The Confessions of a Caricaturist, Vol. 1 online

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[Illustration: MY CARICATURE OF MR. GLADSTONE.]


THE

CONFESSIONS OF A CARICATURIST

BY

HARRY FURNISS

_ILLUSTRATED_


VOLUME I

[Illustration]


NEW YORK AND LONDON:

HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS.

1902.




BRADBURY, AGNEW, & CO. LD., PRINTERS

LONDON AND TONBRIDGE.

[_All rights reserved._]

December, 1901.




PREFACE.


If, in these volumes, I have made some joke at a friend's expense, let
that friend take it in the spirit intended, and - I apologise beforehand.

In America apology in journalism is unknown. The exception is the
well-known story of the man whose death was published in the obituary
column. He rushed into the office of the paper and cried out to the
editor:

"Look here, sur, what do you mean by this? You have published two
columns and a half of my obituary, and here I am as large as life!"

The editor looked up and coolly said, "Sur, I am vury sorry, I reckon
there is a mistake some place, but it kean't be helped. You are killed
by the _Jersey Eagle_, you are to the world buried. We nevur correct
anything, and we nevur apologise in Amurrican papers."

"That won't do for me, sur. My wife's in tears; my friends are laughing
at me; my business will be ruined, - you _must_ apologise."

"No, si - ree, an Amurrican editor nevur apologises."

"Well, sur, I'll take the law on you right away. I'm off to my
attorney."

"Wait one minute, sur - just one minute. You are a re-nowned and popular
citizen: the _Jersey Eagle_ has killed you - for that I am vury, vury
sorry, and to show you my respect I will to-morrow find room for you - in
the births column."

Now do not let any editor imagine these pages are my professional
obituary, - my autobiography. If by mistake he does, then let him place
me immediately in their births column. I am in my forties, and there is
quite time for me to prepare and publish two more volumes of my
"Confessions" from my first to my second birth, and many other things,
before I am fifty.

[Illustration: Faithfully yours
Harry Furniss]

LONDON, 1901.

[The Author begs to acknowledge his indebtedness to the Proprietors
and the Editor of _Punch_, the Proprietors of the _Magazine of Art_,
the _Graphic_, the _Illustrated London News_, _English Illustrated
Magazine_, _Cornhill Magazine_, _Harper's Magazine_, _Westminster
Gazette_, _St. James' Gazette_, the _British Weekly_ and the _Sporting
Times_ for their kindness in allowing him to reproduce extracts and
pictures in these volumes.]




CONTENTS.


CHAPTER I.

CONFESSIONS OF MY CHILDHOOD - AND AFTER.

Introductory - Birth and Parentage - The Cause of my remaining a
Caricaturist - The Schoolboys' _Punch_ - Infant Prodigies - As a
Student - I Start in Life - _Zozimus_ - The Sullivan
Brothers - Pigott - The Forger - The Irish "Pathriot" - Wood
Engraving - Tom Taylor - The Wild West - Judy - Behind the
Scenes - Titiens - My First and Last Appearance in a Play - My Journey to
London - My Companion - A Coincidence _pp._ 1-29


CHAPTER II.

BOHEMIAN CONFESSIONS.

I arrive in London - A Rogue and Vagabond - Two Ladies - Letters of
Introduction - Bohemia - A Distinguished Member - My Double - A Rara
Avis - The Duke of Broadacres - The Savages - A Souvenir - Portraits of
the Past - J. L. Toole - Art and Artists - Sir Spencer Wells - John
Pettie - Milton's Garden _pp._ 30-53


CHAPTER III.

MY CONFESSIONS AS A SPECIAL ARTIST.

The Light Brigade - Miss Thompson (Lady Butler) - Slumming - The Boat
Race - Realism - A Phantasmagoria - Orlando and the Caitiff - Fancy Dress
Balls - Lewis Wingfield - Cinderella - A Model - All Night Sitting - An
Impromptu Easel - "Where there's a Will there's a Way" - The American
Sunday Papers - I am Deaf - The Grill - The World's
Fair - Exaggeration - Personally Conducted - The Charnel House - 10,
Downing Street - I attend a Cabinet Council - An Illustration by Mr.
Labouchere - The Great Lincolnshire Trial - Praying without Prejudice
_pp._ 54-87

CHAPTER IV.

THE CONFESSIONS OF AN ILLUSTRATOR - A SERIOUS CHAPTER.

