New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1911-05-13
The Pre.RaphaeIite in Life, Art
and Letters.

MEMOIRS AND IMPRESSIONS, A
study in atmospheres BY Ford MACON aoe
Hueffer illustrated. svc. PIP so
Harper Bro.
Mr.. Ford a. Hueffer. grandson OF the
PAINTER Ford MADDOX Brown, son OF the
distinguished musical critic Franz Huef-
fer and nephew by marriage OF w. M
Rossetti was brought up In the pre-
Raphaelite camp and appears 10 nave
begun takin' notes Of his surroundings
at an extremely early age. His store
of anecdotes is large, his characterize
tions are acute, his impressions are VIVID
1t is on these impressions that he lays
most stress He is willing to concede
inaccuracies as to fact-and. Indeed Ills
Uncle William has. at great length ana
with some acerbity. publicly defihe"
many of these minor inaccuracies-but
the spirit of the time and the move
ment, the mental atmosphere OF the pre-
Rarhaelites, he has skilfully reVealeo ~
us. Everybody is aware that by oih' VI
repetition by the muzzy-mindeo aheo-
dotes may be so changed that they pass
those deriving from the period OF MI
Hueffers infancy have been thus
changed for hin-as for example, the
story of the bestowal Of pair or new
boots by the Rossetti-Swinburne house.
hold unon the poverty stricken George
Meredith. This story Uncle "iiiiani
sweeps away and pooh-poohs as he were
very Podsnap. No doubt he is right' anu
the story as his nephew received II was
previously altered or humorous'y exag-
rerated. There may be other instances
OF error. but the student Of the literature
of acknowledgements especially Oh
w. NJ. Rossetti's innumerable volumes
must feel that Mr.. Hueffer writes III
good faith and with substantial truth
And his book is one Of the most anus
ing we have seen in a long Whlie.
Almost all the intellectually uncoh-
yentional of the COS and 1Os gathered,
Is Mr.. Hueffer reminds us. around his
grandfather. Brown was the most gen.
erous. openhanded and sympathetic OF
men. but neither he nor any of his pre-
Raphaelite confreres Of the inner circle
were of the sort who die of rose or
lily in aromatic pain. One author tells
us that they were to man rather
hurly. passionate creatures, eXtraordi-
narily enthusiastic, extraordinarily ro-
mantle and most impressively quarrel
some" They enjoyed swearing in
themselves and in each other, they liked
writing abusive letters about one an
other to Brown, they were explosive and
EXPANSIVE II was in those men and
women who became their disciples that
the languishing follies of the so-called
sesthete were observed. These were the
lamentable persons who In greenery-
yallery garments went down Piccadilly
with a lily. The Raphaelites We're
eccentric enough, hut they did not Ian
guish. And they were, in spite Of their
ouarrels, magnificently united-wherein
lay their strength, their singularly pow
erful effect upon the life of their time
"They pushed their way among buyers"
saws Mr.. Hueffer. "They pushed their
way into exhibitions, and it was an alb
soluteiy certain thing that as soon as
one OF them had got foothOld he never
reste1 until he had helped in as many
of his friends as the walls would hold.
With just the same frenzy as. in pri-
vate and among themselves. these men
proclaimed each other sneaks, muffs, and
even thieves-with exactly the same
frenzy did they declare each other to
picture buyers 70 be great and incom-
parable geninses. For any one
of them to leave the other Of them out
OF his praises was to commit the un-
pardonabe sin. So pickering like
swashbucklers or like schoolboys about
wine, women and song, they pushed
onward TO prosperity and fame"
The oldest Of the tribe was certainly
Dante Gabriel Rossetti whose house
keeping in Cheyne Walk was Of the most
eccentric and sloveny and who was
sponged upon and worshpped by GU
Iious and sometimes criminal crowd of
hangers on. Mr.. Hueffer says that this
''Italianate man" worried people "a
death with his eccentricities while he
charmed them into ecstasies with his
tongue and his eyes" One poet wrote
20 another, "Why is he not some great
king. that we might lay down our lives
for him." and We are told that Whistler
on his deathbed hearing talk to the dis
credit af Rossetti, murmured: You must
not say anything against Rossetti.
Rossctti was a king" A king perhaps
10 persons OF temperament" but one
madGeningly unrea sOnable and meal
culable 10 the merely practical But
however the latter might wonder, they
paid tribute TO the man who then seemed
% them a great painter, though he was
in reality not at all great. At the selling
of pot boilers ne was remarkably sue
cessful Mr. Hueffer tells us that he
drew In Pastel or charcoal innumerable
iareo heads of women with plentiful hair
ind bare necks and shoulders. These he
sold for huge sums, giving them Latin
or Italian titles. Sometimes the Occupa-
ton palied upon him. Then he wrote:
Il can't be bothered to give the things a
name A mead is head. and that is an
end Of it, But generally he found names
like 'Aurea Catena.'"
10 paint salable rot boilers was long
the struggle Of MADDOX Brown as it was
that Of Holman Hunt. and neither was
successful. on Hunts absolute sincerity
end oarnestness as d painter Mr.. Hueffer
has much to say. lie feels that Hunt in
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