Art in England

Art in England, by Dutton Cook

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Title: Art in England Notes and Studies
Author: Dutton Cook

Release Date: December 31, 2006 [eBook #20237]
Language: English
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ART IN ENGLAND

Notes and Studies
by
DUTTON COOK.

London Sampson Low, Son, and Arston Milton House, Ludgate Hill.
1869.
Edinburgh: T. Constable, Printer to the Queen, and to the University.

CONTENTS.
PAGE EARLY ART-SCHOOLS IN ENGLAND 1 VERRIO AND
LAGUERRE 15 A SCULPTOR'S LIFE IN THE LAST CENTURY 28
THE RISE OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY 55 WIDOW HOGARTH
AND HER LODGER 104 ALLAN RAMSAY, JUNIOR 123 GEORGE
ROMNEY 142 COSWAY, THE MINIATURE-PAINTER 175 THE
STORY OF A SCENE-PAINTER 201 THE STORY OF AN
ENGRAVER 230 SIR JOSHUA'S PUPIL 244 HOPPNER AND
LAWRENCE 260 THE PUPIL OF SIR THOMAS LAWRENCE 295
TURNER AND RUSKIN 316

PREFACE.
It will be readily understood that this little volume does not affect to set
forth anything like a formal history of the rise and progress of Art in
England. The fitting treatment of such a theme would need much more
space--not to mention other requirements--than I have here at command.
I have designed merely to submit in a manner that may, I trust, be
acceptable to the general reader, and not wholly without value to the
student, some few excerpts and chapters from the chronicles of the
nation's Art, with biographical studies of certain of its artists.

In this way I have felt myself bound so to select my materials as to
avoid more travelling over familiar ground than seemed absolutely
necessary. I have therefore assumed the reader's acquaintance with the
lives and achievements of the great leaders of native Art--Hogarth,
Reynolds, Gainsborough, for instance--and have forborne to occupy my
pages with directly rehearsing their famous memoirs. It seemed to me
desirable rather to call attention to the stories of artists who, though less
renowned, less prominent in popular estimation, were yet of mark in
their periods, and had distinct influence on the character and progress
of Art in England. Many of these artists were contemporaries, however,
and in dealing with their careers severally, it has hardly been possible
to escape repetition of the mention of incidents pertaining to the times
in which they conjointly 'flourished,'--to employ the favourite term of
Biographical Dictionaries. I must ask the reader's pardon if he should
find these repetitions intrusively frequent. But the papers herein
contained have, for the most part, already appeared in print, when it
was deemed advisable to make each as complete in itself as was
practicable. They are now reproduced after revision, and, in some cases,
considerable extension, but their original form cannot be wholly
suppressed or vitally interfered with. I can only hope that what was a
merit in their isolated state may not be accounted too grievous a defect
now that they come to be congregated.
Finally, I would suggest--referring with all due modesty to my own
efforts in this direction--that the lives and labours of our Art worthies
form wholesome as well as curious subjects for popular study. I do not
desire to set up the artist--merely in right of his professing himself an
artist--as peculiarly or romantically entitled to public regard. But a
nation's Art is, in truth, an important matter. To its value and
significance the community is more awake than was heretofore the case,
and what was once but the topic of a clique has become of very general
concern and interest. Sympathy with Art must necessarily with more or
less force extend to the professors and practisers of Art. Surveying the
past, one cannot but note that often patronage and public favour have
been strangely perverted--now cruelly withheld, now recklessly
bestowed. Here genius, or a measure of talent nearly amounting to
genius, has languished neglected and suffering--here charlatanry has

prospered triumphantly. Something of this kind may be happening now
amongst us, or may occur again by and by. Acquaintance with the past
history of native Art--its struggles, trials, troubles, and successes--will
surely prove of worth in considering its present and future position and
prospects. As some slight aid to the diffusion of information on the
subject, these otherwise unpretending pages are respectfully submitted
to the reader.
D.C.

EARLY ART SCHOOLS IN ENGLAND.
Charles the First appears to have been the first English Sovereign who