Page:Dictionary of Artists of the English School (1878).djvu/101

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at Sheffield, where his imagination was strongly attracted by the display in the shop windows of a carver, and ne became the carver's apprentice for seven years. Raphael Smith, the mezzo-tint engraver, found him some time after precariously employed in drawing portraits and land- scapes in black-lead pencil, in which he dis- played great taste and skill. The engraver noticed and encouraged his talent, and a statuary of the town helped him in the mechanical part of the art of stone-carving. All this time he continued with his master, who did not encourage his predilections for art; and in 1802 he made a composition with him, and left him, though some accounts say that he ran away and was advertised as a run-away apprentice; but this can hardly be correct, as he advertised in the < Sheffield Iris ' of April 22, 1802, to paint portraits at two guineas each; and no less than 72 portraits of this class by his hand have been catalogued.

Soon after this time he came up to Lon- don, and was allowed to study for a limited time in the schools of the Royal Academy, though he was not regularly admitted as a student; and it is told that for the first eight years of his London life he did not make 51. by his profession, yet it appears that in 1804 he advertised to take models from the life, and in the same year exhi- bited his first portrait at the Academy. He married a cousin in 1809, with whom he received a little property, which assisted him in 1810, when making way in his pro- fession, to establish himself in rimlico, and to build a studio and large workshops. The merit of his busts was recognised, and in that year he was the successful compe- titor for a statue of George III. for the city of London, his first work of that class. His reputation continued to increase, and about 1813 he raised his price for a bust from 120 to 150 guineas. In 1816 he was elected an associate of the Royal Academy, and in the following year he completed his simple and affecting group of ' The Sleep- ing Children/ now in Lichfield Cathedral. He was elected a full member of the Aca- demy in 1818, and in 1819 visited France and Italy, and after his return produced some of his finest works; and then, at the head of his profession, with more commis- sions than he could execute, in 1822 he raised his price for a bust to 200 guineas.

Of his most important statues should be mentioned— The Sir Joseph Banks, 1827, now in the hall of the British Museum; George Canning, in the Town Hall, Liver- pool, 1832; Sir John Malcolm, in West- minster Abbey, 1837; Bishop Bathurst, in Norwich Cathedral, 1841; also in West- minster Abbey, Francis Horner, a work of great simplicity, truth, and sweetness, the modern costume treated in a masterly

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style; James Watt and Sir Stamford Raffles, and* the three bronze statues of William Pitt, one of which is in Hanover Square; the equestrian figure of George I v ..in Trafalgar Square; and of the Duke of Wellington, in front of the Royal Ex- change. In 1835 he was knighted by William IV. He died suddenly, in his own house, of a spasm of the heart, November 25, 1842, and was buried in a vault he had prepared in his native village. His works were distinguished by great refinement and taste. They consist almost exclusively of busts and portrait statues, treated in a simple natural style, never wanting in character or dignity. His invention did not lead him to allegory, or to those classic compositions to which the sculptor loves to give life. About 25 of his sketches from nature are engraved in his friend Rhodes' 'Peak Scenery/ published 1818-23. He was childless, and he left the reversionary interest of the bulk of his property, after the death of his widow, to the Royal Aca- demy, to make some provision for the pre- sident, and for the purchase of the most valuable works in sculpture and painting by artists of any nation residing in Great Britain at the time of their execution, for the purpose of establishing a national collec- tion. He is reputed to have died worth 150,000/. ' Recollections of his Life, Prac- tice and Opinions/ written by his friend George Jones, R.A., was published 1849; and, ' Memorials of Sir F. Chantrey, sculp- tor in Hallamshire/ by John Holland, of Sheffield, was published there 1851.

CHANTRY, John, engraver. He practised in the reign of Charles II. His chief works were portraits and ornamental frontispieces for the booksellers. He used the graver only in a hard, stiff manner, and his fingers were very indifferent. He re- sided some time at Oxford, and died about 1662. Vertue enumerates several plates by him.

CHAPMAN, Charles, decorative painter. Was the son of an eminent come- dian. He was the pupil of Frank Hayman, and was employed by him in the decor- ations at Vauxhall; but, losing this en- fagement, he sunk into indigence, and ied soon after 1770. .

CH ARPENTlfiRE, Adriuj*, statuary. Was much employed at Canons, under Van Nost, by the I)uke of Buckingham. He afterwards set up for himself in Piccadilly, and manufactured the leaden statues used in the decoration of gardens, and grew rich upon the bad taste of the day. i>ied in 1737, in Piccadilly, aged above 60.

CHARRETIE, Anna-Mabia, minia- ture painter. She was married young, and first exhibited * Flowers ' in the Royal Academy in 1843. From that time she was a constant exhibitor, but rarely of