The Georgian Era Memoirs of the Most Eminent Persons
The Georgian Era Memoirs of the Most Eminent Persons is in Georgian Books.
The Georgian Era: Memoirs of the Most Eminent Persons, who have flourished in Great Britain, from the accession of George the First to the demise of George the Fourth ...
By Clarke Clarke
Charles Alfred Stothard, eldest son of Thomas Stothard, Esq., the royal academician, was born in London, on the 5th of July, 1786. He received the first part of his education at the school of a Mr. Dearne, and afterwards became the private pupil of the Rev. Robert Burnside. He first developed his taste for the arts by painting, in a very superior manner, the miniature scenes for his schoolboy model of a theatre. A propensity to the study of history, also marked his early years; and, by turns, poetry, astronomy, chemistry, natural history, Latin, French, Italian, music, and drawing, all engaged his attention. The proficiency which he made in these was the result of his own diligence; and, indeed, his biographer and widow remarks, that, for whatever he acquired during life, he was little indebted to the instruction of others; — such as he was, he made himself.
The subject of our memoir had, at first, expressed a wish to become a portrait painter; but the following circumstance induced him to change his mind. Whilst he was on a visit, one morning, at the house of a friend, who was of that profession, a party happened to call in to look at the picture of a lady of rank, then under the artist's hands. The original was a woman of plain features and vulgar character, and as such she appeared in the picture; an adherence to truth, which the party, to whom the lady was related, took so ill, that they unanimously decried the performance. "Charles," says Mrs. Stothard," was so disgusted with this scene, that he left the house, with a determination never to become a portrait painter; feeling that he could not submit to give up his own independence and judgment to be the sport of ignorance and vanity."
In 1807, a drawing, which he presented to Mr. Fuseli, procured him admission as a student at Somerset House, where he entered upon a regular course of study from the antique, and soon became distinguished for his chaste and beautiful style of copying antique sculpture In the following year, he was admitted a student in the Life Academy; and, about the same time, it is said, he executed several paintings in oil, from sketches made by him on the banks of the Thames, or in the neighbourhood of London. In 1808, he also became a student at the Institution in Pall Mall, where he executed a very successful copy of a lady and child, after Vandyck.
In 1810, he painted a picture of the death of Richard the Second in Pomfret Castle [Map], in which the costume of the period was strictly adhered to, and the portrait of Richard taken from his effigy in Westminster Abbey. It was received with unanimous approbation upon its exhibition at Somerset House, and indicated superior talents, in the artist, for historical painting. This branch of his art, however, he was also induced to forego, in consequence of an attachment he had formed with a Miss Kempe (age 19), to whom he was subsequently married. A more lucrative mode of occupation than that of historical portrait painting, had suggested itself to him as far back as the year 1802, when he accompanied his father to Burleigh House, the seat of the Marquess of Exeter. Mr. Stothard, senior (age 54), was employed to decorate the staircase of this mansion; and, whilst thus occupied, observed to his son, it would be to his future advantage, to fill up his time, by making drawings from the monuments in the neighbouring churches, as useful authorities for costume. His son followed his advice, and thus received the first bias of his mind towards a subject which he now resolved to make his pursuit. The hint for the design, which he afterwards carried into effect, was first given him by a sight of some very clever unpublished etchings, by the Rev. P. Kerrich, of Cambridge, from monuments in the Dominicans and other churches in Paris. This suggested to him the idea of a work on The Monumental Effigies of Great Britain, of which the first number appeared in June, 1811, accompanied by an advertisement, stating that the objects of the undertaking were to afford the historical painter a complete knowledge of the costume adopted in England, from an early period of history to the reign of Henry the Eighth; to illustrate, at the same time, history and biography; and, lastly, to assist the stage in selecting its costume with propriety, for the plays of our great dramatic bard. Such a work was, undoubtedly, a great desideratum; for, whatever information is to be derived from Mr. Gough's writings, in his voluminous publication of the same kind, the delineating part, as Mr. Stothard observes, in an essay found after his death, is so extremely incorrect and full of errors, that, at a future period, when the originals no longer exist, it will be impossible to form any correct idea of what they really were.
"When I first determined upon publishing the work myself," says Mr. Stothard, "I knew I should require a small sum of money exclusively for it to begin with; and, at the time, my purse was on the decline. I might have had what I wanted by applying to my father; but, I know not how it was, — I had a feeling, I could not conquer, of wishing to begin the world without calling upon his assistance. Added to this, I thought my not doing so, as I was the elder, would be a good example to my brothers. I, therefore, applied to a friend, who had plenty of money, and requested him to lend me the sum I wanted. He did so. This was the first time I had ever borrowed money; and I felt uneasy till it was repaid. Accordingly, when I brought out my first number, I laid by every pound note I received, till I found sufficient of them lying together to dis- charge my debt. I then carried the sum to my friend, and. as soon as I saw it deposited in his pocket, I felt I had regained my independence, and resolved never again to become a borrower."
