeded Wood as the president, the number of

members was raised from eighteen to twenty, and oil paintings

76 WATER COLOUR PAINTING IN ENGLAND.

were admitted as well as water-colours. Among the exhibitors
at the last of the exhibitions in 1812, was William Blake. In
this year Richter was the president, and many of the members
appear to have withdrawn, nine out of the twenty of those who
contributed to the exhibition being placed in a distinct class in
1811 under the title of "Associated Members." It was at
the close of the 1812 exhibition that their landlord swooped
down upon the society for his unpaid rent, and seized all the
contents of the gallery. Poor David Cox whose pictures did
not at that time realise a ready sale, lost the whole of his
dra wings, which were sold at very inadequate prices.

Yet another attempt to found a society in the early years
of this century deserves passing mention. When, as we have
seen in consequence of the action of Glover, the old Society
was broken up in 1812, a small section of the members, pro-
minent amongst whom were Nicholson, Nash, Rigaud, and J.
Smith, secured a Gallery in New Bond Street, where they
opened, in 1814, " An Exhibition of Paintings in Water
Colours," to which they invited the contributions of artists
who did not belong to any other society. This venture also,
however, appears to have ended in failure, and though a
second exhibition was opened on May 3rd, 1815, with 20,5
works, eked out with oil paintings and a few " old masters,"
the scheme did not extend to a third year.

In the general classification of the periods of water colour art
in our introductory chapter, we selected for the closing scene of
the middle period the date of the establishment of the Water-
Colour Society in their new Gallery, and we think that from the
brief account we have given of the difficulties experienced by this
body in its early days, and the many vicissitudes experienced
in the permanent establishment of its exhibitions, the reasons

ITS SUCCESS AFTEB TWENTY YEARS OF TRIALS. , t

for this selection will be evident. During the first twenty
years of the century, water-colour painting had gradually

taken up its rank as an art distinct from oil painting, and
though the attempt to make this distinction in the first instance
resulted in failure, it became possible after 1821 to establish a
Gallery upon a secure basis wThere painters in water-colours
could hold their own. The Society of that day numbered among
its ranks some of the ablest and most eminent of the artists who
had raised water-colour painting to its true position among the
fine arts, and it will be our task in the succeeding chapters to
glance briefly at the lives and to reviewr the art of those wrhose
names we have at present enumerated merely in passing as
belonging to one or the other of the earlier water-colour
societies founded in this country.

CHAPTER VI.

The Founders of the Water Colour Society — George Barret
— Robert Hills — William Henri/ Pyne — Nicholas Pocock
— Samuel Shelley — William Frederick Wells — William
Sawrey Gilpin — Francis Nicholson — John Varley — Cor-
nelius Varley — John Claude Nattes.

Among the original founders of the Water Colour Society .
who met, as we have seen, at the house of Shelley to plan
the constitution and rules of their association, were several
painters who are entitled to take a high rank among the
masters of the art. To none of them, however, in our estima-
tion, must the place of honour in the new society be assigned
but rather to one of the earliest additions to their number —
George Barret, whose work was not without its influence
on his brother-painters. Somewhat in the direction of
Turner, but devoid of his true poetical feeling, Barret at-
tempted to transfer to paper the glories of sunrise and sunset,
the mystery of moonlit landscape, and the solemn stillness of
twilight. He was an early student of the art of composition,
and in his classical scenes he forsook nature and endeavoured to
put together his pictures by rule. Barret came of an artistic
^tock ; his father, George Barret the Academician, who had at

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lirsfc prospered in his profession, was reduced to bankruptcy,

and at his death left his children pensioners on the Royal
Academy. Several of the family achieved distinction as
artists, and George Barret the younger, who was horn about
L767, by patient exertion made himself a high reputation.
He was of frugal and industrious habits, and studied rather
to attain excellence in his art than to benefit his purse. His
first pictures, exhibited at the Academy in 1795, were views in
Yorkshire and on Loch Lomond, and for several years after-
wards we find mention in the catalogues of this painter, which
cease in 1803. To the exhibitions of the Water-Colour
Society, of which he was for many years the Secretary, he sent
some fifteen pictures annually, mostly painted in the vicinity
of London, where he lived. A few of his drawings were
executed in conjunction with Cristall, and later with F. Tayler.
His colouring was warm and rich, but in his efforts to depict
the glow of sunshine he often rendered parts of his work
gloomy and sombre. He loved extended landscapes with Claude-
like temples and ruins ; some clumsily-drawn recumbent cattle
in the foreground, and dark groves of trees to right and left ;
the whole bathed in sunlit haze. His pictures were often of
large size, generally somewhat brown in tone, and many of them
have faded sadly, owing to the use of unstable pigments. He was
an adept in theemployment of washing to remove surplus colour,

and lie was fond of the US6 of bread to take out high lights.
lie drew the figure in a rather slorenly manner, and he often
Spoilt the texture of his works by const, int abrasion. Jn spite
of these defects the drawings of Barret will always be
emed, as his art was truly original, and he occupies a field
peculiarly his own. During his later years he experienced
many afflictions, and he died in poor circumstances in I842a

WATER-COLOUR PAINTING IN ENGLAND.

when a subscription was opened for his family. Barret
was an author as well as a painter, and he published in
1840 The Theory and Practice of Water-Colour Painting.
"We have selected a small drawing from the Historical Col-
lection at South Kensington, which will serve to convey an
excellent idea of his style as it embodies many of his marked
peculiarities. It is entitled a Classic Composition. On the
left is a magnificent range of buildings, with groups of charac-
teristic trees ; on the right a barge with figures. The drawing
is low in tone, and the lights have been taken out by washing.
This little picture formed part of the Ellison Gift.

Amongst the actual founders of the Water Colour Society,
Robert Hills takes high rank. He was born in Islington in
1769, and studied art under Cresse. His first appearance as
an exhibitor at the ^ Royal Academy was in 1791, when he
contributed "A Wood Scene with Gipsies." We know little
of his early life, or by what means he was induced to turn
his attention to animal-painting, the branch of art in which
he excelled. Hills was a most industrious draughtsman,
and he was indefatigable in collecting materials for his work.
He was also an expert etcher, and published many of his
delicate outlines of deer and other animals, to the number
of upwards of 800, in every variety of action. The first
part of this admirable series of etchings was issued in 1798.
The print-room of the British Museum contains a fine collec-
tion of these etchings, many of them touched on by the artist
and including numerous rare states of the plates. Hills,
moreover, turned his knowledge of animal form to account
as a sculptor and modelled a red- deer in terra-cotta clay. His
execution, especially in his later works, is peculiarly laboured ;
the entire surface being finished by stippling. He seems to

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ROBERT HILLS WILLIAM HENRY PTKE 85

have even gone out of his way to make the stippling apparent,
and to bring every part of the picture into dots or minute
points of colour. The extent to which this is carried gives a
mechanical look to his work ; and he appears to have painted
chiefly from drawings, and to have made his foliage a mere
background for the animals into which they have the look of
being inlaid. There is no evidence of the play of light and
shade or of the sparkle to be found in nature. It has been
pointed out that in the landscapes of Robson, in conjunction
with whom many of his works were executed, this same woolli-
ness of texture is apparent. Hills sometimes inserted the
animals in landscapes painted by Barret. We have reproduced
a characteristic example of their joint workmanship from the
1 1 istorical Collection at South Kensington — Deer in Knowle
Park — a group of deer among heath. It is curious to notice
how much these artists have here conformed in their style and
touch. Hills continued to exhibit with the Water-Colour
Society until 1818 when, for some reason which has not been
explained, he stood aloof from them for five years, sending his
drawings to the Royal Academy. In 1823 he was a second
time elected a member, he again contributed to the Society's
exhibition in their new Gallery in Pall Mall, and remained
an exhibitor until his death, which took place at Golden
Square in 1844, in his seventy-fifth year.

William Henry Pyne, the son of a leather-seller in Hol-
born, was born in 1769. His fame rests rather upon his
numerous art publications than upon his water colour draw-
ings. In his early days ho studied art under a good master,
for whom, however, he conceived an aversion; but he managed
to become a skilful draughtsman and in turn took up portrait,
landscape, and tigiue-paiuting. lie published from 1803 to 18

So WATER-COLOUR TAINTING IN ENGLAND.

his well-known Microcosm, or Picturesque Delineation of the
Arts, Agriculture, Manufactures, dr., of Great Britain. This
work contains many hundreds of groups of rustic figures, imple-
ments, &c, drawn and etched in aquatint, and it has proved a
fertile source of inspiration to numerous would-be artists down
to the present time. Mr. Roget states that " a few groups
like those of the Microcosm are at the British Museum. In
them the pen is used neatly (without the freedom and dash of
a dexterous sketcher such, for example, as Rowlandson), and
some are composed with much taste." It was followed in 1808
by The Costumes of Great Britain, after which he published in
conjunction with Mr. Ackermann, a series of illustrations of
the royal palaces, Windsor, St. James's, &c. For this latter
work he undertook the letterpress only, the illustrations being
supplied by Stephanoff, Charles Wild, and other artists. He
was the author of one of the most chatty and agreeable art
publications known to us, entitled Wine and Walnuts, and
he furnished much amusing gossip on art matters to the
Literary Gazette. He likewise edited, and probably to a large
extent wrote, the Somerset House Gazette, which after its second
year of publication was merged into the Literary Chronicle.
This represents but a tithe of his labours as an author, for
he seems to have been constantly engaged throughout his life
in literary pursuits. Much of our knowledge of the early
practice of water-colour painting is derived from his writings,
and his criticisms are always judicious and carefully thought
out. He was a lively and entertaining companion, fond of
the society of artists, and full of clever schemes which he had
not the perseverance to realize. In the drawings of his early
days he outlined the subject with the reed-pen, and tinted the
foreground with warm tints, reserving his greys for the middle

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distance. He excelled in the delineation of rustic scenes, and
his figures and animals are carefully drawn and well-intro-
duced. Pyne's old age was full of trouble and difficull Lea : he
died at Paddington after a long and trying illness on May 29,
1843. We have been permitted to select an example of his art,
entitled A Rustic Landscape, from the British Museum collection.

Nicholas Pocock, another foundation member of the "Water-
Colour Society and the oldest of the company, came of a good
family in Bristol, in which city he was born about 1741. He
was entirely self-taught as an artist, having been brought up
to the sea, and commanded a merchantman. He used to
illustrate his log with sketches, and after a while he adopted
art as his profession, and at first settled in Bristol, but came
to reside in London in 1789. There he married and reared a
family, and his house in Great George Street, Westminster,
was much resorted to by the leading men of the Navy at that
day. He painted both in oils and water-colours, chiefly marine
subjects, and delighted in representing naval actions. His
manner was founded on that of the old school, though in his
drawings he attempted many things not dreamed of by the
topographers, and he is credited with being "among the first
to rescue his art from the dominion of outline, by blending
softness and aerial perspective with force of effect." From
1805 to 1813, he was a constant contributor to the exhibitions
of the Water-Colour Society. He died at Maidenhead on
March 19, 1821.

Samuel Shelley who was born in Whitechapel about 1750
was likewise a self-taught artist. We first hear of him in
1770, when he gained a Society of Arts premium, lie became
celebrated as a miniature-painter, and was extremely sua
fill in his female portraits. We refer to him here chiefly be-

00 WATER COLOUR TAINTING IN ENGLAND.

cause the Water-Colour Society was planned in his house. He
became its first treasurer, and sent allegorical subjects, such
as, Cupid Turned Watchman, and Loves Complaint to Time,
to its exhibitions. Shelley was a skilful engraver, and pub-
lished many of his own portraits ; he also worked as a book-
illustrator. He is stated to have died in George Street,
Hanover Square, December 22, 1808, though the accuracy of
this date is questioned by Roget.

William Frederick Wells, to whom the inception of the
Water-Colour Society was, as already stated, mainly clue, was a
fashionable teacher, and was drawing-master for nearly thirty
years at Addiscombe College. He was born in London in
1762, and studied under Barralet. His drawings appear to
have been chiefly views in various parts of the kingdom and
on the continent. His early drawings were executed in the
tinted manner. Wells was the lifelong friend of Turner and
it was at his suggestion that Turner undertook the Liber
Studiorum. Wells himself successfully engaged in the publica-
tion of A Collection of Prints Illustrative of English Scenery
from the Drawings and Sketches of Thos. Gainsborough, R.A.,
in conjunction with Laporte, in 1819. He became for a brief
period the president of the Water-Colour Society in 1806,
and he died in 1836.

William Sawrey Gilpin, the son of Sawrey Gilpin, R.A.,
and the first president of the Water-Colour Society, was
chiefly known as a teacher. We have already, in our account
of the Society, given an outline of his career, and we may
pass to Francis Nicholson, who was in his day one of the
most eminent of the foundation members. He was born
at Pickering, in Yorkshire, in 1753, and practised for a
time, chiefly in oil, in various parts of his native county.

WILLIAM 8AWREY GILPIN. 01

Thence he came to London and devoted himself largely to
lithography, and greatly contributed to the advancement
of that art. He is said to have produced upwards of 800
drawings upon stone, lie published in 1822 a work entitled,
The Practice of Drawing and Painting Landscape from
Nature, and Pyne gives an account in the Somerset House
Gazette, of a process he discovered of treating the lights in
water-colour painting. His system was based on the use of a
spirit varnish with which he coated any surfaces he wished to
preserve, he then painted over them with water-colours in the
usual way, and finally, by means of spirits of wine, removed
the varnish, leaving the lights as sharp and clear as if laid on
in opaque colour, and Pyne further states that though his
process did not find favour among his brother artists, his
success stimulated them to strive after greater richness and
force which they subsequently achieved. He adds, " Mr.
Nicholson having, after much ingenious experiment, arrived
at this desideratum, with a liberality that cannot be too highly
esteemed, gave his discovery to the world." The reviews of
Nicholson's book extend over many pages in the Gazette, and
he gives very minute directions to guide the student and the
beginner. Even at that time doubts had arisen with respect to
the stability of water-colour drawings, and we extract the
following remarks on this subject from Nicholson's work : —
" The objections usually urged against the use of water-colours
is their supposed want of permanency. If this be advanced at
the present day, it must be by those who take their opinion on
trust, or have not observed anything but such slight perform-
ances as were done formerly, and called washed or stained draw-
ings : these being thinly tinted and generally with vegetable
colours, could not be expected to remain ; but to maintain from

WATER-COLOUR PATNTTNG IN ENGLAND.

thence that all water-colours must be very fugitive proves
nothing but ignorance of the present practice and of what it may-
be extended to_ Neither does the change that may be observed in
some modern productions prove anything, but a continuance of
the use of perishable materials by artists who prefer their present
effect to one that is not quite so pleasing at first but will be
lasting." After explaining such causes of change in oil paint-
ings he says : — " Water being used as the vehicle in painting is
not subject to change, consequently the alterations that may
take place, wrill be in the colours, this is caused principally by
tlie action of light, and in proportion to its intensity and con-
tinuance, they will become lighter ; but I am persuaded that
in a good body of such substances as those I have mentioned
the change will not be by any means greater than that of the
same colours in oil." This was written in 1822 and we have
not got much further than this at the present day.

There is reason to fear that in his later years, when Nichol-
son had retired upon a handsome competency, he ruined many
of his best pictures by the experiments he was fond of carrying
on with various varnishes and nostrums. In his recent His-
tory of the ' Old Water Colour1 Society, Mr. Eoget devotes an
entire chapter to this artist, and gives an amusing account of
the circumstances of the communication by Nicholson of his
discovery to the Society of Arts, for which he was awarded a
premium, and likewise of his exposure of the tricks by which
certain drawing masters, who had become members of the
Committee of the Polite Arts, obtained rewards for their own
pupils. In this exposure he was aided by John Yarley and,
after they had pointed out that the premiated drawings of the
pupils were in many cases not the real work of the candidates,
"a resolution was entered in the Society's books requiring

J' 'UN 7AELEY. 93

every candidate to give proof that the drawing sent in was
entirely the production of the claimant, by his being placed
alone in a room and there making a drawing, or such parts of
one as would satisfy the Society that the claim was fair."
Nicholson died in London on the 6th March, 1844, at the
advanced age of ninety-one years. He was fond of painting
water-falls and streams of running water, but though he be-
came distinguished in his own day, his reputation has not been
maintained.

Among the illustrious band of students meeting under Dr.
Monro's hospitable roof no one made better use of his opportuni-
t Les or gathered more instruction from his companions than did
John Varley, who was born at Hackney, August 17, 1778.
I lis father was private tutor to Lord Stanhope, and objecting
to foster his son's liking for art, apprenticed him to a silver-
smith, from which employment he shortly afterwards, on the
death of his father, found means to free himself. Varley
wrorked for a while under a portrait-painter, and subsequently
as an architectural draughtsman, sketching in his spare time
everything that came under his notice ; rising even, we are
told, at daybreak, in order to get two hours with his notebook
before beginning office work at eight. He was enabled, when
absent on some tour with his master, to make a vigorous
drawing of Peterborough Cathedral, which was exhibited at
the Royal Academy in 1798, and gained him much credit.
During the next year or two he visited Wales and the
northern counties of England and found numerous subjeets
for his facile pencil. Even thus early his drawings found
purchasers, and he became from this time a frequent exhibitor
at the Royal Academy. It was about this time that his work
attracted the attention of Dr. Monro, and that he began to

94 WATER-COLOUR PAINTING IN ENGLAND.

frequent his gatherings in the Adelphi. In order to take full
advantage of these opportunites he moved to rooms in Charles
Street, Covent Garden, which he shared with his brother
Cornelius, and here they had a studio and gave lessons. In
1803 he married his first wife, one of three sisters, named
Gisborne who each became united to well known men, the one
to Copley Fielding, the other to Muzio Clementi, the musician.
As a proof of Varley's industry we may mention that in
1804, the year of his election to the Water-Colour Society, he
contributed no less than forty-two works to their exhibition,
even increasing his drawings up to the surprising number
of sixty in 1809. The total of his exhibited works in the
eight years ending 1812 was 344. No wonder that his
manner became insipid and commonplace, and that he ex-
hausted his resources in finding subjects. He even drew his
inspiration from prints and etchings, and reproduced his
sketches with stock foregrounds varied in every imaginable
way. All this time he was increasing his reputation as a
teacher, and several of his pupils became eminent in art. He
was moreover an enthusiastic believer in astrology, on which
subject he wrote a treatise, and he cast the nativities of his
friends and pupils. Some whimsical stories are told concerning
the successful character of certain of his predictions. He
published in 1830 Observations on C olouring and Sketching from
Nature, and he was also the author of A Practical Treatise on
Perspective. Throughout his long career he continued firm in
his allegiance to the Water-Colour Society. The landscapes
of Varley have great breadth and simplicity of treatment.
He worked with a full pencil, and his tints are fresh and
pure. He was somewhat mannered in his treatment, but he
thoroughly understood the rules of composition, and introduced

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CORNELIUS VARLEY. 07

his figures with good effect. In the latter part of his life he
practised a mode of execution which we are bound to consider
somewhat tricky. His plan consisted in straining a sheet of
common whitey-brown paper over ordinary drawing paper. On
the former he painted the subject in rich tints and for the high
lights he rubbed away the coarse paper down to the pure
white surface beneath. We are conscious of the fact that the
small landscape from the Print Room of the British Museum
which we have selected to represent this artist scarcely does
him justice, still it serves to show the grace of his composi-
tions and the simple features he needed for a pleasing and
effective little picture. His death occurred in 1842.

Cornelius Varley, a younger brother of the foregoing, was
likewise a foundation member of the Water-Colour Society,
and two other brothers were from time to time exhibitors
at the Academy — a remarkable instance of the development
of a taste for art in many members of the same family. Youno-
Varley was upon the death of his father entrusted to the care
of an uncle, a manufacturer of philosophical instruments, with
whom he remained until he was twenty, when, in consequence
of some misunderstanding with his relation, he joined his elder
brother John and devoted himself to an art career. Like his
brother, he was much engaged in teaching, and in his holidays
and spare time he visited Wales and made many sketches.
He left the old Water-Colour Society in 1820 when oil
painters were excluded from the gallery. His exhibited pictures
were relatively few in number and were chiefly in illustration
of classical themes. He carried his work further than did his
brother, and attempted more thoroughness and completion,
thus missing the breadth and grandeur present in the best
drawings from the hand of John Varley. He lived to a great

98 WATER COLOUR PAINTING IN ENGLAND.

age taking throughout his career much interest in scientific
pursuits and being to the last a constant attendant at the meet-
ings of the Royal Institution and of the Society of Arts. He
made several improvements in the construction of philosophical
instruments, and he was the inventor of the graphic telescope.
Cornelius Varley outlived all the other founders of the Water-
Colour Society, and died at Highbury, October 2, 1873, in his
ninety-second year.

John Claude Nattes was born about 1765, and studied
art under Hugh Dean. Roget calls his teacher " Hugh Neale,"
and says the latter enjoyed the sobriquet of the " Irish Claude."
Nattes worked mainly among the topographers, and did
not get beyond their methods. Between 1797 and 1800
he travelled through Scotland to prepare the drawings for
his Scotia Dejricta, published in 1804. He must also have
visited Ireland to obtain the materials for Hibernia Depicta,
which appeared in 1802. He subsequently issued a series of
views of English watering places, and in 1806 published
Bath Illustrated. He was expelled from the Water-Colour
Society, as we have seen, in 1807, and afterwards exhibited at
the Academy until 1814.

CHAPTER VII.

Original Members of the Water-Colour Society — Joshua Cristall

— William Havell — James Holworthy — Stephen Francis
Rigaud — John Glover — Anne Francis Byrne — John Byrne

— William Payne — Paul Sandby Munn — Thomas Heaphy
— John Smith — Augustus Pugin — John James Chalon,
R.A. — Alfred Edward Chalon, P. A. — William Delamotte
— Robert Freebairn.

In this chapter we have collected the artists who joined the
first founders of the Water-Colour Society, and who with them
constitute the sixteen original members who contributed to
its earliest exhibitions. With them we have placed a few of
the masters who belong essentially to this period of the
Society.

Few among the iigure-painters of that day were more distin-
guished than Joshua Ckistall, the son of a Dundee skipper,
who was born at Camborne in Cornwall, in 1767. While he
was still a boy Cristall's parents removed to Blackheath, near
London, and he was sent to school at Greenwich. His early
inclinations, for art were opposed by his father who appren-
ticed him to a china-dealer, but this occupation was most
unbearable to him and he ran away from home and entered on

100 WATER-COLOUR PAINTING IN ENGLAND.

a life of great hardship. For a while he obtained employment
in the Potteries and worked as a china-painter at Turner's
factory near Brosely in Shropshire. Then he came to London
and studied art, being secretly assisted by his mother, though
he injured his health by a foolish attempt to subsist wholly
on potatoes. He had previously it seems lived for a twelve-
month on salt pork and rice, to carry out an agreement into
which he had entered with a Scotch comrade. In the schools
of the Academy and aided by Dr Monro he made rapid
progress and painted classic subjects with taste and refinement.
On his election as a foundation member of the Water-Colour
Society, Cristall speedily gained a good position and became
one of its most ardent supporters. He was on several occa-
sions chosen as the President, and during his long life was a
constant contributor to the exhibitions. Pyne, in his account
of the Rise and Progress of Water-Colour Painting, says
concerning this artist :— " We never recur to the works of
this classic genius, but we regret that he did not originally
direct his fine talent for composition to the profession of
sculpture, or to painting in oil. There was perceptible in his
early designs a largeness of parts and a greatness of execution
that called for more powerful space for the display of such
rare excellences than the limited scope of water-colours could
afford ; unless, indeed, he had been sufficiently adventurous to
have revived the art of body colours and attempted designs on
the magnificent scale of the celebrated cartoons " ; and later
he remarks — " Every amateur of judgment must recollect the
original and sterling taste which he has continued to display,
from year to year, in his single figures and compositions of
English rustics, which have contributed so largely to the
interest of the Exhibitions of the Painters in Water-Colours.

WILLIAM HAVELL. 1*>1

His fishermen, cottage groups, gleaners, and other pictures of

humble life, may be pronounced, allowing for their bold,
broad, and comparatively slight manner of execution, to rank
with the most original and masterly productions of the modern
school." His skill as a figure draughtsman was recognized
by Barret and Uobson, to whose landscapes he frequently
added appropriate groups. Cristall was most fortunate
in his marriage, and his house became the resort of many
artist friends. He also belonged to the Sketching Society,
which brought him into intimate relations with the foremost
painters of the day. About 1823 he retired, owing to failing
health, to a small cottage on the Wye, but on the loss of his
wife the place became distasteful to him and he returned
to London, where he spent the last few years of his life, dying
in October, 1847, in St. John's Wood ; he was buried by the
side of his wife at Goodrich. The figure subjects of Cristall
have a simple grace and elegance, and even his rustics and
fisher-folk have a certain polish and charm which refines
them without losing their character and individuality. Ht
was fond of adding height to his figures, which practice he
may perhaps have borrowed from classic artists whose best
models he diligently studied. He used pure and transparent
colours and cared but little for the new methods of treatment.
He was undoubtedly a great acquisition to the early Water-
Colour School, and his works even to the present time main-
tain their reputation.

William Havell, the third son of a drawing-master at
Reading, blessed with fourteen children, was born in 1782,
His father wished him to follow commercial pursuits, but
the boy took every opportunity in secret to study art and
made his way to Wales, whence he returned with some ex-

102 WATER-COLOUR TAINTING IN ENGLAND.

cellent sketches. He loved mountain scenery, and spent two
years in Westmoreland, where he produced many fine works.
He must have made rapid progress, for he first exhibited at
the Academy in 1804, and the same year was elected a member
of the Water-Colour Society. He was a successful painter,
and sent from ten to a dozen works annually to their gallery.
Havell worked at this period both in oil and water-colours.
In 1816 he was appointed draughtsman to Lord Amherst's
Mission to China, but owing to a quarrel with one of the
officers he threw up his post and went to India instead, where
he passed several years in fairly lucrative employment as a
portrait-painter, though he failed to realise, as he had hoped,
a fortune. He returned home in 1825, and again joined the
Water-Colour Society, but found that during his absence his
reputation had declined, and that his art was no longer appre-
ciated. Roget notes from the correspondence of one of his
friends that this was "owing to the free use of body-colour ! "

Havell then spent some time in Italy where he was the com-
panion of Uwins. He again lost his membership in the
Water-Colour Society, betook himself to oil-painting, and ex-
hibited for many years at the Royal Academy. His death
took place at Kensington in 1857. We have illustrated his
fine drawing of Windsor on the Thames, from the Historical
Collection at South Kensington, which is richly painted in
transparent colour. It is broadly and largely treated, as were
many of his early pictures, and he certainly deserves prominent
recognition among those who succeeded in lifting water-colour
painting out of the littleness of the topographic school.

James Holworthy, of whose early years we can trace but
little, was an occasional exhibitor at the Academy down to the
date of his election, after which he was a constant contributor

—
H

£ 5

o a

DO £

> PQ

STEPHEN FRANCIS ftlGAUD — JOHN' GLOYEB. 105

to the exhibitions of the Water-Colour Society, sending views
in "Wales and in the Lake districts. He married the niece of
Wright of Derby, in 1824, and shortly afterwards retired to
a country estate near Hathersedge. He died, however, in
London, in June, 1841.

Stephen Francis Rjgaud was probably a son of Rigaud
the Royal Academician, as we find him to have been a student
of the Academy, and an exhibitor in 1797. In 1801 he ob-
tained the gold medal of the Royal Academy for his historical
painting Clytemnestra Exulting over Agamemnon. He
painted chiefly religious and classical subjects, and after his
election to the Water-Colour Society, was a regular contri-
butor to their exhibitions, but seceded on the disruption of the
Society in 1812. We have been unable to ascertain the date
of his death, but from 1849-51, he was sending classic sub-
jects to the gallery of the Society of British Artists, and Mr.
Roget states that a letter from him desiring as " one of the
original founders of the society," to be again recognised a* a
member was read before the Water-Colour Society on August
3rd, 1849.

