The Sun. — 1847-04-12 (London, England)

THE ART- UNION for April. More delicacy of touch might have been shown by the engraver in his delineation of Hilton's lively composition " Cupid Armed." Either the copy contained in the number before us is lamentably smutched, or the plate itself was indifferently prepared for the printing-press. " Maternal Love," drawn by Corbould, is a pleasing contrast, from the purity of the whole impression, as well as from the exquisite rounding of the limbs, the latter being effected, of course, by the artistic modulation of the shadows. Pyne continues his " Letters on Landscape," and is disposed to be facetious • the opening sentence we might almost mistake facetious; the commencement of an intended contribution to the Charivari. The Irish fairy tale by Mrs. S. C. Hall, is again illustrated with a profusion of grotesque and fantastic woodcuts, some of them daintily beautiful. From the Obituary, recording the demise of Mr. Hall, of the firm of Chapman and Hall, publishers, we transcribe the following anecdote ; though we cannot but think the account most improbable looking to the wretched etchings which illustrate the first chapters of "Pickwick"—etchings quite unworthy of poor Seymour, and certainly unworthy of the immortal work they are here reported to have suggested :  "It is not, we believe, generally known that the ' Pickwick Papers' originated with the artist—poor Seymour, who, having executed seven or eight etchings, sought a purchaser for them, and sent forth his wife for the purpose of finding one. She entered, by chance, the shop of Chapman and Hall, and submitted the designs, which were at once accepted ; subsequently application was made to Mr. Charles Dickens to accompany them with letterpress, and immortal Pickwick was the result. The first eight illustrations to this book only are by Mr. Seymour. Some two or three months after the first number appeared, and when the author was carrying all before him, the artist rose early one morning, walked into the garden, and hung himself. Such are the ups and downs' of life. Fame and fortune to the one ; suicide to the other, and penury to his wife and childre❑ ! Poor Seymour ! at the very moment when he was about to reap the harvest he had been sowing for years of anxious and almost incredible labour, his mind gave way, and he quitted existence, leaving behind him only the reputation of a clever caricaturist, which, had he lived, prosperity would have changed to that of a high moral teacher by art. We have been told—and believe it—that he produced no fewer than ten thousand etchings and drawings on wood ; yet his name is now almost forgotten, and, if reference be made to the commencing prints in Pickwick,' it is, with the mass of its readers, only to wonder who this Mr. Seymour was and what became of him. He left a widow and two children to struggle with poverty—a terrible struggle it has been —although the Artists' Benevolent Fund liberally came to their relief."  Speaking of the services conferred upon literature by the late Mr. William Hall, the Art- Union observes that he (in connexion with his partner), first, in a measure, introduced Mr. Charles Dickens to the world. " Genius like his," it continues, " must have made way, under any circumstances ; but something is due to the publisher who rendered his course easy, and whose liberality as well as judgment aided to secure success earlier than it might have come had he fallen into injudicious hands." The miscellaneous contents of the journal are readable and instructive.