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 SUNDAY MAGAZINE,

Another sixpenny illustrated monthly more definitely religious in its aim than Good Words, of which it was an offspring, was started in 1865. The illustrations from the first were hardly less interesting than those in the other publications under the direction of Mr. Alexander Strahan. Indeed, it would be unjust not to express very clearly and unmistakably the debt which all lovers of black-and-white art owe to the publisher of these magazines. The conditions of oil-painting demand merely a public ready to buy: whether the artist negotiates directly with the purchaser, or employs an agent, is a matter of convenience. But black-and-white illustration requires a well-circulated, well-printed, well-conducted periodical: not as a middleman whose services can be dispensed with, but as a vital factor in the enterprise. Therefore drawings intended for publication imply a publisher, and one who is not merely a man with pronounced artistic taste, but also a good administrator and a capable man of business. These triple qualifications are found but rarely together, and when they do unite, the influence of such a personality is of the utmost importance. Mr. Strahan, who appears to have combined in no small degree the qualities which go to make a successful publisher, set on foot two popular magazines, which, in spite of their having long passed their first quarter of a century, are still holding their own. A third, full of promise, Good Words for the Young, was cut off in its prime, or rather died of a lingering disease, caused by that terrible microbe the foreign cliché. Others, The Day of Rest and Saturday Journal, also affected by the same ailment, succumbed after more or less effort; but the magazines that relied on the best contemporary illustrators still flourish. The moral, obvious as it is, deserves to be insisted upon. To-day the photograph from life is as popular with many editors as the cliché from German and French originals was in the seventies; but a public which tired of foreign electros may soon grow weary of the inevitable photograph, and so the warning is worth setting down.

J. MAHONEY

'SUNDAY MAGAZINE'
1866, p. 825

SUMMER

J. W. NORTH

'SUNDAY MAGAZINE'
1865, p. 328

WINTER

Like its companion, Good Words, it has known fat years and lean years; volumes that were full of admirable drawings, and volumes that barely maintained a respectable average. From the very first volume of the Sunday Magazine we find among others R. Barnes, A. Boyd Houghton, M. E. Edwards, Paul Gray, J. Lawson, F. W. Lawson, J. W. North, G. J. Pinwell, and Marcus Stone well represented. The standard of excellence implied by these names was preserved for a considerable time. To this Pinwell contributes two drawings, The House of God (p. 144) and Only a Lost Child (p. 592), a typical character-study of town life. Paul Gray has a full page, The Maiden Martyr (p. 272), engraved by Swain; either the drawing is below his level, or it has suffered badly at the hands of the engraver. The Orphan Girl (p. 296), Clara Linzell's Commentary (p. 401), and Dorcas (p. 617), by the same artist, are all interesting, but do not represent him at his best. The single contribution by A. Boyd Houghton, Friar Ives (p. 384), is not particularly good. In Winter, by J. W. North (p. 328), we have a most excellent drawing of a snow-clad farm with a thrashing machine at work in the distance, and two children in the foreground. The delicacy and breadth of the work, and its true tonality deserve appreciation; it was engraved by Swain. Drowned (p. 585), by Marcus Stone, is not very typical. The Watch at the Sepulchre (p. 940), by J. Lawson, is a spirited group of Roman soldiers. Caught in a Thunderstorm, by R. P. Leitch, engraved by W. J. Linton, is interesting to disciples of 'the white line.' Edward Whymper supplies the frontispiece, The Righi. M. E. Edwards, in the drawings to Grandfather's Sunday (pp. 481, 489), appears to be under the influence of G. H. Thomas. Robert Barnes has twenty illustrations to Kate the Grandmother, and one each to Light in Darkness (p. 25) and Our Children. A series of fourteen to Joshua Taylor's Passion, engraved by Dalziel, are unsigned; the style leads one to credit them to F. A. Fraser, who in later volumes occupied a prominent position. F. W. Lawson, in A Romance of Truth (pp. 641, 649) and The Vine and its Branches (p. 904), has not yet found his individual manner. The rest of the pictures by T. Dalziel, F. J. Slinger, R. T. Pritchett, F. Eltze, W. M'Connell, etc., call for no special comment.