We have still to mention John Glover, who never wholly
freed himself from the methods of the earlier school. He
worked both in oil and water-colours, and though his style
was mechanical it seems to have gained him many admirers.
He was born in Leicestershire, February 18th, 1767, where his
parents were simple village folk. He must have made good
use of his schooling, for we find him in 1786 the master of
the Appleby Free School, and about 1794 he gave up teaching
and resolved to devote himself to art, which he had long
practised with fair success. He was a great lover of rural
scenery and he was a skilful painter of animals, Roget tells us
that he had a most extraordinary power of taming birds

106 WATER-COLOUR PAINTING IN ENGLAND.

which became so much attached to him that even when they
were given their liberty, and had flown away to their native
woods they would come back at his call, whenever he pleased.
It is pointed out in the Century of Painters that Glover's
methods in water-colour painting were founded on those of
Payne. He made extensive use of Payne's grey ; like him
he had a tricky style of execution, and he affected a mechani-
cal rendering of foliage by the employment of a split brush.
He resorted moreover to accidents of lighting caused by the
sun's rays in piercing through clouds or penetrating dense
foliage. "We have already shown that Glover's counsel led in
some measure to the breaking up of the "Water-Colour
Society in 1812. Shortly afterwards he almost abandoned
water-colours, betook himself to oil-painting, and acquired a
large practice as a teacher. He married early in life and
became the father of four boys and two girls. In person he
was stout and tall, but he was club footed. Notwithstanding
his lameness he was a good walker, capable of covering many
miles with ease, and a wonderful climber. Glover in 1823
took a prominent part in the foundation of the Society of
British Artists. He ultimately resolved to emigrate to
Western Australia, the new Swan River Colony, and he
arrived there in 1831. From thence he sent his sketches of
native scenery to the mother country, but they met with little
success and found no purchasers. He seems during the last
few years of his life as a colonist to have given up painting.
He died December 9, 1849.

Anne Frances Byrne, the first lady who joined the Water-
Colour Society, the ranks of which she entered as an " associate
exhibitor," was a daughter of William Byrne, the engraver.
She began life as a teacher, but after her election to full
membership, iii 1809, she devoted herself entirely to flower

WILLIAM PAYNE — PAUL 8ANDBY MUNX.

painting, in which branch of art she was most successful. In
order to permit of her membership it became necessary
to alter the rules of the Society, for flower paintings seem
to have originally been excluded from the exhibitions.
She was born in 1775, and died, January 2nd, 1837. Her
brother, Joh>j Byrne, in later life became an associate
exhibitor of the Water-Colour Society, and painted natural
scenery with truth and beauty. He died in 1 847.

Though he never attained to full membership of the Society
we must here mention William Payne Avho held an ap-
pointment at Plymouth, and having a taste for art seems to
have taught himself drawing and to have formed an inde-
pendent style. We hear of him at Plymouth as early as 1786,
when he sent a drawing to the Royal Academy, and from that
date onwards contributed from time to time to the London
Exhibitions. In 1809 he was elected an associate exhibitor of
the Water-Colour Society, but he seceded from it in 1812. He
was for many years resident in London, and his works found
many admirers and not a few imitators. He was a brilliant
colourist and was fond of rather vivid and startling effects of
sunshine and shadow. His services were in great demand as a
fashionable teacher, and in his later days he degenerated into
a slovenly, mannered style of execution. He must have been
a very rapid draughtsman as his works are very numerous.
He was the inventor of a well known, but treacherous,
purple-grey colour named after him "Payne's grey." His
death probably took place before 1820.

Paul Sandby Munn [born 1773, died 1815] was an associate
exhibitor of the first Water-Colour Society, and contributed
once to the exhibition when it was thrown open to outsiders.
He was a clever teacher, and painted landscapes and views in
Wales and the north of England. He scarcely belongs to the

108 WATER-COLOUR PAINTING IN ENGLAND.

more modern period of the art, as his works are not free
from the stained manner. He died in 1845 at Margate.

Thomas Heaphy, though of French descent, was born in
Cripplegate, in 1775. He was first apprenticed to a dyer, but
in consequence of his art ability he was passed on to an en-
graver named Meadows, and having married before his time
expired, he took to colouring prints and painting portraits to
maintain his young wife. His first picture to attract notice
was The Portland Fish Girl, exhibited in 1804, but his
Hastings Fish Market, at the exhibition of the Water-
Colour Society in 1809, raised him to the summit of success.
In 1807 he had been appointed portrait-painter to the Princess
of Wales, and the same year he was elected an associate ex-
hibitor of the Water-Colour Society. His subject pictures,
though cleverly painted, did not sell, and he reverted to por-
traiture, with which object he went to the Peninsula, having
been commissioned to paint several officers engaged in the
campaign. From this date Heaphy can no longer be regarded
as belonging to the Water-Colour School. After his return
from abroad he engaged in some building speculations in St.
John's Wood, and for a time seems to have given up painting,
but he did not abandon his profession, for in 1824 he took a
prominent part in the establishment of the Society of British
Artists, and he became its first president. He was also a
founder of the New Water-Colour Society. Heaphy died in
1835. Had he been less restless and unsettled, he might have
achieved a most enduring reputation ; his works are truthfully
painted in transparent colours, and tell their story with
directness and vigour.

John Smith belongs more truly to a period anterior to the
Water-Colour Society, and we have glanced at his career in an
earlier chapter. Nor, strictly speaking, can we regard Augustus

JOHN JAMES CHALON. 1"(J

Puorx as a water-colour painter, though he was, as we have
seen, elected a member of the Society shortly before its dis-
solution in 1812, after he had been for several years an
''associate exhibitor." He worked for all the best years
of his life as an architect under Nash, and made numerous
topographic drawings for Ackermann and others; he wrote
also many works on architecture, and contributed more than
any other author to the revival of Gothic architecture. Pugin
sketched boldly and expressively, and produced some charming
drawings, in which his knowledge of architectural details stood
him in good stead. Prior to 1820 he sent many of his works
to the old Water-Colour Gallery as an exhibitor, and in 1821,
when the Society was reconstituted, he was again elected a
member. He died in December, 1832.

John James Chalon, R.A., the son of the French Professor
at the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, was born at Geneva
in 1778. Though placed in a commercial house his love of art
proved too strong, and after studying at the schools of the
Academy he began life as an oil painter, having exhibited his
first picture in 1800. In 1806 he commenced to paint in
water-colours, in the same year he was elected a fellow ex-
hibitor, and in 1808 a full member of the Water-Colour
Society. He was among those who in 1812 seceded from the
Society, and for a time he again worked chiefly in oil, and
probably sought Academy honours. These, however, came
slowly, for though elected an associate in 1S27, he did not gain
full membership until 1841. During a career of fifty years
he painted but few pictures and much of his time was devoted
to teaching. Chalon was a man of versatile talents, a clever
draughtsman, and a most accomplished musician. He was
for many years the lite and soul of the Sketching Society.
and was equally distinguished lor his landscapes ami gcme

110 WATER-COLOUR PAINTING IN ENGLAND.

pictures. We have selected from the British Museum col-
lection a little sketch of Cattle in a Meadow which will
serve to illustrate his observant delineation of nature. He
does not shine as a colourist, and his water-colour drawings are
sombre and somewhat overwrought. John Chalon, who through-
out life resided with his brother Alfred, died after a stroke of
paralysis in 1854.

Though somewhat out of place, we may here glance briefly at
the life of Alfred Edward Chalon, R.A., younger brother
of the above, and like him destined for commercial pursuits.
These were thoroughly distasteful to him, and in 1797 he
became a student of the Academy. In 1808 he joined the
short-lived Society of Associated Artists, and about this time
practised portraiture in water-colours, in which branch of art
he greatly distinguished himself, and became, in fact, one of
the most fashionable painters of the day. He was appointed
painter in water-colours to the Queen. He excelled in his
small full-length portraits, mostly of ladies, which were charm-
ingly posed and most pleasant in colouring. His associateship
at the Royal Academy dated from 1812, and he gained his mem-
bership in 1816. He enjoyed an established reputation also
for his subject pictures in oil, and many of his works were en-
graved. In his later life he proposed to give the large
collection he had formed of works by himself and his brother
to the inhabitants of Hampstead, but they were unable to
accept the offer. He then offered his works to the Govern-
ment, but while the matter was under consideration, he died
suddenly, October 3rd, 1860, and by the direction of the heir-
at-law at Geneva, the collection was sold by auction.

William Delamotte was born in 1780, and, after studying
for a time at the Royal Academy, he became a pupil of Sir
Benjamin West, P.R.A. He however before long determined

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<3 N
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WILLIAM DELAMOTTE — ROBERT FREEBAIRN. 113

to devote himself to landscape art, and made a name for
himself towards the close of the century by his water-colour
drawings of Welsh scenery. In his earlier work he reminds
us of Girtin, but he subsequently outlined his landscapes with
the pen and tinted them in a characteristic style. He was,
like so many artists of that period, a clever etcher ; and he
published, in 1816, Thirty Etchings of Rural Scenery. He
resided for a time at Oxford, but in 1803 obtained the ap-
pointment of drawing master at the Military Academy at
Great Marlow. Pelamotte afterwards returned to Oxford,
and died there in 1863 at the age of 83. Many of his
sketches were sold by Sotheby in the following May. His
works were carefully and accurately drawn, and the perspec-
tive of his buildings was well understood, but though he
introduced cattle and animals with good effect, he does not
take high rank as an artist.

We have still to notice among the earliest of the fellow
exhibitors, Robert Freebairn, who was born in 1765, and
was the last pupil of Richard Wilson. On the death of his
master he visited Italy to pursue his studies, and remained
there for ten years. Returning to London in 1792 he painted
chiefly in oil and exhibited Italian subjects with but little in-
termission for many years at the Royal Academy. For two
years he contributed drawings to the newly-formed Water-
Colour Society, which were neatly and carefully finished and
brilliant in point of colour though not of great excellence. His
death took place in 1808, at the early age of 42. Roget tells
uf> that " it was in connection with this event that a rule was
made [by the Water-Colour Society] allowing the family of a
deceased member or associate to exhibit works prepared by
him for the gallery," but Freebairn' s widow did not take ad-
vantage of this provision.

CHAPTER VIII.

Ramsey Richard Reinagle — Frederick Nash — Tltomas Uicins,
R.A. — William Turner (of Oxford) — John Augustus
Atkinson — Edmund Dorr ell — Francis Stevens (of Exeter)
— John Thurston — William Scott — Charles Barber —
William Westall, A. R.A. — Peter de Wint.

We have still upon our list the names of a few of the artists
who became members of the Water-Colour Society during the
earlier period of its history, prior to its first disintegration,
and who thus belong more strictly to the middle period.
Among these we must mention Ramsey Richard Reinagle,
R.A., who after exhibiting with the Society in 1806, was in
1807 elected a member. At this period his works were chiefly
foreign views, most likely sketches brought back with him
from Italy, where many of his earlier years were passed. He
was the son of Philip Reinagle, R.A., and was born in 1775.
Reinagle painted both in oil and water-colour, and he also
worked in distemper on Robert Barker's panoramas. He
entered into partnership with one of Barker's sons in a rival
panorama speculation in the Strand. He was a frequent ex-
hibitor both at the Academy and at the exhibitions of the

FREDERICS WASH -THOMAS [TWINS, 11.")

Water-Colour Society, of which he became the president in
1808, but in L812 he was one of the seceders. He was elected
an associate of the Royal Academy in 1814, and gained his mem-
bership in 1823. His animal pictures have not the vigour and
truth of those painted by his father, and his name is chiefly
remembered in consequence of a curious scandal in connection
with a work lie sent to the Academy in 1848. It seems that
having purchased a landscape, he exhibited it in his own name,
ami the matter having been remarked upon an enquiry was
instituted. As the result of the investigation Reinagle
was compelled to resign his diploma, but he still continued
to exhibit, and in his old age he received an allowance
from the Academy. He died at Chelsea, November 17th,
1862.

Frederick Nash was born in Lambeth in 1782, and after
studying art under Malton, he worked as a draughtsman for
Sir R. Smirke. He exhibited for a while from 1800 onwards
at the Academy, and in 1811 he was elected a member of the
Water-Colour Society, at which time he wTas the draughtsman
of the Society of Antiquaries. He seceded from the Society
in 1812, but he occasionally sent drawings to their gallery,
and in 1824 he was re-elected a member. He excelled in the
pictorial treatment of architecture, with well introduced
figures and accessories. Being engaged on a work illustrating
the French palaces, many of his exhibited drawings were
views of Paris and Versailles. Subsequently Nash travelled
on the Rhine and in Switzerland, and his continental sub-
jects were greatly admired and produced high prices. He
died at Brighton, December 5th, 1856. Many of Nash's
topographical publications are standard works.

Thomas Uwins, R.A., born at Pentonville, February 24th,

I 2

116 WATER-COLOUR PAINTING IN ENGLAND.

1782, was apprenticed to an engraver, but relinquished his
articles in order to study at the Academy schools. He first
essayed portraiture and book illustration, and in 1808 became
an associate and in the following year a full member of the
Water-Colour Society. He painted chiefly rustic figure sub-
jects, and delighted in brilliant sunny groups. Owing to failing
health he went in 1814 to the south of France, where he re-
mained for several years, working mainly for the publishers.
He resigned his membership of the Society in 1818, and went
to live in Edinburgh, where he practised as a portrait-painter,
and drew likenesses in crayons. He afterwards spent seven
years in the south of Italy, and on his return exhibited many
successful works in oil, inspired by his recollections of that
country. He was elected an Academician in 1838, and in 1844
was appointed the librarian. A few years later we find him
installed as surveyor of crown pictures and keeper of the
National Gallery, but he resigned both appointments in 1855,
in consequence of ill health. His death took place at Staines,
whither he had retired to end his days, August 25th, 1857.

William Turner, generally known as " Turner of Oxford/'
to distinguish him from others of the same name, was born in
1789, and studied under John Varley. We first meet with him
as an exhibitor in 1808 at the Water-Colour Society, and in
1809 he became a member. Turner was also one of the original
members of the Sketching Society. The whole of his life was
passed in the vicinity of Oxford, and he painted many of his
principal drawings in its streets and suburbs. He was a
diligent and faithful observer of nature, and transferred
what was before him to his sketch-book with directness and
precision. His views painted later in life on the downs with
groups of sheep and cattle were among his best productions,

JOHN AUGUSTUS ATKINSON EDMUND DOBBELL. 117

but he delighted also in the mountain scenery of Wales and
Scot land. He was married but left no family. In the fifty-
five years during which he contributed to the exhibitions he
sent no less than 455 drawings, generally somewhat large in
Bize. After his death, in 1862, his drawings, which had met
with but few purchasers during his lifetime, were sold by
auction at Christie's in March 1863.

John Augustus Atkinson, though born in England, in 1775,
passed many of his earlier years in St. Petersburg, where he
attracted the attention of the Empress Catherine, and worked
under her patronage, and that of her son, the Emperor Paul.
He returned to England in 1801, and occupied himself in the
publication of several works illustrating Russian life and
character, with designs in mezzotint, drawn and etched by
himself. He is perhaps best known by these publications and
by other works illustrated in a similar way. Thus in 1807 he
produced A Picturesque Representation of the Costumes of Great
Britain, in 100 coloured plates. He joined the Water-Colour
Society as an associate exhibitor in 1808, and exhibited
with them from time to time until 1818. His best drawings
were battles and camp scenes, the outlines drawn in with the
pen ; he also painted cleverly in oil. He retired to Exeter,
of which city he is believed to have been a native, about
L829.

Edmund Doruell [born 1778, died 1857], was a native of
Warwick, where he was educated by an uncle for the medical
profession. His fondness of art, however, induced him to
follow tho bent of his genius, and he ultimately came to
London and enjoyed a fair amount of success as a landscape
painter. He was elected a member of the Water-Colour
Society in 1810, but seceded in 1812. Several examples of

118 WATER-COLOUR PAINTING IN ENGLAND.

his work were presented to the Historical Collection at South
Kensington by Miss Jane Dorrell.

Francis Stevens, sometimes known as " Stevens of Exeter,"
was born in 1781, and was a pupil of Munn. He became a
member of the Water-Colour Society in 1806, and with the
brothers Chalon he originated, in 1808, the well known Sketch-
ing Society. He subsequently joined the Norwich Society of
Artists, and resigned his membership of the Water-Colour
Society. For a few years afterwards he sent works in oil
and water-colour to the Academy from Exeter where he then
resided, but we can find no record of the date of his decease.

John Thurston [1774 — 1822], who was among the earliest
of the associate exhibitors of the Water-Colour Society, was
perhaps the foremost wood engraver of his time, and con-
tributed greatly to the advancement of his art. He has slight
claim to rank as a water-colour draughtsman, though he made
some clever studies in this medium which were generally
tinted in Indian ink. He was trained as a copper-plate
engraver under James Heath, and worked chiefly for the
Chiswick Press. Some of his best designs are those for
Whittingham's Shakespeare, published in 1814, Falconer's
Shipwreck, 1817, and Rural Sports, 1818.

William Scott was another associate exhibitor of the
Society who never attained full membership. He resided all
his life at Brighton, and painted the landscape scenery of the
South Downs. He continued occasionally to contribute to
the exhibitions in London till 1850. In 1812 he published
Etchings on Stone, to imitate drawings in black and white.

Charles Barber, also an associate exhibitor, enjoyed a
considerable provincial reputation, and was the president of
the Liverpool Institute of Arts. He occasionally contributed

WILLIAM WESTALL PETER DE WINT. 110

landscapes to the Water-Colour Society's (Jallery. He died at
Liverpool, January 1854. We hear of him as the friend and
fellow student of David Cox.

William Westall, A.R.A., who was the younger brother of
Richard Westall, the Academician, was born at Hertford in
1781. His life was one abounding with adventures, and he
spent many years in travelling. He sailed with Commander
Flinders in 1801, on his voyage of discovery to Australia, as
draughtsman to the expedition, and wTas shipwrecked on the
North coast. Here he was picked up by a passing ship sailing
to China, where he remained several months, and on his way
back to England he spent some time in India, in which
country he made many sketches and received much kindness.
After his return home he went to Madeira, where he was
nearly drowned, and also to the West Indies. In 1808, after
privately exhibiting his sketches and drawings in Brook Street,
he joined the Associated Artists in Water Colours, and in
1811 he became an associate exhibitor of the Water-
Colour Society, but though elected a member of that
body in 1812, he almost immediately resigned on being
chosen an associate of the Royal Academy in the same year.
Though his chief works were in water-colours he sometimes
painted in oil. His reputation rests mainly on his illustrated
publications which were very numerous, lie died at St. John's
Wood from the effects of an accident in 1850. Many of his
best drawings were in illustration of his travels and voyages ;
he was a skilful draughtsman and a good colourist, and he
finished his works most carefully.

Peter De Wint, as will be apparent from his name, was of
Dutch extraction. His family, originally from Amsterdam,
migrated to America, and the father of young De Wint came

120 WATER-COLOUR PAINTING IN ENGLAND.

from thence to this country, and settled at Stone in Stafford-
shire. Here our artist was born, January 21st, 1784, and was
at first destined for his father's profession, that of medicine.
For this, however, he had no taste, so he was permitted to
follow the bent of his inclinations, and was placed at the
age of eighteen under Raphael Smith, the engraver. There
he had Hilton for a fellow pupil, for whom he conceived a
most sincere friendship, which lasted throughout life. He
does not appear to have devoted much of his time to engraving,
but in company with Hilton he worked hard at his art, sketch-
ing in all his spare time and painting portraits for his master.
After studying for some years at the Academy schools he be-
came an associate exhibitor of the Water-Colour Society in
1810, and two years later attained membership. In 1810 he
married Harriet Hilton, the only sister of his friend, and
Hilton came to reside with the young couple. For seventeen
years they lived together in Percy Street, until the time of
Hilton's own marriage, in 1828, when he became the keeper of
the Royal Academy.

De Wint was widely known in his day as a fashionable
teacher, and his drawings were much sought after. His strong
love of English scenery prevented him from caring to go abroad,
and he rejected all inducements to try foreign landscape. He
visited Lincoln, the home of his wife's family, every summer,
and here some of his best works were produced. He loved to
paint in Derbyshire and Yorkshire/ and he made many studies
on the Trent. De Wint was fond of visiting the country seats
of his patrons, and there he painted many of his finest works
His skill as a water-colour draughtsman has caused him to be
little thought of as an oil painter, though he excelled also in
this medium.

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PETEB DE WI.NT. 123

His method in water-colours was very simple. He rarely
used more than ten pigments, which were as follows : —

Yellow Ochre.

Brown Pink.

Gamboge.

Burnt Sienna.

Vermilion.

Sepia.

Indian Red.

Prussian Blue.

Purple Lake.

Indigo.

The last two colours he employed in a special preparation
which has proved very unstable and has led to the serious injury
of some of his best works. He made a practice of painting on
ivory-tinted Creswick paper, the surface of which he kept very
wet. De Wint had a good connection among the publishers,
and he produced many works for book illustration; his drawings
lend themselves well for reproduction by means of engraving.

He was, we consider, one of the most original and talented
of the earlier members of the Society. He drew his inspi-
ration directly from nature, and he had a deep appre-
ciation of the charms of our native English scenery, which
he handled with rare skill. It has been well said of his
art that it was "neither realistic nor ideal." He had a wonder-
ful sense of beauty of line, and he represented a wide land-
scape with comparatively little labour, for he applied his washes
freely and boldly, seldom resorting to stippling, and, except in
his later works, he eschewed the use of body colour. His trees
are wrell massed, but he had no special touches for his foliage.
We admire him most in some of his slighter sketches, such
as those in the beautiful collection bequeathed by Mr. John
Henderson to the National Gallery, which though at times
somewhat dark, are sparkling in their high lights. Several fine
examples of his more elaborate compositions are contained among

124 WATER-COLOUR PAINTING IN ENGLAND.

the historical series at South Kensington. We may specially
mention The Cricketers, to our mind one of the noblest
water-colours of the English school. De Wint died of heart-
disease, June 30th, 1849. We have been enabled to reproduce
one of his smaller works at Kensington, the view of Torksey
Castle, a pleasing example of his art.

Before we enter upon our account of the period which im-
mediately followed the disintegration of the first Water-Colour
Society, we may pause for a moment to glance at the position
of the art about that time. The earlier stained manner had
become quite extinct — a race of painters had arisen who had
shaken off the formal mannerism of the successors of the
topographers, who studied composition as a distinct branch of
their art, and who rendered figure subjects and animals with
all the force and brilliancy of the oil painters. The artists of
that day trusted almost entirely to transparent colours, and
obtained their high lights from the white ground. The seduc-
tiveness of opaque pigments had as yet no hold upon the school,
and if we exclude certain tricky methods, to which we have
briefly alluded, such as Yarley's whitey-brown paper and
Nicholson's varnish, we may take it that the work as a whole
was a genuine rendering of water-colour art. Moreover, the
Society already included among its ranks many artists of
acknowledged genius, who had shaped out a path for themselves
in this new medium, and the great English school of water-
colour painters was by this time established upon a firm basis

CHAPTER IX.

Anthony Vandyke Copley Fielding — David Cox — John Linnell
— Frederick Mackenzie — James Holmes — Henry John
Fielder — Harriet Gouldsmith — Henry CmAllport.

We have seen that a variety of causes contributed to the
downfall of the first Water-Colour Society, not by any means
the least important of which was the waning popularity of
its exhibitions. The oil painters had for so long arrogated to
themselves the leading position that their brethren of the
brush, working in the new medium, felt unable for a time to
claim a distinct place for themselves, where their art should
stand to be judged on its own merits. It was this want of
confidence that, at Glover's suggestion, led to the insidious
introduction of oil pictures along with the water-colours, after
the downfall of the original Society. It is true that there was
an understanding that the works of the oil painters should be
kept distinct from those in water colours, but we find no trace
in the catalogue or in contemporary notices of the exhibitions
that this arrangement was adhered to. There is reason to
suppose that the contributions by the oil painters did not con-
stitute the most attractive section of the displays, during the
period from 1812 to 1821, and few men of note made a name

126 WATER-COLOUR PAINTING IN ENGLAND.

for themselves in this branch of art in the Spring Gardens
Gallery. At the time of the dissolution of the Society there
were among the associate exhibitors several artists destined
somewhat later to become famous as water-colour painters,
and one of these proved a tower of strength to the founders
of the new society. This was Anthony- Vandyke Copley
Fielding, who came of a family of painters, and who
would seem from his Christian names to have been intended
from his birth for the same career. He was born in 1787, and
studied under John Varley. Fielding was another of the
group encouraged by Dr. Monro. For some years previous
to his election as a member he exhibited with the Water-
Colour Society, and he also sent a few of his drawings to the
Academy. Many of his pictures were painted in oils, but his
reputation rests upon his water-colour drawings. He became
an associate of the first Water-Colour Society in 1810 and
was elected a member of the reconstituted body in 1812. He
served successively the posts of treasurer, secretary, deputy
president for Cristall, and in 1831 he was elected president
of the Society ; and this office he filled until his death.

Copley Fielding early in his career enjoyed considerable
success as a teacher ; and it is not unlikely that his art to
some extent suffered from this avocation, for he learned to
value hasty and dexterous execution, and placed more and
more reliance upon the manipulative processes which he was in
the constant habit of impressing upon his pupils. Among
these we include washing out, the use of bread, scraping the
surface with a knife, &c. Fielding pleases us most in his
marine views, which are very numerous, though his subjects
were somewhat hackneyed. We see over and over again the
same stretch of rolling sea flecked with sunshine, the boat

COPLEY FIELDING. 127

willi its tawny sail and the wind driven clouds, the latter, with
the passing effect of a squall, serving as the cold background
to the fishing boat. It is true there is a sense of movement in
the waves and a nice feeling for colour, but we are wearied
with constant repetitions, and the works seldom charm us with
any variation in treatment or with any indication of an attempt
to represent nature as he saw it. In his landscapes he was
fond of the undulating scenery of the downs, which he painted
in a grey, somewhat insipid, tone. He was well versed in
the art of composition which he had doubtless learned from
Varley, but in his efforts to improve nature, and in his search
after refinement and polish, he is too apt to degenerate
into tameness and to produce in his works an over-laboured
effect.

Copley Fielding, notwithstanding these shortcomings, exer-
cised a considerable influence on the rising school, and in his
numerous works set a fashion in art of which the traces
remain to the present day. Professor Ruskin, in his Modern
1'ainters, has repeatedly praised his work in no measured
terms and in one place he declares — " In his down scenes he
produced some of the most perfect and faultless passages of
mist and raincloud which art has ever seen. Wet, transparent,
formless, full of motion, felt rather by their shadows on the hills
than by their presence in the sky, becoming dark only through
increased depth of space, most translucent when most sombre,
and light only through increased buoyancy of motion, letting
the blue through their interstices, and the sunlight through
their chasms, with the irregular playfulness of Nature herself,
his skies will remain as long as their colours stand, among the
most simple, unadulterated and complete transcripts of a
particular nature which art can point to." Fielding was a

128 WATER-COLOUR PAINTING IN ENC4LAND.

most prolific painter, sending in 1819 forty-six frames with
seventy-one sketches, and in 1820 forty-three frames, contain-
ing fifty-six drawings, to the Water-Colour exhibition. He
resided for all the latter part of his life at Hove, near Brighton,
and died at Worthing on March 3, 1855. Some of his best
works have realized remarkable prices, and in the Quilter sale
in 1875 his drawing of the Mull of Galloway was sold for
£1,732 10s. The Historical Collection possesses several
of his finest works, notably the Vale of Irthing, and A
Ship in Distress. We have illustrated a small picture from
this Gallery, a View of Ben Lomond, showing us a glimpse
of the loch and the distant mountain, seen from a wooded
foreground. The lights on the figures appear to have been
scraped out with a knife ; this little drawing is signed and
dated 1850.

This would seem to be a fitting opportunity to treat of the
new members who came forward at the time of the reconstruc-
tion of the Society to strengthen the hands of Glover and his
friends. Chief among them we must place David Cox, the
son of a Birmingham blacksmith, born April 29, 1783. As a
child he was sickly and delicate, and having shown in boy-
hood a fondness for art he was apprenticed to a locket- painter,
in which work he became extremely expert. On the death of
his master he was engaged in a humble capacity among the
scene-painters of the Birmingham Theatre. For four years
young Cox remained with the company and painted for Mac-
ready, the stage-manager, a set of scenes for the Sheffield
Theatre, improving much in his art and roving about from
place to place as is the custom with strolling players. Cox
disliked this unsettled life, and he therefore came to London,
and found employment at Astley's Theatre. By a fortunate

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DAVID COX, 131

accident he made the acquaintance of John Varley who be-
friended him and invited him to his studio. In 1805 Cox paid
a visit to Wales, a country whose scenery he has subsequently
made us so familiar with, and on his return he exhibited his
sketches. In 1808 he married Mary Ragg, the daughter of
his landlady, who was some twelve years his senior, but who
proved an excellent and devoted wife. Shortly after his
marriage he removed to the outskirts of London and took a
small cottage on Dulwich Common. Here he painted and gave
lessons. We first find him as a contributor to the short-
lived exhibition in New Bond Street, and then in 1813 he
became a member of the reconstituted Water-Colour Society,
contributing in that year no less than seventeen drawings to
the Gallery.

