eighth part of a mile: so that when I come out to take my walk, I can walk my eighth part of a mile, the quarter of a mile, half of a mile, or my mile, as I choose. When I return to my seat, I know what exercise I have taken. I am in my eighty-sixth year, and, thank God, have my health in a remarkable way at such an age. I have very few pains, but am a little deaf.”

Joseph Nollekens.

BORN A. D. 1737.—died a. D. 1823.

JOSEPH NOLLEKENS, the son of a painter, was born in London, on the 11th of August, 1737. In his thirteenth year he was placed in the studio of Scheemakers, in Vine-street, Piccadilly. Here he studied drawing and modelling with indefatigable diligence, and, in the course of a few years, obtained three prizes from the Society of Arts. In 1760 he proceeded to Rome, where he passed ten years very profitably; his skill in modelling procuring him no small emolument, though he seems to have gained considerably more by the purchase and sale of old pictures, casts, statues, &c. Among other works which he completed while abroad, was a marble one of Timoclea before Alexander, for which the Society of Arts voted him fifty guineas; and at Rome both Sterne and Garrick sat to him for their busts. He was much employed by Lord Yarborough, for whom he executed several works, the best of which were, a Mercury, and Venus chiding Cupid.

On his return to England, Nollekens opened a shop and gallery in Mortimer-street; and as his name had become favourably known during his absence, he soon obtained a tolerable number of sitters for their busts. In 1771 he was admitted an associate, and, in the following year, a member, of the Royal academy.

Nollekens began to exhibit at the academy in 1771, and continued to send his works there until within a very few years of his death. Cupids, Venuses, and Apollos, were his favourite subjects; but they gained him little applause in comparison with his busts. Those that added most to the sculptor's reputation, were the heads of Pitt and Fox; the Prince of Wales; the dukes of Bedford and York; Lords Castlereagh, Aberdeen, Erskine, and Liverpool; and Messrs Canning, Perceval, West the painter, and Coutts the banker.

Though the life of Nollekens was unusually long, little has been related of him that pertains strictly to biography; a mass of gossip and anecdote has been told of him; but that he was blunt and honest, sometimes mean, and sometimes liberal; that he held the chisel till his eighty-second year; and that legacy-hunters crowded about the sculptor in his last moments, are all that we can glean from the mass of matter above alluded to, in addition to what has before been stated. The subject of so much tittle-tattle and anecdote died, of natural infirmity, on the 23d of April, 1823.

Nollekens, if we may judge from a bust of him by Chantrey, had a countenance in which intelligence and simplicity were depicted. In person, he was ill shaped, and so short, that he used to be called one of the three little men of the academy; Fuseli and Flaxman being the

other two. His manners were boorish, but not unpleasantly so; a want of education unfitted him for learned conversation, yet his remarks were sometimes sensible enough to obtain the approbation of Dr Johnson. He preferred, however, the society of the uncultivated to that of the polite, though the latter never put him out of his way; with the former he was familiar and unbending, and would delight to mimic the London cries, or hum snatches of old songs with them over a pint of porter. His penuriousness has been overrated; and though there is some truth in the instances that have been given of his parsimony, quite as many have been related, and more are to be credited, of his liberality. Of this, after the death of his wife, he gave various proofs: he would frequently say to his nurse, "I cannot sleep, I cannot rest. Is there any one, with whom I am acquainted, that would be better for a little money - any person that wants a little money to do him good?" To those who came to him as models, he would often give an additional present of ten pounds; to his servants, on his birth-day, he always gave ten pounds, and sometimes twenty pounds; and when Turner asked him for a subscription of one guinea to the Artists' Fund, he presented him with thirty. Hearing that a poor neighbour was unable to apprentice his son for want of the adequate premium, he sent him a hundred pounds for the purpose; and other anecdotes of his generosity are not wanting to prove the falsehood of Fuseli's assertion, that "Nolly was never known to bleed." Numerous are the stories told of him and his sitters whilst modelling a lady of rank, who looked rather haughtily, he said to her, "don't look so scorney," (a favourite expression of his,) "else you will spoil my bust-and you're a very fine woman-I think it will make one of my very best busts." When the Prince of Wales was sitting to him, he could scarcely help smiling at the grotesque appearance of Nollekens, whose head kept occasionally disappearing beneath the immense collar of his coat. The sculptor, observing the suppressed smile of his royal highness, wagged his head, exclaiming, "If you laugh, I'll make a fool of you!" A widow once came to him, in tears, and desired a model for a monument to her husband, exclaiming, as she departed, "do what you please, Mr Nollekens, but, oh! do it quickly." Nollekens set to work, and had not long completed the order, before the widow again made her appearance. "Dear Mr Nollekens, you have not, perhaps, commenced the model?"—" Ay, madam, but I have," said he; "and finished it too, though it is only three months since you called, and there it stands." "Ah!" sighed the lady, "there it stands, indeed, and very charming it is; but, my good friend, since I last saw you, an old Roman acquaintance of yours has made me an offer, and I don't know how he would like to see, in our church, such a proof of my affection, and your skill, in behalf of my late husband." "A hundred guineas, madam, is my charge for the model," was all the sculptor's reply; which the lady paid, and departed.

