Kitabı oku: «Recollections of a Busy Life: Being the Reminiscences of a Liverpool Merchant 1840-1910», sayfa 8
Among the Studios
We had some interesting experiences during our visits to the studios, and were often asked to criticise and suggest a name for a picture.
On one occasion when visiting Lord Leighton's studio, he was painting a charming picture entitled "Persephone," the coming of spring. He had painted some brown figs in the foreground. Mr. Rathbone remarked that in spring the figs should be green. Lord Leighton replied, "You are right," and dabbing his thumb into some green paint on his palette he smeared the figs with green, and when the picture was finished they remained green; but inasmuch as you see green and brown figs on a fig-tree at the same time, in spring and in autumn, Lord Leighton was not incorrect, and brown figs would, I think, have better suited his colour scheme. Mr. Byam Shaw painted a picture of "the Princes in the Tower" at Ludlow Castle, and looking out of the tower upon the landscape beyond, the eye rested upon a copse of larches, but as larches were not grown in England for a hundred years after the incident portrayed in the picture, they had to be painted out and other trees substituted.
Visiting the studio of Mr. Greiffenhagen we found him engaged upon a pastoral idyll, a shepherd boy embracing a red-headed girl in a field of poppies. He had as his models an Italian and his boy. Upon my remarking upon this, he explained his only inducement to paint the subject was a promise made by two of his friends, who were engaged to be married, to sit as his models. They came, and appeared to greatly enjoy the situation; but alas! they got married and did not return, and he was obliged to finish his picture with this Italian and his boy. It was a lovely picture, and now adorns our permanent collection. One is much impressed when visiting the studios by the comparative poverty of the profession. I don't suppose the average income of the London artist exceeds £200 to £300 per annum. They paint pictures but do not sell them. Formerly they were able to supplement their incomes by working in black and white, but machine processes have now superseded black and white, and the architect and house decorator have dealt pictorial art a severe blow by introducing styles of decoration which leave no room for the picture.
Lord Leighton was a great friend to Liverpool, but we did not treat him kindly. Whenever we had any difficulty in obtaining a picture for our exhibition he was always ready to take trouble and use his influence to secure it for us. We bought from him one of the best pictures he ever painted, the "Andromeda"; the price was £3,000, and he agreed to accept the amount payable over two years. The purchase was noised abroad, but unfortunately the Council declined to confirm it. Sir James Picton was not happy in the way he submitted the proposal to the Council. Manchester immediately secured the picture. Meeting Lord Leighton a year or so afterwards I apologised to him for the action of the Council, when he most magnanimously said, "I was not troubled for myself, but for you, and it pained me when I heard that Mr. Samuelson, your deputy chairman, twice came to my house to explain matters, but his courage failed him, and he went away without even ringing the bell."
Sir John Millais was appointed President of the Royal Academy in succession to Lord Leighton. It fell to me to call at his studio only a few months before he died, when he remarked: "You have in Liverpool my picture with a kick in it" (alluding to the picture of "Lorenzo and Isabella," in which the figure in the foreground is in the act of kicking a dog), and he continued, "I well remember that picture." This was spoken evidently with a sad recollection. I knew what was passing in his mind, for the late Sir Henry Tate told me that Mr. Millais painted the picture when quite a young man, for a dealer, and was to receive in payment £50. The dealer failed, and Mr. Millais found himself in great financial difficulty, when a stranger called and said, "I understand you have painted a picture for Mr. – " (naming the dealer), and asked to look at it. He immediately bought it, giving £50, and the painter's difficulties were removed.
Mrs. Fraser, the wife of Dr. Fraser, the Bishop of Manchester, told me a good story of Millais. He was painting the Bishop's portrait, and the picture had reached the stage of the last sitting. Mr. Millais' dog jumped upon the chair upon which the artist had placed his palette. The palette fell on to the floor, paint side downwards. Millais was annoyed and kicked at the dog. The situation had an amusing side which caused the Bishop to laugh heartily, whereupon Millais looked still more angry, and exclaimed, "I have painted the wrong man, I had no idea you had such a sense of humour." The picture, although an excellent likeness, represents the Bishop as a demure ecclesiastic. Those who remember him will recollect how genial and full of humour he was.
