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 BRITISH WORKMAN

It would be unjust to ignore a very popular penny magazine because of its purely philanthropic purpose. For from the first it recognised the importance of good illustrations as its great attraction, and enlisted some of the best draughtsmen to fulfil its didactic aim. We cannot help admiring its pluck, and congratulating the cause it championed (and still supports), and its fortune in securing coadjutors. The first number, issued in February 1855, has a design, the Loaf Lecture, by George Cruikshank on its first page; for some time H. Anelay and L. Huard were the most frequent contributors; then came John Gilbert and Harrison Weir, the earliest important Gilbert being The Last Moments of Thomas Paine (January 1862). As a sample of white-line engraving, a block after a medallion of the Prince Consort, by L. C. Wyon, and another of H.M. The Queen, would be hard to beat. Among these more frequent contributors, we find drawings by J. D. Watson, My account with Her Majesty (August 1864) and Parley and Flatterwell (December 1865) being the most notable; and others by A. W. Cooper, and lastly many by R. Barnes, whose studies of humble life yet await the full appreciation they deserve. These large and vigorous engravings maintain a singularly high level of excellence, and, if not impeccable, are yet distinctly of art, and far above the ephemeral padding of more pretentious magazines.