Not many large and important subject works have come from Mr Fildes. It was a happy intuition that prompted him in the first instance toward a theme gay in its view and quiet and reposeful in its effect, for "In Fair Quiet, and Sweet Rest" the public formed a pleasant idea of him, and were not disposed to give up that idea even in the face of that doleful work which appeared two years later, "The Applicants for Admission to a Casual Ward" exhibited in 1874, converted a passing interest in him into a serious intention. He had done it in black and white some time before for the Graphic, and in working it out in colour (with, of course, certain variations) he perhaps did not realise the effect such a work would have. It was no uncommon scene he was depicting, but an everyday affair in this London life of ours, all the more strongly brought home truly by the earnest mind and the dextrous hand. The picture was not prompted by anything Dickens ever wrote, for the painter had seen something very like it years before near the Portland Road, but a passage from Dickens came to his notice while the work was in progress, and he associated the great author with the work by quoting this passage beneath his picture: "Dumb, wet, silent horrors. Sphinxes set up against that dead wall, and none likely to be at pains of solving them until the general overthrow." Ranged against the wall, waiting his or her turn, he has placed these applicants for temporary shelter, brought thither by misfortune or crime. The picture was originally in the collection of Mr Thomas Taylor, of Aston Rowant, but in 1883 it was acquired by the Royal Holloway College at Egham, and is now in the gallery of that Institution.

                       
"The Return of a Penitent" 1879 belonging to Mr Holbrook Gaskell: "The Village Wedding" 1883 the property of Mr C Brooks; and "The Doctor" 1891, owned by Mr Henry Tate, practically complete his large works of this character, and since the appearance of the last-named picture few works other than portraits have come from his hand.

But while he was still devoted to genre, many charming pictures, smaller in size, were produced of sound accomplished technique, among the best of these is "Playmates ." In his spell of Venetian life, now from ten to fifteen years ago, he caught the fine colour and form of the South, with the broad and confident touch of his senior in years, Van Haanan. "Venetian Life" 1884 belonging to Mr John Aird, is one of the chief of these, as is also "Venetians" 1885, in the Manchester City Art Gallery-records of the people and of the place, picturing the easy life and habits of those who, possibly in poverty, yet have ancient love for colour which has descended to them through generations. Mr Blackwell, of Harrow Weald, has the fine portrayal of "A Daughter of The Lagunes" 1886: and the beautiful "Al Fresco Toilet", once the property of the late Mr Arthur Anderson, but now in Mr George McCulloch's collection, was, I fancy, the latest of the Venetian pictures. The sense of completeness and finish in his work is most agreeably pronounced. A girl is skilfully dressing the rich auburn hair of her handsome friend, who is seated outside the pillared portico of a house of Venice. Other girls are about, all of them in varied colours, and the incident is just engaging enough as a means of expressing the fine skill of the painter, his sense of bright harmony, and his accomplished management of pictorial effect.

The earliest of his undertakings in portraiture, a branch of art with which he has now strongly identified himself, seems to have been that of his wife, in 1887, and it is doubtful if any subsequent portrait will be found to surpass it in its many excellences. Stability, grace, expression colour, are all there, called forth with a firmness that has in it also its best concomitant, ease. There is a wonderful suavity in the work, and on examination it is found to be possessed of the soundest technical qualities, the fruit of large experience and conscientious aim. Mrs Thomas Agnew was another fine three-quarter length portrait, followed by Mrs Lockett Agnew. Then in 1892 came "Ethel, daughter of T H Ismay Esq.," the founder of the White Star Line of Steamers, in which a similar effect to that which he had adopted in "The Sister" in 1889, of white satin gown, gilded chair, and rich red background was repeated with singularly pleasing result. A later portrait of the highest quality in regard to painting, and not excelled b any example of his for sweetness and delicacy, is that of Mrs Newall 1893, oval in shape and scarcely half length.

One of his greatest achievements has been the three quarter length portrait of the Princess of Wales ( Afterwards Queen Alexandra 1844-1925 consort of Edward V11). In this work the hand of a master only could overcome the numberless difficulties presented. No mere depiction of a face intended to please is here, but a true portrait of Her Royal Highness as she is-a faithful and beautiful record of feature, disposition, and womanly grace. It is not easy to adopt such simplicity of attitude and attire, and at the same time to secure such individual dignity, and sense of importance with so adequate atmosphere of repose. While his portraits are now readily looked for, and apart from their high technical qualities, are in themselves invariably pictures of great tenderness and grace, more especially when dealing with female portraiture, it is not without concern that we miss him as a painter of genre, his latest, or one of his latest in this direction "The Doctor," showing the possession of rare qualities in that direction, the suspended exercise of which cannot be regarded but as a loss to the British school of painting.

Biographical Note On The Author

Sir Alfred George Temple was born in 1848, and married Elizabeth Mary Crosley. They had one son. Temple was for many years Director of the Guildhall Art Gallery, where his tenure was very successful, and he became a renowned figure in the international art world. From 1890 he organised many exhibitions at the Guildhall, including the Franco-British Exhibition of 1908. Temple was awarded honours by a number of countries including Denmark, France, and Spain. He was the author of a number of books on art, including: “Sacred Art” 1898, “The Nation’s Pictures” 1901, and “Pictures in Private Galleries” 1905. Sir Alfred Temple died on the 8th January 1928.

My Comments.

It is the last paragraph of this review by Sir Alfred Temple which is the most perceptive. I think that firstly I must declare an interest-I love portraits of attractive, lavishly dressed women. The temptation for Victorian artists to concentrate on portraiture must have been very powerful, and when the Philistines took power in the early twentieth century almost irresistible-highly finished portraits of society ladies were still in demand. In the case of Luke Fildes, however, he was a highly competent painter with much else to say.