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Transcribers notes:

  1. Italics rendered with underline e.g. _italics_.
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[Illustration: "THE CONNOISSEURS."

ENGRAVED BY PERMISSION OF HENRY GRAVES & CO., LONDON. AFTER THE
PAINTING BY SIR EDWIN LANDSEER. (SEE PAGE 814.)]




ST. NICHOLAS.

  VOL. XIII.      SEPTEMBER, 1886.        NO. 11.

  [Copyright, 1886, by THE CENTURY CO.]




STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS: ENGLISH PAINTERS.

BY CLARA ERSKINE CLEMENT.


When Henry VIII. came to the throne of England, he was a magnificent
prince. He loved pleasure and pomp and invited many foreign artists to
his court. After a time, however, he became indifferent to art, and it
is difficult to say whether he lessened or added to the art-treasures of
England.

The long reign of Queen Elizabeth--forty-seven years--afforded great
opportunity for the encouragement of art. But most of the painters whom
she employed were foreigners.

King Charles I. was a true lover of art. Rubens and Vandyck were his
principal painters, and Inigo Jones his architect; the choice of such
artists proves the excellence of his artistic taste and judgment. He
employed many other foreign artists, of whom it need only be said that
the English artists profited much by their intercourse with them, as
well as by the study of foreign pictures which the King purchased.

In fact, before the time of William Hogarth, portraits had been the only
pictures of any importance which were painted by English artists, and no
one painter had become very eminent. No native master had originated a
manner of painting which he could claim as his own.

Hogarth was born near Ludgate Hill, London, in 1697.

In 1734, he produced some works which immediately made him famous. He
had originated a manner of his own; he had neither attempted to
illustrate the stories of Greek Mythology, nor to invent allegories, as
so many painters had done before him; he simply gave form to the nature
that was all about him, and painted just what he could see in London
every day. His pictures of this sort came to be almost numberless, and
no rank in society, no phase of life, escaped the truthful
representation of his brush.

He was a teacher as well as an artist, for his pictures dealt with
familiar scenes and subjects and presented the lessons of the follies of
his day with more effect upon the mass of the people than any writer
could produce with his pen, or any preacher by his sermons.

Hogarth died at his house in Leicester Fields, on October 26, 1764.

His success aroused a strong faith and a new interest in the native art
of England, which showed their results in the establishment of the Royal
Academy of Arts. A little more than four years after Hogarth's death,
this Academy was founded by King George III. The original members of the
Academy numbered thirty-four, and among them was


JOSHUA REYNOLDS,

who afterward became its first president.

His father, Samuel Reynolds, was the rector of a grammar school at
Plympton, in Devonshire, and in that little hamlet, on July 16, 1723,
was born Joshua, the seventh of eleven children.

When Joshua was but a mere child, his father was displeased to find him
devoted to drawing; on a sketch which the boy had made, his father
wrote: "This is drawn by Joshua in school, out of pure idleness." The
child found the "Jesuit's Treatise on Perspective," and studied it with
such intelligence that before he was eight years old he made a sketch of
the school and its cloister which was so accurate that his astonished
father exclaimed, "Now this justifies the author of the 'Perspective'
when he says that, by observing the laws laid down in his book, a man
may do wonders; for this is wonderful!"

When about twelve years old, Joshua, while in church, made a sketch upon
his thumb-nail of the Rev. Thomas Smart. From this sketch, he painted
his first picture in oils; his canvas was a piece of an old sail, his
colors were common ship-paint, and he did his work in a boathouse on
Cremyll Beach.

In 1740, when Joshua was seventeen years old, his father tried to carry
out his plan to apprentice him to a druggist, but the boy was greatly
opposed to this. He said, "I would prefer to be an apothecary rather
than an _ordinary_ painter; but if I could be bound to an eminent
master, I should choose that." Fortunately Lord Edgecumbe and other
friends advised the boy's father in his favor, and so Joshua was finally
sent to London and bound to Thomas Hudson, then the best portrait
painter in England. After two years, Hudson suddenly dismissed the youth
from his studio, though his agreement was for four years; the master
said that Joshua neglected his orders, but others believed Hudson to be
jealous of his pupil's success.

