Of the earlier portraits of Carlyle three are specially interesting,
1. The full-length sketch by "Croquis" (Daniel Maclise) which formed
one of the _Fraser_ Gallery portraits, and was published in the
magazine in June, 1833. (The original sketch of this is now deposited
in the Forster Collection at South Kensington.) 2. Count D'Orsay's
sketch, published by Mitchell in 1839, is highly characteristic of
the artist. It was taken when no man of position was counted a dutiful
subject who did not wear a black satin stock and a Petersham coat.
The great author's own favourite among the early portraits was 3.
the sketch by Samuel Laurence, engraved in Horne's "New Spirit of the
Age," published in 1844. Since the art of photography came into vogue,
a series of photographs of various degrees of merit and success have
been executed by Messrs. Elliott and Fry, and by Watkins. The late
Mrs. Cameron also produced a photograph of him in her peculiar style,
but it was not so successful as her fine portrait of Tennyson. An
oil-painting by Mr. Watts, exhibited some fifteen years ago, and now
also forming part of the Forster Collection at South Kensington, is
remarkable for its weird wildness; but it gave great displeasure to
the old philosopher himself! More lately we have a remarkable portrait
by Mr. Whistler, who seized the _tout ensemble_ of his illustrious
sitter's character and costume in a very effective manner. The _terra
cotta_ statue by Mr. Boehm, exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1875,
has received such merited meed of enthusiastic praise from Mr.
Ruskin that it needs no added praise of ours. It has been excellently
photographed from two points of view by Mr. Hedderly, of Riley Street,
Chelsea.
One of the best and happiest of the many likenesses of Mr. Carlyle
that appeared during the last decade of his life was a sketch by Mrs.
Allingham--a picture as well as a portrait--representing the venerable
philosopher in a long and picturesque dressing-gown, seated on a chair
and poring over a folio, in the garden at the back of the quaint old
house at Chelsea, which will henceforth, as long as it stands, be
associated with his memory. Beside him on the grass lies a long clay
pipe (a churchwarden) which he has been smoking in the sweet
morning air. So that altogether, as far as pictorial, graphic, and
photographic art can go, the features, form, and bodily semblance of
Carlyle will be as well known to future generations as they are to our
own.
* * * * *
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