RankBran^wyn AND HIS WORK E^ BY W\LT£R SHAW-SPARROW THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES FRANK BRANGWYN AND HIS WORK = i y. o h FRANK BRANGWYN AND HIS WORK. 1911 BY WALTER SHAW-SPARROW AUTHOR OF "OUR HOMES," "THE ENGLISH HOUSE AND ITS STYLES," &c., PART AUTHOR OF "THE GENIUS OF J. M. W. TURNER" DANA ESTES ^ COMPANY ESTES PRESS, SUMMER STREET, BOSTON Printed in Great Britain The rights of translation and reproduction are reserved College Library TO CHARLES HOLME Esq. KOUNUEk AND EDITOR OF THE STUDIO MAGAZINE 20.U^5iO PREFACE HAVE to express grateful thanks for assistance in many forms rendered to me during the production I of this book. It is through the courtesy of M. a Pacquement, the present owner of " Buccaneers," that I have been able to include a reproduction of that famous picture, the blocks being made specially in Paris. Much help has been received from the Skinners' Company, from Lloyd's Register, from the Royal Exchange, and from the Art Gallery of Leeds, by whose courteous permission seven copyright works are here illustrated. It is a great pleasure also to acknowledge with thanks the assistance given me by Mr. T. L. Devitt, Mr. R. H. Kitson, Mr. S. Wilson, Dr. Tom Robinson, Mr. Haldane Macfall, Mr. Warwick H. Draper, Mr. W. Gibbings, Mr. H. F. W. Ganz, Mr. B. W. Willett, and Mr. Frederic Whyte ; by Mr. Collier of New York ; by M. Pacquement, M. Stany Oppenheim, and M. Bramson of Paris ; and by Herr Ernst Arnold; of Dresden. To Messrs. Gibbings & Co. I am indebted for the use of their blocks of the illustration, " Queen Elizabeth going aboard the Golden Hind!' To Messrs. Swain, the London blockmakers, and Mr. Edmund Evans, the printer of the colour-plates, I owe a special b vii T^reface word of acknowledgment for the care and skill they have brought to their anxious work. The making of compara- tively small illustrations of very large pictures is a matter of the greatest difficulty, more especially when the works in question involve special journeys to public buildings and to private galleries out of London. vm CONTENTS CHAPTER I PAGE PARENTAGE AND EARLY STUDIES , CHAPTER II LATER STUDIES . i6 CHAPTER III CONTESTS OF CRITICISM: "A FUNERAL AT SEA," "THE BUC- CANEERS," "SLAVE TRADERS," AND "A SLAVE MARKET" . 36 CHAPTER IV CONTESTS OF CRITICISM: SUN-COLOUR AND RELIGIOUS ART . 53 CHAPTER V CHARACTERISTICS: LIGHT AND COLOUR 7+ CHAPTER VI LIGHT AND COLOUR l^continued) 88 CHAPTER VII SOME OTHER CHARACTERISTICS 10+ CHAPTER VIII DECORATIVE PAINTING n& CHAPTER IX DECORATIVE PAINTING (continued) 132 ix Contents CHAPTER X PAGE POINTS OF VIEW IN DECORATIVE ART : AND THE SKINNERS- HALL 144 CHAPTER XI SKETCHES AND STUDIES 164 CHAPTER XH WATER-COLOURS 175 CHAPTER Xni ILLUSTRATIONS FOR MAGAZINES AND BOOKS—DESIGNS FOR POSTERS 180 CHAPTER XIV ETCHINGS: AND SUMMARY OF CHARACTERISTICS .... 185 CHAPTER XV DESIGNS FOR HOUSE FURNISHING 206 APPENDIX I PICTURES AND SKETCHES 219 APPENDIX II ETCHINGS—CLASSIFIED 236 APPENDIX III BIBLIOGRAPHY 249 INDEX 253 X — LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS COLOUR PLATES A River Procession to Westminster in 1453 City AND Trade Barges Frontispiece lUproduced by permiision of the akinners Camfany, l^ndnn. Copy- right. Montreuil: Cottage Landscape Facing p. 8 Keprodtuedfram a small Oil- Painting. Cepyrighl. The Bridge of Alcantara „ 12 Rtprodtuedfrom the Water-Colour, Copyright. The Buccaneers „ 36 Reproduced by permission of M. J'acquement, Paris. Copyright, Harvesters „ 48 Reproducedfr»m the large Oil-Painting. Copyright. The Rajah's Birthday „ 84 Reproduced by permission of R. H. Kitson, E>ij., Leeds. Copyright. The Brass Shop „ 88 Reproducedfrom the large Oil- Painting. Copyright. Mars and Venus „ 92 Reproduced from the large Oil- Painting in the Municipal Art Gallery, Dublin. Copyright. The Card Players „ 96 Reproducedfrom the large Oil- Painting. Copyright. xi List of Illustrations The Retui^n from the Promised Land . Facing p. loo Rtprodtued by permission of the Art Gallery at Johannesburg. Copyright. The Venetian Funeral ,,112 Keprodueed by permission of the I^eds Art Gallery. Copyright. A Still-Life Study of Leeks ,,128 Keprodtued by permission of R. H. Kitson, Esq., Leeds. Copyright. Queen Elizabeth Going Aboard the "Golden Hind" „ 132 Reproduced by permission of LloyiCs Register. Copyright. Blake's Return after the Capture of the Plate Ships ,,136 Reproduced by permission of Lloyd's Register. Copyright. The Fruits of Industry ,,144 Rep^roducedfrom the large Panel in Tempera. Copyright. Reception of General Monk at the Skinners' Hall, 4th April 1660 ,,152 Reproduced by permission of the Hiinners' Company. Copyright. Life among the Ruins, Messina, 1910 .... ,,176 Reproducedfrom a IVater- Colour. Copyright. The Duomo, Messina, 1910 „ 180 Reproducedfrom a Water- Colour. Copyright. The Weavers: a Decorative Panel in the Leeds Art Gallery ,, 212 Reproduced by permission. Copyrigh'. Design