Complete Works of Wilkie Collins (2105 page)

“Very sincerely yours,

“W. DANBY.”

“To W. DANBY, ESQ.

“New Cavendish-street

“Dear Sir, — I cannot do less than offer my best thanks for your very kind and flattering letter, as I have no greater satisfaction than that of pleasing one so well able to appreciate sentiment in a picture, as yourself. You do, sir, no more than justice to painting, when you say that the attraction of Nature, and the representation of it in painting, assist each other. There are a thousand beauties in landscape scenery, as there are expressions in the human face, which, but for painting, might ‘ blush unseen.’ Sir Joshua Reynolds says that there are many expressions in faces which he either should not have observed, or, if he had, should have supposed out of the reach of painting, had he not seen them successfully imitated by great artists. Painting, too, when pursued legitimately, does, most assuredly, beget a habit of contemplating, and, as it were, tracing the hand of Providence. And when we see so many exquisite forms and colours added to objects, whose ends of being we have every reason to believe might as well be answered in a less attractive dress, we may safely conclude that they were formed to excite those feelings which attend the like pursuits of the Poet and the Painter, and which are a noble balance for the coarser pleasures of the man of the world.

“Trusting that I may have the pleasure of conversing more at large with you on these pleasing subjects, and hoping I may at some future time have it in my power to call at Swinton, I remain, dear Sir,

“Yours, faithfully and obliged,

“W. COLLINS.”

Widely differing in subject from the letter of Mr. Danby, yet equally deserving of insertion, as showing the easy and cheerful terms on which the two painters lived, is the following congratulatory letter from Wilkie to his newly-married friend. Appreciating the excellent domestic qualities of his brother-artist, Mr. Collins had frequently recommended him to engage in matrimony himself, pointing out to him on all occasions, “eligible young ladies;” hinting, as a last resource, at public advertisement; and promising him, after a year of marriage, a true certificate of the state of his feelings under his own altered circumstances, but all without avail. Wilkie admired the “eligible young ladies” with a pictorial, however, rather than an amatory eye; reflected with considerable complacency upon the project of advertisement, and read the certificate of matrimonial tranquillity which was duly forwarded to him by his friend, couched in terms of the most legal formality, but continued, all his life, to hover irresolute at a discreet distance from Hymen’s permanent grasp. That he did not glory, however, in his mateless solitude, but rather, like a true knight, longed for the first opportunity
pour faire le gallant, vis-à-vis de sa maitrase,
is pleasantly testified in the letter that is now sub-joined.

“To W. COLLINS, ESQ., R.A.

“Kensington, August 7th, 1823.

“Dear Collins, — It will be pretty generally admitted now, that it was not for nothing you and I went to Scotland last year. In starting with
‘Mr. Collins,’
I knew I should have no chance upon equal terms; a court dress was therefore an indispensable auxiliary with me.* But your return a married man, while I came back single, proved how vain my endeavour would have been, had my only object been to rival you with the fair sex. Had that been my purpose, therefore, it is clear you had the advantage of me; but I have now the pleasure of informing you of a piece of news, to prove that my court dress and my appearance in it at Holyrood, though unavailing with the ladies, has not been an idle speculation.

* Wilkie had been considerably rallied by his friend on the resplendent effect of the above important part of his preparations for the journey to Edinburgh.

“About three weeks ago, I had the honour of a letter from Mr. Peel, informing me that the appointment of “Limner to the King, for Scotland,” become vacant by the demise of Sir Henry Raeburn, had been, by His Majesty, most graciously conferred upon me. This office, unsolicited and unexpected as it is, I have most joyfully accepted, as a very high honour — and I feel, both as successor to Sir Henry Raeburn, and in the manner of my appointment, that I am greatly honoured indeed.

