Part 14 (2/2)

”Phiz's” many excellent qualities far outweighed any defects in his character. A life-long friend of the artist, Mr. John Greville Fennell, writes thus to me: ”No man knew more of Hablot Browne than I did, for though he was very reticent to most, he never, I believe, concealed anything from me. We used to wander together in the country for two or three weeks or more at a time, and a man more full of fun, when he had thrown off the 'harness,' I have not known in my large acquaintance.”

His naturally modest disposition eventually developed into a remarkable shyness, and this, when coupled with a dislike of publicity, was often misconstrued as pride. Even d.i.c.kens had considerable difficulty in persuading him to meet a few friends and spend a pleasant evening. When he did accept such invitations, he invariably tried to seclude himself in a corner of the room or behind a curtain. In former years he was occasionally prevailed upon to attend certain dinners given by d.i.c.kens to celebrate the completion of his stories; and the novelist sometimes succeeded in inducing him to accept invitations to join him for a brief holiday by the sea, as we learn from a communication addressed to Forster, and dated from Bonchurch during the ”Copperfield” days, in which d.i.c.kens said: ”Browne is coming down when he has done his month's work.” Eventually, all desire for social intercourse ceased, ”Phiz”

preferring to lead the life of a recluse in his country home.

A short time prior to his severe illness in 1867, Hablot Browne received an extraordinary commission from Mr. F. W. Cosens, one of his most liberal patrons, who solicited the artist to make coloured _replicas_ of the entire series of his published designs for the works of the great novelist. In a letter to me on this subject in 1882, Mr. Cosens said: ”I remember to have had only two or three interviews with him, and, as a stranger, found him shy and nervous. I desired to secure any sketches he might have of the ill.u.s.trations to d.i.c.kens, but understood him to say he had none, as he drew them on the blocks [plates]. He evidently did not like the drudgery of reproduction, and named such terms as he thought would deter me; but finding the honorarium was of great importance to him, the bargain was struck. The work extended over some years, and the later productions evince haste and inferiority. The work can hardly be called water-colour drawing, as it is simply sketching, slightly heightened by colour-was.h.i.+ng.” Strange to say, ”Phiz” did not possess copies of d.i.c.kens's novels, so he borrowed Mr. Cosen's set, and from these he executed the tinted _replicas_. At the sale of Mr. Cosen's library at Sotheby's in 1890, this interesting collection, numbering 405 drawings, was disposed of for the aggregate sum of 671.

It should be mentioned in conclusion, that, besides the vignettes already described as having been prepared by ”Phiz” for the Library Edition (1858-59), he also designed for that edition the following subjects, which were executed in water-colours and, like the rest, engraved on steel:--Mr. Trott and the ”Boots,” ill.u.s.trating ”The Great Winglebury Duel” in ”Sketches by Boz;” Mr. b.u.mble and Oliver, for ”Oliver Twist;” Scrooge and Marley, for the series of Christmas Books; and a Vineyard Scene, which appropriately decorates the t.i.tle-page of ”Pictures from Italy.”

Although, as already stated, Hablot Browne was quite capable of biting-in his own designs upon the steel plates, he had not sufficient time to devote to this part of his work. From the ”Pickwick” days onward the artist was fortunate in securing the services of his fellow-apprentice in Finden's studio, Mr. Robert Young, who was afterwards his partner in many artistic ventures, and always his most intimate friend and admirer. When at Finden's, Mr. Young acquired the art of biting-in, a process which, although to some extent a mechanical one, requires a considerable amount of artistic knowledge and manipulative skill, for there is nothing to guide the etcher as to the required effect, except in some cases a rough indication on paper. It was Mr. Young's duty, after each plate was bitten-in, to go over it with a graver and join any lines which in the etching had become broken or rotten. For biting-in and finis.h.i.+ng the two subjects on one plate he received from Chapman & Hall (with whom he had a separate account) the sum of three guineas. Browne's ruling-machine for producing the mezzotint effects was kept in his colleague's room at Furnival's Inn, where, more than half-a-century ago, he and the artist took chambers for business purposes and to be near the publishers. These quarters, which were situated in the south-west corner of the Inn, have been lately demolished, together with the chambers at No. 15, rendered famous by the fact that the earlier portion of ”Pickwick” was there written.