Drawing - "Hieroglyphics" - Clerical Portraiture - A Commission from
General Booth - In Search of Truth - Sir Walter Besant - James Payn - Why
Theodore Hook was Melancholy - "Off with his Head" - Reformers'
Tree - Happy Thoughts - Christmas Story - Lewis Carroll - The Rev. Charles
Lutwidge Dodgson - Sir John Tenniel - The Challenge - Seven Years'
Labour - A Puzzle MS. - Dodgson on Dress - Carroll on Drawing - Sylvie and
Bruno - A Composite Picture - My Real Models - I am very Eccentric - My
"Romps" - A Letter from du Maurier - Caldecott - Tableaux - Fine
Feathers - Models - Fred Barnard - The Haystack - A Wicket Keeper - A Fair
Sitter - Neighbours - The Post Office Jumble - Puzzling the
Postmen - Writing Backwards - A Coincidence _pp._ 88-130


CHAPTER V.

A CHAT BETWEEN MY PEN AND PENCIL.

What is Caricature? - Interviewing - Catching
Caricatures - Pellegrini - The "Ha! Ha!" - Black and White _v._
Paint - How to make a Caricature - M.P.'s - My System - Mr. Labouchere's
Attitude - Do the Subjects Object? - Colour in Caricature - Caught! - A
Pocket Caricature - The Danger of the Shirt-cuff - The Danger of a
Marble Table - Quick Change - Advice to those about to Caricature
_pp._ 131 - 153


CHAPTER VI.

PARLIAMENTARY CONFESSIONS.

Gladstone and Disraeli - A Contrast - An unauthenticated Incident - Lord
Beaconsfield's last Visit to the House of Commons - My Serious
Sketch - Historical - Mr. Gladstone - His Portraits - What he thought of
the Artists - Sir J. E. Millais - Frank Holl - The Despatch
Boxes - Impressions - Disraeli - Dan O'Connell - Procedure - American
Wit - Toys - Wine - Pressure - Sandwich Soirée - The G.O.M. dines with
"Toby, M.P." - Walking - Quivering - My Desk - An Interview - Political
Caricaturists - Signature in Sycamore - Scenes in the Commons - Joseph
Gillis Biggar - My Double - Scenes - Divisions - Puck - Sir R.
Temple - Charles Stewart Parnell - A Study - Quick Changes - His
Fall - Room 15 - The last Time I saw him - Lord Randolph Churchill - His
Youth - His Height - His Fickleness - His Hair - His Health - His
Fall - Lord Iddesleigh - Sir Stafford and Mr. Gladstone - Bradlaugh - His
Youth - His Parents - His Tactics - His Fight - His Extinction - John
Bright - Jacob Bright - Sir Isaac Holden - Lord Derby - A Political
Prophecy - A Lucky Guess - My Confession in the _Times_ - The Joke that
Failed - The Seer - Fair Play - I deny being a Conservative - I am
Encouraged - Chaff - Reprimanded - Misprinted - Misunderstood
_pp._ 154 - 214


CHAPTER VII.

"PUNCH."

Two _Punch_ Editors - _Punch's_ Hump - My First _Punch_ Dinner - Charles
Keene - "Robert" - W. H. Bradbury - du Maurier - "Kiki" - A Trip to the
Place of his Birth - He Hates Me - A Practical Joke - du Maurier's
Strange Model - No Sportsman - Tea - Appollinaris - My First
Contribution - My Record - Parliament - Press Gallery Official - I Feel
Small - The "Black Beetle" - Professor Rogers - Sergeant-at-Arms'
Room - Styles of Work - Privileges - Dr. Percy - I Sit in the Table - The
Villain of Art - The New Cabinet - Criticism - _Punch's_ Historical
Cartoons - Darwen MacNeill - Scenes in the Lobby - A Technical
Assault - John Burns's "Invention" - John Burns's Promise - John Burns's
Insult - The Lay of Swift MacNeill - The Truth - Sir Frank
Lockwood - "Grand Cross" - Lockwood's Little Sketch - Lockwood's Little
Joke in the House - Lockwood's Little Joke at Dinner - Lewis Carroll and
_Punch_ - Gladstone's Head - Sir William's
Portrait - Ciphers - Reversion - _Punch_ at Play - Three _Punch_ Men in a
Boat - Squaring up - Two Pins Club - Its One Joke - Its One Horse - Its
Mystery - Artistic Duties - Lord Russell - Furious Riding - Before the
Beak - Burnand and I in the Saddle - Caricaturing Pictures for
_Punch_ - Art under Glass - Arthur Cecil - My Other Eye - The Ridicule
that Kills - Red Tape - _Punch_ in Prison - I make a Mess of
it - Waterproof - "I used your Soap two years ago" - Charles
Keene - Charles Barber - _Punch's_ Advice - _Punch's_ Wives
_pp._ 215 - 302

[Illustration: HARRY FURNISS'S (EGYPTIAN STYLE). _From "Punch."_]




LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.


