planation; but I could not, and fairly laid the book down again, and held my tongue. They asked me what the subject of the other was. So I said. 'Oh, nothing more than you

see.'

We must not overlook the outline portraits furnished to Fraser's Magazine by our artist, under the pseudonym of Alfred Croquis. What humour, what power of characterising in the artist, and what striking resemblances were achieved! charged with a little banter or grotesqueness, but still genuine portraits. We recal, with the melancholy pleasure which hangs round the objects of interest of our youth, the self-complacency with which Lady Morgan was adjusting her bonnet (not the wretched fly-away article of our days) at the glass; the dignified and gentle-looking Mrs. Norton, occupied with the tea urn; the handsome, dashing, W. H. Ainsworth, on the look-out for a footpad, and ready to send a bullet in his direction; and the young Disraeli, as if looking down on Europe and its pigmies from the flat roof of Sidoniass Kiosk, on Mount Horeb. But why did Alfred imagine such a mean and acquisitive face for nice Mr. Alaric Attila Watts (such a name!) as he furtively glides down stairs with a picture under each arm? We have the plate of "The Fraserians," Jan. 1835, before us, and delightedly gaze on the faces of Dr. Maginn, Rev. Edward Irving (all harshness of countenance softened away), Father Mahony, Sir Egerton Brooke Brydges, Carlyle (not the present hirsute face), Moir, Hook, Croker, Lockhart, the thoughtful, handsome, and benevolent face of Galt; the poor, ghastly looking countenance of the "Ancient Mariner;" Michael Angelo, Titmarsh, and his spectacles, such as he afterwards delighted to represent them and himself; Mr. Proctor, Mr. Southey, the artist, and others. Father Mahony, or Dr. Maginn, put this speech, referring to

Maclise, in the mouth of Mr. Croker:

"We literary folk are always thinking we are the finest fellows in the world, and have therefore a right to look down on all the rest of mankind; whereas, if the truth were known, all the rest of the world look down most contemptuously on us. Never mind! What I was about to remark was this,-While we were all chattering and gabbling about the affairs of all kinds of writing. people, we were forgetting that there was sitting amongst us a decent man who has the art of making faces never beat yet. I do not like mentioning names, for it is dangerous in these cross times, but there he is, Dan,--I beg pardon, for I was uncommon near making a slip of the tongue-there he is Mr. Alfred Croquis, sitting cheek-by-jowl to Mr. Barry Cornwall (Bryan Procter), and a neat article he is,-I mean Croquis equally as well as I mean Cornwall. Here he is, as demure and prim as a young lady at a christening, and good luck to him,only he is caricaturing us all the time he is sitting there, as quiet as if he was a mouse in a cheese. Nevertheless I give you his health, and long may he live to sketch and— etch! Here's your health, Dan, my boy-Alfred, I mean, only it's the same thing."

"Croquis, who is an uncommonly modest man, blushed up to the ears at the flattering address, and his confusion was not diminished by the enthusiastic reception with which his. name was greeted. A more tumultuous scene was hardly ever witnessed, and it would require all the graphic abilities of the painter of The Swearing-in of Captain Rock,' to do it justice."

6

Maclise's illustrations to the “National Melodies," were charmingly conceived and executed. He was at home wherever imagination entered into the treatment of a national subject, and such was the case with

"The Origin of the Harp." Moore in his youth found the design sketched with charcoal on a wall in Kilmainham prison, by Edward Hudson, as he relates in his "Life of Lord Edward Fitzgerald." Mr. O'Driscoll thus describes our artist's treatment of it :—“The sea maiden is seen standing at the entrance of a cave irradiated by the setting sun, the shining stalactites hanging from the roof and forming a brilliant and picturesque framework round the figure. The dark-blue sea waves are seen behind, and the sky above, the sunbeams stealing over and lighting up a part of it. The form of the siren is a beautiful conception: the limbs exhibit all the roundness and proportions of a statue, and the face is the incarnation of loveliness. A coronet of sea-flowers is wreathed through the dark shining tresses of the maiden, and imparts a picturesque and poetical character to the figure. This picture is at present in the possession of Allan Potter, Esq., of Liverpool."

