Part 21

It was decreed, alas! that Mr. Fildes's visit to Charles Dickens's "little Kentish freehold" would never be realised while the great writer lived. On the morning of the appointed day, Dickens intended making his usual weekly call at the office of _All the Year Round_, and was to have been accompanied on his return by Mr. Fildes. That very day, however, the artist (whose luggage was packed ready for departure) took up the newspaper, and was startled to read the melancholy intelligence that Dickens was no more. This terribly sudden death changed everything; but in order to fulfil the novelist's express desire, the artist was invited (after the funeral) to stay with the Dickens family. "It was then," remarks Mr. Fildes, "while in the house of mourning, I conceived the idea of "The Empty Chair," and at once got my colours from London, and made the water-colour drawing a very faithful record of his library."[50]

Footnote 50: An engraved reproduction of this picture appeared in _The Graphic_ Christmas number, 1870.

The death of Dickens had an extraordinary effect on Mr. Fildes, for it seemed as though the cup of happiness had been dashed from his lips. Following the example of Mr. Marcus Stone, he decided to abandon black-and-white illustration and direct his entire attention to painting, with what success all the world knows. In 1879 he was elected an Associate of the Royal Academy, and attained full honours eight years later. The first picture that brought him into notice was "Applicants for Admission to a Casual Ward" (exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1874), this being elaborated from _The Graphic_ drawing, "Houseless and Hungry," which, as already described, led to his acquaintance with the author of "Pickwick." While occupied with this important canvas, Mr. Fildes was desired by Forster to call upon him, and, on entering the study, he was interrogated respecting his welfare; for Forster apparently opined that the demise of the novelist, and the consequent termination of his illustration-work for "Edwin Drood," might have caused the young artist some embarrassment. After listening intently to Mr. Fildes's description of the subject he was then painting, Forster suddenly exclaimed, "How very strange! You are exactly depicting a scene witnessed by Dickens himself many years ago. I have just copied his letter referring to it, which has never been out of my possession;" and from an accumulation of papers on his desk (for he was then preparing his biography of the novelist) he abstracted the missive in which the novelist alluded to the unfortunate outcasts as "dumb, wet, silent horrors--sphinxes set up against that dead wall, and none likely to be at the pains of solving them until the general overthrow." Mr. Fildes was so struck by this coincidence, that he sought and obtained permission to quote Dickens's forcible sentence under the title of his picture when printed in the Academy Catalogue.

Mr. Luke Fildes has many pleasant recollections of Charles Dickens to impart. "He was extremely kind to me," observes the artist, "and, when living in Hyde Park Place, asked me to many of his entertainments. He was almost fatherly, seeming to throw a protecting air over me, and always elaborately introducing me to his guests." The artist still cherishes, as valued mementoes, a little memorandum porcelain slate bound in leather, a quill pen with the blue ink dried upon it, and a square sheet of blue paper, which were given to him by Miss Hogarth, who found them on the novelist's desk just as he had left them.

When Dickens died, only three numbers of "The Mystery of Edwin Drood" had been published. The illustrations for the ensuing portion of the story, as completed up to the time of his brief but fatal illness, had yet to be executed, and it is interesting to know that the titles for these were composed by the artist. With a view to future numbers, Mr. Fildes had made several drawings in Rochester, including the choir of the Cathedral and the exterior of Eastgate House (_i.e._ "The Nuns' House"), which were never utilised; he also painted a view of Rochester Castle and Cathedral as seen from the Medway, this being reproduced as a vignette for the engraved title-page. The artist invariably signed his drawings "S. L. Fildes;" but in the vignette here referred to the signature incorrectly appears as "J. L. Fildes."

PLATE LXVII

STUDY FOR

MR. GREWGIOUS

_Facsimile_ of the Original Sketch by

LUKE FILDES, R.A.

This figure appears in the Illustration entitled "Up the River." _Vide_ "The Mystery of Edwin Drood."

