- done nothing, however largely he might have on commission for Sir Thomas Phillips talked, became a lion of the aristocracy. In Christ's Agony in the Garden." This at return for which kindness, he abuses Lord least was a subject of high art; it was to be Mulgrave, Sir George Beaumont, and the of large size; it was a munificent commission; fashionable world by wholesale, as soon and it was a failure we really believe, as they presume to have an opinion or mainly because he had got 3007. on account, wish of their own on the pictures they pay and he did not like to work on a subject for for, or suspend their attentions very prob- another, even if the choice were his own. ably from some indiscretion on the part of The exhibition of the Jerusalem, in 1820, protheir protégé. And so it is nearly through- duced him a net 15707.; he refused 10007. out. Everything connected with B. R. Hay- for the picture; and in 1816 and 1820 he don, historical painter," is exaggerated, received upwards of 8001. for premiums for everything removed from him dwindled to the pupils. Thus, in ten years, notwithstanding smallest point. Even his zeal for high art his temper, his arrogance, his clamors, his itself, on which he may be deemed unselfishly insults alike to friends and foes, he made interested if on anything, is open to the sus-some 40007., and it rested with himself to picion of originating in mortified vanity rather than love of a principle. He did not find out the abuses of the Academy till they hung his "Dentatus" badly, declined to elect him an Associate, and (as he says) encouraged Sir George Beaumont to refuse the picture of Macbeth," which Haydon painted larger than was ordered. 66 have added another 1000l., by means of his art; what he got from patrons as a direct gift, or as a gift in the form of a loan, is not very clear; but within this period, or two years later, it amounted to at least 20007., or an average of 6007. a year. So much for the injustice, the coldness, the apathy, and what not, on the part of patrons and the public. A conspicuous place in the Life is occupied An allowance, we readily admit, must be by Haydon's efforts to establish "high art," made for the uncertainty of income; as, to make art a national business, and to gain whatever the theory would seem to be, a man the patronage of the aristocracy for large whose income is irregular generally forestalls pictures, whether they have room for them or it on a liberal principle; but Haydon's avernot, which were not and are not yet the age, without the Jerusalem, though including fashion in this country; and Mr. Taylor, his eleemosynary aid, was about 4007. a year, usually so sensible and even Radamanthine, and 15007. from the Jerusalem ought cerrather gives into the painter's views, that he tainly to have paid off any debts contracted had fallen upon evil days. A man who sets by a man, who, according to his own account, himself to reform a social or moral evil, to was a model of the strictest economy. Notwhich a people is habituated, must make up withstanding all his wailings, his debts and his mind to opposition and discouragement, difficulties were evidently owing to himself. extending to martyrdom in the days of mar- Chantrey and Wilkie came to London almost tyrs. A man who will insist upon producing peniless, and without a soul to back them. an article for which there is no market must Haydon left his family in defiance of their make up his mind to have his wares left upon wishes, and we have seen that he represents his hands, whatever final success may attend his father as broken down by intemperance in upon the doctrine or the commodity. Ruin 1804. That father, however, " maintained" or loss in effecting a change is as much a him till 1810, when he stopped. It might be moral law of nature, as that a man will be that he thought of Haydon's sister, or of Haydrowned if he persist in keeping his head don's age- two-and-twenty- or that he had under water is a physical law. Yet an ex- that year gained by Dentatus 300 guineas. ception, hardly to have been looked for, was However, Haydon was then left to his own remade in favor of Haydon. His first picture sources. In 1812 he was in debt 6007., and in of any mark or promise was Siccius Denta-debt, despite of four" whitewashings" and an tus," exhibited in 1810; by which he made admitted average of 1000l. a year in late years, 300 guineas. Four years elapsed before he remained to the end of his life. Some of "The Judgment of Solomon" was finished; it might be mismanagement; some of it in- ' for (notwithstanding spasinodic efforts of in- terest and law-expenses; but the whole really dustry, which probably injured his constitu- originated in recklessness and extravagance. tion, and could scarcely have been beneficial He had no anxious forecastings about his to his hand, eye, or mind) he seems to have affairs; never giving debt a thought, till he been frequently idle. By the sale of the was, as the phrase is, " troubled," and then Judgment, a premium from the British Insti- dismissing the matter when he had contrived tution, and two trifles, he made upwards of to stave it off. As the object of the work 9007. in 1814. Six years elapsed before the before us is to represent the "historical appearance of "Christ's Entrance into Jeru- painter" as a victim to the apathy of patrons salem;" during which Sir George Beaumont and the public, although a model of parsitook the Macbeth off his hands, and he painted mony, evidence of the fact does not abound. 