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Pre-Raphaelitism in Charles Reade's Early Fiction

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 December 2020

Wayne Burns
Wayne Burns*
Affiliation:
Cornell University
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Extract

That Charles Reade was interested in art, along with Cremona violins, Scottish herring fisheries, and other such hobbies, has long been known. Coleman listed some of the paintings in Reade's private collection and declared him a connoisseur; Elwin pointed out that he had a genuine taste in art and was the best sort of collector; and Rives added still further information of much the same type. One of Rives' quotations is particularly interesting.

Type
Research Article
Information
PMLA , Volume 60 , Issue 4-Part1 , December 1945 , pp. 1149 - 1164
Copyright
Copyright © Modern Language Association of America, 1945

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References

1 John Coleman, Charles Reade As I Knew Him (New York, 1903), p. 227.

2 Malcolm Elwin, Charles Reade (London, 1931), pp. 118-120.

3 Léone Rives, Charles Reade Sa Vie, Ses Romans (Toulouse, 1940), pp. 61-62.

4 Rives identifies her quotation as a “fragment de lettre du 23 mai 1850, addressée à Mr. Gillott … communiquée [to Miss Rives] par Mr. Bernard Gillott, Birmingham.” Therefore the man to whom Reade gave advice so freely was the famous collector, Mr. Joseph Gillott. See A. G. Temple, Painting In The Queen's Reign (London, 1897), p. 16.

5 Two earlier documents indicate that Reade had long been interested in painting. See Charles L. Reade and Compton Reade, Charles Reade A Memoir (New York, 1887), p. 104; and also Malcolm Elwin, op. cit., pp. 63-64.

6 Mrs. E. V. Smith, in the North American Review, criticized Christie Johnstone at some length, with due emphasis on the novelist's art criticism, but seemed unaware that Charles Gatty was a follower of the Pre-Raphaelites. Cf. Mrs. E. V. Smith, “Reade's Novels,” North American Review, lxxxii (1856), 368-388.

7 Although Professor E. G. Sutcliffe (“The Stage in Reade's Novels,” Studies in Philology, xxvii [1930], 669-672), has dealt trenchantly with the general influence of paintings, “plates,” and “pictures” on Reade's fictional technique, his study is brief, and should be supplemented by a more exhaustive analysis—one similar to Leland Schubert's Hawthorne, the Artist (Chapel Hill, 1944). As time permits I hope to make such a study, but in this paper I am concerned only with the early artistic theories of Reade and the Pre-Raphaelites.

8 Soaper and Snarl, conventional art critics, were made to appear completely ridiculous. See Charles Reade, Peg Woffington (Grolier ed.), pp. 147-154. I attach little importance to the novelist's remarks, however, even though they agree with Pre-Raphaelite theory in some respects; for the novel and most of the art criticism that it includes were developed from the play Masks and Faces, which is as much Tom Taylor's as Reade's. And Taylor, it will be recalled, was a professional art critic:

“During his [Tom Taylor's] lifetime laymen regarded him as an art critic whose authority was second only to that of Ruskin… . Toward the more moderate pre-Raphaelites Taylor displayed tolerance.” See Winton Tolles, Tom Taylor and the Victorian Drama (New York, 1940), pp. 258-266.

9 Briefly, the plot of the novel is this: Lord Ipsden, cultured and intelligent, but lackadaisical and bored, is refused by Lady Barbara (a disciple of Carlyle); whereupon he lapses into even greater listlessness than before. At this point an eccentric doctor advises him to acquaint himself with the “lower classes” and see what can be done for them. In following this advice, Ipsden goes to Scotland, does his duty by the lower classes, and even becomes something of a hero when he effects a daring rescue in a storm at sea. In the meantime, Lady Barbara appears in Scotland, becomes disillusioned by the unheroic actions of her Carlylean suitor, and eventually learns the true worth of a modern man—nay, a modern hero! They live happily ever after.

That is one plot. The other concerns Christie Johnstone, a beautiful, intelligent, and talented Scottish fishwife, and Charles Gatty, a weak but well meaning and gifted English painter temporarily living in Scotland. They fall in love, and marriage is in the offing, even though Gatty is penniless and as yet unsuccessful in his work, until Gatty's mother appears on the scene. She dissuades him, and doesn't relent until Christie saves him from drowning. They also live happily ever after.

The two plots are rather mechanically joined. One result is that Ipsden is able to lay down the laws of art to Charles Gatty, and then send him on the way to fame and success.

10 Here and throughout this paper my intention is to use the expression “Pre-Raphaelite” in the sense originally intended by the Brotherhood. See William Gaunt, The Pre-Raphaelite Tragedy (New York, 1942), pp. 15-27; and Percy Bate, The English Pre-Raphaelite Painters (London, 1901), pp. 7-9.