When Mayor in 1881, I acted as honorary secretary to a committee entrusted with the painting of a likeness of the late Charles MacIver. We gave the commission to Professor Herkomer, who called at the Town Hall to enquire what sort of a man Mr. MacIver was. I told him that he was a man of exceptionally strong character, a perfect autocrat in his management of the Cunard Company, of which he was one of the founders. Professor Herkomer called at the Town Hall a few days after, and said, "I am returning home as I have been unable to find the Mr. MacIver as you described him: he has lost a near relative and appears broken in health." The Professor called upon me again a few months after and said "I have found Mr. MacIver, the strong man you told me he was, and have painted the portrait." The picture hangs in the permanent collection at the Walker Art Gallery.
In 1893, when Mr. Robert Holt was Lord Mayor, he received a telegram from Sir John Gilbert, R.A., saying he wished to present some of his pictures to Liverpool, and desiring that some one should go up to select them. The Council was sitting. The Lord Mayor passed the telegram on to me, and asked me to go up to London. I did so the same day, and called upon Sir John Gilbert, at Blackheath, the next morning. On my entering his room the veteran artist said "I see one of your names is 'Bower,' are you any relation to Mr. Alfred Bower, who married the daughter of my old friend Lance, the fruit painter." On my stating that I was his nephew, he replied, "Well, I intended giving Temple, of the Guildhall, the first pick, but you shall have it for my old friend's sake."
I found the house stacked with pictures from the cellar to the attic. Sir John had been painting and keeping his pictures to present to the nation, together with an art gallery; but he had suddenly changed his mind, and resolved to divide them between the great cities. I selected some twelve or fourteen large canvases, which now adorn our art gallery. Sir John was our greatest painter of historical pictures, and one of our most brilliant colourists.
Mr. Whistler came down to hang our Autumn Exhibition one year. He was most difficile, finding fault with every picture brought before him. We could not get on, and should have had no exhibition at all had we not hit upon the expedient of offering him a room all to himself, in which he should hang the pictures of his own choice and in his own way. He accepted the offer. This room has ever since been filled with pictures of the impressionist school.
Upon Mr. Rathbone's death Mr. John Lea became his successor, and he has done yeoman service for our Autumn Exhibition. For many years he gave an annual dinner to the artists in London, and he was honoured by the presence of the leading members of the Royal Academy and their wives. The dinners took place at the Grand Hotel, and were exceedingly well done. They greatly assisted us in our work of collecting the best pictures of the year.
It has been a great pleasure to us to entertain at Bromborough Hall many of the artists entrusted with the hanging of the exhibitions.
On retiring from the Library Committee in 1908, after nineteen years' service as chairman, I gave an account of my stewardship, which was reported as follows in the local press: —
"In returning thanks Sir William Forwood said it was with very deep regret that he had to take leave of them as their chairman. He felt the time had come when the trust should be placed in younger hands. On the 9th of next month it would be forty years since he entered the City Council, and his first committee was the Library Committee, of which he was elected chairman in 1890. Much had happened during that time. In 1890 they had only two small branch libraries, and there were no reading-rooms in the great centres of population. Early in that year the Kensington Branch Library and Reading-room was opened. The total issue of books and periodicals at all the libraries was 1,514,545; last year the issue was 4,417,043, an increase of nearly 300 per cent. These figures became more striking when it was remembered that the population during this period had increased only 17 per cent. Not only had the appetite for reading grown, but the growth had been in a very satisfactory direction. Whereas in 1890 76 per cent. of the total issues were of prose fiction, last year this percentage had fallen to 55 per cent. He did not wish to disparage the reading of good fiction; on the contrary, he had always contended that the reading of fiction frequently formed the habit of reading, which would otherwise never be obtained. They had worked upon this view, and gave to the borrower of a work of fiction the right to take out another book of a more serious character. In 1890 the number of our home readers was 7,300; to-day they had 41,000, and during this period they had added 145,672 books to the shelves. The total issue of books, etc., during the past eighteen years reached the enormous total of 47,343,035. In place of forty-nine free lectures, all given at one centre, they now gave 186 lectures distributed over nineteen centres.
