Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 13.djvu/83

Creswick locomotion, and a model of his metallic balloon was shown at the Crystal Palace in June 1868, and a description of it was printed. The failure of his early patents led him to undertake bibliographical work, and he was engaged by Messrs. Sampson Low & Co. on the compilation of the 'British Catalogue' and the 'Index to Current Literature' (1859–1861). This led him often to the British Museum, and he undertook the solution of a difficult problem, 'The Art of making Catalogues,' an ingenious treatise in which in effect, though perhaps unconsciously, the methods so long applied to the calendaring of manuscripts are suggested for application to collections of printed books. During a residence at Paris he published in 1861, 'Du Pouvoir temporel et de la Souveraineté pontificale,' which, under a title suggested by the affairs of Italy, is a treatise on the methods of government, and is said to have suggested to Cavour and Menabrea the possibility of a modus vivendi between the Quirinal and the Vatican.

Crestadoro was engaged by the corporation of Manchester to compile a catalogue of the Reference Library, and in 1864 he was appointed chief librarian of the Manchester Free Libraries. The 'Index-Catalogues' which he originated have been generally adopted as models by the municipal libraries of the kingdom. He was present at the International Congress of Librarians in 1877, and joined in their discussions, and at the Social Science Congress in 1878, when he read a paper 'On the best and fairest mode of Raising the Public Revenue,' of which editions appeared in English and French. The king of Italy in 1878 sent him the order of the Corona d'Italia. He died at Manchester 7 April 1879, after a brief illness, and was buried at Ardwick cemetery. He left a widow, but no children. A work on the management of joint-stock companies was left in manuscript, and has never been published. Crestadoro exerted a marked and beneficial influence upon the progress of the free library movement, and his claims to distinction as a bibliographer are due not so much to his knowledge of books as to his faculty of organisation. In private life he was a pleasant and genial companion. A portrait of him appeared in 'Momus,' 20 March 1879.

[Private information; Manchester Guardian.]  CRESWICK, THOMAS (1811–1869), landscape-painter, born at Sheffield, Yorkshire, on 5 Feb. 1811, was educated at Hazelwood, near Birmingham, and rapidly developed great talents for drawing. He studied for some time under John Vincent Barber [see ], and in 1828 removed to London, settling in Edmund Street, St. Pancras, with a view to pursuing his studies further. In that year, though but seventeen years of age, he was successful in gaining admittance for two pictures in the exhibition of the Royal Academy, and for thirty years or so remained a constant and welcome exhibitor, contributing also to the Suffolk Street Gallery and the British Institution. Creswick soon became known as a zealous and careful student of nature. Painting usually in the open air from the objects before him, he continually gained in facility of execution and power of expression, and will always remain a faithful translator of the countless and varied charms of English landscape scenery. In 1836 he removed to Bayswater, and continued to reside in that neighbourhood, in 1837 paying a visit to Ireland, to which are due a series of charming vignette illustrations. In 1842 he exhibited 'The Course of Greta through Brignal Woods,' and was elected an associate of the Royal Academy, in the same year gaining a premium at the British Institution. From this time his art continued to increase in power and vigour until 1847, when he exhibited at the Royal Academy two works, 'England' and 'The London Road a Hundred Years Ago,' which may be said to mark the crowning point of his career. As his powers were limited in their scope, he frequently varied his pictures by introducing figures and cattle, painted by his friends and brother-artists, Ansdell, Bottomley, Cooper, Elmore, Frith, Goodall, and others. He was elected an academician of the Royal Academy in 1851. He was largely employed and eminently successful as a designer of book illustrations, and was a charming if not very powerful etcher, being one of the first members of the Etching Club. As a student of nature, and especially as a painter and delineator of foliage, Creswick is favourably criticised by Ruskin in the chapter 'On the Truth of Vegetation' in 'Modern Painters.' His life was peaceful and uneventful; but his health rapidly declined, his later pictures showing many signs of failing powers. He died at his residence in Linden Grove, Bayswater, on 28 Dec. 1869, and was buried at Kensal Green cemetery. He married Miss Silvester, but left no children. Creswick had but a moderate estimate of his own powers as a painter, and consequently his works always found purchasers, and are treasured among many private collections in England. At the London International Exhibition of 1873, 109 of his paintings were collected together, and a catalogue was 