66 66 Enough, however, is unconsciously let out. I'll take it, though I am liable to pay the debt." A story evidently relating to an early period I did so; and this man, who never saw me in his of his life says something of when " I got off life, left me free till night. At night I settled . . In the evening I went to my horse." In 1812, we read that he got everything. the sheriff's house; and, as I waited in the parentangled with an infernal woman. As soon as he was released from prison the first lor, saw the tax-gatherer's paper over the chimtime, he took an expensive house in a fashion-ney for taxes due, with a note of a peremptory nature! Here is a picture of a human day, of able neighborhood. In 1845, human beings, human delusions, human absurdhis death, we read: ities, and human law. the year before July 8th.-Eight days have passed, and it is a fact I have only worked two. I wonder the earth does not open. In the city all day. An execution certain. Bennoch and Twentyman, as usual, saved me. But what a condition to paint in after forty-one years' practice ! Haydon seemed from a very early period to have entertained the notion that people were bound to keep him, and he borrowed from friends (who really had often less means than himself) or applied to patrons without scruple. For many of the latter years of his life his applications degenerated into something very like begging-letters, occasionally veiled by His conduct to dunning for commissions. Peel is a sample. Peel gave him a commission for Napoleon Musing at St. Helena, and his own price, 1007. As soon as he got this he was dissatisfied; thought it should have But it would be idle to multiply instances been 2007. or 3007.; that Peel ought to have after the following from 1840: Soon after, we find : : August 18th. Went with the boys to the old Ship Tavern, Greenwich, to eat white-bait; and spent the day in the Park, inhaling the pure air, and enjoying myself immensely. May 21st.-Worked and finished the Juliet, and hope to conclude to-morrow. 100 guineas in five weeks is twenty guineas a week; not onough to save out of, though I am grateful. When pecuniary embarrassments constitute the staple subject of a man's journal for fiveand-twenty years - writs, executions, and pawning his goods, including clothes and spectacles, forming the incidents of the narrative and he deliberately tells us that he cannot save out of twenty guineas a week, there is evidently no help for him. Although somewhat wearying at last from iteration and monotony, these pecuniary difficulties open up some curious saddening scenes, but saying much for the milk of human kindness. Landlords, eating-house keepers, creditors, bailiffs, lawyers, the nobility, and the public at large, in respectively different ways, rendered him sympathy and assistance. Though the steeled gaoler is not often the friend of man, Haydon occasionally found the bailiff so. The officer behaved like a man. I told him I must shave, and begged him to walk into the painting-room. He did so; and when I came down, I found him perfectly agitated at Lazarus. "O, my God! sir," said he, "I won't take you. Give me your word to meet me at twelve at the attorney's, and I will take it." I did so. At the attorney's we argued the point, and I beat him in the presence of the officer. I proved the gross injustice of the proceeding; and the officer said he'd be damned if he did not see me through it." I appointed the evening to arrange finally. "But you must remain in the officer's custody," said the attorney. "Not he," aid the officer; " let him give me his word, and given him these sums; and though the pa- other Sir-I beg leave to decline acceding to the proposition which you have made to me. I think it rather hard, that because I manifested a desire to assist you in your former diffi culties, I should be exposed to the incessant applications I have since received from you. As I see no difference in your case from that of other artists as in truth I am obliged constantly to decline the applications of others, who are suffering from the present state of political excitement I cannot give you commissions for pictures I do not require. I have the honor to be, sir, your obedient ROBERT PEEL. servant, 24th May, 1832. As a painter, his life was a failure. Indeed, for many years before his death, it is difficult to fancy that even Haydon himself could imagine his pictures had anything to do with "high art. In a great purpose of his life, impressing the importance