PAGE
My Caricature of Mr. Gladstone _Frontispiece_

Initial "In." Writing my Confessions. A Visitor's Snapshot 1

My Mother 3

My Father 5

Harry Furniss, aged 10 6

A Caricature, made when a Boy (never published). Dublin Exhibition.
Portrait of Sir A. Guinness (now Lord Iveagh) in centre 11

An Early Illustration on Wood by Harry Furniss. Partly Engraved
by him. 16

Sketches in Galway 19

"Judy," the Galway Dwarf 23

Phelps, the first Actor I saw 24

Mrs. Hardcastle. Mr. Harry Furniss. From an Early Sketch 25

Caricature of Myself, drawn when I first arrived in London 30

Age 20 35

A successful "Make-Up" 36

Two Travellers 38

The Duke of "Broadacres" 40

Savage Club House Dinner. From a Sketch by Herbert Johnson 41

The Earl of Dunraven as a Savage 42

"Another Gap in Our Ranks" 43

"Jope" 43

H. J. Byron 44

A Presentation 45

Savage Club. My Design for the Menu, 25th Anniversary Dinner 47

"Savages" 50

Letter from Sir Spencer Wells 51

Distress in the Black Country 54

At the Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race 55

As Special at the Balaclava Celebration 57

Distress in the North 59

Realism! 61

"The Caitiff" and Orlando 62

An Invitation 63

At a Fancy Dress Ball 65

Lewis Wingfield as a Street Nigger Home from the Derby 67

"The Liberal Candidate" 68

Sketches at the Liverpool Election: A Ward Meeting 69

My Easel. Drawing Mr. Gladstone at a Public Meeting 71

The American Sunday Papers 72

Major Handy 74

The World's Fair, Chicago. A "Special's" Visit 75

"On dashed the Horses in their wild Career" 77

Initial "A" 79

The Charnel-House. Chicago World's Fair 80

Initial "London" 83

The Bishop of Lincoln's Trial 85

Initial "If" 88

Majuba Hill 89

Canon Liddon. A Sketch from Life 92

Letter from Sir Walter Besant 94

The Late Sir Walter Besant 95

The "Jetty" 95

Illustration for "The Talk of the Town" 96

"That's just what I have done!" 98

Specimen of James Payn's Writing 99

The Typical Lovers in Illustrated Novels 100

Initial "T" 101

Instructions in a Letter from Lewis Carroll 103

Specimen of Lewis Carroll's Drawing and Writing 106

Original Sketch by Lewis Carroll of his Charming Hero and Heroine 107

Lewis Carroll's Note to me or a Pathetic Picture 108

Sylvie and Bruno. My Original Drawing for Lewis Carroll 110

I Go Mad! 111

From Lewis Carroll 112

"I do want a Wicket-keeper!" 113

Portion of Letter from Lawrence, age 9 114

Reduction from a Design for my "Romps" 115

Portion of a Letter from George du Maurier 117

A Transformation 119

"Yours always, Barnard" 119

Barnard and the Models 120

"I sit for 'Ands, Sir" 121

The Grand Old Hand and the Young 'Un 122

My Fighting Double 124

Specimen of Mr. Linley Sambourne's Envelopes to me 125

Cheque for 5-1/2d. passed through two Banks and paid. I signed it
_backwards_, and it was cancelled by Clerk _backwards_ 127

Sir Henry Irving writes his Name backwards 128

Sir Henry Irving's Attempt 128

Mr. J. L. Toole's first Attempt 128

Mr. J. L. Toole's second Attempt 128

Autograph: Harry Furniss 129

Initial "If" 131

The Studio of a Caricaturist 132

Caricature of me by my Daughter, age 15 134

A serious Portrait - from Life 135

Initial "H" 136

"Penguin" 139

Mr. Brown, Ordinary Attire. Court Dress 139

Two Portraits 140

A Caricature 140

_Not_ a Caricature 140

The Editor of _Punch_ sits for his Portrait 144

A Model unawares and the Result 145

Sketch on a Shirt-Cuff 146

"Mundella" 147

Mr. Labouchere 149

The M.P. Real and Ideal 150

The Photo. As he really is 151

"Dizzy" (Beaconsfield) and Gladstone 154

The Inner Lobby of the House of Commons 156

Explanation to Illustration on page 156 157

Lord Beaconsfield. A Sketch from Life 158

The last Visit of Lord Beaconsfield to the House 161

Mr. Gladstone. A Sketch from Life 163

Mr. Gladstone "under his Flow of Eloquence" 165

Mr. Gladstone. Conventional Portrait 167

Caricature of the Holl Portrait 169

Note of Mr. Gladstone made in the Press Gallery with the wrong
end of a Quill Pen 171