In 1814 he was appointed to teach landscape drawing to
the senior officers at the Staff College, near Farnham, and in
order to discharge his duties he took up his residence at the
College, but he found the work irksome and very soon
resigned the post. Cox then became the teacher of a ladies'
school kept by Miss Croucher and he resided at Hereford
from 1815 to 1827, making, however, frequent visits to the
Metropolis, when he ultimately came to London and lived in
Kennington until 1841. About this period he was fully
engaged in teaching and could not devote so much time as he
wished to his art, so he resolved to quit London and to end his
days in the neighbourhood of his native town. He retired to
llarborne, a suburb of Birmingham, where he turned his
attention chiefly to painting in oil and produced many fine
works in this medium. Shortly after he came to Birmingham,
in 1845, his wife died and her loss was a great shock to him.

He was at this time painting much from Welsh scenery and

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132 WATER-COLOUR PAINTING IN ENGLAND.

paying annual visits to Bettws-y-Coed, a neighbourhood he
greatly admired. His son, also an artist, frequently came
to see him, and he drew round him at Harborne a circle of
friends and admirers of his art who appreciated his rare talents
long before the London amateurs had become aware of his
marvellous genius.

Cox was throughout life most single-minded and modest in
his tastes ; he was plain and homely in his exterior and was
known to the artists of that day as " Old Farmer Cox."
After his death on June 7, 1859, he was buried in Harborne
Churchyard. His friends subscribed for a memorial window to
be placed in the church wThich bears the following simple
inscription : "To the Glory of God and in Memory of David
Cox, Artist, this window was erected by a few friends,
a.d. 1874." Cox published in 1814 A Treatise on Landscape
Tainting in Water-Colours, and later in life he prepared a
series of one hundred drawings in sepia for the purpose of
illustrating his book, which intention was, however, aban-
doned. The drawings were acquired by Mr. Quilter, and
on his death were sold by auction.

Few who have handled water-colour drawings can have failed
to become impressed with a sense of the strong individuality of
the works of David Cox. He applied his colours with a full
brush, and disregarding all minute detail and finish, he aimed
at general effects. He often carries one tint into another
while wet, and takes out masses of light with his pocket-knife.
As the authors of the Century of Painters tell us — "No
painter has given us more truly the moist brilliancy of early
summer time, ere the sun has dried the spring bloom from the
lately- opened leaf. The sparkle and shimmer of foliage and
weedage in the fitful breeze that rolls away the clouds from the

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DAVID COX JOHN LINNELL. 135

watery sun, when the shower and the sunshine chase each
other over the land, have never been given with greater truth
than by David Cox."

He used at times a coarse straw paper, and on this he freely
employed body-colour and scratched away the surface for
high lights. It was in this manner that some of his largest
and most important drawings such as the Welsh Funeral
were produced. Respecting his choice of subjects, as we have
pointed out in a memoir of this artist, he saw pictures on all
sides, and could produce half-a-dozen sketches in a single field.
" How slight is the subject of many of his most charming
drawings ! A wide expanse of sky which we can almost fancy
in motion ; a grey undulating moorland whose colouring
would seem to be indicated by one sweep of a well-filled
pencil ; a few peasants according admirably in character with
the landscape, and the whole so perfect that we feel that
another touch would spoil it, and the least attempt to finish
would destroy all the charms of its effect."

Towards the close of his life Cox as we have stated painted
much in oil, though his works in this medium were rarely seen
in London. He still continued, however, to exhibit with
the Water-Colour Society. We have chosen to illustrate
this artist's work a small sketch from the British Museum,
Pont Aber, Wales. In the foreground is some rock work
covered with heath, round which winds a road ; the back-
ground has a glimpse of blue mountains. The handling is
extremely sketchy, and it is difficult to say for what the
figures are intended — a figure originally plated beside the
pony (I) has apparently been sponged out.

John Linnell, whose name is more famous for his works
in oil than as a water-colour painter, was one of those to join

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WATER-COLOUR PAINTING IN ENGLAND.

the reconstructed society. He was born in London in 1792.
He studied art under Varley, and his first drawings were
most probably in water-colours. During his early life he
worked chiefly as a portrait-painter. It is interesting to note
that when the final change excluding oil paintings from the
exhibitions of the Oil and Water-Colour Society was made and
Linnell resigned his membership, he withdrew his fourteenth
share of the surplus fund, on the ground, as stated by Koget,
" That the Society had altered their plans, so as to prevent
him from continuing with them whilst following oil painting,
his present branch of the art." After his severance from the
Society he worked but little in water-colours, and was mainly
employed for some years in copying at the National Gallery.
He acquired a handsome fortune by his profession, and settled
at Kedhill, Surrey, where he died at the age of eighty-nine in
1882.

Frederick Mackenzie, born 1787, was a pupil of Repton,
the architect, and excelled in his drawings of Gothic architec-
ture. He was one of the artists who took part in the recon-
struction of the Water-Colour Society in 1812, but having
given up his membership he was again elected an associate
exhibitor in 1822, a member in 1823, and became the
treasurer in 1831. He generally painted the interiors of
cathedrals and churches with a few well-introduced figures
subordinated to the architecture, and he published several
treatises on drawing and painting, among which we may
mention Etchings of Landscapes in 1812, and in conjunction
with Pngin Specimens of Gothic Architecture in 1825. He
was in constant employment for Ackermann's publications
and he assisted Britton in many of his works. He died in
1854. We have reproduced a sketch by this artist of Antwerp

ANTWERP CATHEDRAL. By Frederick Mackenzie
In the Print lloo.n, British Mtueum.

JAMES HOLMES HENRY JOHN BICHTER. 139

Cathedral, which is little more than a delicate pencil outline
slightly washed with sepia, but which serves to show the
facile touch with which he indicated the details of Gothic
architecture.

James Solmes, born in 1777, was apprenticed to an engraver
and subsequently adopted water-colour painting as his profes-
sion. He delineated rustic subjects with much skill and
humour and his works took the public fancy. His subject
pictures were of a popular and, Roget says, even of a vulgar
type, but he soon took to portrait painting, and as early as
1815 many of his contributions to the exhibitions of the
Water-Colour Society were miniatures, the beauty of which
speedily gained him fashionable sitters. Holmes was likewise
a clever musician and gained the patronage of George IV.,
who delighted in his singing and playing. He is best
known by his miniatures of the celebrities of his day. In the
latter part of his life he retired into Shropshire, where he died
February 24, 1860.

Henry John Riohter was of German extraction, and painted
figure subjects chiefly of a domestic character. He belonged
in the first instance, as we have seen, to the Associated
Artists, of which Society he was for a time the president.
His connection with the Water-Colour Society was of an
extremely uncertain nature ; he appears to have resigned his
membership, shortly after election in 1813 and to have become
a member again in 1821. In the interval lie remained an
occasional exhibitor. He, however, again resigned his
membership and in 1823 was an "associate exhibitor," in
1825 a member, and in 1828, having the year before again
resigned, he is an "associate." This was not the last change,
but we cannot record all the fluctuations in his position.
His pictures were very popular in their day and many of them

140 WATER-COLOUR PAINTING IN ENGLAND.

were engraved. One of his works, Christ giving Sight to the
Blind was purchased by the Directors of the British Institu-
tion for five hundred guineas. Richter was of a philosophic
temperament ; he published a work with a strange title, on the
philosophy of the Fine Arts in 1817, and at the time of his
death he was engaged in the translation of a work on
Metaphysics by Beck. He died in Marylebone in 1857,
aged eighty-five.

Harriet Gouldsmith, also a member of the Water-Colour
Society on its reconstruction, was a constant contributor of
landscapes until 1820. Her drawings were pleasing and well-
esteemed, she was likewise an expert etcher and she drew on
stone for Hullmandel. After her marriage with Captain
Arnold, about 1839, she continued to exhibit in her married
name. Mrs. Arnold's death took place at the age of 76
in 1863.

Henry C. Allport after exhibiting for some years with the
Water-Colour Society and at the Academy was, as already
stated, on the retirement of Glover, elected a member in 1818.
He painted landscape scenery with great delicacy and a high
degree of finish. Some of his later subjects were from places in
Italy. He ceased to exhibit in 1823, when according to
Dr. Percy he is reported to have gone into the wine trade.
Roget adds — " His surname was one to give colour to
the rumour."

A few of the names found in the catalogues of the Oil and
Water-Colour Exhibitions are those of artists who painted
solely in the former medium and who do not therefore enter the
scope of the present work. Some of them attained the rank
of Associates in the Society, but are lost sight of when the
original intention to exclude oil paintings was reverted to in
1821.

CHAPTER X.

Richard Parkes Bonington — Francois Huet-Villiers — Samuel
Owen — Francois Louis Thomas Francia — Andrew Robert-
son— William Wood — Walter Henry Watts — Thomas Barker
{of Bath) — John Laporte — James Green — Mary Green —
Andrew Wilson — William Walker — Thomas Rowlandson —
Henry Edridge — Luke Clennell — John Sell Cotman —
George Vincent.

We have hitherto dealt mainly with the careers of those
artists who threw in their lot with the Old Water-Colour
Society, and have thus left unnoticed several eminent luen who
practised the art about this date, but who either exhibited at
< he Academy or joined one of the rival societies to which we have
referred.

Foremost among this group we must place Richard Parkes
BoNINGTON, who was endowed with talents which his early
death prevented him from exercising to their best advantage.
He was born at Arnold, near Nottingham, October 25, 1801.
His father was the governor of the county gaol, but lost his
appointment and struggled to maintain his family by portrait-
painting. In consequence of failing fortunes the family fled
to Fiance and made their way to Taris. line young Boning-
ton studied in the Louvre, and becoming a pupil of the

142 WATER-COLOUR PAINTING IN ENGLAND.

Institute, drew in the atelier of Baron Gros. It is somewhat
difficult to account for the quality of his art from this French
training, but Mr. Monkhouse points out that it was doubtless
from Francia, who had studied water-colour painting in
England, and who associated with Girtin and Turner at Dr.
Monro's, that he gained his grand and impressive manner of
viewing Nature. About 1822 he went to Italy, and under the
influence of its sunny skies he produced some works which
attracted much notice. On his return to Paris his art was
greatly admired, and some pictures which he sent to London
received in this country the cordial recognition due to their
high merit. His works were now much esteemed in both
capitals, and he obtained many commissions. As early as
1822 he had exhibited at the Paris Salon and obtained a
premium from the Societe des Amis des Arts. While impru-
dently sketching in the sun in Paris he brought on an attack
of brain fever and subsequent severe illness, upon which rapid
consumption supervened. He came for advice and treatment
to London, but without avail, and died September 23, 1828.
His art was strikingly original, large and grand in manner
like that of David Roberts, but his colouring was more truth-
ful and his masses of light and shade were broad and simple.
It is well said of him in the Century of Painters, that in his
work he united the best features of the methods of execution
of the French and English schools. His works since his death
have increased amazingly in popular estimation. In 1870 one
of his pictures, Henry III. and the Ambassador, was sold in
Paris for £3,320, and at the Novar sale two of his pictures
fetched £3,500 a-piece. This sale took place at Christie's in
1878.

Francois Hcet-Villiers, the son of an animal painter,

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SAMUEL OWEN — FRANCOIS LOUTS THOMAS FRANCIA. 145

born in Paris, came to England at the outbreak of the French
revolution as a refugee and practised chiefly as a portrait-
painter. He was very successful in his miniatures, and was
perhaps one of the best known men belonging to the Asso-
ciated Artists in Water-Colours founded in 1808. He
made sonic drawings of Westminster Abbey, which were after-
wards published. He exhibited chiefly at the Royal Academy,
and was appointed miniature-painter to the Duchess of York.
Villiers died July 28, 1813, aged 41.

Samuel Owen, who was born in 1768, likewise became a
member of the Society of Associated Artists. He appears to
have confined himself to marine subjects, which he painted very
carefully and with a high degree of finish. His works possess
also much charm of colour ; the shipping is accurately drawn
and well introduced. His illustrations to Bernard Cooke's book
of The Thames, 83 in number, have great merit. We represent
his art by a study entitled Dutch Vessels and Boats, which
forms part of the Historical Collection at South Kensington.
There is a breezy motion about this little picture which lovers
of the sea will appreciate. The wind fills the sails and the
shipping rides well in a rough sea. Owen died at an advanced
age at Sunbury on Thames, December 8, 1857.

Another French painter of note, Francois Louis Thomas
Francia, settled in England and exhibited with the Associated
Artists. He was born at Calais in 1772 and came to London
while very young. We hear of him towards the close of the
century at the house of Dr. Monro. He sent a picture to the
Royal Academy as early as 1795, and contributed regularly to
the annual exhibitions until 1821. He returned to France
about 1816 and resided at Calais until his death which took
place in 1839. Francia did not confine himself to marine sub-

146 WATER-COLOUR PAINTING IN ENGLAND.

jects, though he excelled in this branch of art. He had a
great feeling for colour, and his drawings possess much power
and breadth of treatment, resembling in some respects the
works of Girtin. He is said to have made many drawings
for the Duchess of York, having been appointed " painter in
water-colours" to H.R. Highness. He published in 1810
Studies of Landscapes, imitated from the originals by
L. Francia, and four Marine Studies by him were published by
Messrs. Rodwell and Martin, of New Bond Street, in 1822.
He was in considerable repute as a drawing-master.

Andrew Robertson, the secretary of the Society of
Associated Artists, was the son of a cabinet-maker in Aberdeen,
and was born October 14, 1777. He was for two years a
pupil of Alexander Nasmyth, and took his M.A. degree at
Aberdeen University in 1794. In 1801 he came to London
and attracted the notice of West, who sat to him for his
portrait. After studying in the schools of the Royal Academy
he made great progress as a portrait-painter and gained many
distinguished sitters. His miniatures, which were his best
works, were well finished but were somewhat too powerful in
colour. Robertson was an accomplished musician, and was
throughout life actively engaged in the management of several
charitable institutions with which he was connected. He died
at Hampstead, December 6, 1845.

William Wood, likewise a miniature-painter, took a promin-
ent part in the establishment of the Society of Associated Artists
in Water-Colours and became its first president. His works
were greatly appreciated for their pleasant colouring and fidelity
of drawing. He is credited with many improvements in the
stability of the pigments used for painting on ivory, and he
was distinguished as a landscape gardener. Wood published

WATTS BARKER LAPORTE — GREEN. 117

in 1808 Aii Essay on National and Sepulchral Monuments, if"
died at his house in Golden Square, November 15, 1809, at the

early age of 41.

Walter Henry Watts, a third miniature painter, is found
in the ranks of the Associated Artists in 1808, and he after-
wards contributed frequently to the Royal Academy until
1830. We have no record of the date of his death.

Thomas Barker (known as Barker of Bath) was born in
1769 near Pontypool, Monmouthshire, and was the son of an
artist who excelled in his drawings of animals. He showed
in early years a considerable talent for art, and was enabled
by a friend to visit Italy. He contributed on his return many
rustic subjects to the London galleries, and some of his groups
were reproduced on china and textile fabrics and became very
popular. One of his pictures, The Woodman, was sold for five
hundred guineas. All his principal works appear to have been
painted in oil. He also published some of his sketches as
Rustic Figures after Nature, and he drew on the stone a
series of lithographic illustrations. He died at Bath, De-
ri niber 11, 1847.

John Laporte, who was one of the masters at the Military
Academy at Addiscombe, contributed many landscapes in
water-colours to the Academy exhibitions, and was a member
of the Society of Associated Artists. He died in London in
his 78th year, July 8, 1839. He published in 1799 Characters
of Trees, probably for teaching purposes, and Progressive
Lessons sketched from Nature. He had a large and fashionable
connection as a teacher.

James Green, as also his wife, Mrs. Mary Green, belonged to

the Society of Associated Artist.: in Water Colours. He was
the son of a builder at Leytonstone, and was born in 1771,

l a

148 WATER-COLOUR PAINTING IN ENGLAND.

his wife; the daughter of the well-known engraver, W. Byrne,
was borne in 1776. Green was early distinguished for his
water-colour portraits, but he subsequently painted chiefly in
oil, and exhibited at the Royal Academy. He died at Bath in
1834. Mrs. Green was eminent as a miniature painter ; she
was a pupil of Arlaud, and also was a frequent exhibitor at
the Academy. She died in 1845.

Andrew Wilson, born in Edinburgh in 1780, was a pupil
of Alexander Nasmyth. He subsequently proceeded to Italy
where he was employed to collect works by the old masters.
He remained for some years at Genoa, and on his return to
London in 1806 he took up water-colour painting, and ex-
hibited with the Associated Artists of which he was a member.
He afterwards became a master at the Royal Military College
at Sandhurst, but he resigned in 1818 and returned to Edin-
burgh. His inclinations, however, led him to pay frequent
visits to Italy, during which he painted many fine pictures
which were agreeably composed and highly finished in trans-
parent colours. He died after a paralytic stroke in 1848.

William Walker, born July 8, 1780, at Hackney, was a
pupil of Robert Smirke, and in 1813 he was sent to Greece to
make drawings of its architecture and antiquities. Some of
these were published on his return. He joined the Associated
Artists, but subsequently became an associate exhibitor of
the Water-Colour Society, and remained in this rank until
1846. His works were generally marine subjects, many of
them taken from the shores of the Mediterranean. Towards
the close of his career he painted in oil, and sent pictures to the
Royal Academy. He died at Sawbridgeworth, September 2,
1868.

It is scarcely possible to trace the lives of the less well-known

PORTRAIT OF GEORGE MORLAND. By Thomas Rowlasdson.

In the Print Room, British Museum.

THOMAS ROWLANDSON. 1 •"> 1

painters of this period, and the more enumeration of their names
would be wearisome. Some of them, who at first stood
aloof from the Water-Colour Society, were willing to participate
in i' sswhen it became securely established at Pall Mall,

and not a few of them continued to send their works to the
I loyal Academy.

Somewhat of a free lance among the artists but a notable
figure in his day was Thomas Rowlandson, the caricaturist,
who was the son of a London tradesman, and was born in 1756.
Ii<> studied drawing in the schools of the Royal Academy and
subsequently in Paris, and drew the figure with knowledge and
freedom. In consequence of the failure of his father's business
he wTas compelled to maintain himself at an early age, and but
for the assistance of an aunt he would have been reduced to
great straits, for lie was careless and dissipated. On the death
of this aunt, lie inherited a considerable fortune, which he
Mjiiandered in a few years on the gaming table and had again
to take up art for his support. He now turned his attention
to caricature in which he had excelled in his school days, and
for many years worked incessantly for Ackermann and other
publishers. He drew with great rapidity in a stylo replete
with humour but not free from vulgarity and coarseness. It
suited in every respect the tastes of the day, and his works
are an accurate reflex of the tone of society at the close of the
last century, Rowlandson was formed for better things and
could when he was so minded draw with much grace and refine-
ment. Some of his early portraits are excellent. We have
chosen a slight sketch of Georye Mori and which will show the
freedom of his touch and recall tho features of another unfortu-
nate but talented artist. Uowlandson died in the Adelphi,
April 22, 1827.

152 WATER-COLOUR PAINTING IN ENGLAND.

The school of caricaturists at the close of the last century
had a busy time of it to supply the popular demand for their
wares, and in those days, before the advent of the comic and
other illustrated papers, there seems to have been an unlimited
sale for the rudely-coloured broadsheets with etched outlines,
designed by Bunbury, Rowlandson, and their contemporaries.
Many of the productions were of a very coarse and obscene
character, though the best known men did not generally lend
themselves to this class of work. The art of caricature, even
at its most debased period, had some considerable share in
directing public opinion to the fine arts.

This seems a fitting place to introduce a notice of Henry
Edridge, A.R.A., who was greatly distinguished as a minia-
ture-painter, but obtained Academy honours late in life chiefly
in consequence of his clever landscapes. He was born in 1768,
and was the son of a tradesman in Westminster, who dying left
his family in struggling circumstances. At the age of fourteen,
Edridge was articled to Pether, the engraver, and he subse-
quently studied in the schools of the Royal Academy. After
gaining the silver medal in 1786 he gave up engraving and
established himself as a portrait-painter, working at first chiefly
in black-lead pencil or Indian ink, but ultimately finishing the
face in water-colours. He had a great fondness for landscape
painting, which he appears to have practised rather for his
diversion and during absences from home. In the Somerset
House Gazette he is said to have "occasionally relaxed from
his ostensible graphic labours in the more amusing pursuits of
landscape." In the course of some visits to France in 1817
and 1819 he made many picturesque sketches which when
exhibited at the Academy in 1820 were much noticed and
gained him the associateship. Some of these landscapes were

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LUKE CLENNELL 155

highly praised by contemporary writers, though such of his
works as we have seen are somewhat slight and sketchy in
style. Edridge died soon after his election on April 23, 1821,
chiefly owing to the shock produced by the loss of his two
children. He was buried by his friend, Dr. Monro, at Bushey.
( hir illustration of Singer's Farm, near Bushey, which is dated
1811, is a charming specimen of his simple and natural treat-
ment of rustic subjects. This drawing forms part of the
British Museum collection.

Luke Clennell, the son of a farmer near Morpeth, was
born at Ulgham, April 8, 1781. He was at first appren-
ticed to a grocer, but his friends yielding to his love of art,
allowed him to become a pupil of Bewick, after having been
for a short time in the interval with a tanner. He made
rapid progress in wood-engraving, learned to draw correctly
on the wood and was occupied with the designs of his fellow-
pupil Johnson. In 1804 he came to London and found full
employment and carried off the gold medal of the Society of
Arts for his engraving of the Diploma of the Highland Society
from the designs of West. Having gained the highest honours
in his art, he determined about this time to abandon it for
water-colour painting, in which he had already attained con-
siderable proficiency. He sent several works to the Water-
Colour Exhibition, and in 1814 was commissioned by the Earl
of Bridgewater to paint a large picture in commemoration of
the dinner to the Allied Sovereigns at the Guildhall. It is
thought that owing to the worry and anxiety caused in col-
lecting the portraits for the work, he lost his reason. He
spent several years in an asylum and lapsed ultimately into
harmless imbecility. The latter years of his life were passed
among his friends in Newcastle, where he died Feb. 9,1840.

156 WATER-COLOUR PAINTING IN ENGLAND.

He had much talent as a landscape-painter, and excelled in the
depiction of rustic scenes which are true to nature and
pleasant in colouring. We here reproduce a little sketch by
him entitled Newcastle Ferry, from the Print Room of the
British Museum, probably one of his early works.

In the account of the lives of the artists of this period we
constantly find how the best men gravitated to London ; but
there arose in several provincial towns about this time art
societies, some of which attained to considerable importance.
Among these local schools we must assign a prominent place to
that of Norwich, which under Crome and his pupils deserves a
high rank in the history of English art. Crome was a painter
whose merit was scarcely understood during his lifetime, and
his reputation has increased rather than diminished by efflux
of time.

John Sell Cotman was a most distinguished member of
the Norwich school, who belongs undoubtedly to the ranks of
the water-colour painters though he was a skilful etcher and
produced many fine pictures in oil. He was the son of a linen-
draper at Norwich, and was born June 11, 1782. He was
originally intended for his father's business, but his inclina-
tions for art proved too strong for him and he came to London
to study, and soon joined the group to which wre have so often
alluded who met at the house of Dr. Monro. In his early
days in London he seems to have worked now and then for
Britton, and in 1800 he received the Honorary Palette from
the Society of Arts for a drawing. He returned to Norwich
in 1806 and in 1807 became the Secretary of the Norwich
Society of Artists founded by Crome. In 1809 he married the
daughter of a farmer at Felbrigge near Cromer, and in 1811,
while still living at Norwich, he became the President of the

JOHN SELL COTM \N. L59

local Society. He was then much engaged on topographical

work, and he instituted a sort of circulating library of
drawings for the use of his pupils, on a payment of one guinea
per quarter as a subscription. This idea seems not unworthy
of revival at the present day. He began life as a portrait-
painter, but from and after 1811 he seems to have beer
principally engaged upon the etchings for his numerous pub-
lications. He joined the Associated Artists in 1810, but only
exhibited with them on one occasion. In 1812 he removed to
Southtown, a suburb of Yarmouth, at the instance of Mr.
Dawson Turner, the antiquary. From this period onwards,
bhough he was much in request as a teacher, he produced his
famous Norfolk etchings entitled, /Specimens of the Architectural
Antiquities of Norfolk and his Engravings of the Sepulchral
Brasses of Norfolk and Suffolk. In 1817 he visited France,
and the outcome of this and subsequent journeys was The
Architectural Antiquities of Normandy, published in 1822.
In 1825 he was elected an associate exhibitor of the Water-
Colour Society, and became a constant contributor to their
exhibitions, still residing in Norfolk. On his appointment
as drawing-master to King's College School, in 1834, he
came to London, where he remained until his death, which
occurred in 1842. He was skilful in his treatment of his sub
jects, many of which were taken from the barges and shipping
of the Norfolk rivers and the fishing boats of Yarmouth
where he spent so much of his early lite, and his landscape
compositions were admirably arranged. Mis prevailing colour
is apt to be hot, and he was careless about the completion of
his sketches. He frequently outlined the details with a reed
pen, and was particularly happy in the choice of his figures
and in the architectural features of his drawings. A sketch

160 WATER-COLOUR PAINTING IN ENGLAND.

in the Historical Collection at South Kensington, The Wind-
mill, will give an excellent idea of the tones of colouring he
affected and of the broad and massive rendering adopted in
his best works.

George Vincent was the son of a weaver and was born at
Norwich, June 27, 1796. He studied under " Old Cronie," and
was a frequent contributor to the Norwich Exhibitions. He
came to London about 1818, where he experienced many diffi-
culties and vicissitudes, and though at first working chiefly in
water-colours and exhibiting for some years with the old
Water-Colour Society, he ultimately painted chiefly in oil. The
date of his death is uncertain, but it probably took place
about 1831. He has been claimed as the last member of
the "Norwich School."

THE WINDMILL. By John Sell OOTMAN.

In the South Kensington Museum. y\

CHAPTER XI.

George Fennell Robson — James Stephanoff — Francis Philip
Stephanoff — Samuel Prout — Opening of the Gallery in
Pall Mall East — William Henry Hunt.

During the interval that elapsed between the reconstruction
of the Water-Colour Society and its establishment in Pall
Mall, the beginning of what we have termed the later period
of water-colour painting, the ranks of its members were re-
inforced by several artists of well-deserved reputation, and
taking these in the order of their election we may now treat
of the life and activity of George Fennell Robson, the
eldest of a family of twenty-five children, who was born
at Durham, October 4, 1788. Even in his school days
he evinced a great fondness for art, and at sixteen he
tame to London and earned his living as an artist. In
1808 the profits obtained by him on his drawing entitled
A View of Durham, which he published, furnished the requisite
funds for a journey to Scotland, where lie spent many weeks in
persevering study. His Scotch sketches were, some of them,
published by him under the title of Outlines of the Grampian!.
He exhibited from 1807 onwardfl at tho Academy, and after
contributing to the Water-Colour Exhibition as an outsider in

M 2

164 WATER-COLOUR PAINTING IN ENGLAND.

1813 he was elected a member in the following year. Through-
out his life he remained one of the most active supporters of
the Society, of which he was the president in 1820.

It was owing to the action of Robson that the rooms in
Pall Mall were secured for the exhibitions, and he was one of
the most energetic of the members, sending no less than 653
drawings during the nineteen years following his election.
For some time he lived in the same house with Hills and the
two friends painted many of their works in concert. During
a trip on a fishing smack to the north of England, in 1833, he
was taken violently ill, landed at Stockton-upon-Tees, and
died a few days afterwards at his house in Golden Square,
aged only 45. He himself believed that his death was due
to poison. The art of Robson was founded on a sincere
admiration of the beauties of our native scenery, of which
he was an apt and truthful interpreter. He excelled in his
delineations of mountain landscapes, and caught in a manner
peculiar to himself the richness and glow of luminous mists
and sunshine. He was a fine colourist, and dying at the
time he did was a distinct loss to the English school. He
was at one time commissioned by Mrs. Haldimand to form a
representative collection of water-colour drawings for an album.
He got together for this purpose one hundred works which
were exhibited in the Gallery, and sold after that lady's death
for £1,500 by Messrs. Christie. We represent his work by a
drawing of Durham Cathedral, the property of Mrs. R.
Redgrave. A landscape entitled Durham — Evening realized
£282 10s. in the Allnut sale in 1886.

