Chapter C: Stanfield, R.a

_Lent by Mr. Field Stanfield._

To the fourth Christmas Book, "The Battle of Life," Stanfield contributed three beautiful little designs, representing respectively "War," "Peace," and "The 'Nutmeg Grater' Inn." Happily, I am enabled to present _facsimiles_ of the original sketches (very slight in treatment) of the first two subjects, through the courtesy of the artist's son, Mr. Field Stanfield. The story was written at Lausanne, and, during Dickens's absence in Switzerland, Forster succeeded in enlisting Stanfield as one of the illustrators as a glad surprise for the author, who, on being informed of the fact, wrote to his biographer: "Your Christmas Book illustration-news makes me jump for joy." Forster intimates that these "three morsels of English landscape," delineated by Stanfield, had a singular charm for Dickens at the time, who referred to the illustrations altogether as by far the best that had been done for any of the Christmas Books. "It is a delight," he remarked concerning Stanfield's designs, "to look at these little landscapes of the dear old boy. How gentle and elegant, and yet how manly and vigorous they are! I have a perfect joy in them."

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[Sidenote: =The Haunted Man, 1848.=]

The last of the Christmas Books, viz., "The Haunted Man," contains three illustrations by this artist, viz., "The Lighthouse," "The Exterior of the Old College," and "The Christmas Party in the Great Dinner Hall." In the first subject, which is decidedly the most successful, Stanfield found a most congenial theme, for here his knowledge of sailors and of the dangers of the sea proved serviceable. With regard to his designs for these little annuals, it appears that the artist could not be prevailed upon to accept payment for them, Dickens's protests notwithstanding. He consequently became the recipient of another gift--a pair of handsome silver salvers, bearing the simple inscription, "Clarkson Stanfield from Charles Dickens," in recognition of his friendly collaboration, and these are now in the possession of one of the artist's sons.

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[Sidenote: =American Notes, 1850.=]

There is another illustration by Stanfield to which some allusion must be made. This is an admirable water-colour drawing of the _Britannia_, the steamship that conveyed Dickens to America in 1842. The drawing was made with a view to reproduction as the frontispiece for the first cheap edition of "American Notes," and the following hitherto unpublished letter (dated May 11, 1850) to Edward Chapman (of Chapman & Hall), is of interest in this connection:--

"DEAR SIR,--Mr. Stanfield will draw the packet-ship for the
frontispiece to the 'American Notes.' He says lithograph is
better than wood for that kind of subject; please let me
know immediately whether it will suit us to lithograph
it.--Faithfully yours,

"CHARLES DICKENS."

The suggestion was found impracticable, so it was decided that the drawing should be made on wood. The block was therefore forwarded to the artist, who complained to Dickens of its imperfect surface, whereupon the novelist despatched to Edward Chapman this brief missive, dated May 22:--

"DEAR SIR,--Mr. Stanfield wonders you didn't send him a
paving-stone to draw upon, as send a block in this
unprepared state. I send you his drawing to do the best you
can with. It costs nothing, and I wish it to be kept very
clean and returned to me.--Faithfully yours,

"CHARLES DICKENS."

It may be inferred from this letter that the drawing was copied upon the wood-block by the engraver himself, whose name (T. Bolton) is appended to the frontispiece. The original picture was purchased at the sale of Dickens's effects in 1870 for the sum of £110, 5s., by the late Earl of Darnley, for many years the novelist's friend and neighbour.

Clarkson Stanfield, whose intimacy with the Dickens family was very close, used to take part in their Christmas sports and gambols, and in connection with the private theatricals at Tavistock House his services as scene-painter were invaluable. _Apropos_ of this, the novelist once wrote to Frank Stone, A.R.A.: "Stanfield bent on desperate effects, and all day long with his coat off, up to his eyes in distemper colours." Again: "If Stanfield don't astonish 'em [the audience], I'm a Dutchman. O Heaven, if you could hear the ideas he proposes to me, making even _my_ hair stand on end!" For Wilkie Collins's drama, "The Lighthouse," produced at Tavistock House, the artist painted a very remarkable act-drop representing the Eddystone Lighthouse, concerning which it may be observed that, although it occupied the great painter only one or two mornings, it realised at the novelist's death nearly a thousand guineas!

Dickens, when writing to Stanfield, frequently adopted nautical expressions, in allusion to the artist's experiences as a seaman. He sometimes addressed him as "Old Tarpaulin," "Old Salt," "Messmet," &c., and as an example of this I here reprint a letter, written on an occasion when Stanfield innocently demanded of Dickens to be informed of the amount due for a pair of candlesticks that the novelist had sent him:--

"MY DEAR STANNY,--In reference to the damage for the
candlesticks, I beg to quote (from 'The Cricket on the
Hearth,' by the highly popular and deservedly so Dick) this
reply:

"'I'll damage you if you inquire.'

