37.
To William Hayley.
4th May 1804.
Dear Sir,—I thank you sincerely for Falconer,[1] an admirable poet, and the admirable prints to it by Fittler. Whether you intended it or not, they have given me some excellent hints in engraving; his manner of working is what I shall endeavour to adopt in many points. I have seen the elder Mr. Walker. He knew and admired without any preface my print of Romney, and when his daughter came in he gave the print into her hand without a word, and she immediately said, "Ah! Romney! younger than I knew him, but very like indeed." Mr. Walker showed me Romney's first attempt at oil painting; it is a copy from a Dutch picture—"Dutch Boor Smoking"; on the back is written, "This was the first attempt at oil painting by G. Romney." He shewed me also the last performance of Romney. It is of Mr. Walker and family,[2] the draperies put
- ↑ The Shipwreck, a poem by William Falconer, 1804, contains three plates and five vignettes engraved in line by J. Fittler, A.R.A., after N. Pocock. Blake's plate of "The Shipwreck" has certainly some traces of Fittler's manner of engraving.
- ↑ Adam Walker, his wife and daughter, sitting at a table; the three sons standing in the background; the father explaining a diagram; landscape background. Canvas, 65 x 53 in. Now in the National Portrait Gallery (see Romney, by Humphry Ward and W. Roberts, 1904, vol. ii. p. 163).
