The Sun.
London, England, 1852-10-05 00:00:00

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THE LATE AIR. WILLIAM IiTe.gPRIV;II7-'-',-,
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It was only last week that we spoke/ ~i r.sayr. e
Finders as oee of the seven or eight etniaOrtiOstaiqt4ikktiti!a, n
engravers whose names were attached to 464i0n. 40,,q,,k-......:; -
her Majesty for the recognition of the aure.4,-91,je? . ,
gravers to the full honours of the Rcyalf --sie ?..`'-t"' and we have now to announce that the afff
signature to that petition wee one of the last acts s.v.
Mr. Finden's life. He caught cold on his return
from a meeting of his fellow engravers—the cold
aggravated an old complaint, disease of the heart—
and on the 20th of September he was no more. He
died a widower, in the 65th year of his age. Mr.
William Finder' was the elder brother of Mr. Ed-
ward Finden, in conjunction with whose name his
own is honourably mentioned, and will be
remembered hereafter in the history of art
in this country. He was, we believe, a pupil of
the late Mr. Charles Warren, known to collectors
by his exquisite engraving after " The Broken Jar"
by Wilkie. From Warren be learnt much, but he
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was under more secret and really greater obligations
in his art to Mr. James Heath (father of the late
,Mr. Charles Heath) than he was to Mr. Warren—
many of his early works done for embellishing books
published by Sharpe, Sattaby, and others, bearing
unmistakable evidences how carefully he bad given
his days and nights to the study of Mr. Heath's en-
gravings. In thisstyle
are excellent
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cheilsl e ne at
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Sinirke's "Don Quixote,"
his art. Mr. Finden's:great works—works great in point
of size—are not numerous. His largest and best is his
full-length portrait of George the Fourth seated cc, a
sofa, from the original picture painted by Sir Thomas
Lawrence for the Marchioness of Conynghara.
The work is a true translation of the picture
rendered with the feeling of an artist. The
price for the George the Fourth was large. Mr.
Finden received 1,500 gunieas for engraving it—the
highest price, we believe, ever paid for engraving a
portrait. After the sofa King George, Mr. Finden's
next important large works in point of size and merit
are his " Highlander's return" (the Wilkie still an
ornament at Cassiobury) ; "The Village Festival,"
after the well-known picture by the same artist,
painted for Mr. Angerstein, aed now in the National
Gallery; and "The Naughty Boy," a boy standing,
with dogged lock, close to hi.,.1.w0k:,.n slate—after the
original by Sir Edwin Lanoseer in Mr. Sheepshanke's
collection. For " The Highlander's Return" he re-
ceived 600 gunieas ; and for "Tie Naughty Boy"
150 guineas. What be received for "The Village
Festival" we do not remember to have heard. He
was never happier than in this engaving after
Wilkie. Working for the booksellers as Mr. Finden
and his brother worked, gave them both a taste for
work on their own account. It was not long, there-
fore, before they became publishers—not ostensibly,
but really publishers, as sharing in the profits and
loss of their new undertakings. Their great work,
in this branch of their profession, was "The Byron
Illustrations"—a really beautiful work—conceived and
executed with great spirit, taste, and success. Except
in the remarkable instance of " The Byron
Illustrations," Mr. Finden and his brother were
unsuccessful publishers. Buoyed up by the Byron
success, Mr. William Finden launched into other
expensive undertakings, and of which the most
important, and perhaps the most costly, was " The
Gallery of British Art." In this venture he wrecked
his Byron savings, and he became a poor man. The
last great work on which Mr. Fiaden was employed
was an engraving for the Art Union of London, after
Hilton's large picture of " The Crucifixion?' Mr.
Finden lies buried in the General Cemetery at
Highgate.—Atherueum.

TESTIMOMAL TO MR. WALLACE.
Mr. Wallace, well known as the late member for
Greenock, and the zealous advocate of cheap postage,
having „fallen on evil times in his old ago, a committee
was formed in Greenock in 1850, with the laudable pur-
pose of raising a land to make permanent provision for
the honourable gentleman's declining years. The com-
mittee have succeeded in raising a fund which will se-
cure an annuity at the rate of 5001. per annum. The
ceremony of presenting this handsome testimonial, in
addition to a bast of Mr. Wallace, executed by Mr. P.
Park, took place on Thursday last, in Blackball-street
Church, Grenoek, in the presence of the Provost and
the principal people of the town and surrounding
country. Mr. Wallace, on making his appearance, was
loudly cheered. A report of the proceedings of the
committee was read by Mr. A. Dennistoun, she details
being closed by the following paragraph:—" Your com-
mittee have the satisfaction of reporting, that while they
cannot state that their efforts have met with the seems
which they believed they deserved, they have secured
to Mr. Wallace a testimonial worthy, at hest, of his
acceptance. The subscriptions under the charge of this
committee, along with the contributions to the private
fund already referred to, would together be represented
by an annuity of 5001. per annum; and as the commit-
tee were desirous of providing some permanent and
more public testimonial of the labours of Mr. Wallace,
they engaged the service of that eminent sculptor, Mr.
P. Park, of Edinburgh, who has produced the bust now
on your table, which the committee propose to present
to Mr. Wallace this evening, and they recommend that
the Town Council of Greenock- should be respectfully
requested to procure a copy of the bast in marble, to be
placed in the Town-hall, in commemoration of the great
public services of Mr. Wallace, the first representative
of Greenock, daring the four Parliaments of thirteen
years he represented the burgh." Mr. J. F. Macfarlan,
Edinburgh, proposed the adoption of the report, which
was seconded by Baillie Campbell, of Greenock, and
unanimously agreed to. Mr. T. Hamlin, the convener of
the committee, then presented the testimonial. Mr.
Wallace acknowledged the testimonial in a speech of
great length, in which he gave an interesting review of
his whole public life; after which the proceedings
terminated.