"Ever yours,

"My block-reeving,
Main-brace splicing,
Lead-heaving,
Ship-conning,
Stun'sail-bending,
Deck-swabbing,
Son of a sea-cook,

"HENRY BLUFF,
"H.M.S. _Timber_."[39]

Footnote 39: From "The Letters of Charles Dickens." Mr. Field
Stanfield informs me that it is quite certain the
candlesticks were not a gift from Dickens to his father. It
would seem most probable that there may have been some
accident during theatrical preparations, for which the artist
considered himself responsible, and that Dickens undertook to
repair the misfortune himself.

During the last ten years of his life Stanfield's health became less strong, and he was obliged in some measure to retire from the congenial circle of his artistic and literary associates, continuing, however, to take great delight in his art. Stanfield breathed his last on May 18, 1867. His death proved a great blow to Dickens, who, in a note of sympathy to Mr. George Stanfield, observed: "No one of your father's friends can ever have loved him more dearly than I always did, or can have better known the worth of his noble character." To the famous painter, for whom he ever entertained a strong affection, the novelist had dedicated "Little Dorrit," and, as a tribute to his memory, wrote (in _All the Year Round_) a sympathetic eulogium upon his departed friend of thirty years, where, after alluding to the artist as "the National historian of the Sea," he says: "He was a charitable, religious, gentle, truly good man. A genuine man, incapable of pretence or of concealment. He was the soul of frankness, generosity, and simplicity. The most genial, the most affectionate, the most loving, and the most lovable of men."

DANIEL MACLISE, R.A.

His Precocious Talent--Studies Anatomy--Enters the Royal
Academy Schools--Gains a "Travelling Studentship"--Elected a
Royal Academician--Declines the Presidency--Introduced to
Dickens--A Lifelong Friendship--"MASTER HUMPHREY'S
CLOCK"--Maclise Essays an Illustration--"THE CHIMES"--A
Reading by Dickens and a Sketch by Maclise--His Original
Drawings--"THE CRICKET ON THE HEARTH"--An Unpublished Letter
from Maclise--"THE BATTLE OF LIFE"--Dickens's Appreciation
of Maclise's Illustrations--The Artist's Correspondence with
Forster Respecting his Designs--His Anxiety Concerning the
Engraving--An Indignant Letter--"Little Dirty
Scratches"--Maclise Dispenses with the Living
Model--Dickens's Relations with the Artist--A Memorable
Trip--Picture of the Waterfall at St. Nighton's Cave--A
Portrait of Dickens--An Interesting Pencil-Drawing--Death of
"Grip"--The Raven Immortalised by Maclise--A Letter of
Sympathy--The Artist's Declining Health--His Death a Severe
Shock to Dickens--The Novelist's Tribute to his Memory.

Among a host of intimate friends, none was more beloved by Dickens than the warm-hearted Irish artist, Daniel Maclise, whose fine genius and handsome person charmed all who knew him. Maclise was the son of a Scotch soldier quartered at Cork, and was born in that city on January 25, 1811, being thus the novelist's senior by about a year. As a child he exhibited great facility in executing caricatures, and was soon enabled to support himself by the sale of his sketches. It was at first intended that he should adopt the surgical profession, with which object he studied anatomy under Dr. Woodroffe, but, like John Leech, he did not take kindly to the science of healing, preferring (as did Leech) the more congenial pursuit of Art. Accordingly, in 1827, Maclise entered the Royal Academy Schools, where he made such rapid progress, that two years later his work was admitted to the Exhibition of the Royal Academy. Although, in 1831, the fortunate young painter received the gold medal entitling him to the "Travelling Studentship," he elected to remain in England, having already visited Paris and studied at the Louvre and the Luxembourg. Achieving success after success as a painter of Shakesperian scenes, portraits, &c., he became an Associate of the Royal Academy in 1836, and attained full honours in 1840. In 1866 he was offered the Presidency, but, as did Sir Edwin Landseer during the previous year, he declined that distinction.

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[Sidenote: =Master Humphrey's Clock, 1840-41=.]

It was in the year of his election as Associate that Maclise was introduced by Forster to Charles Dickens, and we learn that the tastes and pursuits of the three friends were so congenial that thenceforth they were inseparable,--this affectionate intercourse being maintained without interruption for nearly thirty years. When, in 1840, Dickens contemplated the publication of "Master Humphrey's Clock," it was his intention to endeavour to secure the valuable co-operation of Maclise as an illustrator of that work, in conjunction with George Cattermole. Forster states that there seems to have been a desire on Maclise's part to try his hand at an illustration, but he did not remember that it bore other fruit than "a very pleasant day at Jack Straw's Castle, where Dickens read one of the later numbers to us." That Maclise's wish was actually realised, however, is proved by the fact that in the fifty-fifth chapter of "The Old Curiosity Shop" there is a design by him representing Little Nell and the Sexton. Why this should have been his only contribution to the pages of "Master Humphrey's Clock" has never been explained, but it is not improbable that the artist was too busily occupied with his paintings just at this time, and therefore unable to devote serious attention to black-and-white work.

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[Sidenote: =The Chimes, 1845.=]

PLATE LI

"THE TOWER OF THE CHIMES"

AND

"THE SPIRIT OF THE CHIMES"

_Facsimiles_ of the Original Drawings for "The Chimes" by