CHAPTER V.

DRAWING FOR "THE PICTORIAL WORLD," ETC.

Let us now glance at Caldecott's diary for 1874, which, with his letters to friends and the sketches which so often accompanied them, give an insight into the character of his work at this time. It is altogether an extraordinary record.

On the 14th of January, 1874, he is "working in the afternoons, sketching swans at Armstrong's." This was part of a large decorative design which he afterwards assisted in painting (see illustration on page 89).

On the 23rd January, 1874, is an interesting note.

"J. Cooper, engraver, came and proposed to illustrate, with seventy or eighty sketches, Washington Irving's _Sketch Book_. Went all through it and left me to consider. I like the idea."

In February he completed a drawing of the Quorn Hunt for the _Graphic_ newspaper.

On the 12th March, he enters in his diary, "Preparing sketch of choir for W. Irving's _Sketch Book_;" showing that he was already at work on the book which was to make his reputation.

At the same time he was preparing illustrations and trying new processes of drawing for reproduction, to aid in founding a new newspaper.

How far Mr. Caldecott was ready to conquer difficulties in his art, and how heartily he aided his friends in any project with which he was connected, are matters of history closely connected with his engagement on the _Pictorial World_, which had a bright promise for the future in 1874.

Some of the large illustrations were produced by Dawson's "Typographic Etching" process. The drawings were made with a point on plates covered with a thin coating of wax, the artist's needle, as in etching, removing the wax and exposing the surface of the plate wherever a line was required in relief--"a fiendish process!" as Caldecott described it, but with which he succeeded in obtaining excellent results--better than any artist previously.

On the 7th of March, 1874, a new illustrated newspaper called the _Pictorial World_ was started in London, of which the present writer was the art editor.

It was the time of the general election of 1874, when the defeat of Mr. Gladstone, the question of "Home Rule," and many exciting events were being recorded in the newspapers. Caldecott was asked to make a cartoon of the elections, and at once sat down and made the pencil sketch overleaf.

For some reason this drawing was not completed; but instead, a group of various election scenes was drawn by him and appeared in the _Pictorial World_.

There were numerous sketches combined on one page, three of which are reproduced here. The illustrations on pages 70, 72, 80, 81, 82, and 84 were drawn (generally under great pressure of time) with an etching needle on Dawson's plates. This was the beginning of what are now familiarly known as "process" drawings in newspapers, but the system of photographic engraving, now largely used, was not then perfected. In 1874 it would have been impossible to reproduce rapidly in a newspaper, either the delicate lines of a pen and ink sketch, or such a pencil drawing as that given above.

Caldecott rendered valuable assistance at this time, and the early numbers of the paper are worth having if only for the reproduction of his work. It is not generally known how many of the large illustrations in the _Pictorial World_ were by his hand, or how much he was identified with the publication in the first days of its career.

Amongst the best illustrations by Caldecott for the newspaper at that period were sketches and studies that he had made for pictures, selected from his studio; such for instance as "Coursing," "Somebody's Coming," and the "Morning Walk," on pp. 75, 77, and 86. The latter design was not drawn specially for the _Pictorial World_, but Caldecott made a drawing of it for the paper, which appeared in the number for 18th July, 1874.

From a bundle of sketches (some very pretty) of subjects connected with Saint Valentine, he made a page for the same paper. These again, may seem small matters to record, but they are facts in the history of a life teeming with interest, and show that Caldecott's talent as an illustrator was revealed in 1874; that he was "invented," as the saying is, long before the publication of Washington Irving's _Sketch Book_.

On the 31st of October, 1874, Mr. Henry Irving made his first appearance in London as Hamlet, one of those occasions on which the theatre was crowded with critics and well-known personages. Caldecott, altogether inexperienced in such work, made several rough sketches, seizing the grotesque side "as far as he dared" as he said.

The trying nature of that performance, and the flitting about on the stage of the nervous anxious figure, with the ever-present white pocket-handkerchief in his belt--will be remembered by many. Caldecott made the best sketch that he could from the left side of the dress-circle, the only position in the house that could be obtained for him.

