Dickens and His Illustrators Part 23

"_Subjects in hand for the Second Part._

"1. Illuminated page. Tenniel. Representing Redlaw going upstairs, and the Tetterby family below.

"2. The Tetterby Supper. Leech.

"3. The boy in Redlaw's room, munching his food and staring at the fire."

A preliminary sketch (in pencil and indian-ink) for the first subject was immediately submitted to the novelist for approval, and elicited the following reply:--

"We are unanimous.

"The drawing of Milly on the chair is CHARMING. I cannot tell you how much the little composition and expression please me. Do that, by all means.

PLATE LII

"MILLY AND THE OLD MAN"

_Facsimile_ of the Original Drawing for "The Haunted Man" by

FRANK STONE, A.R.A.

_Lent by Mr. Marcus Stone. R.A._

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"I fear she must have a little cap on. There is something coming in the last part about her having had a dead child, which makes it yet more desirable than the existing text does that she should have that little matronly sign about her. Unless the artist is obdurate indeed, and then he'll do as he likes.

"I am delighted to hear that you have your eye on her in the students' room. You will really, pictorially, make the little woman whom I love...."

The original sketch of Milly on the chair has fortunately been preserved, and has been kindly lent for reproduction by Mr. Marcus Stone, R.A. The drawing of the old man in the published engraving is hardly so satisfactory as the delineation of him in the sketch. The second ill.u.s.tration, "Milly and the Student," was duly executed; it is a very graceful design, the pose of the male figure being excellently rendered. Respecting the third ill.u.s.tration, the novelist communicated to the artist the following facts, to a.s.sist him in realising the princ.i.p.al theme:--

"There is a subject I have written to-day for the third part, that I think and hope will just suit you.

Scene--Tetterby's. Time--morning. The power of bringing back people's memories of sorrow, wrong, and trouble has been given by the ghost to Milly, though she don't know it herself. As she comes along the street, Mr. and Mrs.

Tetterby recover themselves and are mutually affectionate again, and embrace, closing _rather_ a good scene of quarrel and discontent. The moment they do so, Johnny (who has seen her in the distance and announced her before, from which moment they begin to recover) cries 'Here she is!'and she comes in, surrounded by the little Tetterbys, the very spirit of morning, gladness, innocence, hope, love, domesticity, &c. &c. &c. &c.

"I would limit the ill.u.s.tration to her and the children, which will make a fitness between it and your other ill.u.s.trations, and give them all a character of their own.

The exact words of the pa.s.sage I enclose on another slip of paper. Note: There are six boy Tetterbys present (young 'Dolphus is not there), including Johnny; and in Johnny's arms is Mulock, the baby, who is a girl.... Don't wait to send me the drawing of this. I know how pretty she will be with the children in your hands, and should be a stupendous jacka.s.s if I had any distrust of it...."

(_Slip of paper enclosed._)

"'Hurrah! here's Mrs. Williams!' cried Johnny.

"So she was, and all the Tetterby children with her; and as she came in, they kissed her and kissed one another, and kissed the baby, and kissed their father and mother, and then ran back and flocked and danced about her, trooping on with her in triumph.

"(After which she is going to say, 'What, are _you_ all glad to see me too! Oh, how happy it makes me to find every one so glad to see me this bright morning!')"

The amateur theatricals brought author and artist constantly together, Frank Stone being an actor of some ability. The immortal Mrs. Gamp, in describing the members of that famous company of players, alludes to Frank Stone as "a fine-looking portly gentleman, with a face like an amiable full moon." He became the recipient of many nicknames, that of "Pump" (or "Pumpion") being one by which d.i.c.kens sometimes addressed him, and it was both pleasantly intended and jocularly received. In 1849 the artist painted the portrait of the novelist's fifth son, Lieutenant Sydney d.i.c.kens, who was buried at sea in 1872, his death being due to a sharp attack of bronchitis when on his way home.

Frank Stone exhibited at the Society of Painters in Water-Colours from 1833 to 1846, and was elected a member of that Society in 1842. He first exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1838, his election as an a.s.sociate taking place in 1851. The artist, on receiving a commission from d.i.c.kens for a picture, painted a presentment of "'Tilda Price," the _fiancee_ of the genial John Browdie in "Nicholas Nickleby," the picture realising the sum of 42 at the sale of the novelist's effects in 1870. This and two other paintings by Stone (portraits of Kate Nickleby and Madeline Bray) were engraved on steel by Finden, and published ("with the approbation of Charles d.i.c.kens") by Chapman & Hall in 1848; the plates were intended for insertion in the first cheap edition of "Nicholas Nickleby." Besides his ill.u.s.trations for "The Haunted Man," he also designed the frontispiece for the first cheap edition of "Martin Chuzzlewit" (1849), which depicts Mark Tapley on the sick-bed; this drawing was engraved on wood by T. Bolton.

The sudden death of Frank Stone in 1859 caused d.i.c.kens heartfelt sorrow.

"You will be grieved," he wrote to Forster on November 19, "to hear of poor Stone. On Sunday he was not well. On Monday went to Dr. Todd, who told him he had aneurism of the heart. On Tuesday went to Dr. Walsh, who told him he hadn't. On Wednesday I met him in a cab in the Square here [Tavistock Square], and he got out to talk to me. I walked about with him a little while at a snail's pace, cheering him up; but when I came home, I told them that I thought him much changed, and in danger.

Yesterday at two o'clock he died of spasm of the heart. I am going up to Highgate to look for a grave for him."

SIR EDWIN LANDSEER, R.A.

First Acquaintance with d.i.c.kens--Designs an Ill.u.s.tration for "THE CRICKET ON THE HEARTH"--Elected a Royal Academician--Receives the Honour of Knighthood--Declines the Presidency of the Royal Academy--Severe Illness and Death.

Charles d.i.c.kens first became acquainted with Sir Edwin Henry Landseer during the "Nickleby" period, and ever entertained the highest admiration and personal regard for this famous artist, to whom Thackeray once referred as "a sort of aristocrat among painters." Sir Edwin was an artist by hereditary right and family instinct, being the eldest son of the well-known engraver, John Landseer, A.R.A. He was born in London in 1802, and at the age of thirteen exhibited two pictures at the Royal Academy, thus proving that he possessed most exceptional powers as a draughtsman even at this early period.

[Sidenote: =The Cricket on the Hearth, 1846.=]

It is perhaps not generally remembered that Sir Edwin Landseer has a just claim to be numbered among the Ill.u.s.trators of d.i.c.kens. Though he made but a single design, it is indubitably a masterpiece, and suffices to indicate the admirable skill acquired by this great painter in depicting what may be considered his favourite subject--the dog. The charming little woodcut of "Boxer"--the irrepressible companion of John Peerybingle, in "The Cricket on the Hearth"--defies criticism.

PLATE LIII

SIR JOHN TENNIEL, R.I.

From a Photograph by

MESSRS. Ba.s.sANO

_Lent by the Artist._

SIR EDWIN LANDSEER, R.A.

From the Painting by

SIR FRANCIS GRANT, P.R.A.

The dog's head was added by Sir Edwin himself.

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