Part 2 (2/2)
in, the title they have given us to illustrate _Only_ a week, Mie to do a sketch in! Ah! yes, my dear, but I shall have five hours in the schools every day except Saturdays I have chosen for subject a freebooter in athe plain below hiht co, and makes the horse's es describing the daily doings at the schools: the co to show the Club competitions, and all the work and the play of an art school At last I was promoted to the Life class
”_March 19th_--Oh, joyous day! oh, white! oh, snowy Monday! or should I say _golden_ Monday? I entered the Life this joyous morn, and, what's more, acquitted myself there not only to my satisfaction (for how could I be satisfied if the masters weren't?), but to Mr Denby's and the oil master's _par excellence_, Mr Collinson's I oas rather diffident, feeling such a greenhorn in that rooood,' and do ress Hoillingly I would write down all the pleasant incidents that occur every day, and those, above all, of to-day, which ht and happy and a
However, I shall write down all that my spare moments will allow ot me a nice position quite near the sitter, as I a as the nuirls increased, and late coood position We waited uiled the time as we are wont Three semi-circles surround the sitter and his platform The inner and smaller circle is for us who do his head only, and is formed by desks and low chairs; the next is formed by sade, so there are lots of us at work At length the martyr issued from the curtained closet where Messrs Burchett, Denby and Collinson had been helping the unhappy victim to make a lobster of his upper self with heavy plates of armour He became sadly modern below the waist, for his nether part was not wanted To see Mr Denby pinning on the man's refractory Puritan starched collar was rich The model is a small man, perfectly clean shaven with a most picturesque face; quite a study Very finely-chiselled mouth, with thin lips and well-marked chin and jaw The poor felloas dreadfully nervous He was posed standing, morion on head, with a book in one hand, the other raised as though he were discoursing to some fellow soldiers--may-be Covenanters--in a caony as he evinced, his nervousness seeht of the ar for him) told upon him in a painfully evident manner He was, consequently, allowed frequent rests, when down his tre arm would clatter and the instrureat thu in, and Mr Collinson co else, for I know that carefulness is the most essential quality in a student
”_March 27th_--Mr Burchett showedof the face He liked the way I had done the morion, which astonished irls than I can individualise, and they see with irl told me a dream she had had of me, and Mrs C, wife of the _Athenaeum_ art critic, clapped ive these extracts just to launch the Memoirs into that student life which was of such importance to me Till the Easter vacation I did all I could to retrieve what I considered a good deal of leeway inClub competitions of intense effort on my part, and how joyful I felt at such events as h es
”_May 9th_--_Veni_, _vidi_, _vici_! My re-entry into the schools after the vacation has been a triumphal one, for irls were so glad to see me back I have chosen, as there is not to be a model till next Monday week, a beautiful headpiece of elaborate design on whose surface the red drapery near it is reflected So toa bunch of lilac above her head and crying out that my 'Newcomes' had won! I jumped up, overjoyed, and went to see the sketches, around which a crowd of students was buzzing Mr Denby, who couldn't help knohose the 'Best' were, gaveto Fulhas to Papa, Mamma, Grandpapa and Grand day indeed”
Page after page, closely written, describes the student life, than which there cannot be a happier one for a boy or girl; thorough searchings through the Royal Acade I could find for instruction, admiration and criticism I joined a class in Bolsover Street for the study of the ”undraped” female model, and worked very hard there on alternate days This necessitated long oed to post myself near the omnibus door, so as to study the horses in e I also joined a painting class in Conduit Street, but that venture was not a success I went in about the saave sketches to nearly all es, thundering guns I wonder where they are all now! I had always had a great liking for the representation of movement, but at the same time a deep well of melancholy existed in my nature, and caused me to draw from its depths some very sad subjects for e it seenated, if Ithat we had had no soldiers in either my father's or reat captains of war, butdeeply the heroish she and I had ards the military idea, ere somewhat far asunder; my dear and devoted mother wished to see me lean towards other phases of art as well, especially the religious phase, and my Italian studies in days to come very much inclined me to sacred subjects But as tienre ards s, with few exceptions My own reading of war--that hout the sorrowful history of our world--is that it calls forth the noblest and the basest impulses of human nature The painter should be careful to keep hinoble and vile details under his eyes should blind his that rise beyond To see the mountain tops we must not approach the base, where the foot-hills ton's answer to enthusiastic artists and writers seeking infor victory was full ofyou can do for the Battle of Waterloo is to leave it alone” He had passed along the dreadful foot-hills which blocked his vision of the Alps
I worked hard at the schools and in the country throughout 1867, and, with ressed in the Life class My fellow students were a great delight to ress and foretell great things for me We formed a little club of four or five students--kindred spirits--fora red cross and the h” I remember a money-box into which ere, by the rules, to drop what coins we could spare for the Poor We were to read a chapter of the New Testament every day, and a chapter of Thoned with the red cross and the club n in the corner of ”The Roll Call” overin the Press hich the public was amused in 1874, namely, that I had been a Red Cross nurse in the Crimea
As a counterpoise to this raphs representing y, which I thank my stars I was _not_!
