Of a distinct affinity to Mason, artistic in temperament and aim, but of far finer poetic insight and feeling, was Frederick Walker, whose brief life of thirty-five years, terminating in 1875, yet yielded in water-colours, oil, and black and white a considerable record. The Royal Water-Colour Society may claim to have fist encouraged him, and to have perceived the true elements of his work. He was not long in being admitted to membership there being only twenty-four. “Philip in Church” and “Spring” represented him there the year of his admission.  The former had been worked out from a design he had executed in black and white for the Cornhill Magazine as an illustration to Thackeray’s “Adventures of Philip.” It secured the second class medal in the Paris Exhibition in 1867, a distinction not obtained by any other exhibited drawing in water-colour. It is now in the possession of Mr Henry Tate. Dignified in character, it is also impressive in sentiment, and its technique throughout is of the highest quality, The “Spring,” belonging now to Sir William Agnew (the companion to the “Autumn,” also his), is equally so. The sweet primrose, clustering lavishly, and the yet leafless but budding woodland are given, and all the intricate tangle of nature, but with no indecision or embarrassment on the painter’s part. Light and freshness of the balmy air are in the picture, and painting thus at twenty-four what might not have been expected of him had his life been prolonged-touched, though not in any greater degree than Mason was, but with a finer instinct, by the beauty of nature, its springs and skies as they could be made towards a fuller understanding of human emotion-his works, whether in oil or water-colour, were all from 1864 painted in the open air.

 Lonely and desolate in the driving snow is the darkly clad figure, sensitive and slight, in “The Lost Path.” A new idea this to the Academy, who failed to perceive its merits. It was “skied” in the exhibition there in 1863, but now it is called back to be studied and admired. By its owner Mr Makins, it is justly cherished.

 “The Wayfarers,” I have read was not sent to the Academy, the sensitive painter shrinking from its possible treatment there; it was exhibited in Mr Gambart’s Gallery in King Street, St James’s, and is now, I believe the property of Sir W Agnew; but in 1867 he again contributed a picture called “The Bathers,” one of his largest works, and now in the possession of Sir Cuthbert Quilter, (now in the Lady Lever Gallery). Unfortunately it found no better position than the “Lost Path” on the Academy walls. It too was “skied,” but ere twenty years passed it was sold at Christies for £2,625, from the Graham Collection. 

Walker shortly afterwards came into contact, by a visit to Paris, with several specimens of Francois Millet’s work, the effect of which on his mind revealed itself in several instances, notably in a large work he had then in contemplation entitled “The Mushroom Gatherers”: a small though very effective study on paper affixed to a panel, was made, and this belongs to Mr Somerset Beaumont. The effect of early dawn is faithfully caught, the moon still visible. Moving along the field, basket in hand, goes the searcher for mushrooms, and further off and still more indistinct is the bended form of a woman. Claude Phillips, in his admirable monograph on Fred Walker (The Portfolio, Monograph No 6, June 1894 “Frederick Walker,” by Claude Phillips), says it was intended to develop this study into a larger composition, and a large sketch for the landscape portion was found in Walker’s studio after his death. He painted in water-colour at this time, 1868, Mt Humphrey Roberts’s beautiful specimen of still-life “ Mushroom and Fungi” which drew from John Ruskin the frank avowal that it entirely beat his dear old friend William Hunt in the simplicity of its execution and rivalled him in the subtlest truth.

“Vagrants,” exhibited at the Academy in 1868, was thought worthy of being secured by the nation, and it was purchased in 1886 from the sale of Mr William Graham’s collection, out of a fund bequeathed by the late Mr Lucas Walker. Autumn clothes the hillside, and the fire is welcome on this chill day; its grey smoke, even where this shelter is sought, is sharply taken by the wind that eddies round, and the mother draws the ill sufficient garment more closely round the child she carries. The weakness of this admirable work always appears to my mind to be the stooping figure of the lad who is piling twigs on the fire, and unfortunately the highest lights of the picture fall upon this figure. The two pathetic little faces looking on are extremely touching, and full to the brim is the whole landscape with its touch of autumn. Skilful too is the silvery sedgy water brought up to the red gown of the younger woman, handsome of face and vigorous of form, who stands at the right of the picture, and by whom the grey smoke gustily drifts. 