of art as a public object, and the necessity of its encouragement by the state, he succeeded. This was done less by his example than by his precepts. His attacks upon the Academy, his attack upon Payne Knight under the pretence of expounding the beauties of the Elgin marbles, his frequent appeals to the public by the press and parliamentary petitions, his pertinacious besetting of great men and ministers, and finally his itinerant lectures on art (which he first had recourse to as a means of raising money), had great effect. So far as any individual conduced to the establish- opposed to Haydon, is in question, the reader ment of schools of art and the pictoral decora- must take the matter "cum grano." On tion of the new Houses of Parliament, Haydon indifferent subjects there seems little reason was the man. Mr. Taylor ascribes this to doubt his representation, beyond his natwholly to his writings; but such is hardly ural tendency to make everything Haydonthe case. The celebrity of the artist aided ish. the author. A mere critic, essayist, or lecturer, could not have spoken with the authority of the painter of the Judgment of Solomon, the Jerusalem, and the Lazarus. The necessity of discipline is the moral of Haydon's life; and he seems to intimate that, had he been subjected to greater restraint in childhood and youth, he would have been able to exercise more control over his pen, tongue, and actions, in riper years. It is possible that, if he had been placed under a master in his art whom he respected, his defects of extravagance and self-will, as well in the treatment as choice of his subjects, might have been lessened or cured. About the general moral there is no question; about the effect on Haydon there may be doubts. We cannot help thinking that his self-will and self-importance verged upon insanity. Although he abused portrait-painting for the greater part of his life, and never succeeded in it, probably some of the happiest portion of his career is connected with portraiture. Notwithstanding his democratic coarseness and his professions of independence, Haydon had a strong taint of the tufthunter. He was never happier than when with a listening peer- unless he could turn the peer into a prince. When Lord Grey commissioned him to paint the "Reform Banquet," he was introduced, under the premier's auspices, to the ministers and the heroes of the reform bill. The painter was happy, the journalist rarely more amusing. Of all the sitters, Lord Melbourne seemed to have pleased him the most; and he comes out exceedingly well in Haydon's pages: October 13th. - Lord Melbourne sat again I asked him to-day, with great amiability. delighted with his exceeding good-humor, and I point-blank several things. I was very much hope I have hit his expression. He asked about Hazlitt, Leigh Hunt, Keats, and Shelley; and seemed much amused at my anecdotes. I never had a pleasanter sitter- a delightful, frank, easy, unaffected man of fashion. There is nothing like 'em when they add intelligence to breeding. I spoke of Lord Durham's return. Dead silence. I talked of Birmingham. A sort of hint as to Scholefield and Attwood - —a passing opinion, yet confidential. The whole sitting was entertaining; and now, if he is only pleased with his own head, it will do. Haydon's training for his art, and his struggles with his creditors, form a large portion of the Life; but there are other and very interesting matters in it. Except in his fits of idleness, Haydon's activity was incessant. When not painting or reading, he was writing. His journal contains full criticisms on the works he saw, or the ideas that rose in his mind on the principles and practice of art; and though these, like everything else he said or did, contain exaggeration or distortion, and must be received with caution, yet they are well worth reading for their force and keenness, often for their justness. The most attractive parts of the book are the pictures of men and society, and the anecdotes with which it is profusely studded. Haydon's nature was social, or, perhaps more accurately, he was fond of personal display; and from a boy he mixed a good deal with his fellow-men. The gregarious and gossipy nature of most artists, his activity, his own position, or rather the position he claimed for himself, and the undoubted merit of Solomon, Jerusalem, and Lazarus, introduced him to high society, as his pecuniary difficulties made him familiar with men of all sorts. Whatever he observed or heard worth noticing he jotted down with that vigor of thought which I told them all if they did not get rid of every was innate, and that clearness of perception, feeling of indelicacy in seeing the naked form, especially for external traits, which is culti- and did not relish its abstract beauty, taste for vated by a painter's training. To what ex-grand art would never be rooted amongst them. tent his native disposition to color everything the ice forever. I always said the middle classes This was received with