Page:Bryan's dictionary of painters and engravers, volume 1.djvu/557

 After a time he achieved a large local celebrity, and his paintings were quickly sold to Norfolk pur- chasers without the trouble of sending them to London. He never, it is true, got a very high price for his ^orks, fifty pounds being, it would seem, about as much as he usually got for a finely finished work, even to the end of his life ; but he m.-inaged to ^vin a comfortable independence, and to live in respectable style in his native city. In 1803, Crome, in conjunction with several amateurs and a number of young artists whom ne had by this time gathered around him, founded what was called " The Nonvich Society of Artists," for the purpose of encouraging a love of the Fine Arts and promoting artistic culture.

The first exhibition of the Norwich Society was held in 1805, two years after its commencement. It contained 223 works in oil and water-colour, and several specimens of sculpture and engraving. Twenty-three of these works were contributed by Crome, who, it would seem, must have been travelling about this time, for among the subjects enumerated are ' A Scene in Cumberland,' ' Interior of Tintem Abbey,' ' View of Piercefield-on-the- Wye,' 'Part of Chepstow Castle,' 'Part of the Chapel in Chepstow Castle,' and ' Waterfall at St. Michael's-le-Flemings, Westmoreland,' against which last is noted in the catalogue " coloured on the spot." By this it would appear that the painting in question was in water-colours ; for Crome, strange to say, seldom painted in oils out of doors. He made careful studies and sketches from nature, and must have been gifted willi remarkable powers of observation, for he rarely misses any detail of sky, stream, or leaf ; but his pictures nevertheless were painted in his studio, like those of his prototypes, the Dutch landscapists. Crome travelled a httle in England and Wales at various times, as may be seen by the places represented ; and once, in 1814, he extended his journeying to Paris, going by way of Belgium, where he must have found the scenery familiar, though the only record he appears to have made of it, beyond slight sketches, is his ' View on the Ostend Canal at Bruges,' a fine moonlight efiect, that was evidently noted on the spot and afterwards reproduced. About this time he painted the ' Boulevard des Italiens, Paris,' and the ' Fish-market on the Beach at Boulogne.'

Crome was now in the receipt of a good income, for although, as before said, he never, even to the last, obtained high prices for his pictures, he painted a great many, contributing generally eighteen to twenty different works to the Norwich Society's annual exliibition.

In 1810 he was elected President of the Norwich Society ; John Sell Cotman, the second best artist of the school, being associated with him as Vice- President. Among the members were now to be reckoned such men as James Stark, George Vincent, Joseph Stannard, John Thistle, the etchers Edmund and Richard Girling, and John Bemaj- Crome, all of whom accomplished good work as landscapists under Crome's influence. In 1816, however, there came a secession from this flourishing little Society, and a separate exhibition at the Assembly Rooms Plain.

It was from the midst of society such as this, from a busy, jolly artist life, that Crome was called away on the 22nd of April, 1821, after a few days' illness. His last words are said to have been, "Hobbema, my dear Hobbema, how I have loved you ! " An exhibition of his paintings was held in Norwich shortly after his death, when one hundred and eleven of his works were gathered together, including those that remained unsold in his studio. But even this exhibition, though it greatly increased his local fame, did not make him more known to the world at large, and thus it has happened that up to the present day almost all his pictures have remained as cherished possessions in Norfolk homes, very few comparatively having found their way into the market. In 1878, at the Winter Exhibition at the Royal Academy, there were no less than twenty-seven of his works exhibited. They attracted much attention and high praise. Of his extensive landscapes, embracing generally a far-reaching view over heath and hill, with a wind- mill or two to give human interest to the scene, the well-known picture of ' Jlonsehold Heath,' in the National Gallery, may be taken as a good example. This was painted about the year 1816, and shows his powers at their full. He painted it, as he once remarked, for the sake of " air and space ; " and, in truth, we feel, in looking at it, that here there is plenty of room in which to breathe.

The National Gallery also possesses a ' View at Chapel-Fields, Norivich,' wherein the chequered sunlight falling through the trees has a very delightful effect ; ' The Windmill,' a pleasant country scene, painted with forcible realism and thorough understanding of light and shade; and the solemn and somewhat dreary ' Slate Quarries.' In his etchings — for we must regard Crome as an etcher as well as a painter — he dealt chiefly with woodland and river scenes. Nothing can. in its way, be much more perfect than his rendering in etching of the little bits of picturesque beauty that he met with in his daily walks. His etchings, chiefly done for his own delight, were not pub- lished until after his death, when thirty-one were collected, and a small number worked off for the benefit of his widow, under the title of 'Norfolk Picturesque Scenery.' Another edition, in which some of the plates were re-bitten by Mr. Ninham, and others re-touched by Mr. Edwards, appeared in 1838, with an Essay by Dawson Turner. There is a fine collection of Crome's etchings in the British Museum, most of ihera being represented in two, or tliree, and sometimes in four different states.

CROME, John Bernay. the son of ' Old Crome.' was born in 1793 at Norwich, and was educated as a painter. He first exhibited in his native city, but from 1811 until the close of his life he was an occasional contributor to the Rojal Academy. He died in 1842 at Yarmouth, where he had resided for some jears. His works are similar in style to those of his father, but are far inferior.

CKOMEK, Robert Hartley, was the son of Thomas Cromek, of Berwick-in-Elmete, Yorkshire, and was bom at Hull in 1771. He was originally intended for the law, but showed so much aversion to that profession that he was peiTnitted to follow his own strong inclinations for hterature and the fine arts. He first went to Manchester, and there studied hard for some time, when, showing an evident taste and talent for engraving, he was sent to London and put under Bartolozzi's care. He engraved many of Stothard's designs for book-plates, which was then about the only work engravers could find to do. He also engraved the 'Canterbury Pilgrims,' concerning which he laboured