"In 1890, out of a rate of one penny in the £, they maintained the Central Reference Library and three branch libraries, the Art Gallery, and the Museum. To-day, with the rate of a penny three-farthings, they maintained three greatly enlarged central institutions, ten lending libraries and reading-rooms, and gave 186 free lectures. They were now completing the erection of a library at Garston, and had secured the land for a library at Walton. The encouraging result of the system of free access to open bookshelves in the Picton and the branch reading-rooms induced him to hope that the new library at Walton might be entirely run upon this principle. They had also done a great deal to encourage juvenile readers and with most gratifying and encouraging results. Juvenile libraries and reading-rooms were provided, and free lectures to the young formed an important branch of their work. They had been very much helped by the handsome gifts made by Mr. Andrew Carnegie, the collection of fine art books and prints made by the late Mr. Hugh Frederick Hornby, to whose generosity they were indebted for the room in which they were now displayed – and the 978 books in the Braille type contributed by Miss Hornby, of Walton.
"The growth of the Natural History Museum had been remarkable. Liverpool received as a bequest from the 13th Earl of Derby a very large collection of natural history specimens, which was enriched from time to time by other gifts. The limited space in the Museum was choked by specimens which could not be properly displayed or scientifically arranged, and the greater part of the specimens remained stowed away in cases in the cellars. In 1899 it was decided to greatly extend the museum by building further galleries over the new Technical Schools. This extension cost £80,000. This additional space had been entirely filled by the zoological collections, which had been most carefully and scientifically arranged by the director, Dr. Forbes, and they now only awaited the completion of the descriptive catalogue to make this department complete and worthy of its high reputation.
"The Permanent Collection of Art had been greatly enriched by the pictures purchased and also by pictures presented to the city. The wall space in the galleries was so limited that the work of the committee was carried on under great difficulty. An enlargement of the Art Gallery was urgently needed. Under the active chairmanship of Mr. Lea, assisted by Mr. Dibdin, the curator, the Autumn Exhibition of pictures continued to grow in excellence; but, notwithstanding this, it was remarkable that the interest of the public in pictorial art appeared to be on the decline. Whereas in 1891 the total receipts of their exhibition reached £4,138, and in 1892 £3,609, last year they were only £3,068; and while in 1891 pictures were sold of the value of £7,603, last year the sales only reached £4,446. This falling off was, however, not peculiar to Liverpool. The art exhibitions in London had the same experiences. It was no doubt attributable largely to the beautiful art processes by which pictures were reproduced, which appeared to satisfy the public taste and destroyed the desire to see the originals. Another cause might be attributed to the changes which had taken place in the art decoration of houses, which did not admit of the display of pictures. No doubt in time a reaction will take place. Art might sleep but it could never die. It was not thinkable that a love for pictures could for long be dormant; but in the meantime they must appeal to the Liverpool public for a generous support to the efforts made by the Art Committee to bring to their doors every year the very best pictures produced in this country.
"In looking back over the past eighteen years," remarked Sir William in conclusion, "I feel very proud of the excellent work done by these institutions. We have ministered largely to the education and entertainment of the people. We have carried brightness and sweetness into many a home, and have done not a little, I hope, to refine and elevate the masses of our fellow-citizens, and I think we can also claim to have been faithful stewards of the funds placed at our disposal. In taking leave of you I thank you all for your kindness and consideration. To Mr. Holt, our senior member, who has occupied the vice-chair all these years, I tender my grateful thanks for his help always so cheerfully given. I am also greatly indebted to our staff for the assistance they have invariably extended to me, and I wish to especially record my obligations to our veteran chief librarian (Mr. Cowell), who has rendered to me the greatest service in many ways, and especially in keeping a careful oversight upon our finances. If I might take the liberty of leaving behind me a word of counsel and advice, I would say – strive always to popularise these institutions; they belong to the people, and the more they are brought into close contact with the people the more generous will be their appreciation and support, and greater will be the amount of real good accomplished.
"A cordial vote of thanks was tendered to the vice-chairman, Mr. R. D. Holt, on the proposition of Alderman Stolterfoht, seconded by Mr. Crosthwaite."