 “The Old Gate” followed in 1869, studied from a gate well known in Somersetshire :alas! Now no longer “old”-the dragoned pillar has been made dragonless, to conform to its companion’s appearance, and the time-worn pillars themselves and the steps have been cleared of moss and lichen, and by dint of cement and plaster made verily new. A gentle touch of pathos is in the figure of the young widow. Children play at the foot of the worn steps that lead up to the gate, through which the widow is passing, a comely girl with grey shawl and busy basket by her side; and a sturdy young labourer passes down the road, spade on shoulder, who regards the two women; and over all is the effect of a sunless and chill day. The picture is in the possession of Mr A E Street. An excellent study for this painting was recently acquired by Mr Whitworth Wallis for the Birmingham Corporation Gallery.

    “The Plough,” produced in 1870, ranks with his chief works. The sensitive touch in “Marlow Ferry,” which appeared in the same year, and in the “Rainy Day at Cookham,” is equally seen all through the large canvas of “The Plough,” vigorous as it looks. Two grey horses are drawing a plough through the rich brown earth, beyond which a quarry is seen, its steep side lit up lit up with the red flush of the setting sun. It is an imposing picture. The smaller version of this work-whether it be a study for, or a replica of, the large picture cannot now be determined-is in the possession of Mr Humphrey Roberts, and finely finished, with the full glow of Walkers work at its best

    1872 saw one of the last of his great works, presumably the greatest, “The Harbour of Refuge.” It was secured, I believe, by Sir William Agnew before it was completed for a very small sum, and after twenty-one years’ possession it passed under gift by him to the National Gallery. I saw a very early sketch of this once, the very earliest he made of the almshouses; it was little more than a suggestion done on the spot evidently to see how it would come, and no figures were in it. The scene of human life realized in the finished picture has many points. It is not merely an almshouse with its few poor occupants. Youth and age, vigour and decrepitude are placed in opposition to each other. The health and bloom of the young girl, strong of frame, are fresh as the blooming may-tree opposite. She turns her eyes towards the vigorous young mower, and thinks it may be, as she gives her support to the bowed and aged inmate who leans upon her arm, of that reaper whose name is Death. The swing of the scythe is heard, and the gentle murmur of engaging talk by the monument, where welcome news to cheer the monotony of the day has just arrived; and the sunset, against which the old roofs darken and the last lights play, means too the sunset of life for the peaceful souls who have found this harbour of refuge. To what higher teaching could painting be put? Its many pictorial points are excellent; all the chances which lead an artist to fine composition have been perceived and seized, even to the back of the monumental figure, the sharp contour of which against the sky greatly tells on the two advancing women. The eye wanders from point to point, from light to light, and seems to find nothing conflicting. A finished study of this work is in the collection of Mr Humphrey Roberts, but it is in water-colour.

    “The Right of Way,” now in the Antipodes, but formerly in the collection of the late Mr Henry Hill, of Brighton, was among the very latest of his finished works, painted in 1875, the year he died. “The Sunny Thames” was left unfinished, and was subsequently brought to some degree of completion by the painter best qualified to undertake it, Mr J W North, his touches, however, being, I believe, only in water-colour. It was in the collection of William Graham, passing in 1886 to Sir Charles Tennant, its present owner, and it shows the high bank of a river, with a group of peasant children; one of them is lying on the grass fishing, his bare legs overhanging the rich loose earth, whereon grow brambles, foxgloves, and convolvuli, It cannot be conceived in its existing state it at all approaches the condition in which Walker would have left it. The warm colours have it all their own way, and the relieving greys and cooler tones are scarcely even suggested.

    Several water-colours during these last years have been executed by him, the exact dates of which it is difficult to fix.  Mr J P Heseltine has the delicately wrought “In an Orchard.” Sir Cuthbert Quilter has the water-colour version of “The Wayfarers” and “Summer” : Mr S G Holland “the Fishmonger’s Shop”, “The Ferry” and “The Girl Driving Geese”: while the exquisite painting of a may-tree on the bank of a stream in which water-lilies are flowering, and by the side of which a girl and boy are strolling, called, from the skimming bird on the water “The First Swallow,” belongs to Mr Hubert Herkomer, but it was originally, until a few years ago the property of Sir William Agnew. The month of June 1875 saw the last of this gifted man, who bid fair, had he lived, to be nearer to Millais than any other British painter. How nearly his feeling approaches Millais can be seen, and seen palpably, in the black and white drawings of each, published contemporaneously in the early sixties, the most brilliant era of black and white-shall we ever again see its like?-such papers as Once a Week and Good Words calling to their aid the best poetical art the country had, Millais and Walker, Sandys, Lawless, J D Watson, and others.  

PHR 2 March 2005.

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