As regards its engraving, this was done by Swain for Once a Week, when the drawing was sent in. That it was first published in The Hobby Horse as an illustration to an article by the late J. M. Gray is another matter altogether. As regards the date of its design, 1860 is almost certainly some years too early. Indeed, I had it from Sandys himself that the probable date of the first sketch of the subject was as late as 1865, and that it was not till after he had traced it on a panel[26] (the figure some two feet high) for a never-completed oil-painting, and later had made a chalk-drawing of it for a Yorkshire gentleman, that he decided to make a drawing on the wood at all. This being done, its beauty prompted two poems by two of his personal friends, the one {145} given above by Mr. Ward, the other, so far as I can gather never published, by Colonel Alfred Richards. Now, the fact that Mr. Ward’s poem did not appear in Once a Week till 1867 lends such overwhelming weight to Mr. Sandys’s recollection of the matter that we may, I think, unhesitatingly reject the date of 1860 given by the author of the Artist monograph and adopt a date at least five years later. Further evidence, too, is to be found in the fact that Mr. Sandys continued to draw on the wood certainly as late as 1866, and his recollection is clear as to “Danaë” being his last essay in that medium.
I have been thus particular to correct this matter because it will, I believe, prove of importance, when Sandys’s artistic career comes finally to be described, to get his different productions into chronological order for a proper understanding of his artistic development.
So far, then, we have arrived, at any rate approximately, at the date when Sandys did what proved to be not only his one “suppressed” drawing, but, as I have said, the very last drawing done by him on the wood. {146}
Let us now consider the circumstances under which it was produced for, but in the event suppressed by, the editor of Once a Week. And that this periodical is the poorer for its loss will be obvious to all who love beautiful drawing, “splendid paganism,” and fine wood-engraving.
Sandys began to draw for Once a Week in 1861, his initial effort being that splendid design, “Yet once more on the Organ play,” which is fit to rank with Rethel’s “Der Tod als Freund,” with which there is a certain similarity of sentiment. This was followed by eleven drawings within the five succeeding years, all breathing the spirit of Dürer, and carrying on the effort which Rethel, who had only died in 1859, had made to renew the life put into wood-engraving by the old German master. In either 1865 or 1866 Sandys projected an oil picture on the subject of “Danaë in the Brazen Chamber.” He had conceived a new version of the Danaë legend. Instead of Jove appearing to the imprisoned maiden in the form of a golden shower, he adopted the belief in Jove as the God of Dreams and adapted it to the legend.[27] Danaë, {147} who has never seen a man, is haunted by the appearance of Jove as he has presented himself in her sleeping hours. To comfort herself and satisfy her passionate longing she has spent her days in weaving the image so vouchsafed to her in tapestry. For the moment her work is discarded. The ball of wool with which she has been working lies at her feet, and she stands, “with white arm fixed in air,” calling upon the “Lord of Dreams” to come to her in very sooth.
[26] This is now, I believe, in the possession of Mr. Ashby-Sterry.
[27] καὶ γὰρ τ’ ὄναρ ἐκ Διός ἐστιν.—Homer, Iliad i. 63.
Frankly sensuous as is the picture, one cannot but admit that the theme is treated with all necessary restraint. This, however, does not appear to have been the opinion of Walford, the then editor of Once a Week. He wrote to Sandys requiring a modification of the design. This the artist flatly refused. The design must appear as it was or not at all. In this refusal he was gallantly supported by the proprietors of the periodical, Messrs. Bradbury and Evans. The editor, however, would not give way, and the result was a deadlock. The block was actually engraved by Mr. Swain, and in his best manner, but the editor’s will was paramount, and it never {148} adorned the pages for which it was intended. It was reserved to the Century Guild Hobby Horse, in 1888, to rescue it from the oblivion into which it had passed.
I am indebted to Messrs. Bradbury and Agnew for permission to reproduce the design. Of it Mr. J. M. Gray says in his article on “Frederick Sandys and the Woodcut Designers of Thirty Years Ago”:—“It ranks among the very finest of Sandys’s woodcuts,” and the artist, who had not been uniformly satisfied with the engraved versions of his work, himself wrote to me: “It was engraved for Once a Week. Perfectly cut by Swain. From my point of view the best piece of woodcutting of our time.”
And all who love this beautiful but fast disappearing handmaiden of the arts will heartily endorse Mr. Sandys’s opinion.