11 Charles Reade, Christie Johnstone (Grolier ed.) pp. 43-44.

12 Millais might have served as one of the originals from whom Gatty was compounded (certain resemblances do appear), but the evidence is too slight to make a convincing case. Thomas Faed, a popular painter of Reade's acquaintance, is another possibility. See Nathaniel Hawthorne, The English Notebooks, ed. Randall Stewart (London, 1941), pp. 316-317.

13 Any standard work on the Pre-Raphaelites will substantiate my views. See, for example, J. G. Millais, The Life and Letters of Sir John Everett Millais, (London 1899), i, 115-120.

14 Christie Johnstone, p. 111. Cf. also Christie Johnstone, p. 47.

15 Cf. A Memoir, pp. 194, 196, 201.

16 Christie Johnstone, p. 191. This note is appended to all editions of the novel that I have seen.

17 See Christie Johnstone, p. 111.

18 Op. cit., pp. 45-46.

19 Christie Johnstone, p. 109.

20 Cf. Charles Reade, The Eighth Commandment (Boston, 1860). This book contains much information about Reade's personal battle for recognition, and incidentally (on pp. 208-212) a comparison of the opportunities open to painters and writers.

21 A Memoir, p. 194.

22 J. G. Millais, op. cit., p. 305.

23 The Eighth Commandment, p. 124.

24 Op. cit., p. 119.

25 Christie Johnstone, pp. 108-109.

26 Cf. John Ruskin, Modern Painters (New York, 1866), i, xxxii-xxxiii.

27 The Germ, No. 1, January 1850, prospectus [not paginated]. Cf. also John Seward (F. G. Stephens), “The Purpose and Tendency of Early Italian Art,” The Germ, No. 2, February, 1850, pp. 58 ff.

28 Op. cit., p. 26.

29 Christie Johnstone, pp. 111-112.

30 The Times, May 30, 1851. Cf. Henry Ladd, The Victorian Morality of Art (New York, 1922), pp. 28-31; 249-254.

31 Compare, for example, the newspaper and periodical criticisms quoted or summarized by Holman Hunt, Pre-Raphaelitism and the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood (London, 1905), i, 176-179; 204-206; 218; 244-256.

32 John Ruskin, “The Pre-Raphaelites,” The Times, May 13, 1851; and “The Pre-Raphaelite Artists,” The Times, May 30, 1831.

33 John Ruskin, Pre-Raphaelitism (New York, 1882), p. 23.

34 “Medievalism” was a danger, it is true (Cf. R. H. Wilenski, John Ruskin [London, 1933], p. 251), but a distinction must be made between Ruskin's warning and Reade's. Ruskin seemed to understand that both Hunt and Millais had long been aware of the dangers inherent in Gothicism (Cf. Holman Hunt, op. cit., pp. 132-134; 147-148; 174-178; 220-221); whereas Reade, in line with the opinions of the press, held the mistaken notion that all the Pre-Raphaelites were tarred with the same medieval brush.

35 The one Readean objection which Ruskin does not touch upon here—Ipsden's reference to the culte de laideur (possibly an echo of Dickens: see Holman Hunt, op. cit., pp. 205-206; 218)—is dealt with in The Germ. Cf. John Seward (F. G. Stephens), “The Purpose and Tendency of Early Italian Art,” The Germ, No. 2, February, 1850, p. 61.

36 The note Reade appended to Christie Johnstone, in which he stated that he had changed his mind about certain topics in the years between 1850 and 1853, might possibly lead one to believe that he had a fuller understanding of Pre-Raphaelitism in 1853 than when he first wrote the novel, but deliberately suppressed his new information and conclusions, in line with his stated purpose in writing the novel. However, there is no evidence to substantiate such a possibility.

37 I feel sure that this picture had a real counterpart, but as yet I have been unable to identify it. The words “At present in the collection of Lord Ipsden” may indicate that Reade was describing a painting in his own collection. An article in The Pall Mall Gazette, June 20, 1884 (inaccessible to me) discusses Reade's collection of paintings, and might possibly furnish evidence to support my conjecture.

38 Christie Johnstone, p. 112.

39 The Life and Letters of Sir John Everett Millais, i, 313-314. Reade also praised Hunt: “Mr. Holman Hunt has just spent three years on a picture. The result is an immortal work.” [The Eighth Commandment, p. 209.] And he undoubtedly meant to include the Pre-Raphaelities in the following panegyric:

There are now in this country more independent painters viewing nature for themselves, and interpreting her their way, than in any other nation. All the other schools in Europe are stationary; ours is striding on like a giant. In one branch of art, water colors, we are unrivalled. In the other we very soon shall be. [The Eighth Commandment, p. 209.]

