The memory of the _Henrietta_ is not likely to be forgotten so easily as
that of the Scoresbys, for gateposts made from whale jaws are common near
the coast of north eastern Yorkshire, and one on the road from Pickering
to Scarborough, between the villages of Hutton Buscel and East Ayton,
bears the name of the famous ship.
A contemporary of the Scoresbys was John Jackson, R.A. He was the son of a
tailor of Lastingham and was born at that very remote village on the 31st
May 1778. As a boy he showed a predilection for portrait-painting in the
sketches he made of his companions, although his father discouraged his
efforts in that direction, not wishing to lose his boy's services as an
apprentice to the tailoring business. When he was about nineteen he had
the good fortune to be introduced to Lord Mulgrave who brought him to the
notice of the Earl of Carlisle and soon after we find him studying the
great collection of pictures at Castle Howard.
Jackson's first attempt at a painting in oils was a copy of a portrait by
Sir Joshua Reynolds lent to him by Sir George Beaumont. Lastingham was
unable to supply him with proper materials, but he managed to obtain some
very rough paints and brushes from the village house-painter and glazier,
and with these crude materials made such an admirable copy that Sir George
or Lord Mulgrave or both together advised him to go to London, promising
him L50 a year during the time that he was working as a student. From this
time his progress was rapid. In 1804 he exhibited at the Royal Academy for
the first time, in 1815 he was elected an associate and in 1817 he
received the full honours of the Academy. Although he was a Wesleyan
Methodist, Jackson was broad-minded in his religious opinions, for he made
a copy of Correggio's "Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane" (with the
figures increased to life size) for Lastingham parish church. The picture
is now on the north side of the apse but its original position was above
the communion table and in order to give the picture sufficient space and
light the apse of Transitional Norman date was very roughly treated.
Jackson contributed L50 towards the alterations, but the restoration at a
later date has fortunately wiped out these disfigurements.
Another boy destined to become a tailor was Francis Nicholson who was born
at Pickering in 1753. His father, who was a weaver, gave young Francis a
good education in Pickering, and wisely abandoning the tailoring idea the
boy was sent to Scarborough for instruction from an artist. After three
years he returned to Pickering and occupied himself in painting portraits
and pictures of horses, dogs and game for local patrons. Then followed a
period of study in London, where Nicholson made great progress and
eventually began to devote himself to water colours, for which in his long
life he was justly famous, well deserving the name generally given to him
as the "Father of water colour painting."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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