FRANK STONE, A.R.A.
From a Photograph
Lent by Mrs. Kate Perugini.
CLARKSON STANFIELD, R.A.
Apprenticed to a Heraldic Painter—Goes to Sea—Meets Douglas Jerrold—Scene-painting—Exhibits at the Royal Academy—Becomes Acquainted with Dickens—A Memorable Trip to Cornwall—The Logan Stone—Illustrations for "The Chimes"—A Labour of Love—A Present and a Letter from Dickens—Illustration for "The Cricket on the Hearth"—A Quaint Epistle, signed "Henry Bluff"—Illustrations for "The Battle of Life"—Dickens's Opinion of Stanfield's Designs—Illustration for "The Haunted Man"—Another Gift from Dickens to the Artist—A Drawing of the "Britannia" Steam-ship—Private Theatricals—A Remarkable Act-Drop—Declining Health—Death of the Artist—Dickens's Eulogium—"The Most Lovable of Men."
First a sailor, then an artist and a Royal Academician, William Clarkson Stanfield acquired the reputation of being the greatest marine-painter of his time. Born in 1793, he was brought up to the sea, and at sea (curiously enough) was thrown into the companionship of Douglas Jerrold, who, like himself, was ordained to make his mark in a very different profession.
When about twelve years old Clarkson Stanfield was apprenticed to a heraldic painter in Edinburgh, but an intense longing for the career of a sailor resulted in his entering the merchant service in 1808. Four years later he was pressed into the Royal Navy, and while on board the King's ship Namur in 1814 (where he first met Jerrold, then a midshipman), his talent for drawing was discovered, whereupon he was sent ashore at Sheerness to assist in the painting and decoration of the Admiral's ball-room, his work giving so much satisfaction that he was promised his discharge from the Navy—a promise, however, that was not fulfilled. After another interval of three or four years he finally left the sea, having been temporarily disabled by a fall, and procured an engagement as scene-painter at the East London Theatre, for he had already essayed this branch of Art on board ship. So eminently satisfactory were his pictorial achievements in East London that he obtained a similar position at the Edinburgh Theatre, and thence, in 1822, in conjunction with his friends David Roberts and Nasmyth, he was employed in a like capacity at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. From that time his success in Art was assured.
Stanfield had already exhibited in the Royal Academy, and year by year his work in this and other Institutions continued to excite interest and admiration, by reason of the simple truthfulness of all his representations. Usually, but not invariably, he preferred to depict scenes in which his nautical experience could be made available, and his natural gifts permitted him to combine with the genuine sailor-like feeling displayed in the treatment of his subjects a poetical sentiment which considerably enhanced the charm of his productions. In 1832 Stanfield was elected an Associate of the Royal Academy, and three years later he attained full honours. It will thus be seen that he had gained a very dignified position in the world of Art before even the name of Charles Dickens became known to the reading public,—as a matter of fact, the future novelist was at that date writing the earliest of those wonderful sketches which appeared under the nom de guerre of "Boz."