H rTP S BRIT ISH PA INT ERS T H EIR ST O RY A ND T H EIR A RT J E . DGC UMBE ST A LEY A UT H OR OF WA TT EA U A ND H I S SCH OOL ET C . WIT H TWENTY -FO UR EXAMPLES IN C OLOUR O F T H EIR WO RK P RE FA C E “ BRI TI SH P A I NT E RS : Their Story and their Art l o f o f is a presentation, in popu ar form , the Story — - British Painting a well worn but never wearying t o Story , which for ever offers fresh charms young o ld and , and stirs in British hearts feelings of patriotism and delight . In a work o f the size of this volume it is im possible to d o more than lightly sketch the more sa lient features o f the glorious panorama o f seven hundred years . My purpose , in this compilation , —t o is threefold . First bring into stronger light the painting glories o f the earlier artists o f Britain many people are unfamiliar with the lives and s o f work of the precur ors Hogarth . Secondly to t reat especially o f the persons and art of painte rs Whose works are exhibited in o u r Public Galleries pictures in private holding are often inaccessible t o o f and the generality people, besides, they — co nstantly changing locality this is true of T — the Royal Collections . hirdl y t o vindicate the a of t o cl im Britain be regarded as an ancient , vii BRIT I S H P A I NT E RS consistent , and renowned Home of the Fine Arts and to correct the strange insular habit o f self depreciation, by showing that the British are supreme as a tasteful and artistic people . In dealing with the Painters o f the Victorian as l Era it h on y been possible, in these few pages , to dwell briefly on the more characteristic Masters and simply to name many other artists , who claim l particular notice . With respect to the Nationa — Gallery o f British Art at Millbank commonly called the T ate Gallery —I have eschewed this ffi n . designation , as being insu cient and misleadi g Th e has Gallery assumed vast proportions , and — mu nifi c ent f t o f contains , besides , the gi pictures T — Co llec by Sir Henry ate , the famous Vernon ” ” T u tion , the great rner Collection , the notable ” Watts Collection , and many other pictures is contributed by private be nefactors . It also the Treasure House o f the magnificent Chantrey Bequest , which is applied to the yearly purchase of pictures and sculpture by new and rising British artists . I have had ample Opportunities in all the principal - — Collections, both Public and Private, for the personal study and appreciation o f the pictures I I n have described ; and have writte much, and viii PREFACE o f lectured, upon the different sections my subject . t o In this work I have used my pen like a brush, mix the colours o f British Painting upon the of so o palette British History, that my comp sition makes it s appeal t o the British Public in simple chronological order . T he coloured illustrations speak f o r themselves they are f u lly representative o f British o il -painting in the Golden Age o f British Painting and of — the Victorian Era the two last periods in of my Pageant of the Painters Britain . JOH N EDGCUMBE STALEY C O NT ENT S CHAPTER I O F W 1 2 1 6- 1 485 THE PAINTERS ESTMINSTER, CHAPTER II MAST ERS O F 1 485 - 1 603 THE TUDOR RULE, CHAPTER III COURT PAINTERS O F THE STUARTS 1 603- 1 7 1 4 CHAPTER IV COURT PAINTERS O F THE STUARTS 1 60 3 - 1 7 1 4 CHA PTER V O E A o r I 1 1 4- 1 83 THE G LD N GE BRITISH PAINTING ( ), 7 7 CHAPTER VI THE GO LDEN AGE O F BRITISH PAINTING 1 7 1 4- 1 837 1 90 CHAPTER VII THE GOLDEN AGE O F BRITISH PAINTING 1 7 1 4- 1 837 2 26 CHAPTER VIII o r T H E I O ERA 1 837 - 1 1 0 2 5 6 THE PAINTERS V CT RIAN , 9 xi ILLUST RA T IONS P LATE “ O I . THE C RNFIELD BY R. A . JOHN CONSTABLE, “ A II . TH E MBASSADORS BY HANS HOLBEIN THE YOUNGER III . CHARLES I BY SI R ANTHONY VAN DYCK “M A M IV . ARRIAGE LA ODE B Y WILLIAM HOGARTH “ S P V . THE HRIM GIRL BY WILLIAM HOGARTH “L H VI . ORD EATHFIELD BY S I R P R. A U E , . “ JOSH A R YNOLDS A O F VII . THE GE INNOCENCE BY S IR N P A HU E , . R. “ JOS A R Y OLDS VIII . THE BLUE BOY BY U R A THOMAS GAINSBORO GH , . “ H M IX . THE ONOURABLE ARY GRAHAM BY THOMAS GAINSBOROUGH, R. A . “ H X . THE ORSLEY CHILDREN BY GEORGE ROMNEY, R . A . “ MRS M XI . ARK CURRIE BY R A GEORGE ROMNEY, . X11] BRIT IS H PA I NT E RS P LAT E S N XII . PROFESSOR ROBI O EB U BY S I R A BJ . HENRY R” w , R A “ XII I . THE PATERSON CHILDREN BY S I R R. A. HENRY RAEBURN, “ O S o r XIV . THE C UNTE S BLESSINGTON B Y S I R LAWREN E P . R. A . THOMAS Q , “ M I ! MR AND MRS J J. A XV , OHN NGERSTEIN BY S I R P . R. A . THOMAS LAWRENCE, “ F T EMERAI RE XVI . THE IGHTING Y P MALLO RD W T UR R A B NEB . M N , JOSE H ILLIA ” “ ” A! H S P XVII . THE IRELING HE HERD BY WILLIAM HOLMAN HUNT “ BO O F XVIII . THE YHOOD RALEIGH BY S I R P . R. A . JOHN EVERETT MILLAIS, “ DAY D XIX . THE REAM BY DANTE GABRIEL ROSSETTI “ c an L AND L XX . OVE IFE BY K ILA E R F E ER W TTS, . “ G O GE R D IC A OF XXI . TH E BATH PSYCHE BY S IR FREDERICK LEIGHTON (LORD LEIGHTON O F ST R. A . “ ’ KIN CO P H E I‘UA AND - XXII . G THE BEGGAR MAID BY S I R — W U . ED ARD BW RNE WJONW ES, R A “ A ’ S XXIII . THE RTIST S TUDIO BY JAMES ABBOTT M ‘NEILL WHISTLER “ L L R XXIV . CARNATION ILY, ILY OSE “ BY R. A JOHN SINGER ARGEN“T, . m ‘ XIV BRIT ISH PA INT ERS CH APTER I TH E PAINTERS OF WESTMINST ER 1 2 1 6—1 485 I R I I G A S N gently, and with due reverence for the Th e Painters sleeping past, the sumptuously brocaded drop Him?? curtain o f the Renascence Theatre Of the Fine o u r Arts we behold, revealed to enraptured gaze, u o f s s blime pageants the Architects, Sculptor , o f Painters, and the Craftsmen a millennium . Among all those glorious moving spe c at cles not one is more splendid or inspiring than the Pageant ” Of Th e o f the Painters Britain . first scene in this vast panorama exhibits a magnificent and venerable — edifice a cathedral Th e most perfect building in conception and construction anywhere to be u fo nd in the wide range Of Gothic architecture . This stately fane rises upon the marshy bank ’ o f Britain s most famous river . It has been in building many and many a year, and its walls , vaults , and pavement, its columned arches , windows A l BRITI SH PAINTERS The a n ers it s - P i t and ceilings , and roof tree , buttresses , and o f We st pinnacles tell t h e thrilling story o f Britain and minster the British more spectactularly than any other ’ record o f the past . It is the shrine Of Britain s Royal Patron Saint—King Edward the Confessor the noble Abbey Church o f the Blessed Virgin and Saint Peter of Westminster . At the head Of the Pageant rides proudly yet reverently the most intellectual and the most erudite o f all the S axon-Norman ru lers Of the — — land Henry III . , Plantagenet liberal and magni c t fi en . His natural talents and artistic instincts have been well fostered by education at the Court f o France he is young, pious and enthusiastic . h as R T o f He just assumed the oyal hrone England, whence craven-hearted John Lackland had by — Papal Edict been driven a fit and competent Sovereign“o f a newly enfranchised and united : people English they call themselves, and they h as speak the new English tongue . Freedom come to them through the great Charter o f Runny l ou t t o mede, and they are a ready reaching fresh ideals in circumstance and government . A new era has dawned f o r Britain Th e resplendent Abbey, that we look upon, was o f —a the work a genius British architect , be it — s h as said who e name, alas, Fame not recorded ; e o f was the id a the building, however, exclusively ’ 24 the King s . In 1 8 Henry commanded the 2 THE IR STORY AND THE IR ART ’ — it s Th e a n r remains Of the Confessor s.