Part 24 (1/2)

In 1825, Sir Edwin (then Mr.) Landseer was elected an a.s.sociate of the Royal Academy, and five years later he attained the full honours, from which date might be chronicled a long and regular catalogue of pictures exhibited by him, year by year, either at the British Inst.i.tution or on the walls of the Royal Academy. In 1850 he received the honour of Knighthood, and, at the death of Sir Charles Eastlake in 1865, was offered the Presidency of the Royal Academy,--a distinction which he could not be induced to accept. In 1871 a severe illness paralysed his powerful pencil; from this illness the artist never recovered, and two years later the mournful intelligence of his death was announced, his mortal remains being interred in St. Paul's Cathedral. In private life Sir Edwin was one of the most kind and courteous of men and warmest of friends,--qualities of mind and heart which endeared him to all with whom he came in contact.

SAMUEL PALMER

A Self-taught Artist--Exhibits at the British Inst.i.tution and the Royal Academy--Marriage with John Linnell's Daughter--Visits Italy--His Sketches of Italian Scenery--Elected an a.s.sociate, and afterwards a Member, of the Society of Painters in Water-Colours--An Etcher and Draughtsman on Wood--His Designs for ”PICTURES FROM ITALY”--A Letter from d.i.c.kens--The Artist's Method of Work--The Villa D'Este--His Drawings Difficult to Reproduce--Elaborate Instructions to Engravers--Literature a Favourite Amus.e.m.e.nt--Fondness for Reading Aloud--Admires the Novels of d.i.c.kens--Illness and Death.

During Charles d.i.c.kens's very brief connection with the _Daily News_, at the time of its foundation in 1846, he contributed to its columns a series of ”Travelling Sketches,” descriptive of his experiences in Italy, and of his impressions concerning the scenery, inst.i.tutions, and social aspects of the people in that beautiful country. Shortly after the publication of the concluding paper, these ”Sketches” were re-issued in book form, under the t.i.tle of ”Pictures from Italy,” with vignette ill.u.s.trations on wood by Samuel Palmer.

PLATE LIV

F. W. TOPHAM

From a Photograph by

MESSRS. ELLIOTT & FRY

_Lent by Mr. F. W. W. Topham._

SAMUEL PALMER

From a Photograph

_Lent by Mr. A. H. Palmer._

[Ill.u.s.tration]

[Ill.u.s.tration]

Samuel Palmer, who was born in Newington, London, in 1805, was to a great extent a self-taught artist, his first successes dating from his fourteenth year, when he was represented by two pictures at the British Inst.i.tution and three at the Royal Academy, his work from that time being frequently seen at one or the other gallery. In 1837 (that is, while ”Pickwick” was in course of publication) he married the eldest daughter of John Linnell, the famous portrait and landscape painter, leaving England soon afterwards with his young wife for Italy. Here they stayed two years--years of such persistent and enthusiastic study that the sketches and elaborate drawings of some of the finest Italian scenery which the artist brought back, very numerous though they were, are no measure of the influence which the sojourn in the land of his favourite poet, Virgil, had upon his after-life and upon his artistic labours.

Samuel Palmer is chiefly remembered by his charming water-colour drawings, but it seems that in his early years he preferred painting in oils, whence he afterwards gradually drifted into the use of the former medium, his election as a.s.sociate of the Society of Painters in Water-Colours in 1843[43] determining his future career. He was a most successful etcher, his plates being admired by the _connoisseur_ for the beauty of _technique_ therein displayed. Concerning his efforts with the needle, Mr. P. G. Hamerton says that Samuel Palmer was one of the most accomplished etchers who ever lived, and that ”there is more feeling, and insight, and knowledge in one twig drawn by his hand than in the life's production of many a well-known artist.”[44] It must be admitted, however, that the occasional drawings executed by him for the wood-engraver do not indicate equal ability as a draughtsman on wood. In early days he actually attempted, in emulation of his intimate friend Edward Calvert, to engrave upon wood some of his own designs, this fact testifying to the extraordinary influence exercised by William Blake over the contemporary work of such young artists as Palmer, Calvert, and the rest of the ”Ancients,” as they jocosely dubbed themselves.

Footnote 43: Palmer was elected a Member of this Society in 1854.

Footnote 44: ”Etching and Etchers,” 3rd edition, 1880.

[Sidenote: =Pictures from Italy, 1846.=]

The first drawings executed upon the wood-block by Palmer and intended as book-ill.u.s.trations were apparently the designs for ”Pictures from Italy;” these are four in number, representing the Street of the Tombs, Pompeii; the Villa D'Este at Tivoli, from the Cypress Avenue; the Colosseum of Rome; and a Vineyard Scene. One of the artist's memorandum-books contains an entry recording the receipt from the publishers of twenty guineas for these drawings. Samuel Palmer and Charles d.i.c.kens were never on terms of intimacy; however the acquaintance originated has never transpired, nor does the artist's son, Mr. A. H. Palmer, remember his father ever referring to the subject. It is probable that the novelist's attention had been directed to Palmer's excellent rendering of Italian scenery, which had attracted considerable notice among artists, and that, having met him, he found a degree of warm enthusiasm for that scenery which was so unusual, that he felt convinced that the ill.u.s.trating of the ”Pictures” could not be placed in better hands. Palmer accepted the commission, but, like all his drawings that were destined to be engraved on wood, it somewhat perplexed him, for reasons presently to be explained. A correspondence of a formal business character ensued, and of the few letters still extant I am enabled to print the following, which endorses the belief that an interview had taken place between author and artist.

”DEVONs.h.i.+RE TERRACE, _Wednesday, Thirteenth May, 1846_.

”DEAR SIR,--I beg to a.s.sure you that I would on no account dream of allowing the book to go to press without the insertion of your name in the t.i.tle-page. I placed it there myself, two days ago.

”I have not seen the designs, but I have no doubt whatever (remembering your sketches) that they are very good.