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diff --git a/19009.txt b/19009.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1e09cae --- /dev/null +++ b/19009.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2702 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Sir Joshua Reynolds, by Estelle M. Hurll + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Sir Joshua Reynolds + A Collection of Fifteen Pictures and a Portrait of the + Painter with Introduction and Interpretation + +Author: Estelle M. Hurll + +Release Date: August 8, 2006 [EBook #19009] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS *** + + + + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Sankar Viswanathan, and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + + [Illustration: SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS] + + + Masterpieces of Art + + + SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS + + + A COLLECTION OF FIFTEEN PICTURES + + AND A PORTRAIT OF THE PAINTER + + WITH INTRODUCTION AND + + INTERPRETATION + + + + BY + + ESTELLE M. HURLL + + + + + + + BOSTON AND NEW YORK + + HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY + + The Riverside Press Cambridge + + + + + COPYRIGHT, 1900, BY HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN & CO. + + * * * * * + + + + +PREFACE + + +This selection of pictures from Reynolds's works is intended to show +him at his best in the various classes of subjects which he painted. +Johnson and Lord Heathfield are among his finest male portraits, Miss +Bowles and Master Bunbury are unsurpassed among his pictures of +children, and the Strawberry Girl was the painter's own favorite fancy +picture. Penelope Boothby and Angels' Heads are popular favorites +which could not be omitted from any collection. In Lady Cockburn and +Her Children, The Duchess of Devonshire and Her Child, and Pickaback +we have typical groups of mothers and children. Mrs. Siddons stands +apart as one of his most unique and remarkable productions. The other +pictures add as much as possible to the variety of the collection, and +show something of the range of Reynolds's art. + +ESTELLE M. HURLL. + +NEW BEDFORD, MASS. + +September, 1900. + + * * * * * + + + + +CONTENTS AND LIST OF PICTURES + + +PORTRAIT OF REYNOLDS. Painted by himself. (_Frontispiece_) +From a Carbon Print by Braun, Clement & Co. + +INTRODUCTION + +I. ON THE ART OF REYNOLDS + +II. ON BOOKS OF REFERENCE + +III. HISTORICAL DIRECTORY OF THE PICTURES OF THIS +COLLECTION + +IV. OUTLINE TABLE OF THE PRINCIPAL EVENTS IN +REYNOLDS'S LIFE + +V. CONTEMPORARIES + +I. PENELOPE BOOTHBY +Picture from a Photograph by Mansell + +II. MASTER CREWE AS HENRY VIII +Picture from an Engraving by S. W. Reynolds + +III. LADY COCKBURN AND HER CHILDREN +Picture from a Photograph by Franz Hanfstaengl + +IV. MISS BOWLES +Picture from a Photograph by Mansell + +V. MASTER BUNBURY +Picture from an Engraving by S. W. Reynolds + +VI. MRS. SIDDONS AS THE TRAGIC MUSE +Picture from a Photograph by W. M. Spooner & +Co., London. + +VII. ANGELS' HEADS +Picture from a Carbon Print by Braun, Clement & Co. + +VIII. THE DUCHESS OF DEVONSHIRE AND HER CHILD +Picture from a Carbon Print by Braun, Clement & Co. + +IX. HOPE +Picture from a Photograph by the London Autotype +Co. + +X. LORD HEATHFIELD +Picture from a Photograph by Franz Hanfstaengl + +XI. MRS. PAYNE-GALLOWAY AND HER CHILD--"PICKABACK" +Picture from a Photograph by the London Autotype +Co. + +XII. CUPID AS LOVE BOY +Picture from an Engraving by S. W. Reynolds + +XIII. THE HON. ANNE BINGHAM +Picture from an Engraving by Bartolozzi + +XIV. THE STRAWBERRY GIRL +Picture from a Photograph by Mansell + +XV. DR. SAMUEL JOHNSON +Picture from a Carbon Print by Braun, Clement & Co. + +XVI. THE PORTRAIT OF REYNOLDS + + * * * * * + + + + +INTRODUCTION + +I. ON THE ART OF REYNOLDS + + +The name of Sir Joshua Reynolds holds a place of honor among the +world's great portrait painters. To appreciate fully his originative +power one must understand the disadvantages under which he worked. His +technical training was of the meagrest kind, and all his life he was +hampered by ignorance of anatomy. But on the other hand he combined +all those peculiar qualities of the artist without which no amount of +technical skill can produce great portrait work. + +He had, in the first place, that indefinable quality of taste, which +means so much in portraiture. His was an unerring instinct for poise, +drapery, color, and composition. Each of his figures seems to assume +naturally an attitude of perfect grace; the draperies fall of their +own accord in beautiful lines. + +Reynolds knew, too, the secret of imparting an air of distinction to +his sitters. The meanest subject was elevated by his art to a position +of dignity. His magic touch made every child charming, every woman +graceful, and every man dignified. + +Finally, he possessed in no small degree, though curiously enough +entirely disclaiming the quality, the gift of presenting the essential +personality of the sitter, that which a critic has called the power of +"realizing an individuality." This is seen most clearly in his +portraits of men, and naturally in the portraits of the men he knew +best, as Johnson. + +It is a matter of constant amazement in studying the works of Reynolds +to observe his "inexhaustible inventiveness in pose and attitude." For +each new picture he seemed always to have ready some new compositional +motive. Claude Phillips goes so far as to say that in the whole range +of art Rembrandt alone is his equal in this respect. This versatility +was due in a measure to his story-telling instinct. His imagination +seemed to weave some story about each sitter which the picture was +intended, as it were, to illustrate. From Lord Heathfield, refusing to +yield the keys of Gibraltar, to little Miss Bowles, dropping on the +ground in the midst of her romp, through the long range of mothers +playing with their children, there seems no end to the variety of +lively incident which he could invent. + +The pose of the sitter suggests some dramatic moment in the imaginary +episode. Often the attitude is full of action, as in the Miss Bowles, +and at times there is a striking impression of motion, as in +Pickaback. So strong is the dramatic effect conveyed by these pictures +that the figures seem actually taken unaware in the very act of +performance, as by a snapshot in modern photography. This quality of +"momentariness," as Phillips calls it, so dangerous in the hands of a +commonplace painter, lends a peculiar fascination to many of +Reynolds's pictures. That he also appreciated the beauty of repose we +see in such portraits as Penelope Boothby and Anne Bingham. + +Reynolds's inventiveness was so overtaxed by his enormous number of +sitters that it is scarcely to be wondered at that it sometimes failed +him. Occasionally he resorted to such artificial devices as were +common among his contemporaries. Such fresh inspirations as the +Strawberry Girl and Master Bunbury could come but rarely in a +lifetime. The spontaneity of Miss Bowles is perhaps unexcelled in all +his works. + +Reynolds's compositional schemes are of an academic elegance +reminiscent of Raphael. He knew well how to accomplish the flow of +line, the balance of masses, the symmetry of outline, which produce a +harmonious effect. A variety of designs were at his command, from the +well-worn but always effective pyramidal form illustrated in many +single figures, to those more novel forms he invented for groups such +as Lady Cockburn and the Duchess of Devonshire. + +Reynolds was frankly a borrower from many sources. In the Roman, the +Bolognese, the Venetian, Flemish, and Dutch schools, he found +something to appropriate and make his own. From Rembrandt he took +suggestions of lighting, and such sombre color harmonies as are seen +in the portrait of Mrs. Siddons. Something of bloom and splendor he +caught from the florid Rubens; something of the decorative +effectiveness of such pictures as Lady Cockburn may be traced to the +influence of Titian and the Venetians. Yet to all that he borrowed, +Reynolds added his own individual touch. As a critic has said, he was +always Reynolds from first to last. + +Much has been written of the evanescence of Reynolds's colors. His +passion for color experiments amounted to a mania, and cost the world +many beautiful pictures. Precisely what was the nature of these +experiments, and what combination of pigments ruined his pictures, is +of interest only to the expert. Fortunately, enough pictures escaped +to show us the original glory of those which have faded. Among the +best preserved canvases, "those in which his power and brilliancy +appear least impaired, those in which the typical Sir Joshua still +most unmistakably shines forth," are Lady Cockburn and her Children, +Miss Bowles, Mrs. Siddons, and Angels' Heads. + +The range of Reynolds's art is much wider than is commonly supposed. A +very imperfect appreciation of his gifts is gained by those who know +only his portraits of women and children. These indeed show a peculiar +insight into childhood, and a rare delicacy in the interpretation of +womanhood. But Reynolds is at his strongest in the portrayal of men. +It is by such portraits as the Johnson and Heathfield that he is +worthy a place among the immortals. + +II. ON BOOKS OF REFERENCE + +THE original biographical material on the subject of Reynolds was +supplied by his own contemporaries. His friend Malone wrote a valuable +Memoir (1804), and his pupil Northcote furnished the first biography +of the painter, the Life of Reynolds in two volumes published in 1813. +A half century later (1865) was published the most comprehensive work +on Reynolds in two large volumes by C. R. Leslie and T. Taylor. At +about the same time (1866) appeared a book by F. G. Stephens, "English +Children as painted by Sir Joshua Reynolds." + +All these books have been long out of print, and there are now but two +books of reference generally available. "Sir Joshua Reynolds," by +Claude Phillips (1894), is a small volume, but it gives a fairly +complete summary of the painter's works, with valuable critical +comments. Sir Walter Armstrong's large and richly illustrated work +"Sir Joshua Reynolds" (1900) treats the subject exhaustively, and +contains a complete descriptive catalogue and directory of Reynolds's +works--portraits and subject pictures--arranged in alphabetical order. + +There is an immense bibliography of memoirs of the period of George +III., and such books throw an interesting light upon the lives of many +of Reynolds's sitters. Some of the most valuable are Horace Walpole's +"Letters," Fanny Burney's "Diary," Mrs. Piozzi's "Memoirs," and +Wraxall's "Memoirs." + +In addition to these, Boswell's incomparable "Life of Johnson" +presents a series of vivid pictures of the life of the period, and +contains many anecdotes of the friendship between Reynolds and the +great lexicographer. + +Reynolds's lectures and writings fill two volumes of the Bohn Library. +Of these the twelve discourses delivered before the Royal Academy are +the most valuable, and have been reprinted in various editions. The +most recent is that of 1891, with notes and a biographical +introduction by E. G. Johnson. Intended as means of instruction to +beginners in painting, these lectures deal with general principles +rather than with practical technique, and are not to be taken as +expository in any measure of Reynolds's own art. + +III. HISTORICAL DIRECTORY OF THE PICTURES OF THIS COLLECTION + +_Portrait frontispiece._ Painted in 1776 for the Imperial Academy in +Florence, and now in the Uffizi Gallery, Florence. + +1. _Penelope Boothby._ Painted in July, 1788. In the possession of +Mrs. Thwaites. + +2. _Master Crewe as Henry VIII._ Painted in 1775 for John Crewe, Esq., +and exhibited at the Royal Academy, 1776. Size: 4 ft. 8 in. by 3 ft. 9 +in. In the possession of the Earl of Crewe. + +3. _Lady Cockburn and her Children._ Reynolds began the picture in +1773 and upon its completion in 1774 received L183 15s. in payment. It +was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1774, after which it was dated +1775. Passed into the possession of Lady Hamilton, daughter of Sir +James Cockburn (7th baronet), and by her bequeathed to the English +National Gallery, where it hung, 1892-1900, when it was learned that +Lady Hamilton had no power to dispose of the picture. It was then +sold at auction to Mr. Beit, Park Lane, London. Size: 4 ft. 6 in. by 3 +ft. 7-1/2 in. + +4. _Miss Bowles._ Painted in 1775. Now in the Wallace Collection, +Hertford House, London. Size: 2 ft. 11-1/2 in. by 2 ft. 3-3/4 in. + +5. _Master Bunbury._ Exhibited at the Royal Academy, 1781; bequeathed +by Reynolds to Mrs. Bunbury. In the possession of Sir Henry Bunbury. +Size: 2 ft. 5 in. by 2 ft. + +6. _Mrs. Siddons as the Tragic Muse._ Painted in 1783 and exhibited at +the Royal Academy in 1784. The original work was bought by M. de +Calonne for 800 guineas, and finally came into the possession of the +Marquis of Westminster, in whose family it has since remained. It is +in the gallery of Grosvenor House, London. + +7. _Angels' Heads._ Painted for Lord William Gordon (100 guineas) and +exhibited at the Royal Academy, 1787. Presented by Lady Gordon to the +National Gallery, London, 1841. Size: 2 ft. 6 in. by 2 