This is a reproduction of a book from the McGill University Library collection. Title: Under the studio light : leaves from a portrait painter’s sketch book Author: Forster, John Wycliffe Lowes, 1850- Publisher, year: Toronto : Macmillan, 1928 The pages were digitized as they were. The original book may have contained pages with poor print. Marks, notations, and other marginalia present in the original volume may also appear. For wider or heavier books, a slight curvature to the text on the inside of pages may be noticeable. ISBN of reproduction: 978-1-926748-43-6 This reproduction is intended for personal use only, and may not be reproduced, re-published, or re-distributed commercially. For further information on permission regarding the use of this reproduction contact McGill University Library. McGill University Library www.mcgill.ca/library THE MOTHER OF THE AUTHOR UNDER THE STUDIO LIGHT UNDER THE STUDIO LIGHT Leaves from a Portrait Painter's Sketch Book By J. W. L. FORSTER TORONTO: THE MACMILLAN COMPANY OF CANADA LIMITED, AT ST. MARTIN'S HOUSE 1928 Copyright, Canada, 1928 By The Macmillan Company of Canada Limited PRINTED IN CANADA Press of The Hunter-Rose Co., Limited TO EVERYONE WHO SAT TO THE AUTHOR FOR PORTRAIT STUDY AND WHO THEREBY CONTRIBUTED TO ITS ESSENTIAL MESSAGE, AND ESPECIALLY TO THOSE WHOSE NAMES DO NOT AP­ PEAR IN ITS LIMITED NARRATIVE, THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED WITH UNFORGETTING REGARD AND AFFECTION. PREFACE NE day in the Julian atelier, a back-profile view of the model from the head with the dorsal curves, O down to the feet, offered an intricate outline which was difficult accurately and delicately to delineate. An hour of intense concentration was bringing results when I made a remark to my neighbour, named Penny, about that wonderful outline. " By gad, Forster," he answered fervently, "it is a religion ! " The Arts are no longer regarded as mere pastimes. In them we touch the handiwork of the Creator. That touch brings reverence for its transcendent beauty and this reverence is religion indeed. There dwells in the human form a wondrous, world- compassing spirit. The portrayal of the material features must reveal the spirit which invests and forms them, in a measure limited only by the intelligent skill and reverence of the artist. In other words Realism and Idealism are essentially and indivisibly one. This faith I have held through long years as a student at the feet of many masters and have tested in a wide experience. The primal interest of Art to-day is not less in aesthetic pleasure, but is more in spiritual meanings and realities. This being true in the broad field of pictorial art, it is vital in the art that would immortalize the Immortals. Photography by its record of details has forced into portrait practice a skill never before known, and within the past seventy-five years has lifted portraiture into a noble profession by reason of the demand for the higher technical standards. And for the same reason never before was the distinction more marked between a mechanical and a spiritual record of likeness. [vii] UNDER THE STUDIO LIGHT Nature's supply of subject and impression is illimitable in the variety of problems it offers for analysis or for synthetic study and interpretation. The higher the order of theme the more complex the study; the more complex the study the keener the zest. Failures there have been and many, but the successes have vindicated the ideal set before the artist. In my long study of Art I have learned to be tolerant of others' beliefs and convictions, yet I am clear in my own mind that vogues and fashions at best are fleeting. There is a sane and enduring mean in all Art, a realm devoid of egotisms, full of instruction and pregnant with inspiration to poet, painter, or prophet. The Symbolist—who does not ignore identity—has a perfect opportunity in portraiture, for the human countenance and frame supply the only symbols of the inner life. Features and pose are inter-related. A man's past is stamped on every line of him, his present is actively writing its story, and the future is in his outlook. Some of the incidents here recorded appeared in a series of modest articles published by MacLeans Magazine. The response that came to me from all over the Continent—South America to Alaska—inspires faith that the volume now submitted will be welcomed. J. W. L. F. Toronto, 1928. [ via 1 CONTENTS Chapter Page I. FRIENDS OF FORMER YEARS - - 1 II. STUDENT DAYS IN EUROPE - - - 17 III. EMINENT COLLEGIANS - - - - 36 IV. INTERNATIONAL FRIENDSHIPS - - 