“Caldecott’s ability was general, not special. It found its natural and most agreeable outlet in art and humour, but everybody who knew him, and those who received his letters, saw that there were perhaps[Pg 10] a dozen ways in which he would have distinguished himself had he been drawn to them.”

“Bearing an introductory letter he went up to London on a flying visit, carrying with him a sketch on wood and a small book of drawings of the ‘Fancies of a Wedding.’ He was well received. The sketch was accepted, and with many compliments the book of drawings was detained.

“From this date and all through the year 1871, Caldecott was at work in Manchester and sending to London drawings, some of which have hardly been exceeded for humour and expression in a few lines.

CHAPTER II.

DRAWING FOR “LONDON SOCIETY.”

“For Christmas time, 1871, Caldecott made many sketches. Two were to illustrate a short story called “The Two Trombones,” by F. Robson, the actor. It was a ridiculous story, bordering on broad farce, depicting the adventures of Mr. Adolphus Whiffles, a young man from the country, who in order to get behind the scenes of a theatre undertakes to act as a substitute for a friend as “one of the trombones,” unknown to the leader of the orchestra. His friend[Pg 19] assures him that in a crowded assembly “one trombone would probably make as much noise as two,” and that, if he took his place in the orchestra, he had only to “pretend to play and all would be right.”

“In the first sketch we see him in his bedroom contemplating the unfamiliar instrument left by his friend; in the second he is at the theatre at the crisis when the leader of the band calls upon him to “play in” (as it is called) one of the performers on to the stage! Mr. Whiffles’s instructions were[Pg 20] to keep his eyes on the other trombone and imitate his movements exactly; but unfortunately the other trombone was a substitute also. The leader looks round, and seeing the two trombones apparently perfectly ready to begin, gives the signal, and the curtain rises. The dénoûment may be imagined! Other stories were illustrated by Caldecott, about this period, in London Society; one of Indian life, another called Crossed in Love, &c., but the artist wished that some illustrations should not be reprinted. Several drawings from London Society are omitted, from the same cause.

. . .

Going to Cover

“Amongst the most ambitious and interesting of Caldecott’s drawings at this time were his “hunting and shooting friezes,” of which several examples will be found in the pages of London Society for 1871 and 1872, drawn in outline with a pen; showing, thus early, much decorative feeling and a liking for design in relief which never left him in after years.

Two of the best that he did were the hunting subjects, entitled “Going to Cover” and “Full Cry.”

. . .

CHAPTER III.

IN LONDON, THE HARZ MOUNTAINS, ETC

“Early in the year 1872 Caldecott left Manchester for London, “bearing with him the well wishes of the Brazenose Club and of an extensive circle of friends.” This great change was not decided upon without considerable hesitation; but, to quote again from a Manchester letter:—

In February and March, 1872, he was still drawing for the magazines and illustrating short stories.

In March, 1872, he exhibited hunting sketches in oil at the Royal Institution, Manchester.

On the 16th April he went to the Slade School to attend the Life Class under E. J. Poynter, R.A., until the 29th June.

As this was the turning point in Caldecott’s career, it should be recorded that at this time, and ever afterwards, Mr. Armstrong, the present Art Director at the South Kensington Museum, was his best friend and counsellor.[2] He had also the advantage of the friendship of George du Maurier, M. Dalou, the sculptor, Charles Keene, Albert Moore, and others.

On the 8th June he records, “A. urged me to prepare caricatures of people well known,” probably with the view of making drawings for periodicals.

[Pg 31]

Several drawings of Caldecott’s were under consideration by the proprietors of Punch, and on the 22nd June, 1872, the first appeared.

In the same month he exhibited a frame of four small sepia drawings at the Black and White Exhibition, Egyptian Hall, London.

. . .

Caldecott’s First Illustrated Book

“About this time it was suggested to him to illustrate a book of summer travel, and on the 20th August 1872 he enters in his diary:—

“To Rotterdam, Harzburg, &c., to join Mr. and Mrs. B. in the Harz Mountains.”

[Pg 33]

“This was the first book that Caldecott illustrated;[3] the[Pg 34] title suggested was “A Tour in the Toy Country,” and before leaving London he made the drawing on the preceding page. Caldecott, being then twenty-six, started on this journey with great readiness. The idea was altogether delightful to him; and here, as in every country he visited in after years, his playful fancy and facility for seizing the grotesque side of things stood him in good stead.