ft. 1 in. + +8. _The Duchess of Devonshire and her Child._ Exhibited at the Royal +Academy in 1786. The original is at Chatsworth House, and there is a +copy at Windsor Castle, from which our reproduction is made. + +9. _Hope._ One of the figures of the window design, New College +Chapel, Oxford. The original design was painted in oil in 1778, and +was purchased by the Earl of Normanton. + +10. _Lord Heathfield._ Begun August 27, 1787, and exhibited at the +Royal Academy in 1788. Originally painted for Alderman Boydell, and +purchased by Parliament in 1824. Now in the National Gallery, London. +Size: 4 ft. 8 in. by 3 ft. 8 in. + +11. _Mrs. Payne-Gallwey and Child_ (Pickaback). Painted 1779. As late +as 1886 it was in the possession of Lord Monson, and is now owned by +J. Pierpont Morgan, Esq. + +12. _Cupid as Link Boy._ The date is not certainly fixed, but it is +known that Reynolds was at work in the spring of 1771 upon some +subjects of this class, several of which were engraved in the period +1771-1777. In the possession of Alexander Henderson, Esq. Size: 2 ft. +5 in. by 2 ft. + +13. _Hon. Anne Bingham._ Painted in 1786. In the possession of Earl +Spencer. Size: 2 ft. 5-1/2 in. by 2 ft. 1/2 in. + +14. _The Strawberry Girl._ Painted for the Earl of Carysfort (50 +guineas) and exhibited at the Royal Academy, 1773. As Reynolds +repeated the subject it is difficult to trace the history of the +original picture. The painting now in the Wallace Collection, Hertford +House, came from the Samuel Rogers Collection. Size: 2 ft. 5-3/4 in. +by 2 ft. 3/4 in. + +15. _Samuel Johnson._ Painted for Mr. Thrale for the Streatham +Gallery, 1772. Now in the National Gallery, London. Size: 2 ft. 5-1/2 +in. by 2 ft. 1 in. + +IV. OUTLINE TABLE OF THE PRINCIPAL EVENTS IN REYNOLDS'S LIFE + +1723. Reynolds born at Plympton, Devonshire, England, July 16. + +1741-1743. Apprenticeship with the painter Thomas Hudson, London. + +1743-1746. Residence in Devonshire. + +1746. Portrait of Captain Hamilton first to attract attention. + +Death of Reynolds's father. + +1746-1749. Residence in Plymouth Docks. + +1749-1752. Voyage in Centurion with Commodore Keppel; studies in +Italy; and return, via Paris, to London. + +1752. Establishment of Reynolds in London as a portrait painter, with +apartments in St. Martin's Lane, Leicester Fields. + +1753. Removal to Great Newport St. + +Whole length portrait of Commodore Keppel by the Seashore, an +epoch-making picture in Reynolds's career. + +1754-1760. Rapid advance of Reynolds to the foremost place as portrait +painter. + +1756. Portrait of Horace Walpole; portrait of Samuel Johnson. + +1758. Pocket Book gives list of 150 sitters. + +1759. Two papers contributed to the Idler. + +Pocket Book gives 140 sitters. + +1760. Removal to handsome house, 47 Leicester Fields. + +First exhibition of pictures by living artists, in room of Society for +Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures, and Commerce. Reynolds's +contributions, Elizabeth Duchess of Hamilton, Lady Elizabeth Keppel, +and two male portraits. + +Names of 120 sitters recorded in Reynolds's Pocket Book. + +1761. Exhibition of pictures at Society of Artists' rooms in Spring +Gardens. Some of Reynolds's contributions: Captain Orme leaning on his +Horse, Portrait of Laurence Sterne, and Countess Waldegrave. + +1762. Visit to Devonshire with Dr. Samuel Johnson. + +Exhibition in Spring Gardens. Some of Reynolds's contributions: Lady +Elizabeth Keppel as Bridesmaid, Countess Waldegrave and Child, and +Garrick between Tragedy and Comedy. + +1763. Four portraits sent to Spring Gardens Exhibition, including +"Nelly O'Brien." + +1764. Two portraits sent to Spring Gardens Exhibition. + +Severe illness. + +1764. Founding of Literary Club. + +1765. Lady Sarah Bunbury sacrificing to the Graces, sent to Spring +Gardens Exhibition. + +1766. Four pictures contributed to the Spring Gardens Exhibition. + +Election to membership in the Dilettanti Society. + +1768. Foundation of the Royal Academy with Reynolds as president, and +honor of knighthood conferred. Four pictures contributed to Spring +Gardens Exhibition, September. + +Trip to Paris, September-October. + +1769. First Discourse as President delivered before the Academy, +January. + +First Academy Exhibition opened in Pall Mall, April 26, with several +contributions from Reynolds. + +Second Discourse delivered before the Academy, December 11. + +1770. Royal Academy Exhibition in April, with several contributions +from Reynolds, including the Children in the Wood. + +Visit in Devonshire, September-October. + +Third Discourse delivered, December 14. + +1771. Several pictures contributed to Academy Exhibition. + +Northcote apprenticed to Reynolds. + +Visit to Paris, August-September. + +Fourth Discourse delivered, December 10. + +1772. Several pictures contributed to the Academy Exhibition, +including Mrs. Crewe as St. Genevieve. + +Election of Reynolds as Alderman of Plympton, September. + +Fifth Discourse delivered, December 10. + +1773. Twelve pictures contributed to Royal Academy Exhibition, +including the Strawberry Girl, the portrait of Joseph Banks, and +Ugolino. + +1773. Honorary degree of D. C. L. conferred by Oxford, July. + +1774. Thirteen pictures contributed to Royal Academy Exhibition, +including Lady Cockburn and her Children, Three Ladies adorning a Term +of Hymen, and the Baby Princess Sophia, Duchess of Gloucester. + +Sixth Discourse delivered, December 10. + +1775. William Doughty received as pupil into Reynolds's home. + +Twelve pictures contributed to the Royal Academy Exhibition, including +Mrs. Sheridan as St. Cecilia and a half-length portrait of Dr. +Robinson, primate of Ireland. + +1776. Twelve pictures contributed to Royal Academy Exhibition, +including Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire, and Master Crewe as Henry +VIII. + +Termination of Northcote's services. + +Election to membership in Florentine Academy, and portrait painted for +the Uffizi Gallery. + +Seventh Discourse delivered, December 10. + +1777. Thirteen pictures contributed to Royal Academy Exhibition, +including Lady Caroline Montagu (Winter). + +1777-1779. Two portrait groups for Dilettanti Society. + +1778. Marlborough Family portrait exhibited at Royal Academy. + +Eighth Discourse, December 10. + +1779. Designs for windows of New College Chapel, Oxford, executed and +exhibited at Royal Academy; also portraits of Lady Louisa Manners and +Viscountess Crosbie. + +1780. Removal of Royal Academy to Somerset House and exhibition of +Reynolds's portrait of Gibbon. + +1780. Ninth Discourse delivered, October 16. + +Tenth Discourse delivered, December 11. + +1781. Fourteen pictures exhibited at Royal Academy, including Master +Bunbury, the Duchess of Rutland, and the design of Temperance for +Oxford window. + +Journey to Holland and Flanders, July. + +1782. Fifteen pictures exhibited at Royal Academy. + +Second paralytic attack, and visit to Bath. + +Eleventh Discourse delivered, December 10. + +1783. Ten pictures exhibited at Royal Academy. + +Visit to Antwerp and Brussels. + +1783. Sixteen pictures exhibited at Royal Academy, including portrait +of Mrs. Siddons as Tragic Muse, Prince of Wales with Horse, Charles +James Fox. + +Appointment as Court Painter. + +Twelfth Discourse delivered, December 10. + +1785. Sixteen pictures exhibited at Royal Academy. + +Visit to Flanders to purchase pictures. + +Commission from Empress Catherine of Russia for historical picture. + +1786. Thirteen pictures exhibited at Royal Academy, including the Duke +of Orleans, John Hunter, the Duchess of Devonshire and Child. + +Thirteenth Discourse delivered, December 10. + +1787. Three illustrations contributed to Boydell's Shakespeare +Gallery. + +Thirteen pictures exhibited at Royal Academy, including Angel Heads +and Master Philip York. + +1788. Eighteen pictures sent to Royal Academy Exhibition, including +Lord Heathfield and the Infant Hercules. + +Fourteenth Discourse, with Eulogy on Gainesborough. + +1789. Portrait of Richard Brinsley Sheridan, and "Simplicity." + +1789. Loss of sight in left eye (_gutta serena_) and abandonment of +painting. + +1790. Resignation from presidency of Royal Academy and from seat as +Academician. + +"Mrs. Billington as St. Cecilia" sent with other pictures to Academy +Exhibition. + +Fifteenth and Farewell Discourse delivered December 10. + +1792. Death of Reynolds, February 23. + +V. CONTEMPORARIES + +NOTED PAINTERS: + +Thomas Hudson (1701-1779). +Richard Wilson (1714-1782). +John Opie (1761-1807). +George Romney (1734-1802). +Allan Ramsay (1713-1784). +Thomas Gainesborough (1727-1788). +Sir William Beechey (1753-1839). +James Barry (1741-1806). +Francis Cotes (1725-1770). + +Pupils and Assistants: +Peter Toms. +Giuseppe Marchi. +Thomas Beach or Beech. +Hugh Barron. +Berridge. +Parry. +James Northcote. +Score. + +LIST OF ORIGINAL MEMBERS OF ROYAL ACADEMY:[1] + +William Chambers. +George Michael Moser. +Francis Milner Newton. +Edward Penny. +Thomas Sandby. +Samuel Wade. +William Hunter. +*Francis Hayman. +George Barrett. +Francesco Bartolozzi. +Edward Burch. +*Agostino Carlini. +*Charles Catton. +Mason Chamberlin. +*J. Baptist Cipriani. +Richard Cosway. +John Gwynn. +William Hoare. +Nathaniel Hone. +Mrs. Angelica Kauffmann. +Jeremiah Meyer. +Mrs. Mary Moser. +Joseph Nollekens. +John Richards. +Paul Sandby. +Domenick Serres. +*Peter Toms. +William Tyler. +*Benjamin West. +*Richard Wilson. +Joseph Wilton. +Richard Yeo. +John Zoffanii. +*Francesco Zuccarelli. + +[Footnote 1: The names starred were the artists who formed the first +staff of visiting critics.] + +FRIENDS AND ACQUAINTANCES AT THE DILETTANTI SOCIETY: + +Earl of Holderness. +Lord Gowran. +Sir Everard Fawkener. +The Marquis of Granby. +Lord Eglinton. +Lord Anson. +Stuart, the painter. +Sir Charles Bunbury. +Lord Euston. +The Marquis of Hartington. +Dick Edgcumbe. +Captain George Edgcumbe. + +LITERARY CLUB: FIRST TWELVE MEMBERS:[2] + +Reynolds. +Johnson. +Goldsmith. +Dr. Nugent. +Dr. Percy, afterwards Bishop of Dromore. +Sir Robert Chambers. +Sir John Hawkins. +Burke. +Bennet Langton. +Chamier. +Dyer. +Hon. Topham Beauclerk. + +[Footnote 2: The membership was afterwards successively increased to +thirty-five and forty.] + + + + +I + +PENELOPE BOOTHBY + + +Somewhat over a century ago, at the time when our American colonies +were struggling for liberty, lived the great English portrait painter, +Sir Joshua Reynolds. In those days photography had not been invented, +and portrait painting was a profession patronized by all classes of +people. There were many portrait studios in London, but none were so +fashionable as that of Reynolds. + +It is said that in his long life he painted as many as three thousand +portraits. There was scarcely a distinguished man or beautiful woman +in the kingdom who did not sit to him, and many were the children +whose portraits he painted. If all his works could be brought together +they would form a complete historical gallery of the reign of George +III. Here we should see princes, statesmen, and warriors, actors and +poets, court beauties and "blue stockings," the petted children of the +rich, and the picturesque waifs of the London streets. Among the faces +we should find those, like Fox and Burke, whose lives were intimately +connected with the destinies of our own nation, and those, like +Goldsmith and Johnson, whose names are familiar in our schools and +homes. There is something about these portraits which makes them seem +alive, something too which gives to the plainest person a certain +dignity and interest. + +With all the variety of subjects which Reynolds treated he was never +happier than when painting children. He loved them dearly, delighted +to play with them, and seemed to understand them as few grown people +do. In his great octagonal painting room were many things to amuse his +little friends, and a portrait sitting there usually meant a frolic. + +Penelope Boothby is the name of the little girl in our illustration, +and the old-fashioned name is precisely suited to the quaint figure in +cap and mitts. We are reminded of that Penelope of the old Greek poem, +the Odyssey, who waited so faithfully through the years for the return +of her husband Odysseus from the Trojan war. The story runs that, +believing Odysseus to be dead, many suitors begged her hand, but she +always replied that before marrying she must first complete the shroud +she was making for her aged father-in-law. Every day she busied +herself with the task, but when night came she secretly undid all that +she had wrought through the day, so that it might never reach +completion. Thus she prolonged the time of waiting until at last +Odysseus returned to claim his wife. + +Whether or not the little Penelope of our picture knew this story we +cannot say, but it was the fashion of the times to revive the names +and legends of mythology, and Penelope was a name which had come to +stand for all the domestic virtues. + +[Illustration: PENELOPE BOOTHBY] + +As we look at the picture for the first time the quaint costume of the +little girl suggests the idea that she is dressed for a tableau. +Children the world over love to don the clothes of a past generation +and play at men and women. Miss Penelope, we fancy, has been +ransacking some old chest of faded finery, and has arrayed herself in +the character of "Martha