The first number of Mr. Stothard's work was received with the applause it merited, and obtained for him distinguished reputation, both as an artist and an antiquary. His time was now occupied in making various excursions in search of monumental antiquities; and, during the summer of 1815, he proceeded as far northward as the Picts' Wall, in order to make drawings for Lyson's Magna Britannia. In the same year, he was appointed historical draughtsman to the Society of Antiquaries; and, in 1816, he was deputed by that body to commence his elaborate and faithful drawings from the celebrated tapestry preserved at Bayeux, in France. He left England, for that purpose, in September; and, after having visited Paris, proceeded, upon a tour of investigation, to Chinon, and discovered, in the adjacent abbey of Fontevraud [Map], those interesting effigies of the Plantagenet race, the existence of which, after the Revolution, had become matter of doubt. He found the abbey converted into a prison; and, in a cellar belonging to it, were deposited the effigies of Henry the Second, his queen, Eleanor of Guienne, Richard the First, and Isabella of Angouleme, the queen of John. The chapel, in which these figures were placed, previously to the Revolution, had been destroyed; and, since their removal to the cellar, they were exposed to continual injury from the prisoners, who came there, twice a day, to draw water at the well. From these effigies Mr. Stothard made several accurate and beautiful drawings; and succeeded, after much labour and difficulty, in discovering the painting upon their surface. Whilst upon a visit to the abbey of L'Espan, near Mons, which he found converted into a barn, he discovered, under a quantity of wheat, the effigy of Berengaria, queen of Richard the First. At Mons, he also discovered the beautiful enamelled tablet of Geoffrey Plantagenet, which he considered the earliest specimen of what is termed a sepulchral brass, and of armorial bearings, depicted decidedly as such.
Upon his return to England, he presented, through the medium of Sir George Nayler, the drawings which he had made from the discoveries at Fontevraud, to the Prince Regent, who expressed his desire for their publication, and gave his permission for Mr. Stothard to dedicate to him his Monumental Effigies. An application was also made, by Mr. Stothard, to government, suggesting the propriety of their securing, from further destruction, the Fontevraud effigies, and placing them, with those still preserved, in Westminster Abbey. This was not acceded to, but the suggestion had the good effect of causing these interesting remains to be removed from the cellar into a place of security. In 1817, he made a second, and, in 1818, a third journey to Bayeux, in company with his wife, whom he had married in the February of the latter year. Having finished his series of drawings from the tapestry, lie made a tour of investigation through Normandy and Brittany. "The most trivial circumstances," says his wife, "peculiarity of manners, custom, places, and things, he deemed, in a foreign country, fully worthy of his notice; and he constantly averred that he travelled as much to observe mankind as he did to investigate antiquity. Being recommended to an inn, because several of his countrymen were there, "that," he replied, "is the very reason I shall not go to it. I can remark English characters at home, but here I want to know the people." Among other discoveries which Mr. Stothard made, during this tour, were the effigies of the Dukes of Brittany, at Ploermel, of Sir Oliver de Clisson and his lady, at Josselin, and several others, in a very mutilated state, at Vannes.
