Читать книгу The Life and Works of Joseph Wright, A.R.A, commonly called "Wright of Derby" - William Bemrose - Страница 6

Table of Contents

Early Life.—Mechanical Pursuits.—Aspirations after Art.—Love of Music and Society.—Studies under Hudson.—Returns to Derby.—Again Studies under Hudson.

Young Wright early manifested a taste for mechanics. His brother, Richard, writing to a friend some years afterwards, thus alludes to his leisure employments. “At an early time in life he showed great propensity to knowledge in several mechanical branches; and being of an active mind, would frequently spend his vacant time from school in going to different shops to see the men work. When he returned home he would imitate their works, and compleat them in a masterly manner, such as joiner’s goods, chests of drawers, clocks, spinning wheels, guns, etc. His genius afterwards turned to drawing and painting; if he saw a person once he would draw the outlines of his face so strong as to be known at sight; making great progress in those branches, he was determined to pursue those studies for his profession; accordingly his father, an Attorney-at-Law, enquired of his agents in London, who were the most eminent masters, and upon enquiry he was recommended to Mr. Hudson.”

Having seen a “raree show” at a fair, he considered attentively upon what principle it could be formed, and having discovered the manner of placing the glasses, completed a show about three feet high; having done this, Wright went to the showman and told him he had made a show like his. The man would not at first believe him, but upon enquiring how he had made it, and finding it was quite correct, he earnestly begged that the boy would not tell any one by what means he had effected it. This show, exhibiting some Italian views, was afterwards the delight of his children and nieces.

When the Scotch army, under Prince Charles Edward, came to Derby, in December, 1745, the elder Mr. Wright, father of the painter, took his wife, two daughters, and Joe, as he was generally called, to Repton, thinking that the rebels could not cross the Trent, as there was no bridge there at that time. During the preceding July his two eldest sons, John and Richard, had been placed at Repton School, under the Rev. Mr. Ashley. Much to the surprise of the Wrights, three officers and forty men were quartered in their house at Derby. During the soldiers’ stay they saw a small gun, with which they were so much struck as to make enquiries respecting it, and upon being told that it was made by Master Joseph, “they wished they could see the little gentleman, they would take him with them, for they were sure he must be an ingenious boy to make that gun.”

At Repton, young Wright saw a “Christmas-Piece” which belonged to one of the boys. For a long time this piece so engrossed his mind that he could think of nothing else, and he dwelt upon it until he determined to try to draw. Thus at eleven years of age he took to art, and gradually left off his mechanical pursuits. This love for mechanics showed itself later in life, by the introduction of an air pump and an orrery into two of his principal pictures. He likewise invented a pair of proportional compasses. These were made of two strips of wood, with an opening down the middle of each, placed upon each other and united by a screw, which, moving up and down, fixed the point of the compasses at any place that was desired. By this instrument Wright was enabled to accurately enlarge or diminish any drawing.

His father being averse to his devoting so much time to drawing, thinking it would never be of use to him, and might withdraw his attention from more necessary pursuits, young Wright used to draw, unknown to his friends, in an attic, where he spent much of his spare time. Having nothing from which to study, he copied the public-house signs in the town, which at that time exhibited more “pictures” than at the present day, and it is related of him, that when he had completed his copy of the sign of “Robin Hood and Little John,” near his father’s residence, he was highly delighted, as he was likewise when he had finished the “Buck in the Park.” The “Buck in the Park”—a sign by which an inn in the town is still known at the present day—means the arms of the Borough of Derby, which are azure, a buck couchant, enclosed in park-palings, all proper. His method was, after looking long and earnestly at the sign, to go home and draw as much as he could remember of it. When at a loss, he returned and examined the sign, and then ran back as rapidly as possible, so that he might not lose the impression produced on his mind, and thus he continued until the drawing was finished. His mother, noticing his conduct, and wishing to know why he spent so much time in the attic spoken of, entered it and discovered his employment. The boy-artist earnestly begged that she would not tell his father, and this request, fortunately for the world, was granted. His predilection for art is well illustrated by a life-size head of Counsellor Noel, in my possession, drawn upon blue paper in black and white crayons; on the back, in Wright’s handwriting, “Jos Wright, fecit September 3rd, 1751, Ætat 17. Counsellor Noell. The head being unfinished I was obliged to leave it so.” There is little doubt he was in the habit of attending the Courts of Assize with his father, who was engaged there professionally, and had amused himself by sketching the counsellor in his wig, but from some cause had not time to finish it.

The sketches of his early boyhood show considerable skill and power in light and shade, and the treatment of drapery, and are thus prophetic of that command of chiar-oscuro which distinguished the pictures of his maturity.

His delight in strong lights and shadows was very conspicuous throughout his life. He could never pass a blacksmith’s shop, or any striking lights in the streets, without staying to study them; and the influence of this early passion of his is seen in a large number of his paintings, where remarkable fire, candle-light, and atmospheric effects are rendered with singular power and truth.

At length his father, finding his decided turn for painting, determined upon placing him with the most eminent artist of the time; and in 1751, when Joseph was seventeen years of age, he, after careful enquiry amongst his friends in London, placed him with Hudson,[4] the portrait painter, with whom he remained as a student for two years. Wright, however, appears to have soon become dissatisfied with the subjects which Hudson gave him to copy, which, if we may judge from the studies of this period still existing—stiff, formal portraits in black and white chalk upon blue paper—was not to be wondered at; amongst them is a spirited resemblance of himself, and it is thought probable that the artist, tired of such copying, amused himself by studying from nature.