applause, and I broke according to his mood of mind or its relation were sound, and I am sure of it. I was obliged to himself may have influenced his written to take my black coat out of pawn to lecture in; pictures, we do not profess to settle. When- and this morning, when all my friends are conever the merit of other artists or their char- gratulating me, in walks an execution for 501. acter, if at the time they are in any way I wrote to Lord Melbourne, Peel, and Duke of This acquaintance Haydon took care not to let drop; and he must have bored Lord Melbourne terribly when he became premier, with his views on the duty of government towards art, &c. In fact, a minister more attentive to business must have cut him short. Amid all Melbourne's insouciances, however, there are traits of feeling; and here is one : — January 13th. Read my second lecture at the Mechanics' Institution on the bones, with great applause, and introduced the naked figure. Bedford. Lord Melbourne sent me directly a check for 701. This was kind-hearted. He told me I must not think him hard, but decidedly he could not repeat it. I concluded my grateful reply by telling him that I should think nothing hard but his building the House of Lords without pictures at which he laughed heartily, I will be bound. Notwithstanding the mild dignity of Grey, and the various noble qualities of other noble persons, as soon as Haydon got hold of royalty he preferred it to nobility. With an instinct akin to Falstaff's at Gad's Hill, he discovered a "true prince" in the jolly old Duke of Sussex. February 23d.-Duke of Sussex sat amiably. I never saw anything like it. He exceeds all my sitters for patience and quiet. There he sat smoking and talking. I felt quite easy, and sketched with more ease than I ever did before. He talked on all subjects. I hit him, and he was pleased. No interruption whatever took place. I found him regarding the National Gallery now with very different feeling to what he held before, and I plainly see I have had effect in high life. comes. 25th. - Finished the Duke of Sussex till he There is literally as much difference between a royal person and a mere nobleman as between a nobleman and a mere plebeian. Such is the effect of breeding and habit. The other great event of Haydon's latter career was a visit to Walmer Castle, to take the head of the Duke of Wellington for the Musing at Waterloo, painted on commission for some gentlemen at Liverpool. The account of the duke in the retirement of his private house is lifelike and interesting; and we quote freely. After sundry applications for a sitting, which the duke could not comply with, he wrote thus: Walmer Castle, October 9th, 1839. The Duke of Wellington presents his compliments to Mr. Haydon. If Mr. Haydon will be so kind as to come to Walmer Castle whenever it may suit him, the duke will have it in his power to sit to him for a picture for certain gentlemen at Liverpool. This invitation was eagerly accepted, and the journal which follows contains this very full account of it. became bank Astley's. She was a fine lady, and the duke The duke talked of Bonaparte, and the Abbé who told the duke, that the note he was taking At Elba, Napoleon told Douglas, was a note to Maret (Duke of Bassano) as follows: "Renvoyez ce coquin là à son archevêque." "So," said the duke, “always hear both sides." The duke said, when he came through Paris in 1814, Madame de Stael had a grand party to meet him. Du Pradt was there. In conversation he said, "Europe owes her salvation to one man. "But before he gave me time to look foolish," added the duke, du Pradt put his hand on his own breast, and said, 'C'est moi.'" He said, The duke talked of the want of fuel in Spain - of what the troops suffered, and how whole houses, so many to a division, were pulled down regularly and paid for to serve as fuel. every Englishman who has a home goes to bed at night. He found bivouacking was not suitable to the character of the English soldier. He got drunk, and lay down under any hedge. Discipline was destroyed. But when he introduced tents, every soldier belonged to his tent, and, drunk or sober, he got to it before he went to sleep. I said, "Your grace, the French always bivouac." "Yes," he replied, cause French, Spanish, and all other nations, lie anywhere. It is their habit. They have no homes." "be The duke said, the natural state of man was plunder. Society was based on security of property alone. It was for that object man associated; and he thought we were coming to the natural state of society very fast. 12th. He told me to choose my room and October 11th. Left town by steam for Rams- get my light in order, and after hunting he gate. Got in at half-past six; dined; and set would sit. I did so, and about two he gave me off in a chaise for Walmer, where I arrived safely an hour and a half. I hit his grand, upright, in hard rain. A great bell was rung on my manly expression. He looked like an eagle of arrival; and, after taking tea and dressing, I