Self Help; with Illustrations of Conduct and PerseveranceSmiles, Samuel
Philosophy
Self Help; with Illustrations of Conduct and Perseverance
Smiles, Samuel
Conduct of life
his way to London, and with characteristic good sense, sought employment
as an assistant carver, studying painting and modelling at his bye-hours.
Among the jobs on which he was first employed as a journeyman carver, was
the decoration of the dining-room of Mr. Rogers, the poet—a room in which
he was in after years a welcome visitor; and he usually took pleasure in
pointing out his early handywork to the guests whom he met at his
friend’s table.
Returning to Sheffield on a professional visit, he advertised himself in
the local papers as a painter of portraits in crayons and miniatures, and
also in oil. For his first crayon portrait he was paid a guinea by a
cutler; and for a portrait in oil, a confectioner paid him as much as
5_l._ and a pair of top boots! Chantrey was soon in London again to
study at the Royal Academy; and next time he returned to Sheffield he
advertised himself as ready to model plaster busts of his townsmen, as
well as paint portraits of them. He was even selected to design a
monument to a deceased vicar of the town, and executed it to the general
satisfaction. When in London he used a room over a stable as a studio,
and there he modelled his first original work for exhibition. It was a
gigantic head of Satan. Towards the close of Chantrey’s life, a friend
passing through his studio was struck by this model lying in a corner.
“That head,” said the sculptor, “was the first thing that I did after I
came to London. I worked at it in a garret with a paper cap on my head;
and as I could then afford only one candle, I stuck that one in my cap
that it might move along with me, and give me light whichever way I
turned.” Flaxman saw and admired this head at the Academy Exhibition,
and recommended Chantrey for the execution of the busts of four admirals,
required for the Naval Asylum at Greenwich. This commission led to
others, and painting was given up. But for eight years before, he had
not earned 5_l._ by his modelling. His famous head of Horne Tooke was
such a success that, according to his own account, it brought him
commissions amounting to 12,000_l._
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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