Young Wright, like most young men, was fond of a frolic, but the effect of a practical joke which he played at Hudson’s effectually cured him of these mischievous propensities. It appears that the lay-figure at Hudson’s was upon low wheels, and having tied a piece of string to it, which he conveyed under the door, Wright, the next morning, whilst the servant-maid was cleaning the grate, stationed himself at the door, which was a little open, to amuse himself with her surprise at seeing it move. Having waited his opportunity, he gently pulled the string, and when the girl turned to look, suddenly stopped. She took no further notice of it until he drew it more decidedly steadily forward. She then earnestly watched its progress, and at last, being convinced that it was moving, threw down her brush and rushed out of the room, and would, in her fright, have precipitated herself over the rails of the stairs, if he had not caught her. He was so much alarmed when he saw how greatly she was agitated, and thought what would have been the probable consequence of such a fall, that he determined never again to indulge in practical jokes, a resolution which he seems never to have forgotten. This circumstance made such an impression upon his mind, that he could not hear with patience of any attempt to frighten people, as “there was no knowing to what consequences it might lead.”

Upon the expiration of the period for which he had been placed with Hudson, Wright, at the age of nineteen, returned to Derby, and soon afterwards painted the portraits of his father and mother, his two sisters, his brother, and himself. These were probably the first portraits he painted, as, when they sat to him, he had only—it must be remembered—been two years at his profession. At this time he also painted the portraits of many of his friends, and of members of the principal families in the neighbourhood. Being, however, dissatisfied with his progress, he returned to London, in 1756, to study under Hudson for the second time, and remained with him for fifteen months, often lamenting during that period that he could not obtain better instruction, there being no master of eminence in England at that time.

Painting was not Wright’s only pursuit. He was a real lover of music, and was considered by those able to judge to be a first-rate amateur performer upon the flute, which he was taught by Tacet. Mr. Denby,[5] the organist at All Saints’ Church, at this time had weekly concerts at his house, at which Wright played the flute, Burdett (who published a Map of Derbyshire in 1767) the violoncello, the Rev. Mr. Hope “thorough bass on the harpsichord,” and the Rev. Mr. Blackwall and Mr. Charles Denby first and second violins. These were cheerful evenings, and Wright took a prominent part in the mirth, for, though naturally shy and retiring, he was of a social and lively disposition. He is said to have been the life of the party. He also attended the balls and assemblies[6] in Derby, Newark, Chesterfield, and other places, and from his handsome person and pleasant manners was a general favourite. An old inhabitant of Derby, Mr. Haden, used to relate that Wright once asked him whether he should teach him to draw, or to play on the flute, and that he foolishly chose the latter. Wright, he said, was a very pleasant master, who held the agreeable theory that Madeira was the best medicine for the flute, and never gave him a lesson without ordering in a bottle of it. Mrs. Cade (Wright’s daughter) has related that he used to play upon the flute in the evening, after he had prepared his palette for the next day; and that the Rev. Thomas Gisborne (who then resided in St. Helen’s House, at the top of Bridge Gate, and afterwards at Yoxall Lodge, Needwood Forest) was in the habit of drawing with him in the morning, and playing upon the flute with him in the evening. She also recollected going with him to Darley Grove, adjoining St. Helen’s, where he delighted to hear the echoes to his flute.

After Wright’s death, there was found a large box containing music for the flute, written very neatly by himself, which at last came to the ignominious fate of being used by the servants for lighting the fires.

An early memorandum of Wright’s states:—“My Father paid Sandys the colourman for me Mch 1759, £15. 17. 0. In March 1762 paid ditto £20. 14. 0. Lent me a guinea to send W^ri. Paid for cloth for shirts when I was in London £4. 4. 0. For a German Flute £3. 3. 0.”

Having soon attained some local celebrity, Wright was allowed a room at the Town Hall when he wished to exhibit his pictures, and could not show them to advantage at his father’s. It was in this room that he painted the portraits of the members of the Derby Hunt, which now hang in Markeaton Hall, where they were placed by Francis Noel Clarke Mundy, the poet. This gentleman, from an elegy written by him in 1765, appears to have been “The life, the leader of the hunter train,” and in Wright’s MS. book occurs the following memorandum in connection with a portrait of one of the Mundy family: “The letter in Mr. Mundy’s picture to be dated from Amberley, in Sussex. It must conclude with ‘your friend Harry Deckham,’ not Henry. The case upon the letter table, directed to Francis Mundy, Esq., at Markeaton, near Derby.” Amongst the portraits known to have been exhibited at the Town Hall may be mentioned that of “Old John,” head waiter at the King’s Head Inn, which was raffled for ten guineas, and won by Danl. Parker Coke, Esq. This picture, which represents “Old John,” with roses in the button-hole of his coat, and a smiling and intelligent face under his wig, is now in the possession of Lord Belper. Another local character similarly distinguished, was Thomas Oliver, beadle at All Saints’ Church, whose attentive attitude, whilst Mr. Winter or his curate, Mr. Hope, preached, had caught the artist’s eye. The interest thus excited led the artist to obtain a sitting from the beadle, and the picture which resulted was exhibited at the Town Hall. Wright made a crayon drawing of this portrait, and gave it to Mr. Denby.