Page:Dictionary of National Biography, Second Supplement, volume 2.djvu/86

 by C. H. Shannon in 1900, was offered after his death to the National Portrait Gallery; a fourth portrait, by Miss A. D. Staveley, is in the English Library at University College. In 1912 a small memorial fund was applied to the purposes of the Working Men's College.

 FURSE, CHARLES WELLINGTON (1868–1904), painter, born at Staines on 13 Jan. 1868, was fourth son of Charles Wellington Furse (1821-1900), vicar of Staines, principal of Cuddesdon (1873-83), rector of St. John the Evangelist, Westminster, and canon of Westminster (1883-94), and from 1894 to his death in 1900 canon and archdeacon of Westminster. The father was eldest son of Charles William Johnson (d. 1854) by his wife Theresa, daughter of the Rev. Peter Wellington Furse of Halsdon, Devonshire, and he assumed the surname of Furse in 1864 on succeeding to the Halsdon property. William Johnson, afterwards Cory [q. v. Suppl. I], was Archdeacon Furse's only brother. The artist's mother, Jane Diana, second daughter of John S. B. Monsell, vicar of Egham and grand-daughter of Thomas Bewley Monsell of Dunbar, archdeacon of Derry, was his father's first wife, and died in 1877, when he was nine years old. Of her ten children, the eldest, John Henry Monsell Furse (b. 1860), became a well-known sculptor; and Michael Bolton Furse, fifth son, became bishop of Pretoria in 1909.

At an early age Charles showed a talent for drawing. During a long illness in childhood he read Scott's novels, and drew illustrations of the scenes which appealed to him. Later, he went to Haileybury, where he remained till he was sixteen. In the ordinary work of the school he displayed no special capacity, but continued to draw pictures of hunting scenes for his amusement. On leaving Haileybury he joined the Slade school, then under Alphonse Legros [q. v. Suppl. II], and speedily made his mark. He won the Slade scholarship within a year of entrance, and became a favourite pupil of his masters. Unfortunately, at this early stage, symptoms of consumption which was ultimately to prove fatal showed themselves, and he was forced to spend a winter at St. Moritz. His most intimate friend at this time was a fellow-pupil, now Sir Charles Holroyd, with whom he spent his holidays on the borders of the Lake district or near Maidstone, sketching and reading. From the Slade school he went to Paris, where he studied for some months in Julian's atelier, among not very congenial company. On returning from Paris he studied for a short time under Mr. (now Prof.) F. Brown at the Westminster School of Art; but at the age of twenty-one he set up for himself.

He had already exhibited at the Royal Academy (1888) a large figure entitled 'Cain'; but his first real success was a portrait of Canon Burrows (Royal Academy, 1889). This, and a head of his uncle, William Cory, shown at the Portrait Painters in 1891, secured his recognition as an artist of distinction. His father was now a canon of Westminster; and Furse lived at his house in Abbey Garden, renting a studio close by. Success appeared cei-tain, but in the pursuit of his art he was hindered by frequent attacks of illness. He thought much about the principles of his art, and constantly discussed them, as well as literary questions, with his friends, among whom were prominent W. E. Henley [q. v. Suppl. II] and the group of men connected with the 'National Observer.' He read widely, but by predilection in the older literature, especially that of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. He occasionally wrote on artistic matters, gave lectures on great artists at Oxford University extension meetings in 1894 and subsequent years, and took part in debates at the Art Workers' Guild.

Although really independent and original, he was during early life unconsciously attracted by the merits of other painters. Thus he passed through several phases, at one time being influenced by Frank Holl, at another by Whistler, again by the Japanese artists, and above all by Mx. J. S. Sargent. The study of Tintoretto and Velasquez is also evident in many of his works. It is true that he assimilated rather than copied other styles; but it was not till near the end of his short life that he worked himself free of all these influences, and developed a noble and spontaneous manner of his own. Delighting in country life and in every variety of sport, he seldom painted landscape pure and simple, but introduced it habitually as a background or a setting for his figures. 