In a strange land, amidst unfamiliar scenes and faces, he roamed “fancy free”; in a country so compact in size that the whole could be traversed in a month’s walking tour.

“With Baedeker’s Guide (English edition) in his pocket, and a dialogue book of sentences in[Pg 35] German and English, he used to delight to interrogate the wondering natives; the necessary questions difficult to find, and “the elaborate and quite unnecessary” (as he expressed it), always turning up. Such little incidents gave opportunity to the observant artist to study the faces of the listeners; the interviews conducted slowly and gravely, and ending in a peal of laughter from the natives.

. . .

CHAPTER IV.

DRAWING FOR “THE DAILY GRAPHIC.

“Some idea of the work on which Caldecott was engaged in 1873 and 1874, may be gathered from extracts from his diary in those years. They are interesting if only to show that at that early period his art studies were varied, and that his experience was not confined to book illustration as has generally been supposed.

[Pg 52]

In January, 1873, he made six illustrations for Frank Mildmay by “Florence Marryatt,” and on January 22nd, an “Initial for Punch.”

In February—

“Began wax-modelling for practice, hearing that my hunting frieze (white on brown paper) had been successful in Manchester, and that I should perhaps be asked to model some animals for a chimney-piece.”

24th April.—”A. came to see my wax models; liked them, said I must do something further.”

. . .

Chapter IV

“R. C.”

[Pg 55]

1874

The Morning Walk

“The painting of swans, storks, and pigeons, referred to above, was very important work for Caldecott. In conjunction with his friend Mr. Armstrong, he painted the birds in two panels, one of swans (reproduced overleaf), and one of a stork and magpie. These panels were about six feet high, and form part of a series of decorations in[Pg 88] the dining-room of Mr. Henry Renshawe’s house at Bank Hall, near Buxton, Derbyshire.

Chapter VI

The Cottage Farnham Royal

During the summers of 1872, 1873, and 1874, Caldecott stayed often at a cottage belonging to the writer, three miles north of Slough, in Buckinghamshire, in the picturesque neighbourhood of Stoke Pogis and Burnham Beeches.

A “loose box” adjoining the stable—a few yards to the right of the little verandah in the above sketch—had been fitted up for him by friendly hands; and it was here in this temporary studio,[Pg 91] in the quiet of the country, looking out on woods and fields, that he made many of the drawings for Old Christmas.

Several entries in Caldecott’s diary in 1874 mention that in June and July he was “working in the ‘loose box’ at Farnham Royal, on the Sketch Book.”

During the summers of 1872, 1873, and 1874, Caldecott stayed often at a cottage belonging to the writer, three miles north of Slough, in Buckinghamshire, in the picturesque neighbourhood of Stoke Pogis and Burnham Beeches.

A “loose box” adjoining the stable—a few yards to the right of the little verandah in the above sketch—had been fitted up for him by friendly hands; and it was here in this temporary studio,[Pg 91] in the quiet of the country, looking out on woods and fields, that he made many of the drawings for Old Christmas.

Several entries in Caldecott’s diary in 1874 mention that in June and July he was “working in the ‘loose box’ at Farnham Royal, on the Sketch Book.”

Those were happy, irresponsible days, before great success had tempered his style, or brought with it many cares. Take the following letter (one of many) written in the full enjoyment of the change from lodgings in London

Those were happy, irresponsible days, before great success had tempered his style, or brought with it many cares.

. . .

During the summers of 1872, 1873, and 1874, Caldecott stayed often at a cottage belonging to the writer, three miles north of Slough, in Buckinghamshire, in the picturesque neighbourhood of Stoke Pogis and Burnham Beeches.

A “loose box” adjoining the stable—a few yards to the right of the little verandah in the above sketch—had been fitted up for him by friendly hands; and it was here in this temporary studio,[Pg 91] in the quiet of the country, looking out on woods and fields, that he made many of the drawings for Old Christmas.

Several entries in Caldecott’s diary in 1874 mention that in June and July he was “working in the ‘loose box’ at Farnham Royal, on the Sketch Book.”

Those were happy, irresponsible days, before great success had tempered his style, or brought with it many cares. Take the following letter (one of many) written in the full enjoyment of the change from lodgings in London:—

About this time it was suggested to Caldecott to make studies of animals and birds, with a view to an illustrated edition of Æsop’s Fables, a work for which his talents seemed eminently fitted. The idea was put aside from press of work, and when finally brought out in 1883 was not the success that had been anticipated. This was principally owing to the plan of the book.

