Page:Dictionary of Artists of the English School (1878).djvu/18



work was begun upon an experience of the little information readily attainable respecting the Artists of the English School. For some years several special opportunities which arose have been diligently used, and every means taken, to collect such facts as might be obtained; but it was painful to find how little was known, or could be learnt, of many who, in their own day, if not in ours, had been distinguished, and how often the few facts which in some cases still existed were at variance. While it cannot be assumed that this work is free from errors, or that all who ought to find a place have been included, it will be a great satisfaction to the author to correct hereafter any mistakes or omissions that may be kindly pointed out.

A succession of native artists, many of whose works exist, and are prized, may be traced from the time of Henry VII.; while of the artists themselves, the few facts which in some cases have been preserved, are beyond the reach of ordinary means of reference. The collected art-biographies we possess are general, and the notices of our countrymen which are included in them seem rather the result of chance than of any effort to attain completeness.

The present work appears to be the first to combine, in a dictionary form, some account of the Artists of the English School exclusively, and to include the Painters, Sculptors, Architects, Engravers, and Ornamentists; and the number who have been thought deserving a place is probably ten times greater than will be found in any other work. The materials have not only been collected from all the ordinary sources of references, but much xiii