English Illustration 'The Sixties': 1855-70 / With Numerous Illustrations by Ford Madox Brown: A. Boyd Houghton: Arthur Hughes: Charles Keene: M. J. Lawless: Lord Leighton, P.R.A.: Sir J. E. Millais, P.R.A.: G. Du Maurier: J. W. North, R.A.: G. J. Pinwell: Dante Gabriel Rossetti: W. Small: Frederick Sandys: J. Mcneill Whistler: Frederick Walker, A.R.A.: and Others

by Gleeson White

THE ARGOSY

This monthly periodical, as we know it of late years, suggests a magazine devoted to fiction and light literature, with a frontispiece by some well-known artist, and small engravings in the text mostly from photographs, or belonging to the diagram and the record rather than to fine art. I am not speaking of the present shilling series, but of the long array of volumes from 1868 until a few years ago. Nor does this opinion belittle the admirable illustrations by Walter Crane, M. Ellen Edwards, and other artists who supplied its monthly frontispiece. But the first four half-yearly volumes were planned on quite different lines, and these deserve the attention of all interested in the subject of this book, to a degree hardly below that of the better-known magazines; better known, that is to say, as storehouses of fine illustrations. As these volumes seem to be somewhat scarce, a brief résumé of their contents will not be out of place. In the year 1866 we have William Small at his best in twelve illustrations to Charles Reade's dramatic novel, Griffith Gaunt. Whether because the ink has sunk into the paper and given a rich tone to the prints, or because of their intrinsic merit, it is not quite easy to say, but the fact remains that these drawings have peculiar richness, and deserve to be placed among the best works of a great artist not yet fully recognised. One design by F. Sandys to Christina Rossetti's poem, If, is especially noticeable, the model biting a strand of hair embodies the same idea as that of Proud Maisie, one of the best-known works of this master. A. Boyd Houghton has a typical Eastern figure-subject, The Vision of Sheik Hamil; Edward Hughes one, Hermione; Paul Gray, a singularly good drawing to a poem The Lead-Melting, by Robert Buchanan. Another to a poem by George Macdonald, The Sighing of the Shell, is unsigned, whether by Morten or Paul Gray I cannot say, but it is worthy of either artist; J. Lawson has one to The Earl of Quarterdeck, M. Ellen Edwards one to Cuckoo and one to Cape Ushant, a ballad by William Allingham; a group, with Napoleon as the central figure, is by G. J. Pinwell, and J. Mahoney contributes three: Autumn Tourists, Bell from the North, a girl singing by a Trafalgar Square fountain, and The Love of Years. The next year, 1867, is illustrated more sparsely. Robert Falconer, by George Macdonald, has one unsigned drawing, and nine by William Small; these, with A Knight-Errant by Boyd Houghton, make up the eleven it contains. In the next year Walter Crane illustrates the serial, Anne Hereford, by Mrs. Henry Wood, and also a poem, Margaret, by his sister.

A. BOYD HOUGHTON

'THE ARGOSY'
1866, VOL. I. p. 500

THE VISION OF
SHEIK HAMIL

G. J. PINWELL

'THE QUIVER'
1867

THE SAILOR'S VALENTINE