The life and letters of Frederic Shields . ion to open-airwork, which led to his painting out of doors for manymonths after, had an incalculable effect in enabling himto resist the disease which proved so fatal to every othermember of his family, as well as in removing him fromthe immediate danger of infection, which was littledreamed of in those days. Of this excursion he writes :— I drew all day unweariedly under the stimulus of thestrange scenes and life about me. A rugged old fishermanattracted me, and in three hours I painted in water-coloura vigorous full-length which Mitchell sold on hi
The life and letters of Frederic Shields . ion to open-airwork, which led to his painting out of doors for manymonths after, had an incalculable effect in enabling himto resist the disease which proved so fatal to every othermember of his family, as well as in removing him fromthe immediate danger of infection, which was littledreamed of in those days. Of this excursion he writes :— I drew all day unweariedly under the stimulus of thestrange scenes and life about me. A rugged old fishermanattracted me, and in three hours I painted in water-coloura vigorous full-length which Mitchell sold on his returnfor £20. This opened my eyes to powers unsuspected bymyself until placed in this hothouse of rich subjects, andto the market value of my brush, and determined me towork on my own account. Mitchell offered me £5 as ashare of the price, but I replied that he had paid me theweekly wage agreed upon, and he had also borne alltravelling expenses, so that I could not judge myselfentitled to accept the gift. I bade my kind employer 46. Early Portrait StudyPencil. About 1856 W. J. LINTONS OFFER 47 farewell on his return from Manchester, and made myown way over Exmoor to Porlock, which I had noted inpassing through it in the coach as rich in rustic wealth ofpersonalities and subjects. Thus he began those exquisite water-colour drawingsof rustic subjects which were so soon to win him recogni-tion as an artist. They found ready sale at moderateprices. The necessity of drawing for the trade was gradu-ally decreasing; drawing for wood engraving seems tohave offered a favourable field, though he never felt anydesire to pursue this branch of art except as a means toenable him to live and to support his brother. In Feb-ruary 1858 he sends Edwin off to Jersey. This month herecords cashing Mr. Falkners cheque, £9, for his picture The Holly Gatherers, a beautiful water-colour drawingof two children in snow, one of his earliest finished water-colours, very much in the style of William
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade191, bookpublisherlondon, bookyear1912