The Actors' reception of the Author"--subject found in "Gil Blas "-was exhibited in 1843. We had the pleasure of studying it in the Royal Hibernian Academy, we cannot say how short or long afterwards. But the spirit of cringing humility on the part of the poor writer, and of insolent contempt on the parts of the actress and her company, and even the page, made a lasting impression on us. The usual power over facial character, the same attention to the costumes and all the accessories, were unmistakeable, but a want of mellowness in the carnation colours was felt. Between the warm shadows of the flesh and the higher lights, the introduction of a slightly coolish tint has a pleasing and harmonious effect; but in our artist's pieces the presence of a foxy or bricky tint in that position seriously marred the effect.

Mr. Wardell, a Dublin merchant, possesses at his country house,

Thorncliffe, Rathgar, the oil painting of "The Spirit of Chivalry," a copy of which in fresco, executed in 1847, adorns the House of Lords. The female figure embodying the principal character is mentioned in the text as clothed in white. In Mr. Wardell's copy she stands in red and blue, her sweet countenance and position expressive of high and noble aspirations. She is supported by Religion and Valour, in the persons of a bishop and a fully-armed king, and below the platform on which they stand, are disposed a young knight about to make his vows, ladies assisting at his equipment, a troubadour, a page, a pilgrimrepresentatives of History, Poetry, and the Arts, the whole composition breathing a heroic and ennobling spirit. In this, as in all Maclise's pictures, we find just care paid to every portion of the composition, truth of colour and form being lovingly attended to, without any lapse into the undesirable processes of Pre-Raphaelitism. In the same gallery is preserved the fine piece of "King Cophetua and the BeggarMaid," (to be noticed further on), along with many other ancient and modern pieces of great merit.

In 1849, his uninterrupted labours began to tell against him, and he became seriously ill. Still, in his communications to Forster and Dickens, he jested on his sufferings, made pen-and-ink portraits of himself with a fortnight's beard and long tangled hair, in the style of Macready in the first act of Werner. he presented himself intently painting at arm's length, with a poultice on his nose, secured by a bag and band. These, and other numerous sketches, are secured in the memoir by wood engravings, very cleverly executed by Mrs. Millard, of Dublin.

Anon

In 1850, he exhibited "The Spirit of Justice," an oil painting the original of the large fresco in the House of Lords. His biographer describes the painting in detail, but

we can only afford room to a few

sentences.

"The principal figures are Justice, Retribution, and Mercy. The face of Justice, sternly beautiful, seems illumined by the light of heaven itself, and the eyes are lustrous with celestial intelligence. The Angel of Retribution stands near, austere and inexorable; while Mercy, whose features beam with benignity and gentleness, seems pleading for the guilty one. The splendour of the accessories, and the exquisite finish and minuteness of the details, are wonderful. The drawing is perfectly faultless, and all the figures disclose a profound knowledge of the structure of the human body. It is impossible not to feel impressed with something like awe, as one looks on this great work. It elevates the mind into a region of thought, at once grand and sublime."

The same year was presented poor "Moses," exhibiting to his family his gross of green spectacles, the only thing he had to show out of the sale of the colt. It would not be easy to fix on the relative proportion of the wisdom exhibited by Moses, and that exhibited by his simple parents on the occasion. Our Oliver had not listened without profit to the household tales told at the fireside of the Meath parsonagehouse. One of them, entitled, "I'll be wiser next time," furnished the original of Moses' adventure.