Of Mr. Robert Holt I could say much. We were for so long, and so pleasantly associated on this committee, where for over twenty years he acted as my deputy-chairman. He was most loyal, most kind and helpful. He had a temperament which shrank from responsibility, and was naturally critical and hesitating. Yet he was kindness itself, and inspired a feeling of love and respect. He had considerable artistic taste and knowledge of pictures. He passed away at the age of 76, deeply mourned by all his colleagues. Up to the last he was the most punctual and regular member in his attendance at the Library Committee.
CHAPTER IX.
KNIGHTHOOD AND FREEDOM OF LIVERPOOL
Some two years after the conclusion of my Mayoralty, in 1883, Mr. Gladstone, the Prime Minister, wrote to me stating that it would give him pleasure to submit my name to the Queen for the honour of a knighthood.
I attended a special Council at Windsor to receive the "accolade." We were entertained at luncheon, and after waiting about in the corridors for some time we were ushered one by one into the oak dining-room. The gentleman who preceded me, being lame, could not kneel, and the Queen knighted him standing. When I entered the room there was no cushion to kneel upon. Her Majesty noticed it at once, and exclaimed, "Where is the cushion?" and A.D.C.'s flew in all directions in search of one. Meantime I was kept standing, feeling not a little nervous; the Queen apparently thought it was a good joke, and laughed, for it appeared from the time occupied in finding a cushion that cushions did not abound at Windsor.
I received through Lord Claud Hamilton a very kind message of congratulation from the Prince of Wales, who had evidently been greatly impressed by his visit to Liverpool.
Although the honour of knighthood was ostensibly bestowed in connection with the visit of the Prince and Princess of Wales, and the opening of the new docks, I was semi-officially informed that it was really a recognition of my work in connection with the Fenian movement.
Honorary Freedom of Liverpool
Much as I valued the honour of knighthood, I still more greatly esteemed the distinction conferred upon me by my fellow-citizens when they bestowed upon me the freedom of the city – the greatest honour any man can receive. Other honours are conferred for political and other services, all more or less meritorious; but to be singled out by those among whom you have lived all your life in order to receive the greatest distinction it is in their power to offer is an honour worth living for, and particularly when its bestowal is so jealously safe-guarded and kept so entirely free from political bias as it is in Liverpool. It then becomes doubly precious. It is easy in a great community to make enemies. Even the very success which may crown one's efforts to do good may produce them. A unanimous vote of a large City Council is, therefore, not an easy thing to obtain, and is in itself a great compliment. I may perhaps be pardoned if I venture to insert a short account of the proceedings of the Special Council when the Freedom was conferred, taken from the Liverpool Post and Mercury: —
"In the presence of a large and distinguished assembly of ladies and gentlemen, the freedom of the city of Liverpool was yesterday afternoon presented, in the Council chamber at the Town Hall, to Sir William Forwood, the father of the City Council. Sir William was first elected to the Council as a representative of Pitt Street Ward in November, 1868, and nine years later, in 1877, he was promoted to the aldermanic bench, of which he is still a member. He was Mayor of the city in 1880-81. He is also a member of the city bench, of the county bench for Lancashire and Cheshire, chairman of the Liverpool County Quarter Sessions, and a deputy-lieutenant for Lancashire. The Lord Mayor (Alderman Charles Petrie) presided, and, preceded by the city regalia, he was accompanied into the Council chamber by Sir Thomas Hughes, Mr. John Brancker, and Mr. B. Levy (freemen of the city), Mr. R. A. Hampson, Mr. R. D. Holt, and Mr. T. Burke (the mover, seconder, and supporter of the resolution of the City Council in favour of conferring the freedom on Sir William Forwood), Sir William Tate, Sir John A. Willox, M.P., Mr. A. Crosthwaite (ex-Lord Mayor), Mr. John Williamson, and many other prominent citizens. There was also a very large attendance of members of the City Council. Alderman W. B. Bowring sent a telegram regretting his inability to be present through indisposition.
"The Lord Mayor, in opening the interesting proceedings said: I have much pleasure in asking the Recorder, Mr. Hopwood, kindly to read the resolution of the Council conferring the honorary freedom of the city upon Sir William Bower Forwood.
