What may be called the shorthand notes for a sketch are sometimes difficult to make out without explanation. On one occasion a sketch was under consideration, when the editor made certain suggestions to the artist, who was very good natured, and of a most pliant disposition. ‘I think, you know,’ said the editor, ‘if you were to add two or three more figures in the foreground it would improve the composition and help to detach the principal group from this windmill.’ ‘Well, the fact is,’ replied the artist, ‘what you call a windmill I intended for a man on horseback, but if you think it will come better as a windmill I’ll alter it with pleasure.’
| THE SPECIAL ARTIST ON THE ROAD. |
[1] This incident was illustrated in Punch, and lest I should be accused of using up old material, I must explain that the hero of the adventure, on his return to England, told the story to one of the Punch artists, who made a sketch of the incident, which was afterwards published.
CHAPTER X.
Artists who have assisted in founding the Pictorial Press—Sir John Gilbert, R.A., G. H. Thomas, and others—Wood-Engraving and its Connexion with the Pictorial Press—Other Methods of producing Illustrations—Wood-Engraving in England before and after Bewick’s time—Its wide Diffusion owing to the kindred Art of Printing—The resources of the Art developed by Pictorial Newspapers—Conclusion. Newspapers a Necessity of Civilised Life—The Acta Diurna of the Romans—Early Newspapers in Venice, Germany, and the Low Countries—List of Illustrated Newspapers published Abroad.
The establishment of the pictorial press as an English institution was greatly aided by the active co-operation of many distinguished artists, the very foremost in this connexion being Sir John Gilbert. Other Royal Academicians and eminent painters have drawn on wood for the illustrated newspapers, but Gilbert stands out pre-eminently the great popular illustrator of the Victorian era. He it was who first gave a distinctive character to the illustration of news. He seemed to possess an inborn knowledge of the essentials of newspaper art, and could express by a few freely drawn lines and touches the hurried movement of street crowds or the state and dignity of Court ceremonies. Whether he had to draw a knight in armour or a gentleman in a paletôt he did it in a way exactly suited to rapid engraving and printing. The feeling which, in his pictures, makes him delight in battle-fields, blazoned banners, velvet and gold, made his drawings on wood brilliant in handling and always picturesque. It was most fortunate that the commencement of his career was coincident with the foundation of the pictorial press. William Harvey and other artists were already in the field, but Gilbert’s style was better adapted to newspaper work. His quickness and versatility made him just the man that was wanted. Harvey had drawn some of the subjects published in the Observer, but his style was not suited to the illustration of current events. Nothing came amiss to Gilbert, who supplied the pictorial press for twenty years with a constant succession of effective drawings, embracing all kinds of subjects, and he never failed in that most essential quality of a newspaper artist—punctuality. It is as the popular illustrator that the name of Gilbert stands at the head of that numerous band of artists who contributed to the foundation of illustrated journalism in this country.