VII. TWO MINIATURE PORTRAITS. 1777 AND 1797. [A.] THE Portrait of Scott in his youth, known as the Bath Miniature, was engraved from the supposed original, preserved at Abbotsford. Mr. Lockhart, not aware of the existence of any similar Portrait, says,— "A very good miniature of Sir Walter, done at Bath, when he was in the fifth or sixth year of his age, was given by him to his daughter Sophia, and is now in my possession—the artist's name unknown. The child appears with long flowing hair, the colour a light chestnut; a deep open collar, and scarlet dress. It is nearly a profile; the outline wonderfully like what it was to the last; the expression of the eyes and mouth very striking, grave, and pensive." The original Miniature (No. 46) is carefully painted on ivory, without name or date. It was given by the mother of Sir Walter Scott, early in the present century, to Mrs. Captain Watson, in whose family it had since remained. By some accident, the ivory having been partially split, in repairing it there is a discoloration at the joining, scarcely discernible in the accompanying photograph. This accident may not unlikely have led Mrs. Scott to have it copied, and to present the original to Mrs. Watson, whose son, William Stewart Watson, raised himself to some eminence as a Portrait-Painter. (See No. 74.) It now belongs to Mr. D. LAING. Having been acquired only a few days after the opening of the Exhibition, it was not included in the copies of the Catalogue that were first issued. It may be added that, after the Exhibition had closed, an opportunity occurred accidentally, in the presence of a competent authority, to make an actual comparison of the two Miniatures. This served clearly to confirm the opinion that the one exhibited was the original; and that the other at Abbotsford was a very careful copy, at a later date, apparently the work of a young artist or an amateur. [B.] By the kind permission of Mr. HOPE SCOTT, we are enabled for the first time to give a representation of the small Miniature of 1797 (No. 47). Mr. Lockhart somewhat undervalues it, when he remarks, "It is not a good work of art, and I know not who executed it." It is, however, elaborately finished, and might be assigned to one of the chief Miniature Painters of the time at Edinburgh. Its effect, in the Photograph, is lost, indeed, by not exhibiting the colours of the military dress. But its interest consists in being the second authentic likeness of Scott. He is in military dress, as an officer in the Royal Edinburgh Light Dragoons: a scarlet coat with green facings, and an epaulet of silver on his right shoulder. According to the fashion of the day, his hair is powdered. A lock of light brown hair is fastened, under glass, at the back of the frame. In Miss Carpenter's letters to Mr. Scott, previous to their marriage, from Carlisle, October 25 (1797), she writes : "Indeed, Mr. Scott, I am by no means pleased with all this writing. I have told you how much I dislike it, and yet you still persist in asking me to write, and that by return of post. O, you really are quite out of your senses," etc. And on the following day : "I have only a minute before the post goes, to assure you, my Dear Sir, of the welcome reception of the Stranger (a Miniature of Scott). The very great likeness to a friend of mine will endear him to me; he shall be my constant companion, but I wish he could give me an answer to a thousand questions I have to make, one in particular, what reason have you for so many fears you express," etc. VIII. PORTRAIT BY SAXON. 1805. (No. 48.) THIS Portrait was reckoned to have the merit of giving "an impress of the elasticity and youthful vivacity, which Scott used to complain wore off after he was forty." In his account of Sir Walter's Portraits, Mr. Lockhart says:— "The first oil-painting, done for Lady Scott in 1805, by Saxon, was, in consequence of repeated applications for the purpose of being engraved, transferred by her to Messrs. Longman & Co., and is now in their house in Paternoster Row. This is a very fine picture, representing, I have no doubt, most faithfully the author of the Lay of the Last Minstrel. Length, three-quarters; dress, black; hair, nut-brown; the favourite bull-terrier Camp leaning his head on the knee of his master. The companion portrait of Lady Scott is at Abbotsford." The loan of the original Portrait was obligingly furnished by William E. Green, Esq., a partner in the great publishing house of Messrs. Longman & Co., Paternoster Row, London. It was first engraved, in an excellent style, by James Heath, and prefixed to the original edition of the Lady of the Lake, 1810, 4to. As the dark colour of the painting would not admit of obtaining a successful copy, the accompanying photograph is taken from an early impression of Heath's engraving. In the Third Exhibition of the Scottish Artists at Edinburgh, in 1810, Saxon's Portrait of Mrs. Scott appears in the Catalogue. This Portrait is at Abbotsford, and has been engraved for the Life of Scott. JAMES SAXON was an English Artist, born in Manchester; came to Edinburgh in the year 1803. Saxon afterwards went to St. Petersburg, where he practised successfully for several years. On his return he spent a short time in Glasgow; and died in London about the year 1817: See Preface, p. vi., note, in the Bannatyne Club volume of Etchings, by John Clerk of Eldin, completed 1855, folio. NO. VIII.] |