English Illustration 'The Sixties': 1855-70: With Numerous Illustrations by Ford Madox Brown: A. Boyd Houghton: Arthur Hughes: Charles Keene: M. J. Lawless: Lord Leighton, P.R.A.: Sir J. E. Millais, P.R.A.: G. Du Maurier: J. W. North, R.A.: G. J. Pinwell: Dante Gabriel Rossetti: W. Small: Frederick Sandys: J. Mcneill Whistler: Frederick Walker, A.R.A.: and Others — Dante Alighieri — John Shaqi
English Illustration 'The Sixties': 1855-70: With Numerous Illustrations by Ford Madox Brown: A. Boyd Houghton: Arthur Hughes: Charles Keene: M. J. Lawless: Lord Leighton, P.R.A.: Sir J. E. Millais, P.R.A.: G. Du Maurier: J. W. North, R.A.: G. J. Pinwell: Dante Gabriel Rossetti: W. Small: Frederick Sandys: J. Mcneill Whistler: Frederick Walker, A.R.A.: and Others
Dante Alighieri · en
When the connection of Dickens with his old publishers was severed,
and _All the Year Round_ issued from its own office, Messrs. Bradbury
and Evans projected a rival paper that was in no sense an imitation of
the former. The reasons for its success lie on the surface. Started by
the proprietors of _Punch_, with the co-operation of an artistic staff
that has been singularly fortunate in enlisting always the services
of the best men of their day, it is obvious that few periodicals have
ever been launched under happier auspices. Its aim was obviously to
do for fiction, light literature, and _belles-lettres_, what _Punch_
had accomplished so admirably for satire and caricature. At that time,
with no rivals worth consideration, a fixed intention to obtain for a
new magazine the active co-operation of the best men of all schools
was within the bounds of possibility. To-day a millionaire with a
blank cheque-book could not even hope to succeed in such a project.
He would find many first-rate artists, whom no amount of money would
attract, and others with connections that would be imperilled if they
contributed to a rival enterprise. There are many who prefer the safety
of an established periodical to the risk which must needs attend any
'up-to-date' venture. Now _Once a Week_ was not merely 'up-to-date'
in its period, but far ahead of the popular taste. As we cannot rival
it to-day in its own line, even the most ardent defender of the
present at the expense of the past must own that the improvement in
process-engraving and the increased truth of facsimile reproductions
it offers have not inspired draughtsmen to higher efforts. Why so
excellent a magazine is not flourishing to-day is a mystery. It
would seem as if the public, faithful as they are to non-illustrated
periodicals, are fickle where pictures are concerned. But the memory
of the third series of _Once a Week_ relieves the public of the
responsibility; changes in the direction and aim of the periodical were
made, and all for the worse; so that it lost its high position and no
more interested the artist. _Punch_, its sponsor, seems to have the
secret of eternal youth, possibly because its original programme is
still consistently maintained.