The Sun.
London, England, 1865-12-26 00:00:00

Death of Sir Charles Eastlake.

A telegram, which reached town on Sunday from
Pisa, announces the sad intelligence of the death of
Sir C. Eastlake, President of the Royal Academy.
" Men of the Time" contains the following notice of

he late president:—Sir Chas. Locke Eastlake was

the son of a solicitor at Plymouth, where he was
born about 1793. He was educated at the Charter-

house, which he quitted at an early age, for the
purpose of pursuing his artistic studies. After the
usual probation at the Royal Academy, under Fuseli,
he painted a picture of " The Raising of Jairus's
daughter," purchased by the late Mr. Jeremiah
Harman, one of the leading connoisseurs of the
time, by whom he was employed to make copies
from celebrated pictures in the Louvre—an occupa-

tion which the incursion of the Emperor Napoleon
from Elba, in 1815, compelled him to relinquish.

On his return home he employed himself chiefly in
portrait painting in his native town, and on the
arrival at Plymouth of the Bellerophon with Napo-
leon Bonaparte on board, he managed, from sketches
made daily alongside, to paint a full length
life-size portrait of the ex-Emperor, as he appeared
at the gangway of the ship. In 1817 Mr. Eastlake
visited Italy, and in 1819 Greece, accompanied by
the late Sir Charles Barry. In the following year he
made the tour of Sicily, after which he returned to
Rome, where he remained several years. The first
year in which we find any pictures in the Royal
Academy from his pencil was in 1823, when he ex-
hibited views of the bridge and castle of St. Angelo,
the Coliseum, and St. Peter's. Soon afterwards he
began to paint those costumed groups, illustrative of
Italian life, for which the neighbourhood of Rome
affords such abundant materials, a class of subjects
then much sought for by its occasional visitors. The
first of his works of this kind sent over to England
for exhibition was " A Girl of Albano Leading a
Blind Woman to Mass" (1825), to which succeeded,
in 1827, a more ambitious attempt, " The Spartan
Isadas." In 1827 Mr. Eastlake was elected an asso-
ciate of the Royal Academy, and in the year ensuing
he produced his " Pilgrims Arriving in Sight of
Rome," his most successf al effort. During his resi-
dence in Rome he painted many pictures of cabinet
size, of subjects connected with Roman banditti,
contadini, &c. In 1830 he attained the rank of Royal
Academician, and returned to England, when he
abandoned his Italian costumed groups for a higher
walk of art. He still continued, however, to illus-
trate Italian history, poetry, and manners; and his
" Contadina and Family Returning from a Festa
prisoners to Banditti," a repetition of a similar sub-
ject painted by him in Rome, and "Escape of Fran-
cesco di Carrara and his wife," must always rank
among his most successful efforts. In a similar
category may be classed several scenes of theTurco-
Greek war, his " Greek Fugitives," his " Arab
Selling his Captives ;" his " Gaston de Foix," &c.
About this period he began to devote himself
more especially to religious subjects, and his
" Christ Blessing the Little Children," " Christ
Weeping over Jerusalem," " Hagar and Ishmael,"
I remind us in sentiment of some of the best works of

Ary Scheffer, but are more agreeable in colour. The
reputation attained by Mr. Eastlake, both as an
artist and connoisseur, led to his appointment in
1841, by Sirß. Peel, to the office of secretary to the
Royal Commission of Fine Arts. In 1843 he was
appointed Keeper of the National Gallery, but he
resigned the office in 1847. In 1850, on the death
of Sir M. A. Shee, he was elected President of the
Royal Academy, and received the honour of knight-
hood. In 1855 Sir Charles Eastlake was appointed
director of the National Gallery, under the new
and greatly extended form of organisation, since
which that institution has received numerous and
valuable additions worthy of the chefs d'ceuvre in
the Angerstein collection gallery, which formed the
basis of our national collection. His avocations,
however, appear to have left him little leisure for
art, and we have accordingly had but few pictures
from his easel for some time past. Sir C. Eastlake
has made several valuable contributions to the lite-
raturemen-
ti,oNn eodt e
shti so translation Handbook
oeotfh
aoinntinCgo,,l,ouarn,:;
"Contributions towards a History of Oil Painting."
• •g. "
He was one of the trustees of the National Portrait
Gallery, and also ex-officio a trustee of the British
Museum.

DR. PRITCHARD, THE MURDERER.—On Thurs-
day Dr. James Paterson was presented, in the
Crown Hotel, Glasgbw, with a testimonial subscribed for
by a large number of citizens, as a mark of respect for
and sympathy•with him in the difficult position in which
ho was placed in connexion with Dr. Pilchard's trial. The
testimonial consisted of a purse containing 200 guineas,
and a handsome silver salver bearing a suitable inscriptio
which had been subscribed for by a number of old and at-
tached friends, and also by many who knew nothing of
Dr. Paterson except from his conduct.