Washington," as painted by Gilbert Stuart. +The snowy kerchief folded across her bosom and the big mob cap on her +head are precisely like those in the portraits of the colonial lady. +The child purses her lips together primly and folds her hands in a +demure attitude in her lap, as if to play her part well, but she is +far too shy to look us directly in the face, and glances aside with +downcast eyes. + +All this illusion is dispelled when we come to study the customs of +the period. It appears that children then, both in England and +America, dressed precisely like their elders, and Penelope's costume +here is doubtless such as she wore every day. A little Boston girl, +Anna Green Winslow, wrote in her diary in 1771 of wearing a cap and +black mitts which we fancy were not unlike these. There are portraits, +too, of other little girls of the time, wearing the same huge +headdress, as we may see in the family group of the Copleys in the +Boston Art Museum. + +Penelope was the only child of Sir Brooke Boothby, and, as we may well +believe from her winsome face, the darling of the household. Her home +was a fine mansion buried among trees in the beautiful English +country. She was, we fancy, a quiet little girl, preferring a corner +with her dolls to any boisterous romp, but not without a bit of fun in +her nature. She was an affectionate little creature, and very fond of +her father, watching at the gate for his return home, and sitting on +his knee in the evening. On Sunday mornings she went to the quaint old +church of Ashbourne and knelt beside her mother in the service. + +All this and much more we learn from a book written by her father +which bears the pathetic title of "Sorrows." For little Penelope died +at the age of seven, and the stricken parent solaced himself in his +loneliness by writing the memories of his darling. + +The portrait by Reynolds was made when the child was four years old. +After her death, Fuseli painted a picture representing her borne to +heaven by an angel. There is also a lovely marble monument to +Penelope, by Banks, in the Ashbourne church.[3] + +[Footnote 3: See Mrs. Rebecca Harding Davis's article in _St. +Nicholas_, November, 1875, "About the Painter of Little Penelope."] + + + + +II + +MASTER CREWE AS HENRY VIII + + +There was once on the throne of England a king named Henry VIII. He +was a man of extraordinary character, with qualities both good and +bad. His conduct was sometimes unscrupulous and tyrannical, and he let +nothing interfere with his own pleasure. Nevertheless his reign +brought many benefits to England, and his memory is respected by +English people. + +In his early manhood, Henry was accounted the handsomest prince of his +time, but allowance must be made for the flattery of his subjects. He +was a big, rather coarse-looking man, with small eyes, and a large +face and double chin. For his noisy ways and rough manners he has been +familiarly called "Bluff King Hal" and "Burly King Harry." He was fond +of the hunt and the tournament and all kinds of manly exercise. He was +also much given to show and display, and loved rich dresses. + +He employed as his court painter the celebrated Dutch artist Holbein, +who made various portraits of the members of the royal family. There +was one particularly fine group which was unfortunately destroyed by +fire, but as a copy had previously been made we still know what the +picture was like. + +Henry VIII. had been dead some two hundred years before the Master +Crewe of our picture was born, but English kings are not allowed to be +forgotten. Successive generations of children were shown Holbein's +portraits of the bluff old ruler, and were taught something about his +reign. + +It happened one time that the children of Master Crewe's acquaintance +had a fancy dress party. The Crewes were people of fashion who entered +constantly into social affairs. Naturally there was much discussion +over their son's part and costume. It was a happy thought which fixed +upon the character of Henry VIII., for the boy's round face, square +shoulders, and sturdy frame were well fitted for the role. + +Evidently no pains were spared to make the costume historically +correct. Holbein's portrait was the costumer's model, and every detail +was faithfully followed. The boy is dressed in the fashion of the +sixteenth century in "doublet and hose." This consists first of a +richly embroidered waistcoat, the most effective part of the dress. +The sleeves are made of the same material and are gathered at the +wrists in a ruffle. The lower part of the doublet is a skirt falling +just above the knees. + +[Illustration: MASTER CREWE AS HENRY VIII.] + +Over all is flung a handsome mantle; but this is drawn apart in front +to display the smart waistcoat to full advantage. A broad-brimmed hat +set jauntily on one side, and trimmed with a long feather, completes +the costume. By way of ornament is worn a big jewelled collar and a +long chain with locket. A short sword swings from the girdle, and +on the left leg is the garter, which is the badge of membership in the +ancient Order of the Garter, of which Henry VIII. was the tenth +sovereign member. This is of dark blue ribbon edged with gold, and +bearing in gold letters the motto "Honi soit qui mal y pense".[4] + +[Footnote 4: Evil to him who evil thinks.] + +It is one thing to have a perfect costume, and another to understand +the role. Master Crewe not only looks his part, but he acts it as +well. He has not failed to take in all the points of the portrait, and +imitates the pompous attitude to perfection. He stands with feet wide +apart, grasping his gloves in the right hand and supporting the other +on the sash. + +He is a bright boy, who enters into the spirit of the game, and it +tickles him hugely to play the part of a despot. But while he is Henry +VIII. in miniature, he is Henry VIII. without the king's coarseness, +and in the place is a child's innocent pleasure. It was no wonder that +his parents, delighted with the success of the costume, wished to have +a portrait made. + +The boy is painted as he appeared when posing for his admiring +friends. In his effort to assume a lordly air his boyish glee gets the +better of him, and he belies the character by a broad grin. Perhaps he +has caught the twinkle in his father's eye, or his mother's suppressed +smile, and he can keep serious no longer. "Bravo!" cries the audience, +and he smiles in innocent delight at his success. + +His pet dogs are in the room, and one of them is rather suspicious of +this strange young prince. He sniffs cautiously at his legs, for +though his eyes deceive him, his sense of smell cannot be mistaken. + +Through a window in the rear we get a glimpse of the park beyond, +which adds much to the beauty of the picture. As we shall see in other +pictures of this collection[5] an interior gives a sense of +imprisonment unless it contains some opening. The mass of bright color +which the landscape makes in the upper right corner is balanced in the +lower left corner by a cloak thrown over a chair. + +[Footnote 5: See Lady Cockburn and her Children, and the Duchess of +Devonshire and her Child.] + +Reynolds painted so many fine portraits of boys that it is hard to say +that this or that one is best, though some have preferred Master Crewe +to all others.[6] We shall see by-and-by in Master Bunbury, and the +Cupid, that the painter understood boy nature pretty thoroughly. This +rollicking Master Crewe is not so serious as Master Bunbury, nor so +sly as the Cupid boy; he is in fact a typical English lad, sturdy, +masterful, frank, and good-natured. + +[Footnote 6: Leslie and Taylor say that "none of his many admirable +boy pictures is so consummate."] + + + + +III + +LADY COCKBURN AND HER CHILDREN + + +A pretty story is told of a Roman matron named Cornelia, who was one +day entertaining a visitor, when the conversation led to the subject +of jewels. "These are my jewels," said the hostess, and turned to show +the stranger her beautiful children. The story comes readily to mind +as one looks at this portrait of Lady Cockburn and her Children. +Indeed, the picture was once engraved[7] under the fanciful title of +"Cornelia and her Children." Like the Roman matron of old, the English +mother gathers her children about her as the choicest jewels of her +possession. Her stately beauty is of the classic sort, and the +children are as charming as English children are reputed to be. + +[Footnote 7: By Tomkins, in 1792.] + +All three are boys. The eldest is James, who kneels on his mother's +lap, playfully grasping the mantle about her neck, and supported in +his precarious position by her hand placed firmly on his back. He has +the sweet expression which betokens a sunny nature, and his well-cut +features are such as make a handsome man. He was his father's heir and +namesake, succeeding him as the seventh baronet. + +The rogue peeping over his mother's shoulder is George. Though his +features are less regular than his elder brother's, he is none the +less attractive, for he is a jolly little fellow. When he grew to +manhood he entered the navy and became an admiral. It was on his ship, +the Northumberland, that Napoleon was conveyed to the island of St. +Helena to end his days in exile. In the course of time Admiral +Cockburn became the eighth baronet of the name. + +The baby lying on the mother's lap is William. In after years he +entered the ministry, married a daughter of Sir Robert Peel, and +became Dean of York. It was fitting that one of Lady Cockburn's sons +should enter the Church, as her father, Dr. Ayscough, had been Dean of +Bristol. Upon the death of his elder brother, the Dean of York became +the ninth baronet. + +The picture shows the three children in a game of hide-and-seek. +George, who is evidently the leader of the fun, dodges up and down +behind his mother, throwing little William into an ecstasy of delight. +As the round face appears again over the shoulder, the baby reaches up +his fat little hand to clutch his brother's arm, fairly doubling +himself up in his pleasure, and grasping one foot in his other hand. + +James enjoys the play more quietly. It is quite likely that he has +been hiding his face in his mother's mantle, but now he pauses to +watch his little brother's amusement, his lips parted in a smile, his +finger directing the baby where to look. + +[Illustration: LADY COCKBURN AND HER CHILDREN] + +The mother turns her face towards that of her eldest son, scanning it +closely. + +The action in the picture is so delightfully natural that we do not at +first realize how difficult a problem is solved in the arrangement of +the four figures. An amateur photographer places his sitters in a +stiff row and directs them all to look towards a single point. The +master artist conceives of some action which shall engage the +attention of all, and form a natural connection between them. Thus, in +our picture, the interest of the game binds the figures together. The +baby lifts his face to that of the mother and brother; the mother +turns to the child at her right, and the latter looks down at the +baby, thus completing the circle. + +The lines of the composition are also so disposed as to bring the +figures together in a close unity. Follow the outer edge of the figure +of James at the left; trace across the mother's lap the line made by +the border of her mantle, and continued along the baby's body. From +the mother's elbow move the pencil past the baby's head and along his +out-stretched arm till the line ends at the top of George's head, and +from this point carry a somewhat irregular line across to the head of +James. We have thus traced the parallelogram which incloses the group. + +The centre of the group is somewhat at the left of the centre of the +canvas, and the picture would seem one-sided were it not for the +details of the background at the right. Here the painter has +represented a parapet supporting a marble pillar, at the base of +which a large macaw perches. Beyond is seen a beautiful landscape. +This spot of color brings the composition into perfect balance. More +than this, the view thus opened relieves the crowded effect of the +compact grouping. The surrounding space would not seem large enough +for the four figures were it not for this added depth of space, which +gives the eye a long distance to traverse. + +The composition is as fine in color as it is in lines and masses. It +is a "splendid tawny color harmony, formed by the red of the curtain, +the warm flesh tints, the rich orange yellow of the outer robe of +satin bordered with white fur, and the gaudy plumage of the macaw".