. . .

Chapter VII

[1874 – Work on Washington Irving’s Old Christmas]

The Stage Coachman from Washington Irving’s Old Christmas

“All this costume is maintained with much precision; he has a pride in having his clothes of excellent materials; and notwithstanding the seeming grossness of his appearance, there is still discernible that neatness and propriety of person which is almost inherent in an Englishman. He[Pg 104] enjoys great consequence and consideration along the road; has frequent conferences with the village housewives, who look upon him as a man of great trust and dependence; and he seems to have a good understanding with every bright-eyed lass. The moment he arrives he throws down the reins with something of an air, and abandons the cattle to[Pg 105] the care of the ostler; his duty being merely to drive from one stage to another. When off the box his hands are thrust in the pockets of his greatcoat, and he rolls about the inn yard with an air of the most absolute lordliness. Here he is generally surrounded by an admiring throng of ostlers, stable-boys, shoe-blacks, and those nameless hangers-on that infest inns and taverns and run errands. Every ragamuffin that has a coat to his back thrusts his hands in his pockets, rolls in his gait, talks slang, and is an embryo ‘coachey.'”

Surely it has seldom happened in the history of illustration that an author should be so very closely followed—if not overtaken—by his illustrator. No literary touch seemed to be wanting from the author to convey a picture of English life and character passed away; but Caldecott’s coachman helps to elucidate the text; and whilst it carried to many a reader of Old Christmas in the New World a living portrait of a past age, it revealed also the presence of a new illustrator.

In the Stable Yard

Master Simon and His Dogs

It is interesting to note that Old Christmas was offered to, and declined by, one of the leading publishers in London; principally on the[Pg 110] ground that the illustrations were considered “inartistic, flippant and vulgar, and unworthy of the author of Old Christmas“! It was not until 1876 that the world discovered a new genius.

During the progress of the drawings for Old Christmas in 1874, Caldecott went with the writer to Brittany to make sketches for a new book; but the publication was postponed until after a more extended tour in 1878.

. . .

1874

On the 19th of November and following days Caldecott was “working at Dalou’s on a cat crouching for a spring.” He had a skeleton of a cat, a dead cat, and a live cat to work from. This model in clay was finished on the 8th December, 1874.

[Pg 115]

Christmas Eve was spent “in the caverns of the British Museum making a drawing, and measuring skeleton of a white stork.” This was a most elaborate and careful record of measurements. On the 28th of December he was “engaged on brown paper cartoon of storks at Armstrong’s,” and on the 30th is the entry,—”at British Museum; had storks out of cases to examine insertion of wing feathers.”

Thus, all through the year 1874 Caldecott, working without much recognition excepting from a few intimates, got through an immense amount of work; not forgetting his friends the children, to whom he sent many Christmas greetings with letters and coloured sketches. The drawing on the opposite page accompanied a kindly letter to a child of six years.

“I thank you,” he says, “very much for your grand sheet of drawings, which I think are very nice indeed. I hope you will go on trying and learning to draw. There are many beautiful things waiting to be drawn. Animals and flowers oh! such a many—and a few people.”

[Pg 116]

. . .

Chapter VIII

[Caldecott used a type of copying to help him illustrate]

Without going too far into technicalities, it may be interesting to illustrators to mention here that all Caldecott’s best drawings in his Picture Books, John Gilpin, The House that Jack Built, &c.; in the Graphic newspaper, and in Washington Irving’s[Pg 126] Old Christmas, &c., were photographed on to wood-blocks and have passed through the hands of the engraver.

The system of photographic engraving (by which the drawings are reproduced on pp. 124 and 125) bids fair to supersede wood-engraving for rapid journalistic purposes. It naturally attracted Caldecott in the first instance; but with increased knowledge and perception of “values,” and of the quality to be obtained in a good wood-engraving above any mechanical reproduction in relief, Caldecott was glad to avail himself of the help of the engraver. He drew with greater freedom, as he expressed it, preferring, as so many illustrators do, to put in tints with a brush, to be rendered in line by skilful engravers. But at the same time he delighted in shewing the power of line in drawing, studying “the art of leaving out as a science”; doing nothing hastily but thinking long and seriously before putting pen to paper, remembering, as he always said, “the fewer the lines, the less error committed.”

. . .

