"Well, I'm astounded. Snow hasn't been seen on the island since Heaven knows when!"
His son, Jack, who strongly resembles his father in features, and who was then a jolly little chap, distinguished himself in later life as a soldier, and comparatively recently married the daughter of Mr. Lionel Phillips.
"Archie" came of a remarkable family; his younger brother is the Right Honourable Charles Stuart Wortley, and General Sir Edward Montagu Stuart Wortley was his cousin. The same relationship existed between him and the present Lord Montagu of Beaulieu. In later years he was suddenly bitten with the idea that he had business abilities, and might make money. Accordingly, he gave up his painting and spent all his time in the pursuit of business in the city, thinking he saw a way to make his fortune at the period of the "boom" following the South African war. Unfortunately, the tide turned, and many speculators found themselves in a tight place—poor Archie among them. He had by this time lost his connection as a portrait painter; everything seemed to go wrong; and over anxiety affected his nerves and health to such an extent that it gave way, and he never recovered from the shock. In a very short time, he succumbed to a fatal illness, deeply regretted by a large number of friends and acquaintances, for he was, to those who knew him, the best and the most loyal of friends.
"A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM." Drawn in 1886.
GRAND PRIX. Presented to me by the Commissioners of the Turin Exhibition, 1910.
When I vacated my studio to move into another, John Collier took the lease of it. This was at the time I first became acquainted with him, when he had just returned from studying in Munich.
Tadema was a great friend of his father, Sir Robert Collier, the eminent lawyer who begged him—as a further lesson of instruction—to paint a picture from start to finish in the presence of his son. This the R.A. was induced to do. The painting was on a large canvas, from a female figure, and the title, if I remember rightly, was "The Model." Sir Robert afterwards became the possessor of the picture.
When the latter was created a peer, under the title of Lord Monkswell, he found more time for his pet occupation, viz., painting Alpine scenery, of which he had such consummate knowledge.