DOI article:
Bate, Percy H.: The late Frederick Sandys: a retrospect
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.20710#0024
Frederick Sandys
Fortunately for us a large number of the pen- so satisfactory that he always thereafter employed
drawings, of which these woodcuts are facsimiles, the same method.
still exist, and many are in the possession of a Besides these small drawings, a few inches
friend of mine, so that I have been able to compare square, there exist several on a much larger scale
the drawing with the engraving, and to realise how (Judith and Morgan-le-Fay are examples) in which
beautifully these blocks were cut in Swain's work- Sandys used a pen, as he afterwards used chalk,
shop. It is customary to-day to say that any to produce a finished and elaborate study for a
adequate reproduction of a pen-drawing must be picture; but it is in the woodcuts in question that
made by a photographic process, and to lament we find him at his very best. Indeed, there is
the fact that the original drawings by the artists of nothing like them in British art. Each is as much
" the sixties " perished in the cutting of the blocks, a masterpiece as an etching by Rembrandt; in
while their beauties and their character suffered almost everyone we find deep poetic feeling and
irreparably at the hands of the engravers, and lofty emotion allied to a wonderful decorative
Rossetti, for one, made lamentation loud and deep charm and an unexcelled mastery of the method,
about this mutilation; but my study of these engrav- Turn the portfolio, and we pass from gem to gem.
ings and of many of the originals has only resulted How unaffected they are, and yet how individual !
in a deep respect for the skill the cutters displayed, What style is there, what serene vigour !' Here is
and a sincere admiration of the way in which the grim tragedy of Manoli, here the opulent
they preserved the style and the characteristics " body's beauty" of Danae, here the emotion of
of each artist, so that at a glance we can If, here the statuesque grace of Amor Mundi; and
tell Walker's work from Keene's, Millais' from surpassing all these in poignant intensity of tragic
Lawless'. emotion is the superb Rosamund, than which
But this is by the way. Sandys himself said scarcely a finer black-and-white exists in the art of
that Swain's rendering of
his drawing of Danae was
perfect, and he was not un-
critical ; and others, such
as The Old Chartist (his
own favourite), seem to
me to be equally satisfac-
tory. This fact is possibly
due to the artist's method
of working on the block
after he had made the
pen-drawing on millboard.
He told me that his
first box-wood block was a
puzzle to him when he
received it, with a request
from Thackeray that he
would supply an illustra-
tion to a story of George
Macdonald's for the
"Cornhill." He knew
nothing of the correct
method of preparing it;
it was impossible to work
on its smooth surface with
either pencil or pen, and
he finally drew The Por-
tent line by line with a
brush and Indian ink,
and found the process
SO Simple and the result "SORROW" (By permission of Herbert Trench, Esq.) BY FREDERICK SANDYS
7
Fortunately for us a large number of the pen- so satisfactory that he always thereafter employed
drawings, of which these woodcuts are facsimiles, the same method.
still exist, and many are in the possession of a Besides these small drawings, a few inches
friend of mine, so that I have been able to compare square, there exist several on a much larger scale
the drawing with the engraving, and to realise how (Judith and Morgan-le-Fay are examples) in which
beautifully these blocks were cut in Swain's work- Sandys used a pen, as he afterwards used chalk,
shop. It is customary to-day to say that any to produce a finished and elaborate study for a
adequate reproduction of a pen-drawing must be picture; but it is in the woodcuts in question that
made by a photographic process, and to lament we find him at his very best. Indeed, there is
the fact that the original drawings by the artists of nothing like them in British art. Each is as much
" the sixties " perished in the cutting of the blocks, a masterpiece as an etching by Rembrandt; in
while their beauties and their character suffered almost everyone we find deep poetic feeling and
irreparably at the hands of the engravers, and lofty emotion allied to a wonderful decorative
Rossetti, for one, made lamentation loud and deep charm and an unexcelled mastery of the method,
about this mutilation; but my study of these engrav- Turn the portfolio, and we pass from gem to gem.
ings and of many of the originals has only resulted How unaffected they are, and yet how individual !
in a deep respect for the skill the cutters displayed, What style is there, what serene vigour !' Here is
and a sincere admiration of the way in which the grim tragedy of Manoli, here the opulent
they preserved the style and the characteristics " body's beauty" of Danae, here the emotion of
of each artist, so that at a glance we can If, here the statuesque grace of Amor Mundi; and
tell Walker's work from Keene's, Millais' from surpassing all these in poignant intensity of tragic
Lawless'. emotion is the superb Rosamund, than which
But this is by the way. Sandys himself said scarcely a finer black-and-white exists in the art of
that Swain's rendering of
his drawing of Danae was
perfect, and he was not un-
critical ; and others, such
as The Old Chartist (his
own favourite), seem to
me to be equally satisfac-
tory. This fact is possibly
due to the artist's method
of working on the block
after he had made the
pen-drawing on millboard.
He told me that his
first box-wood block was a
puzzle to him when he
received it, with a request
from Thackeray that he
would supply an illustra-
tion to a story of George
Macdonald's for the
"Cornhill." He knew
nothing of the correct
method of preparing it;
it was impossible to work
on its smooth surface with
either pencil or pen, and
he finally drew The Por-
tent line by line with a
brush and Indian ink,
and found the process
SO Simple and the result "SORROW" (By permission of Herbert Trench, Esq.) BY FREDERICK SANDYS
7