56 V. PUBLIC MEN UNDER THE STUDIO LIGHT 72 VI. MORE PUBLIC MEN 86 VII. MEN OF AFFAIRS 99 VIII. MEN OF IMPERIAL MINDS - - - - 113 IX. FRIENDS IN ENGLAND - - - - 127 X. KNIGHTS OF THE OLD CHIVALRY - - 139 XI. GUARDIAN SPIRITS OF OUR RACE - 155 XII. MODERN CRUSADERS 167 XIII. THE EMPEROR AND EMPRESS OF JAPAN 183 XIV. PRELATES, PRIESTS, AND PREACHERS - 194 XV. OTHER MORE THAN COMMON PER­ SONALITIES 210 XVI. ARTISTS IN PROSE AND VERSE - - 226 [ix] ILLUSTRATIONS PAGE THE MOTHER OF THE AUTHOR Frontispiece WIILLET G. MILLER, PH.D., F.R.G.S., PROVINCIAL GEOLOGIST OF ONTARIO 44 MRS. MORTON WHITMAN, NEW YORK 64 THANKSGIVING SERVICE IN ST. GEORGE'S CHAPEL, WINDSOR CASTLE, FOR QUEEN VICTORIA AND HOUSEHOLD, DIA­ MOND JUBILEE, 1897 122 MRS. STRAUSS, WASHINGTON, D.C 154 His IMPERIAL MAJESTY THE EMPEROR YOSHIHITO OF JAPAN . 186 T. B. KILPATRICK, D.D., S.T.D 202 SIR JOHN M. GIBSON, K.C.M.G., LL.D., LT.-GOVERNOR OF ONTARIO 212 [xi] UNDER THE STUDIO LIGHT " Since the Brow speaks often true, since Eyes and Noses have Tongues, and the Countenance proclaims the Heart and inclinations; let Obser­ vation so far instruct thee in Physiognomical lines as to be some Rule for thy distinction, and Guide for thy affection unto such as look most like Men." —Sir Thomas Browne CHAPTER I FRIENDS OF FORMER YEARS YING prone at his mother's feet is a little fellow ^ who is shaping the straw clippings that fall from 1 the plait of a farm hat his mother is making, into letters of the alphabet. Successfully he has conquered the difficult ones up to the letter UJ"> but its straight stem and curl at the bottom have three times baffled him. He is, however, beginning to succeed with a longer straw, when his Auntie Jane, in an impulse of affection, interrupts a great constructive problem to the child of twenty months, seizing and lifting to kiss the little prodigy. He screams and kicks in resentment at this thoughtless interference with his plans just when victory is in sight. I was the child ana vividly remem­ ber the facts. A sheet of foolscap folded and sewn by my mother was my first drawing book, and I declare more praise was lavished on efforts before I was five than in five times five years afterwards. My slate and pencil at school were a fascination to my ringers and to boys on neighbouring seats until the dominie, Mr. Buchanan, would send a curled up strap like a bomb-shell into the group. As culprit I had to carry the strap to the master and get it again in painful tinglings on the offending hand. One day I was told to sit near him till after school. Haunted by visions of appalling penalties because of his uncertain temper, my fears were relieved when school was dismissed, for he said, "Jown, my boy; now, Jown; you know I must have order; but I want you to tell your mother, Jown, I want you to tell your mother—that you've to go to Rome; I say, Jown [1] UNDER THE STUDIO LIGHT you've to go to Rome." I must here recall the unfor- getting kindness of this master years later. I had just returned from Rome, and was driving with my father through Norval. The old man, seeing me, ambled to the middle of the road, halted the horse, and grasping my hand in both of his commended me warmly for taking his advice. A never-to-be-forgotten pleasure was his visit to my Toronto studio, many years after this. Memories of his own cultured boyhood seemed to be recalled as he talked, and the surpassing wisdom and stores of know­ ledge revealed in his conversation, were delightful to me. That these treasures should have been lost for years in this courtly derelict on Halton County frontier, what a curious fate ! A later teacher, afterwards Rev. James Fraser, LL.D., D.D., Principal of the Ladies' Seminary, Windsor, Md., U.S.A., coming in at the noon hour, looked for some time at a likeness of himself that had been left chalked on the black-board. That evening he called upon my parents for a talk about that talent of mine. At the time of the "Trent Affair", Halton County organized a battalion of militia. This brought new and thrilling interest in a picturesque figure, Corporal Copeland, a cockney " Tommy", who drilled the Norval Company. His face and figure were so peculiar that my pencil was active on the instant. His fame was spread not more by his fog-horn voice that could be heard miles away than by drawings that were begged and freely given all over the township. John Wightman, who had come from Toronto to our home to learn farming, when he saw my pencilling proclivity, brought me a box of water-colours. This opened a new world as I tried to depict the colourful out-of-doors.