_Lent by the Artist._

It will readily be conceded that Mr. Fildes's illustrations for Dickens's final romance are remarkable for a serious and sound draughtsmanship, while the life-like delineation of the various characters, as well as the pictorial exactitude of backgrounds and accessories, invite careful study and examination. Without unduly disparaging the excellent etchings by Cruikshank and "Phiz," it must be admitted that there is a vitality appertaining to Mr. Fildes's designs which imparts to them a reality not always discoverable in the illustrations produced by those admirable artists.

APPENDIX

I

ILLUSTRATORS OF CHEAP EDITIONS

C. R. LESLIE, R.A.--Design for "Pickwick"--Washington Irving's Tribute to the Artist--Portrait of "Dickens as Captain Bobadil"--T. WEBSTER, R.A.--His Picture of "Dotheboys Hall"--A. BOYD HOUGHTON--Illustrations for "Hard Times" and "Our Mutual Friend"--G. J. PINWELL--Illustrations for "The Uncommercial Traveller"--Interesting Portrait of the Novelist--F. WALKER, A.R.A.--Illustrations for "Reprinted Pieces" and "Hard Times"--Illustrators of the Household Edition--C. GREEN, F. BARNARD, J. MAHONEY, E. G. DALZIEL, F. A. FRASER, G. THOMSON, H. FRENCH, A. B. FROST, and J. M^CL. RALSTON--Charles Green's Illustrations for "The Old Curiosity Shop," "Great Expectations," and the Christmas Books--F. BARNARD, the _Premier_ Illustrator of Dickens--The Novels Illustrated by him--His Favourite Model--Tragic Death of the Artist--An American Household Edition--New Designs by C. S. REINHART, T. WORTH, W. L. SHEPPARD, E. A. ABBEY, A. B. FROST, and T. NAST--Illustrations by J. M^CLENAN--F. O. C. DARLEY--His Reputation as a Draughtsman--His Designs for an American Household Edition Engraved on Steel--Independent Illustrations--Death of the Artist--Sir JOHN GILBERT'S Designs for "Holiday Romance"--G. G. WHITE--S. EYTINGE--Prolific Contributor to Books and Periodicals--His Picture of "Mr. Pickwick's Reception"--Designs for the Diamond Edition, &c.--Character Sketches--Dickens's Admiration of the Artist's Conceptions--Gives a Sitting for his Portrait--A Unique Print--Eytinge Visits Gad's Hill--Illustrations by H. BILLINGS for "A Child's Dream of a Star"--The "Christmas Carol" Designs by GAUGENGIGL and CHOMINSKI--"The Cricket on the Hearth" Designs by MAROLD and MITTIS, and L. ROSSI--Some Dickens Illustrations by J. NASH, T. W. WILSON, J. E. CHRISTIE, and G. BROWNE--Designs by E. J. WHEELER for "Tales from Pickwick"--Illustrations by PHIL MAY, MAURICE GREIFFENHAGEN, and HARRY FURNISS--Coloured Frontispieces for the Temple Library Edition.

[Sidenote: =C. R. Leslie, R.A.=]

Besides the illustrators of the original issues of Charles Dickens's novels there are other distinguished artists concerning whose designs for the cheaper editions some mention should be made in the present work. Besides Clarkson Stanfield, R.A., who has already been referred to as supplying the frontispiece to the first cheap issue of "American Notes," Dickens was under a similar obligation to two other Royal Academicians, Leslie and Webster, for frontispieces to the first cheap edition of "Pickwick" (1847) and "Nicholas Nickleby" (1848) respectively. Charles Robert Leslie, of whom Thackeray once said that no artist possessed so much as he "the precious quality of making us laugh kindly," found a suitable subject in the twelfth chapter of "The Pickwick Papers," his illustration representing Mrs. Bardell fainting in the arms of Mr. Pickwick,--an incident that had already been depicted by "Phiz." The original picture by Leslie--which was a commission from Dickens--is a cabinet-painting in grisaille or monochrome; it realised £137, 11s. at the sale of the novelist's effects in 1870, and is now the property of Mr. William Wright, of Paris. It seems probable that Dickens owed his introduction to this artist through the friendly intervention of Washington Irving, who, in May 1841, thus wrote to the novelist: "Do you know Leslie the painter, the one who has recently painted a picture of Queen Victoria? If you do not, I wish you would get acquainted with him. You would like one another. He is full of talent and right feeling. He was one of my choice and intimate companions during my literary sojourn in London. While I was making my early studies with my pen, he was working with his pencil. We sympathised in tastes and in feelings, and used to explore London together, and visit the neighbouring villages, occasionally extending our researches into different parts of the country. He is one of the purest and best of men, with a fine eye for nature and character, and a true Addisonian humour." In 1846 Leslie produced his well-known picture of Dickens as Captain Bobabil, in Ben Jonson's play, "Every Man in his Humour," which was exhibited in the Royal Academy the same year; shortly afterwards the painting was reproduced in lithography by T. H. Maguire, impressions of which (especially those that were coloured) are now very scarce.

