The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1900-01-09

/ little boy showed q precocious talent
! for drawing. to set him up on the bar
and have him, at the age Of 3 make
charcoal sketches Of the customers.
with very rare exceptions men who
! achieve distinction in art begin at an
/ early age the labor which is so init
mate q part Of their lives, since. as
/ with scarcely any other professional
men, the painter never for a moment
ceases to think Of his own work. In
order to accomplish great things in
art there are many preliminary matters
TO be considered and such questions as
technique, drawing, composition and
the mechanical manipulation Of the
pigment must be settled early in the
career, so that the mind is left free to
cope with the more important and
greater attributes Otherwise the man
is continually hampered with distress
/ ing details and worries that preclude
mastership. So, in looking over the
list Of the worlds great artists, we
find that most of them were well
equipped at a time when modern men
are still at the schools. Lawrence drew
cTaditably when he was 10 years old,
and, although he had no instruction,
he seemed to get at his results by in
tuition, as it were, from the first. Later
he went for a while to the schools at
the ROyOl academy, but he did not
linger long there, and it may be said
that he practically earned his living
from the time ne was 10 years of age.
Thomas Lawrence was born in Bris-
tOl, England, on May 4, 1863, where his
father at that time kept a hotel, al
though he came Of people in fair social
standing, the grandfather Of the
painter was a sort Of ne'er do well and
OF a rowing disposition. so that he went
from Bristol to Oxford and thence to
Bath. following the fashionable world
trying to find sitters for his little boy,
who was considered a phenomenon
with the chalks. and who drew any
body willing to give up a few shillings
for the work. The lad was good look
ing and received a great deal of at
tention, which did not turn his head,
however, and he had a certain vogue
even at this early period among promi-
nent people travelling thither for the
baths or amusement. There remains,
done at this time in colOTed chalks, an
old portrait of the duchess Of Devon
shire. which still hangs in Chiswick
house. in the room in which Charles
Fox died. Then, as all through his
career, he was a faithful worker. ap-
plying himself with great enthusiasm,
and presently, in 1857, he came to Lon
don for the first time He was now in
his 18th year, and is described as being
handsome in person, with bright eyes,
regular. features and long, brown hair
falling over his shoulders in curls. He
took rooms in Leicester Fields, near
Sir Joshua Reynolds, whom he little
thought he was one day to succeed as
president of the Royal academy.
The genial Sir Joshua was very
friendly to the young man, and gave
him much kindly advice. At first he
was carried away by the prevailing
classlcism of the day. for it was a
tina in England when it was the
fashion to dress modern heroes up in
Roman tOgas and pose them before
great columns and curtains on marble
benches or in the environment of the
old Caeoarian times. Features were
painted with an aggravating regularity
and lack Of character that in these
DAYS it is difficult to account for. There
was stiItedness in the pose and a POM
pos6ty that did not escape being ridi-
culous. This custom prevailed as well
in France. and may be said to have
eliminated with the work Of the paint
er David. Thus it was that Law
rences first effort was a commission to
paint picture called Homer Reeiting
His Poems to the Greeks" The work
success. The year before, however he
had executed a portrait Of the beauti-
full Misc Farren. the actress, who later
married Lord Derby, and with this
canvas he Immediately attracted great
attention among the critics of the day
and the fashionable world of London.
Tt paved the way for many subsequent
commissions, for il was the portrait of
the year at the exhibition. The op-
portunity was most favorable for Law
renee. GainsbOrough had died two
years before, Sir Joshua was old and
nearly blind, and Romney had but g.
small following. The king. George III,
took an immense fancy to the young
man: he had himself. his queen and
the Princess Amelia painted by Law
renee. and he went so far in his fav0rit-
ism as TO insist by a royal edict on
having him made an associate Of the
Royal academy when he had barely
attained his majority although. by the
laws of the institution, he was not
really eligible until the age of "A.
Three years later Lawrence was
elected full acadeInician. and twelve
months afterward he was made painter
in ordinary to his majesty. lie was