Part 17 (1/2)

_Lent by Mr. Augustin Daly._

[Ill.u.s.tration]

This letter is the last (of those which have been preserved) having reference to George Cattermole's artistic a.s.sociation with ”Master Humphrey's Clock.” Of the one hundred and ninety-four ill.u.s.trations contained in this work, thirty-nine were designed by him, these comprising fourteen for ”The Old Curiosity Shop,” fifteen for ”Barnaby Rudge,” and ten for the ”Clock” chapters; his signature, ”G.C.,”

appended thereto has occasionally been mistaken for the initials of George Cruikshank, to whom some of these designs have been incorrectly attributed. There can be no doubt that George Cattermole's drawings greatly enhanced the popularity of the work, for nothing could be happier than his facile treatment of such subjects as the ”Maypole” Inn, the interior of the Old Curiosity Shop, and Quilp's Wharf; while especially effective are his representations of the old church in the village where Little Nell died. This picturesque little structure really exists at Tong, in Shrops.h.i.+re, and, with its splendid carving and magnificent monuments, presents the same attractive appearance which inspired both d.i.c.kens and his ill.u.s.trator. The novelist was so much charmed with Cattermole's designs in ”The Old Curiosity Shop” that he could not refrain from expressing to the artist his warm appreciation of them. ”I have so deeply felt,” he wrote, ”your hearty and most invaluable co-operation in the beautiful ill.u.s.trations you have made for the last story, that I look at them with a pleasure I cannot describe to you in words, and that it is impossible for me to say how sensible I am of your earnest and friendly aid. Believe me that this is the very first time that any designs for what I have written have touched and moved me, and caused me to feel that they expressed the idea I had in my mind. I am most sincerely and affectionately grateful to you, and am full of pleasure and delight.”

In concluding this account of George Cattermole's ill.u.s.trations for the writings of d.i.c.kens, it only remains to add that he prepared a special design as the frontispiece for the first cheap edition of ”The Old Curiosity Shop” (1848), an admirable drawing on wood, excellently engraved by Thomas Williams, depicting ”Little Nell in the Church.”

On the completion of ”Master Humphrey's Clock,” the author commissioned Cattermole to make two water-colour drawings of scenes in ”The Old Curiosity Shop,” one representing ”Little Nell's Home,” while the other (now in the Forster Collection at South Kensington) portrays ”Little Nell's Grave” in the old church, this being an enlarged version of the woodcut. These drawings are excellent examples of Cattermole's work, and were highly valued by the novelist, who, in a letter to the artist (dated December 20, 1842), expressed his sincere approval of them. ”It is impossible,” he said, ”for me to tell you how greatly I am charmed with those beautiful pictures, in which the whole feeling, and thought, and expression of the little story is rendered, to the gratification of my inmost heart; and on which you have lavished those amazing resources of yours with power at which I fairly wondered when I sat down yesterday before them. I took them to Mac [Maclise] straightway in a cab, and it would have done you good if you could have seen and heard him. You can't think how moved he was by the old man in the church, or how pleased I was to have chosen it before he saw the drawings. You are such a queer fellow, and hold yourself so much aloof, that I am afraid to say half I would say touching my grateful admiration; so you shall imagine the rest....”

After two years of failing health and much acute suffering, George Cattermole closed an anxious and laborious life on the 24th of July, 1868, the end being undoubtedly hastened by the almost simultaneous deaths, in 1862, of a much-loved son and daughter. d.i.c.kens, who sincerely lamented the loss of this cherished friend, actively interested himself on behalf of his widow and young children (who were left in a very distressed condition) by starting a fund for their relief.

It needs but an examination of the correspondence that pa.s.sed between Charles d.i.c.kens and George Cattermole (in which, during later years, the novelist playfully addressed his friend as ”My dear Kittenmoles”) to prove how deep was their mutual affection. The artist's natural vivacity and good-fellows.h.i.+p caused him to be a great favourite, and those of his family who survive recall with delight the ”red-letter” days when d.i.c.kens, Thackeray, Landseer, and other kindred spirits foregathered at the Cattermole residence in Clapham Rise, on which occasions the genial company retired after dinner to brew punch in the studio--a picturesque apartment adorned with armour and tapestry and carved furniture, indicative of the artist's tastes, and strongly reminiscent of his most characteristic pictures.

ILl.u.s.tRATORS

OF THE CHRISTMAS BOOKS

JOHN LEECH.

RICHARD DOYLE.

CLARKSON STANFIELD, R.A.

D. MACLISE, R.A.

SIR JOHN TENNIEL.

FRANK STONE, A.R.A.

SIR E. LANDSEER, R.A.

It was nothing less than an inspiration when, in 1843, d.i.c.kens conceived the idea of ”A Christmas Carol,” the composition of which induced in him such mental excitement, that when it was completed he ”broke out like a madman.” Its extraordinary popularity encouraged him to prepare a similar story for publication at the end of the following year, this being succeeded by three others, all of them appearing during the festive season, in a binding of crimson cloth embellished with gold designs.[35] Not the least interesting feature of these handsome little volumes is the ill.u.s.trations, mainly owing to the fact that they were designed by the leading black-and-white artists of the day, including three Royal Academicians and one a.s.sociate of the Royal Academy. Of this talented company only one member survives,--Sir John Tenniel, whose pencil is still actively employed in the pages of _Punch_. The following table denotes the number of designs supplied by each artist to the Christmas Books.

Footnote 35: The first issue of the ”Carol” was bound in cloth of a brownish colour, the subsequent issues appearing in crimson.

a.n.a.lYSIS OF ILl.u.s.tRATIONS.

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A Christmas The The The Battle The Artist Carol, Chimes Cricket of Life Haunted Total 1843. 1845 on the 1846 Man, 1848 Hearth 1846 ______________________________________________________________

Leech 8 5 7 3 5 28

Doyle ... 4 3 3 ... 10

Stanfield ... 2 1 3 3 9