James Stephanoff, who had for some years contributed to the
exhibition, became a member of the Society in 1819. He was
the son of a Russian painter, who settled in London about 1788>

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the date of the birth of his son, but shortly afterwards com-
mitted suicide. Young Stephanoff, who was one of two artist
brothers, between whom it is not always easy to distinguish,
began at an early age to practise art, and from 1810 to 1845
frequently exhibited at the Royal Academy. He painted both
in oil and water-colours and made several of the drawings, as
already stated, for Pyne's work on the Royal Palaces. There
is a large collection of his drawings at South Kensington,
representing the Coronation of George IV. He was appointed
Historical Painter in Ordinary to H.M. King William IV.
He had a good feeling for colour and a facile touch. His works
though popular were not of a high class. They were, how-
ever, admirably adapted for coloured illustrations, and in this
branch of art he excelled. He produced a series of historical
drawings, The Field of the Cloth of Gold, perhaps his most
ambitious work. After 1860, owing to increasing infirmity,
Stephanoff ceased to exhibit, and his death took place at
Bristol, in 1874, at the age of 86. His brother, Francis
Philip Stephanoff, died at West Hanham, in Gloucestershire,
May 15, 1860.

Next in order of election was Samuel Prout, who was born
at Plymouth, September 17, 1783. Early in life he was
smitten with a sunstroke, from the effects of which he never
wholly recovered. He was encouraged in his art proclivities
by Dr. Bidlake, the master of the Plymouth Grammar School,
where he was educated, and had as a fellowT pupil the ill-
fated B. R. Hay don. In 1801, when he had already gained
some insight into drawing, he made the acquaintance of
Britton and accompanied him into Cornwall. His first
attempts at sketching were very discouraging ; but on his
return he sent Mr. Britton some drawings which showed such
a marked improvement that he received an invitation to

1(58 WATER-COLOUR PAINTING IN ENGLAND.

London to reside with Britton, and to help him in his work.
Here he remained for about two years, but in 1805 he returned
to Plymouth in consequence of ill-health. For some years he
painted the scenery of his native county, and in 1810 he ex-
hibited with the Associated Artists, and subsequently at the
Royal Academy. In 1811 we find him back in London, where
he resided at Stockwell, and remained there for a long period.
He became an exhibitor in 1815 with the Water-Colo ur
Society, and in 1820 was elected a member. About this time
he was much employed as a teacher, and published some of
his studies. He also put his theories upon paper, and issued
several small treatises on landscape painting. Rudiments of
Landscape, in 1813, A New Dravnng Booh, in 1819, and Easy
Lessons in Landscape Drawing, in 1820, all of these publica-
tions being in the nature of copies for students. Some of the
illustrations were soft ground etchings executed by himself.
His first works were mostly produced with a view to aid him
in his teaching as he had a large and fashionable connec-
tion. His earliest visit to the Continent took place in
1819, and he found his chief success in sketching the pic-
turesque houses and market-places of Normandy and the
north of France. His work with Britton had given him a
taste for architectural studies, but though he realized the
grandeur and magnificence of the Gothic cathedrals on the
Continent he did not pay sufficient attention to accuracy in his
details. Some of his critics have objected to the warm shadows
he affected, which were obtained by tinting over brown. This
practice proved in many of his drawings a real defect, render-
ing them foxy and untrue to nature, for the artist must
rely on his shadows for the cool grey tints in his work. Prout's
sketches are chiefly remarkable for the groups of peasants
and countrywomen in their bright costumes, and for the

SAMUEL TROUT. 169

boldly-drawn architectural features, frequently put in with a
broad-pointed pen. Roget points out that Edridge shares
with Prout the merit of having brought into prominence the
picturesque aspects of foreign buildings, but Edridge did not
visit France until quite the end of his career, and he made his
fame, as we have seen, as a miniature painter. Later in life
Prout extended his tours to Germany and Italy, and published
many of his sketches in lithography. For a while the art
of Prout was in great request in the schools of this country
for copies, and his free and graceful studies of continental
buildings doubtless fostered the love of our countrymen for
foreign travel. In early life he painted marine subjects with
considerable power, and though his success in depicting the
scenery he observed abroad turned his thoughts into another
channel, he from time to time produced some fine sea pictures.
He was highly esteemed both as artist and teacher in his day,
and his works will not fail to charm future generations by
their originality and the freedom of their execution. Towards
the close of his career, Prout' s health failed, and he had for a
time to reside at Hastings. However, in 1845, he was back
again in London painting small works, rather, we fear, as
pot-boilers, for his charge to dealers varied from five to ten
guineas. Poor Prout, after long years of suffering, died of
apoplexy in February, 1852, at the age of 68. His drawings
were sold at Sotheby it Wilkinson's later in the same year, and
realized £1,788. One of his best works, the Nurembuvj, was
sold in 1868 for £1,002 15s. Roget tells us that Prout " had
a regular mechanical system in preparing his drawings, laying
them in in sepia or brown and grey, the outlines gone over
with a pen, in which a warm brown colour was used. His
system was evidently founded on the practice of the early
water-colour painters, only substituting brown for the Indian

170 WATER-COLOUR PAINTING IN ENGLAND.

ink used by the early draughtsmen in the foregrounds of their
drawings. His brown and grey he kept in bottles in a liquid
state." We are enabled to represent him by a most charac-
teristic drawing from the Historical Collection at South Ken-
sington, the Porch of Ratisbon Cathedral, the gift of Mrs.
Ellison — a grand example of Gothic architecture filled with
devotional figures, while in the market-place beyond we catch
a glimpse of the busy life of a German city, drawn in his
happiest style. The pen has been freely used in the outlines,
and the colouring is rich and effective.

We have now followed the fortunes of the Water-Colour
Society, and chronicled the accessions to its ranks down to the
time of the removal to Pall Mall. Shortly before this period
the gallery was closed to all works not painted in water-
colours, and the members withdrew the privilege hitherto
conceded to outsiders of exhibiting with the Society. The
wisdom of this change soon became apparent ; their exhibition
gained in popularity, and several of their earlier members
returned to them, notably Hills, De Wint, and Ha veil. Yery
shortly after they took possession of their new gallery,
which ushers in what we have termed the later period
of water-colour painting, they acquired in the person of
William Henry Hunt a strong addition to their ranks. Hunt
was born in Old Belton Street, now Endell Street, Long Acre,
in 1790. His father was a tinplate worker, and he is said to
have been strongly averse to the boy's desire to study art, but
he ultimately gave way and bound his son in apprenticeship to
John Yarley. Mixing with the rising artists in Varley's house,
and availing himself of the hospitality of Dr. Monro, Hunt
made rapid progress, and at seventeen years of age became
an exhibitor at the Academy. While staying with Dr. Monro
near Bushey, he became known to the Earl of Essex and was

THE PORCH, RATISBON CATHEDRAL. By Samuel Pbout.

Ii> the South Kensington Museum.

W. H. HUNT. 173

invited by hi m to paint at Cashiobury Park. At this date
young Hunt was working chiefly in oil, and though as early as
1814 he was an exhibitor at the gallery of the "Water-Colour
Society, it is most likely that the pictures then contributed by
him were in oil. We learn from Eoget that when Hunt first
became a candidate for election into the Old Water-Colour
Society in 1823 he was rejected, and that it was due to the per-
suasion of Robson that he was induced to try a second time,
when he was successful. From the date of his election in 1824
until his death he was a constant exhibitor, sending as one of
his latest drawings his own portrait. In his earlier years he
contributed landscape subjects only, but it was as a painter of
rustic figures that he first became known among his brethren
of the Water -Colour Society. He affected studies of poachers,
gardeners, and gamekeepers, and later— drawings of game,
flowers, and fruit. Some of the most successful of the works of
his earlier period were candle-light effects. He was very fond
of the seaside and of subjects suggested there, and for thirty
years in succession he is said to have visited Hastings.
Roget describes his maturer works as those in which the
" humorous element became conspicuous," his school-boy
studies, &c. Towards the close of his career he was
incessantly engaged upon smaller and more minute drawings
of flowers, fruit, and birds. For many years he resided at
Hastings, but he died in London of a fit of apoplexy in 1864.

The works of Hunt illustrate a remarkable change in the
practice of water-colour painting— the return to the use of
body colour and opaque pigments. We have seen that some
of the most eminent painters of the early part of the century
eschewed the use of white, and obtained all their effects by
means of transparent colour, making the white ground when
required serve for the high lights. Hunt began to paint when

174 WATER-COLOUR PAINTTNP. IN ENGLAND.

the use of transparent colours was still in full force, but he
soon found the facilities in execution afforded by semi-opaque
pigments, and in later life he relied upon them more and more
for certain classes of effects, notably the bloom on his fruit
and the bright touches in his flower subjects. He combined
the tints of transparent and opaque colour with great delicacy
and skill, and he often made use of the knife with consummate
ability. His best works are wonderful examples of technical
executive power, and it has been observed of him in the Century
of Painters, that "even his objects of still life were raised almost
to the dignity of fine art by the taste with which he rendered
them." He drew the figure with much success, and his rustic
groups were humorous and well chosen. We represent his art
by a work in the Historical Collection at South Kensington,
The Monk, which serves as our frontispiece, a finely modelled
head in which body colour is freely used, though the grey hairs
have been largely produced by the point of the penknife.

We have here regarded Hunt as the exponent of the changed
methods of painting which have sprung up among the artists
of the modern school, and few will deny that the influence of
his example was of paramount importance in this respect.
White was doubtless at first used, as De Wint used it, for
touches of high light, but when the artist was placed in pos-
sion of a white pigment upon which he could rely, and which
would mix well with his other colours, he used it in his
skies, in his distances to give the sense of mist and air tint,
in his figures and cattle, when added subsequently as these
accessories so often are, and wherever he required sharp and
well-defined forms in his work. As we shall see subsequently
the process of working in opaque colours in the hands of certain
artists of recent times led to the use of coloured paper and
to the almost total suppression of transparent colours.

CHAPTER XII.

The New Society of Painters in Water-Colours — The Dudley
Gallery — William Andrews Nesjield — Henry Gastineau —
Francis Oliver Finch — John Masey Wright — John
Whichelo — Penry Williams — Alexander Chisholm — Richard
Hamilton Essex — John Britton, F.S.A. — Charles Wild —
James Sargant Storer — Henry Shaw, F.S.A. — David
Roberts, R.A.

The rise and progress of the new school, the success of many
of the leading water-colour painters as teachers, and the great
stimulus that was given about this time to art work generally,
speedily led to the demand for increased facilities for exhibition.
For many years the Old Water-Colour Society, as we shall in
future term the original body, had admitted outsiders to their
gallery, and this privilege was conferred annually on some fifty
or sixty artists. After 1821 they restricted their exhibition,
as we have already mentioned, to the works of their own
members. The available space at the Royal Academy for
water-colour drawings still remained a very limited one, and
as the artists outside the ranks of the society grew in numbers
and gained in influence, a time arrived when the provision
of another gallery seemed to have become a matter of impera-

176 WATER-COLOUR PAINTING IN ENGLAND.

tive necessity. A meeting of artists was convened and steps
were taken to form a new society, " not necessarily," as we
are told, "in rivalry and opposition to the existing body, but
in the interests of their own art, as essential to the sale of
their pictures, and indeed in self defence."

The outcome of this movement was the establishment
of the New Society of Water-Colour Painters, which was
founded in 1831, and held its first exhibition in Exeter
Hall, Strand, in the following year. The chief difficulty en-
countered in launching this new scheme seems to have been
the financial one. This was temporarily met by levying a
contribution from each member, and the amount thus provided,
aided by some donations and annual subscriptions, proved
sufficient for the very modest requirements of the undertaking.
It was also found possible to raise by the same means a small
prize fund, and this proved a valuable incentive in attracting
works to their gallery.

In 1833, in order probably to avoid any appearance of
clashing with the original society, the title of the younger
body was altered to " The Associated Painters in Water-
Col ours." In the first instance the gallery was freely opened
to outsiders, subject to the verdict of a committee of selection.
But this plan had its drawbacks, for the non-members, while
they enjoyed all the advantages of the exhibition, took no
share in the pecuniary liabilities, and as early as 1834 the
expenditure exceeded the receipts. In the following year
therefore the society determined to receive only the works of
its own members with the addition of four outsiders, whom
they elected as "Exhibitors." A move was made in 1838 to
No. 38 Pall Mall, and here in time the society became firmly
established and erected for itself the excellent gallery which

THE NEW WATKll-COLOUR SOCIETY. 177

it occupied until 1883, when the amalgamation with the
Dudley Gallery took place.

The number of members, which on the reconstruction of the
society in 1835 was fixed at twenty-eight, was gradually
increased until in 1846 they reached fifty, and ten years later
the number was fifty eight. At first the new society had an
uphill fight and incurred many losses. These they wisely
determined to make good before any accruing profits were
divided. The decision gave offence to some of the foundation
members, who seceded from the body, and the load of debt
doubtless caused certain of the rising members of the profession
to stand aloof from them. In 1847 as the results of dissensions
respecting the management of the Society, some of the more in-
fluential of the members, including Dodgson, Duncan, Jenkins,
and Topham seceded, and in the course of the next few years
they were received into the older society. From time to time
other of the members migrated in a similar way, and Roget
enumerates no less than fifteen names of those who were
transferred from the New to the Old Water-Colour Society.

Certain minor changes in the constitution of the New- Water-
Colour Society were made in 1857. It was then divided into
thirty members, ten lady members, and eighteen associates, and
thus it continued until 1863, when it was re-named "The Insti-
tute of Painters in Water-Colours. " The constitution was then
again re-modelled. The number of members was at that time
forty-four; but the "Associates," from which body alone the
members were to be selected, were not limited as to number.
The funds were vested only in the members; these funds
arose from the amount received for admission to the exhibi-
tions and from the sale of catalogues and of exhibited works.
a commission of five per cent, on the value being charged to

©^

178 WATER-COLOUR PAINTING IN ENGLAND.

members, and ten per cent, to associates ; the latter have no
share in the responsibilities of the society. In order to provide
for out- standing liabilities any member or associate desiring
to withdraw from the body incurs a fine of £2.

The number of members and associates did not remain sta-
tionary; in 1876 there were forty-nine members, eight honorary
members, thirteen lady members, and sixteen associates, and
in 1884, after absorbing in the previous year the Dudley
Gallery, the numbers were ninety-one members, ten honorary
members, and nine lady members ; the class of associates having
disappeared in 1880. In the year 1883 the Gallery was thrown
open to all workers in water-colours outside their own member-
ship and the experiment was a great success as upwards of
500 works by non-members were hung. For a long series of
years the exhibitions of the New Society have enjoyed public
favour, and the Royal Institute shares with the older body the
prestige due to the high attainments of its members.

The two Water-Colour Societies, though they might suffice to
provide exhibiting space for the senior members of the pro-
fession, did not encourage rising talent, or enable the younger
men to come before the public, and this led eventually to the
establishment of yet another body, formed for the exhibition
of water-colour art. A committee was nominated of artists
and amateurs in 1864, who were supported by a list of
guarantors, and who opened a so-called " General Exhibition
of "Water-Colour Paintings" in the Egyptian Hall, Piccadilly,
in the spring of 1865. The aims of this body, as stated in
their prospectus, were declared to be " to establish a gallery
which, while exclusively devoted to drawings in distinction
from oil paintings, should not, in its use by exhibitors, involve
membership of a society." This gallery supplied a recognized

ROYAL INSTITUTE OF PAINTERS IN WATER-COLOURS. 179

want, and from the very outset it enjoyed a fair measure of
success. It was at first under the management of a Committee
of twenty-six artists and amateurs, and no less than 1,700
works were sent up in answer to the invitation to contribute.
Of these 579 were selected which proved to be of a class which
fully justified the promoters in their attempt to bring together
the display. Under the title of the " Dudley Society " its
annual exhibitions were continued with increasing popularity
until 1883, when, as we have seen, an amalgamation with
the New Water-Colour Society took place, and the two bodies
moved to the fine gallery erected near St. James's Church in
Piccadilly, called the Prince's Hall, the title of the joint un-
dertaking being henceforth the Royal Institute of Painters
in Water-Colours. Having taken possession of their spacious
premises and thrown open their Exhibition to outsiders, the
Royal Institute added to their usefulness by the establish-
ment in 1884 of a free school for water-colour painting, at
which the members in turn give their services gratuitously
as teachers.

For many years past exhibitions have been on the increase ;
not only do we have constantly recurring international
exhibitions in one country and another, in many of which our
English artists take an important and well recognized position,
but many of the chief provincial towns, in their permanent
galleries and local displays, hold out strong inducements to
artistic participation. It would be almost impossible in such
a work as this to record a tithe of these exhibitions ; and
having thus briefly described tin1 establishment of the principal
societies founded for the furtherance of water-colour art, we
may now devote our remaining chapters to a short account of
the lives and work of (hose distinguished members o\' the Old

n 2

180 WATER-COLOUR PAINTING IN ENGLAND.

and the New Societies who have passed away, leaving a small
space in conclusion for a notice of the water colour drawings in
our national collections, and for the consideration of the recent
report on the permanence of water-colour paintings, a subject
which lately has again received a large share of public attention.
The reconstitution of the Old Water-Colour Society in 1821
attracted many new members to its ranks, some of the more
eminent of whom we have already noticed, and though we do
not propose to enumerate the members in the strict order of
their election, there was a group of men who joined the society
about this time to which we may now very briefly refer. William
Andrews Nesfield, son of the rector of Brancepeth, Durham,
where he was born in 1793, was educated at Winchester and
Trinity College, Cambridge. He was destined for a military
career, and became a cadet at Woolwich in 1809. His first regi-
ment was the old 95th, now the Rifle Brigade, but after taking
part in the operations in the Pyrenees and being present at St.
Jean de Luz, he exchanged into the 89th, then stationed in
Canada, where he also saw active service and became junior
A.D.C. to Sir Gordon Drummond. On the conclusion of the
general peace he retired on half-pay, and turned his attention
to painting, for which he had already shown considerable taste.
In 1823 he was elected an associate exhibitor, and only three
months later a member of the Old Water-Colour Society, of
which he remained for upwards of thirty years a prominent sup-
porter, contributing many excellent Swiss and Italian scenes to
this exhibition. His drawings of landscapes and waterfalls
were greatly admired, and Ruskin says of him in Modern
Painters — " He has shown extraordinary feeling both for the
colour and the spirituality of a great waterfall; exquisitely
delicate in his management of the changeful veil of spray or

W. A. NESFIELD — n. GASTINEAU. 181

mist, just in his curves and contours, and rich in colour, if he
would remember that in all such scenes there is much gloom
as well as much splendour, and relieve the lustre of his
attractive passages of colour with more definite and prevalent
greys, and give a little more substance to parts of his picture
unaffected by spray, his work would be nearly perfect. His
seas are also most instructive, a little confused in chiaroscuro,
but refined in form and admirable in colour." Nesfield retired
from the society in 1852, and took up landscape-gardening as
his profession. In this capacity he was constantly consulted in
the improvement and alteration of the London parks and Kew
Gardens, and he acquired an extensive practice. He likewise
planned the recently-demolished Italian gardens of the Royal
Horticultural Society at South Kensington. He died March 2,
1881, in his eighty-eighth year.

Henry Gastineau, born 1793, studied at the schools of the
Royal Academy, and became an associate of the Old Water-
Colour Society in 1821, gaining his membership in 1823.
He was in his youth placed under an engraver and at first
painted in oils. In 1822 he furnished eighteen drawings for a
little book, entitled Excursions in the County of Kent. He
was a prolific exhibitor, sending on an average twenty-five
works annually to the gallery of the Water-Colour Society.
Throughout lift' he was constantly engaged in teaching. He de-
lighted in sketching wild and romantic scenery, both in this
country and abroad ; the rocky beds of rivers with falling water
and rushing streams were subjects which he painted with a
true sense of colour, and in which he excelled. He was fond
also of painting moonlights. He contributed the landscape
illustrations for a variety of works. Gastineau's death took
place in Camberwell, January 17. 1876. He was then the

182 WATER-COLOUR TAINTING IN ENGLAND.

oldest surviving member of the Water-Colour Society, to whose
gallery he had contributed for fifty-eight years in succession.

Francis Oliver Finch, born November 22, 1802, was the
son of a merchant in Cheapside. He would seem to have
passed his boyhood near Aylesbury, and showing a taste for
art he was placed under John Yarley, where he was the fellow
pupil of Linnell, Hunt, and Mulready. He first attempted oil-
painting and produced a few portraits, but subsequently, on his
election to the Old Water-Colour Society (as associate in 1822
and in 1827 as member), he worked chiefly in water-colours.
He found but little encouragement in his art, and had to
depend largely upon teaching. The landscapes of Finch were
mainly compositions of an elaborate character, rather in the
style of Barret with sumptuous architecture, palaces, and
stately gardens. He frequently painted twilight and moon-
light scenes in the pure transparent style. He was a survival
of an earlier art period. Samuel Palmer, his life-long friend and
admirer called him " The last representative of the old school
of landscape painting in water-colours." He had a poetical
mind, and published a collection of sonnets entitled An
Artist's Dream. At an early period in his career he became
a convert to the doctrines of Swedenborg and his religious
opinions gave a strong tinge to his after life. He died after
a long illness, August 27, 1862.

John Masey Wright was born in London in 1777 ; he was
chiefly known as a book illustrator and first exhibited at the
Royal Academy in 1817. He made the acquaintance of
Thomas Edward Barker and aided him with his panorama in
Leicester Square, and he was sometimes employed in painting
scenery for the theatres. Roget tells us that in 1820 he was
earning £8 per week at the Panorama and £6 per week at

i;Y WILLIAMS— ALEXANDER CIIISUOLM. 18^

His Majesty's Theatre. He had a good connection as a
teacher. Wright became an associate of the Old Water-Colour
Society in 1824 and he was elected a member in the same
year. In his old age he fell into distrassed circumstances and
lie was granted an annuity by the Royal Academy. He died
in May, 1866, at the age of 89. He must not be confounded
with J. W. Wright also a member of the Old Water-Colour
Society whom he survived for many years.

Among those artists who joined the Water-Colour Society
in its early days as associates and never attained full member-
ship we must not omit John Whichelo, who was elected in
1823. We have no record of the year of his birth but he died
in 1865. He is said to have been employed at one time in
making drawings at five shillings apiece to illustrate Pennant's
Tours. At first Ins contributions to the Society's gallery were
mainly sea-pictures, but later in life he painted many land-
scapes chiefly of English scenery. His drawings were sold at
Christie's in 1866.

Penry Williams, who, during his long residence at Home,
made a great reputation by his bright and clever sketches of
its scenery and public edifices, became an associate in 1828 of
the Old Water-Colour Society but did not long remain in con-
nection with that body. He died in 1885 aged about 87.
His works are skilfully composed and attractive in point of
colour, but are somewhat mannered and conventional.

AlEIANDEB CHISHOLM, born at Elgin about 1792, was an
associato of the Old Water-Colour Society for nearly twenty
years but never became a member. His subject pictures were
\ ery popular and he worked frequently for the annuals. He
died after a long illness at Rothesay in 1847.

Richard Hamilton Essex was a frequent exhibitor at the
Old Water-Colour Society from the date of his associateship in

184 WATER-COLOUR PAINTING JN ENGLAND.

1823 ; he never passed to full membership. He depicted our
aucient Gothic buildings with great skill, and chose his subjects
from the church architecture of this country and the Continent.
He exhibited also at the Royal Academy and at Suffolk Street
and made a series of drawings of the architecture and stained
glass of the Temple Church, published in 1845 by Weale.
He died in 1855 at Bow in his fifty-third year.

We may here pause to notice a group of artists who, like
Essex, laboured in the field of antiquarian research, and kept
alive the traditions of the topographers long after their methods
had been superseded by the improved processes of water-colour
painting.

John Britton, F.S.A., was born at Kington St. Michael,
Wilts, in 1771, and coming to London in 1787, found employ-
ment as cellarman in a tavern, and afterwards worked with a
hop- factor. He seems to have been fond of literary pursuits,
and after spending some time in a printing office, was engaged
by Brayley to assist him with his publications. In 1799 he
first exhibited architectural drawings at the Academy, and
from this time he devoted all his energies to antiquarian
research. In 1805 he commenced his Architectural Antiquities
of Great Britain, and in 1814 his Cathedral Antiquities of
England. His published works were extremely numerous and
important, and the close of his long career found him still
engaged upon his autobiography. The writings and the
illustrated works of this author had an undoubted influence
on the architecture of the Gothic revival. Eastlake says of
him, " He helped, and successfully helped, to secure for
media3val remains that kind of interest which a sense of the
picturesque and a respect for historical associations are most
likely to create." He died in London, January 1st, 1857.
Charles Wild, born in London in 1781, was another artist

HENRY SHAW — DAVID ROBKHTS. L85

who devoted himself to architecture, and after being for many
years an associate exhibitor of the Old Water-Colour Society,
he was in 1820 elected a member, and subsequently filled
the offices of secretary and treasurer. He retired from
the Society in 1833. He drew with great refinement all
the principal cathedrals of this country, and travelled much
on the Continent to sketch the chief foreign buildings,
which sketches he afterwards published. His last work, issued
in 1837, was entitled Select Examples of Architectural Grandeur
in Belgium, Germany, and France. For the latter part of his
life he was afflicted with loss of sight. He died in London,
August 4, 1835.

James Sargant Storer, born in 1781, likewise studied with
great success the ancient architecture of this country, and
engraved many of his own drawings. He resided chiefly at
Cambridge. In 1814 he commenced his History and Antiquities
of British Cathedrals, and he also wrote on the Princijtles of
Gothic Architecture. He died in London, December 23, 1853.

Henry Shaw, F.S.A., born in London, July 4th, 1800,
was one of the fellow-workers of Britton who did much to
further the study of ancient buildings, and devoted the latter
part of his life to the production of an unrivalled series of
illuminated works. He was a skilful artist, and had a true
sense of colour, and though latterly he did not attempt the
higher walks of his profession, he accomplished a vast amount
of useful and meritorious work. He died June 12. 1873.

With a more powerful sense of its artistic capabilities, the
architecture of this country and of the Continent was rendered
by David Roberts, R.A., who was born in humble circum-
stances at Stockbridge, near Edinburgh, October 2, 1796.
After having been apprenticed to a house-paint er at Edinburgh,
he worked as a scene-painter, and in 1822 came to London and

186 WATER-COLOUR PAINTING IN ENGLAND.

gained employment at Drury Lane Theatre, where he remained
for many years. In 1826 he first exhibited at the Eoyal
Academy, of which he was elected an associate in 1839, and
a full member in 1841. He travelled much in foreign lands
in pursuit of his art, and produced many finely painted Eastern
scenes, some of which were published by him. He worked
with equal skill in oil and water-colours. His treatment was
broad and bold, and thoroughly scenic. He cared little for
realistic imitation, and his colouring, though it charms us; can
scarcely be considered true to nature. The authors of the
Century of Painters have thus well described his art : " He
had no sympathy with the imitative or realistic school ; in all
the hundreds of sketches by his hand there is not one that
indicates an attempt at individualized realization. Broad,
simple, and very conventional, with the details suggested
rather than given, his pictures charm us by their onceness,
their direct appeal to the eye, and the extreme ease with
which they are executed. The colour is agreeable though
not like nature, but generalized to what he thought best
suited for the scenic display of the class of subjects he
loved to paint ; so that whether his buildings are on the
banks of the Clyde or the Thames, the Nile or the Tiber,
there is a sameness of tint and hue pervading them, which
is quite independent of the dingy tones of our own city,
the damps of Venice, or the clear sharpness of the dry
atmosphere of the East." While painting some large views
on the Thames, he was struck down with apoplexy in the
street, and died the same day — November 25, 1864. We
have chosen to represent his art by a small picture in the
collection at the British Museum — a View of Mont St. Michel,
a subject in every way suited to his pencil, and which he has
treated in his usual vigorous and characteristic style.

1 1 • 1

\H.U

I ; :

MONT ST. MICHEL. By David Roberts, R.A.
/n /'Ac /Y//^ Roomt British Museum.

CHAPTER XIII.