[8] + +[Footnote 8: Claude Phillips.] + +With so many great artistic qualities, it is no wonder that the +portrait has always been admired. Upon its completion in 1774 it was +sent to the Royal Academy to be exhibited, and when it was first +brought into the room, all the painters present, struck with +admiration, burst into a tumult of applause and handclapping. Even +after this the painstaking painter probably added some finishing +touches and inscribed his name and the date, 1775, upon the ornamental +border of the lady's mantle. + + + + +IV + +MISS BOWLES + + +A little girl and her dog are playing together in a wooded park. The +place is a fine playground, with its soft, grassy carpet, and noble +old trees. It is the sort of park which adjoins country houses of +wealthy old English families, where years of training have brought to +perfection the trees planted by previous generations. Here and there, +through spaces among the branches, shafts of sunlight illumine the +shady spot. + +The child herself seems like some woodland sprite. She is bubbling +over with fun, and is scarcely still a minute. Her spaniel is a gay +playfellow,--a beautiful creature, with long silky hair and drooping +ears. He is intelligent, too, and devoted to his mistress. + +She leads him a merry chase, darting in and out among the big trees +which hide her from him. He bounds after her, loses her a moment, and +then, as she reappears, leaps upon her with delight. + +In the midst of the frolic the child's attention is attracted by a +group of boys who have entered the park, all unobserved, and have +begun a game of cricket. On the instant she drops on her knees on the +grass, seizes the dog, and, lest he should interrupt the sport, +clasps her arms tight around his neck, to hold him fast. The poor +spaniel is nearly choked, but patiently yields to the caprice of his +young mistress while she watches the game with dancing eyes. From her +gleeful expression one would fancy that the winner was her favorite. + +Some such simple incident as this Sir Joshua Reynolds must have had in +mind when painting the portrait of Miss Bowles; for every picture of +his seems to carry a story with it, each one thought out to fit the +circumstances and character of the sitter. The lively Miss Bowles, as +we see, is totally unlike the demure Miss Boothby. They are both +charming children; but, while Penelope would love to nestle in her +mother's arms, Miss Bowles would dance coyly away. While Penelope +would sit in doors by the hour, contented with her sewing, Miss Bowles +would be skipping about the park like a little hoyden. The picture of +Miss Bowles is, therefore, full of action; both child and dog pause +only an instant, caught, as it were, in the midst of their play. The +attitude of Penelope Boothby, on the other hand, is one of repose, as +suits the tranquil nature of the little girl. The background of each +picture is likewise perfectly appropriate. Miss Penelope's placid +figure is seen against a leafy screen which nearly closes in the +picture; but Miss Bowles needs plenty of space for her romps, and has +a whole park to herself. + +The painter's acquaintance with little Miss Bowles began very +pleasantly. Her parents, proud of their lovely daughter, were +planning to have her portrait made, and had chosen Romney for the +painter. A friend of theirs--Sir George Beaumont--induced them to +change their minds and engage Reynolds. Even if the portrait faded in +time, as they were afraid it might, Sir Joshua's pictures sometimes +having that fault, it would still be more beautiful than if painted by +any other hand. + +[Illustration: MISS BOWLES] + +At Sir George's suggestion the painter was first invited to dinner, +that he might see the child. She appeared at dessert, and was placed +beside the stranger at the table. It did not take long for the two to +become acquainted, for the painter immediately began to amuse the +little girl with stories and all sorts of tricks. Calling her +attention to some object on the other side of the room, he would steal +her plate while she was looking away, and pretend to be greatly +surprised at its disappearance. They would then try to find it, but in +vain, until, when she was again off her guard, he would slip it into +place, and there would be a great sensation over its discovery. Was +there ever a jollier man for a little girl to dine with! + +The next day it was proposed that Miss Bowles should be taken to visit +her new friend, and she was of course delighted to go. When the party +reached the studio, the child's face was shining with expectancy as +she greeted the painter. It was this expression which Reynolds has +caught so perfectly on his canvas, and which makes the little girl's +face seem actually smiling into ours. + +He was equally successful in catching a natural pose, watching her +closely as she danced about the room. It was a theory of his that the +unconscious movements of a child are always graceful, and we may be +sure that Miss Bowles's position here is one of her own invention. Her +skirt is spread out a little at one side, balancing, as it were, the +figure of the dog opposite. The lines inclosing the entire group form +a pyramid. + +The original painting is still beautiful in color, being among the +best preserved of Reynolds's works. Critics have pronounced it a +"matchless work that would have immortalized Reynolds had he never +painted anything else." + + + + +V + +MASTER BUNBURY + + +By a pleasant coincidence the year 1768 brought to Reynolds's studio +for portrait sittings two young people who began an acquaintance at +this time which had a romantic ending. They were Miss Catherine +Horneck and Henry William Bunbury, who were married a few years later, +and were the parents of the little boy in our picture. + +Miss Horneck was one of two pretty sisters who, upon their father's +death, had become wards of Sir Joshua, the family being old Devonshire +acquaintances of his. They were now living in London with their +mother, and were great pets in society. Goldsmith, who knew them well, +playfully named Miss Catherine "Little Comedy" from the resemblance +between her face and that of the allegorical figure of Comedy in one +of Reynolds's portraits of Garrick. + +Mr. Bunbury was a gentleman of family and fortune, who had unusual +artistic talent. His special forte was in humorous subjects and +caricatures, and his works were sought and praised by connoisseurs. + +Reynolds must have followed with affectionate interest the lives of +these young friends whose attachment had been fostered in his studio. +He always felt a fatherly regard for Mrs. Bunbury and a generous +admiration for her husband's artistic work. Their elder son, the boy +of our picture, was born in 1772, and was named Charles John. The +painter visiting his friends saw the child grow out of baby-hood and +become a sturdy boy. He was a beautiful child, with large eyes set +wide apart in his round face. His expression was delightfully frank +and honest. When he was nine years old the portrait was painted which +is reproduced in our illustration. + +The boy sits under a tree in a pleasant landscape looking intently +before him at some object. Though he seems to have been carefully +dressed for some special occasion he has been enjoying himself in boy +fashion in spite of that. His ringletted hair is blown about by the +wind, and the coat is unbuttoned at the throat, as he drops down to +rest, hot and panting from some vigorous exercise. + +His chubby hands rest on his knees, and his eyes are fixed on +something directly in front of him. He does not seem to be a boy given +to day-dreaming, and he is much too active to sit still a long time. +It must be something very interesting which awakens his curiosity. +Perhaps a bumble-bee, buzzing in and out the bell-shaped blossoms of +some sweet wild flower, catches his eye, and he almost holds his +breath and watches it. + +[Illustration: MASTER BUNBURY] + +The boy's dress looks very quaint to our modern eyes. The trousers and +waistcoat are made "in one piece," and the velvet coat, with its wide +skirt, seems a garment made for a middle-aged man. As we have +already seen, the children of this time dressed as miniature copies of +their elders. But while fashions in dress have changed, the child's +nature is about the same in every country and period. The +eighteenth-century boy, in spite of his grown-up clothes, was fond of +all sorts of out-of-door games. Master Bunbury could doubtless match a +boy of his age to-day at marbles, tops, kites, battledore, and +hop-scotch, and teach him besides many now-forgotten sports, as +"bally-cally," "chucks," "sinks," and the like. + +The modern American schoolboy, studying the history of our own +country, may be interested to know that this portrait of an English +boy, who was a subject of George III., was painted five years after +the signing of the Declaration of Independence. One of the signers had +a son who was of nearly the same age as Master Bunbury, a boy named +William Henry Harrison, who afterwards became the president of our +republic. If we possessed a portrait of Harrison at the age of nine, +it would be interesting to compare the two boyish contemporaries of +the old and the new country. Master Bunbury, as the son of an English +aristocrat, must needs have regarded our colonists as troublesome +rebels, while on his part young Harrison looked upon the English as +tyrants. + +Bunbury finally entered the English army and became a general officer. +He was sent to the Cape of Good Hope while the British were holding +possession there in behalf of the Dutch, and there he died in the +fullness of his early manhood in 1798. + +The portrait of Master Bunbury was painted a few years after that of +Miss Bowles, and Reynolds here repeated the same arrangement which had +been so successful before. It differs only in that the entire figure +of Master Bunbury is not seen, being cut off in what is called three +quarters length, just below the knees. In both pictures the lines of +the composition follow the same pyramidal form, and in both also the +park-like surroundings extend into an indefinite distance, so that the +eye may follow with pleasure the long vista. Both pictures suggest the +same idea of a child pausing in play to look directly out of the +canvas at some distant object. Yet the painter has shown a perfect +understanding of the difference in the temperament of the two +children, the girl, graceful, quick, mischievous, the boy, sturdy, +rather serious, and with a mind eager for information. + +The portrait of Master Bunbury was evidently painted by Reynolds for +his own pleasure, and retained by him during his lifetime, after which +it passed by bequest to the boy's mother. + + + + +VI + +MRS. SIDDONS AS THE TRAGIC MUSE + + +The name of Mrs. Siddons is one of the most distinguished in the +history of English dramatic art. For thirty years she was unsurpassed +in her impersonation of the tragic heroines of Shakespeare. Her first +great success was in the season of 1782, when she appeared for the +second time on the London stage. She was then about twenty-seven years +of age, and had devoted years of arduous study to her profession. +Though gifted by nature with strong dramatic instincts inherited from +generations of players, her powers developed slowly. The roles which +she acted were of the more serious sort, which required maturity and +experience for interpretation. Her personal appearance was eminently +fitted for tragic parts. She had a queenly presence, a countenance +moulded in noble lines, a deep-toned measured voice, and an impressive +enunciation. In private as well as in public she commanded the highest +admiration. Though all London was at her feet flattery could not spoil +her. Her children adored her, her friends found her the soul of +sincerity, and all the world honored her noble womanhood. + +It was while she was still on the threshold of her great career that +Reynolds painted her portrait as the Tragic Muse. + +In the old Greek mythology every art had a corresponding goddess or +muse who inspired the artistic instincts in human hearts. There was, +for instance, a muse of tragedy, called Melpomene, a muse of the +dance, Terpsichore, and so on through the nine arts. The great +sculptors used to make statues of these muses, trying to express in +each the highest ideal of the particular art represented. + +It was in imitation of this old custom that Reynolds conceived the +idea that Mrs. Siddons, as the greatest of tragediennes, would +appropriately impersonate the muse of tragedy.[9] The story is related +that when she came to his studio for the first sitting the painter +took her by the hand and led her to the chair, saying in his courtly +way: "Ascend your undisputed throne; bestow on me some idea of the +tragic muse." Whereupon she instantly assumed the attitude in which +she was painted. Among Michelangelo's frescoes in the Sistine Chapel +there is a figure of the prophet Isaiah, whose pose is quite similar, +and may have suggested both to painter and sitter the idea of the +Tragic Muse. In any case the attitude which Mrs. Siddons assumes is +entirely characteristic. + +[Footnote 9: Russell had already celebrated Mrs. Siddons as the Tragic +Muse in his History of Modern Europe, and Romney had previously +painted Mrs. Yates in the same character.] + +[Illustration: MRS. SIDDONS AS THE TRAGIC MUSE] + +The expression of her face shows the stress of strong emotion--the +struggle of a noble soul in a conflict of forces which must end in +tragedy. Her hair is brushed back from the face and ornamented with +a tiara like a royal diadem. A rich rope of pearls falls across her +beautiful neck and is gathered in a knot on her bodice. A mantle lies +across her lap draped somewhat like that in the portrait of Lady +Cockburn, and, like it, inscribed with the name of the painter, who +gallantly said that "he could not resist the opportunity of going down +to posterity on the hem of her garment".