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[Sidenote: =T. Webster, R.A.=]

The first cheap edition of "Nicholas Nickleby" was embellished by means of a frontispiece engraved on wood by T. Williams from the picture by T. Webster, R.A., which (like Leslie's) was painted for the novelist. This exquisite painting (measuring only ten inches by seven inches) depicts the familiar scene at Dotheboys Hall, where Mrs. Squeers administers the much-dreaded brimstone and treacle; at the Dickens sale the interesting little picture realised the substantial sum of £535, 10s. It is said that the artist was so thorough and so persistent in illustrating the humours of boys' schools that he earned the _sobriquet_ of "Dotheboys Webster."

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[Sidenote: =A. B. Houghton and G. J. Pinwell=]

[Sidenote: =F. Walker, A.R.A.=]

The first cheap editions of later works were graced with frontispieces from the pencils of two artists better known as draughtsmen than as painters. These were A. Boyd Houghton, who designed the frontispiece for "Hard Times" (1865) and "Our Mutual Friend" (1867), and G. J. Pinwell, who furnished an illustration for "The Uncommercial Traveller" (1865)--all of which were engraved on wood by the Dalziel Brothers. In 1868 Pinwell likewise contributed four excellent woodcut illustrations to the Library Edition of the same work,[51] and it is interesting to note that in one of these, "Leaving the Morgue," he has introduced a full-length presentment of the novelist.[52] Associated with the Library Edition we find the name of Fred. Walker, A.R.A., whose position as a designer in black-and-white stands high in the first rank of English masters. This clever artist prepared four illustrations respectively for "Reprinted Pieces" and "Hard Times" (1868), and for refinement of execution they have probably never been excelled. Fred. Walker, the painter of those world-famous pictures known as "The Harbour of Refuge," "The Bathers," "The Lost Path," &c., died prematurely of consumption in 1875, at the age of thirty-five, a loss which all artists and art-lovers have never ceased to deplore. The Library Edition of the "Christmas Stories" is illustrated by F. A. Fraser, H. French, E. G. Dalziel, J. Mahoney, Townley Green, and Charles Green, fourteen woodcuts in all.

Footnote 51: The later volumes of the Library Edition were issued at intervals during 1862-1868.

Footnote 52: The Library Edition of "The Uncommercial Traveller" also contains four illustrations signed "W.M.," which are much inferior to Pinwell's designs.

After Dickens's death, that is, during 1871-79, Chapman & Hall issued a Household Edition of his novels, ensuring their further popularity by inserting entirely fresh illustrations. The artists selected for this undertaking were Charles Green, Fred. Barnard, J. Mahoney, E. G. Dalziel, F. A. Fraser, Gordon Thomson, H. French, A. B. Frost, and J. M^{c}L. Ralston, nearly all of whom had already been represented in the Library Edition. In commenting upon these designs, it may be remarked that, of his numerous illustrators, Dickens has never been more sympathetically interpreted than by Charles Green and Fred. Barnard.