George Cattermole — Joseph Nash — James Duffield Harding —
William Evans (of Eton) — George Chambers — John Wil-
liam Wright — James Holland — Octavius Oakley — John
Burgess — Samuel Jackson — Charles Branwhite — Charles
Bentley — Arthur Glennie — James W. Whittaker — David
Cox, Junior — John Callow — William James Midler — -
Frank Stone, A.E.A. — Foreign Artists — Egron S. Lund-
gren — Otto Weber.

Though trained among the topographers, to whom we have
briefly referred in our last chapter, George Cattermole, born
at Dickleburgh, near Diss, in August, 1800, early marked out
for himself an independent career and preserved a strong and
distinct individuality among the rising water-colour men of
his time. He was the youngest of a family of seven. His
elder brother, Richard, who became a dignitary of the church,
and was in turn the rector of St. Martin's in the Fields, and of
Little Marlow, Bucks, was also at first a painter and an exhibi-
tor in London as early as 1814. The younger brother was fust-
employed in drawing for Britton's English Cathedrals, working
with the elder Pugin, and in 1822 was elected an associate
exhibitor of the Old Water-Colour Society. Jn 1830 lie
travelled into Scotland in order to visit the localities described

190 WATER-COLOUR PAIN1ING IN ENGLAND.

by Scott in his novels, which subsequently were illustrated by
Cattermole and rendered his art so widely known. For many
years he was a contributor to the Water-Colour Society's exhibi-
tions, but he did not become a member until 1833, from which
time he sent numerous works to their gallery, until 1850, when
he seceded from the society, and resigned his membership in
1852. His knowledge of architecture and costume was turned
to good account in his pictures, which were chiefly drawn from
romantic subjects. He painted the figure with ease, and intro-
duced his armed robbers, knights, and brigands with excellent
effect. Cattermole worked chiefly from memory, without the
intervention of a model, and this facility of execution gave
much freshness and vigour to his compositions. His art was
essentially dramatic and pictorial, and he tells his story well,
and surrounds his characters with abundance of carefully
selected accessories. Throughout his life he was largely
employed for the publishers, and he designed the illustra-
tions for the Waverley Novels, and for many works of the
same class. Perhaps his best drawings were made for the
Historical Annual, devoted to the scenes of the Civil War.
After his retirement from the Water-Colour Society he essayed
painting in oil and sent some works to the Royal Academy.
He was of a peculiarly sensitive disposition, and much disliked
the restraint of any regular duties ; he had the reputation of
not being strict in carrying out his engagements. Cattermole
was a wonderfully well-read man, versatile in his accomplish-
ments, and one whose company was sought after by the
fashionable society of his time. He was also a good amateur
actor and a clever mimic. His death took place in London,
July 24, 1868. At the Paris Exhibition of 1855 the art of
Cattermole greatly delighted the French critics, and he was

«l

85
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—

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— (

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i— i

H- 1

h-J

.1" EPH NASH. 193

awarded a grcmde medaille cPhonnetur ; a distinction conferred
also upon Sir Edwin Landseer, but upon no other English
artist.

Cattermole used opaque colours with the utmost freedom
and even employed toned or tinted paper to give greater effect
and brilliance to the body colours. The papers he affected
were specially prepared for him by Messrs. Winsor and
Newton, and are known by his name. We are enabled to re-
present his art at its best period by a most characteristic
specimen from the Historical Collection at South Kensington ;
one of the pictures presented by Mrs. Ellison, Cellini and the
Bobbers, the subject being the well-known story of some
brigands who offer their booty for sale to the silversmith who
recognizes his own handiwork. The greater part of this
picture is painted with opaque colour.

Another water-colour painter who began life as an architect
and who rendered excellent service to his art, was Joseph
Nash, the son of a clergyman at Croydon. He must not be
confounded with an earlier namesake, whose Christian name
was Frederick, and whose career we have described at p. 1 L5.
He was born in 1803, and studied under the elder Pugin, becom-
ing in course of time an expert draughtsman. 1ft- strove to do
more than the topographers attempted, and he made his archi-
tecture picturesque and interesting by the insertion of appro-
priate and well-selected groups and figures. He painted the
interiors of our fine old English houses, and excelled in the
magnificent architecture of the Stuarts. Many of his drawings
of the buildings of this period were published in lithography.
His drawings on stone resemble much in their method and
treatment those of J. D. Harding. We may mention as his
chief works of this character The Mansions qf England in the

194 WATER-COLOUR PAINTING IN ENGLAND.

Olden. Time, and his Views of the Exterior and Interior of
Windsor Castle, 1848. Nash became an associate of the Old
Water-Colour Society in 1834, and a member in 1842, and
throughout life was a constant exhibitor. He died, after long
illness and much suffering, at Bayswater, December 19, 1878,
having been granted a civil service pension of £100 in the
very year of his death. We have chosen, to represent his art,
the fine interior of Speke Hall, Lancashire, another of the works
presented to the Historical Collection at South Kensington
by Mrs. Ellison. It shows us the squire, seated in his grand
old Elizabethan hall, enriched with characteristic carving,
hearing a charge of deer-stealing. Nash made free use of
body colour, especially in his figures, and in the bright touches
of high lights. This work is signed and dated 1850.

A painter who like. ..Nash was strongly impressed with
the picturesque aspect of his subjects was James Duffield
Harding. He was the son of an artist, and was born at Dept-
ford in 1798. He was at first articled as an engraver to John
Pye, or according to a writer in the Art Journal, to Charles
Pye. He subsequently made perspective drawings for archi-
tects, and began to exhibit landscapes at the Royal Academy
as early as 1811. Some drawings by him from Swiss scenery
were engraved in line and published in 1822 ; these were
reproduced by Harding from sketches by an amateur.
After exhibiting for several years with the Old Water-
Colour Society, Harding was in 1820 elected an asso-
ciate exhibitor, and the following year a member. He would
seem from these dates to belong to an earlier chapter, but in
1846 he withdrew from the society and was not re-elected until
1856. He was in constant request as a teacher of drawing,
and enjoyed a large and lucrative practice. He likewise wrote

w
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W
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0 2

J. T). HARDING— WILLIAM EVAN'S. 197

many works on drawing and painting, and produced some
excellent lithographic studies of continental scenery. He is
said, in the course of a visit to Italy in 1830, to have made
sketches upon coloured paper, which on his return to England
were greatly admired, and were the means of bringing this
class of work into fashion. Was this the period when the
practice of working on tinted mounts came into vogue? "We
mean that description of cardboard drawing where high lights
were removed from a coloured ground by erasing the surface
with a knife? He published in 1836, Sketches at Home and
Abroad, and in 1861, Selections from the Picturesque. Harding's
drawing copies shared with those of Prout, the chief place in
public estimation. Many of his works were avowedly intended
for his pupils, such as the Lessons on Art, 1849, Lessons on
Trees, 1852, and Drawing Models and Their Uses, 1854. The last
of these publications described the well known solid models,
which he prepared and sold for teaching purposes. He effected
many improvements in tinted drawing paper, and contributed
greatly to the advancement of lithography. He was a skilful
and rapid draughtsman, though somewThat mannered in his
style, and rarely rising above the commonplace. Harding died
at Barnes, December 4, 1863, and was buried in Brompton
Cemetery.

William Evans, son of the drawing-master at Eton College
was born at Eton, December 4, 1798, and succeeded his father
in 1818. He became an associate of the Old Wa tor-Colour
Society in 1828, and gained his membership in 1831. He
contributed chiefly landscapes, many of them from Scotch
scenery, to the Exhibitions. He was the frequent guest of
the Duke of Athole and there painted his Highland scenes.
He died December 31, 1877.

198 WATER-COLOUR PAINTING IN ENGLAND.

George Chambers, born at Whitby in 1803, was the son of
a seaman and was apprenticed to the master of a trading
brig. He relinquished a seafaring life to take up art and
became a house-painter as a step in the road to the fine arts.
Somewhat late in his career he turned his attention to water-
colours, and in 1834 he was elected an associate exhibitor
and the year following a member of the Old Water-Colour
Society. He painted chiefly marine views, battles, and coast
scenes, but though truthful and correct, his works have a
tendency to coldness and a lack of colour. He was for a time
engaged in painting at the Colosseum in Regent's Park, and
he also worked as a scene-painter. He died prematurely
October 29, 1840, leaving a family on whose behalf a sub-
scription was raised.

John William Wright, son of J. Wright the miniature-
painter, was born in London in 1802, and studied under
Thomas Phillips, R.A. He was elected an associate of the
Old Water-Colour Society in 1831, became a member in 1841,
and was appointed the secretary in 1844. He generally painted
figure subjects of a domestic character, and was a constant
contributor to the exhibitions. Many of his subjects were
taken from Shakespeare and he worked indefatigably for xhe
Keepsake and the Book of Beauty. He was also an occasional
exhibitor at the Royal Academy. He suffered much from ill-
health, and succumbed to an attack of influenza, January 1 4,
1848. His works were sold by auction in London in the
following spring.

James Holland passed his youth at Burslem, where he was
born October 17, 1800. He was at first engaged as a china-
painter, but in 1819 he came to London and for a time sup-
ported himself by teaching and flower-painting. Making

JAMES HOLLAND —OCTAVIUS OAKLEY. 100

some progress in his .art he became an exhibitor at the Royal
Academy, and in 1835 we find him an associate exhibitor at

the Old Water-Colour Society. The same year lie travelled
in Italy and painted the interior of Milan Cathedral, and a
scene on the Rialto, Venice. In 1837 he visited Portugal to
execute a series of views for the Landscape Annual which
were engraved in 1839. In 1841 he went to Paris and sub-
sequently travelled to many parts of the Continent. He
seceded from the Water-Colour Society in 1842, but was re-
elected in 1856, and in 1857 he became a member. He paid
many visits to the Continent, and painted the scenery of Italy
and the Peninsula with glowing colour and great brilliancy of
effect. His Venetian pictures were among the most success-
ful of his productions. He was fond of peopling his land-
scapes with brilliant groups of figures. He was mucli
employed in book illustration and supplied many designs for
the Annuals. He probably painted as many works in oil as
in water-colours. He sent pictures to the Academy as also to
the British Institution and to the Suffolk Street Gallery. His
death took place February 12, 1870, shortly after which there
was a sale of his works at Christie's.

Octavius Oakley, born in April, 1S00, began life as a
portrait-painter at Leamington, where he enjoyed a consider-
able practice. Painting later at Derby he produced some
admirable rustic scenes and excelled in his groups of gipsies.
About 1842 he came to reside in London and soon after joined
the Old Water-Colour Society, of which he became a member in
1844. He painted latterly picturesque landscape scenery into
which the figures were introduced with good effect, but his
drawings were weak in colour and wanting in light and shade.
Ho continued to produce occasional portraits and was an

200 WATER COLOUR PAINTING IN ENGLAND.

exhibitor at the Royal Academy from time to time until 1860.
He died at Bayswater, March 1, 1867.

John Burgess, the son of an artist, born about 1814, at first
practised as a teacher at Leamington. He was elected an
associate of the Old Water-Colour Society in 1851, the pick of
sixteen candidates. He painted picturesque buildings and
street scenes in Normandy and Brittany and in various parts
of the Continent. His drawings are brilliant and sunny, and
he was a rapid and skilful sketcher. He affected tinted
drawing papers. He died June 11, 1874.

Samuel Jackson, son of a merchant in Bristol, became at the
age of thirty a pupil of F. Danby, A.R.A., and having formed
the friendship of Prout and Pyne, he was in 1 832 elected an
associate exhibitor of the Old Water-Colour Society, and ex-
hibited many landscape, and views of Welsh scenery until his
retirement from the society in 1848. He never attained to full
membership. Towards the close of his life he travelled in
Switzerland, and produced some of his most successful works
He died in 1870, at the age of seventy-five.

Charles Branwhite was also born in Bristol about 1818,
and studied first under his father, a local artist of some repute
in that city. He seems to have proposed at first to become a
sculptor and only took to painting in oil at a later date.
He was the intimate friend of W. Miiller, and worked much
with him. In 1849 he became an associate of the Old Water-
Colour Society, but he never passed to full membership. He
greatly affected winter scenes, and though he was a brilliant
and facile draughtsman he did not give evidence of much
originality. He loaded his drawings with body colour to such
an extent as to render them liable to be considered as works
in tempera. He died February 15, 1880, aged sixty-two.

BENTLEY — GLENNIE — WIIITTAKER — COX. 201

Charles Bentley, born in Tottenham Court Road in 1805,
was the son of a builder, and owing to his fondness for art lie
was placed under Fielding to study engraving. He became an
associate of the Old Water-Colour Society in 1834 and in 1843
was elected a member. He painted marine subjects and con-
tributed frequently to the Annuals. His works are spirited
but show a large and free use of body colour. He died of
cholera in September, 1854.

Arthur Glennie, who was the son of Dr. Glennie of
Dulwich, was born in February, 1803, and after begin m" no-
life in a merchant's office, took somewhat late to art, and in
1837 joined the Old Water-Colour Society as an associate,
becoming a full member in 1858. He painted mainly foreign
landscapes and passed all the latter years of his life in Borne,
where he died in January, 1890. His bright and sunny
drawings, refined and accurate from the topographer's point of
view, were much admired.

James W. Wiiittaker began life as an engraver, but
having a taste for drawing he gave up this profession as soon
as he was able to make his way as a painter. He took a little
cottage at Bettws-y-Coed and painted Welsh scenery, selling
his drawings for small sums to a Manchester dealer. He was
elected an associate of the Old Water-Colour Society in 1862,
and two years later he became a full member. He was acci-
dentally drowned at Bettws in September, 1876, falling off a
rock into the Llugwy.

David Cox, Junior, the only child of the eminent painter of
the same name, was born near Dulwich in 1809, had his early
schooling at Dulwich and studied under his father. When
the elder Cox retired to Harborne his son took over his ox-
tensive teaching connection. In 1848 he was elected an

202 WATER-COLOUR PAINTING IN ENGLAND.

associate of the Old Society, but never attained full member-
ship. He had previously been a member of the New Water-
Colour Society, but he resigned in 1845. His style greatly
resembled that of his father, and the younger Cox's works
have sometimes been sold in his father's name. He died at
Streatham, December 6, 1885.

John Callow was born July 19, 1822, and was indebted to
his elder brother for his art education. Elected a member of
the New Water-Colour Society in 1845 he resigned three years
later, and in 1849 became an associate of the Old Water-
Colour Society. His subjects were generally coast scenes and
shipping. He was much engaged in teaching and produced
some well-known drawing-books. His death took place April
25, 1878, at New Cross.

William James Muller was the son of a German clergyman,
who was the Curator of the Museum at Bristol, in which city
young Muller was born in 1812. Some of his first instruction
in art was received from J. B. Pyne, his fellow townsman, but
he soon left him and commenced to study from nature by him-
self. In 1833-34 he travelled on the Continent for the purpose
of improving himself in his art, visiting Germany, Switzerland,
and Italy, and returning subsequently to Bristol to practice
his art with scant success, sending many works to the London
Galleries. In 1838 after wandering, sketch-book in hand
through Greece and Egypt he came back to his native city, but
not to stay, for we find him in 1839 settled in London. Here
his Eastern subjects found many admirers, and he published
in 1841 his Picturesque Sketches of the Age of Francis I. He
subsequently accompanied the government expedition to Lycia,
and stored his portfolios with numerous sketches, but he was
disheartened by the way in which his works were hung at the

O s

pq n

i— i
m

V.'. J. MULLED FRANK STONE. 205

British Institution and at the Academy. About this time he
was painting much in oil, in which medium many of his best
works were produced. Owing to failing health he retired to
Bristol and died there, September 8, 1845. When David
Cox had made up his mind to paint in oil it was to Miiller
that he turned for instruction and he was greatly impressed
by his extraordinary facility of execution. Midler's sense of
colour was very fine, and his compositions wTere large and
grand in conception, but his aerial perspective was defective.
Some of his best works remind us of the scene-painter. We
represent his art by the sketch of Moel Siabod, given by Mr.
C. T. Maud to the Historical Collection at South Kensington.
A small study of rockwTork and falling water, with mountains
in the background, which will serve to show his vigorous
execution.

During the more recent period of water-colour art not a few
painters of eminence began their career in connection with
one or the other of the Societies and subsequently, on attaining
Academy honours, either abandoned water-colour painting alto-
gether or exhibited but little in this medium. Prominent
among them we may mention Frank Stone, A.Iv.A, who is
best known by his oil paintings, but who joined the Old
Water-Colour Society as an associate in 1833, and became a
full member in 1843. He was the son of a Manchester cotton-
spinner, and was born in 1800. Though at first intended to
follow his father's business, he was compelled by Ins love of
art to sacrifice his position, and at the age of twenty-four to
become a painter. He came to London in 1831 and at first
practised in water-colours, and for sonic time worked for
Heath's Book of Beauty. Subsequently he painted subject-
pictures, engaged in book illustration, and joined the Etching

206 WATER COLOUR PAINTING IN ENGLAND.

Club. About 1837 he began to paint in oil. In 1846 he re-
signed his membership of the Water-Colour Society, and in
1857 he was elected an associate of the Royal Academy. He
was at this time much in the company of eminent literary men,
the friend of Dickens, and taking part with him in amateur
performances, for Stone was very fond of acting. He died in
1859, and was buried at Highgate Cemetery.

Several foreigners attracted to this country have practised
the art of water-colour painting with much success. Among
these we may mention Egron S. Lundgren, a native of Sweden,
born in 1815, who was educated in Paris, where he entered the
studio of Leon Coignet and subsequently spent four years in
Italy and five years in Spain. He likewise travelled in Egypt
and in the East. Meeting John Phillip, P. A., at Seville, in 1851,
he was invited by him to London, and he visited this country
in 1853. It is conjectured that he was for a time employed
as a draughtsman on wood, and in 1857 he accompanied the
staff of Lord Clyde in the Oudh campaign. On his return to
England he painted several subjects for the Queen, among
others the Marriage cf the Princess Royal. In 1864 he was
elected an associate of the Old Water-Colour Society, and two
years later he became a member. His works were characterized
by their fine colouring and rich tone. He painted chiefly
figure subjects, and many of his drawings were acquired by
the Queen. His sketches in India to the number of 217
were sold by auction at Christie's in 1875 for 3,050 guineas.
He was a man of many accomplishments, an excellent linguist,
and the author of several works published at Stockholm. He
died at Stockholm, December 16, 1875, in the sixtieth year
of his age.

Otto Weber, the son of a merchant in Berlin, was born

OTTO WEBER. 207

October 17, 1832, and received the first part of his art educa-
tion in his native city. He afterwards settled in Talis where
his animal paintings were greatly admired. At the outbreak
of the Franco-German war in 1870 he went to Rome, and in
1872 finding that Italian subjects were distasteful to him, he
vi sited London and here he remained until his death in 1888.
He sent many pictures to the Royal Academy, and in 1876
became an associate of the Old Water-Colour Society. He
excelled as a painter of animals in the midst of charming land-
scape scenery. His remaining drawings were sold by Messrs.
Christie in 1889.

CHAPTER XIV.

New Water-Colour Society — Louis Haghe — Edward Henry
Wehnert — Henry F. Tidey — Henry Warren — Aaron
Edioin Penley — Thomas Miles Richardson — Thomas Sewell
Robins— William Henry Kearney — G. H. Laporte — John
Chase — Henry Parsons Riviere — H. Clark Pidgeon —
William Lee — George B. Campion — John Wykeham Archer
— William Leighton Leitch — Henry John Johnson — James
Fahey — Benjamin R. Green — John Skinner Prout —
Michael Angelo Hayes — Henry Bright — Charles Vacher —
John Henry Mole — George Shalders — Frederick John Skill
— Augustus Jules Bouvier — Thomas Leeson Rowbotham —
The Lady Artists — Mary Harrison — Elizabeth Murray —
Fanny Corbaux — Eliza Sharpe — Louisa Sharpie — Mrs.
Brookbank — Nancy Rayner — Margaret Gilles — Mrs. II .
Criddle — Helen Cordelia Angell — Mary Lofthouse.

We have collected in this chapter some brief notices of
the deceased members of the New Water-Colour Society, and
here also we have brought together the memoirs of some of
the more distinguished ladies who have practised the art.

Louis Haghe, born at Tournay, in Belgium, in 1806, came
to England while quite a youth, and was elected in 1837 a
member of the New Water-Colour Society, serving in turn the
office of vice-president and president of the society, to which
latter office he was elected on the retirement of Warren in

LOUIS HAGUE — EDWARD HENRY WEHNERT. 211

1873. He was a skilful lithographer, and produced many
works illustrating the picturesque towns and scenery of tin-
Continent. His paintings are powerful and vigorous in their
matter and treatment, and his historical subjects are dramatic
and full of incident. He delighted to represent the fine old
architecture of the Belgian cities, the halls of Lou vain and
Courtrai, and his armed soldiers and townspeople are admir-
ably introduced and excellent in drawing. Haghe painted
entirely with his left hand. His art has undoubtedly exerted
considerable influence on his contemporaries, and he was
throughout life one of the bulwarks of the Institute. We are
permitted to reproduce a small work by him in the Historical
Collection at South Kensington, A Guard-Boom, No. 522,
which shows his skilful handling of a group of soldiers who
smoke and gossip; it is signed and dated 1853. Haghe died
in London, March 9, 1885.

Edward Henry Wehnert was the son of a German tailor
in a large way of business, who settled in London and sent his
boy to be educated in Germany. He studied at Gbttingen and
on his return to England devoted himself to art. He passed
two years in Paris where he made great progress, and afterwards
resided for some time in Jersey. Coming back to London in
1837 he became a member of the New Water-Colour Society,
and was throughout lite a constant and important contributor
to its exhibitions. His chief works were figure subjects, the
drawing and execution being careful and conscientious, but
his sense of colour was scarcely pleasing and his light and
shade badly defined. He died in Kentish Town, September 15,
1878, aged 54. A collective exhibition of his works was made
in the Gallery of the Institute of Painters in Water-Colours
in the following Spring.

P 2

212 WATER-COLOUR PAINTING IN ENGLAND.

Henry F. Tidey, the son of a schoolmaster at Worthing was
born January 7, 1815. He first worked as a portrait-painter,
and after exhibiting for some time at the Academy, he was, in
1858, elected an associate, and the year following a member of
the Institute of Painters in Water Colours. He was a most
industrious and clever artist, and painted figure subjects,
many of them of a large size. In 1859 his drawing, entitled
The Feast of Roses, was purchased by Her Majesty. His
numerous contributions to the exhibitions of the New Water-
Colour Society added much to the attractiveness of the
gallery. He died in 1872.

Henry Warren, K.L., was educated as a sculptor and
studied under Nollekens. After passing through the Academy
School he began to paint in oil, but subsequently joined the
New Society of Painters in Water-Colours, of which he ulti-
mately became the President. He was an able artist and
worked extensively for the publishers. Warren was also him-
self an author, and issued the Artistic Anatomy of the Human
Figure. He lived to a great age, and on his retirement
became the Honorary President of the Society. He died at
Wimbledon, December 18, 1879, aged 85.

The reputation of Aaron Edwin Penley will rest chiefly on
his art writings and his fame as a successful teacher. He at
first practised as a miniature painter at Manchester. After
exhibiting for some time at the Academy, he was in 1838
elected a member of the New Watei -Colour Society, but from
this he withdrew in 1856. He was the professor of drawing
first at the East India College, Addiscombe, and subsequently
at the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich. He died suddenly
at Lewisham, January 15, 1870, in his 64th year. His best
known work** are The English School of Fainting in Water*

RICHARDSON — ROBINS — KEARNEY — LAPORTE. 213

Colours, published in 1861, and Sketching from Natun in

Water- Colovrs, which appeared in I860. Penley was
appointed painter in water-colours to King William IV. and
Queen Charlotte. His drawings were sold at Christie's after
liis death in 1871.

Thomas Miles Richardson, born at Newcastle-on-Tyne,
May 15, 1784, after being some time the head master of
the St. Andrew's Grammar School, resigned his appointment
in order to devote himself wholly to art. He drew both in oil
and water-colours, and exhibited at the Royal Academy, the
British Institution, and the New Water-Colour Society, of which
he was a member until 1843. He published several engraved
works, and died March 7, 1848. His landscapes were treated
in a bold and original manner, and he excelled in sunset
effects. His son, a member of the Old Society, died in 1890.

Thomas Sewell Robins, born at Dovonport in 1811, was an
original member of the New Water-Colour Society, and studied
art under Mr. Ball, a Plymouth artist. He subsequently came
to London, and worked at the Schools of the Royal Academy.
After travelling on the Continent, and visiting Rome and
Venice, he turned his attention to marine subjects, upon which
his reputation chiefly depends. Failing health compelled him
to retire from the Institute in 18G5. He died at Kensington,
August 9, 1880.

William Henry Kearney was one of the foundation mem-
bers and a 'Vice-President of the New Water-Colour Society.
He exhibited principally Landscapes] with now and then a
figure subject, which were pleasant in colour and painted in
the earlier transparent manner. Sis death took place in his
58th year, on June 25, 1858.

G. II. Laporte, after exhibiting for some time at the

214 WATER-COLOUR PAINTING IN ENGLAND.

Suff oik Street Gallery, became an original member of the New
Water-Colour Society, to whose exhibitions he was a constant
contributor. He painted chiefly animal subjects with groups
of costume figures, hunting subjects, military groups, and
Arab scenes. He died October 23, 1873.

John Chase, born in 1810, became one of the earlier mem-
bers of the New Water-Colour Society, to which Society his
daughter, an expert flower painter, also belonged. He delighted
to paint old ivy-clad buildings, and chose many subjects from
Haddon Hall. He died in London, January 8, 1879.

Henry Parsons Riviere, born August 16, 1811, after
studying at the Schools of the Royal Academy, became a
member of the New Water-Colour Society in 1834, but
afterwards joined the older Society in 1852. He painted
chiefly genre and subject pictures, and spent nearly all the
latter part of his life in Rome, but died in London in May,
1888.

H. Clark Pidgeon, born March, 1807, and educated at
Reading, was destined for the Church, but his natural
inclinations led him to the pursuit of art. He was for a time
the editor of the Berkshire Chronicle. He went to Paris in
order to study art, and eventually became the master of the
Drawing School at the Liverpool Institute. He was from the
year 1846 a member of the New Water-Colour Society. He
died August 6, 1880.

William Lee, born 1809, contributed in the early part of
his career compositions introducing rustic figures, and in later
life French coast scenery and figure subjects to the exhibitions
of the New Water-Colour Society, of which he was a member.
His death took place in London, January 22, 1865.

George B Campion was elected a member of the New

J. W. ARCHER — W. L. LEITCH. 215

Water Colour Society in 1837, and was a prominent contri-
butor of views, some of them rather hasty in point of
execution to their exhibitions. He was also a writer of
considerable repute on art and other subjects. He was the
author of The Adventures of a Chamois Hunter. He died at
Munich, where he had long been resident, April 7, 1870.

JonN Wykeham Archer, born at Newcastle-on-Tyne,
August 2, 1808, was articled to Scott, the engraver, and after
practising engraving in Newcastle and Edinburgh he came to
London and worked for Finden. He, however, abandoned his
art for topographical work, and was much employed in drawing
ancient buildings for the publishers. He was an associate of
the Institute of Painters in Water Colours, and contributed
several of his most important works to their exhibitions.
Archer published Vestiges of Old London, drawn and etched
by himself, in 1851. He died suddenly in London, May
25, 1864. Archer had some taste for authorship and con-
tributed papers on antiquarian subjects to the Gentleman' s
Magazine. He also wrote for Douglas Jerrold's magazine
Recreations of Mr. Zigzag, the Elder. His collection of draw-
ings is in the British Museum.

William Leighton Leitcil was the son of a manufacturer
in Glasgow, and was born there in 1804. He early showed a
taste for drawing, but was articled to a lawyer, and in time
threw up his articles in order to study art in London. He
worked with Roberts and Stanfield, and studied in Italy for
five years. Leitch became a member and subsequently a Vice-
President of the New Water-Colour Society. He painted
chiefly classic landscapes, and was drawing-master to the
Queen and to many members of the Royal Family. He died
Ap.i-il 25, 1883.

216 WATER-COLOUR PAINTING IN ENGLAND.

Hfnry John Johnson, born in Birmingham in April, 1826,
was the son of an artist and received his early training in
Birmingham. He afterwards was placed under Wm. Miiller
and travelled with him to the East. He sent many works to
the British Institution and to the Royal Academy, mostly land-
scapes from foreign countries. He likewise sketched in Wales
and Scotland, and was the frequent companion of David Cox.
He became a member of the New Water-Colour Society in
1870, and died in London, December 31, 1884.