for a Fan „ 216 From " History of the Fan," by G. Woolliscroft Rhead. Copyright. xii List of Illustrations COLLOTYPE PLATES Blacksmiths Facing p. 6 From a IVall-l'anel in the Leeds Art Gallery. Copyright. Platelayers „ 20 From an Original Lithograph. Copyright. The Baptism of Christ „ 68 From the Oil-Painting now in the Art Gallery at Stuttgart. Copyright, The Windmill, Dixmude „ 80 From an Original Etching. Copyright. The Departure of Columbus ,,104 From a Decorative Panel belonging to the Profj-ietor of " Collier'! Weekly" i\ew Yori, U.S.A. Copyright. Santa Maria della Salute ,,120 From the Oil-Painiing in the Wellington Art Gallery, New Zealand. Copyright. Old Houses, Ghent ,,124 From an Original Etching, Copyright. Modern Commerce ,,140 From the Fresco in the Royal Exchange, London. Copyright. Music ,,164 From an Original Lithograph. Copyright. Unloading Oranges at London Bridge ... „ 168 From an Original Lithograph. Copyright. The Loom 172 From an Original Lithogiaph. Copyright. xm List of Illustrations The Black Mill, Winchelsea Facing p. i88 From an Original Etching. Cofyrighl. The Tow-Rope ,,192 From an Orif^tnal Etching. Copyright. The Sawyers ,,196 From an Original Etching. Copyright. Old Hammersmith „ 200 From an Original Etching. Copyright. Santa Maria della Salute „ 204 From an Original Etching, Gold AUdal, Venice International Exhibition, 1907 ; Grand I'ri.x, Jnternational Exhibition, Milan, 1906. Copyright. XIV FRANK BRANGWYN AND HIS WORK CHAPTER I PARENTAGE AND EARLY STUDIES 4 S many painters have been affected throughout life by /\ inherited gifts and inclinations, it is proper to note / \ at once that Frank Brangwyn is partly Welsh and partly English ; his father belonged to an Anglo- Welsh family living in Buckinghamshire, and his mother, nde Griffiths, is a Welsh lady from Brecon. One cannot mention this blend of races without thinking of an earlier painter of note, Peter De Wint, whose parentage gave him two nationalities, Dutch and Scotch, and who developed traits from both in his personal character, and also in his landscape work. De Wint was a Scotsman in his deep and rich harmonies of colour, as well as in simple breadth of technique, while his favourite themes were as Dutch in their low horizons as fiat country scenes in England would allow them to be. Again, De Wint is not a student of clouds, like Constable. His thoughts keep near to the earth, just as Dutch minds for centuries have concerned themselves with the dykes of Holland ; and these things A Frank 'Brangwyn and his M^ork denoting the influence of a pedigree, perhaps Brangwyn, like De Wint, inherits much from his parents. It is a question of very great interest, particularly when we con- nect it with the views held by Matthew Arnold on the Anglo-Celts. Matthew Arnold's theory was that England has owed her finest poetry and art to a fusion of Celtic imagina- tion with her own native qualities. Arnold never failed to use the word " Celtic," but, strictly speaking, this term applied to only one type of the inhabitants of Wales. The pure Celts were energetic men of great stature, with light hair and blue eyes ; they were nomads by instinct, they travelled far, peopled France, and found their way across the Channel into Britain. Some ethnologists think that they then lost their own distinction, but their breed is found to this day in Wales, tall and fair, making con- trasts with the primitive type of Welshman, who is short and sturdy, and whose lineage is probably as old as the Neolithic inhabitants of England. He is akin to the dark, short, oval-headed people with small features, whom we encounter also in Cornwall, the Isle of Man, Ireland, and the West of Scotland as far north as the Orkneys. Brangwyn—on the distaff side of his family—belongs to this dark breed of virile little men, whose life-struggle from prehistoric times has served to prove that imagina- tion and quick emotion and tenacity may go hand in hand with indomitable pluck. England owes innumerable debts of gratitude to Welsh while from other races and Celtic imagination and emotion ; she gets a fitful energy and the joy she takes in wandering adventure. ; T^arentage and Early Studies These qualities you will find united in Frank Brangwyn. Whether the Welsh alone would ever develop great art is open to doubt, because their national love for music does not, as a rule, show a preference for stringed instruments and their gifts for eloquent talk break through the self- discipline that art finds helpful. On the other hand, Anglo- Welshmen of talent are emotional in a steadier way, though routine worries them. Work between fixed hours does not " set their genius." When the impulse comes they toil as a racehorse runs, stopping when their emotion and energy are spent. I have never noticed in Anglo-Welsh artists a patience similar to that which Thackeray admired in his little painter-hero, "J.