"The Recorder: My Lord Mayor, I read the minute of the Corporation. 'At a meeting of the Council of the City of Liverpool, holden on Wednesday, the 4th day of June, 1902, under the Honorary Freedom of Boroughs Act, 1885, present the Right Hon. Charles Petrie (Lord Mayor), and a full Council, it was moved by Councillor Hampson, seconded by Councillor R. D. Holt, supported by Councillor Burke, and resolved unanimously that, in pursuance of statute 48 and 49 of Victoria, chap. 29, entitled an act to enable municipal corporations to confer the honorary freedom of boroughs upon persons of distinction, the honorary freedom of the city be conferred upon Alderman Sir William Bower Forwood, in recognition of the eminent services he has rendered to the municipality throughout his membership of the Council, extending over a period of thirty-three years, during the course of which he has filled the office of chief magistrate and other public positions with credit to himself and benefit to the community, and especially for the deep interest he has taken in the establishment of libraries and reading-rooms in the city.'
"The Lord Mayor: Sir William Forwood, ladies and gentlemen, it is not often we meet in this chamber as a Council under such happy auspices as we are met to-day. We are gathered here with one accord to do honour to one of our number whom we are pleased to term the Father of the Council, Sir William Forwood. Not that he is by any means the oldest man amongst us, but he happens to have been in the Council longer than any other member. It is now nearly thirty-four years since Sir William was first returned as member for Pitt Street Ward, on the 2nd November, 1868, and ever since then he has held a seat in the City Council, and, as you all know, he has served upon nearly all the important committees of the Council – for instance, the Finance, Estate, Watch, Water, Library, Museum and Arts, and Parliamentary Committees. As chairman of the Parliamentary Committee he rendered very valuable services in the opposition to the Manchester Ship Canal, and also with regard to railway rates. But for many years past Sir William has unstintingly devoted his time and his great ability to the Library, Museum, and Arts Committee. And I am sure the city is very greatly indebted to him for the valuable work that that committee has done."
The Lord Mayor proceeded to enlarge upon Sir William's services to the city, and in conclusion said: – "I have now great pleasure, Sir William, as chief magistrate of the city, in asking you on behalf of the citizens to accept this illuminated resolution of the Council and also this casket, and I am sure I am only echoing the sentiment of everyone here to-day, and not only those here, but those outside, when I say that we wish you long life, health, and happiness to continue in the honour which you hold. I will now ask you to sign the roll of honorary freemen.
"The scroll on which is inscribed the freedom of the city is designed and illuminated by James Orr Marples (Mr. Rutherfoord), Liverpool and London Chambers, Exchange. The vellum is bound and backed with royal blue silk and attached to an ivory roller. At the top of the composition is the Liver crest and tridents between the arms and supporters of the city, and a view of the Town Hall. Below, on the left side, beautifully emblazoned, are the armorial bearings of Sir William B. Forwood, with the crest and knight's helmet, the steel visor raised. On a scroll beneath the shield is the motto 'Fide virtute et labore.' The civic regalia and the port of Liverpool occupy the bottom of the design. Pendant by a broad blue ribbon from the scroll is the official seal of the city of Liverpool.
"The scroll was enclosed in a handsome silver-gilt box, decorated with panel pictures of the Town Hall, Free Libraries, and Museum, in enamels.