40 Gaunt, op. cit., pp. 26-27. For a fuller and more accurate statement of the Pre-Raphaelite method, see Holman Hunt, op. cit., pp. 25-26; 90-91; 132-152; 202; 262-264; etc.; and J. G. Millais' account of the evolution of his father's paintings in The Life of Sir John Everett Millais.

41 See A Memoir, p. 197.

42 Ibid., p. 198. See also p. 199.

43 Christie Johnstone, p. 55. Reade probably wrote the novel Christie Johnstone soon after he had studied thieves at Durham Gaol. See A Memoir, pp. 194-197; and Charles Reade, “A Terrible Temptation” (included in Readiana, Grolier ed., p. 388).

44 John Seward (F. G. Stephens), “The Purpose and Tendency of Early Italian Art,” The Germ, No. 2, February, 1850, pp. 58-59. I quote Stephens because his statement seems to be a fair and yet brief presentation of the views of the Brotherhood—D. G. Rosetti excepted. Cf. Holman Hunt, op. cit., pp. 132-139; 147-152; 172-179; 220-221. See also Gaunt, op. cit., pp. 22-23, 229-231; and Francis Bickley, The Pre-Raphaelite Comedy (New York, n.d.), pp. 164, 251-252.

45 Charles Reade, The Wandering Heir (Grolier ed.), pp. 195, 203.

46 Charles Reade, “The Autobiography of a Thief (Grolier ed.), xii, 4, 6. Cf. also Rives, op. cit., pp. 189-230.

47 The Germ, No. 2, pp. 59, 61.

48 The Eighth Commandment, p. 9.

49 Charles Reade, Love Me Little, Love Me Long (Grolier ed.), p. 201.

50 Lewis F. Haines gives a full account of Reade's relationship to English empirical thought. See Lewis F. Haines, “Reade, Mill, and Zola: A Study of the Character and Intention of Charles Reade's Realistic Method,” Studies in Philology, xl (1943), 466-475.

51 An excerpt from Henry Ladd's explanation of Ruskin's “Naturalistic principles” can be applied (in a general way) to both Reade and the P.R.B. (Ladd, op. cit., pp. 254-255): Ruskin may thus make extravagant claims for the importance of literal representation—for the Real; but it remains beyond a doubt that the Naturalistic principles arise from an emotional concern for the romance, the poetry, the ideal in the natural world. A faithfulness to the facts of appearance is seldom alien to romantic literature. It was especially common to the literary romantics of the early nineteenth century… .

Cf. Holman Hunt, op. cit., p. 150; and E. G. Sutchffe, “Fact, Realism, and Morality in Reade's Fiction,” Studies in Philology, xli (1944), 590-596.

52 Christie Johnstone, p. 180 (Reade's italics). See also T. Earle Welby, The Victorian Romantics 1850-1870 (London, 1929), pp. 3-33; 48-19; and W. C. Phillips, Dickens, Reade, and Collins Sensation Novelists (New York, 1919), pp. 109-151. Speaking ex cathedra, Reade later explained (The Eighth Commandment, p. 251): [The fine arts] are sisters, and alike in heart though not in the face. Wherefore he who hates any one of them cannot really be in the secrets of her sister.

53 For example, Reade was almost wholly in agreement with the P.R.B. in defining the “purpose of art and literature; cf. Holman Hunt, op. cit., p. 172 with Charels Reade, Put Yourself in His Place (Grolier Ed.), i, 687; and in partial agreement with them in his statements above subject matter; cf. The Germ, pp. 17-18 and 120-124, with Léone Rives, op. cit., p. 198. For comment on the articles in The Germ, see W. M. Rossetti's Preface to ”A Facsimile Reprint of The Literary Organ Of The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood …“ (London, 1901), pp. 16-17, 21, and passim.

54 The development of realism in French painting and literature furnishes an interesting sidelight on the present problem: L'avènement du réalisme en peinture coïncide avec l'apparition des romans de Champfleury: L'Enterrement à Omans est de 1851, Les Glaneuses de 1857. A la même heure, romanciers et peintres se détournent avec le même dédain des exubérances romantiques et des épisodes académiques empruntés à l'histoire et à la légende: Courbet, Millet, Daumier, répondant aux préoccupations de leur époque, peignent le paysan et l'ouvrier, le rustre et le petit bourgeois campagnard… . Édouard Maynial, L'Époque Réaliste (Paris, 1931), pp. 22-23. See also Bernard Weinberg, French Realism: The Critical Reaction, 1830-1870, (New York, 1937), pp. 97-116; and Émile Bouver, La Bataille Réaliste (Paris, 1914), pp. 214-256.

It is to be noted, however, that Maynial was speaking of a simultaneous development in a group of writers, whereas Reade alone, among English novelists, adopted a “method” resembling that of the Pre-Raphaelites in painting.

55 I am now preparing for publication a more comprehensive study that will consider Pre-Raphaelitism in relation to other possible influences.

56 Haines, op. cit., p. 466.