(1894 and 1905), presented by Herkomer to the town hall of Landsberg; ‘A Board of Directors’ (Royal Academy, 1892); ‘The Council of the Royal Academy’ (Royal Academy, 1908), presented by Herkomer to the National Gallery of British Art; and ‘The Firm of Friedrich Krupp’ (1914).
Among the more remarkable of Herkomer's subject-pictures not already noted are: ‘Missing’ (Royal Academy, 1881); ‘Pressing to the West’, a scene from the emigrant registration office in New York (Royal Academy, 1884); ‘Found’ (Royal Academy, 1885), purchased by the trustees of the Chantrey fund for £800 and now in the National Gallery of British Art; ‘Hard Times’ (Royal Academy, 1885), now in the Manchester art gallery; ‘On Strike’ (Royal Academy, 1891), diploma piece on Herkomer's promotion to the rank of R.A. in 1890; ‘Back to Life’ (Royal Academy, 1896); and ‘The Guards' Cheer’ (Royal Academy, 1898).
It is as a painter that Herkomer will chiefly be remembered, but he had an irresistible desire to make experiments in other directions. Altogether, there is in him a note of rather naïve egotism which makes him temperamentally somewhat akin to another famous painter of peasant stock—a much greater artist than Herkomer—Gustave Courbet. His artistic activity was by no means confined to painting; he did much work as an engraver, inventing and perfecting technical processes, and in enamel. He composed music and wrote some operas which were performed at his private theatre at Bushey, not only designing the scenery but also inventing a new method of stage lighting from the side, and appearing himself as an actor. He took a keen interest in cinematograph production and in motoring. In 1883 he founded at Bushey the Herkomer school of art; this he directed gratuitously until 1904, when he retired. He was constantly lecturing throughout the country, and he filled the post of Slade professor of fine art at Oxford from 1885 to 1894. At Bushey he built himself a house, ‘Lululaund’, and in its construction and elaborate adornment took an active part together with his father and his uncles Hans, a carver, and Anton, a weaver. In memory of his mother he built a tower, ‘Mutterthurm’, at Landsberg.
The published works of Herkomer include Etching and Engraving, Lectures delivered at Oxford (1892), My School and My Gospel (1908), A Certain Phase of Lithography (1910), and The Herkomers (1910–1911). He received a great number of distinctions, both English and foreign: he was created C.V.O. in 1901 and knighted in 1907; he held many honorary degrees, was an honorary fellow of All Souls College, Oxford, an associate of the Institute of France and of the Belgian Academy, and an officer of the legion of honour.
After his first wife's death in 1883 Herkomer married in 1884 Miss Lulu Griffiths (died 1885), of Stanley House, Ruthin. He married thirdly, in 1888, Margaret, sister of his second wife; as such a marriage was not then legal in England the ceremony took place at Landsberg, where Herkomer had returned to German citizenship. Some time afterwards he was again naturalized in England. He assumed the prefix ‘von’ on being invested with the Maximilian order pour le mérite in 1899. He had a son and a daughter by his first wife and also by his third wife. Herkomer died at Budleigh Salterton, Devon, 31 March 1914.
Apart from his technical equipment, which was considerable, Herkomer possessed a quick scenic gift of expression, and this explains why his work became so widely popular. But although he is interesting and illuminating as an exponent of the later Victorian era, there is little in his art which, absolutely speaking, can be regarded as being of permanent value.
[Sir H. von Herkomer, The Herkomers, 2 vols., 1910–1911; A. L. Baldry, Hubert von Herkomer, R.A., a Study and a Biography (containing a list of his works down to the year 1901), 1902; Ludwig Pietsch, Herkomer, 1901; J. Saxon Mills, Life and Letters of Sir Hubert von Herkomer, 1923; U. Thieme and F. Becker, Allgemeines Lexikon der bildenden Künstler, vol. xvi, 1923; A. Graves, The Royal Academy of Arts, Dictionary of Contributors, 1769–1904, vol. iv, 1905–1906.]
HICKS, EDWARD LEE (1843–1919), bishop of Lincoln, was born at Oxford 18 December 1843, the elder son of Edward Hicks, who was in business in Oxford, by his wife, Catherine Pugh, also of Oxford. He was educated at Magdalen College School, and at Brasenose College, Oxford, which he entered as a scholar in January 1862. He gained a first class in classical moderations in 1863, and in literae humaniores in 1866. In the latter year he passed on to Corpus Christi College, the first lay fellow of that college to be elected by examination. He won
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