Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 25.djvu/292

 Haydon objected, and they took lodgings for a while at Paddington Green, afterwards removing to Lisson Grove. He now began to paint portraits and small pictures for a livelihood, but his small pictures, partly on account of his eyesight perhaps, were never successful, and portrait-painting was not his vocation. He could catch a strong likeness, and when he had a fine subject like Wordsworth he became interested in his work, but he generally looked upon portrait-painting as ‘a maudlin substitute for a poetic life.’ Until 1837 he struggled on pitiably; he was thrice imprisoned, his wife lost her little fortune, and five of his children died. His pictures of the period include ‘Pharaoh dismissing Moses,’ ‘Venus and Anchises’ (for Sir John Leycester), ‘Alexander and Bucephalus’ (bought by Lord Egremont), ‘Napoleon’ (for Sir Robert Peel), ‘The Reform Banquet’ (for Earl Grey), ‘Cassandra’ (for the Duke of Sutherland) ‘Xenophon’ (raffled for, now in the Russell Institution), ‘The Death of Eueles’ (raffled for), a humorous picture, and ‘Punch’ (now in the National Gallery). Two others were suggested by his experience during his second imprisonment, when he witnessed the burlesque election of two members for the King's Bench. ‘The Mock Election,’ the first of these, was admired by Wilkie, and purchased by George IV for five hundred guineas, and for ‘Chairing the Member’ he obtained half that price. In 1826 he sought reconciliation with the academicians, but though they received his overtures in a friendly way, they would not vote for him either in 1826 or 1827. In these years and in 1828 he exhibited at the Royal Academy, but not again till 1842. Even his commissions were a source of trouble. That for ‘Alexander and Bucephalus’ was withdrawn, but Lord Egremont came to his rescue and purchased it. The ‘Reform Banquet’ (well known from its engraving) was exhibited at a heavy loss, and the corporation of London withdrew their commission for a copy of it. The price of ‘Napoleon’ was the subject of a misunderstanding with Sir Robert Peel, which bitterly incensed Haydon.

Haydon's courage and energy never failed, and he was constantly occupied with schemes for the promotion of art in England, especially the decoration of public buildings and the establishment of schools of design. He petitioned parliament, wrote letters to ministers, and used the opportunity of the sittings given him for the reform picture to press his projects on Lord Grey, Lord Althorp, and other powerful men. In 1834 his petition for spaces to be left for pictures on the walls of the new houses of parliament was approved, and his scheme for schools of design was accepted by Ewart's committee in 1835. He had also the satisfaction of seeing the privileges of his old enemy the Royal Academy invaded by this committee. He meddled also in politics, and was for a while energetic on the subject of reform. He wrote three letters to the ‘Times,’ and was invited by the Birmingham radicals to come out as a political speaker. They also commissioned him to paint a picture of the New Hall Hill meeting, but this they withdrew. It was also during this period that he commenced his career as a lecturer. On 8 Sept. 1835 he delivered the first of a successful series of lectures at the London Mechanics' Institution on painting and design. His wife's companionship and his perfect physical health helped to sustain his energy during these years (1823–37).

There followed a season of comparative rest and freedom from pecuniary embarrassments and domestic calamities. Discontented with the government school of design at Somerset House, where drawing from the figure was not taught, he assisted Ewart, Wyse, and others in establishing an opposition school (with a model) at Savile House, which was dropped in 1839, after it had forced the Somerset House school to introduce drawing from the living figure. His lectures now became an important source of income. They were delivered in Liverpool, Manchester, and in the chief manufacturing towns of the north, and led to many commissions for pictures, including ‘Christ Blessing Little Children,’ for the church of the Blind Asylum at Liverpool, and the well-known picture of the Duke of Wellington musing on the field of Waterloo, a commission from a committee of Liverpool gentlemen. In 1840 he commenced the picture of a meeting of the Anti-Slavery Society at Freemasons' Hall, with Clarkson speaking, now in the National Portrait Gallery. In the same year he lectured at Oxford, and was proud of his reception by the university.

He afterwards painted the ‘Maid of Saragossa,’ ‘Mettus Curtius,’ ‘Uriel and Satan,’ and ‘Edward the Black Prince,’ some of which were exhibited at the Royal Academy (1842–5), but the principal interest of these later years was the decoration of the houses of parliament. The scheme had been broached by him in 1812, and had since been pressed by him on parliament and the government in season and out of season, but when the scheme was carried out he was overlooked. Before the fine arts committee of 1841 he was not even examined; and when Prince Albert's fine art commission was appointed,