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MEMOIRS OF SIR ROBERT STRANGE, KNT., ENGRAVER, MEMBER OF SEVERAL FOREIGN ACADEMIES OF DESIGN; AND OF HIS BROTHER-IN-LAW ANDREW LUMISDEN, PRIVATE SECRETARY TO THE STUART PRINCES, AND AUTHOR OF ŖTHE ANTIQUITIES OF ROME.ŗ BY JAMES DENNISTOUN OF DENNISTOUN. IN TWO VOLUMES. VOL. I. LONDON: LONGMAN, BROWN, GREEN, AND LONGMANS. 1855. ŖNEC SENSUS, NEC CLARUM NOMEN AVORUM, SED PROBITAS MAGNOS, INGENIUMQUE FACIT.ŗ Ovid. ŖLE BEAU . EST LE FRUIT DřUNE INSPIRATION PERSÉVERANTE, QUI NřEST QUřUNE SUITE DE LABEURS OPINIÂTRES.ŗ Eugène Delacroix. ŖLA BIOGRAPHIE DřUN ARTISTE SE COMPOSE DE DEUX PARTIES BIEN DISTINCTES EN ELLES-MÊMES, MAIS CEPENDANT INSÉPARABLES; LES DETAILS DE SA VIE, ET LřETUDE OU LřANALYSE DE SES ŒUVRES: ... SES ŒUVRES SUBISSENT LřINFLUENCE DE SON ÉDUCATION ET DES HASARDS DE SA VIE: AUCUN DÉTAIL, DE QUELQUE MINIME VALEUR QUřIL PARAISSE DřABORD, NE DOIT ÊTRE NÉGLIGÉ, MAIS LES DATES SURTOUT SONT IMPORTANTES.ŗ LřAbbé Carton. LONDON: A. and G. A. SPOTTISWOODE, New-street-Square. PREFACE. THE following pages have been chiefly compiled from papers, which came into my possession with an understanding that their more interesting portions should be given to the public. Most of them were left to me by my wifeřs granduncle, the late Sir Thomas A. Strange, who alone could have satisfactorily performed the task thus devolved upon me. He had been intimately acquainted with the habits and character of his father, Sir Robert, as well as of his uncle and godfather, Mr. Lumisden; and would have brought to the task many of the most graceful qualities of a biographer. That he had contemplated some such labour of love appears from a slight sketch of Mr. Lumisdenřs life, now in my possession, which, although too crude for publication, will occasionally be quoted in these volumes. Its non-completion by him, at an earlier period, is the more to be regretted, as the Jacobite cause, on which it was calculated to throw some passing lights, is now of rapidly waning interest; and as several documents important for this purpose have, in the interval, disappeared from his collection. In undertaking what has thus been too long deferred, I am not without hope of conferring pleasure upon some readers. The meagre notices of Sir Robert Strange which have hitherto appeared are singularly barren of incident; and, notwithstanding a dictum ascribed to himself, Ŗthat the works of an artist should serve him for a life and monument,ŗ they seem to me unworthy the reputation of one who not only felt, loved, and illustrated high art as none of his countrymen had before done, but who, by talent, industry, and taste, elevated his profession of engraving beyond its previous rank. Again, the correspondence of his wifeřs brother, Mr. Andrew Lumisden, who, during eighteen years, was secretary to the Stuart Princes, by throwing lights upon their Court and policy, as well as upon the vicissitudes of their exiled partisans, bears upon a portion of their melancholy story hitherto shrowded in doubt as well as in sadness; and occasionally affords curious glimpses of Scottish families and manners. And it would be gratifying to find a wider interest attaching to these volumes, from the examples they hold out of earnest and unwearied perseverance in an arduous profession on the one hand, of conscientious devoted-ness to a desperate cause on the other, as well as from their portraiture of a family group, singularly united in affections, though often severed by adverse fate. Sir Robert Strange has long enjoyed a European reputation; yet the excellence of his works is no adequate index of his merit. Living in an age when art, equally degenerate in aims and execution, seldom rose beyond flimsy efforts at decoration, and when a tasteless public were well content with such trifling gratifications as it offered them, immediate success in his profession would have been most readily secured by following the prevailing fashion. But his mind was set on higher efforts. Despising a course recommended to the wants of an increasing family, he sought inspiration from the old masters; and, after feeling his way on one or two Flemish and French works, devoted himself almost exclusively to Italian masterpieces. As his country contained no freely accessible collection of these, his ever improving perception of the beautiful stimulated him to seek for them in other lands, at an outlay of time and money, and by an abnegation of domestic ties, which few would have incurred. Rather than turn aside from the path he had thus chosen, he sacrificed the favour of George III and of his favourite minister, the only two men in Britain then disposed to patronise art. There remained but the public to look to for support in a course towards which their intelligence had never been awakened, nor their sympathies evoked. The risk was consequently great; and, although years