James Fahey, the energetic Secretary of the New Water
Colour Society for so many years, was trained as an engraver
under his uncle, John Swaine. He was born at Paddington,
April 16, 1804, and when he had adopted painting as his
profession became a pupil of Scharf, of Munich. He joined
the Institute in 1835, and became its Secretary in 1838.
When the Society reformed itself and became the Boyal
Institute in 1874, he resigned. He was for many years
the drawing-master of the Merchant Taylors' School, and
throughout life devoted himself to landscape painting. He
died December 11, 1885.

Benjamin R, Green was a member of an artistic family,
both his father and mother being well known as portrait
painters. He studied at the Schools of the Boyal Academy, and
painted landscape and figure subjects, which he contributed
principally to the gallery of the New Water-Colour Society,
of which he was a member. He was for the best years of his
life the Secretary of the Artists' Annuity Fund. He died in
London, October 5, 1876, aged sixty-eight.

John Skinner Prout who was born in Plymouth in 1806,
was the nephew of Samuel Prout. To a large extent he was
self-taught, and he first practised the study of ancient

M. A. HAYES — H. BRIGHT. 217

buildings, publishing certain of his drawings. He resided
some time in Bristol, and there, together with Miiller, whose
acquaintance he had formed in early youth, he prepared the
sketches for his work on The Antiquities of Bristol. He
lived for many years in Australia, and on his return to
England painted a Panorama of the Gold Fields, which was
exhibited with much success. Prout was elected a member of
the New Water-Colour Society, and continued to exhibit
subjects of an architectural character, more refined in treat-
ment than those of his uncle, until his death, which took
place at Camden Town, August 29, 1876.

Michael Angelo Hayes was the son of Edward Hayes,
the water-colour painter, and was born at Waterford, July
25, 1820. For several years previous to his election to the
associateship of the New Water-Colour Society he contributed
paintings in oil and water-colours to the exhibitions of the
Royal Academy. He was subsequently elected a member of
the Royal Hibernian Academy, of which institution he was
for many years the Secretary. He is best known by his
subject pictures in oils, and for his military sketches in water-
colours. His death, the result of an accident, took place
December 31, 1877.

Henry Bright was born at Saxmundham in 1814, and was
apprenticed to a chemist. He afterwards became dispenser to
the Norwich Hospital, and found time to acquire a knowledge
of art for which he had always shown a great inclination. In
1839 he became a member of the New Water-Colour Society,
but afterwards seceded from it and sent his works in oil to
the Academy. His art. was bold and vigorous, and he painted
landscapes showing a true feeling for nature. When his health
failed he retired to Ipswich, and died there September 21, 1873,

218 WATER-COLOUR PAINTING IN ENGLAND.

Chari es Vacher, the son of a London stationer, studied art
in the Schools of the Royal Academy, and travelled through
Germany, France, and Italy, where he made numerous
sketches, which furnished the materials for his pictures. These
works were elaborately finished compositions, excellent in colour,
and very artistic in treatment. He joined the New Water-
Colour Society in 1846, and was always a large contributor
to their exhibitions. He died July 21, 1883, aged sixty-five
years.

John Henry Mole was born in 1814 at Alnwick, and at
first worked in a solicitor's office at Newcastle-on-Tyne. His
love of art prompted him to forsake the law and to adopt
miniature painting as his profession. He became an associate
of the New Water-Colour Society in 1847 and removed to
London. He painted at that time landscape and figure
pictures, and in 1884 he was elected Vice-President of the
Society. He died December 13, 1886.

George Shalders, after exhibiting for some time at the
Royal Academy, was in 1863 elected an associate, and two
years later a member of the New Water-Colour Society. He
painted chiefly landscapes with sheep and cattle. At the
comparatively early age of forty-seven he was attacked with a
paralytic seizure, and died, after a few days' illness, January
27, 1873. He had not been able to make provision for his wife
and family, so his artist friends raised a subscription and
formed a collection of drawings, winch were sold at Christie's
on their behalf in the year following his death.

Frederick John Skill was born at Swaffham, in Norfolk,
July 12, 1824. He studied under Cotman, and subsequently
in Paris. He lived for several years in Brittany, where he
painted maiij of his most important drawings. In 1871 he

A. J. BOUVIER — T. L. ROWBOTIIAM. 219

became a member of the New Water Colour Society, and
died in London, after a lingering illness, March 8, 1881. lie
was much employed as a book illustrator, and executed many
drawings for the Illustrated London News. His works, which
display considerable power and exhibit a fine sense of colour,
were pleasing and well drawn.

Augustus Jules Bouvier, who was born in London in
March, 1825, first exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1852,
and in the same year was elected an associate of the New
Water Colour Society. He became a member in 1865. He
painted figure subjects with great skill, his work entitled
Lesbia having been bought by the late Prince Consort in
1861. He died, after a long illness, January 20, 1881.

Thomas Leeson Rowbotham, born May 21, 1823, a native
of Dublin, was the son of an artist who practised at Bath.
Young Rowbotham studied art under his father, and after a
sketching tour in Wales visited in turn Germany, France, and
Italy. He delighted in warm sunny pictures, and excelled
in his marine subjects painted under bright Italian skies. He
was much engaged as a teacher, and succeeded his father as
drawing-master at the Royal Naval School, New Cross. He
became a member of the New Water-Colour Society in 185&
and contributed many works to its exhibitions. His health
was always indifferent, and he died, at the age of 52, on June
30, 1875.

Many distinguished lady artists belonged during this
period to the Water-Colour Societies, and the Institute, as we
have seen, set apart a special class for their lady members.
Our space will scarcely enable us to do more than mention the
names of a few of them.

Mary Harrison, born in Liverpool in 1788, was one of the

220 WATER-COLOUR PAINTING JN ENGLAND.

foundation members of the New Water-Colour Society, and
was throughout life a constant contributor of gracefully
painted flower pictures to its exhibitions. After her marriage
to Mr. Harrison, in 1814, she was for a time in easy circum-
stances, but on the ruin of her husband by a disastrous
partnership she maintained and educated a family of twelve
children by the proceeds of her art. She died November
25, 1875.

Elizabeth Murray, a daughter of T. Heaphy, who was
likewise a member of the New Water-Colour Society, died
in 1882.

Fanny Corbaux, born in 1812, was an excellent writer as
well as an artist of acknowledged ability. She was a member
of the New Water-Colour Society, and contributed largely to
its gallery. Miss Corbaux died at Brighton, February 1, 1883.

The sisters Eliza and Louisa Sharpe belonged to the Old
Water-Colour Society. The latter afterwards became Mrs.
Seyffarth, and her contributions to the exhibitions were much
admired ; she died in Dresden in 1843. Her works were as a
rule subject pictures dramatically rendered and highly finished
in point of execution. Her sister Eliza survived her for
many years, and died in Chelsea, June 11, 1874, at the age
of seventy-eight.

Mrs. Brookbank whose maiden name was Scott, was for
some years an exhibitor at the Old Water-Colour Society,
of which she was elected a member in 1823. She painted
tasteful groups of flowers and fruit, but shortly after her
marriage she appears to have relinquished art.

Nancy Rayner, an artist of much promise, after having
been elected an associate of the Old Water-Colour Society in
1850, died of decline in 1855 at the early age of 28. She was

GILLIES — CRIPPLE ANOELL LOFTIIOUSE. 221

the daughter of Mr. Samuel Etayner, the water-colour painter.
She contributed picturesque and rustic figures anil carefully

painted interiors to the exhibitions.

Margaret Gillies, who was born in Edinburgh, August 7,
1803, became an associate of the Old Water-Colour Society in
1852, and was at first very successful as a portrait painter and
in her family groups. Subsequently she depicted scenes from
Shakespeare and the poets. She died at Crockham Hill, Kent,
July 20, 1887.

Mrs. H. Cripple, elected a lady member of the Old Water-
Colour Society in 1849, for thirty years sent charming draw-
ings of birds' nests, flowers, and fruit to the Exhibition. She
died at the age of seventy-five, December 28, 1880.

Helen Corpelia Angell, whose maiden name was Cole-
man, was born in 1847, studied under her brother, W. S.
Coleman, and painted flowers and plumage with rare skill.
She was, moreover, a brilliant colourist, and her drawings at
the Old Water-Colour Society, of which she was a member,
were highly appreciated. She at first joined the Institute,
but she resigned her membership in that body in 1878, and
was elected, in 1879, an associate of the Old Water-Colour
Society. She died, after a long illness, at the early age of
thirty-seven, March 8, 1884.

Mary Loftiiouse, whose maiden name was Forster, was
born in 1853 and was the daughter of an artist ; in 1884 she
became a member of the Old Water-Colour Society. She
had a delicate feeling for colour, and painted old buildings
with excellent taste. Her death took place less than a
twelvemonth after her marriage, at the age of thirty-two, on
May 2, 1885.

CHAPTER XV.

Francis William Topham — Edward Duncan — Joseph John

Jenkins — George Hay dock Dodgson — William Colling wood
Smith — George John Pinwell — Arthur Boyd Houghton
— Frederick Walker, A.R.A. — John Frederick Lewis, R.A.
— Samuel Palmer — Gabriel Charles Dante Rossetti —
Samuel Read — Alfred Pizzey Newton — Henry Brittan
Willis — Thomas Danby — Randolph Caldecott — Philip
Henry Delamotte — Thomas Miles Richardson — Walter
Goodall — Frederick Tayler — Paul Jacob Naftel — Maud
Naftel.

We have still to glance at the careers of many eminent
masters of the art, some of whom belong almost to the pre-
sent day, and who have contributed by their works to bring
water-colour painting to the proud position which it now
occupies in the art of this country.

Francis William Topham, born in Leeds, April 15, 1808,
was a self-taught artist, who at first practised as an engraver,
in which art he became very proficient. He subsequently in
1843 became a member of the New Water-Colour Society, but
quitted this body in 1847, shortly before his election into the
Old Water-Colour Society, of which he became a member in

E. DUNCAN — J. J. JENKINS. 223

the following year. His figure subjects, many of them
drawn from the foreign countries he visited, attained a high

reputation, and his art was greatly appreciated. His colour-
ing was remarkable for its depth and intensity and he made
free use of body colour. He died at Cordova, in Spain,
March 31, 1877.

Edward Duncan was born in London in 1803, and having
shown a taste for art from his earliest childhood, was articled to
Robert Havell, the engraver. While working here he copied and
studied many of the fine drawings of William Havell, and he
was thus led to abandon engraving and to take up painting as
a profession. He, too, first joined, the New Water-Colour
Society, but shortly after withdrew from it, and in 1848 was
elected an associate of the Old Society, and in 1849 he be-
came a full member. His marine views were greatly esteemed,
and he was an indefatigable contributor to the exhibitions.
He also worked for the illustrated papers and drew on wood
for the publishers. He died at Haverstock Hill, after a short
illness, April 11, 1882.

Another artist who was brought up as an engraver and who
was induced subsequently to try his fortune as a water-colour
painter was Joseph John Jenkins. He was born in London in
181 1, and in 1849 became an associate of the Old Water-Colour
Society, and a full member in 1850. He, too, had previously
belonged to the New Water-Colour Society. His subject
pictures and landscapes were very popular, he drew the figure
well, and his work was harmonious and pleasing. He was for
many years the Secretary of the Society, and devoted much
time to its interests. At the period of his death Mr. Jenkins
was gathering materials for the history of the Society, which
work has recently been ablj completed by Mr. J. L. Roget and

224 WATER-COLOUR PAINTING IN ENGLAND.

has been constantly consulted by vis for authentic records of the
early days of water-colour art. Mr. Jenkins retired from the
secretaryship in 1864, and died, after a short illness, March 9,
1885. At his death he bequeathed £1,000 to the Society, to
which he had made many liberal donations.

George Haydock Dodgson, born in Liverpool in 1811, was
educated as a civil engineer under George Stephenson, but
finding the work too laborious for his health, he gave up his
employment and settled in London as an architectural colour-
ist. He worked also for the Illustrated London News, and
found his services so greatly in request that he was unable to
devote himself so much as he wished to drawing from nature.
Dodgson was at first a member of the Institute, but resigning
his connection with the younger Society, he was in 1848 elected
an associate, and in 1852 a full member of the Old "Water-
Colour Society. He died in London, June 4, 1880. His land-
scapes are fresh and brightly-coloured interpretations of nature,
and charm by their vividness and truth. In the winter
exhibition of the year in which he died there w&s a loan
collection of his works to the number of fifty-two in the Old
Water-Colour Gallery. His remaining drawings were sold at
Christie's in 1881.

William Collingwood Smith, born at Greenwich in 1815,
after working many years as an oil painter, wTas elected
an associate of the Old Water-Colour Society in 1843, and
in 1849 became a full member. On joining the Society he
discontinued entirely his oil-painting. He served the office of
treasurer for upwards of twenty-five years, and was most
devoted to the best interests of the Society. He painted lake
and mountain scenery with great technical dexterity and
breadth of effect. His drawings are occasionally somewhat

G. J. PINWELL — A. B. HOUGHTON. 225

garish in colour, and Lis landscapes do not impress one with
truth to nature, being somewhat scenic in character. He
used in his later works but little or no body colour, but painted
transparently over a grey or neutral ground. He had a large
connection as a teacher. He died at Brixton, March 15, 1887,
aged seventy-one.

George John Pinwell, born in London, December 26,
1842, received his art education at Hatherley's School. He
first came into notice as a successful book-illustrator, and ex-
hibited at the Dudley Gallery. He became an associate of
the Old Water-Colour Society in 1869, and was elected a
member two years later. Many of his subject pictures were
greatly admired, and his reputation was already firmly estab-
lished when he was too early lost to art at the age of 33.
His death took place in London, September 8, 1875. Pin well's
drawings were much appreciated on the Continent, notably at
the Paris Exhibition in 1878, and he was elected an honorary
member of the Belgian Society of Painters in Water-Colours.
He was a brilliant draughtsman and a good colourist, though
he almost eschewed the use of transparent colours. The com-
position of his pictures was carefully studied, and some of
his works, such as The Pied Piper of Hamelin and Gilbert d,
Becket's Troth, are well known by the etchings. His art made
much impression on his contemporaries, and his influence for
good can be traced in the work of several of his followers.

Arthur Boyd Hqughton, born in 1836, was the son of a
Captain of H.M. Indian Navy. He at fust painted in oils,
but on subsequently obtaining an engagement to draw on
wood for Messrs. Dalziel, Brothers, he devoted himself almost
entirely to this branch of art. He worked occasionally for
the illustrated papers, but his designs are not characterised

226 WATER-COLOUR PAINTING IN ENGLAND.

by great accuracy or elegance. He was a rich and powerful
colourist, though he painted but little. He became an Asso-
ciate of the Old Water-Colour Society, in 1871, and died
November 22, 1875.

Frederick Walker, A.R.A., was born in Marylebone in
1840, and commenced the study of art by drawing at the
British Museum. He afterwards worked at Leigh's School
and at the Royal Academy. About this time he began to
draw on wood, and remained for three years with a wood-
engraver to perfect himself in this branch of art. An intro-
duction to Thackeray procured him work for the Cornhill
Magazine, and he was much engaged on the illustrations for
periodical literature. In 1864 he was elected an associate of
the Old Water-Colour Society, and in 1866 became a member.
He had already begun to paint in oil, and in 1863 he sent to
the Academy The Lost Path, a pathetic work representing a
poor woman carrying an infant through the snow. Many
of his finest drawings were executed about this time and
Walker was the only English artist who received a medal
for water-colours at the Paris Exhibition in 1867. In 1871
he became an associate of the Royal Academy, being the
first painter who attained Academy honours while still a
member of the Water-Colour Society. Towards the close of
his career he painted many fine works in oil, and these
are well known by the admirable etchings of R. W. Macbeth.
Walker's art was sui generis, and he seems to have evolved,
both in drawing, colouring, and execution, a method peculiarly
his own. Ruskin speaks thus of his works in a letter to
H. S. Marks : — " Their harmonies of amber colour and purple
are full of exquisite beauty in their chosen key ; their composi-
tion always graceful, often admirable, and the sympathy they

FREDERICK WALKER — JOHN FREDERICK LEWIS. 227

express with all conditions of human life most kind and true;
not without power of rendering character, which would have
been more recognized in an inferior artist because it would
have been less restrained by the love of beauty." Walker
died of consumption, June 5, 1875, at St. Fillan's, Perthshire,
and was buried at Cookham-on-the-Thames, a spot he loved.

John Frederick Lewis, R.A., was the eldest son of the
eminent engraver, and was born in London, July 14, 1805.
He studied at first under his father, and devoted himself
chiefly to animal painting, and later tried his hand at etching.
He first exhibited at the age of fifteen, when one of his
pictures at the British Institution was bought by Mr. G.
Garrard, A.R. A. At this time he was engaged by Sir Thomas
Lawrence, as assistant draughtsman, and a few years later
his works having attracted the attention of King George IV.
he was commissioned by His Majesty to paint deer and sport-
ing subjects at Windsor. As early as 1825 he published a
collection of his etchings. In 1827 he was elected an associate
of the Old Water-Colour Society, in 1829 he attained full
membership, and ultimately in 1855 he became the President.
This office he retained only for two years, as his retirement
took place early in 1858. He travelled much on the Continent,
visiting Italy and Spain, and producing during his absence many
fine works painted in water-colours in a large and bold manner,
rich in colour, and very varied in handling. His Spanish
drawings were subsequently lithographed and published in
1836 as Sketches in Spain. Aided by J. D. Harding he
also produced by means of lithography his Sketches ami
Drawings of the Alhambra, and some Illustrations of Constanti-
nople from drawings by Coke Smith were arranged and drawn
on stone by Lewis in 1838. In 1843 he proceeded to Cairo,

o. 2

228 WATER-COLOUR PAINTING IN ENC4LAND.

and remained in the East until 1851, when he married and
settled at Walton-on-Thames. His style of work about this
period was greatly altered j he adopted a most minute and
elaborate finish, combined with great depth and intensity of
colouring. He painted many Eastern subjects, and his works
attracted great attention. About 1854 he recommenced paint-
ing in oil, and in 1858 was elected an associate, and in 1865
a full member of the R-oyal Academy. Early in 1876 he
requested, in consequence of failing health, to be placed on the
retired list; and on the 15th of August of the same year he
died at Walton. His works which even in his lifetime com-
manded high prices have in recent years sold for very large
sums. One of. his drawings, School at Cairo, was bought for
£1,239 in Mr. Quilter's sale in 1875.

We have been enabled to reproduce his characteristic work
entitled A Halt in the Desert, one of the Ellison pictures in the
Historical Collection at South Kensington [No. 532]. Here we
have a caravan resting in the desert. Two camels are standing
in the foreground, the others are lying about ; the train of
finely painted animals and figures extends into the distance.
This is a good example of his later and more minute style of
execution, and shows how carefully he studied Nature on the
spot, it is dated 1853.

Samuel Palmer, born in 1805 in Newington, studied under
John Varley, and first exhibited as an oil painter at the Eoyal
Academy in 1819. He early made the acquaintance of John
Linnell, whose daughter he married in 1837, and he was
shortly after introduced by him to Blake, for whom he con-
ceived the most profound veneration. He lived for a time at
Shoreham, near Sevenoaks, painting rural scenes, being at that
period in delicate heath. He subsequently spent two years in

3
"Si

H N

i— ( S

SAMUEL PALMER -G. C. D. ROSSETTI.

Italy, and in 1843 was elected an associate of the Old Water-
Colour Society, and full member in 1855. He had a fine sense
of colour, and excelled in glowing effects of sunshine. He was
a great admirer of Virgil and of Milton, and drew many of his
themes from those poets' works. He was a member of the
Etching Club, and produced some highly-prized works. Palmer
resided for the latter part of his life at Reigate, and died there
on the 24th of May, 1881. He was one of the most poetical
painters of the modern water-colour school, and though he
rarely worked from Nature he had so stored his mind with her
varied aspects that he could represent her divers phases from
the resources of his memory. He chose the same class of sub-
jects in which Barret delighted ; but Palmer's sunsets differ
wholly from those of Barret, owing to their greater warmth
and glow. He produced great richness of effect by his method
of contrasting warm and cool colours throughout the surface of
his pictures, and he paid special attention to the selection and
preparation of his colours, so that they might properly assort
together and not injure one another by juxtaposition. During
the last years of his life he was engaged upon a series of etch-
ings to illustrate Virgil's Eclogues which he had himself trans-
lated. These have since been completed and published by his
son.

An important place, though not among the members of the
Societies, is justly due to —

Gabriel Charles Dante Rossetti, the eldest son of
an eminent Italian poet, who was born in London in
1828. He studied at Gary's, and later at the Schools
of the Royal Academy. His art, which was distinctly original,
was known chiefly to his immediate circle of admirers, as he
rarely exhibited, and lived in great retirement owing to ill

232 WATER-COLOUR PAINTING IN ENGLAND.

health. Rossetti was the mainstay of the Pre-Raphaelite school.
He was a splendid colourist, and affected a peculiar method of
drawing, but he had a strong sense of the beautiful, and many
of his works are imbued with deep poetical feeling. Rossetti
was, indeed, himself a poet of no mean order, and some of his
poems, such as The Blessed Damozel, are well known. His
first exhibited work is said to have been The Girlhood of ilve
Virgin, painted in 1849. For many years his pictures were
sent to the Hogarth Club. His favourite subjects were taken
from early Italian poetry and legendary lore. His works in
water-colours belong to his maturer years, dating from 1862
onwards. Certain of his later designs were distinguished by
mannerisms, which have been attributed to ill-health. He died
after a lingering illness at Birchington-on-the-Sea, April 8,
1882. Many of his works were exhibited at the Royal
Academy in the following winter.

Samuel Read was born at Needham Market, Suffolk, in
1815 or 1816, and was destined for the legal profession, but
he early turned his affection to art, and at five-and-twenty he
came to London and worked as a draughtsman on wood. In
1844 he was engaged on the staff of the Illustrated London
News, and acted as their special artist in the Crimea in 1853.
He occasionally sent works to the Royal Academy, and in
1857 was elected an associate and in 1880 a member of the
Old Water-Colour Society. He painted at first chiefly the
fine old buildings on the Continent, and was a most skilful
architectural draughtsman, but latterly he prod iced many
admirable landscapes. His death took place at Sidmouth,
May 6, 1883.

Alfred Pizzey Newton painted Scotch landscape scenery
with great ability, and was on more than one occasion en-

II. B. WILMS — THOMAS DANBY— BANDOLPB CALDECOTT. 233

trusted with commissions by Her Majesty the Queen. He
became in 1858 an associate and in 187!) a full member of the
Old Water-Colour Society. His death occurred at Rock
Ferry, near* Liverpool, on September 9, 1883.

Henry Brittan Willis, the son of an artist, was born
in Bristol about 1814. He first studied under his father,
who, finding art unremunerative, advised his son to enter a
merchant's office in New York. Young Willis however had to
relinquish his post owing to ill-health, and again took up art.
He practised first as a portrait painter in Bristol, but came to
London in 1843, and contributed to the Academy and other
exhibitions until 1862, when he joined the Old Water-Colour
Society, becoming a full member in the following year.
His best works were his drawings of animals, in which branch
of art he was highly proficient. He published in 1849 Studies
of Cattle and Rustic Figures. Willis died at Kensiugton,
January 17, 1884.

Thomas Danby, the son of the well-known Irish artist of
this name, was born, it is believed, .it Bristol, and early dis-
tinguished himself as a landscape painter of great power and
originality. Many years during his youth were spent on the
Continent, whither he had gone with his father in 1829. In
1841 the family returned to London, and young Danby,
though he at first painted in oil, afterwards made a name as
a water-colour painter. In 1867 he became an associate1 and
three years later a full member of the Old Water-Colour
Society. His Welsh somewhat ideal Landscapes, with their
quiet lakes and mountain scenery, were his happiest themes.
He died March 25, 1886.

Few artists o\* the modern school have more speedily
established a reputation than Randolph Caldeoott, who was

234 WATER-COLOUR PAINTING IN ENGLAND.

born at Chester in 1846, and educated at King Henry VII. 's
School in that city where he became head boy. He was at
first employed as a bank clerk at Whitchurch, Salop. From
thence he went to another bank at Manchester, and at that
time he began to draw for a local periodical. He settled in
London in 1872. He is said never to have had any art educa-
tion, and his talents as a book-illustrator first became widely
known when he published in 1875 his admirable drawings for
Washington Irving's Sketch- Booh. A year or two later he
at once gained the fancy of the public with his children's
picture-books, John Gilpin, The House that Jack Built, <tc.
He also supplied many designs for the Christmas numbers of
the Graphic, wherein his drawings of animals are inimitable. He
exhibited but rarely at the public galleries, and devoted nearly
all his time to book-illustration. He was however a member
of the New Water-Colour Society. He was an expert modeller,
and at the Royal Academy in 1876 he exhibited a bas-relief
of a Horse Fair in Brittany. His hunting scenes in water-
colours are admirably drawn, and he was also an excellent
colourist. A small collection of his drawings has been secured for
the Historical Collection at South Kensington. He struggled
bravely throughout life with an affection of the heart which ren-
dered movement, other than horse exercise, a matter of great
difficulty to him. He died in Florida, whither he had gone
to seek relief from his ailment, February 12, 1886, at the
early age of forty.

Philip Henry Delamotte, a son of William Delamotte,
mentioned in an earlier chapter, was the author of several
excellent works on water-colour painting, and was for thirty-
five years Professor of Drawing at King's College, London,
lie also taught drawing to the daughters of the Prince of

T. M. RICHARDSON W. GOODALL — F. TAVI.EK. 235

Wales. He was born at Sandhurst, April 17, 1821, and died
at Bromley, Kent, February 24, 1889.

Thomas Miles Richardson was a son of the water-colour
painter of the same name, whose memoir will be found on
page 152. He was born in 1813, and came to London after
painting for a while both in oil and water-colours in New-
castle, his birthplace. He was elected an associate of the Old
Water-Colour Society in 1843 and a full member in 1851.
He was a prolific contributor of landscape scenery to the
Gallery, painted at home and on the Continent. This he
treated in a bright and attractive style, with well-placed
groups of figures and animals. He died, after being for some
years in feeble health, on January 5, 1890.

Walter Goodall, born November 6th, 1830, studied at the
Government School of Design and at the Royal Academy,
and after exhibiting water-colour drawings at the Academy,
he was in 1853 elected an associate and in 1861 a member of
the Old Water-Colour Society. He painted scenes from rural
life with much taste and his colouring was simple and effective.
After being seized with paralysis about 1875 he had to give up
painting almost entirely, and his death took place at dapham,
near Bedford, in 1889.

Frederick Tayler, who svas born at Barham Wood, near
Elstree, on the 30th of April, 1801, was educated for his pro-
fession in Sass's Academy in Bloomsbury, became a student of
the Royal Academy, subsequently proceeded to Paris to work
under Horace Vernet, and went also to study in Home. While
in Paris he shared a studio with his friend and companion
Bonington, which had belonged to "Vernet. His first
picture, exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1830 Tin-
Band of tfie 2nd L\fe Guards was in oil, but in the

236 WATER-COLOUR PAINTING IN ENGLAND.'

following }rear he became an associate of the Old Water-
Colour Society, and in 1834 was elected a member. He was
made President of the Society, in succession to Lewis, in 1858,
and filled the office with distinction until 1871, when he
resigned in favour of Sir John Gilbert, but still continued to
paint with rare skill. After spending some time, as we have
seen, in France and Italy, he went to Scotland, and produced
some excellent pictures of Highland subjects. He was a good
horseman and a keen sportsman, and depicted animal subjects
with knowledge and enthusiasm. His dogs and horses were admir-
ably drawn, and his work elicited high praise from Ruskin,
who wrote in his Modern Painters : — " There are few drawings
of the present day that involve greater sensation of power
than those of Frederick Tayler. Every stroke tells, and the
quantity of effect obtained is enormous in proportion to the
apparent means." Though the context somewhat justifies
these very laudatory remarks, there can be no doubt that
this master of art criticism entertained a high opinion of
Tayler's ability. We are fortunate in being able to represent
him by one of the most vigorous of his studies of animals,
The Otter Hounds, a group of four dogs, probably portraits.
This fine work was presented by Mrs. Ellison to the Historical
Collection at Kensington [No. 544]. The brush-work deserves
to rank with that of Landseer, and the drawing is executed,
mainly in transparent colour, with a power and directness which
speak the hand of a true artist. Tayler delighted in hawking
and hunting scenes, he clothed his figures in the gay and ap-
propriate costumes of the past, and he was most happy in his
landscape backgrounds. His colouring is delicate and pure, and
he was able with apparently slight effort to give great breadth of
effect. He was a valued member of the Etching Club, and he

i— i

"<s>

. -

o
-r

►*8

PAUL JACOB NAFTEL. 239

worked diligently as a book-illustrator. Many of his
pictures have been engraved. Tayler died June •_!<>, 1889,
and was buried in Ilampstead Cemetery. His collection of
etchings and engravings, and also his remaining drawings and
sketches were sold at Christie's in the following year.

