ART AND ARTISTS.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 13651, 21 July 1906, Page 7

ART AND ARTISTS.

REMARKABLE CASES OF PAINTMJ PRECOCITY. -Famous Artists Speak About Their Erst! Academy, Pictures.-*-Whatever fame or fortune an artist's later canvases may bring him, ho must always havo a warm corner in his affection for tho first picture which found a placa on the Academy walls, oven though, as in, the case- of Mr Frith, ho looks back on if over the gulf of a couple of generations. It was as long ago as 18+0, whilo King Edward was still uncradled, that the dovem of British artists exhibited his first Academy picture, the subject being, "Malvolio Croa-jartered Before the Countess Olivia." At tho time, Mr Frith was but 21, and— so long ago is it-Millais was then a little, handsome boy. dressed in a long blue coat, confined at the waist by a black leather belt, sitting in the Antique School among bearded students who looked old enough to bo his fattier.

Frith had every reason to. bo proud of his achievement in finding acceptance at the Academy at 21; but his feat has been eclipsed by many an artist both before and since his time. Sir Edwin Landseer ms a schoolboy of 13 when two drawings of Dover Castle" and "Wanstead House" were-amongst the most admired pictures of the Academy in 1815; and Millais was but four years older when his canvas, "Pizirro Semng the Inca of Peru," was similarly honoured. Mr Walter . Crano beat Millais s record of nrccooity by a year for he had ■ only counted 16 years when his "Lady S"? I .?*.'. fo,md a P laco in tN> Academy Lxhibition of 1862; and although tho picture was relegated to an obscure position near the floor, it caught the eye of a Scottish connoisseur, who made tho young artist supremely happy by offering him sgs for it. Mr Briton Riviere was quito an old' cxhi. Inter before ho left his Cheltenham echooldays behind him. At 11 he had two pictures on the walls of tho British Institute, and the following year ho exchanged m. other painting "Robinson Crusoe," for four £5 notes; while at 17 he had a couple of works—"Sheep on the Cotswold" and "Tired Out"-at the Royal Academy. His next Academy effort, exhibited 12 months ' later, was an enormous canvas, 7ft long— "Cattle Going to Gloucester Fair," 0 £ which tho artist ruefully recalls that "it was sold, but never paid for." Recognition came to Mr Marcus Stone httle less qm'okly than to his friend, Mr Riviere, for he was not yet 18 when his picture, "Rest," not only was Been in tin Academy Exhibition of 1858, but was actually the first to find a purchaser. Thii early canvas, it is interesting to record, has had ono or more successors every year since, without a single break. It was in tho following year, 1859, that tho name of Alma Tadema was first seen in a Royal Academy catalogue opposite a canvas called "The Pyrrhic Dance," which, nearly half a century .later, has an honoured place among the pictures in the Guildhall Museum. Sir Lawrence was then 23; and it was at tb« same age that Mr Frank Dicksee and Mr B. \V. Leader began their brilliant careers as Academy exhibitors. Mr Leader was a first year's student in tho Academy schools when he had 1 the ' rare pleasure of seeing his picture, "Cottage Children Blowing Bubbles," accepted by the Hanging Committee, and, what was probably equally gratifying, sold for £50 to a Mr Currie, a Philadelphian collector. Mr Dicksee's first Academy canvas, "Harmony," was still more honoured, for it was purchased for the nation out of the Chintroy Bequest Funds. . Mr Seymour Lucas became a student oE the Royal Academy in 1871, at tho age of 22, and, a year later, was fortunate enough to have a picture accepted. Mr Abbey, R.A., had been for 11 years a regular exhibitor at the galleries of the Royal Institute of Painters in "Water Colours before he turned his attention-to oils; and he was within two years of 40 when he made his bow, with "A May Day Morning," at Burhngton House. " I exhibited my first picture in the Acaremy, says Mr Dudlej Hardy, "whon I was 19 years of age, and, best of all, I sold it. It was, I remember, a Dutch sandhill with two figures upon it." Mr Orchard* son had won laurels as a painter in Scot* and some years before, at the ago of 28, ■ .SfTi to London antl hewn to exhibit' m Trafalgar square; Sir Edward Povnter was two years younger when he painted hij lirst Academy picture; and Mr Crofts, K.A., was 27 when 'his great picture. "The Retreat, in the Public Gallery at Konigsborg, Prussia attracted considerable attention. Mr Solomon's first Academy picture was exhibited a few months before he reached his majority; and, Mr Alfred Parsons was three years older when the coveted "A" appeared first on ths back of ono of his canvases. CONSTABLE. —Some Recollections by'W. P. Frith. ' R.A.Filius: "Did you ever see Constable?" Pater: "Several times. Ho dined with! us in '35. when I was at Sass's School. Saa s didn't want mo at (lie dinner, but I was a parlour boarder as well as a pupil, and insisted mi it, and dine l.did.'l never opened my month the whole time. Constable didn't say niuah either. He was always making little patterns of his breadcrumbs with his knife I watchod Kim. Films: "That was the dinner Etty was at." Paler: "Charming old man he was. Poor Etty I When I was elected an Associate in '45, I went to call upon him, as the cus- • torn was in ihose days, in Buckingham street, Strand. Ho seemed' very ili, and. hint on the. ta.'>le the whole time. I something about it. and all ho said wis, 'Well. I musn't complain. My lifo has Leon a lonjr summer' 3 holiday.'" . Filius: "Hadn't Constablo great difficulty in selling his pictures?" Paler (with emphasis): "Ho never but once sold a picture for more than £100. After he dined with ua Sass took mo with him to his painting room in Charlotte street, Fitzroy square. _ Ho surrounded with unsold pictures. I heard him talking to Sass about 6ome pioturo of Collins Sir Robert. Peel had just bought from' the artist for £400. It was a 'Frostj Day,' T. think; something about a frost, I know. I beard Constable say '£400 for a picture of Collins's! And look at all theee unsold things of mine.' If ho hadn't had a vWfo with money he must have starved; lie cortainly couldn't have .lived by bis painting." Filius: "I suppose his work never really, came ihlo vogue until after tho Paris Exhibition of 1885. when the French artists discovered him?" Pater (shakes his held): 'It was a lonp lime aftor his death, He died in '37. I know I'd the greatest dimculty.'jsomowhere about '60, in persuading Huth to give £(00 for a picture of hia from », firm in Bond street. And when Huth's collection was sold that same picture fetched 6000gs. The man who bought it has got one of thoso big houses in Palace Gardens. It's there now."—Walter Frith, in the Cornhill.