[10] + +[Footnote 10: The compliment has sometimes been referred to the +portrait of Lady Cockburn, but the incident is related by Northcote as +told him by Mrs. Siddons herself in regard to her own portrait.] + +Behind her chair are two allegorical figures representing Crime and +Remorse, the two primary causes of tragedy. In the full face of the +one at her left we can trace the features of Sir Joshua himself, +distorted though they are into the expression of a criminal. + +The color of the original painting has a sombre magnificence which is +in keeping with the seriousness of the subject. The painting of the +head and bust places it among the finest works of Reynolds. + +The portrait shows a remarkable insight on the part of the painter +into the character of Mrs. Siddons. She had not at that time played +any of her great Shakespearean roles, but Reynolds seemed to +anticipate her power. He followed her career with unfailing interest +and always made a point of attending her first appearances and +benefits, sitting among the musicians in the orchestra. When she +prepared for the character of Lady Macbeth he helped her plan the +costumes and sat rapt and breathless during her first performance. +This was generally considered her grandest effort, and she used +herself to say that after playing it thirty years she never read over +the part without discovering in it something new. In this character +she bade farewell to her profession June 29, 1812. It was said by a +contemporary critic that "there was not a height of grandeur to which +she could not soar, nor a darkness of misery to which she could not +descend; not a chord of feeling from the sternest to the most delicate +which she could not cause to vibrate at her will." + + + + +VII + +ANGELS' HEADS + + +Our thoughts of angels are naturally connected with thoughts of +children. Jesus once spoke of the little ones as those whose angels +always behold the face of the heavenly Father. Their innocence is the +best type we have on earth of the purity of beings of a higher sphere. +Often when we try to describe the beauty of some little child, we use +the word angelic. + +This explains why Sir Joshua Reynolds when called to paint the +portrait of a little girl conceived the pretty fancy of the picture of +Angels' Heads.[11] The child's fair face suggested that of an angel. +She had golden hair and blue eyes, and a very sweet little mouth. It +was a face which was so charming from every point of view that he +painted it in five positions. Grouping the heads in a circle, he added +wings after the manner of the cherubs of the old Italian masters, +surrounded them with clouds, and lighted the composition with a broad +ray of light streaming diagonally across the canvas. + +[Footnote 11: Originally called A Cherub Head in Different Views.] + +The child's hair falls about the face in straight dishevelled locks, +and it is not easy to tell at once whether it is a boy or a girl. In +reality the original was little Miss Frances Isabella Ker Gordon, +only child of Lord William Gordon and his wife Frances. + +In each position of the five heads the expression varies, and looking +from one to another, we may trace through the series the child's +changing moods. Let each face tell its own story, and perhaps we may +learn something of the workings of the mind behind it. + +Here at the lower left side the child suddenly sees some new object, a +strange bird or flower, and fixes her eyes upon it. She has a wide +awake, inquiring mind, quick to notice all that life has to offer, and +she is now in an observing mood. The expression of the face just above +is very thoughtful and perhaps a little puzzled. Life brings many hard +questions to the serious child, and this is one of the little girl's +pensive moods. The two upper faces at the right show quite another +expression. The lips of both are parted, and they seem to be singing. +One is reminded of the rapturous faces sometimes seen among choir boys +when the music lifts them out of their surroundings. All childish +troubles and questions are forgotten, as the two faces, flooded with +light, seem to look into the glory of heaven. + +And now the head is turned and the child gazes directly out of the +picture with far-seeing eyes. The expression is of perfect +contentment. It will be noticed that the position of the last head is +precisely like that of Master Bunbury, and there are points of +resemblance between the two faces. The mood and expression are, +however, quite unlike in the two children. The boy's eyes are +directed towards some actual object, but the eyes of the child here +are those of a dreamer fixed upon some vision of the imagination. + +[Illustration: ANGELS' HEADS] + +A portrait study like the Angels' Heads combines in a novel way the +many-sided character of the child. The mother watching a little +daughter from day to day feels that she has half a dozen little girls +in one. A romp, a chatterbox, a living question mark, a philosopher, a +dreamer, a veritable angel, all these and many more change places +rapidly in the child's mood. She is taken to the photographer's for +her portrait, and the negative shows only a sober little face intently +anxious to look pleasant. A more fortunate photographer may perhaps +catch her expression of eager interest as some curious new toy is +shown her. But that innocent smile of happiness that comes into her +face when singing, or that far-away look of the dreamer which she +wears in the quiet twilight, is quite beyond the photographer's skill. + +Reynolds knew the secret of representing these rarer and more delicate +expressions. He was by nature a true lover of children, and many years +of experience had taught him to understand their ways. Lady Gordon +must have felt rich indeed to have instead of one commonplace picture +five of the dearest faces her little girl could show, preserved on a +single canvas. + +It is true that something of the child's individuality is lost by the +sacrifice of the figure. When we look at the other child portraits of +our collection we notice how much is expressed in the attitude and +gesture of which we here have no indication. Yet the picture shows how +truly the face is "a mirror of the soul," and as an interpretation of +the child's mind it is unique among Reynolds's works. + +The original picture is painted in very delicate colors, and is one of +the best preserved of Reynolds's canvases. Miss Frances died unmarried +in 1831, and ten years later her mother presented the picture to the +English National Gallery. + + + + +VIII + +THE DUCHESS OF DEVONSHIRE AND HER CHILD + + +Georgiana, the Duchess of Devonshire, was one of the most celebrated +beauties of her time. She was the daughter of the Earl of Spencer, and +was married[12] at the age of seventeen to William, Duke of +Devonshire, "the first match in England". + +[Footnote 12: March 28, 1774.] + +The young duchess was as clever as she was beautiful. She was fond of +history, music and drawing, and she wrote verses both in French and +English.[13] She was an ardent admirer of the great Johnson, and in a +circle of his listeners hung with breathless interest upon his +conversation. Her charming manners, her wit, wealth, and rank drew a +host of admirers about her, and she became the leader of English +society. Whatever the Duchess of Devonshire did, or whatever the +Duchess of Devonshire wore, at once became the fashion. She opened the +fashionable balls, she was a leading spirit in the Ladies' Club, and +she set the standard for the height of headdresses and the length of +feathers! + +[Footnote 13: A long poem by the Duchess was "The Passage over Mt. +Gothard," celebrated in Coleridge's Ode to Georgiana.] + +She was not content with merely social triumphs, but her influence +reached even into politics. Her most remarkable political exploit was +to secure the reelection of Charles James Fox to Parliament (1784) +from the borough of Westminster. For this she has sometimes been +called "Fox's Duchess," but she is usually known as "the beautiful +Duchess." + +Sir Joshua Reynolds was among the fortunate number upon whom the +beautiful Duchess bestowed her smiles. He had first painted her +portrait in her girlhood and again as a young wife but two years +married (1776). He was afterwards often honored with invitations to +her house and enjoyed the hospitality of her brilliant entertainments. + +At length (June, 1784) a daughter was born to the Duke and Duchess of +Devonshire, whom they christened Georgiana Dorothy. The parents were +so happy in their baby that the mother founded a charitable school in +her honor. The child was a winning little creature, round and rosy and +full of spirits. When she was about two years old the Duchess again +called her former portrait painter's services into use, desiring a +picture of herself and daughter. + +By this time, the girlish beauty of the Duchess had faded, and her +slender figure had become somewhat stout. But the new grace of +motherhood was now added to her other charms. As she had been the +model of fashion for all the ladies of England in matter of dress, she +now became a model of motherhood for their imitation. Fashionable +women usually gave over the care and nourishment of their children to +nurses, but the Duchess of Devonshire took upon herself these +tender maternal duties. Thus mother and child were constantly together +and became boon companions. The Duchess had a very lively nature, and +a child could not wish a gayer playmate. + +[Illustration: THE DUCHESS OF DEVONSHIRE AND HER CHILD] + +It is in one of their merry romps together that the painter has +represented them. The mother is sitting on a sofa with the child on +her knee, and the two are playing the old game of Ride a Cock Horse to +Banbury Cross. To and fro on her imaginary steed swings the little +rider, supported by the encircling arm of the mother. It is rare +sport, and the child kicks her bare feet and throws up her chubby arms +gleefully. We can fancy we hear the baby voice gurgling with delight, +and the mother smiles at the child's pleasure. + +Some years afterward, the poet Coleridge, writing an ode to the +beautiful Duchess, pays a tribute to her motherhood which forms a +fitting comment on our picture:-- + + "You were a mother! at your bosom fed + The babes that loved you. + You, with laughing eyes, + Each twilight thought, + Each nascent feeling read + Which you yourself created." + +It is interesting to compare the picture with that of Lady Cockburn +and her Children which we have already studied. The lighting is +managed in the same way, a curtain being drawn aside at the right, +that we may look beyond the parapet into the open. + +It is an important principle in art that in representing any inclosed +space like the interior of a room, there should be some device for +increasing the length of the perspective. The imagination delights in +distance, and feels imprisoned where there is no opening in an +inclosure. + +The principal lines of this composition run diagonally from corner to +corner, intersecting in the centre. Some of these are so clearly +defined that we can easily trace them. One extends from the uplifted +right hand of the Duchess across the slanting line of her bodice and +along the lower edge of the child's frock. The lines of her left arm +run parallel with this. In the other direction the uplifted arms of +the baby, as well as the edge of the curtain, indicate the lines which +cross these. + + + + +IX + +HOPE + + +We have naturally come to think of Reynolds as chiefly a portrait +painter. It was, indeed, by his work in portraiture that his name +ranks among the great masters. Yet he made various interesting +excursions into other fields. We may see what charming fancy pictures +he sometimes painted in Cupid as Link Boy and The Strawberry Girl. +Historical pictures he also attempted, but not so successfully. +Religious and allegorical subjects he tried occasionally, and it is to +illustrate his work of this kind that our picture of Hope is chosen. + +The figure is a part of a large decorative scheme for a stained +window. The central compartment is devoted to the subject of the +Nativity, and shows a group of the Virgin mother with the Christ child +in the manger, Joseph and the angels. In imitation of Correggio's +famous painting of the same subject, called the _Notte_, the light of +the picture proceeds from the Babe. Two smaller compartments on either +side are filled with shepherds coming to worship. Below is a series of +seven panels, containing the figures of Faith, Hope, and Charity, and +the four cardinal virtues--Temperance, Justice, Fortitude, and +Prudence. + +This plan of subjects was made by Reynolds early in 1778, to meet an +order from New College, Oxford, for a window design to be executed for +their chapel. Hope was one of the first figures that he painted, and +in 1779 he was ready to exhibit, at the Royal Academy, the Nativity, +with Faith, Hope, and Charity. + +The three fundamental elements of Christian character have been +associated together ever since the fifteenth chapter of first +Corinthians was written. Artists and poets have had a fashion of +personifying them as allegorical figures. Certain symbols have even +been invented to correspond to each--the cross for faith, the anchor +for hope, and the heart for charity. Thus the imagination has been +called to