Freeman Marius O'Donoghue

“ While he was engaged in executing for the Duke of Dorset a series of miniatures from family portraits at Knole to decorate a cabinet, his eyesight gave way, and, compelled to abandon miniature work, he turned to crayon drawing. At Knole there is a portrait of the Duke of Dorset, which is inscribed on the back, 'The first portrait in crayons painted by Ozias Humphry, R. A.; it was begun in May and finished early in June 1791.' Humphry quickly became one of the ablest workers in crayons. ”

“ He travelled much and became a cultivated and enthusiastic collector of works of art, both ancient and modern, with a special predilection for the works of Turner, Stothard, Flaxman, and Constable. Of water-colour drawings by Turner, with whom he was personally acquainted, he formed a singularly fine series, and also of proofs of his 'Liber Studiorum.' He was elected a member of the Athenæum Club in 1849, and F.S.A. in 1879. He was one of the founders and most active members of the Burlington Fine Arts Club, and a constant contributor to its exhibitions. ”

“ In 1851 he exhibited for the first time at the London Royal Academy, and in the following year removed to the metropolis, where he settled permanently. His reputation was established by his ‘The Mitherless Bairn,’ exhibited in 1855, and from that time almost to the end of his career he was one of the most popular of British painters. His subjects were usually pathetic or sentimental incidents in humble Scottish life, and the sincerity and dramatic skill with which he told his story appealed strongly to the public taste. ”

“ Though possessed of little artistic ability, Worsdale obtained a considerable amount of patronage as a portrait-painter, and was appointed master-painter to the board of ordnance, his success being due mainly to his amusing conversation and clever singing and acting. ”

“ When lithography came into vogue in this country, he quickly adopted it as a means of providing good examples for the use of pupils and students, and in the many works which he published greatly developed the resources of the art, carrying it in fact to a point of excellence which has not been surpassed. The 'Académie des Beaux Arts' had awarded him two gold medals for lithographic drawings exhibited at the Louvre. His early productions were drawing-books, consisting of pencil sketches and studies of trees ”

“ In 1831, when a lad of seventeen, Heaphy accompanied his father on a visit to Italy, where he acquired a knowledge of the language and cultivated a taste for religious art, for which he always retained a strong predilection. Adopting his father's profession, he commenced life as a portrait-painter, and for many years enjoyed an extensive patronage. ”

“ His earliest publication was a set of twenty charcoal drawings entitled 'The People of Paris,' and he became a very popular artist in black and white, chiefly excelling in the delineation of the types and manners of the lower orders of society. As early as 1863 he had contributed to ' Punch,' and for two years he was cartoonist to 'Fun.' Barnard was one of the most sympathetic and successful of the interpreters of Charles Dickens ”

“ HERBERT, ALFRED (d. 1861) , watercolour painter, was the son of a Thames waterman, who apprenticed him to a boatbuilder, but, yielding to a strong natural inclination, he became an artist. He began to exhibit with the Society of British Artists in 1844, and at the Royal Academy in 1847, his subjects being coast scenes, with fishing-boats and figures, and views in the lower reaches of the Thames. He sent an oil picture to Suffolk Street in 1855, and continued a regular contributor of water-colours at the Royal Academy until 1860. ”

“ In 1812, giving up his membership of the Water-colour Society, he betook himself, at the invitation of the Duke of Wellington, to the British camp in the Peninsula, where he remained until the end of the war, painting the portraits of the English officers, and on his return executed his most important work, a representation of the Duke of Wellington giving his orders previous to a general action, which comprised portraits of about fifty general officers. ”

“ He studied under Sir William Allan and Thomas Duncan at the Edinburgh School of Design, where he gained many prizes, and for some years assisted his brother John, who was already a painter of repute. He commenced exhibiting at Edinburgh at an early age, and in 1849 was elected an associate of the Scottish Academy. ”

“ On the revival of the Society of Antiquaries in 1717 he became a member, and was appointed its official engraver, in which capacity he executed nearly all the plates published in ‘Vetusta Monumenta’ down to 1756, including the portrait of Richard II at Westminster, the shrine of Edward the Confessor, and a view of Waltham Cross. From 1723 to 1751, all the Oxford Almanacs, with one or two exceptions, were designed, and engraved by Vertue, who introduced views of the colleges and incidents connected with their foundation. ”

“ In 1830 Harding exhibited Italian views sketched on papers of various tints and textures. This novel idea was generally adopted, and for many years 'Harding's papers' (as they came to be called by drawing-masters) , manufactured by Whatman, were extensively used for sketching purposes. In the practice of water-colour painting Harding was chiefly responsible for the abandonment of the exclusive use of transparent colours, in which nearly all the great artists worked before his time. Harding, following the example first set by Turner, freely employed opaque or body colour. ”

“ Throughout his chequered career he was a constant exhibitor at the Royal Academy, frequently contributing during his residence at Bristol.
In 1819 he sent a portrait of the Duke of Sussex; his best work was a picture of Carolus the hermit of Tong. His portrait of Miss Biggs in the charahter of Cora, and that of Richard Reynolds, the Bristol philanthropist, have been engraved, the latter by W. Sharp. He was always well patronised, and obtained good prices for his works, but the quality of his art suffered greatly from his restless and improvident habits. ”

“ LADBROOKE, ROBERT (1768–1842) , landscape-painter, born in a humble position at Norwich in 1768, was apprenticed when very young to an artist and printer named White, and for some years worked as a journeyman printer. While so engaged he made the acquaintance of John Crome [q. v.] , then a lad of about his own age, who was working for a house- and sign-painter, and having congenial tastes they became fast friends, living together, and devoting all their spare time to sketching and copying. ”