In 1866 J. Mahoney's Summer, the frontispiece to the volume, is a notable example of a clever artist, whose work has hardly yet attracted the attention it deserves; Marie (p. 753), a study of an old woman knitting, is no less good. Birket Foster's Autumn (p. 1) is also a very typical example. Paul Gray's Among the Flowers (p. 624), a group of children from the slums in a country lane, is fairly good. W. Small, in Hebe Dunbar 'from a photograph' (p. 441), supplies an object-lesson of translation rather than imitation, which deserves to be studied to-day. In it, a really great draughtsman has given you a personal rendering of facts, like those he would have set down had he worked from life, and thereby imparted individual interest to a copy of a photograph. This one block, if photographers would but study it, should convince them that a good drawing is in every way preferable to a 'half-tone' block from a photograph of the subject; it might also teach a useful lesson to certain draughtsmen, who employ photographs so clumsily that the result is good neither as photography nor as drawing, but partakes of the faults of both. Three designs to the Annals of a Quiet Neighbourhood, by Dr. George Mac Donald, (pp. 641, 713, 785), the first quite in the mood of the hour, a capital piece of work, and A Sunday Afternoon in a London Court, complete Mr. Small's share in this volume. Robert Barnes supplies the other eight drawings to Dr. Mac Donald's story, and another, The Pitman and his Wife (p. 17), an excellent specimen of his 'British Workman' manner. F. J. Shields, a very infrequent contributor to these magazines, has a biblical group, 'Even as thou wilt' (p. 33). Edward Hughes (who must not be confounded with Arthur Hughes, nor with the present member of the Old Water-Colour Society, E. R. Hughes) is responsible for Under a Cottage Roof (p. 192), The Bitter and Sweet (p. 249), The First Tooth (p. 337), and The Poor Seamstress (p. 409); although a somewhat fecund illustrator not devoid of style and invention, his work fails to interest one much to-day. J. Gordon Thomson, so many years the cartoonist of Fun, is represented by On the Rock (p. 544). F. W. Lawson's Hope (p. 120) and A. W. Bayes's Saul and David (p. 703), with a drawing of wild animals drinking, by Wolf, complete the list of original work, the rest being engraved from photographs.

S. L. FILDES

'SUNDAY MAGAZINE,' 1868, p. 656

THE FARMER'S DAUGHTER

A. BOYD HOUGHTON

'SUNDAY MAGAZINE'
1867, p. 817

A LESSON
TO A KING

A. BOYD HOUGHTON

'SUNDAY MAGAZINE'
1867, p. 258

LUTHER THE
SINGER

A. BOYD HOUGHTON

'SUNDAY MAGAZINE'

JOHN BAPTIST

J. MAHONEY

'GOOD WORDS'
1868, p. 672

YESTERDAY
AND TO-DAY

J. W. NORTH

'SUNDAY MAGAZINE'
1867, p. 609

ANITA'S PRAYER

G. J. PINWELL

'SUNDAY MAGAZINE'
1868, p. 704

MADAME DE
KRUDENER

In 1867 A. Boyd Houghton is well to the fore with twelve illustrations to the serial story by Sarah Tytler, The Huguenot Family in the English Village, besides full-page drawings, some in his best manner, to A Proverb Illustrated (p. 33), Heroes (p. 129), Luther the Singer (p. 256), The Martyr (p. 348), The Last of the Family (p. 393), and A Lesson to a King (p. 817). W. Small is only represented twice, with Wind me a Summer Crown (p. 65) and Philip's Mission (p. 752). J. W. North has three admirable drawings, Foundered at Sea (p. 280), Peace (p. 560), Anita's Prayer (p. 609), the first and last of these, both studies of shipwrecks, deserve to be remembered for the truth of movement of the drawing of the waves, and one doubts if any sea-pieces up to the date of their appearance had approached them for fact and beauty combined. Both are engraved by Dalziels in an admirably intelligent fashion. F. W. Lawson's The Chained Book (p. 104) and The Revocation of the Edict of Nantes (p. 496), and In the Times of the Lollards (p. 529), all deal with acrimonious memories of the past. After the scenes of cruelty, persecution, and martyrdom which unfortunately are too often the chief dishes in the menu of a religious periodical, it is a relief to turn to the Cottar's Farewell (p. 417), by J. D. Watson, or to the 'Norths' before quoted. This most straightforward and accomplished study of a dying peasant and his family shows the dignified and simple treatment which the artist at his happiest moments employed with complete mastery.

In 1868 A. Boyd Houghton is again the most frequent contributor of full-page designs; a bare list must suffice. Sunday at Hippo (p. 57), Three Feasts of Israel (p. 67), Paul's Judge (p. 88), Sunday Songs, Sweden (p. 112), The Charcoal Burners (p. 118), a drawing which looks like an intentional 'exercise in the manner of Gustave Doré,' who, despite his enormous popularity in England, seems to have had singularly little influence on English artists, so that this stands out as a unique exception. Houghton has also The Feast of the Passover (p. 185), The Poor Man's Shuttle (p. 273), Feast of Pentecost (p. 296), Samuel the Ruler (p. 357), George Herbert's Last Sunday (p. 424), Baden-Baden (p. 520), The Good Samaritan (p. 552), Church of the Basilicas (p. 561), Joseph's Coat (p. 616), St. Paul Preaching (p. 681), and The Parable of the Sower (p. 777). G. J. Pinwell is seen in three examples, A Westphalian Parsonage (p. 192), Madame de Krudener (pp. 704, 785); S. L. Fildes is here for the first time with The Farmer's Daughter (p. 656); J. Pettie has a small drawing, My Sister (p. 176); J. Wolf, a clever 'lamb' study (p. 529); and W. Small a most typical, almost mannered, Sunday Morning (p. 182). J. Mahoney supplies twenty-eight illustrations to The Occupations of a Retired Life, by Edward Garrett, besides separate plates, Sunday Songs from Denmark (p. 16), Love Days (p. 137), and Just Suppose (p. 649). J. Gordon Thomson contributes eighteen drawings for Dr. George Macdonald's The Seaboard Parish, and others of no particular interest are attributed to Shield, F. A. Fraser, C. Morgan, Miles, Lamont, and Pasquier. Here, as in many other volumes, are vignettes and tail-pieces by T. Dalziel, some of them most admirably drawn and all charmingly expressed in the engraving.