the aid of religion in impressing Christian teaching. + +Reynolds tried to put into this figure the various qualities which +make up our thought of hope. A pretty young woman steps forth from a +region of clouds and lifts her face and hands towards the light. +Through an opening in the sky a broad beam of sunshine falls upon her. +Following its direction, she seems to be looking through the opening +into some glad vision beyond. Like the figure of Hope in Swinburne's +sonnet, she + + "Looks Godward, past the shades where blind men grope + Round the dark door that prayers nor dreams can ope, + And makes for joy the very darkness dear." + +In the lower left-hand corner we may barely make out the portion of an +anchor. The meaning of the old symbol is that hope keeps the soul +firm, as an anchor holds the ship. The face of which we have a glimpse +is girlish and innocent; the figure is full of buoyancy. The left arm +and the uplifted hands are very delicately modelled. + +[Illustration: HOPE] + +In a painting of this kind the artist is free to follow his own bent +in the matter of dress, no longer hampered, as in his portraits, by +the follies of fashion. It is delightful to see here the exquisite +simplicity of the gown falling in long, beautiful lines. The only +adornment is a gauzy scarf, twisted about the bodice and falling on +each side in spiral folds. One is reminded of the swirling scarfs in +our American Vedder's designs, having, as here, a purely decorative +purpose in the scheme. The hair is gathered up on the head in a loose +knot, from which the end escapes in a curl. + +We are not looking here for any strong delineation of character, as in +a portrait, and the painter did not even think it worth while to show +much of Hope's face. The panel is to be studied as a work of +decorative art, and its beauty lies in its scheme of color, the +contrast of light and shade, and the graceful patterns traced by the +lines. These are drawn in long flowing curves. The strongest are those +which run from the upper left to the lower right corner, to emphasize +the motion of the figure towards the left. The outline of the cloud +billows which separate the light from the darkness are counter curves +cutting across diagonally. + +We could appreciate the lines of the panel even better if we could +see it in its relation to the entire plan. Each figure is drawn with +reference to its place in the great design. Though there are so many +component parts, they unite to form a coherent whole, the main lines +flowing together in a harmonious unity. + +Reynolds's design was executed by the glass painter Jervas; but when +the window was set in place it was a great disappointment. The colors +are opaque, and can properly be seen only in a darkened room; with the +light falling through them they are at a great disadvantage. +Nevertheless the window is a matter of great pride to the fortunate +college which possesses it. The original designs, instead of being +black and white cartoons, as another artist might have made them, are +finished paintings in oil. + + + + +X + +LORD HEATHFIELD + + +Lord Heathfield, the original of this portrait by Reynolds, is famous +in English history as the hero of the siege of Gibraltar. Gibraltar, +as is well known, is that great rock on the coast of Spain, +overlooking the narrow strait which forms the passage between the +Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. In the affairs of nations +this rock occupies a position of great importance, forming, as it +were, a "key to the Mediterranean." The Strait of Gibraltar is the +gateway through which all ships must pass to gain the ports of +southern Europe, and it is therefore a matter of moment to all the +civilized world what nation holds possession there. Nature has made +the rock a fortress, and military inventions have been added, through +the centuries, to strengthen its defences. It has been the scene of +some fearful conflicts. + +Gibraltar once belonged to Spain; but, by the fortunes of war, it fell +into the possession of the English early in the eighteenth century. +Various attempts were made to recover it, but the most determined was +that of 1779, when the combined land and sea forces of France and +Spain were brought to bear upon it. The struggle lasted over three +years; but, in the end, the English were victorious, and they have +retained the fortress to this day. + +The governor in command at that time was General Elliott, who was +afterwards rewarded for his services here by being raised to the +peerage as Lord Heathfield. General Elliott was already well known as +a gallant officer. He had served in the war of Austrian succession, +holding a colonel's commission at Dettingen, where the English +defeated the French in 1743. In the Seven Years' War he had raised and +disciplined a splendid corps of cavalry, known as the "Light Horse." + +He was now over sixty years old, and his long military career fitted +him admirably for the command at Gibraltar. He showed his calibre in +the beginning of the siege, in refusing the keys of the fortress, +which were demanded of him. With tremendous odds against him, his +conduct has not inappropriately been likened to that of the Greek hero +Leonidas, at Thermopylae, when ordered by the Persian king to lay down +his arms. Throughout the defence his intrepidity, resource, and +generalship, proved him a man of remarkable military genius. + +The crisis in the siege was reached in September, 1782, when a fleet +of ten enormous floating batteries opened fire on the fortress, each +one manned by a picked crew, and carrying from ten to eighteen guns. +These batteries were the invention of the most skilled French +engineers, and were believed to be impenetrable to shot. The +cannonading began in the morning and continued all day. Soon after +midnight nine ships were on fire, and the hostile fleet was doomed. + +[Illustration: LORD HEATHFIELD] + +General Elliott showed himself a generous victor, and the men saved +from the enemy's ships owed their lives to him. Five years later the +returned hero, now become Lord Heathfield, sat to Reynolds for his +portrait, ordered by a wealthy admirer--the public-spirited Alderman +Boydell. The picture shows the brave old soldier as he took his stand +in command of Gibraltar. Some one has said that it tells the whole +story of the siege. + +The general grasps firmly the key of the fortress, the chain wound +twice about his hand, to emphasize the determination of the man to +hold it against all odds. His sword swings at his side, ready for +instant use; a cannon in the rear is pointed downward towards the +hostile fleet, and the smoke of battle rolls in clouds behind him. Far +away on the horizon a glimmer of light shines on the distant sea. + +The veteran stands as immovable as a Stonewall Jackson. His face is +set in determined lines, the lips firmly closed, the head thrown back +a little, and the eyes steadily fixed on the battle. Yet the face is +not altogether stern; there is much that is kindly and noble in the +expression. One can fancy it in another moment softening into an +expression of gentleness. + +It was a remarkable feature of his success during these terrible +months of siege, that he was able to hold the love and loyalty of his +men. When the spirits of the little garrison flagged, under the +combined influence of disease and impending famine, his genial +presence animated them with fresh hope. His chivalry was as unfailing +as his bravery. It is said that "his military skill and moral courage +place him among the best soldiers and noblest men Europe produced in +the eighteenth century." + +The portrait painter makes us feel all this in his picture. The +attitude is so dignified, the gesture so forcible, the countenance so +expressive, that we are impressed at once with the dignity of his +character. Even if we knew nothing of his history we should still be +sure that this is a great man. + +The last days of the hero of Gibraltar were spent at his home, +Kalkofen, near Aix-la-Chapelle, where he died, July 6, 1790, in the +seventy-third year of his age. + + + + +XI + +MRS. PAYNE-GALLWEY AND HER CHILD (PICKABACK) + + +Pickaback is one of the old, old games which no one is so foolish as +to try to trace to its origin. We may well believe that there was +never a time when mothers did not trot their children on their knees +and carry them on their backs. The very names we give these childish +games were used in England more than a century ago. + +The picture of Mrs. Payne-Gallwey and her child has long been known as +Pickaback, and will always be so called by many who would not be at +the pains to remember the lady's name. It is one of those portraits in +which the painter, impatient of the stiff conventional attitudes which +were in vogue in his day, drew his inspiration from a simple homely +theme of daily life. + +What an ingenious painter Reynolds was, we learn more and more as we +examine one picture after another and compare them with those of his +predecessors. He liked to have his pictures tell stories, and often, +when he had a mother and child to paint, he represented them as +playing together just as they might have done every day in their own +nursery or garden.[14] The Duchess of Devonshire is seen in her +boudoir trotting her baby to Banbury Cross, and the Cockburn children +are surprised in a game of hide-and-seek on their mother's lap. + +[Footnote 14: Claude Phillips refers to Pickaback as "one of the most +popular and representative" of this class.] + +Mrs. Payne-Gallwey seems to have just caught her little girl up on her +back and to be starting off to give her a ride. Her body is bent +slightly forward in the attitude of one walking with a burden, and we +almost seem to see her move. It is as if in another moment they would +pass across the canvas and out of our sight. + +The incident is so precisely like something which happens every day +that we might think the picture was painted yesterday instead of in +1779, were it not for the few signs which indicate its date. For one +thing, the lady's hair is arranged over a high cushion in the peculiar +style affected at this period in fashionable circles. The style was +carried to absurd extremes, ladies vying with one another in the +height of the coiffure until in some cases it actually towered a foot +and a half in height. Over this structure were worn nodding plumes of +feathers, increasing the fantastic effect. + +We may imagine how these unsightly erections vexed the artistic soul +of Sir Joshua Reynolds. He was, however, enough of an autocrat to take +liberties with the fashions. When obliged to paint the portrait of a +lady with a "head" (for so the coiffure was called) he always managed +to modify its height and make its outlines harmonize with his +composition. + +[Illustration: MRS. PAYNE-GALLWEY AND HER CHILD "PICKABACK"] + +A side view was of course much less objectionable than the full +front, in which the face was elongated to such strange proportions. In +this case the face is turned in profile, and its delicacy is enhanced +rather than injured by the masses of hair which frame it. The hair, +instead of being drawn tightly back from the forehead in the ordinary +way, waves in graceful curves, which are quite beyond the art of any +hairdresser. Finally, the massive effect of the hair is broken by the +narrow scarf bound about it and tied under the chin. The curve of this +scarf meets the curve of the profile to form a beautiful oval. + +The quaintest touch in the picture is the child's big hat. The same +shape is worn to-day by men, and one might fancy that the baby had +borrowed her papa's hat for the frolic. It is a curious change in +fashions which transfers any part of a little girl's wardrobe to that +of a grown man. + +We may feel a little better acquainted with the mother and daughter to +know their names. Mrs. Payne-Gallwey was Philadelphia, the daughter of +General De Lancey, Lieutenant Governor of New York. The child was +Charlotte, who afterwards married John Moseley. Mrs. Gallwey's beauty +is of a very fragile type, and her eyes have a languor hinting of +invalidism. Only a few years later she died, while still in her young +motherhood. Little Charlotte has a round healthy face, but it is a +little sober. Indeed, both mother and child seem to be of a rather +dreamy, poetic temperament. Their mood is hardly merry enough for such +a game, but they enjoy it in their own way with quiet contentment. It +is an idealized version of the ordinary romping game of Pickaback. + +The composition is based on lines which cut the canvas diagonally. In +one direction is the line running the length of the profile and +continued along the bodice. Crossing this at right angles is the +shorter line made by the two arms. It is the first of these which +gives character to the picture and produces the impression of motion +which is so striking. It is almost as if a modern photographer had +taken a snap shot of a figure in the act of walking. But in no such +photograph, it is safe to say, would the lines chance to flow in such +perfect rhythm. + + + + +XII + +CUPID AS LINK BOY + + +A familiar figure in classic mythology was that of the little god of +love, Cupid. He was the son of Venus, and, like her, was concerned in +the affairs of the heart. Ancient art represented him as a beautiful +naked boy with wings, carrying a bow and quiver of arrows, and +sometimes a burning torch. The torch was to kindle the flame of love, +and the arrows were to pierce the heart with the tender passion. These +missiles were made at the forge of Vulcan, where Venus first imbued +them with honey, after which Cupid, the mischievous fellow, tinged +them with gall. Thus it was that the wounds they inflicted were at +once sweet and painful.