1311. Benjamin Robert Haydon to EBB
As published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 7, 220–221.
London
July 3rd 1843
My dear Friend /
I am as much the Spartan & Lion as ever but in this case it is necessary to be a little of the Carthaginian[.] [1] The possibility of a half dozen Executions, is a possibility which would have made a Spartan take care of his papers, especially if he had such a Friend as you—— So no more on that Subject[.]
I have been to day—& am perfectly satisfied—the display is an honor to the Country & I keep my position—— Whatever the press puts forth there is no Country in Europe could at a Call have made such an effort[.] The Young Men rallied round me in a way which was delightful–
The only errors in decision of the chosen are two—Parris!—& Armitage a pupil of De la Roche [2] though skilfully & Artistically managed, the drawing & anatomy for which the French consider themselves celebrated are such that no boy in my school should have remained a week—who knew no more of the figure——
I am literally astonished at the impudence, in the Youth & ignorance of the Deciders [3] & it comes to the usual conclusion, which I told them at Oxford, that Unless they have professors of Art, the nobility will never be able to judge of what is good & what is bad—in such matters—— I shall give the University a second course on such subjects–
The Death of Lear—Alfred in the Danish Camp—are extremely fine, [4] & worthy of any period of Art, Boadicea by Seilous—Caractatus [sic] by Watts [5] —full of Genius,—Watts has a 300 prize—Seilous has only a hundred, when it ought to have been 300.–
In fact I never saw such neglect of what is fine[.] Seilous’ hundred ought to be given to Armitage, & his 300 to Seilous–
The Cant of believing they would commit themselves if a deference was not paid to something from a French Atelier, is exquisite!– The Queen was told this Boy was only 22 [6] —but she was not told of an English boy of 16—who has an interior of the plague—exceedingly full of expression & pathos– [7]
You are decidedly right, in not sending the letter yet—but you need not fear me—I will do nothing—& remember, I have nothing to do with any thing directly or indirectly, which may appear in the Press & that I do nothing without my name—Ever——
You are a dear Friend & keep your mind easy–
B R Haydon
Address: Miss B. Barrett / 50, Wimpole St.
Publication: EBB-BRH, pp. 121–122.
Manuscript: University of Vermont.
1. A reference to their tenacious defence of Carthage during the three Punic Wars (264–146 B.C.).
2. Edmund Thomas Parris (1793–1873) first exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1824 and was, for some time, a fashionable portrait painter; in 1838, he was commissioned to depict Victoria’s coronation. His “Joseph of Arimathea Converting the Britons” (no. 70) was awarded £100. Edward Armitage (1817–96) went to Paris in 1837 to study under Paul Delaroche (1797–1856) and assisted in decorating the amphitheatre of the École des Beaux-Arts. His cartoon, “Cæsar’s First Invasion of Britain” (no. 64), was awarded £300, being placed at the head of the published list of prize-winners.
3. The judges were Sir Robert Peel, Lord Lansdowne, Samuel Rogers, Richard Westmacott, Richard Cook and William Etty.
4. These were nos. 16 and 103 respectively, by Frederick Richard Pickersgill (1820–1900) and Marshall Claxton (1813–81).
5. “Caractacus Led in Triumph Through the Streets of Rome” (no. 84) was by George Frederic Watts (1817–1904).
6. i.e., Armitage, although he was actually 26 at this time.
7. Two of the entries dealt with the plague; no. 122 was “The Plague of London, A.D. 1349” and no. 138 was “The Plague of London in 1665.” As the exhibition catalogue named only the artists awarded prizes, we cannot identify this 16-year-old boy. Edward Corbould, of 17 Upper Southampton Street, was awarded £100 for no. 122, but if this was the Edward Henry Corbould who first exhibited at the Academy in 1835 he was 27 at this time.
___________________