In company with the writer, Caldecott made various sketches in the House of Commons, the Law Courts, the theatres, and the like. The first three sketches of the House of Commons--one showing "The Arrival of the New Members," another, "The Speaker going up to the Lords," and a third, "At the Bar of the House of Lords"--were amongst the funniest of the series. Others followed from week to week, such as "The new Prime Minister," on page 83. On one occasion he went down to Westminster Hall to see the Rt. Hon. Benjamin D'Israeli enter the House of Commons as the _new prime minister_, and to a large illustration showing the north door of Westminster Hall (the architecture drawn by Mr. Jellicoe), he added the figures, a grotesque group of bystanders, presumably Conservatives, welcoming their new representative. (See the _Pictorial World_, March 7th, 1874.)

It was an exciting time politically and socially, and many events of interest had to be recorded. Amongst them the conclusion, amidst general rejoicing, of the great Tichborne Trial on March 2nd, 1874, a trial which had lasted 188 days. This was an opportunity for the artist. Caldecott's original sketch of this subject, if it is in existence, should be treasured; some idea of the humour of it may be gathered from the drawing overleaf which was crowded into the corner of the newspaper. He also made a highly grotesque and artistic model in terra-cotta of the Tichborne Trial, now in the possession of Mr. Stanley Baldwin of Manchester.

About this time, Caldecott went to the "farewell benefit" of the late Benjamin Webster and sketched the actor--surrounded by members of his company--making his final bow to the public.

On the eighteenth birthday, the "coming of age," of the late Prince Imperial of France, Caldecott went to Chislehurst. The drawing of the crowd on the lawn of Camden House in a state of general congratulation, the ceremony of presentation of enormous bouquets of violets and the like; of Frenchmen and their wives, of diplomatists, and others, will be found in the _Pictorial World_ for March 21st, 1874.

Here was a comparatively unknown artist at work, revealing talent which in after years would delight the world.

But fortunately for his health and peace of mind, and also for his future career, the young artist, who two years before had given up a clerkship in a Manchester bank (a "certainty" of more than £100 a year), was advised to refuse an engagement on the _Pictorial World_ of £10 10_s._ a week, which, had it been carried out, would have done much to raise the fortunes of that newspaper.

But the rush and hurry of journalistic work was distasteful to him; he had many commissions at this time, work of a better kind, requiring quiet and study. He was willing, and wishing always, to aid his friends, and so for some time he kept up a connection with the paper and made sketches on special occasions.

His health was delicate, but he was not suffering as in later years; his spirits were overflowing, and his kindliness and personal charm had made him friends everywhere.

On the 10th of April he enters in his diary--"At Armstrong's all day. Began to paint pigeons on canvas panel. Looking at pigeons in British Museum quadrangle;" and on the 11th again, "painting pigeons."

On the 15th of April he is "making a drawing of storks, &c.," and on the 17th, 21st, and 22nd, "painting swans at Armstrong's all day."

On the 23rd of April he enters: "Bas-relief hunting scene going on," and on 24th, "painting storks and pigeons," and on 28th, "swans."

The painting of swans, storks, and pigeons, referred to above, was very important work for Caldecott. In conjunction with his friend Mr. Armstrong, he painted the birds in two panels, one of swans (reproduced overleaf), and one of a stork and magpie. These panels were about six feet high, and form part of a series of decorations in the dining-room of Mr. Henry Renshawe's house at Bank Hall, near Buxton, Derbyshire.

The series of decorative paintings (by Thomas Armstrong) which included these panels, was exhibited at Mr. Deschamps' Gallery in New Bond Street in 1874, and attracted much attention at the time. The birds showed to great advantage, and will remain in the memory of many as amongst the most vigorous and effective of Caldecott's paintings in oils. They showed, thus early, a mastery of bird form and a power in reserve of an unusual kind.

"I have paid a little attention to decorative art," he writes to a friend at this time; besides being "at work on the _Sketch Book_," the results of which will be seen in the next chapter.