Joshua returned to Devonshire and settled at Plymouth, five miles from
his home. There he painted about thirty portraits of the principal
persons of the neighborhood, at the price of three guineas each. One of
these portraits, painted in 1746, was shown to him thirty years later,
when he lamented that his progress in all that time had been so little.

At the home of his friend, Lord Edgecumbe, he had formed a friendship
with the young Commodore Keppel, who in 1749 was ordered to the
Mediterranean. He invited Reynolds to sail with him as his guest, and,
the invitation being accepted, the painter did not return to England
until the end of 1752. He visited Portugal, Spain, Algiers, Minorca,
Italy, and France.

He kept diaries during this journey, which are very interesting and
valuable; they contain many sketches of scenes and pictures which he
admired, as well as his written opinions of all that he saw. Several of
these diaries are in the Lenox Library, in New York; others are in the
Soane Museum, London, and in the Museum of Berlin.

Not long after his return to England, Reynolds settled himself in
London. He lived in handsome rooms in St. Martin's Lane, and his sister
Frances was his housekeeper.

Very soon Reynolds's studio came to be the popular resort of artists,
and, through the influence of Lord Edgecumbe, many nobles became his
patrons. He painted a full-length portrait of Commodore Keppel, which at
once established his reputation. The Commodore was represented as
standing on a rocky shore with a stormy sea in the background. This
picture was received with enthusiasm, and in his second London year
Reynolds had one hundred and twenty sitters, among whom were many
notable people. The artist removed to Great Newport street, and charged
twelve guineas for a bust, twenty-four guineas for half-length and
double that sum for a full-length portrait.

Dr. Johnson and Reynolds met for the first time in 1753, and from that
time they were faithful friends. Dr. Johnson delighted not only in
Reynolds's success as a painter, but, perceiving his other talents, he
insisted on his writing for _The Idler_, by which means the artist
published a series of brilliant articles and made himself a name in
literary circles. This kindness was more than repaid, for, after Dr.
Johnson became too poor to keep house for himself, he was always welcome
to the home and purse of Reynolds.

In 1760, the master again raised his prices for his work, and at about
the same time established himself in the house in Leicester Square, in
which he passed the remainder of his life. This house was very fine,
and, though it exhausted all his savings to fit it up, he spent still
more in setting up a gorgeous carriage for his sister, and in other
expenses which served to advertise his success to all who observed them.

Reynolds seemed to have reached the height of popularity, when, in 1768,
he was elected first President of the Royal Academy, and was knighted by
the King. He was of great advantage to the Academy, and heartily devoted
to its interests. He was active in establishing its schools and
equipping them with models, libraries, and conveniences for study; he
gave much attention to its exhibitions, and founded the famous Academy
dinners, at which men of rank and genius were brought together in such a
way as to render these occasions the most remarkable gatherings in the
United Kingdom. From time to time he also delivered his well-known
"Discourses on Art," which are notable alike for the good judgment in
the selection of the subjects treated, and for the literary skill with
which they are written.

About 1770, Sir Joshua built a villa at Richmond Hill. In the same year,
he spent a month in Plympton, and at that time also, he brought to his
home his niece, Theophila Palmer, who remained with him until her
marriage, eleven years later. She was very beautiful, and is known to
all the world as the "Offy" of the famous "Strawberry Girl." Other
pictures of her which Sir Joshua painted also became famous.

With the exception of the trip with Commodore Keppel Sir Joshua spent
little time out of England. In 1768 he visited Paris, and in 1780 he
passed two months in Holland and Germany. When absent from London, he
was usually at the house of some friend in the country, or at his old
home, of which he was always fond.

[Illustration: COPY OF A PORTRAIT BY SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS.]

Few men have been so much admired by such a diversity of people as was
Sir Joshua Reynolds. The testimony of his friends presents him to us as
a man of admirable character. Perhaps no one knew him more intimately
than James Northcote, who was received into his family as a poor
Devonshire lad; he remained with Sir Joshua five years, and left him a
prosperous painter. Northcote found him kindly, modest, and lovable in
every way. He thus describes him personally: "In