:

His honesty led him to despise flattery, especially from those he disliked. When Wolcott had offended him, by publishing, as he told him, "such lies of the king," the former exclaimed, "Well said, little Nolly! I like the man who sticks to his friend; you shall make a bust of me for that." "I'll see you d-d first !" replied Nollekens; " and I'll tell you, besides, no man in the academy, but Opie, would have painted

your picture; you richly deserved the broken head you got from Gifford :—so now you know my mind."

As a sculptor, Nollekens has risen to eminence only by his busts; his monumental and poetic sculpture are every way inferior. The monumental work, however, of Mrs Howard, dying in childbed, with her infant, and the figure of Religion by her side, is an exception to his works of this nature; it is altogether a beautiful and impressive performance. His heads were finely and faithfully chiselled; if he failed anywhere, it was near the eye, where he seldom cut deep enough. In all that art could achieve, Nollekens was unequalled; but of genius he has afforded little proof. He has left us beautiful forms to admire and forget; but we in vain look for, in the productions of his chisel, that soul and sentiment, of which something more than earthly inspiration is the source.1

Sir Henry Raeburn.

BORN A. D. 1756-DIED A. D. 1823.

HENRY RAEBURN was born at Stockbridge, in the neighbourhood of Edinburgh, on the 4th March, 1756. In very early life he did not discover any particular propensity to the art in which he was destined so remarkably to excel. It was only observed, at the class of arithmetic, when the boys were amusing themselves in drawing figures on their slates, that his displayed a very striking superiority to those of the other boys; but this did not lead any farther. In other respects he was distinguished by the affection of his companions, and formed at that early period intimacies with some of those distinguished friends whose regard accompanied him through life.

The circumstances of young Raeburn rendering it urgent that he should, as early as possible, be enabled to provide for his own support, he was accordingly, at the age of fifteen, apprenticed to an eminent goldsmith in Edinburgh. It was soon after this that he began to paint miniatures. In what manner this taste first showed itself, is not exactly known; but it certainly was altogether spontaneous, without lesson or example, and without even having ever seen a picture. His miniatures were executed, however, in such a manner as drew immediate attention among his acquaintances. His master then took him to see Martin's pictures, the view of which altogether astonished and delighted him, and made an impression which was never effaced. He continued to paint miniatures; they were much admired, and were soon in general demand. His time was fully occupied; and he generally painted two in the week. As this employment, of course, withdrew his time from the trade, an arrangement was made, by which his master received part of his earnings, and dispensed with his attendance.

At the expiration of his apprenticeship, Mr Raeburn became professionally a portrait-painter. At the age of twenty-two, he married a daughter of Peter Edgar, Esq. of Bridgelands, with whom he received

1 From the Georgian Era.'

some fortune. Ambitious still farther to improve in his art, he repaired to London, where he introduced himself and his works to the notice of Sir Joshua Reynolds. That great man instantly saw all that the young Scotsman was capable of, gave him the kindest reception, and earnestly advised him to enlarge his ideas by a visit to Italy. He even offered, had it been necessary, to supply him with money. Mr Raeburn accordingly set out for Rome, well furnished with introductions from Sir Joshua to the most eminent artists and men of science in that capital. He spent two years in Italy, assiduously employed in studying those great works of art with which that country abounds. He travelled with all practicable expedition to and from Italy, without stopping at Paris, or at any other place.