“Being a man in office, and under the Crown, I shall now be considered a placeman, a pensioner, a non-resident, and a sinecurist. These are, however, not altogether without their reward; for unequivocal proofs show that there are emoluments in the case. All Edinburgh was in a ferment, the moment the office was known to be vacant; and I could tell you some odd stories about some of our great friends there, by whom wheel within wheel was set in motion to get it for artists who were friends, and also for gentlemen friends, who were not artists. This ferment extended even to some wise friends of ours in London, who have fairly acknowledged to me that, though no one was more fit for the situation than I, yet they never thought of me till they heard I had got it. It has even been hinted to me, as an objection, that I am not a resident in Scotland, and that I am unfit, from not being a portrait-painter. To the first of these I would plead guilty, if duty was to be done in Scotland, the latter, that of not being a portrait-painter, is what, in my estimation, gives me the greatest claim to it; and, until they can convince me that limner and portrait-painter are synonymous which they cannot — I shall remain of the same opinion.

“It will be evident to you now, that we have both made something of our Scottish visit. However, I will not put what I have gained in comparison with what you have gained by it. Mrs. Collins will agree with me in this; for, in respect to the improvement to your condition, I am as much behind you as ever. No lady has yet taken compassion upon me — court dress and all together; and, as the time (that is, the protracted time) of twelve months is now at hand, when Mrs. Collins and you are to make out a certificate, to warrant the married as an improved state of existence, I must request — as I have no doubt of the certificate being most satisfactory — that you and Mrs. Collins would give me the best advice, not only upon the sort of person to be chosen, but also to inform me by what means such a person as I am may induce a well-chosen lady to hearken unto reason.

“I saw your mother and brother yesterday; they told me what a delightful time you are now passing at Hampstead, in a beautiful cottage at North End. I saw two studies you had made, and rejoiced to see the dark-brown, vigorous shadows, with the fat surface you have got upon them.* This augurs well; you have, in landscape, the ball at your foot, and, in this rich line, an open and unoccupied field before you do go on!

* Wilkie was, at this period, very urgent in recommending his friend to use plenty of oil as a “vehicle” in painting, and not, as he expressed it, to “starve his pictures.” Thin, pale, flimsy colouring, he always despised.

“Give my best and kindest regards to Mrs. Collins, in which my brother and sister most heartily join me; and

“Believe me, my dear Sir,

“Your very faithful and obedient Servant,

“DAVID WILKIE.”

About this time was established the Royal Academy Club — one of those old-fashioned institutions, founded, like the Literary Club in Doctor Johnson’s time, for the purpose of promoting occasional intellectual and social intercourse between men exclusively devoted to the same pursuit. Sir Thomas Lawrence was its chief promoter, and Sir Richard Westmacott, Mr. Alfred Chalon, Mr. Collins, and a few others, were the members. They met once a month, to talk of Art, and to dine together at the Freemasons’ Tavern. On the death of Sir Thomas Lawrence, the Association began, however, to languish; and, soon afterwards, it came to an end.

While occupied with the social meetings of artists, it may not be unamusing to the general reader — as instancing the almost boyish delight in his pursuit which is part of the character of a great painter — to mention that, in the summer of this year, Sir George Beaumont, Sir David Wilkie, and Mr. Collins, in setting out to spend a day at Greenwich, mutually agreed to make it a condition of their excursion, that the whole day should be occupied in talking of nothing but Art. The engagement was not more curious than the performance of it was complete. Not one of the party broke the conditions of the journey, from the morning of the departure to the evening of the return.