Paul Jacob Naftel, born in 1815, was a native of the
Channel Islands, and did not come to this country to reside
until 1870, previous to which time he had worked mainly as
a teacher. He became an associate of the Old Water-Colour
Society in 1850 and was elected a member in 1859. He was
much employed in teaching, but found time also to send
numerous drawings to the Exhibition. He delighted in the
landscape scenery of the Channel Islands, and he was greatly
addicted in his drawings to the use of body colour. His
death took place at Strawberry Hill in September 1891. His
only daughter, Miss Maud Naftel, was also an associate of
the Old Water-Colour Society.

CHAPTER XVI.

Collections of Water Colour Drawings in England — The South
Kensington Museum — Drawings by Constable and Mul-
ready — The Sheepshanks Collection — The Ellison Bequest —
The William Smith Bequest — The Historical Collection of
Water-Colour Drawings — The Print Room of the British
Museum — Water-Colour Drawings in the National Gallery
— Turner s " Liber Studiorum " — Drawings by De Wint
and Cattermole — The Gallery of British Art.

It may be useful, before we bring this concise account of
the art of water-colour painting to a close, to glance at the
principal collections of drawings in this country available for
public study, and to point out the nature of their contents,
and the manner in which they have been brought together.
We think that in this special branch of art we shall be
justified in giving the first place to the 'collections at the
South Kensington Museum.

The founder of this section of the Art Museum was Mr.
John Sheepshanks, who in 1857 presented his magnificent
gallery of pictures to the nation. A few drawings and
sketches were included with the oil paintings, and certain of
these studies are of peculiar interest to the art student,

SHEEPSHANKS COLLECTION AT SOUTH KENSINGTON. 241

because in many cases they indicate the steps by which the
painter thought out his subject and combined the various
incidents into a perfect whole. We have drawings of figures,
blots of colour to show the masses of light and shade, studies
of extremities, some of them carefully finished to serve the
artist when painting at the easel, and minute drawings to
show arrangements of drapery and other details. The collec-
tion of water-colour drawings by John Constable affords many
examples of these artists' studies, some of them of the utmost
value.

From the facility with which water-colours can be handled,
artists have always shown a preference for this medium for
their preliminary studies, and many of our most eminent oil
painters made an invariable practice of beginning their more
important works by a series of small sketches of this kind.
The author's father, in his introductory notes to the Catalogue
of the Water-Colour Paintings, says : "In view of the interest
which thus attaches to such studies it is to be hoped that
opportunities may hereafter occur of still further increasing
in this direction the value of Mr. Sheepshanks' gift by obtain-
ing as far as possible all the sketches and drawings for at
least a few of the principal pictures comprised in this national
collection."

Some such sketches were obtained from Mr. Mulready and
others, and from time to time the collection was added to, but
shortly after it was transferred to South Kensington it was
decided to form an historical series of paintings in water-
colours, to illustrate the progress of the art. That such
should bo the case was indeed Mr. Sheepshanks' expressed
intention in presenting during his lifetime his pictures to the
nation. His wish was that they should form the nucleus of a
national collection of works both in oil and water-colours.

242 WATER-COLOUR PAINTING IN ENGLAND.

He did not desire that his pictures should in any way be kept
apart, but that they should be merged into an " Historical
Series of Pictures by British Artists."

The first important donation of water-colour drawings was
the gift of Mrs. Ellison, of Sudbrooke Holme, in 1860, of
fifty-one fine works. This collection was expressly stated to
have been presented for public instruction and for the forma-
tion of the contemplated historical series, as also in order to
comply with the wishes of her late husband, who was a well
known connoisseur. At the death of Mrs. Ellison in May, 1873
the number was raised to 100 drawings by the selection of forty-
nine additional works, all of them of the greatest value and
importance. This series of drawings by Barret, Cattermole,
De Wint, Duncan, Copley Fielding, Haghe, Hunt, Lewis,
Mackenzie, Nash, Prout, Bobson, Tayler, Topham, and others,
was rich in those masters whose works occupied a prominent
place in public estimation. They were without exception large
and highly finished works, purchased in most cases from the
artists, and thus presented an admirable illustration of the
more recent practice of the art.

Following the acquisition of the first portion of Mrs.
Ellison's drawings came the liberal offer in 1871, by the late
Mr. William Smith, F.S. A., to allow a selection to be made from
his collection of water-colour paintings of any works produced
prior to 1806, as a gift towards the completion up to that
date of the historical collection. In this way eighty-six rare
and early drawings were added to the series, and by his will,
dated July 23rd, 1872, a further number of works were re-
ceived, raising the total donation to 222 drawings. Mr.
Smith's death took place in 1876, and during the last few
years of his life he rendered most valuable services in the
arrangement and selection of the water-colour collections, his

ELLISON BEQUEST — WILLIAM SMITH BEQUE 243

knowledge of the works of the early masters being alv.
available to the officers of the department. Among the m
prominent of the artists whose works were represented in the
"William Smith Gift and Bequest" were Atkinson, Callow,
Chambers, Cleveley, Cotman, Cox, Cristall, Daniell, Dayes,
Edridge, Copley Fielding, Francia, Girtin, Gresse, Grimm.
Eearne, Hills, Holland, Malton, Marlow, Mortimer, Nichol-
son, S. Prout, Hooker, Rowlandson, Turner, J. Varley,
Wheatley, and C. Wild. Coming at the time it did this
collection was of the greatest possible service in securing a
continuity of the series of drawings, and in enabling the
visitor to obtain a correct impression of the art from its origin
in this country down to the most recent times.

The Dixon bequest of water-colour drawings, to the number
of 170, was specially made to the Bethnal Green Branch
Museum, and it is not therefore included in the historical
series. Mr. Dixon died on December 7th, 1885. The works
were mostly of the more modern period, covered by the dona-
tions of Mrs. Ellison, but many tine drawings by artists not
represented at South Kensington may be studied with ad-
vantage at the East London Museum.

On the death of Miss [sabel Constable in 1888 the Ken-
sington Museum acquired no less than 403 sketehes in water-
colours, Indian ink, pencil, etc., by John Constable, K.A.. her
father. These are studies from nature, embracing a wide
variety of subjects, and most interesting as showing the
methods in which a most distinguished painter and one of
the greatest masters of landscape in the English School was
wont to prepare himself for his more important pictures by
the careful observation of minute details, out of doors.

The latest and by no means the least valuable acquisition to

this branch of the museum is a collection of fifty water-colour

r 2

244 WATER-COLOUR PAINTING IN ENGLAND.

drawings bequeathed by the late Sir Prescott G. Hewett, Bart.,
himself an amateur of no mean skill, and a great admirer of
the art. At the time we write these works have not yet been
publicly displayed at South Kensington.

We should not omit to mention that in the munificent
bequest in 1868 by the Rev. Chauncy Hare Townshend of Ins
library and art works there were many important English and
foreign water-colour drawings. Some fine water-colours are
comprised in the Jones collection, and the bequest of Mr.
J. M. Parsons in 1870 contained forty-seven water-colour
drawings, some of them by eminent artists.

The series of works, made up to a great extent of the fore-
going benefactions has been from time to time supplemented
by the judicious purchase of representative drawings, both of
the earlier masters and also of contemporary artists, and the
" Historical Collection " displayed in the three galleries of the
South Kensington Museum furnishes the student with a com
prehensive view of the art in all its different phases, from the
tempera painting of Zuccarelli in the early part of the last
century to a small but interesting selection of the works of
the recently deceased Randolph Caldecott. The drawings are
arranged grouped together under the names of the painters as
far as possible in strict historical sequence, and seen in this
way it is easy to trace the development of this branch of art
from its origin in the early tinted works of the topographers
down to the richly-coloured drawings of the present day.
There is perhaps a certain want of scale and proportion in the
representation, due in some degree to the manner in which
the collection has been brought together, but this is an evil
which time will dispel, as the superabundant drawings are
being gradually handed over to the section of the museum
entrusted with the circulation of art works to the provincial

PRINT ROOM OF THE BRITISH MUSEUM. '245

galleries, and the gaps are being steadily filled by means of
purchases or donations.

Second only in importance to the collections we have just
described is the department of drawings and sketches attached
to the Print Room of the British Museum. The foundation
of that collection is due to the successive bequests of Sir Hans
Sloane, the Rev. C. M. Cracherode, and Mr. Payne Knight,
and the gift of Mr. W. Fawkener. Among the donations of
more recent date are the invaluable drawings of David Cox,
Miiller, and Turner, presented by Mr. John Henderson, the
large series of works by her father, John Constable, R.A.,
bequeathed by Miss Isabel Constable, and benefactions by
Miss Moore, Mrs. Roget, Mr. S. Calvert, and others.

In Mr. Sidney Colvin's preface to the recently issued Guide
to the Exhibition of Drawings and Sketches it is pointed out
that — " In developing and maintaining the collection by pur-
chase, the principle adopted has been to make it as complete
for purposes of historical study as means and opportunities
allowed. With that view there have been added from time
to time specimens by the chief masters of the Continental
Schools at all periods of their history, and particularly by
every hand of note in the British School ; so that no name
mentioned in the annals of our native art, or at any rate as
few as possible, may remain unillustrated. As a genera]
rule these specimens are in the form of direct studies from,
nature, or first sketches for compositions in which the
artist's individuality often most intimately reveals itself,
rather than in that of finished works ; but this rule is
subject to exceptions, especially in the cases of British water
colour painters."

The catalogue of the collection is in manuscript, and includes
all the engravings, prints, and drawings of the English School,

246 WATER-COLOUR PAINTING IN ENGLAND.

so that the student of water-colour art has to select the names

of masters dispersed through many folio volumes, no special

classification of water-colour drawings having as yet been

attempted.

The water-colour drawings belonging to the Print Room of

the British Museum are contained in large book boxes arranged
round the upper part of the gallery. The boxes are placed in
a horizontal position, and as a rule contain from fifteen to
twenty-five drawings, mounted on cardboard and carefully
named and labelled. They are thus preserved from all dangers
of fading and are very accessible for purposes of study, though
they cannot be seen by the public so readily as they would be
if framed and arranged on the walls of a picture gallery. This
is to some extent atoned for by the display of a small selection
of the works in the so-called " Print and Drawing Gallery."
Here a representative series of works have been placed behind
glass in wall and desk cases, giving an apercu of the entire
subject " from the period of the revival of the art of painting
in Europe, i.e., about 1400 a.d. until our own day, the art of
living artists being excluded." A considerable section of the
works here shown belong to continental schools, or to a period
prior to that of which we have undertaken to treat, but the
student having in his hand the excellent Guide, to which we
have already referred, will here find a most valuable illustra-
tion of the art, conveniently displayed for the purpose of
reference and study. More especially is the art of the end
of the last century to be here seen to advantage in the works
of Flaxman, Stothard, Downman, Ibbetson, Rowlandson, Mor-
land, James Ward, Chinnery, Hearne, and Edridge. Passing
on to the modern period we find a comprehensive series of
sketches by P. S. Munn, Constable, Reynolds, De Wint, Prout,
Cox, J. F. Lewis, Calvert, and others ; the group of book illus-

WATER-C0L0UB PAINTINGS IN' NATIONAL GALLEBY. 217

trators — H. K. Browne, Doyle, Leech, and Caldecott being
here well represented.

Though water-colour drawings have not been made a special
feature at the National Gallery, the mere fact of the po^ -
sion of the grand series of sketches bequeathed by Turner will
render this collection most attractive to the student of this
branch of art. We wish we were able to state that the Turner
drawings were well seen and well lighted in the galleries at
Trafalgar Square, but it is only on a fine bright day that they
can be properly studied in the four small rooms devoted to
them in the eastern basement — we beg pardon, " ground-floor
rooms." Foremost in importance among these works are the
fifty-one drawings in sepia for the Liber Studiorum. This
work, as is well known, was undertaken by Turner to emulate
Claude's Liber Veri talis. The drawings here shown wore after-
wards outlined on soft plates and aqua-tinted, many of them
by Turner himself, and were published in numbers from the
year 1807 until 1819. With these works are exhibited a
number of early sketches, arranged as far as practicable in
chronological order and classified under three periods. More
than 200 sketches are here shown, ranging from finished
drawings to the merest pencil outlines, some of them on both
sides of the paper.

In the rooms on the western side of the building are the
twenty-three drawings by I >e Wint and ten by Cattermole,
bequeathed by the late Mr. John Henderson, and with them
is plaeed the fine drawing by Louis Haghe, the Council of
War at Courtray, the only water-colour, we believe, in the
Vernon Collection. The De Wint drawings are for the
most part sketches, but three or four of them are highly
finished works, notably the Bray on the Thames, for which
also the first sketch is here preserved, the Bridge over the

248 WATER-COLOUR PAINTING IN ENGLAND.

Wytham, and Lincoln Cathedral. In a second room are some
studies by Gainsborough, Cattermole, Stothard, and others,
and a few drawings recently presented by Miss Gordon.

This completes the record of our national treasures of this
art, so peculiar to our own country, but even while we write
there are rumours of yet another Gallery of British Art ; a sort of
Luxembourg Palace, in which are to be brought together under
one roof the collections now dispersed over so wide an area.

The plan has on the face of it many advantages and much
to commend it, but it is we fear not likely to see fruition.
Some of the collections would not be parted with to any
foreign body, however constituted, without a struggle, and
some of the works of art cannot be dissociated from their
present habitat without doing violence to the express direc-
tions of generous donors. If Parliament were willing to inter-
fere and to set aside the wishes of a Sheepshanks or a
Townshend, it would not be likely to produce a good effect
in the minds of other possible donors of art treasures, and in
our opinion it is better to let well alone and to leave matters
as they are. Still we hope that before long steps may be
taken to strengthen and improve the representation of British
art in our national collections. Much has been done in the
past by private liberality, but much remains to be done by
the State if the fine arts of this country are to be adequately
represented. Other nations have shown us what is possible,
and wealthy England ought not to be worse off in this respect
than are her neighbours. It must be remembered that each
year of delay means increased difficulty and increased cost in
obtaining fine examples of the art of the masters of our earlier
School. Let us hope that ere the present century comes to an
end the works of English painters may be fairly studied in a
truly " National Gallery," specially set apart for the purpose.

CHAPTER XVII.

Materials used by Water-Colour Artists — Permanence of Water-
Colour Drawings — Experiments made — Reports from a
Committee of Experts — The Stability of Single Colours an 1
Mixed Colours — General Conclusion.

Having in the foregoing account of the rise and progress
of water-colour painting attempted to describe the development
of the art, and to give a few particulars concerning the lives
of some of its chief exponents in this country, we propose in
this final chapter to glance at the materials used by artists in
the past, and to discuss very briefly the vexed question of
the permanence of water-colour drawings, a matter of vast
importance to all who are interested in this branch of
painting.

The artist's palette in the time of Hilliard was an extremely
limited one, and consisted of certain pigments, which Salmon,
in his Polygraphice, writing, it is true, much later — sums up as
seven in number, "white, black, red, green, yellow, blue, and
brown," but he proceeds to show many varieties of eaeh
colour. Thus he tells us the chief whites are " Bpodium,
ceruse, white lead, Spanish white, egg-shells burnt" ; in blacks
he distinguishes "hartshorn burnt, ivory burnt, cherrystones

250 WATER-COLOUR PAINTING IN ENGLAND.

burnt, lamp-black, charcoal, sea-coal, verditer burnt, mummy
burnt " ; he enumerates eight reds, six greens, eight yellows,
four blues, viz. " ultramarine, indico, smalt, and blue bice,"
and six browns. Salmon points out, however, that " Ver-
million, verdigriese, orpiment, and some others are too coarse
and gritty to be used in water-colours unless they be purified
and prepared, and turnsole, litmose blue, roset, brasil,
logwood, and saffron are more fit for washing prints than
curious limning." Salmon wrote about the close of the
seventeenth century, and his directions for limning and
painting are very precise. It is clear that at that date the
painter had to rely upon the home preparation of all his
colours, and if he followed the instructions given in the
Polygrct'pMce, in the eighteenth chapter of the second book, for
each of them, he must have spent a great part of his time in
the work. Here, for instance, is the mode of preparing " blue
bice : grind it with clean water as small as you can, then put
it into a shell, and wash it thus : put as much water as will
fill up the vessel or shell, and stir it well, let it stand an hour,
and the filth and dirty water cast away ; then put in more
clean water ; do thus four or five times. At last put in gum-
arabick water, somewhat weak, that the bice may fall to the
bottom ; pour off the gum- water and put more to it ; wash it
again, dry it, and mix it with weak gum-water (if you would
have it rise of the same colour), but with a stiff water of
gum-lake if you would have it a most perfect blue ; if a light
blue, grind it with a little ceruse ; but if a most deep blue,
add water of litmose."

In the third book of this curious treatise are very minute
directions for " washing landskips," and concerning the
necessary covins for the work.

MATERIALS USED BY WATER-COLOUR ARTTS'I "g. 25 I

Thus we are told : " For the saddest hill* use umber burnt ;

for the lightest places put yellow to the burnt amber ; for oilier
hills lay copper green, thickened on the fire or in the sun.
For the next hills farther off mix yellow berries with copper
green : let the fourth part be done with green verditure ; and
the furthest and faintest juices with blew bice, or blew verditure
mingled with white, and shadowed with blew verditure in the
shadows indifferent thick." Similar rules follow for highways,
rocks, water, buildings, &c.

In the Art of Drawing and Painting in Water-Colours,
published in 1770, the writer still keeps to the traditional
seven colours, and names them as " white, yellow, orange, red,
purple, blue, and black " ; he also gives rules for their pre-
paration, almost as cumbrous as those of Salmon ; but it has
been pointed out that in 1776, Mat Darley, the well-known
engraver and print-seller, included in his advertisements,
"Transparent colours for staining drawings." This is, we
think, the origin of the artists' colourman's trade. A few
years later, the Messrs. Reeves took in hand the preparation
of colours in cakes for artists' use, and in 1781 the greatei
silver palette of the Society of Arts was awarded to Messrs.
Thomas and William Reeves for their "improved water-colours."
These early cake colours were very hard and difficult to rub,
but the French manufacturers soon found that by grinding up
the colours with honey, a soft pigment could be produced,
which they termed " couleur de mid," and which could be
preserved in this condition for a lengthened period, and
thus arose the so-called "moist colours" of our English
makers. We believe that the Messrs. Roberson, of Long
Acre, were the first to introduce these colours, but for
many years the cake colours of Messrs. Reeves held their

252 WATER-COLOUR PAINTING IN ENGLAND.

own, and were used by the whole fraternity of artists in
this country.

About 1832, Messrs. "Wmsor and Newton employed metal
tubes for the moist colours, similar to those used for oil
paints, and numerous improvements in the preparation and
manufacture of colours took place. Many artists introduced
special tints, and as new colouring matters were discovered
the range of the palette was greatly extended. In some
recent experiments, noted in the Report on the Action of Light
on Water-Cohmrs, thirty-nine separate pigments are enumer-
ated, and by the mixture of these to produce secondary tints
an almost infinite gradation can be secured. The mixture
with sugar and honey gave rise to certain inconveniences,
especially for sketching out of doors from Nature, as it
exposed the artist and his work to the attention of flies,1 and
the adoption of this vehicle, and even the employment of gum
for consolidating the cakes, rendered the painting liable to
suffer from damp and mould. In recent times the use of
glycerine in place of sugar has, we believe, rendered the
colours free from this danger.

In the early days of the art the only paper obtainable was
of very inferior quality and in small sheets. For large and
important works it was therefore necessary to join several
sheets together, and this led to the need of unsightly seams.
Most of the paper was of the quality known as "wire-laid,"
prepared for writing in ink, and folded into quires, and here
again the mark of the fold was often a cause of disfigurement
to the drawing, as it caused the colour to soak in more
abundantly, and thus produced a dark stain. Girtin, as we have

1 To guard against this the author of Art's Companion, published in
1749, advocated che use of colo^uintida.

PAPER USED BY WATER COLOUR ARTISTS. 253

seen, used this kind of paper, and Turner also employed a
somewhat similar paper in his earlier work. Subsequently a
common white cartridge paper was prepared for artists' use,
and was largely employed; but the size on this description of
paper yielded to the washing process advocated by Paul
Sandby, and the surface was speedily destroyed. Early in the
present century very considerable improvements in the manu
facture of paper were introduced by Messrs. Creswick, Messrs.
Whatman, and other makers, and a hand-made u vellum paper,"
with a good rough surface and abundance of size, capable of
being supplied in large sheets, furnished the artist with a
reliable material on which to work, and did excellent service to
the progress of the art. This paper would "take the colour"
well as it flowed from the brush, and retain it until it dried
with lustre and sharpness at the edges of the wash. There was
none of the absorbency, due to a deficiency of size, inherent in
the earlier descriptions of paper, and the artist could lay in his
skies with bold washes and work with a freedom impossible in
the case of cartridge paper. Messrs. Creswick moreover pro
duced sheets of uniformly toned paper, and papers in various
qualities and textures to suit the requirements of the pro-
fession. The earlier papers suffered much from defect > in
the rags and other substances employed in their manufacture ;
spots of iron-mould gave rise to ugly stains and blotches, some
of which did not become manifest until the work was com-
pleted, and the artist was, so to speak, at the mercy of the
paper-maker. So much was this the ca-M\ that Raskin, in one
of his Manchester lectures, advocated that the Government
should undertake the manufacture of a perfectly pure paper
made from linen rags of the highest possibl» quality, and
should stamp each sheet so made.

254 WATER-COLOUR PAINTING IN ENGLAND.

Harding had a certain description of hard-grained cartridge
paper specially made for him by Messrs. Whatman, and this was
marked with his initials J. D. H., impressed at one corner in
cursive handwriting, but generally the water-mark of one
of the makers we have named is regarded as a sufficient proof
of excellence.

The beautiful art of the water-colour painter is thus, as we
have seen, liable to many risks from defective pigments and
imperfectly made paper, though in both respects the materials
have in recent times been vastly improved ; but within the
past few years grave doubts have been publicly expressed
concerning the durability of water-colour paintings, and to
allay public apprehension, as also to elicit the best scientific
evidence upon this question, the Lords of the Committee of
Council on Education, in April, 1886, requested Dr. Russell,
F.R.S., and Captain Abney, R.E., F.R.S., to carry out an
exhaustive series of experiments on the action of light on
water-colour drawings. Shortly afterwards a resolution of the
Royal Society of Painters in Water-Colours was received,
urging " the desirability in the interests of water-colour
painters of the appointment of a water-colour painter in
association with Dr. Russell and Captain Abney in the work
of investigating the effects of light of various kinds upon
water-colour pigments." On receipt of this memorial, a
committee of artists was appointed to act with these gentle-
men, which committee consisted of Sir F. Leighton, Bart.,
P.R.A., Mr. L. Alma Tadema, R.A., Mr. Armstrong, Mr.
Sidney Colvin, Mr. Frank Dillon, Mr. Carl Haag, Sir James
D. Linton, Mr. E. J. Poynter, R.A., and Mr. Henry WalUs.
These gentlemen held four meetings previous to the issue of
the first Report in June, 1888,

REPORT ON THE PERMANENCY OF WATER-COLOUR*. 255

This first Report deals with the physical effects of light on
water-colour paintings, the investigation of the nature of the
chemical changes involved being deferred to a second Report.
The Blue-book is divided into three sections. Part I., intro-
ductory, deals with the optical properties of pigments and the
different characters of light to which they may be exposed.
The quality and character of the light in a picture gallery is
discussed, and compared with the light from a clouded sky and
with direct sunlight. It is pointed out that pictures are as a
rule protected from direct sunlight but the greater part of the
light which enters a room is reflected sunlight from the clouds.
Of course a considerable proportion of the illumination of a
gallery is due to the sky and this light is bluer than reflected
or diffused sunlight. In top-lighted galleries more of this
blue light reaches the pictures than in side-lighted apartments.
The artificial illumination may consist either of gaslight or
electric-lighting (arc or incandescent). The character and effect
of each variety of light had to be carefully ascertained. As the
result of photometric experiments, the nature of which is fully
described, the Reporters tell us that " when the sun was Bhining
for 500 hours the pigments (used as tests) received blue light
equal to 1,875 hours of that of a blue sky fully illuminated when
the sun shone on them. Besides this, the pigments received 2< N »
hours of blue sky towards sunset when the colours were in the
shade which may be taken as about equal to 50 hours of aver-
age sky-light illumination" . . . Making certain deductions
for degraded sunlight and adding for the hours of light when
the sun was not shining, it is estimated that "the pigments
received a total illumination equivalent to 2,225 hours of
average blue sky, which is made up of the 1,875 hours, the 50
hours and the 300 hours." The experiments were carried on

256 WATER-COLOUR PAINTING IN ENGLAND.

until the pigments tested had received the equivalent of 10,800
hours of the blue sky-light. Measurements were then under-
taken to estimate what amount of this blue sky-light would
have penetrated to pictures hanging on the walls of a top-
lighted gallery, and it was decided that by " the exposure of
a picture inside the gallery," it would receive " about T\^ of
that given to the pigments during the same time." But after
making allowance for diminished light in the autumn and
winter (the experiments took place from May to August), it is
estimated that " it would have taken 100 years in the gallery
in question to have arrived at the same degree of fading as
that to which the pigments had arrived up to August, 1886."
Further in order to secure the same bleaching effects as were
obtained in the whole period of these colour tests, it would be
necessary to expose the pigments for 480 years in the South
Kensington galleries. To obtain corresponding effects from
gaslight they must have been exposed continuously for 9,600
years.

The Second Part contains the description and results of ex-
periments with various colours. For this purpose the moist
colours of one firm were employed ; the colours were used
singly and as a mixture of two or more colours. The paper used
was that of Whatman. The colours were applied in super-
imposed washes, eight in number, giving a scale of shades
from 1 to 8. The test slips were eight inches long and two
inches wide, and were introduced into glass tubes open at each
end. Two strips cut from the same sheet were introduced
into each tube, the lower one being protected from the light
by a piece of American cloth tightly bound round the tube.
The exposure lasted from August 14, 1886, to March, 1888.
Certain colours vanished completely, such as carmine, crimson

EXPEEIMENT8 ON WATEB-C01 l

lake, and scarlet lake ; others faded or changed The following

table slu.ws approximately the order of instability of the single
colours : —

Carmine.
Crimson Lake.
Purple Madder.
Scarlel Lake.
Payne's Grey.
Naples Yellow.
Olive ( rreen.
Indigo.

Brown Madder.
Gamboge.
Vandyke Brown.
Brown Pink.
Indian Yellow.

Cadmium Yellow.
Leitche's Blue.
Violet Carmine.

Purple Carmine.
Sepia.
Aureolin.
Bose Madder.
Permanent Blue.
Antwerp Blue.
Madder Lake.
Vermilion.
Emerald Green.
Limit Umber.

Yellow Ochre.
Indian Red.
Venetian Red.
Burnt Sienna.
Chrome Yellow.
Lemon Yellow.
Raw Sienna.
Terra Verte.
Chromium Oxide.
Prussian Blue.
Cobalt.
French Blue.
Ultramarine Ash.

The thirteen colours in the third column showed no change

In addition to the single colours 34 sets of mixtures were
tested, and of these only three remained from lii>t to lasi un-
changed, although six of the mixtures which contained Prussian
blue regained their original colours on being placed in the
dark for six weeks.

Similar experiments, the results of which are given, were con-
ducted with slips in absolutely dry air-tight tubes, in tubes
filled with moist air, and in an atmosphere of moi^t hydrogen
gas. Investigations were also carried out with the colours in
vacuo ; in this latter case nearly all the colours remained un-
changed. Experiments were further made on the effect of the
electric are light and on the action of heat ; also concerning the
results of exposure to the products of combustion, at a
temperature of 82° Fahr. Mixtures with Chinese white were
likewise tested in various ways, and certain colours were
exposed to the effects of light passing through red, green, and
blue glasses. A few selected colours were also mixed with

258 WATER-COLOUR FAINTING IN ENGLAND.

oxgall to ascertain its effect, but in no case did it appear to

have any any injurious action. The colours were also sub-
mitted to the action of the ordinary diffused light of a
dwelling-room, when the fading action was of course much less
apparent.