"Sir William Forwood, having signed the roll, said: – My Lord Mayor, aldermen, councillors, and ladies and gentlemen, – Believe me it is most difficult, indeed it is well nigh impossible to find words adequately to convey to you all the gratitude which fills my heart, to tell you how deeply I appreciate and value the very great honour and distinction you have so very generously and graciously conferred upon me, or to thank you, my Lord Mayor, for the very eloquent, kind, but sadly too flattering terms in which you have made this presentation. The honorary freedom of the city of Liverpool, guarded by this Council with so much jealousy, and bestowed with such a frugal hand, is the greatest honour which this city can confer – it is a unique order of merit, it is not conferred by the favour of a monarch or minister, but by the spontaneous and unanimous voice of a great representative assembly, and as such is not surpassed by any similar order in this country. It is justly esteemed and valued by distinguished statesmen and philanthropists, and not less by successful soldiers who in the hour of their country's great anxiety have turned defeat into victory. How much more, then, must I prize it, the freedom of my native city, as one born in Liverpool, and who has spent his life in your midst, and whose only claim to this great honour is that he has endeavoured to be of some use to his fellow-citizens. How imperfect this service has been, how much more I might have done, no one is more conscious of than I am; but you in your great kindness and generosity have been good enough to overlook my shortcomings, and are content to recognise only my long services and my desire at all times to the best of my ability to promote the welfare of this important community. I thank you most sincerely and with all my heart; my children and my children's children will, I am sure, look upon this beautiful casket and the record which it contains with feelings of pride and gratification. It is an added charm to the presentation which you have made to me that I am permitted to associate with it the memory of my late brother, who gave to this city the best of his life, the best of his thought and work, and died in their service. His memory will be long cherished by all those who witnessed his public spirit, his long and his unselfish devotion to the interests of the people of Liverpool. I remember well the first time I entered this Town Hall. As a boy I had spent my summer holidays at the Edge Lane entrance to the Botanic Gardens, obtaining signatures to a petition to the Town Council asking them to purchase the land adjoining the Botanic gardens for a park. I obtained 62,000 signatures. I brought the petition down in a cab. I remember it was too bulky to carry, and it had to be rolled through the vestibule to the Town Clerk's office, which was then in this building. That petition was successful, and the Wavertree Park was the first of those beautiful parks which now girdle the city. My next appearance within these walls was as the proud representative for Pitt Street Ward. It serves to mark the flight of time when I call to mind that of the members of the Council when I entered it in 1868 only three now survive – Mr. Samuel Greg Rathbone, Mr. Philip Holt, and myself. Mr. Rathbone is already a freeman, and our roll of freemen would be greatly enriched if we could add the name of Liverpool's anonymous and great benefactor. Of the members who have since entered this Council, many have fallen by the wayside, many have retired into private life, some have gone forward to the Commons House of Parliament to bear their part in the government of the country; but a goodly number have, I am glad to say, remained faithful to the municipal government of the city, recognising that they can undertake no more noble or useful work. Municipal work is many sided: it is full of interests; it is very attractive, and even fascinating; and it brings with it its own reward in the satisfaction of feeling that you are doing good. It may lack the glamour and prestige of the Imperial Parliament, but it has this great advantage: the City Council affords greater opportunities of initiating and carrying into effect measures for the benefit of the people among whom we live, and we have the added advantage of seeing the growth and fruition of our work. Who can compare the Liverpool of to-day with the Liverpool of thirty years ago without feeling thankful for what has been done, and proud that he has been privileged to take part in the doing of it? It seems only the other day we were wrestling with such an insanitary condition of things that the unhealthiness of Liverpool was a byword, and the prevalence of drunkenness and crime caused this city to be alluded to as the 'black spot on the Mersey.' Great social and sanitary problems had to be solved, which for years defied all attempts at their solution – it was only when broader and more enlightened views of municipal responsibility and duty came to the front, supported by a healthy and more vigorous public opinion outside, that these problems were grappled with, with such intelligence and determination that the Liverpool of to-day can challenge comparison with any city in the world – not only in the excellence and efficiency of its municipal government and administration but in its enlightened policy in dealing with insanitary property, housing the poor, the treatment of infectious disease, and last but not least, in the suppression and prevention of drunkenness and crime. You have, my Lord Mayor, alluded to the work done by the Library, Museum, and Arts Committee over which it is my privilege to preside. This may not bulk very largely in the public eye, but nevertheless it is very real, and is doing much for the intellectual and moral welfare of the people, and helping to make their lives brighter and happier. When we get those additional funds which I hope the generosity of the Council will give to us at no distant date, our work must progress by leaps and bounds. While the freedom of Liverpool which you have so very generously presented to me is the symbol of the highest honour conferred by a great city, whose ships cover the seas and whose commerce fills every corner of the globe, it is more than all this – it is the kind expression of goodwill and approval of friends with whom it has been my high privilege to work for so many years – an expression which I greatly value and appreciate, and for which I return you once again my most sincere and heartfelt thanks."