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[Sidenote: =Charles Green.=]

The thirty-two illustrations contributed by Charles Green to the Household Edition of "The Old Curiosity Shop" contrast most favourably with those by "Phiz" in the original issue; these drawings, which, for the most part, were made upon paper by means of the brush-point, are entirely free from the gross exaggeration and caricature which impart such grotesqueness to the majority of the figure subjects by Hablôt Browne for this story. Mr. Green's design for the wrapper enclosing each part of the Crown Edition of the novelist's works (subsequently published by Chapman & Hall) is cleverly conceived, for here he has introduced all the leading personages, happily grouped around the principal figure, Mr. Pickwick, who occupies an elevated position upon a pile of books representing the novels of Dickens. A few years ago Messrs. A. & F. Pears commissioned Mr. Green to design a number of illustrations for a series of their Annuals, the artist's services being specially retained for the following reprints of Dickens's Christmas Books: "A Christmas Carol" (1892), twenty-seven drawings; "The Battle of Life" (1893), twenty-nine drawings; "The Chimes" (1894), thirty drawings; and "The Haunted Man" (1895), thirty drawings. His latest productions as a Dickens illustrator consist of a series of ten new designs, reproduced by photogravure for the Gadshill Edition of "Great Expectations," recently published by Chapman & Hall. Undoubtedly Mr. Green's most important work in connection with Dickens is to be found in his water-colour drawings of scenes from the novels, of which a complete list is given in the chapter entitled "Dickens in Art."[53]

Footnote 53: During the printing of this work, the death was announced of Mr. Charles Green, R.I., who succumbed to a painful illness of long standing.

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[Sidenote: =Fred. Barnard.=]

Fred. Barnard has come to be considered, _par excellence_, the illustrator of the famous novelist; indeed, he has been not inaptly termed "the Charles Dickens among black-and-white artists." Like Dickens himself, he was essentially a humorist, and his designs, although never lacking in infectious humour, had always something in them which raised them above the commonplace. To his skilful and vigorous pencil the Household Edition is indebted for the majority of the illustrations appearing therein, as the following list testifies: "Sketches by Boz," "Nicholas Nickleby," "Martin Chuzzlewit," "Barnaby Rudge," "Master Humphrey's Clock" (incidental chapters), "David Copperfield," "Dombey and Son," "Bleak House," "Christmas Books," "A Tale of Two Cities," "Hunted Down," "Holiday Romance," and "George Silverman's Explanation,"--making a grand total of nearly four hundred and fifty drawings. There is no doubt that Fred. Barnard "knew his Dickens" as well as any man, and he produced (independently of the foregoing designs) a number of pictures and drawings of characters and scenes from the novels, to which special reference is made in the next chapter.

Mr. M. H. Spielmann informs me that, for the purposes of his Dickensian subjects, the model who sat to Barnard was the late well-known French. The tragic death (in his fiftieth year) of this popular artist in September 1896 is not yet forgotten. He had accustomed himself to the pernicious habit of smoking in bed, and falling asleep (under the influence of a powerful drug) while his pipe was yet alight, the bedding caught fire, with the result that he was suffocated by the smoke, his body being much burned.

[Sidenote: =American "Household Edition."=]

The Household Edition was simultaneously published in London and New York, Harper & Brothers having arranged with Chapman & Hall to be supplied with _clichés_ of the illustrations. For some reason, however, the English engravings do not appear in several of the volumes thus issued in America, there being substituted for them a similar number of entirely new designs by the following American artists: C. S. Reinhart ("Nicholas Nickleby," "The Uncommercial Traveller," and "Hard Times"), Thomas Worth ("The Old Curiosity Shop"), W. L. Sheppard "Dombey and Son"), E. A. Abbey, R.A. ("Christmas Stories"), A. B. Frost "Sketches by Boz"), and Thomas Nast ("Pickwick" and "American Notes").