In 1850, through the death of his brother-in-law, Mr. Percival Weldon Banks, the care for the well-being of his sister and her family devolved on him, and lovingly did he discharge his duty. In 1852 he sent to the Academy, "Alfred in the Danish Camp," and in 1854, "The Marriage of Strongbow and Eva." The Commissioners of Fine Arts entered on a negotiation with him for the reproduction of this fine historical picture, in fresco, on one of the walls of the Painted Chamber; but after a world of parley the thing fell through.

Being appointed a Fine-Art Juror for the Parisian Exhibition of 1855, he crossed the Strait; but his office happening to demand little trouble and less time, he made the Italian tour in company with his brother Joseph. He evidently did not possess the stuff which enters into the composition of travellers by choice. He thus speaks of Carrara :

"The whole town, the hotel, the street, one blaze of light, a very Koh-i-Noor of a town, reflected from glaring white marble everywhere, and up to the knees in burning lime-dust. My eyes-an appropriate exclamation-will never again recover their well-known power. We walked up into the quarries, and slaked the lime-dust into mortar all the way by rills running off from our distilling bodies. . . . We got off from our guide with the never-failing fleecing."

The Southern Italians consider that life is not worth enduring after the sight of their famous city. Hence their direction, "See Naples and die!" Maclise nearly obeyed the order when he slid down from Vesuvius.

"We made the ascent-one to me, who have had some experience of Ben Nevis, Cruachan, and Lomond, as a pedestrian,--of the most wretched distress over burning cinders, and clinkers, and boulders of pumice-stone, that rolled away from beneath the feet at every step. I rejected all offers of assistance in my pride, and would not hear for a moment of laying hold of a leathern kind of girdle strapped round a meagre old Italian, who offered the assistance. At last the top was gained, and I grovelled amid hot ashes,-hot from without and within; tried to eat the boiled eggboiled in a hot hole from which, as well as from all the four craters about, issued clouds of sulphurous smoke, that made us both cough and sneeze, and drank a bottle of ordinary wine. I rejected the refreshment the moment I took it,

and began to fear I must give in. However, after resting an hour, I felt able to propose the descent, and plunged down through ashes-every step knee deep (no exaggeration) which came rolling with us like a river, and filled my boots so closely, that if it only cohered, it would have taken a complete mould of my foot and shin. I fell twice, splitting my check trousers at the knee, and cutting the same over the bone very severely."

In 1857 he exhibited forty sketches of subjects connected with the Norman conquest. His biographer says of them :

"Were it possible to interweave with the fascinating fabric of Lord Lytton's Harold, the stern realities of the same period described by Dr. Lingard, these splendid drawings would form an attractive set of illustrations to the work. In this story, which the artist tells with his pencil, there is a beautiful blending of history and romance, and he has sustained his high reputation for grandeur of conception, inventive genius, masterly and effective grouping, and unrivalled dexterity of hand."

"The

The next pieces to be noticed are "The Nymph of the Waterfall" (an Irish girl crossing a river on stepping-stones), painted for Charles Dickens, and "Salvator Rosa offering one of his Works for sale to a Jew Dealer." The first of these was purchased at Mr. Dickens's sale, by Mr. Forster, for six hundred and ten guineas, a price not too high, taking its beauties into account. features of the nymph are inexpressibly sweet; her dress-that of a peasant girl--is simply but tastefully arranged, falling in graceful folds, and disclosing the beautiful symmetry and proportions of the figure." In the other an additional interest is given to the incident of the poor young artist being obliged to part cheaply with his work, by the earnest gaze bent on him by the Jew's daughter, as she hands down

the money-box from the inner penetralia of the booth.

