Page:Dictionary of National Biography, Second Supplement, volume 1.djvu/562

 architectural drawings, and he exhibited two designs at the Academy in 1855-6. Developing some skill in water-colours, he gave up architectural work and for three years studied art abroad. On his return to England his interest again changed, and he devoted himself to literary work and design in various branches of industrial art.

From 1866 to 1877 he was secretary of the Royal Institute of British Architects. In 1878 Lord Beaconsfield appointed him keeper and secretary of the National Gallery, and he performed efficiently the duties of this post till 1898. During that period he rearranged and classified all the paintings at Trafalgar Square under the different schools to which they belonged, and had them placed under glass to protect them from the London atmosphere. He opened several rooms for the exhibition of Turner's sketches and water-colour drawings, and increased the accommodation for art students and copyists. He was greatly disappointed that he did not succeed Sir Frederic Burton [q. v. Supp. I], who retired in 1894, as director of the gallery. The post then fell to Sir Edward Poynter, and four years later Eastlake retired from the keepership.

Eastlake made a substantial reputation as a writer on art, publishing several books and occasionally contributing to the leading magazines. His earliest and best-known book, 'Hints on Household Taste in Furniture, Upholstery, and Other Details' (1868), shows strong Gothic bias; it at once became popular in England and America; it reached its fourth London edition in 1887. The sixth American edition (New York, 1881) has notes by Mr. C. C. Perkins. 'A History of the Gothic Revival' followed in 1871. In 1876 he issued 'Lectures on Decorative Art and Art Workmanship,' which he had delivered at the Social Science Congress. A series of illustrated 'Notes on the Principal Pictures' in foreign galleries dealt with the Brera Gallery at Milan (1883), the Louvre at Paris (1883), the old Pinakothek at Munich (1884), and the Royal Gallery at Venice (1888). In 1895, under the pseudonym of Jack Easel, he published 'Our Square and Circle,' a series of social essays.

Eastlake died on 20 Nov. 1906 at his house in Leinster Square, Bayswater, and was buried at Kensal Green. He married on 1 Oct. 1856 Eliza, youngest daughter of George Bailey; she survived him without issue until 2 Nov. 1911.

An oil painting by Mr. Shirley Fox belonged to Mrs. Eastlake.

 EATON, WILLIAM MERITON, second (1843–1902), mezzotint collector, second son in a family of three sons and two daughters of Henry William Eaton, first Baron Cheylesmore (d. 1891), by his wife Charlotte Gorham (d. 1877), daughter of Thomas Leader Harman of New Orleans, was born at 9 Gloucester Place, Regent's Park, London, on 15 Jan. 1843. His father founded the prosperous firm of H. W. Eaton & Son, silk brokers, represented Coventry in parliament as a conservative from 1865 to 1880 and from 1881 to 1887, and was raised to the peerage at Queen Victoria's jubilee in 1887 as first Baron Cheylesmore. He was an authority on fine arts and an enthusiastic collector; among his treasures was Landseer's 'Monarch of the Glen,' which, at the sale of his collection at Christie's in April 1892, fetched 6900 guineas.

After education at Eton, William entered his father's firm and subsequently became partner. He took, however, little part in the business, and from 1866 onward devoted himself to politics in the conservative interest with little success. He failed in his attempts to enter parliament for Macclesfield in 1868, 1874, and 1880. He succeeded to the peerage on his father's death in 1891.

Like his father, Cheylesmore had artistic tastes. In 1869 he started a collection of English mezzotint engravings, by way of illustrating each item in the catalogue compiled by John Chaloner Smith [q. v.]. Eaton gave Chaloner Smith much assistance in preparing his work. Although his collection was fully representative, only a small percentage of it was in the choicest condition. The prints which crowded his residence at Prince's Gate formed the largest and best private mezzotint collection ever formed; it included, with the work of all the best practitioners, examples of Ludwig von Siegen (fl. 1650), the inventor of the art of mezzotint, and was especially rich in the engravings of James MacArdell (1729-1765) [q. v.]. Thirty-nine of Cheylesmore's mezzotints, including the valuable 'Miranda,' engraved by W. Ward, after Hoppner, which he had bought from Mr. Herbert Percy Home for 40l., were shown at the exhibition in 1902 of English mezzotint portraits (1750-1830) 