In 1819, he laid before the Society of Antiquaries the complete series of drawings he had made from the tapestry at Bayeux, together with a paper, in which he proved that the tapestry was really a work coeval with the time of the conquest, assigned to it by tradition; and not, as attempted to be proved by the Abbe de la Rue, a work of the time of Henry the First. The paper was printed in the nineteenth volume of The Archoeologia; and, on the 2nd of July, Mr. Stothard was elected a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries. He, soon after, visited various towns in Norfolk and Suffolk, for the purpose of adding some drawings to his collection of monumental subjects; and, whilst thus engaged, the accidental perusal of a newspaper made him acquainted with the circumstance of the discoveries recently made at the House of Lords, on the walls of the painted chamber. He immediately proceeded to London to copy the paintings on the walls, from which he executed a complete series of drawings. "Enthusiastic and fearless in his pursuit," says his biographer, "he took his stand upon the highest and most dangerous parts of the scaffold; and there, almost stunned by the incessant noise of the workmen, amidst dust, and every possible annoyance, he actually commenced and finished these beautiful productions of his pencil. On one occasion, his life was so imminently in danger that he narrowly escaped the terrible fate which afterwards befel him." In these drawings he displayed his ingenious recovery of the long lost art of raising gold, as embossed on the surface of the material; a mode which contributes so much to the rich splendour of the old illuminated manuscripts; a discovery which he communicated to his wife. Not long before his death, he was occupied in preparing the materials for a paper concerning the age of these curious paintings, to be laid before the Society of Antiquaries; a portion of it will be found in the biographical account of him by Mrs. Stothard. In September, 1820, he made a journey to the Netherlands; and, on his return, published the ninth number of his Monumental Effigies, with splendid vignette illustrations, heraldic and architectural. He prepared the tenth for publication in the beginning of 1821, and also finished a large plate of The Royal Effigies at Fontevraud, to be published separately from his great work. He also began a work on seals, and left behind him about thirty unpublished drawings of the scarcest of our regal and baronial ones; particularly an impression of the Conqueror's, which he ingeniously restored, by uniting the broken fragments, preserved, with the charter to the city of London, in the town clerk's office, Guildhall. Another of his undertakings was a work illustrative of the age of Elizabeth; and his drawing of that queen, from her effigy in Westminster Abbey, is considered one of the finest productions of his pencil. On the 16th of May, he left his home for Devonshire, for the purpose of making some drawings for the Rev. D. Lyson's account of that county. He arrived at Beer Ferrers, on Sunday, the 27th; and, after having attended divine service, requested permission of the vicar, the Rev. Henry Hobart, to draw the stained glass in the east window [Map]. It was granted him; and, on the following morning, he ascended a ladder to commence his work, attended by the curate, Mr. Servante. This gentleman left him at half past two o'clock, at which time Mr. Stothard stood about ten feet from the ground, immediately above the tablets containing the creed and commandments, and was tracing the portrait of Sir William Ferrers. He had been invited to dinner by Mr. Hobart, but not appearing at the appointed hour, that gentleman requested a friend, who was about to pass by Beer, to look in at the church and hasten his guest. "He obeyed the request," says his widow; "and, upon entering the church by the little door, near the altar, beheld my husband, my beloved husband, lying extended, — senseless, — dead, at the base of the monument, from which he had received the fatal blow; — every sign of life gone. He was dead, quite dead, — all human aid vain. The ladder remained resting against the window; the step, on which he had stood, being found broken on the floor. From all circumstances, it is supposed that the step must have suddenly given way; that my husband, in the effort to save himself, probably turned round; and, in falling, terrible to relate! struck against the monument with such force that little doubt can be entertained of his having been killed upon the spot." This melancholy event happened only within a month of the accouchement of his wife, who gave birth to a daughter that died on the 2nd of February, 1822.
A more exemplary character in private life has seldom formed the subject of biography; nor does Mr. Stothard appear less amiable in the accounts given of him by friends and acquaintances than in the interesting memoirs of his life, published by his widow. We have only to peruse these memoirs to be convinced of his moral and religious worth; they afford another proof that humility, modesty, and unostentatiousness, may be joined to the most solid ability. The pursuits which, both as an antiquary and artist, have rendered his name so celebrated, he entered upon and persevered in with equal enthusiasm and industry. Whilst he was employed in etching, he generally had by his side a pencil and several slips of paper, upon which he made notes of anything that occurred to his mind. "At another time," says Mrs. Stothard, "he would place a Latin book upon his table, and study the author whilst actually employed upon some of those very beautiful plates he executed for the tenth number of The Monumental Effigies. It was thus that, during the last six months, he studied the German grammar, and had made a considerable progress in the elementary part of that difficult language, without having exclusively devoted a single day to it." It seems that he entertained strong hopes of being able to decypher the hieroglyphic inscriptions at the British Museum; and, according to his biographer, so far succeeded, that he clearly proved he could make out the words king and Ptolemy wherever they occurred. As an artist, he studied chiefly grace and simplicity, firmness and decision. In regard to colour, he was a great advocate for endeavouring to imitate nature; for which purpose he thought not merely a correct eye necessary, but judgment, feeling, and regularity. It was a saying of his that he drew quick, because he drew slow; meaning that he took time before he made a line, and from that attention, never had occasion to alter it.
Some anecdotes, related by Mrs. Stothard, in her interesting volume, must conclude our memoir. Whilst she was at Paris, with her husband, and spending the day with a public librarian of that city, the latter addressed Mr. Stothard with, "You are a Stothard; are you any relation to a great antiquary of that name, who has executed a most beautiful work on the monuments of his own country?" Not immediately replying, "Sir," said Mrs. Stothard, "you should have asked me that question, for I am his wife." Upon hearing this, the librarian jumped up, and seized him by the hand, exclaiming, "Is it possible that I have spent the day with you and never heard this? Had you been a Frenchman, it is the first thing you would have told me." On another occasion, his conversation induced a French antiquary to say to his wife, whom he mistook for his sister, "I do not know, Miss, who your brother may be; but he must either be Mr. Stothard, or the angel of the antiquaries."