the gods who had put on human shape, and had was ushered into the drawing-room, where sat his got silvery with age and service. At first I was grace, with Sir Astley Cooper, Mr. Arbuthnot, a little affected; but I hit his features, and all and Mr. Booth, who had served with his grace went off. Riding hard made him rosy and dozy. in Spain. His grace welcomed me heartily, His color was fresh. All the portraits are too asked how I came down, and fell again into gen- pale. I found that to imagine he could not go eral conversation. They talked of who through any duty raised the lion. "Does the kept the Ship. He married an actress from light hurt your grace's eye?" "Not at all;" and he stared at the light as much as to say is not much touched in these volumes; the "I'll see if you shall make me give in, Signor miseries of the hero being so obviously the Light." result of his own conduct. The intellect is "T was a noble head. I saw nothing of that peculiar expression of mouth the sculptors give him, bordering on simpering. His color was beautiful and fleshy, his lips compressed and energetic. I foolishly said, "Don't let me fatigue your grace." "Well, sir," he said, "I'll give you an hour and a half. To-morrow is Sunday. Monday I'll sit again." I was delighted to see him pay his duty to Sunday. Up he rose. I opened the door, and hold this as the highest distinction of my life. He bowed and said, "We dine at seven." At seven we dined. His grace took half a glass of sherry and put it in water. I drank three glasses, Mr. Arbuthnot one. We then went to the drawing-room; where, putting a candle on each side of him, he read the Standard, whilst I talked to Mr. Arbuthnot; who said it was not true Copenhagen ran away on the field. He ran to his stable when the duke came to Waterloo after the battle, and kicked out and gambolled. I did not stay up to-night. I was tired, went to bed, and slept heartily. It was most interesting to see him reading away. I believe he read every iota. We talked of Lord Mulgrave, whom his grace esteemed. Sir Astley had left in the morning, and in talking of the duke's power of conversation, related that when some one said "Habit is second nature," the duke remarked, "It is ten times nature." I asked the duke if Cæsar did not land hereabouts. He said he believed near Richborough moved with something of a tragic interest, in with Doubts The first volume of the work consists of Haydon's completed autobiography, begun towards the end of his life. The other two volumes are arranged by Mr. Taylor from the painter's journals, of which he left behind him has the editor fulfilled his task. twenty-seven folio volumes. And admirably may be raised as to the propriety of suppressing some passages, and objections made as to The next day was Sunday. Haydon went the insertion of others; but the questions in to church, and was greatly edified with his either case are much more easily raised than host's demeanor. This was the Sunday even-made with as much judgment and acumen as settled. The selections strike us as being ing: Castle. The duke after dinner retired, and we all followed him. He then took the Spectator, and, placing a candle on each side of his venerable head, read it through. I watched him the whole time. Young Lucas had arrived, a very nice fellow, and we both watched him. I took Lardner's life of him, in one part of which he says, "He rode in front of fifty pieces of artillery, but God protected his head." I looked up and studied the venerable white head that God still protected. There he was, contented, happy, aged, but vigorous, enjoying his leisure in dignity; God knows, as he deserves. After readng till his eyes were tired, he put down the paper, and said, "There are a great many curious things in it, I assure you." He then yawned, as he always did before retiring, and said, "I'll give you an early sitting to-morrow, at nine." I wished his grace a good night, and went to bed. "With pity or with terror tear my heart" is the test of the dramatic poet. The heart it was possible to display; and the connecting passages, though few in number, masterfully exhibit Haydon's position at the time, and call the reader's attention to moral or social peculiarities with great fairness and justice. The closing estimates seem to us the weakest. So far from thinking Haydon unfortunate in his age, we think the reception of his Solomon and Jerusalem, and the assistance he received in the interim, remarkable proofs of justice and generosity; for, directly numbers of those who assisted him. The or indirectly, he had been virulently abusing estimate of Haydon as a painter, contributed by an artist-friend of Mr. Taylor, we think harsh. That Haydon's later works justify all that may be said against them, must be conceded; but we think his two great productions exhibit some of the highest qualities of the greatest artist, though dashed there, as they were finally rendered nugatory, by want of early training and the power of mental self-control. |