1875

“I feel I owe somebody an apology for staying in the country so long, but don’t quite see to whom it is due, so I shall stay two or three days longer, and then I shall indeed hang my harp on a willow[Pg 128] tree. It is difficult to screw up the proper amount of courage for leaving the lambkins, the piglets, the foals, the goslings, the calves, and the puppies. We want rain, and then things will grow with exceeding speed; as it is, the earth is dry and the buds are slow to display their hidden beauties. A little of ‘something to drink’ will cheer them, and then, like some human beings, they will look pleasant and cheerful and ‘come out.'”

. . .

Life in the country with Caldecott was “worth living,” and he chafed much at this period if he had to be with his “nose to the grindstone,” as he expressed it, in Bloomsbury. Whilst in the country[Pg 129] his letters to town were full of sketches, but in letters from London he hardly ever pictured life out of doors.

. . .

On the 4th of August he was “making designs for pelican picture;” and afterwards studying this subject at the Zoological Gardens. Two pictures of pelicans were eventually painted; the second,[Pg 131] in the possession of Mr. W. Phipson Beale, is sketched below.

. . .

{Old Christmas, written by Washington Irving and illustrated by Randolph Caldecott, was published and after that project, he began illustrating Bracebridge Hall]

In November 1875 he received the first copy of Old Christmas from the publishers, and already favourable notices of the illustrations had begun to appear in the newspapers.

. . .

1876

In this year, 1876, Caldecott exhibited his first painting in the Royal Academy, entitled, “There were Three Ravens sat on a Tree.” The humour and vigour of the composition are well indicated in the sketch. It was hung rather out of sight, above (and in somewhat grim proximity with) a picture of “At Death’s Door,” by Hubert Herkomer. Both artists were then thirty years of age.

. . .

In August he is writing from the country in high spirits as usual, and planning out much work for the future. Bracebridge Hall was finished, and the success of Old Christmas had brought him many commissions. His illustrations on wood had turned out well, being fortunate in his engravers, especially Mr. J. D. Cooper and Mr. Edmund Evans, who always rendered his work with sympathetic care. He may also be said to have been fortunate in his connection with the Graphic newspaper under the direction of Mr. W. L. Thomas, the artist and wood engraver.

[Pg 147]

But alas! in the autumn of this year his health failed him, and in October he was advised to go to Buxton in Derbyshire.

. . .

Chapter X

The journey to the Riviera and North Italy, which Caldecott was compelled to make for his health, before Christmas 1876, was as usual prolific of work.

. . .

The Priest’s Servant Administers a Reproof

NORTH ITALIAN FOLK.

It was in the same winter, during his journey in North Italy, that Caldecott made twenty-eight illustrations for a book on North Italian Folk.[9] Here Caldecott’s studies, and his habit of sketching the peasantry wherever he went, served him well. Take the picture of the priest and his faithful servant Caterina; the latter, reproaching her master for bringing home a neighbour, Maddalena, “to eat two lasagne with us!” Caterina is “a gaunt threadbare-looking woman of some five-and-thirty[Pg 155] years, and the prevosto is gaunt too, and sallow; the two match well together. Caterina’s hair is smooth though scant, and her faded print dress is neat, but the bright yellow kerchief round her shoulders is soiled, and the cunning plaits of her grey hair are not as well ordered as the women’s are wont to be on mass days.

“Presently Caterina bustles into the darkened parlour, where sits the prevosto lazily smoking his[Pg 156] pipe and reading the country newspaper. He has put aside even the least of his clerical garments now, and lounges at ease in an old coat and slippers, his tonsured head covered by a battered straw hat.

“‘Listen to me,’ breaks forth the faithful woman, and she is not careful to modulate her voice even to a semblance of secrecy, ‘you don’t bring another mouth for me to feed here when it is baking day again. Per Bacco, no indeed!… It sha’n’t happen again, do you hear? And I have the holy wafers to bake besides. For shame of you! Come now to your dinner in the kitchen!’ And Caterina, the better for this free expression, hastens to dish up the minestra.

“‘Poor old priest! What a shrew he has got in his house,’ says some pitying reader. Yet he would not part with her for worlds! She is his solace and his right hand, and loves him none the less because of her sharp tongue and uncurbed speech. In many a lone and cheerless home of Italian priest can I call to mind such a woman as this—such a fond and faithful drudge, with harsh ways and a soft heart.”

