Reflections.--Offer of Knighthood.--Mr. Wyatt chosen President of the Academy.--Restoration of Mr. West to the Chair.--Proceedings respecting the Pictures for Windsor Castle.--Mr. West's Letter to the King.--Orders to proceed with the Pictures.--The King's Illness.--Mr. West's Allowance cut off,--and the Pictures countermanded.--Death of Mrs. West.--Death of the Artist.
Hitherto it has been my pleasant task to record the series of prosperous incidents by which Mr. West was raised to the highest honours of his profession; and had he survived the publication of this volume, I should have closed the narrative with the last chapter. But his death, which took place after the proof was sent to me for his inspection, has removed an obligation which I had promised to respect during his life, while it was understood between us that the circumstances to which it related were to be carefully preserved for a posthumous publication. The topics are painful, and calculated to afford a far different view of human nature from that which I have ever desired to contemplate: I do not allude to those things, connected with political matters, in which Mr. West was only by accident a witness, but of transactions which personally affected himself.
During the time that he was engaged in the series of great pictures for Windsor Castle, he enjoyed, as I have already mentioned, an easy and confidential intercourse with the King, and I ought, perhaps, to have stated earlier, that when he was chosen President of the Royal Academy, the late Duke of Gloucester called on him, and mentioned that His Majesty was desirous to know if the honour of knighthood would be acceptable. Mr. West immediately replied, that no man had a greater respect for political honours and distinctions than himself, but that he really thought he had already earned by his pencil more eminence than could be conferred on him by that rank. "The chief value," said he, "of titles are, that they serve to preserve in families a respect for those principles by which such distinctions were originally obtained. But simple knighthood, to a man who is at least already as well known as he could ever hope to be from that honour, is not a legitimate object of ambition. To myself, then, Your Royal Highness must perceive the title could add no dignity, and as it would perish with myself, it could add none to my family. But were I possessed of a fortune, independent of my profession, sufficient to enable my posterity to maintain the rank, I think that with my hereditary descent, and the station I occupy among artists, a more permanent title than that of knighthood might become a desirable object. As it is, however, that cannot be, and I have been thus explicit with Your Royal Highness that no misconception may exist on the subject." The Duke was not only pleased with the answer, but took Mr. West cordially by both the hands, and said, "You have justified the opinion which the King has of you, and His Majesty will be delighted with your answer;" and when Mr. West next saw the King his reception was unusually warm and friendly.
But notwithstanding all these enviable circumstances, Mr. West was doomed to share some of the consequences which naturally attach to all persons in immediate connection with the great. After his return from Paris, it was alleged, that the honourable reception which he allowed himself to receive from the French statesmen had offended the King. The result of this was the temporary elevation of the late Mr. Wyatt to the President's chair, merely, as I think, because that gentleman was then the royal architect; for it would be difficult to point out the merits which, as an artist, entitled him to that honour. But the election, so far from giving satisfaction in the quarter where it was expected to be the most acceptable, only excited displeasure; and Mr. West was, in due time, restored to his proper seat in the Academy.
This, as a public affair, attracted a good deal of notice at the time; but it was, in its effects, of far less consequence to Mr. West than a private occurrence, originating in circumstances that tend to throw a light on some of the proceedings that were deemed expedient to be adopted during the occasional eclipses of the King's understanding.
For upwards of twenty years Mr. West had received all his orders from the King in person: the prices of the pictures which he painted were adjusted with His Majesty; and the whole embellishment of Windsor Castle, in what related to the scriptural and historical pictures, was concerted between them, without the interference of any third party. But, in the summer of 1801, when the Court was at Weymouth, Mr. Wyatt called on Mr. West, and said, that he was requested by authority to inform him, that the pictures painting for His Majesty's chapel at Windsor should be suspended till further orders.
Mr. West was much surprised at this communication: but, upon interrogating Mr. Wyatt as to his authority, he found that it was not from the King; and he afterwards discovered that the orders were given at Weymouth by the Queen, the late Earl of Roslyn being present. What was the state of His Majesty's health at that time is now a matter of historical curiosity; but this extraordinary proceeding deserves particular notice. It rendered the studies of the best part of the Artist's life useless, and deprived him of that honourable provision, the fruit of his talents and industry, on which he had counted for the repose of his declining years. For some time it affected him deeply, and he was at a loss what steps to take; at last, however, in reflecting on the marked friendship and favour which the King had always shown him, he addressed to His Majesty a letter, of which the following is a copy of the rough draft, being the only one preserved: I give it verbatim:--
"The following is the Substance of a Letter I had the honour of writing to His Majesty, taken at Weymouth, by the conveyance of Mr. James Wyatt.
"To the King's Most Excellent Majesty.
"Gracious Sire, Newman St. Sept. 26. 1801.