In their general conclusions the authors of the Report state
that mineral colours are far more stable than vegetable colours,
and that the presence of moisture and oxygen is in most cases
essential for a change to be effected. " It may be said that
every pigment is permanent when exposed to light in vacuo,
and this indicates the direction in which experiments should
be made for the preservation of water-colour drawings." It is
pointed out that " the effect of light on a mixture of colours
which have no direct chemical action on one another is that
the unstable colour disappears and leaves the stable colour
unaltered appreciably."

The authors state that since it is the blue light which causes
the fading, it might be thought that for the glazing of sky-
lights a glass of a slightly yellow tint should be adopted, but
it is pointed out that in ordinary diffused sunlight this would
entail an alteration in the brilliancy of the blues in a picture
and a change in their tone.

The Third Part of the Report treats of the measurement of
the intensity of light reflected from pigments — a subject of
incidental importance in these investigations — and it contains
several other appendices, and graphic diagrams.

The results of the inquiry may be regarded as, upon the
whole, reassuring and satisfactory to the admirers of the art of
the water-colour painter. If ordinary precautions are taken to
protect the drawings from direct sunlight, they are at any rate
quite as permanent as the works of. the oil-painter, and they

NECESSARY PRE< \ UTIONS.

are in truth exposed to fewer risks than his from treacherous
vehicles or defective varnishes. Rejecting a few colours which
have long been known to be unstable, and restricting himself
to those whose, permanence has stood the test of time, the
water-colour painter can produce works which will endure for
ages to delight the future art lover and bear evidence of hie
skill as an artist.

Having thus very briefly traced the history of the rise and
progress of water-colour painting in this country, and having
brought before our readers a few brief details of the lives of
some of the principal artists who have practised it; and
having further attempted to show the changes which have
from time to time occurred in the methods of working, we
may conclude with the hope that the success of our English
artists in the past may induce many generations of painters
in the future to emulate their example and to enrich our
collections with specimens of this beautiful art.

INDEX

Abney, Captain, his Report on

( 'clour, 254
Ackermann, K., 86, 109, 136, 151
Alexander, W,, 10, 16

Accompanies Lord Macartney's
mission, 15
Allport, Henry C, 73, 74, 140
Angell, Helen Cordelia (Miss Cole-
man), 221
Antiquarian researches and their in-
fluence on water-colours, 9
Antwerp Cathedral, by F. Mackenzie,

136
Archer, John Wykeham, 215
Arnold, Mrs. (H. Gouldsmith), 140
Associated Artists in AVater -Colours,
75, 119
Change iu title of the Society, 75
Atkinson, John Augustus, 69, 117, 243

Backhuysen, 7

Ball, Plymouth artist, 213

Barber, Charles, 69, 118

Barker, llobert, 114

Barker, Thomas (of Bath), 147

Barker, Thomas Edward, 1^2

Barnard, F. P., 38

Barralet, artist, 90

Barret, George, 66, 68, 72, 73, 78, 101,
231, 242

Basire, engraver, 51

Beckford, Mr., patron of art, 15, 25

Bi eehey, Sir W., 48

Bennett, W. J., 74, 75

Bentley, Charles, 201

Bettes, 3, 5

Bewick, Thomas, 155

Blake, "William, 51, 76

Blaremberg, his palace garden, 8

Bleaching effect of sunlight on water-
colours, 255-258

Bone, 11. P., 7'">

Boningtou, Richard Parkes, 111, 235

Bouvier, Augustus Jules, 219
Bowles, publisher, 46
Branwhite, Charles, 200
Bright, Henry, 217
British Luxembourg, 248

Museum Collection, 24o, 21(1

National Gallery, 247
Britton, John, F.S.A., 167, 184, 189
Brookbank, Mrs. (Miss Scott), 220
Brooks (assumed name of Turner), 59
Browne, H. K. (Phiz;, 247
Bunbury, 152
Burgess, John, 200
Byrne, Anne Frances, 70, 106
Byrne, John, 107
Byrne, William, 106, 148

Caldecott, Paxdolph, 233, 2 i 1, 24/

Callow, John, 202, 243

Calvert, 2 Iti

Campagna, / 7. w in, by Cozens, i'7

Campion, George B., 214

Carisbrook Castle, by Hearne, 2;!

Cattermole, George, 189-193, 217. 248

Cattermole, Kit-hard, 189

Cattle in a Meadow, by Chalon, 111

Cellini and the l\<>bbt rs, by Catter-
mole, 191

Century of Painters, 5, 29, 60, 106,
L32, 1 12, 174, 1S6

('halo:., Alfred Edward, B.A.,75, 110

chalon, John James, K.A.. 68,69, :i,
109,118

Chambers, George, 198, 243

Chase, John, 21 I

( hinese Canal Set n< ,by Alexandi

Chionery, 246

Chisholm, Alexander, L83

Cipriani, 48, 50

Classic Composition, by Barret, 82
( Uaude Lorrain, 58
Clennell, Luke, 69, L55
Oleveley, John, 47, 243

264

INDEX.

Clevely, Kobert, 48
Coleman, Miss H. C, 221
Coleman, W. S., 221
Colour, lack of, in early drawings, 11
tests, 258
remains unchanged in vacuo, 257,

258
measurements of, 256
Colvin, Sidney, his Guide to the

British Museum collections, 245
Constable, John, R.A., 26, 58, 245

His Bequest, 58, 245, 246
Constable, Miss Isabel, 243, 245
Cooke, Bernard, 145
Cooper, miniatures by, 5, 9
Corbaux, Fanny, 220
Cotman, John Sell, 156, 218, 243
Cottage at Corwen, Monmouth, by

Dayes, 23
Cox, David, 69, 72, 75, 76, 128, 205,

216, 245, 246
Cox, David, junior, 201
Cozens, Alexander, 25
Cozens, John R., 12, 15, 25, 30, 53, 58
Creswick's, Messrs., drawing papers,

253
Criddle, Mrs. H., 221
Cristall, Joshua, 66, 68, 72, 73, 74, 81,

99, 126, 243
Crome, John, 156, 160

Danby, F., A.R.A., 200

Danby, Thomas, 233

Daniell, W., 243

Darley, Mat., 251

Dayes, E., 10, 12, 20, 29, 30, 243

Describes early methods of paint-
ing, 12
Dean, Hugh, 98

Deer in Knowle Park, by Hills, 85
Delamotte, Philip Henry, 234
Delamotte, William, 68, 110
De Wint, Peter, 69, 119, 170, 241,

246, 247
Dixon bequest to the Bethnal Green

Museum, 243
Dodgson, George Haydock, 177, 224
Dorrell, Edmund, 69, 71, 117
Dorrell, Miss Jane, 118
Downman,246
Doyle, R., 247

Drawings at the British Museum, 246
Dudley Gallery, 179
Duncan, Edward, 177, 223, 242

Durham : Evening, by Robson, 164

Du Sart, Dutch painter, 7

Dutch School represented in British

Museum, 8
Dutch Vessel and Boats, by S. Owen,

145
Dyce collection at South Kensington,

25,26

Early methods of painting, 9

Edridge, Henry, A.R.A., 30, 152, 169,
243, 246

Effects of light on colour, 255-257

Ellison bequest, 242

Essex, Richard Hamilton, 183

Evans, William, 197

Exhibition of Paintings in Water-
Colours, 76

Fahey, James, 216

Field, Mrs. T. H., 74

Fielding, A. V. Copley, 69, 71, 72,

74, 126, 242, 243
Finch, Francis Oliver, 182
Fisher, 30

Fitzgibbon, Lord, 43
Flatman, 5

His method of working, 6
Flaxman, 246
Francia, Frangois Thomas Louis, 30,

141, 143, 146, 243
Freebairn, Robert, 68, 113
Frossley, court painter, 6
Fyt, Dutch painter, 7

Gainsborough, Thomas, R.A., 248
Gallery of British Art, New, 248
Garrard, G., A R. A., 227
Gastineau, Henry, 74, 181
General Conclusions in the Official

Report on Water Colours, 258
General Exhibition of Water-Colour
Paintings at the Egyptian Hall,
178
Carried on by the Dudley So-
ciety, 179
George Morland, portrait of, by Row-

landson, 149
Gilbert, Sir John, R.A., 236
Gillies, Margaret, 221
Gilpin, Rev. W., 44
Gilpin, Sawrey, E.A.,43
Gilpin, William Sawrey, 44, 66, 6S,
70, 73, 90

INDEX.

265

Girtin, John, 34, 37

Girtin, Thomas, 11, 30, 31, 52, 53,

113, 146, 245

Cartridge-paper preferred by

him, 33
Travelled with Mr. James Moore,
34
Glennie, Arthur, 201
Glover, John,£6, 68, 70, 71 , 72, 105, 125
Goodall, Walter, 235
Gouldsmith, Harriet (Mrs. Arnold),

72, 140
Green, Benjamin R., 216
Green, James, 75, 147
Green, Mrs. Mary, 75, 147
(xresse, John Alexander, 48, 243
Grimm, S. H., 46, 243
Gros, Baron, 142

Guard Room, by Louis Haghe, 209, 21 1
Guash drawing on Continent, 8, 46
Guide to Exhibition of Drawings and

Sketches at British Museum, 245

Hague, Louis, 208, 242, 247

Haldimand, Mrs., her album, 164

Halt in the Desert, by J. F. Lewis, 228,
229

Hamilton, William, R.A., 43

Harding, J. D., 74, 193, 194, 227, 254

Harrison, Mary, 219

Havell, Robert, 223

Havell, William, 66, 68, 72, 101, 170,
223

Haydocko, R., 1, 4, 5

His Tract on Painting, 1
His description of tempera paint-
ing, 3

Haydon, B. R., 167

Hayes, Edward, 217

Hayes, Michael Angelo, 217

Heaphy, Thomas, 68, 69, 71, 108, 220

Hearne, Thomas, 23, 58, 243, 246

Heath, Janus, engraver, 118

Henderson, John, 123

Bequest to British Museum, 247

Hewett, Sir Preseott G., his bequest
of water-colour drawings, 244

Hilliard, N., 1,3,5,6,249

Hills, Robert, 66, 68, 72, 82, 164, 170,
213

Hilton, W., K.A., 120

Historical collection at South Ken-
sington, 'J I I

Hogarth Club, 232

Holland, James, 200, 245
Holland, Water-colour painting in, 7
Holmes, J., 72, 74, 139
Holworthy, James, 66, 68, 72, 102
Houghton, Arthur Boyd, 225
Hudson, 44

Huet-Villiers, Francois, 75, 142
Hunt, William Henry, 170, 242

Ibbetson, J. C, 16, 49, 246
Institute of Painters in Water-
Colours, 179

Jackson, Samuel, 200
Jenkins, Joseph John, 177, 223
Johnson, Henry John, 216

Kalffman, Angelica, 50
Kearney, William Henry, 213

Landseer, Sir Edwin, R.A., 193, 230

Landscape with Lake, by Varley, 95

Laporte, G. H., 213

Laporte, John, 75, 147

Lawrence, Sir Thomas, P.R.A., 227

Lee, William, 214

Leech, John, 247

Leitch, William Leighton, 215

Leslie, 0. R., R.A., 26, 26

Lewis, John Frederick, R.A., 227. 242,
246

Limming, a species of tempera paint-
ing, 4

Linnell, John, 72, 135, 228

Little Gleaners, by Wheatley, 40. 41

Liverpool Institute of Art, 118

Llangollen Bridge, by Gresse, 49

Loftiiouse, Mary (Miss Forster), 221

Lundgreu, Egron S.,206

Macbkth, R. W.,226

Mackenzie, Frederick, 72, 130, 242

Macready. 128

Magdalen liridae and Tower, by

Turner. 63

Malton, T., 12, 243

Eleanor Cross at Jf'altham, 12
Mantegna, A., Triumphs of Julius
( \rsar, I

Harlow, W„ 46, 243

.Miniature painting, 9

The Klizaln than School, 9
Miniature room at the Royal Aca-
demy, 65

266

INDEX.

Mixtures of colours tested, 257

Moel Siabod, by Miiller, 205

Mole, John Henry, 218

Monk, The,- by W. H. Hunt, 174,

Frontispiece
Monkhouse, W. O, 38, 142
Monro, Dr., aids Girtin and other

young artists, 23, 30, 93, 100, 126.

142, 145, 155, 156, 170
Mont St. Michel, by D. Eoberts, 186,

187
Mounts for water-colour drawings, 11
Morland, George, 50, 151, 246]
Mortimer, J. H., A.R.A., 40, 44, 243
Miiller, William James, 200, 202, 216,

217
Mulready's studies at South Ken-
sington, 246
Munn, Paul Sandby, 68, 71, 107, 118,

246
Murray, Elizabeth, 220

Naftel, Maud, 239

Naftel, Paul Jacob, 239

Nash, architect, 109

Nash, Frederick, 69, 76, 115, 242

Nash, Joseph, 193

Nasmyth, Alexander, 146, 14S

National Gallery Collections, 247

Drawings by Cattermole and

De Wint, 247
Liber Studiorum, 247
Turner drawings, 247
Nattes, John Claude, 66, 68, 69, 98
Neale, Hugh, 98
Nesfield, William Andrews, 180
New Society of Water Colour Pain-
ters, 176
First exhibition in Exeter Hall,

176

Takes title of Associated Painters

in Water Colours in 1833, 176

Removal to Pall Mall in 1838, 176

Increase in number of members,

177
Renamed the Institute of Pain-
ters in Water Colours in 1857,
177
Amalgamated with the Dudley
Gallery in 1883, 177
New Water Colour Society, 108
Newcastle Fern;, by L. Clennell, 156,

157
Newton, Alfred Pizzey, 232

Nicholson, Francis, 66, 68, 72, 76, 90,

124, 243
Norwich Society of Artists, 156

Oakley, Octavius, 199

Old London Bridge, by Turner, 61,63

Oliver, J., 3, 5

Ostade, A., 1, 7, 8

His method of working, 7, 9
Otter Hounds, by F. Tayler, 236
Owen, Samuel, 75, 145

Palmer, Samuel, 182, 228

Paper used by earlier artists, 252

Papwoith, J., 75

Pars, W., A.R.A., 16, 45

Parsons, J. M., his bequest, 244

Payne, William, 69, 71, 106, 107

Penley, Aaron Edwin, 212

Percy, Dr., 140

Permanence of certain colours, 25S

Pether, engraver, 152

Phillip, John, R.A., 206

Phillips, Thomas, R.A., 198

Pidgeon, H. Clark, 214

Piuwell, George John, 217

Pocock, Nicholas, 66, 6S, 70, 89

Pont Aber, Wales, by David Cox,

133, 135
Porch of Ratisbon Cathedral, by

Prout, 170, 171
Print Room, British Museum, 82, 2 16
Prout, John Skinner, 216
Prout, Samuel, 73, 167, 216, 242,

246
Pugin, Augustus, 69, 71, 109, 186,

1S9
Fyne, J. B., 202
Pyne, William Henry, 66, 68, 70, 85,

167
Pyne's Somerset House Gazette, 91;

his Rise and Progress of Water-
colour Painting, 100

Raphael, Cartoons of, 4

Rayner, Nancy, 220

Rayner, Samuel, 221

Read, Samuel, 232

Reeves, Thomas and William, 251

Reinagle, riiilip, PA., 114

Reinagle, Ramsey Richard, 68, 69,

70, 114
Report by Dr. Russell and Captain

Abney, 254

INDEX.

267

Results of the Inquiry on Colours, 258
Reynolds, Sir Joshua, PJtJL, 2 16
Richardson, Thomas Miles, 21o
Richardson, Thomas Miles ( j onr.), 21 1 5
Richter, Henry Johu, 72, 74, 139
Rigaud, Stephen Francis, 66, 68, 76,

105
Ripon Cathedral, by Girtin, 35, 37
Riviere, Henry Parsons, 21 \
Roberson, Messrs., 251
Roberts, David, R.A., 142, 185, 215
Robertson, Andrew, 75, 146
Robins, Thomas Sewell, 213
Robson, George Fennell, 73, 7-1, 101,

163,173,212
Roc;et, J. L., his History quoted, 66,
68, 74, 86, 92, 105, 136, 139, 140,
169, 173, 177,223
Rooker, M. A., A.R.A., 45, 243
Kossetti, Gabriel Charles Dante, 231
Rowbotham, Thomas Leeson, 219
Rowlaudson, Thomas, 151, 243, 246
Royal Academy, its influence on
water-colour painting, 24
Hibernian Academy, 217
Institute of Painters in "Water-
Colours, 179
Ruskin, John, 3% 127, 180, 226, 236,

253
Russell, Dr., his Report on Water-
colours, 25 1
Rustic Landscape, by Fyne, 87, 89

Salmon's Polygrapkice, 250, 251

Salvatoi Rosa, I !

Sandby, Paul, R.A., 10, 15, 45, 47

Sandby, Thomas, 15

Scene in the Campapna, hy Cozen

Seharf, <;., 216

Scott, friend of Bogarth, 46

Soott, William, 69, 71, 71. 118

Seyfifarth, Mrs. i Louisa Sharpe),

Bhalders, George, 218

Sharpe, Eli/a, 220

sharpe, Louisa i Mrs. Seyffarth), 220
Shaw, Henry, K.S.A.. 185
Sheepshanks collection at the South

Kensington Museum, 240
Shelley, Samuel, (Hi, 68, 70, 88
Shoot e. 3, 5
Singer's Farm, near Bushey, by

Edridge, 153. i.v>
Sketching Society, 101, LI 9, 118
Skill, Frederick John, 218

Smirke, Robert, 148

Smith, Coke, 227

Smith, John (Warwick), 15, 26, 68,

69, 72, 76, 108
Smith. Miss E., 75
Smith, Raphael, 120
Smith, William, F.S.A.. 212
His drawings and I"

South Kensington, 242, 243
Smith, "William Collingwood, 221
Society of British Artists, 108
Society of Painters in Water-
Colours —
Its foundation due to the efforts

of W. Wells, 65
The first meeting of the mem-
bers in 1804, 06
Roget's History, 66
Rules for the administration of

the society, 67
First exhibition in 1805, 67
Sales and profits, 67
Average price of each drawing,

68
Fellow exhibitors, 68
Second exhibition, 63
Subsequent exhibitions, 69
Mode of dividing profits, 70
Lady members, 71
Declining popularity of the

exhibitions, 71
Decision to admit oil-paintings,

71
Dissolution of first society, 72
Reconstruction of the society,
72
Society of Painters in Oil and
Wat er-( 'olours, 72
Ninth exhibition in Spring

Gardens, 73
The indifferent success of the
society, 7;'>

lyptian Hall, 7;'.
Reversion to original scheme to

confine the exhibition t>>

water-colours only, ~:>. 7 I
Alteration in const it tit ion of

the society, 7 I
Removal to" Tall Mall. 7 1
Somerset House Gazette. 31, 86, 91,

152
South Kensington Museum, Histor-
ical collection of water-colour
drawings, 240 1 1

268

JNDEX.

Speke Hall, Lancashire, by J. Nash,

194
Stability, relative, of water-colours,

257
Stanfield, C., R.A., 215
Stephanoff, Francis Philip, 86, 167
Stephanoff, James, 73, 164
Stevens; Francis, 68, 69, 71, 118
Stone, Frank, A.R.A., 205
Storer, James Sargant, 185
Stothard, Thomas, R.A., 50, 51, 246,

248
Swaine, John, 216

Tatler, Frederick, 81, 235, 242

Thompson, W. J., 75

Thurston, John, 68, 118

Tidey, Henry F., 212

Topham, Francis William, 177, 222,
242

Topographers and their art, 10
their restricted aims, 11

Topography, its influence on water-
colour painting, 9

Torksey Castle, by De Wint, 121, 124

Townshend, the Rev. O. H., his
bequest, 244

Turner, Dawson, 159

Turner, J. M. W., R.A., 26, 30, 37, 38,
50, 52, 90, 243, 247#

Works with Girtin at the house

of Dr. Monro, 53
Studies under Hardwick, 53
His early drawings, 53
His sketches at the National

Gallery, 54
His method of painting, 54
Discards white as a pigment, 57
The three periods of his art, 58
Copies Cozens and Hearue, 58
Produces the Liber Studiorum, 59
His death and burial, 59
His bequests, 60
Account of his art, 60

Turner, William, 69, 72, 116

Uwins, Thomas, 69, 72, 102, 115

Vacher, Charles, 218

Val d'Aosta, by John Smith, 29

Value of Italian travel to artists, 11
Vanderdort, his catalogue of pic-
tures, 6
Van Eyck, use of oil as medium, 4
Varley, Cornelius, 66, 68, 72, 73, 97
Varley, John, 30, 66, 68, 72, 93, 116,

124, 126, 131, 136, 170, 228, 243
Vasari, 3, 4
Vernet, Horace, 235
View of Ben Lomond, by Copley

Fielding, 128, 129
Vincent, George, 160

Walker, Frederick, A.R.A., 226
Walker, William, 74, 75, 148
Ward, James, 246
WarreD, Henry, K. L., 208, 212
Water-colour painting, divided into

three periods, 2
Watts, Walter Henry, 75, 147
Webber, J., R.A., 10, 20
Weber, Otto, 206
Wehnert, Edward Henry, 211
Wells, AVilliam Frederick, 65, 66, 68,

70, 90
West, Sir B., P.R.A., 110
Westall, Richard, R.A., 119
Westall, William, A.R.A., 69, 75, 119
Whatman's, Messrs., drawing paper,

253
Wheatley, Francis, R.A., 39, 243
Whichelo, John, 183
Whittaker, James W., 201
Wild, Charles, 69, 71, 74,86, 184, 243
Williams, H. W., 75
Williams, Penry, 183
Willis, Henry Brittan, 233
Wilson, Andrew, 75, 148
Wilson, Richard, R.A., 59, 113
Windmill, by Cotman, 160, 161
Windsor Castle, by Havell, 102, 103
Winsor k Newton, Messrs., 252
Wood, William, 75, 146
Woollett, engraver, 45
Wright, J., miniature painter, 198
Wright, John Masey, 182
Wright, John William, 183, 198

ZUCCARELLI, 48

Zucchi, 43

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By the Rev. Rupert H. Morris, D.D. With Map, 3*.

Chichester.

By the late Very Rev. W. R. W. Stephens. With Map and
Plan, 2s. 6d.

Durham.

By the Rev. J. L. Low. With Map and Plan, 2s. Gd.

Hereford.

By the Rev. Canon Phillott. With Map, 3s.

Lichfield.

By the Rev. W. Beresford. With Map, 2s. 6d.

Lincoln.

By the late-Canon E. Vexables, and the late Ven. Archdeacon
Perry. With Map, 4s.

Llandaff.

By the Rev. E. J. Newell, M.A. With Mnj», 3*. 6d.

Norwich.

By the Rev. A. Jessop, D.D. With Map, 25. 6d

Oxford.

By the Rev. E. Marshall. With Map, 25. 6d.

Peterborough.

By the Rev. G. A. Poole, M.A. With Map, 2s. 6d.

Rochester.

By the Rev. A. J. Pearman, M.A. With Map, 4s.

Salisbury.

By the Rev. W. H. Jones. With Map and Plan, 2s. 6d.

Sodor and Man.

By A. W. Moore, M.A. With Map, 3s.

St. Asaph.

By the Ven. Archdeacon Thomas. With Map, 2s.

St. Davids.

By the Rev. Canon Bevan. With Map, 2s. Qd.
Winchester. By the Rev. W. Beniiam, B.D. With Map, 3s.

Worcester.

By the Rev. J. Gregory Smith, M.A., and the Rev. Phipis
Onslow, M.A. With Map, 3s. 6d.
York. By Rev. Canon Ornsby, M.A., F.S.A. With Map, 3s. 6d.

PUBLICATIONS OF THE

l^liscellcmeous ^ublicaitons.

A Dictionary of the Church of England.

By the late Rev. Edward L. Cutts, D.D. With numerous
Woodcuts. Crown 8vo. 5s. Third Edition, revised.

Aids to Prayer.

By the Rev. Daniel Moore. Printed in red and black.
Post 8vo. Is. 6d.

Being of God (Six Addresses on the).

By the late Right Rev. C. J. Ellicott, D.D. Post 8vo. Is. 6d.

Bible Places ; or, The Topography of the Holy Land.

By the Rev. Canon Tristram. With Map and numerous
Woodcuts. New Edition. Crown 8vo. 5s.

Called to be Saints.

The Minor Festivals Devotionally Studied. By the late
Christina G. Rossetti, Author of "Seek and Find."
Post 8vo. 3s. 6d.

Case for "Establishment " stated (The).

By the Rev. T. Moore, M.A. Post8vo. Paper boards, 6d.

Christians under the Crescent in Asia.

By the late Rev. E. L. Cutts, D.D. With numerous Illus-
trations. Crown 8vo. 5s.

Daily Readings for a Year.

By Elizabeth Spooner. Crown 8vo. 2s.

Devotional (A) Life of Our Lord.

By the late Rev. Edward L. Cutts, D.D., Author of
"Pastoral Counsels," &c. Post 8vo. 5s.

Golden Year, The.

Thoughts for every month. Original and Selected. By Emily
C. Orr, Author of "Thoughts for Working Days."
Printed in red and black. Post 8vo. Is.

Gospels (The Four).

Arranged in the Form of an English Harmony, from the Text
of the Authorized Version. By the late Aev. J. M. Fullfr.
With Analytical Table of Contents and Four Maps. Is.

SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE. 7

Holy Eucharist, The Evidential Value of the.

Being the Boyle Lectures for 1879 and 1880. By the late
Rev. G. F. Maclear, D. D. Crown 8vo. Cloth boards, is.

Land of Israel (The).

A Journal of Travel in Palestine, undertaken with special
reference to its Physical Character. By the Rev. CanoD
Tristram. With Two Maps and numerous Illustrations.
Large Post 8vo. Cloth boards, 10s. 6d.

Lectures on the Historical and Dogmatical Position of
the Church of England.

By the Rev. W. Baker, D.D. Post 8vo. Cloth boards, Is. 6«i

Paley's Evidences.

A New Edition, with Notes, Appendix, and Preface. By the
Rev. E. A. Litton. Post 8vo. Cloth boards, is.

Paley's Horx Paulinse.

A New Edition, with Notes, Appendix, and Preface. By
the late Rev. J. S. Howson, D.D. Post 8vo. Cloth
boards, 3s.

Peace with God.

A Manual for the Sick. By the late Rev. E. Burbidge,
M.A. Post 8vo. Cloth boards, Is. Qd.

Plain Words for Christ.

Being a Series of Readings for Working Men. By the latt
Rev. R. G. Dutton. Post 8vo. Cloth boards, Is.

Readings on the First Lessons for Sundays and Chief
Holy Days.

According to the New Table. By the late Rev. Peter Young
Crown 8vo. In two volumes, 5s.

PUBLICATIONS OF THE 3.P.C.&.

Reflected Lights.

From Christina Rossetti's "The Face of the Deep."
Selected and arranged by W. M. L. Jay. Small post 8vo.
Cloth boards, 2s. 6d.

Some Chief Truths of Religion.

By the late Rev. Edward L. Cutts, D.D., Author of "St
Cedd's Cross," &c. Crown 8vo. Cloth boards, 2s. 8d.

Thoughts for Men and Women.

The Lord's Prayer. By Emily C. Orr. Post 8vo. Limp
cloth, Is.

Thoughts for Working Days.

Original and Selected. By Emily C. Orr. Post 8vo. Limp
cloth, Is.

Time Flies; a Reading Diary.

By the late Christina G. Rossetti. Post 8vo. Cloth
boards, 3s. 6d.

Turning Points of English Church History.

By the late Rev. Edward L. Cutts, D.D. Crown 8vo.
Cloth boards, 3s. 6d.

Turning Points of General Church History.

By the late Rev. E. L. Cutts, D.D., Author of "Pastoral
Counsels." Crown 8vo. Cloth boards, is.

Verses.

By the late Christina G. Rossetti. Printed on hand-mado
paper. Small Post 8vo. Cloth, 3s. 6d.

LONDON:

NORTHUMBERLAND AVENUE, CHARING CROSS, W C.J
43, QUEEN VICTORIA STRSET, E.G.

BRIGHTON: 129, North Strjcbt.

DATE DUE

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