ART AND ARTISTS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2516, 4 June 1902, Page 71

ART AND ARTISTS.

MR VAL PRTNSEP. R.A —SOME AXEC

DOTES OF HIS LH-'E

Whatever position on the roll of great painters posterity may assign to Mr Val Eriusep. the Rova! Academician, from at least om point of vie-w — the purely plijsical — he is unquestionably the '"greatest" of living artists.

Plo l ure an abnormally tall man. towering 3in at least over 6ft, with a stalwart and almost burlj' fujure in proportion to his height, a grey-bearded face — which might almost be he-wn out of granite, so strong are its lines, and vet a face capable of infinite softness and illumination as varying- moods dictate — a magnificent type of the feUirriy. musc-ulai Englishman, with ,1 heart as big in its way 1- his frame, and you have an inadequate picture of one of the most interesting of our Enqh-li artists

The Royal AcatleniK lun -vra.s born in Calcutta (A yeai- ago, tho otm -t»f a liatiiujuislied Indian offioiiil. anrl his bovliood wa- 'pent in a delielrtful. old-fashioned manor house, which, although it was in thr heart of Westfind XiOiliOfiU. SM ffy,H-onnri»d by iojg ggreg

of gardens. Here as a boy the embryo artist, whom his parents had designed for an Indian career, was petted by Thackeray and Tennyson, played ball with Tom Taylor, and was patronised by Browning and Watts, Rossetti and Holman Hunt, from whom he first caught the fever of art which runs so riotously in the blood of youth. Mr Watts was his artistic foster-father, but it was Rossetti who later became his chief friend, and who first tempted him to

try his 'prentice hand on an important

painting. A band of enthusiastic young artists — among them Rossetti, Burne-Jones, William Morris, and Prinsep — undertook the decoration of the Union .Hall at Oxford, and a merry time they had among the nnder-graduates, who were not a whit more full of youthful spirits and mischief than the wielder"! of the brush. Mr Prinsep tells many an atnusing story of those riotous young days, when he was painting "Sir Pelleas and the Lady of the

Lake," an enormous picture nearly six yards long; and not the least characteristic cf 1 them is the story of how, when they were ; invited to dine with the dons of Christ Church, Morris shocked the grave and reverend seigneurs by appearing with one side of his face liberally besmeared w ith.

paint, while Rossetti, when he- removed his overcoat, disclosed an evening vest and trousers surmounted by a disreputable plumeoknired painting Jacket. "-Of these four merry, daughter-loving young artists, Mr Prinsep alone survives to toll the tale of the jinks they had at Oxford.

From this time until his 'death Eossetti

and Mr Prinsep were more likte brothers than friends ; but Mr Prinsep's large heart had room for another Damon, and him he found in the late Lord Leighton, with wiiom he spent some part of almost eveiy day for more than 30 years.

Mr Prinsep has more than once beon treated as a Prince while travelling on tho Continent on the strength of his uncommon patronymic.

Perhaps the most memorable ypar in our

artist's crowded -and interesting life «raa the year he spent in India, -*h-e country of his

birth, making sketches for his magnificent picture, "The Imperial Assemblage at Delhi." the present of the Indian Rajahs to their JDmpress, and wirioh as one of the

chief art ornaments of Buckingham Palace. Although he received for this painting, which was of the enormous proportions of 27ft by 13ft, and the' frame of which alone cost £300 and weighed over two tons, he was but poorly paid for the three years of coaseless hard work which he put into it.

Still he had a delightful year in India, tra\elling from one_native Court to another lo sketch the Princes in all their barbaric splendour; and he tolls many an entertaining story of his experiences and adventures. He had some which might have bi ought disaster to a less diplomatic man.

When, for instance, he was sketching a maharajah of a particularly bad reputation for an unbridled temper, the Prjiiice became furious at having to pose to him so long. Tho artist, however, was quite a matah for ihe despot, and not only appeased but plea c ed him vastly by this delicate compliment : "If dt Jias taken the Almighty 25 years to make your Highness as beautiful as you are, Jioir can an artist hope to do justice to you in as many -minutes?"

A«dther &fcory of 'fche artist's >tact and knowledge of humanity may be told here. A oertain lady who was sitting to him for his picture, "A Versailles," would not or could not assume the fierce look suitable to the character. By a little skilful manoeuvring the artist turned the conversation tr> the lady's daughter-in-law, and at the very mention of her name her eyes flashed and ' -her face assumed uch an expression of fierceness tkat the -artibt was delighted with tho success of his ruse.

Mr tPrinsep had some disconcerting recejitions during his art-progress tlirough India. One -ultra-loyal rajah greeted his approach with tho strains of ''Hod save the ■Queen," evolved from a superannuated barrel-organ ; another Pcmce, not to be outdone in loyaHy, welcomed him "with the patriotic .strains of iiagpipes blown by kilted native musicians; and a tliird dusky chief, .after condeßcarding to -shake hands with the artist, immediately proceeded to "wash his own to remove the contamination.

Of Mr Prinsep's pictures it is scarcely necessary to say much. The work -of few ■artists is so widely known and admired, and it can he trusted to speak for itself in no ambiguous way. There appears to be no limit to the ranqp of Mr Prinsep's art, a>? is proved by the skill with which lie has treated .such widely diverse subjects as "The Broken Idol," which depicts an impressive scene in an ancient Roman palace, and thft modern glow and Oriental sj> leiiclo u i- of bis paintmcr^of ihe. gathering of native Piinces at Delhi; while 'lip has "been equally happy in reproducing the p'i'theiic death of "Siward the Strong" and the rustio grasps of Cornishwomcn 111 the "Linen Gatherers."

Few artists live, so entirely in. and for their art as the subject of this sketch ; and this is the more remarkable, as he is a man of such wealth that the income he draw^ from his brus-h, great as it in, is an entirely negligible quaiiticy to a man who t»P|oy> the 1 evenues of haif a dozen Cabinet Mir.i»tor°. But for him r. f>altli and the luxuries it bungs, a- e\ lfleiifed by his palatial house m Holland Park, h,i\o few attraction. He lo\ ps rather the hard, »treuiiou-> life of a woiki r.

Some of hi, L.tppiest day, in fac-l, are ■■pent oi> i!.c coH-4, where, clad in uii-.-lv'.n-5 and a .-ou'-w (Micr, ho re \ els in spending his nights in a fi-limpc boat on the open f-:>a : and the rougher the n.ght the mere perfectly ho is in hia element Tho fishermen love him, for there is not a grain of "birie" in this man of genius and wealth, and he is quite happy in forgetting both and making himself one with 'his comrade? m the darkness and dangers of their calling.

Mi I'rin«pp has always been a lo\er of exercise and athletic 5 . A-s a young man ho was a doughty -<nd hard-hitting opponent with the gloves, and revelled in the guing and taking of slpclgp-liammer blows. He was al*t one of the keenest of volunteers in the early days of the "'Amateur Army." and shouklerprl his rifle in ihe patriotic company ot Millais and Poyntei and other follow artists who«e names have since become as '"household words" ; and he only left the arena of mimic war when he had reac-hod the rank of major. Ho is a siiortsman. too, and can handle a gun with the best of them ; and was not hi? prowpss a^ a -marksman proved when he pent a bullet thronph the pig which posed as model for his picture of the "Gadarene Swine." although it wn= only by a miracle that tlio bullet whu-li niter doincr it* work, ivpnt fhhin: ecios=; Holland P;rrk, did not brin:; clown a two-leste^d ■* ictim. as a second tribale xo die dcuUiness gj his Espxeas riiU. " •