We may here fittingly mention a contemporary of Gainsborough, Hugh Robinson (about 1760—1790), who only gained a tardy though well-merited right to rank among England's portrait painters by the exhibition at the "Old Masters," in 1881, of his Portrait of Thomas Teesdale, which was followed in the next exhibition by the Piping Boy. The remainder of the works of this talented young Yorkshireman—who exhibited but three pictures at the Royal Academy (in 1780 and 1782), and who died on his way home from Italy, whither he had gone to study art—are chiefly family portraits. The two mentioned above best display his happy blending of landscape and portraiture, and, though somewhat recalling the manner of Gainsborough, are full of natural talent.
CHAPTER V.
THE PROGRESS OF ENGLISH ART IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.
IT will here be convenient to notice briefly some foreign painters who worked in England in the middle of the eighteenth century.
GIOVANNI BATTISTA CIPRIANI, R.A. (1727—1785), a Florentine, came to London in 1755 and remained here, gaining a great reputation as an historic painter at a time when foreign artists were specially popular. He was one of the original members of the Royal Academy, and designed the diploma of that body. To Cipriani the English school owes some refinement tempering the rough originality of Hogarth, but his art, "the worn-out and effete art of modern Italy," left few permanent traces on that of England.
ANGELICA KAUFFMAN, R.A. (1740—1807), a native of Schwartzenberg, in Austria, came to London in 1765, and, aided by fashion and the patronage of Queen Charlotte, became prominent in the art world. Her romantic and sad fortunes added to her popularity. "Her works were gay and pleasing in colour, yet weak and faulty in drawing, her male figures particularly wanting in bone and individuality." (Redgrave.) Her pictures were often engraved in her own days, but they are now thought little of. A specimen of Angelica Kauffman's work may be seen in the ceiling of the Council Chamber of the Royal Academy, of which she was a member; another is in the National Gallery.
JOHANN ZOFFANY, R.A. (1733—1810), was born at Frankfort, and on his first arrival in England met with little success. He was, however, one of the original Royal Academicians, and was patronised by George III., whose portrait he painted, together with those of many members of the Royal family. As a portrait painter Zoffany was truthful, natural, and unaffected, and his influence for good was not lost on the art of his adopted country. In 1783 he went to India, where he remained fifteen years, painting pictures of incident, of which The Indian Tiger Hunt is an example; works produced after his return to England are less interesting than these.
FRANCESCO ZUCCARELLI, R.A. (1702—1788), born in Tuscany, has already been mentioned as advising Wilson to cultivate landscape-painting. After becoming famous abroad, he came to London in 1752, and secured a fortune, whilst Wilson, his superior, was too poor to buy a canvas to paint on. Zuccarelli's landscapes and rural villages are of the stage rather than nature. He was the last of that artificial school of painters who tried to paint a beautiful world without looking out of doors.
PHILIPPE JAMES DE LOUTHERBOURG, R.A. (1740—1812), a native of Strasburg, studied in Paris, under Casanova, the battle-painter. He acquired fame by delineating landscapes, battles, and marine subjects, and was already a member of the French Academy when he came to England in 1771. For a time De Loutherbourg was employed as a scene-painter at Drury Lane, receiving a salary of £500 a year from Garrick. His scenery was extremely meritorious, effective, and popular, but he too frequently obtruded scenic characteristics into his other pictures. He was elected an Associate of the Royal Academy in 1780, and a full member in the following year. Becoming somewhat deranged in his latter days, he assumed the gift of prophecy, and pretended to cure diseases. He was buried at Chiswick, near Hogarth. De Loutherbourg was a clever draughtsman, but neglected nature. Peter Pindar laughed at his "brass skies, and golden hills," and his "marble bullocks in glass pastures grazing." Nevertheless Turner owned great obligations to him, and he succeeded in varying the aims of landscape painters, and gave what may be called animation and dramatic expression to their art. His best-known works are, Lord Howe's Victory on the 1st of June, The Fire of London, The Siege of Valenciennes, A Lake Scene in Cumberland (National Gallery), Warley Common (Windsor Castle). The Eidophusicon was a moving diorama in Spring Gardens, painted by De Loutherbourg, which "all the world went to see."
HENRY FUSELI, or more correctly, Fuessli (1741—1825), born at Zürich, exercised very considerable influence on English art by his pictures and lectures. He was a scholar as well as a painter, and had been educated for the church. On first coming to England Fuseli turned his attention to literature, but was advised by Sir Joshua Reynolds, who had seen his sketches, to cultivate art. When nearly thirty years old he went to Italy, where, like Reynolds, his chief devotions were paid to the shrine of Michelangelo. Returning to England after eight years' absence, Fuseli made his first decided mark by The Nightmare, painted three years after his return. It is said that fully to realise the horrors of this subject the enthusiastic Swiss supped on raw pork! In 1786, Alderman Boydell, a successful engraver and art publisher, proposed a Shakespeare Gallery, with the view of proving that England contained really good painters of history. Fuseli executed nine out of the eighty-six examples in this gallery. His studies of the works of Michelangelo fitted him for the just treatment of the subjects, including Hamlet and the Ghost, and Lear and Cordelia. It has been objected that his men are all of one race, whether in reality classic, mediæval, or Scandinavian, and that Shakespeare's women are, in his pictures, all alike, too masculine and coarse. Shakespeare is thoroughly English in taste and character, and his men and women, even if represented in Verona, or Prospero's Isle, are still English in heart. Fuseli was scarcely able to enter into this characteristic of our greatest poet. He was more at home with the majestic creations of Milton, to which he next turned his thoughts. He projected a Milton Gallery of forty-seven large pictures, which, however, was not a financial success, therefore in 1780 Fuseli complained that the public would feed him with honour, but leave him to starve. He became a Royal Academician, and Professor of Painting, a post which he held till his death.