elapsed ere his unflagging diligence and indomitable perseverance attained the success due equally to his courage and talent, one object was much sooner effected. From his native Orkney to the Landřs End, his engravings brought within the reach of all men the best works of great painters, whose very names were almost unknown to his countrymen, or had been ignorantly prostituted to canvasses altogether unworthy of them. These engravings, offered at the same price as the trash which preceded them in the market, gradually obtained a large circulation, and became the first important step towards a general amelioration of English taste in the fine arts. Other appliances were devoted by Strange towards the same ends. He boldly ventured the moderate capital at his disposal in importing a superior class of pictures for the home market; and, by descriptive catalogues of these and of his own works, he did much to instruct the public regarding the merits of such masters as he recommended to their preference. Memoirs, especially when copiously illustrated from private letters, must always be desultory; but the risks of overlaying the subject, and distracting the reader, are much increased when it is proposed to mould into one narrative the biography of two individuals, who, although mutually and intimately connected, were generally placed in totally different scenes and circumstances. Notwithstanding this inconvenience, we have preferred making the brothers-in-law tell the story of their lives chiefly in extracts from their own correspondence and writings, the peculiarities of their respective characters being thus more satisfactorily unfolded. The length to which these extracts have consequently extended will, therefore, it is hoped, be received with indulgence. It was at one time my wish to have traced the progress in Britain of that art which Strange so greatly advanced, examining the merits of his contemporaries and their works, and also, from his own and Mr. Lumisdenřs papers, to have gathered notices of their countrymen who studied or practised art in Italy from 1750 to 1773. But to do this in a satisfactory manner would have inconveniently enlarged these volumes, without materially illustrating the persons whose lives I had undertaken to narrate. I have gratefully to acknowledge facilities obligingly afforded me by Mr. Carpenter, of the British Museum; by M. Frenzel, of the Royal Collection of Drawings, at Dresden; and by M. Charles Le Blanc, of the Bibliothèque Impériale, at Paris. The catalogue of Sir Robert Strangeřs engravings, compiled by the latter, and published by Weigel, of Leipsic, in 1848, is indispensable to every amateur. Friends in the far Orkneys have sent their gifts; and the antiquarian stores of Mr. Robert Chambers, Mr. David Laing, Mr. James Maidment, Mr. J. Gibson Craig, and the late Mr. C. Kirkpatrick Sharpe, were placed at my disposal with the wonted liberality of their owners. Mr. Domenic Colnaghiřs extensive information had already been made available to M. Le Blanc; but I am debtor to my friend, Mr. Lewis Gruner, for not a few judicious critical hints in regard to Strangeřs works. To these and many other well-wishers I thus warmly offer thanks. An attack of severe illness, while the last sheets of the work are passing through the press, will, I trust, excuse such oversights as may have consequently occurred. Contents PREFACE. ................................................................................................................................................. 4 CHAPTER I. ORIGIN OF THE STRANGE FAMILY.—SIR ROBERT’S ACCOUNT OF HIS EARLY YEARS, AND APPRENTICESHIP WITH RICHARD COOPER. .......................................................................................... 10 CHAP. II ................................................................................................................................................. 30 STATE OF THE ARTS IN SCOTLAND. — STRANGE JOINS IN THE REBELLION OF 1745. HE ENGRAVES BANK-NOTES FOR THE REBEL ARMY. HIS ACCOUNT OF THE BATTLE OF CULLODEN.— HIS ESCAPE, AND ENGAGEMENT TO MISS LUMISDEN. ..................................................................................................... 30 CHAP. III. ............................................................................................................................................... 45 DESCENT OF THE LUMISDEN FAMILY.—ANDREW LUMISDEN BECOMES PRIVATE SECRETARY TO PRINCE CHARLES.—THE STUART COURT AT HOLYR00D. LUMISDEN’S ATTAINDER AND ESCAPE TO ROUEN. ................................................................................................................................................. 45 CHAP. IV. ..............................................................................................................................................

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