His powers now fully matured, Mr Raeburn returned in 1787 to his native country, and immediately established himself at Edinburgh. Having taken apartments in George Street, he came at once into full employment as a portrait painter. A life spent in one place, and in uniform application to professional pursuits, affords few materials for narrative. The real history of Mr Raeburn is that of his painting; but this, unfortunately, only himself could fully have given. Having stored his mind with ideas drawn from the purest school of modern art, he was indebted for his subsequent improvement solely to his own reflections and the study of nature. He was never in the habit of repairing to London, and indeed he did not visit that metropolis above three times, nor did he reside in it altogether more than four months. He was thus neither in the habit of seeing the works of his contemporaries, nor the English collections of old pictures. Whatever disadvantage might attend this, it never stopped the career of his improvement. Probably, indeed, it had the effect of preserving that originality which formed always the decided character of his productions, and kept him free from being trammelled by the style of any class of artists.

The first excellence of a portrait, and for the absence of which nothing can atone, must evidently be its resemblance. In this respect, Sir Henry's eminence was universally acknowledged. In the hands of the best artists, there must, in this part of their task, be something precarious; but in a vast majority of instances his resemblances were most striking. They were also happily distinguished by being always the most favourable that could be taken of the individual, and were usually expressive as well of the character as of the features. This desirable object was effected, not by the introduction of any ideal touches, or any departure from the strictest truth, but by selecting and drawing out those aspects under which the features appeared most dignified and pleasing. He made it his peculiar study to bring out the mind of his subjects. His penetration quickly enabled him to discover their favourite pursuits and topics of conversation. Sir Henry's varied knowledge and agreeable manners then easily enabled him, in the course of the sitting, to lead them into an animated discussion on those ascertained subjects. As they spoke he caught their features, enlivened by the strongest expression of which they were susceptible. While he thus made the portrait much more correct and animated, his sitters had a much more agreeable task than those who were pinned up for hours in a constrained and inanimate posture, and in a state of mental vacuity. So agreeable indeed did many of the most distinguished and intelligent among them find his society, that they

courted it ever after, and studiously converted the artist into a friend and acquaintance.

Besides his excellence in this essential quality of portrait, Sir Henry possessed also in an eminent degree those secondary merits which are requisite to constitute a fine painting. His drawing was correct, his colouring rich and deep, and his lights well disposed. There was something bold, free and open, in the whole style of his execution. The accessories, whether of drapery, furniture, or landscape, were treated with elegance and spirit, yet without that elaborate and brilliant finishing which makes them become principals. These parts were always kept in due subordination to the human figure; while of it, the head came always out as the prominent part. Animals, particularly that noble species, the horse, were introduced with peculiar felicity; and Sir Henry's equestrian portraits are perhaps his very best performances. The able manner in which the animal itself was drawn, and in which it was combined with the human figure, were equally conspicuous. His portraits of Sir David Baird, of the earl of Hopetoun, of his own son, on horseback, and, above all, perhaps, of the duke of Hamilton, are striking illustrations of this remark. This skilful grouping and judicious arrangement of the accessories gave a peculiarly good effect to his family pictures, for which, however, Scotland did not afford a very extensive demand.

The active mind of Sir Henry was by no means confined within the circle of his profession. Indeed, those who best knew him conceived, that the eminence to which he attained in it was less the result of any exclusive propensity, than of those general powers of mind, which would have led to excellence in any pursuit to which he had directed his attention. Though in a great degree self-taught, his knowledge was varied and extensive. His classical attainments were considerable; but mechanics and natural philosophy formed the favourite objects of his study. To these, in a particular manner, he devoted the leisure of his evenings, when not interrupted by the claims of society. Sculpture was also an object of his peculiar study; and so great was his taste for it, that at Rome he at one time entertained the idea of devoting himself to that noble art as a profession, in preference to painting. A medallion of himself, which he afterwards executed, satisfied all men of taste who saw it, that he would have attained to equal excellence in this art, had he made it the object of his choice.

Few men were better calculated to command respect in society than Sir Henry Raeburn. His varied knowledge, his gentlemanly and agreeable manners, an extensive command of anecdote, always well told and happily introduced, the general correctness and propriety of his whole deportment, made him be highly valued by many of the most distinguished individuals, both as a companion and a friend. His conversation might be said in some degree to resemble his style of painting, there was the same ease and simplicity, the same total absence of affectation of every kind, and the same manly turn of sense and genius. But we are not aware that the humorous gaiety and sense of the ludicrous, which often enlivened his conversation, ever guided his pencil.

Sir Henry Raeburn, like Raphael, Michael Angelo, and some other masters of the art, possessed the advantage of a tall and commanding