The Husbandman

Another picture in North Italian Folk seems to give the character of the peasantry and the scenery exactly. “The sun glitters on the pale sea that is[Pg 157] down and away a mile or more beyond the sloping fields and gardens, and the dipping valley. Giovanni pauses to rest his burthen upon the wall just where the way turns to the right again, leaving the mountains and chestnut-clad hills behind it.”

Here in the sketch we are made to feel the sunlight and the glare from the sea on the southern slope; every detail of the pathway, to the stones in the old wall, being accurately given.

Never, perhaps, in any book since Washington Irving’s Old Christmas and Bracebridge Hall was the illustrator more in touch with the author than in North Italian Folk; but for some reason—probably because Caldecott’s work and style had become identified with English people and their ways, both abroad and at home—the illustrations made little impression. The completeness of the pictures, and the local colour infused into them by the author, left little to be done; moreover, Caldecott was not on his own ground, and to draw buildings and landscape in black and white, with the finish, and what is technically called the “colour,” considered necessary for a book of this kind, was always irksome to him.

Gossip

Less characteristic, but charming as a drawing, is the group of country girls under the cherry trees, reproduced on the opposite page. It is a picture worth having for its own sake, whether it aid the[Pg 160] text or not, and one with which we may fitly leave this volume.

. . .

Chapter XI

“The picture was bought by me of poor Caldecott in 1878. I think it was exhibited at the Royal Academy in that year, but I bought it from his easel. It is an oil painting, 3 ft. 6 in. by 2 ft. 9 in., and the subject is the ‘Three Huntsmen.’ I remember his bringing the song to my house after the purchase, and reading the song with great enjoyment, pointing out to us how he had illustrated the verse, ‘We hunted and we holloed till the setting of the sun.’ My little granddaughter (Millais’ ‘Dorothy Thorpe’) was his model for several of his Christmas books. She is the little girl in Sing a Song of Sixpence and several others, and possesses copies sent by him with little sketches and dedications. He is indeed a national loss.”

Early in 1878, Mr. Edmund Evans, the wood engraver, came to him with a proposal that he should illustrate some books for children to be printed in colours. The plan was soon decided upon, and the first of the Picture Books was begun. In the summer of the same year, Caldecott went with the writer for a second time to Brittany.

It was at first intended to take a gig and drive through and through, the country, giving an account of adventures from day to day, and Caldecott (who was more at home perhaps, in a gig than in any other position of life) favoured the idea; but time and other circumstances prevented.

The next proposal was to give a general description of the country and its people, its churches and ruined castles, as they exist to-day. But Caldecott did not take to this idea; he never in his lifetime drew buildings with the same facility as figures, and, at that time, to attempt to make drawings of chateaux, cathedrals and the like, would have been unsuccessful. So the book,[Pg 170] Brittany Picturesque, which had already been partly written, was laid aside to give space for sketches of Breton Folk.[10]

The Trap

“We obtained a trap in a few days”—not the gig, independent of a driver, which Caldecott always sighed for. His delight and high spirits on the first journey, in 1874, are seen in the sketch where he is waving farewell to some astonished peasantry. To be “on the road” was always a pleasure to Caldecott, from the “old Whitchurch days,” which[Pg 171] he often described to his friends—driving home in the dark at reckless speed after a late supper, in a dog-cart full of rather uproarious company—down to 1885 at Frensham, when as host, he would drive his friends in the lanes of Surrey.

At least 200 sketches must have been made in these journeys; besides jottings of heads, figures and the like, and several drawings in water colours.

Sketching Under Difficulties

The summer fêtes and “pardons,” all through the[Pg 172] country, [Breton]  furnished capital material for his pencil, the women’s caps of different districts were each recorded, and here and there a solemn suggestive landscape noted for a picture which was never to be completed.

Breton Farmer and Cows

. . .

Writing from Pont Aven and recounting “the places which we have visited, done, sketched, interviewed and memorandumed”—he adds:[Pg 180]—

[Pg 181]

One of the best of Caldecott’s sketches here was “Returning from Labour,” a quiet spot on the banks of the Aven where he made several studies.

From another inn, in an “out of the way” part of Finisterre, he writes:—

The book plate was drawn for an old and intimate friend in Manchester, and it[Pg 195] is curious to note how closely the style of the family crest is followed in its various details. If it were not for certain satirical touches this ingenious design might easily pass for the work of[Pg 196] other hands; the touch and treatment have little in common with Caldecott as he is known; but the artistic completeness of the little book plate is another evidence of his power as a designer.