Mr. Nast has also illustrated various Dickens subjects for American magazines, and independent works such as "Gabriel Grub" (from "Pickwick"), issued by M^cLoughin as a Christmas book. Mr. Frost is likewise responsible for twelve illustrations engraved on wood for an edition of "Pickwick" published a few years ago by Ward, Lock & Co., of London and New York; and there is a design by him in _Scribner's Magazine_, December 1897, entitled "That Slide," and depicting the familiar scene described in the thirtieth chapter of "Pickwick." In 1859 Harper & Brothers printed "A Tale of Two Cities" as a serial in _Harper's Weekly_, with thirty-four woodcut illustrations by a New York artist, J. M^cLenan, and in the following year the same firm similarly produced "Great Expectations," with twenty-seven illustrations by that artist, the first chapter appearing in November 1860. Both stories were subsequently issued in volume form by T. B. Peterson & Brothers, of Philadelphia.

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[Sidenote: =F. O. C. Darley.=]

Perhaps the best of Dickens's American illustrators was Felix Octavius Carr Darley, a most eminent and successful "character" draughtsman, whose productions are both original and clever. When, in 1860, an octavo edition (also designated the Household Edition) was prepared by W. A. Townsend & Co. of New York, it was proposed that the services of Darley and Mr. (afterwards Sir) John Gilbert should be secured as illustrators for the new venture, this resulting in the American artist executing nearly the whole of the vignette designs, all of which assumed the form of frontispieces. He had already prepared more than five hundred illustrations for an edition of Cooper's novels, so it is probable that the excellence of those drawings led to his engagement in a like capacity for this Household Edition of Dickens. His designs, which were beautifully engraved on steel, are very refined both as regards conception and execution, and are especially interesting as indicating an intelligent appreciation, on the part of a Transatlantic artist, of the novelist's characterisation, the extravagant and grotesque being instinctively avoided. Darley, although born in Philadelphia in 1822, was the son of an English actor; his natural gift for drawing was properly encouraged, and he developed into one of the most efficient book-illustrators of his time; in addition to this he achieved a distinct reputation through the production of large prints, such as "The Village Blacksmith," "The Unwilling Labourer," "The Wedding Procession," "Washington's Entry into New York," and other popular subjects. The Dickens series of designs have recently been reprinted by Houghton, Mifflin & Co. (Boston and New York) for their Standard Library Edition. Darley also prepared six drawings for a little work entitled "Children from Dickens's Novels," and subsequently painted a series of eight familiar scenes from Dickens, which were reproduced as photo-etchings and issued in sets; these afterwards appeared in an Imperial Edition of the novelist's works by Estes & Lauriat, Boston, U.S.A. Darley continued to occupy himself with his art up to the end of his life, but withdrew in his latter years from the cities to his home at Clayton, Delaware, where he died, March 27, 1888.[54]

Footnote 54: For many of these particulars I am indebted to Messrs. Houghton, Mifflin & Co.'s Standard Library Edition of Dickens's Works.

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[Sidenote: =Sir John Gilbert, R.A.=]

The small number of frontispieces furnished by Sir John Gilbert to W. A. Townsend & Co.'s Household Edition are reprinted, with those of Darley, in Houghton, Mifflin & Co.'s Standard Library Edition. It is perhaps not generally known that, in 1868, four woodcut illustrations were specially designed by Sir John for one of Dickens's minor productions, "Holiday Romance,"--a short story written expressly for _Our Young Folks_, a magazine published by Ticknor & Fields, of Boston, U.S.A. In the original announcement we read that the artist had "consented to waive his decision not to draw again on wood, in order to give additional interest to Mr. Dickens's 'Romance,'" by which it may be inferred that these are among the last examples of Sir John's skill in that direction. For the initials in "Holiday Romance," a Transatlantic artist, G. G. White, was responsible. Sir John Gilbert, R.A., P.R.W.S., also produced a series of "Pickwick" illustrations, now exceedingly rare, particulars of which will be found in the next chapter. This accomplished painter and prolific designer died so recently as October 5, 1897, in his eightieth year, and of him it has been truly observed that in his most distinctive line--viz., illustration--we can look in vain for his equal. It is recorded that he must have contributed no fewer than thirty thousand subjects to the pages of _The Illustrated London News_ alone, besides supplying innumerable designs to _The London Journal_ and other publications. It is therefore no exaggeration to say that Sir John Gilbert stands out pre-eminently the great popular illustrator of the Victorian era.

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[Sidenote: =Sol. Eytinge.=]