[15] + +[Footnote 15: Anacreon's Ode XXXIII. in Moore's translation.] + +Now Cupid was always bent upon some of his naughty pranks. He was +afraid of nothing, and we read of his riding on the backs of lions and +sporting with the monsters of the deep. He played all sorts of tricks +on the gods, stealing the arms of Hercules, and even breaking the +thunderbolts of Jove. His bow and arrows were a source of great +amusement to him. He delighted in taking aim at unsuspecting mortals, +and his random shots often wrought sad havoc. + +One of Anacreon's odes relates how the poet was awakened on a rainy +midnight by the cry of a child begging shelter. The little waif proved +to be Cupid in disguise. After being warmed and dried by the fire, the +boy artfully craved permission to try his bow, to see if the rain had +injured its elasticity. The arrow flew straight at the poet's heart +with a sweet pain, and away flew Cupid laughing gayly at his +exploit.[16] + +[Footnote 16: Anacreon's Ode XXVIII. in Moore's translation.] + +Cupid was naturally a very popular god, yet his tricksy ways caused +him to be looked upon with suspicion. Every one was anxious to stand +well with him. In some of the cities of ancient Greece, as Sparta and +Athens, he was worshipped with great solemnity, and every five years +festivals were held in his honor. + +In our picture the painter has represented the little torch-bearing +god disguised as a link boy. He is dressed in the clothes of a London +street urchin, and behind him are the warehouses of the great city. + +The link bearer's occupation was abandoned so long ago that it needs a +word of explanation. In the old times, before there were stationary +street lights of any kind, men and boys used to run about by night, +carrying torches or links, as they were called, to lighten the way for +passers-by. + +They were like the newsboys of to-day, running up to each wayfarer to +offer their services, and always glad to pick up a few pennies. They +accompanied parties home from the clubs, the theatres, and all +sorts of entertainments, running beside carriages, as well as foot +passengers. Nor was their occupation solely by night. There sometimes +came suddenly in London a thick fog, shutting out the sunlight as +completely as if it had been night. People caught in the streets at +such times soon lost their way, and the services of the link boy were +then very useful. + +[Illustration: CUPID AS LINK BOY] + +We may now understand what a capital chance for fun Cupid would have, +playing the part of a link boy. The strangers whom he guided on their +way would little suspect that the link boy's torch was kindling the +flame of love within them. He might lead them whither he pleased, and +finally, disclosing his true identity, would draw his bow upon them +and leave them to their fate. + +It is perhaps after some such escapade as this that we see him in the +picture, link in hand, pausing to look back with a smile of suppressed +amusement at some of his victims. It seems very odd to find Cupid in +such surroundings, and especially to see the little god hampered by +the clumsy garments of mortals. They are old and ragged, the cast-off +finery such as is picked up by street gamins. The child's hair is +tossed about his head in unkempt locks, and altogether he looks the +part to perfection. + +Yet there are unmistakable signs of his identity in the wings spread +from his shoulders. If you look closely, too, you can see through the +rip in his sleeve the quiver of arrows which the sly fellow thought to +hide under his coat. The face and expression could belong alone to +Cupid. The mouth is shaped in a genuine Cupid's bow, and the pointed +chin shows his astuteness. Mischief lurks in the corners of the eyes +and in the curve of his mouth. + +The Cupid as Link Boy is one of a number of fancy pictures which Sir +Joshua Reynolds painted for his own pleasure. His portrait orders were +nearly all from the wealthy and aristocratic classes, and the artist +would not have been content without a greater variety of subjects than +this work afforded. He had a fertile imagination for ideal or "fancy" +subjects, particularly for those of a humorous nature. Often when he +chanced to be driving through the streets his attention would be +attracted by some little waif, and he would take the child back to his +studio for a model. Our picture is from one of these mischievous +London street boys, whose face reappears in several other works. + + + + +XIII + +THE HON. ANNE BINGHAM + + +Miss Anne Bingham was one of the many aristocratic ladies whose +portraits Reynolds painted, and one of the most interesting of this +class of sitters. Her vivacious face looking into ours wins us at +once, and we should be glad to know more of the charming original. + +Anne Bingham was the youngest daughter of Sir Charles Bingham, who in +1776 was created Baron Lucan. Her mother, Lady Lucan, was a remarkably +talented woman, trying her hand with success at modelling, painting, +and poetry. She was ambitious to be an intellectual leader, and like +several other ladies of the time entertained after the fashion of the +French salons, inviting people of wit and learning to meet in her +drawing-room for discussion. Her artistic work was really remarkable. +Encouraged by the advice and help of Horace Walpole, she became a +skilful copyist, and it is said imitated the works of some earlier +painters with a genius that fairly depreciated the originals! + +It was thus in exceptionally artistic and intellectual surroundings +that Anne grew out of girlhood. Her oldest sister, Lavinia, who +afterwards became Countess Spencer, inherited the mother's artistic +tastes, and was likewise a favorite with Horace Walpole. + +The two daughters were both charming in appearance, and there was a +certain sisterly resemblance between them. If Lavinia's eyes were a +bit more sparkling, judged by the portraits, Anne's mouth was smaller +and more daintily modelled. As a frequent guest in their mother's +drawing-room, Sir Joshua must have known both the young ladies. Of the +elder he painted several portraits; of the younger, but this one, +executed in 1786. + +It was a natural and appropriate idea that Miss Anne's portrait should +be made in a style similar to one of her sister, as a companion +picture. Both were represented in half-length figure, wearing white +kerchiefs and broad-brimmed hats. + +Those must have been pleasant sittings which gave the veteran portrait +painter Miss Anne for a subject.[17] Plainly there was a perfect +sympathy between sitter and painter. The smile the lady turns towards +the easel is as naive as that of Miss Bowles herself. She watches his +clever work with an artist's delight, and with the simple spirit of a +child. + +[Footnote 17: When her father was created an earl in 1795, she became +Lady Anne.] + +Nothing could be more distasteful to such a character than the +affected pose of a woman of fashion. She has dropped into a chair with +a careless grace all her own, and tells the painter she is ready. He +takes up his brush, and lo, the very essence of her smile is +transferred to his canvas. + +[Illustration: THE HON. ANNE BINGHAM] + +We praise the delicate rendering of the gauzy kerchief veiling her +neck, but it is far less wonderful than the delicate interpretation of +her expression. The fine sensitiveness of her nature, her lively fancy +and sense of humor, her playfulness, her coquetry, her impulsiveness, +her volatile temperament--all this we read in the shining eyes and the +smiling mouth, though no one can say how they were made to tell so +much. The signs of her birth and breeding are in every line, yet she +is something of a Bohemian too. There is a delightful sense of +camaraderie in her smile. + +There is a certain portrait by Leonardo da Vinci known as the Mona +Lisa, and famous for its baffling smile. There is a tantalizing +quality about it which makes one forever wonder what the lady is +thinking about and why she is smiling. Nothing could be more in +contrast than this smile of Miss Bingham. There is no mystery in it, +but rather it takes us into her confidence in the most winning way. + +The costume interests us not only as a reminder of bygone fashions, +but for its picturesqueness. The bodice is ornamented only by the big +buttons by which it is laced. A narrow belt finishes it at the waist, +with a small buckle in front. + +The hair is frizzed in puffy masses about the face, escaping in a few +curls which fall over the shoulders. This was evidently the favorite +coiffure in the year 1786, as the portrait of the Duchess of +Devonshire with her Child, painted in the same year, shows precisely +the same style. Both ladies also wear low-cut bodices with kerchiefs +arranged in the same manner. The finishing touch of Miss Bingham's +costume is the big straw hat worn aslant on the back of the head. + +It has been a favorite device of great portrait painters to dress +their sitters in all sorts of fanciful headwear. Rembrandt's portraits +show an endless variety of caps, turbans, and hats. Rubens was fond of +painting broad-brimmed hats shading the face, one of his celebrated +pictures being a study of this kind called Le Chapeau de Paille (The +Straw Hat). + +Now Reynolds was to some extent an imitator of these two men, and it +may be he learned something from their pictures about hats. However +that may be, we see how the hat here proves very effective in bringing +the head into harmonious relation with the whole composition. The brim +describes a diagonal line parallel with the line made by the kerchief +over the left shoulder. The kerchief on the right shoulder falls in a +line parallel with the left arm. + +A composition based on short diagonal lines like these is as different +as possible in character from one of long flowing curves like Hope. +Each one is appropriate to its own subject. + + + + +XIV + +THE STRAWBERRY GIRL + + +Village life in England before the time of railroads had a picturesque +charm which it has since lost except in remote districts. We learn +something about it in Miss Mitford's sketches of "Our Village" and in +Miss Edgeworth's "Tales." From such books it is delightful to +reconstruct in imagination some of these rural scenes; the wide +meadows where the cowslips grow, the brooks running beneath the +hawthorns and alders, the lanes winding between hedgerows, the green +common where the cricketers play, the low cottages covered to the roof +with vines, and the trim gardens gay with pinks and larkspur. These +villages are connected with the outside world only by the postcart and +chapman. Here modest little girls like Miss Mitford's Hannah and Miss +Edgeworth's Simple Susan move about their daily tasks and run on their +errands of mercy. + +Now Sir Joshua Reynolds was a native of Devonshire, a beautiful +English district which all born Devons love with peculiar devotion, as +we may see from Charles Kingsley's descriptions in "Water-babies." +From time to time in his busy life the painter returned to his home +for a breath of country air. On one of these visits he brought back +to London with him his young niece Theophila Palmer, whose father had +just died. Offy, as she was called, soon became the pet of her +bachelor uncle's household, of which she long remained a member. As +she flitted about the house the little country-bred girl with her +fresh healthy beauty was a constant reminder to the painter of the +woods and fields. Perhaps one day as he was looking at her with +special pleasure the picture suddenly flashed upon his fancy of Offy +in the character of a village maid. The idea developed into the +Strawberry Girl, for which Offy sat as model. + +A little girl has been sent on an errand along a lonely road leading +out of the village. It may be that like little Red Riding Hood in the +nursery tale she is carrying some dainties to her grandmother. A +basket of strawberries hangs on her arm, and her apron also seems to +be filled with something, for it is gathered up in front like a bag, +the corners dropping over the arm. + +Twilight begins to fall as she comes to a turn of the road +overshadowed by a high rock. There are all sorts of queer noises and +shadows here, and she steals timidly past the eerie place, peering +forward with big eyes. + +[Illustration: THE STRAWBERRY GIRL] + +Yet she is a womanly child, who will not easily be turned back. She +feels the importance of her errand, and is worthy of the trust. The +simple low-cut gown is that of a village maid. An odd cap, something +like a turban, covers her head and adds a trifle to her height and +dignity. Her round face and chubby neck would be the envy of the +puny city child who knows not the luxury of big porringers of bread +and milk. If her hands are rather too delicately moulded for those of +a country child we must remember again that Reynolds was painting from +his own little