In July, the painter paid a visit to Mr. Higgins, of Turvey Abbey, and to Mr. T. C. Higgins, of Turvey House. Besides the attractions presented to the pencil by the natural beauties of this neighbourhood, its vicinity to Olney — the favourite residence of the poet Cowper — gave it, to all lovers of poetry, a local and peculiar charm. Conspicuous among its inhabitants, at the time when my father visited it, was “Old Odell,” frequently mentioned by Cowper as the favourite messenger who carried his letters and parcels. The extreme picturesqueness and genuine rustic dignity of this old man’s appearance made him an admirable subject for pictorial study. Portraits of him, in water-colours and oils, were accordingly made by my father, who introduced him into three of his pictures, to which reference will be made hereafter. The donkey on which he had for years ridden to-and-fro with letters, was as carefully depicted by the painter as his rider. On visiting “Old Odell” a year or two afterwards, Mr. Collins observed a strange-looking object hanging against his kitchen-wall, and inquired what it was: “Oh, Sir,” replied the old man sorrowfully, “that is the skin of my poor donkey! he died of old age, and I did not like to part with him altogether, so I had his skin dried and hung up there! “Tears came into his eyes as he spoke of the old companion of all his village pilgrimages. The incident might have formed a continuation of Sterne’s exquisite episode in the “Sentimental Journey.”

Visits, during the remainder of the year, to the country-seats of Lord Liverpool, Lord Essex, Sir Charles Long, and Mr. Wells, enabled the painter to make some valuable additions to his collection of landscape studies; a privilege of particular advantage to him this season, as his pictures for the next Exhibition comprised (in consequence of the terms of the commissions on which they were painted) no examples of his wonted coast scenes, but were all, more or less, to be described under the appellation of inland subjects. These pictures of 1824 were entitled: “Stirling Castle;” “The Cherry-Seller, — a Scene at Turvey, Bedfordshire;” “Buckland, on the River Dart;” and “Portraits of the Children of Henry Rice, Esq.” In “Stirling Castle,” (painted for Mr. C. Cope,) the view of the grand old fortress was brightly and tenderly touched, the atmosphere being divested of all national gloom and mist, and suffusing in a clear and delicate light the wide-spread objects of the northern scene. “The Cherry-Seller,” painted for Mr. T. C. Higgins, was a large picture; the figure of the fruit-vendor himself being a careful study of “Old Odell.” His donkey stands beside him at the cottage gate, bearing the cherry-laden panniers, from which he is weighing out part of his stock in trade to a girl who waits, dish in hand, ready to receive it. The other principal figures are, a child crawling under the donkey to pick up a cherry that has dropped, and a boy who is holding the animal’s head. The background of the picture is formed by the picturesque and irregular village street. A perfectly simple and national air pervades the whole composition; its minutest technicalities, as well as its most important objects, are laboured to an extraordinary degree of finish. The tone of colour in the picture is bright, pure, and truthful, and perfectly suggestive of the clear English sunshine that is glittering over the rustic scene. “Buckland on the Dart,” painted for Mr. Bastard, M.P., was full of the characteristics of a Devonshire view, — the dashing, joyous, rocky stream; the wooded hills and quarries in the background; and the fresh, cool, cloudy sky overhead. The figures in the picture were represented by some woodmen, occupied in a corner of the foreground in felling a tree. The “Portraits of the Children of H. Rice, Esq.,” a valued and intimate friend of the painter, comprised a branch of the Art, which my father, except in the earlier parts of his career, rarely undertook but at the request of those with whom he was intimately acquainted. His portraits produced under these circumstances were few in number, and were almost invariably treated as pictures. In painting children, on this and other occasions to be hereafter mentioned, he pourtrayed no infant cherubs, fitted with speckless frocks, seated on aristocratic gilt stools, and leering ravishingly at the spectator, under a sky wreathed inconceivably with clouds of red curtain, and before a background spotted profusely with Elysian flowers, vapoury trees, and distant temples of immeasurable magnitude. Under his pencil, children retained their play-ground clothes, preserved their play-ground occupations, and were connected visibly and pleasingly with the surrounding landscape. Accordingly, in the portraits of Mr. Rice’s children, a boy and girl are simply represented as feeding their pet rabbits; the background of the picture being a transcript of the farm scenery of a house of their father’s at Oxgate, where the painter was staying at the time when the portraits were produced. So complete was this work as a
picture
alone, that it was afterwards engraved and sold under the title of “Feeding the Rabbits.”