Studio: international art (11.1897)

George Chester

for he had wandered into every nook and corner
of the country. Perhaps his most attractive work
was done in the southern counties, in Surrey,
Hampshire, Devonshire, and Sussex, where he
found in perfection the reedy rivers, the fertile
fields, and the shady forest glades, which gave him
the fullest scope for his direct and expressive
technique. Such pictures as Still Water Runs
Deep, A Glade in the New Forest, or The Valley
of the Aran, which are reproduced here, show how
admirably he understood the character of his sub-
jects, and with what convincing force he was able
to set down what he saw. Nothing could have
been better than the agreement between the
manner and matter of his work. He chose to
represent nature in florid health, and he painted
her with a robustness that was in keeping with her
own. No difficulties daunted him; intricacies of
drawing, subtleties of atmospheric effect, strong
combinations of colour, and exacting problems of
composition were things in which he delighted.
They were there before him, presented as material
with which he had to deal, and his chief desire
was to prove that he was equal to the task It was
this grasp of the larger essentials of his art, quite as
much as his bold brushwork and depth of colour
and tone, that linked him so unquestionably with
the memorable school of fifty years ago.1 As one by
one the men of like conviction who were the com-
panions of his youth, vanished from the scene, his
position acquired more and more importance. He
was at last left as practically the sole representative
of an art movement which was one of the greatest
that our history can show; but he lived to see
the first signs, that are about us to-day, of the
revival of the older principles of landscape painting.
Had another twenty years of life been possible for
him, he would have found himself not a splendid
exception to an almost universal convention, but
at the head of a new school capable of reviving
the glories of other days.

Concerning the personality of Mr. Chester, it
would be possible to write an entire volume. The
individuality that made his art remarkable was
but a reflection of his everyday self. Never was
there a more kindly and lovable character. He
had to the very end of his life the simplicity
and straightforwardness of a child, and he re-
tained in an extraordinary degree the enthusiasms
of youth. Yet he was a man of wide experiences,
who could look back upon a greater variety of memo-
ries than fall to the common lot. As a boy he had
met Byron, Rogers, Moore, Charles Kemble, and
others of the great men who were then leaders in

the worlds of art and letters, and as years went on he-
was brought in contact with many more whose lives
belong more nearly to our own time. By his mar-
riage he became intimate not only with Ansdeil, but
also with Mark Lemon, both of whom had married
cousins of Mrs. Chester's ; and with Frank Romer,
the composer, who was Mrs. Lemon's brother.
Mark Lemon was, indeed, one of his chief associ-
ates, and was often his companion during his sketch-
ing excursions, sitting, writing or fishing, while the
young artist worked. At his house George Chester
necessarily met some of the most notable men of
the day, Leech, Albert Smith, Ingram, Shirley
Brooks, among them. Of those times he had a
fund of anecdotes, quaint tales of laughable experi-
ences, which he told with inimitable humour.
Even when he was at work many things happened
which were delights to his cheery nature. The
people he came across and the things they said to
him were a source of constant amusement. He
would tell with glee how one day when he was
busy with a large picture, a curious passer-by,
noting the colourman's stamp on the back of the
canvas, stopped to ask, " Excuse me, but is your
name Winsor, or Newton ? " Or how when in a
similar situation a mild curate interrupted him with
the query whether he was a Royal Academician.
"No," said Mr. Chester, " we can't all be bishops."
Sometimes these chance passers-by, who came to
question remained to buy. A sale, for 200 guineas,
of a picture he painted in the Lake District was
negotiated over a wall behind which he was sitting
to avoid the unwelcome attentions of a gang of
trippers. As he possessed the fortunate faculty of
getting pleasure out of trifles, a faculty which is a
peculiarity of a wholesome mind, his life was punc-
tuated with these recollections, matters of small
moment, perhaps, when noted one by one, but full
of interest as they took their places in the career
upon which he was able to look back.

His wras a type which under modern conditions of
existence will scarcely be given us again ; and his
charm of personality was made doubly great by the
fact that he was hardly susceptible of comparison
with people of the present day. He belonged in
his nature to a period when stress of competition
was not so active to destroy kindliness of heart ;
when comradeship was not veiled antagonism, but
real and active sympathy; and in his sincerity he
was always ready to welcome and assist every one
whose aims were worthy of respect. The part
which such a man plays in the world is all im-
portant ; his death is a disaster, for he can never
be replaced.