Invitation to a "Sandwich Soirée" 173

Mr. Gladstone sits on the Floor 174

The Fragment of _Punch_ Mr. Gladstone did not see 175

The Gladstone Matchbox 176

Mr. Gladstone's Collars 178

Parnell 179

To Room 15 182

Outside Room 15 183

Outside my Room 185

"The G.O.M." and "Randy" 185

Mr. Louis Jennings 186

Lord Randolph and Louis Jennings 188

Lord Randolph Churchill 189

Behind the Speaker's Chair 190

Initial "S" 191

Initial "H" 193

Bradlaugh Triumphant. _From "Punch"_ 194

Charles Bradlaugh 195

The Meet at St. Stephen's 197

Sir George Campbell 199

Heraldic Design illustrating Mr. Plunkett's (now Lord Rathmore)
Joke 201

Mr. Farmer Atkinson 202

I must Introduce you to Lucy. Here he is 203

Joseph Gillis Biggar 204

Initial "I" 206

The House of Commons from Toby's Private Box 208

The Government Bench - before Home Rule 211

Reduction of one of my Parliamentary Pages in _Punch_ 214

Initial "T" 215

Age 26, when I first worked for _Punch_ 216

My first Meeting with the Editor of _Punch_ 217

My first Invitation from _Punch_ 218

A Letter from Charles Keene, objecting to an Editor interviewing
him 219

"Robert" 220

George du Maurier 221

Suggestion by du Maurier for _Punch_ Cartoon 224

Du Maurier's Souvenir de Fontainebleau. _From "Punch_" 225

_Punch_ Staff returning from Paris 227

Japanese Style 229

"Birch - His Mark" 231

Chinese Style. From a Drawing on Wood 232

Familiar Faces 234

An Official in the Press Gallery 235

"He spies me" 236

"What are you?" 236

"Blowed if the Country wants you" 238

"I feel smaller!" 241

The Black Beetle 242

The Sergeant-at-Arms' Room 243

Capt. Gosset, late Sergeant-at-Arms 244

My "Childish" Style in _Punch_ 245

A simple Document 246

I Sketch the House 247

Dr. Percy. "The House Up" 250

Mr. Punch's Puzzle-Headed People. Mr. Goschen 251

Mr. Punch's Puzzle-Headed People. "All Harcourts" 252

The New Cabinet 255

Reduction of Page in _Punch_, showing that my Caricatures were - in
this case - published too large 258

Reduction from the Original Drawing, showing that I gave
Instructions for the Caricature to be "reduced as usual" 259

What really happened 261

Dr. Tanner 262

Assault on me in the House. What the Press described 263

John Burns 265

Note from Sir Frank Lockwood, after reading the Bogus Account of
the "Assault" 266

Letter supposed to come from Lord Cross. (Lockwood's Joke) 267

Sir F. Lockwood 269

Lewis Carroll's Suggestion, and my sketch of it in _Punch_ 270

Nature's Puzzle Portrait 271

Initial "W" 272

"Three Oarsmen under a Tree" 273

Lord Russell's Acceptance to dine with me 275

"It's your Turn next" 277

Letter from Sir Frank Lockwood 277

Mr. Linley Sambourne 278

Portrait of me as a Member of the Two Pins Club, by Linley
Sambourne 279

The late Lord Russell, the President of the Two Pins Club 280

"Furious Riding." Sketch by F. C. Gould 282

My Portrait, by F. C. Burnand 285

Mr. Punch "doing" the Picture Shows 286

The Picture Shows. Design from _Punch_ 288

"The World-Renowned and Talented Barnardo Family" 289

The Great Baccarat Case. My Sketch in Pencil made in Court, and
Congratulatory Note from the Editor of _Punch_ 291

Letter from Professor Herkomer 293

A Prisoner 294

"Good Advertisement." Original Idea as sent to me 297

Ditto. My Drawing of it in _Punch_ 297

"English Waterproof Ink" 299

I sit for John Brown 300

A Crib by an American Advertiser 301

Finis 302




CONFESSIONS OF A CARICATURIST.




CHAPTER I.

CONFESSIONS OF MY CHILDHOOD - AND AFTER.

Introductory - Birth and Parentage - The Cause of my remaining a
Caricaturist - The Schoolboys' _Punch_ - Infant Prodigies - As a Student - I