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FLIMSY LANDSCAPE.

life of poverty and pining, Wilson died at last, worn out and all but broken-hearted, in Wales, whither he had retired to die in peace.

Gainsborough's graceful but somewhat flimsy landscapes had also their effect, as Morland's, too, had, on the mind of Turner; for no man was ever more ready to admire and learn from the talent of another.

CHAPTER VI.

TURNER AND GIRTIN AT DR. MUNRO's.

IT is supposed that Turner's early patron, Dr. Munro, of the Adelphi-terrace, was first attracted to his works by seeing some of his country sketches in the barber's window in Maiden-lane.

It is not improbable, however, that Dr. Munro may also have heard of the clever lad through his friend Raphael Smith, the engraver, Morland's friend, who was at this time employing a clever lad named Girtin, with Turner, to colour prints; and who was intimate also with Cozens, the celebrated landscape-painter who had accompanied Beckford, the young millionaire of Wiltshire, to Italy.

If indeed the acquaintance arose after 1790, when Turner began to exhibit, the lad's own productions at Somerset House would have been quite enough to attract an exhibition-haunting amateur.

His other great patron in the Adelphi-terrace, Mr. Henderson, probably heard of Turner through Dr. Munro. Dr. Munro, one of George III.'s mad doctors (not the most famous), lived at next door, No. 4 or 6, I am not sure which; and Mr. Henderson

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FIRESIDE EVENINGS.

at No. 3 or 4. Garrick, who died in 1779, had inhabited No. 5, the centre house. Topham Beauclerk -Dr. Johnson's great friend, so often mentioned by Boswell-had lived in the same row, built by the Scotch brothers whom the Earl of Bute patronized, on the site of one of the old Strand palaces.

On winter evenings (for in summer the lads were out on the Thames or in the country sketching) Turner and Girtin repaired to the Doctor's costly furnished house, and spent an hour or two in sketching and in colouring. The "good Doctor," as Turner always called him in after-life, was in the habit of giving them half-a-crown each for their night's drawing, and a supper afterwards.

By the aid of a catalogue of Dr. Munro's pictures, now lying before me, I learn in what direction the kind Doctor's tastes lay, and what pictures hung round the walls of the house in Adelphi-terrace when Turner first crossed its threshold.

The cheery fire, on those pleasant winter evenings, shone especially on a wild landscape by Salvator Rosa, the "Search for Orlando;" on "A View of the Ponte Sesto," by Van Lint; on an Italian landscape, by Zuccarelli; "A Boy picking Fruit," by Snuyders; the "Condemnation of Haman," by Rembrandt-Esther, in sheeny white satin, miraculously mellow and dimpled with light, not to be forgotten, and a fascinating Gainsborough landscape, brown and transparent-an Italian villa, with a man leading horses, full of the Suffolk man's witchery and

ease.

Then the portfolios-swollen with wealth-for

LOOKING OVER PORTFOLIOS.

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studying and copying; drawing the coloured sketches,

and colouring the pencil studies.

age,

must

Both lads, with the plastic minds of their have derived deep impressions from these sketching and copying evenings. Here Girtin saw the Canaletti drawings of London and Venice that he so much loved to imitate. Here Turner saw the Loutherbourgs, the Hearnes, the Sandbys, and the Cozens's that he learnt so much from: and which presently we shall find him first copying, then rivalling, and lastly excelling. Here, too, he saw many neat, careful, dry architectural studies by Dayes, Girtin's master. Here too he saw Wilson's and Gainsborough's studies, and learnt from the first grace, and from the others dignity, harmony, and breadth.

Luckily, as I am enabled* to tell my readers what kind of pictures adorned the walls of kind Dr. Munro's handsome house in the Adelphi-terrace, I can also tell them in some degree what were the sketches the two lads executed under his eye.

I can imagine the two young artists-Turner and Girtin-looking round the walls and over the portfolios. They both would admire the playful grace of Gainsborough's sketchy landscapes: his airy pencillings, his "figures at a cottage-door," his "cart on a road," his "figures dancing," his "cows crossing a brook." Turner would chuckle too over the Suffolk man's humorous "landscapes on blotting paper," and his blue paper would suggest to Turner the atmosphere that might be obtained by using such

* By means of a catalogue of Dr. Munro's pictures, kindly supplied to me by G. Christie, Esq.

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TURNING OVER DRAWINGS.

แ

material. Dr. Munro, contemplating some day living at Harrow, would point out Gainsborough's view of its pleasant hill on blue paper. Here Turner can see other Gainsboroughs a gentleman's seat;" "horses and cattle at a shed;" "landscape, with pigs;" "road scenes, with sheep;" "trees and pool of water;" "landscape, with tower;" "river scene, with sloop and figures;" "road scene, with mounted figures;" and "rocky landscape, with waterfall." All misty, sketchy, graceful fragments of an unsuccessful landscape-painter's poetry.

Then, if the Doctor is in a very good humour, he doubtless shows his boys the camera-obscura, with ten subjects of landscapes, sea-pieces, and moonlights, beautifully painted by Gainsborough; or takes down the spirited and clever sketch in oil, by the same artist, for them to look at-"A landscape with an Italian villa and trees, near a wood, in which is a man leading a horse."

The Doctor is proud of this painter, for he has many copies from him, and sketch-books too, from which valuable hints are to be got.

Then the kind Doctor is rich in Cozens's, which Girtin copies, and which Turner studies closely. There are landscapes and pen sketches, Swiss views and Italian views, particularly on the Neapolitan coast: the Bay of Salerno and the Tomb of Virgil are there, for the lads to learn aërial perspective and its poetry from.

Of Dayes too, Girtin's master, with his neat small figures and his slight dry manner, there are many specimens, comprising coloured sketches of antiqui