“ Lewis held the appointment of engraver of drawings to Princess Charlotte, Prince Leopold, George IV, William IV, and Queen Victoria. He was extremely industrious, and his portraits and other subjects from pictures by Landseer, Winterhalter, Chalon, Bonington, Danby, and others are very numerous. Throughout his life he devoted a portion of his time to landscape-painting, working both in oils and water-colours, and contributing largely to the exhibitions of the Royal Academy, the British Institution, and the Old Water-colour Society. ”

“ VAN VOERST, ROBERT (1596–1636) , engraver, was born in 1596 at Arnheim in Holland, and studied at Utrecht under Crispin de Passe the elder. Some small plates of animals by him, which appeared in Passe's ‘La Lumière de la Peinture,’ 1643, were probably executed at this period. He came to England in 1628, and during the next few years engraved portraits of the queen of Bohemia, the Prince of Wales, Prince Rupert, and several English noblemen, from pictures by Honthorst, Dobson, Geldorp, Miereveldt, Mytens, and Janssen. ”

“ Notwithstanding the skill and elaboration with which the plates were executed, they never found favour with artists, and have failed to supersede the rougher but more vigorous work of Dorigny. He executed crayon portraits of himself and of his nephew, a naval captain. A brother John was at one time a popular lecturer on animal magnetism. ”

“ HOLLOWAY, THOMAS (1748–1827) , engraver, born in Broad Street, London, in 1748, was eldest son of a merchant who was an early follower of Wesley. His mother's portrait was painted by John Russell [q. v.] He was articled to a seal-engraver named Stent, by whom he was chiefly employed in carving steel ornaments. He subsequently attended the Academy schools, and in 1773 first appeared at the Royal Academy as an exhibitor of seals and engraved gems. ”

“ In 1811 Hofland returned to London, where he resided for a few years in Newman Street, contributing to the support of his family chiefly by making copies of celebrated works in the gallery of the British Institution, and at the same time painting many pictures, chiefly views of the Lakes. In 1814 he gained the British Institution prize of one hundred guineas for ‘A Storm off Scarborough,’ which was purchased by the Marquis of Stafford ”

“ Lowry was a student of geology, and early in life constructed with his friend Professor Phillips a geological model of the Isle of Wight. On the establishment of the Geological Surrey of Great Britain and Ireland he became engraver to the department, and it is by the vast number of beautiful plates of 'sections' and fossils which he executed in that capacity that he will be remembered; on these he continued to work until his death. ”

“ Being engaged by West to copy pictures at Windsor, Livesay went to reside there about 1790, and gave lessons in drawing to some of the royal children. While at Windsor he was much employed in painting portraits of young Etonians, generally small whole-lengths, and an interesting picture by him of ‘Eton Boys going to Montem’ is in the possession of the college, to which it was presented by the Duke of Newcastle in 1891. In 1796, having been appointed drawing-master to the Royal Naval College at Portsmouth, Livesay removed to Portsea ”

“ WILLIAMS, SAMUEL (1788–1853) , draughtsman and wood engraver, was born at Colchester, of humble parentage, on 23 Feb. 1788. He was apprenticed to a Colchester printer named Marsden, but devoted all his spare time to drawing and engraving on wood, and subsequently adopted this as his profession. He first established himself in his native town, but in 1819 settled in London. ”

“ HARDING, GEORGE PERFECT (d. 1853) , portrait-painter and copyist, was a son of Silvester Harding [q. v.] of Pall Mall. Adopting his father's profession, he practised miniature-painting, and exhibited at the Royal Academy at intervals between 1802 and 1840; but, like his father, he mainly devoted himself to making water-colour copies of ancient historical portraits. ”

“ Latterly he executed a great number of drawings in sepia and chalk of biblical and poetical subjects, and depicted the battles of the Sikh and Crimean wars. In the last year of his life he exhibited at the Academy ‘Sketch of the Conquest and Destruction of Magdala,’ as well as two large pictures, ‘Cawnpore—Passage of the Ganges,’ and ‘Relief of Lucknow,’ which he presented to the National Gallery. ”

“ In 1726 Pelham emigrated to America with his wife Martha and two sons, Peter and Charles, and settled at Boston, where he established a school, in which were taught writing, reading, dancing, painting, and needlework, and practised both as painter and engraver until the end of his life ”

“ In 1833 Jackson was one of the founders of a sketching society at Bristol, to which W. J. Müller, J. Skinner Prout, and other artists who later achieved eminence belonged, and he was always closely identified with the Bristol ‘school.’ In 1848 he withdrew from the Water-colour Society, having failed to obtain election to full membership. In 1855 and 1856 Jackson made tours in Switzerland, after which he painted, almost exclusively, Swiss views in oils, which were sent to the Bristol annual exhibition and sold well. ”

“ LAPORTE, JOHN (1761–1839) , water-colour painter, was born in 1761, and became a drawing-master at the military academy at Addiscombe. He was also a successful private teacher, and Dr. Thomas Monro [q. v.] , the patron of Turner, was one of his pupils. From 1785 he contributed landscapes to the Royal Academy and British Institution exhibitions, and was an original member of the short-lived society 'The Associated Artists in Water-colours,' from which he retired in 1811. ”

“ Being sent to London by Sir John Guest and other gentlemen, he studied in the schools of the Royal Academy under Fuseli, and in 1821 gained a silver medal from the Society of Arts for a drawing from the antique. ”