DEATH OF AN R. A.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1116, 2 May 1911, Page 5

DEATH OF AN R. A.

ME. ERNEST CROFTS AND HIS BATTLE PICTURES. - The death of Mr. Ernest Crofts, R.A., keeper x>f the Royal Academy. occurred on Sunday, March 19, from heart failure. ' Trained for his art in London and at "Dusseldorf by a pupil of Ilornce Vcrnet, jMr. Crofts, who was bom at Leeds in made his first appearance at Iho J?qVial Academy in 1871 with a painting entitled "A Retreat," an episode of the FranW-Gerraan War. From that time ho dcvotecl his main energy to the art of oatHe-p'tfjnting, and p-'.ncipally to the Napoleonic and the Eiv h wars. He was Elected to . the Assosiatcship in 187S and became a f'lill Royal Academician in IMG, his diploma picturo being "To_ the Rescue," an episode of the Civil AVars. ■ An ndmirab/e draughtsman, with a Bound knowledge of human and equine nnatoiny, and always reliable as regards his archaeological facts, Mr. Crofts was a vivid illustrator rather than a "painter" in the true sense of the word. In the ambulatory of the Royal Exchange is his largo fresco of "Queen Elizabeth opening the first Royal Exchange," which is a good representation of a historical incident, without the qualities for which one would look in a decorative v/ork of art and especially in a wallpainting. .