The great cartoon of "The Meeting of the Field-marshals, Wellington and Blucher at Waterloo," was commenced in March, 1858, and finished in July, 1859. It measured forty-five feet some inches in length, and the fresco - painting executed from it in the palace of Westminster, was completed December, 1861. The damp and uncertain climate of Britain, as is well known, is far from being as favourable to the preservation of pictures painted in fresco on walls, as the climate of Italy or Greece, and the difficulties of execution in fresco much exceed those experienced in oil. The painter gets fresh plaster laid on as much of the wall as he supposes he can cover at one seance, has the subject well before him, and executes what he has to do at once, for there can be no retouching. His colours are all of the mineral class, his vehicle water, and when the work is dry the hues are different from the appearance the materials presented when laid on. The lime in the plaster, combining with them and the carbonic-acid gas, affects the tone, and imparts a certain adhesive character to them. As has been already remarked, ordinary frescoes in the central and northern countries of Europe are liable to injury from damp, and exposed to the inconvenience of scaling off. But the patient and persevering Germans have succeeded, by means of what is called the waterglass (ie., pure silica dissolved by an alkali), in fixing the materials and preserving them from all the injuries to which they are obnoxious in the climates of Germany and England.

Under the old regime, as already mentioned, the artist having covered the fresh plaster with his colours, could not retouch any part of his work, and next day another coat of this plaster had to be carefully joined

to that of yesterday, and another limited portion of painting applied till the artist came to the edge. And, ah! the trouble and worry attending the continuation of yesterday's work by colours of the same depth of hue, those to be laid on not corresponding by any means in appearance with those of which they were expected to be continuations. In the new or stereocromic process, the artist having had any extent of surface prepared with plaster, tempered or not with the water-glass, lays his colours freely and broadly, as he may go over the surface again and again, merely moistening the portion to be freshly covered from a particular kind of sprinkler. By a scientific use of the dissolved silicate, he is enabled to fix his colours, and give the whole composition permanence. Mr. Maclise having covered a portion of the wall by the old process was inspired by some good genius to lay aside colour, lime, and sand, and travel to Berlin. There he was enabled to make experiments, and see the German artists make them, and communicate with them through Lady Eastlake, as he neither could speak High Dutch, nor understand it when spoken by others.

The great fresco was painted with the utmost attention to truth of costume, and of every adjunct properly belonging to the subject. Portfolios were filled with sketches of every variety of Prussian and English uniform, the portrait of Copenhagen, the Duke's charger copied, buttons, swords, belts, and every conceivable arm carefully noted; and when it was discovered that Blucher, during these days of danger despised the foppery of a hat and feather, that head-dress was erased from the cartoon, and a plain peaked forage cap substituted. In the book a woodcut of this, and the stern face under it is given.

In March, 1862, the great fresco was made visible to the public, a

year and a quarter after the last sprinkle of water-glass had been given to it, and this is what met the said public's eyes :

"In front of the house, 'La Belle Alliance,' shown in the centre of the picture, Wellington and Blucher are in the act of shaking hands. The Duke is mounted on his favourite charger, 'Copenhagen.' There is an expression of savage and vengeful triumph in the face of the Prussian General. The features of the great Duke indicate calm and stern resolution with mingled emotions of sadness and sorrow, as he regards the masses of his devoted and gallant soldiers lying around. him, dead and dying."

We have not left ourselves space to particularise the details of the great piece, the portraits of the English and Prussian Generals, and all the peculiar features of battle just won. "The Young Gallant Howard," of Lord Byron's muse, is seen borne off the field by a Highlander of the Foot-guards, and a Fusilier. A Hanoverian soldier mortally wounded is aided by Belgian priests, a Sister of Charity, and a Vivandiere; the dying and dead fill appropriate portions, and in the rear British cavalry are pressing on the retreating French.

"This picture is pre-eminently the largest and most finished composition ever achieved by an English artist, and no continental painter has approached it in magnitude or grandeur of conception. The work is one of which any nation may be proud. It is an imperishable record of the great battle which consummated the destiny of Napoleon. The picture tells with silent eloquence its own tale of triumph. . . . . . It is the first wall painting of such enormous dimensions that has been produced in England, or any where else, according to the water-glass or stereochromic method. Congratulatory communications reached the artist from France and other parts of the