In 1869 A. Boyd Houghton still maintains his position. This year his drawings are Wisdom of Solomon (p. 16), The Jews in the Ghetto (p. 44), Martha and Mary (p. 65), Rehoboam (p. 85), Jewish Patriotism (p. 125), Sunday in the Bush (p. 161), Miss Bertha (pp. 384, 513), Babylonian Captivity (p. 633), John Baptist (p. 641), and Samson (p. 760). G. J. Pinwell illustrates Edward Garrett's The Crust and the Cake with thirty-four cuts. In one of these (p. 529), as in two other designs by the same artist, you find that in drawing the lines of a harpsichord, or grand piano, he has forgotten that the reversal required by engraving would represent the instrument with its curve on the bass, instead of the treble side—a sheer impossibility, which any pianist cannot help noticing at a glance. His one other contribution this year is The Gang Children (p. 25). Represented by a solitary example in each case are J. M'Whirter, Sunday Songs (p. 12); J. Pettie, Philip Clayton's First-born (p. 69); Edward Hughes, Mother Mahoney (p. 196); Towneley Green, Village Doctor's Wife (p. 505); Robert Barnes, A Missionary in the East (p. 57); and Arthur Hughes, Blessings in Disguise (p. 156). J. Mahoney has The Centurion's Faith (p. 60), Building of the Minster (p. 352), Hoppety Bob (p. 417), Roger Rolf (p. 608), and Christmas Eighteenth Century (p. 252). Francis Walker, with his Sunday Songs (p. 93), Bird Fair, Shoreditch (p. 409), Feast of Tabernacles (p. 600), Widow Mullins (p. 673), and A Little Heroine (p. 736); H. French, with 'It is more blessed' (p. 229), and A Narrative Sermon (p. 632); and F. A. Fraser with Jesuit Missions (p. 101), Wesley (p. 152), The Year (p. 217), A Queer Charity (p. 576), and A Schwingfest (p. 665); the three latter belong by rights to the men of the seventies rather than to the group with which this volume is concerned.

A. BOYD HOUGHTON

'SUNDAY MAGAZINE'
1868, p. 777

THE PARABLE
OF THE SOWER

ARTHUR HUGHES

'SUNDAY MAGAZINE'
1871 p. 10

MY HEART

ARTHUR HUGHES

'SUNDAY MAGAZINE'
1869, p. 156

BLESSINGS IN
DISGUISE

J. LEIGHTON

'SUNDAY MAGAZINE'
1871, p. 408

A PARABLE

In 1870 A. Boyd Houghton, one of the heroes of the sixties, reappears with five contributions, one, quite out of his ordinary manner, being a design for a group of statues, St. Paul's Companions (p. 33); the others are My Mother's Knee (p. 16), Sunday at Aix-les-bains (p. 88), Achsah's Wedding Gifts (p. 104), and Sister Edith's Probation (p. 600). J. Mahoney signs but two: A Sun-dial in a Churchyard (p. 704) and Passover Observances (p. 736). F. A. Fraser and Towneley Green supply the illustrations to the serials. W. J. Wiegand contributes decorative head-pieces, and Hubert Herkomer has two drawings, Diana's Portrait and Diana Coverdale's Diary.

In 1871 Houghton has but two: A Woman that was a Sinner (p. 104) and The Withered Flower (p. 512). Arthur Hughes, in three delightful designs, My Heart (p. 10), The First Sunrise (p. 302), and Tares and Wheat (p. 353); J. Mahoney with Diet of Augsburg (p. 417) and Our Milkmen (p. 217); and W. Small with The Sea-Side Well (p. 249), One of Many (p. 446), and fourteen illustrations to The Story of the Mine, are about the only remnants of the old army. John Leighton, a frequent contributor of decorative borders and head-pieces, has a typical full-page, A Parable (p. 408). The 'seventies' are represented by R. Macbeth's Tom Joiner's Good Angel (p. 313); and C. Green (who, like Small, belongs to both periods) with his designs to The Great Journey (p. 119) and Mills of Clough (pp. 560, 728).