Studio: international art (11.1897)

George Chester

capacities. He was living at the time at Hamp-
stead, and his first attempts were made from nature
■—sketches of bits on the Heath. These essays he
took to Ansdell and Egg for an opinion as to their
merits and promise ; and when he received from
these experienced judges hearty praise and
encouragement he definitely decided to persevere.
His knowledge was built up by steady and unre-
mitting labour. His advisers had urged him to go
to nature direct; so he began at once to paint out-
of-doors, and to acquire there, instead of within
the walls of a school, the experience which he
needed. No time was wasted in hesitating over
the particular branch of art which it would be best
for him to adopt. Landscape attracted him from
the first, and so to landscape he decided to give his
life. And he strove manfully to solve the secrets
of nature's variety, how strenuously may be judged
from the fact that during the ten years he spent at
Hampstead he completed not less than a thousand
ske tches and studies, in addition to several pictures
of importance. His courage was soon rewarded
by the appreciation of the picture-loving public ;
and it was not long before he found himself earning
a comfortable income.

His lirst appearance at the Academy was in
1849, but lie had before that shown examples of
his work in other exhibitions in London and the
104

provinces; and for many years he was represented
at the Old British Institution, the Society of British
Artists, Birmingham, Manchester, Dublin, Edin-
burgh, Bath, Bristol, and practically everywhere
else where art shows of any note were held. From
1853 to 1864 there was no break in his contribu-
tions to the Academy, and two at least of these
canvases, The Valley of the Esk, in i860, and
The Fisherman's Haunt in 1862, were unusually
large and important. In 1866 he showed Thrd
the Wood; two more pictures in 1869; Sailing
with the Stream in 1870; Lady Mead Lock, now
the property of Mrs. Watney, in 1871 ; Doivnland's
Avenue, a commission from Lady Theodora Guest,
in 1872; Wind Against the Tide in 1874; A
Flight of Wild Fowl, and Hampshire Hatches^ a
subject which he found on the Avon, near Ring-
wood, in 1876; and one other picture in 1877.
He was not again represented at the Academy
until 1880, when two pictures appeared; in [882
he exhibited O'er the Heather, an important work ;
in 1883, Still Water Runs Deep, which was painted
on the Stour, on the borders of Hampshire and
Dorsetshire; in 1886, Clear Rother; a delightful
canvas, a study of a pool in the New 1'orest. in
1888; and The Water Way in 1889. This was
his last contribution to Burlington House; it was
painted when he was more than seventy-five years