One day in this year 1867 I had, with great trepidation, asked Mr
Burchett to accept two pen and ink illustrations I had ether” Great co for the gay and happy first verse:
Our spears stood bright and thick together, Straight out the banners streaalloped on in the sunny weather, With our faces turned towards the wind
and others the tragic sequel:
They bound ether, They bound his corpse to nod by ht March weather, With clash of cymbal did we ride
The Diary says: ”Mr Burchett, surrounded by my dear fellow red crosses, Va, B, and Vy, talked about the drawings in a hich pleased one, Va and B disappeared and soon reappeared, Va with a crown of leaves to crown me with and B with a co Hero coreat corridor in a dandy chair They had great trouble to crown et ress, Vy being nearly six foot and Va
rather short They just put one an inch further on, we should have confronted Miss Truelock,[3] ooped round the corner I cannot describe the hoe these three pay me, Va's in particular--Vy's is measured, and not hulad that I stand proof against all this, but it is hard to do so, as I know it is so thoroughly sincere, and that they say eventhan to my face”
The Sultan Abdul Aziz and the Khedive Ismail paid a visit to London that year We were in the , fireworks, musical uproar, especially at the Crystal Palace, where the ”Hallelujah,” ”Moses in Egypt,” and other Biblical choruses vied with the cheering of the crowds in expressions of exultation, seldoes of the Diary As we looked on from Willis and Sotheran's shop , out of which all the books had been cleared for us, in Trafalgar Square, at the arrival of the ”Father of the Faithful,” it see for the bells of our churches to be pealing forth their joyous welcooes by! What sort of reception would we give the present Sultan I wonder? We have even _abolished_ Khedives Much ian volunteers, ere also England's guests that year We English were very courteous to the Belgians Papa took us to the great Belgian ball, where we appeared wearing red, black, and yellow sashes He offered to hold a Belgian officer's sword for hiian) waltzed me round the hall A silver ian was presented with this decoration On it were engraved the words ”_Vive La Belge_” No one could tell who the lady was
This year sawof an oil picture (”Horses in Sunshi+ne”) at the Women Artists' Exhibition, and then followed a water colour, ”Bavarian Artillery going into Action,” at the Dudley Gallery--that delightful gallery which is now noreputations” I continued exhibiting water colours and black-and-whites for so on air whenwith Tom Taylor, the critic of _The Times_, told me the latter had just come from the Dudley's press view and seen un!
In the latter part of this year's work at South Kensington Mr Burchett stirred us up by giving us ”ti to do froination and concentration, all of which suited hted s We often had ”ti charcoal with the hog's hair paint brush What a good change froue when I joined I had by this tih many models, male and female, with all the ups and downs recorded elaborately, the encourageress in the ement of the brush I had won a h all the ups and downs the devotion of my dear ”Red Cross” fellow students never fluctuated
The year 1868 saw reatclubs and various co this period, till ere off once more to Italy in October On March 19th of that year I wrote in the Diary: ”Ruskin has invited himself to tea here on Monday!!!” Then: ”Memorable Monday On thee I was introduced to Ruskin! Punctually at six careat man If I had been disposed to be nervous with hi of the eyes, his somewhat supercilious under-lip and sensitive nostrils would not have put me at my ease But, fortunately, I felt quite normal--unlike Ma, seeing that one of her young poems, sent him by a friend, had been scanned by that eye and pondered by that greatest of livinga little, not coreat topics, Mah, particularly on the subject of lish houses, sash s, etc, etc Then he directed his talk to ether about art, of course, and I showed hily pleased with in a very emphatic manner But here ent down to tea After tea I showed hiood deal He said there was no reason why I should not becos' But he re, that it was evident I had not studied enough fro incorrect and the relations of tones, etc, etc He told me to beware of sensational subjects, as yet, _a propos_ of the Lancelot and Guinevere drawing; that such were dangerous, leading th of my subject and to overlook the consideration of s, but what you do _do right_ and never reat idea is that an artist should choose a worthy subject and concentrate his attention on the chief point But Ruskin is a lover of landscape art and loves to see every blade of grass in a foreground lovingly dwelt upon I cannot write down all he said as he and I leant over the piano where s were But it ith my artillery water colour, 'The Crest of the Hill,' that he waslon and held a candle before it the better to see it, and exclaimed 'Wonderful!' two or three times, and said it had 'i it where Ruskin would never have seen it!
”He listened to Ma of Mamma's 'Ave Maria' with perfectly absorbed attention, and sees to say to Alice about her poe that he knew she was forced to write it; but was she always obliged to write so sadly? Then he spied out Ma lots of her water colours, which I know hehat huness Mamma paints her landscapes In fact, we showed hi
Papa says he (P) was like the circusus up as ere trotted out before the great reat contempt for the modern French school, as I expected”
Daily records follow of steady work, much more to the purpose than in the humdrum old days Mr Burchett continued the new systey He seemed to have taken it up in our Life class with real pleasure latterly In July the session ended, and I was not to re-enter the schools till afterway forward