niece. + +In imagination we follow the little maid about the simple round of her +childish pursuits. Every morning she goes demurely to school to fix +her thoughts on "button holes and spelling books." Perhaps it is a +dame school like that in "Water Babies," with a "shining clean stone +floor and curious old prints on the wall and a cuckoo clock in the +corner," Here some dozen children sit on benches "gabbling +Chris-cross," while a nice old woman in a red petticoat and white cap +hears them from the chimney corner. + +Our little girl has duties at home as well, and is sometimes seen, a +pitcher in one hand and a mop in the other, making the house tidy. She +can boil potatoes, shell the beans, feed the hens, and make herself +useful in many ways. + +On rare occasions she has a holiday in the fields, and then what joy +it is in spring and early summer to find the haunts of the wild +flowers which grow in such abundance in the English country. Miss +Mitford writes of a wonderful field where bloomed in season, +"primroses, yellow, purple, and white, violets of either hue, +cowslips, oxlips, arums, orchises, wild hyacinths, ground ivy, +pansies, strawberries, and heart's ease, covering the sunny open slope +under a weeping birch." + +A favorite game is making cowslip balls. The tufts of golden flowerets +are first nipped off with short stems, until a quantity are gathered. +Then the ribbon is held ready and the clusters are nicely balanced +across it until a long garland is made, when they are pressed closely +together and tied into a sweet golden ball. + +When we remember that the little Offy, who was the original Strawberry +Girl, was transplanted from her Devonshire home to the great city of +London, we are interested to know something of her after life. She +grew to be as dear as a daughter to her uncle. In the dreary days when +he could not use his eyes she was his reader and amanuensis. The many +distinguished guests who enjoyed his hospitality were charmed with her +sweet manners. In the course of time she married Richard Lovell +Gwatkin, a Cornish gentleman in every way worthy of her. "Her +happiness was as great as her uncle could wish. She lived to be +ninety, to see her children's children, and, intelligent, cheerful, +and affectionate to the last, vividly remembered her happy girlhood +under her uncle's roof, and the brilliant society that found a centre +there." + + + + +XV + +DR. SAMUEL JOHNSON + + +The eccentric figure of Dr. Samuel Johnson was one of the familiar +sights of London during the middle of the eighteenth century. He was a +man of great learning, a voluminous writer, and an even more +remarkable talker. He was born in 1709, and, the son of a poor +bookseller, he struggled against poverty for many years. Literary work +was ill paid in those days, and Johnson gained his reputation but +slowly. He contributed articles to the magazines, and twice he +conducted short-lived periodicals of his own--the "Rambler" and the +"Idler." He wrote, besides, a drama, "Irene"; a tale, "Rasselas"; a +book of travel, a "Journey to the Hebrides"; and many biographies, +including the "Lives of the Poets." His largest undertaking was an +English dictionary, upon which he spent eight years of labor. + +At length his pecuniary troubles came to an end when, in 1762, the +government awarded him a pension of L300 a year. By this time his +great intellectual gifts had begun to be appreciated, and he was the +first man of letters in England. In Thackeray's phrase, he "was +revered as a sort of oracle." + +Johnson was now too old to acquire the graces of polite society, even +had he wished them. His huge, uncouth figure and rolling walk, his +countenance disfigured by scrofula, his blinking eyes, his convulsive +movements, his slovenly dress and boorish manners made him a strange +figure in the circles which entertained him. + +His appetite was enormous, and he ate "like a famished wolf, the veins +swelling on his forehead, and the perspiration running down his +cheeks." He usually declined wine, but his capacity for tea was +unlimited. Many funny stories are told of the number of cups poured +for him by obliging hostesses, for, oddly enough, he was a great +favorite with the ladies, and knew how to turn a pretty compliment. +His temper was at times very irritable and morbid, and he occasionally +had violent fits of rage. Yet, with all these peculiarities, he had a +kind heart and was sincerely religious. His devotion to his wife and +his aged mother[18] was very touching, and the poor and infirm knew +his charities. In his own lodgings he provided a home for an oddly +assorted family of dependents, consisting of an old man, a blind +woman, a negro boy, and a cat. All the details of his daily life and +habits are minutely described in a biography written by his admiring +friend, Boswell, who was intimately associated with him for many +years. The book he wrote after Johnson's death tells us not only all +about the learned doctor, but much also about his friends. + +[Footnote 18: His wife died in 1752, and his mother in 1759 at the age +of ninety.] + +[Illustration: DR. SAMUEL JOHNSON] + +Reynolds was one of his warm friends, and the two understood each +other well. Often when they were together in company, the painter's +tact and courtesy smoothed over some breach of etiquette on the part +of his companion. At Reynolds's suggestion, the two founded together a +small club of congenial spirits, called the Literary Club. + +Some other good friends of Johnson's were the Thrales. Mr. Thrale was +a rich brewer, and a man of parts, and his wife was one of the +brightest women of her day. Johnson was a constant visitor at their +house, and became at last, practically, a member of the family. The +Thrales's drawing-room at their Streatham villa was the scene of many +brilliant gatherings, where intellectual people met for conversation +and discussion. Johnson was the autocrat of this circle. He was often +rude, even insolent, in expressing his opinion, and wounded many by +his sarcasm. But his vast stores of information, his keen mind and +ready wit, made his conversation an intellectual feast. + +It was an ambition of Mr. Thrale to ornament his house with a gallery +of portraits of contemporary celebrities, and it was for this +collection that Reynolds painted the portrait of Johnson, reproduced +in our illustration. It was really a repetition of a portrait he had +previously painted for their common friend and club-fellow, Bennet +Langton. + +Here we see the sage at the age of sixty odd years, precisely as he +appeared among his friends at Streatham. The painter has straightened +the wig, which was usually worn awry, but otherwise it is the very +Dr. Johnson of whom we read so much, with his shabby brown coat, his +big shambling shoulders, and coarse features. + +A remarkable thing about the portrait is that Reynolds succeeded so +well in showing us the man himself under this rough exterior. The +inferior artist paints only the outside of a face just as it looks to +a stranger who knows nothing of the character of the sitter. The +master paints the face as it looks to a friend who knows the soul +within. Now, Reynolds was not only a master, but he was, in this case, +painting a friend. So he put on the canvas, not merely the eccentric +face of Dr. Johnson as a stranger might see it, but he painted in it +that expression of intellectual power which the great man showed among +his congenial friends. Something, too, is suggested in the portrait of +that sternly upright spirit which hated a lie. + +It is a portrait of Johnson the scholar, the thinker, and the +conversationalist. He seems to be engaged in some argument, and is +delivering his opinion with characteristic authoritativeness. The +heavy features are lighted by his thought. One may fancy that the talk +turns upon patriotism, when Johnson, roused to indignation by the +false pretences of many would-be patriots, exclaims, "Sir, patriotism +is the last refuge of a scoundrel." + + + + +XVI + +THE PORTRAIT OF REYNOLDS + + +In the city of Florence, Italy, there is a famous gallery of portraits +unlike any other collection of pictures in the world. It consists of +the portraits of artists, painted by their own hands, and includes the +most celebrated painters of all nations, from the fifteenth century to +the present time. Here may be seen the portraits of Velasquez, Titian, +Tintoretto, Rembrandt,--the world's greatest portrait painters,--and +in the same splendid company hangs the portrait of Reynolds, +reproduced in our frontispiece. He painted it in 1776 for the special +purpose of sending it to Florence at the request of the Imperial +Academy of that city, of which he had just been elected a member. + +As we have seen in our study of the Angels' Heads, a single portrait +can show us only one side of the sitter's character. This portrait of +Reynolds, painted as a condition of membership in a society of +artists, and for a gallery of artists' portraits, was intended chiefly +to show the artistic side of his nature. The pose itself at once +suggests the artist. The expression of the mobile face is that of a +painter engaged at his easel, turning a searching glance upon the +object he is painting. In short, it is a sort of official portrait, +introducing the new member to his associates in the Imperial Academy. + +The artist wears the Oxford cap and gown, to which he is entitled, by +virtue of the honorary degree of D. C. L., conferred upon him by the +University of Oxford. In his hand he carries a roll of manuscript, +presumably one of his lectures before the Royal Academy. Both the roll +and the costume are, as it were, insignia of his English honors. A +Latin inscription on the back of the portrait, written by the +painter's own hand, enumerates the several distinctions which are his. + +Reynolds might, indeed, be pardoned the pride with which he reviewed +his career. From somewhat humble beginnings he had now made his way to +the foremost place in his profession. He was born at a time when art +was in a very low state in England, and there were no advantages for +the study of painting. His only instruction was under an inferior +portrait painter named Hudson, with whom he served as apprentice about +two years. + +His real art training was during three years of travel in Italy. There +he examined and studied the works of the greatest masters of the past, +and returned to England with altogether new ideals. Setting up a +studio in London, he soon gained an immense popularity. When the Royal +Academy was founded, in 1768, he became the first president, and at +the same time the honor of knighthood was conferred upon him. Other +artists now rose to prominence, but he still held the supremacy. + +The painter's popularity depended by no means on his artistic talents +alone; his opinions were worth hearing on many subjects. He was fond +of books and literary discussions, and his friendship was valued by +such men of intellect as Johnson, Goldsmith, Burke, and others of that +charmed circle making the Literary Club. He had a genial, kindly +nature, and his manners were exquisitely courteous. Thackeray once +wrote that "of all the polite men of that age, Joshua Reynolds was the +finest gentleman." He was a member of several clubs, was fond of +society, and was a welcome guest in many of the best houses in London. +He himself entertained with generous hospitality, and gathered about +his table some of the brightest people of his time. + +His intimate friend, Edmund Malone, described him as a man "rather +under the middle size, of a florid complexion, and a lively and +pleasing aspect; well made, and extremely active. His appearance at +first sight impressed the spectator with the idea of a well-born and +well-bred English gentleman. With an uncommon equability of temper, +which, however, never degenerated into insipidity or apathy, he +possessed a constant flow of spirits which rendered him at all times a +most pleasing companion.... He appeared to me the happiest man I have +ever known." + +Through many years Reynolds was very deaf, and was obliged to use an +ear trumpet to aid him in general conversation. In later years he also +wore spectacles, so that we always picture him in his advancing life +with trumpet and glasses. His habit of taking great quantities of +snuff was one which gave occasion to many jokes among his friends. + +Numerous poetic tributes were written by his admirers, describing more +or less rhetorically his qualities as a man and an artist. There is +one bit of verse by Goldsmith (1770), in a comic vein, and in the form +of an epitaph, which delineates very cleverly the real character of +the man:-- + + "Here Reynolds is laid, and to tell you my mind, + He has not left a better or wiser behind; + His pencil was striking, resistless and grand, + His manners were gentle, complying, and bland; + Still born to improve us in every part, + His pencil, our faces, his manners, our heart: + To coxcombs averse, yet most civilly steering, + When they judged without skill, he was still hard of hearing; + When they talked of their Raffaelles, Correggios, and stuff, + He shifted his trumpet, and only took snuff!" + + * * * * * + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Sir Joshua Reynolds, by Estelle M. 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