Mr. Young acted as Browne's a.s.sistant in the manner described during the greater part of the years of ”Phiz's” popularity, and his co-operation extended not only to the d.i.c.kens ill.u.s.trations, but to the thousand-and-one designs that embellished the works of other writers.

The following brief note (quoted from Mr. Thomson's Memoir) is a specimen of the many communications which constantly pa.s.sed between the artist and his coadjutor:--

[_Circa 1845._]

”MY DEAR 'CO,'--Pray help me in an emergency. Put a bottle of aquafortis in your pockets, wax and all other useful adjuncts, and come to me to-morrow about one or two o'clock, and bite in an etching for me, ferociously and expeditiously. Can you?--will you?--oblige, Yours sincerely,

”H. K. BROWNE.”

Mr. Robert Young, who is now in his eighty-second year, has recently favoured me with a few facts concerning himself, which are not devoid of interest in the present record. Writing from Norham-upon-Tweed, he says: ”I was born in Dalkeith in 1816, educated in France, and, on leaving school, was apprenticed to Finden, the engraver, where my friends.h.i.+p with 'Phiz' commenced, which closed with his death. Some years ago I was presented with a clerks.h.i.+p in the Admiralty, and retired on a pension in 1878, which enables me to pa.s.s my last days in this humdrum village. I am, as you see, very old, have many infirmities, and cannot always remember past events.”

[Ill.u.s.tration]

PLATE x.x.xVIII

GEORGE CATTERMOLE

From an Unpublished Photograph by

LAKE PRICE _Lent by the Artist's Daughter, Mrs. Edward Franks._

GEORGE CATTERMOLE

First Acquaintance with d.i.c.kens--Declines Offer of Knighthood--Favourite Subjects for Pictures--”MASTER HUMPHREY'S CLOCK”--A Letter from d.i.c.kens respecting the Ill.u.s.trations--Cattermole's Designs Copied on Wood by ”Phiz”

and Samuel Williams--Some d.i.c.kens Correspondence--Minute Directions to the Artist--Design for Frontispiece--Useful Hints and Suggestions--The ”Maypole” Inn--”Grip,” the Raven--Subjects for ”Barnaby Rudge”--An Unpublished Letter from Cattermole to d.i.c.kens--Closing Chapters of the Story--The Novelist Approves of the Ill.u.s.trations--Frontispiece for the First Cheap Edition of ”The Old Curiosity Shop”--Water-colour Drawings of ”Little Nell's Home” and ”Little Nell's Grave”--d.i.c.kens's Grat.i.tude to Cattermole--Death of the Artist--His Vivacity and Good-fellows.h.i.+p.

Born at d.i.c.kleburgh, Norfolk, in the year 1800, George Cattermole was a dozen years the senior of Charles d.i.c.kens. His acquaintance with the novelist began in 1838, and when, in the following year, he married Miss Elderton, a distant connection of the author of ”Pickwick,” the friends.h.i.+p subsisting between the two men ripened into sincere affection. George Cattermole had been elected a member of the Society of Painters in Water-Colours as early as 1833, which indicates that his reputation was already well established, and in 1839 he had achieved such distinction in Art that he received the offer of knighthood,--an honour he modestly declined. The subjects he loved to portray were scenes from mediaeval history, fiction, or ballad literature, and he revelled in depicting incidents of bygone times, with their manners and customs, their architecture and costumes, in the representation of which he has been considered the chief exponent. It was this antiquarian feeling, as well as his powerful imagination and vivid fancy, which excited the admiration of John Ruskin, whose favourable criticisms of the artist's early productions proved of infinite service.

[Sidenote: =Master Humphrey's Clock, 1840-41.=]

George Cattermole had already enjoyed considerable experience as an ill.u.s.trator of books, and had made drawings of buildings and scenery described in Scott's novels, when, in 1840, d.i.c.kens invited him to collaborate with D. Maclise, R.A., and Hablot K. Browne (”Phiz”) in designing the woodcuts for ”Master Humphrey's Clock.” The earliest intimation received by the artist respecting the projected publication was contained in the following letter, dated January 13, 1840:--

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