"Charles Dickens and his Wife:" A Sketch by Henry Doyle

Abstract

"Charles Dickens and his Wife:"A Sketch by Henry Doyle William F. Long (bio) The Southern Illinois University at Carbondale holds a number of original drawings by the artist Henry Doyle. Among them is a previously undescribed sketch of Charles and Catherine Dickens. This contribution considers the sketch, its context and its significance. The Artist Henry Edward Doyle1 was the third son of the artist John Doyle.2 His father, under the pseudonym "H. B.," published a highly popular series of gently satirical political drawings that extended from the late 1820s for over twenty years. John Doyle had moved from Dublin to London in about 1820, and, after the early death of his wife, Marianna née Conan, raised a family of seven that was close, cultured, privately educated and devoutly Catholic. During his working life, John is said to have been on familiar terms with many figures prominent in London's literary and artistic circles.3 John Doyle's five sons all showed early artistic talent and, although not formally trained, were schooled in drawing and painting by their father and encouraged to appreciate and appraise the work of others. The five included [End Page 65] Richard ("Dick" or "Dicky"),4 who achieved eminence as an illustrator of Punch and of The Chimes, The Cricket on the Hearth and The Battle of Life, and Charles Altamont,5 an Edinburgh civil servant and artist manqué, who was the father of Arthur Conan Doyle. Of the brothers, Henry was perhaps the most active in the expression of his faith6 and was soon illustrating publications of a religious nature. In 1850, following Pius IX's re-establishment of the Catholic Hierarchy in England and Wales (the so-called "Papal Aggression") and the appointment of Nicholas Wiseman as Cardinal and Archbishop of Westminster, John, Richard and Henry Doyle were prominent in organizing a fund to meet the expenses that Wiseman's appointment entailed. Subsequently, Henry in particular aligned himself strongly with the new Cardinal, accompanying him during stays at country houses of wealthy Catholics, in part, perhaps, because portrait commissions by their owners sometimes followed. In December 1850 a portrait by Henry of Wiseman himself was advertised. Increasingly, although still active in illustrating and exhibiting, Henry became involved in administering the artistic work of others. On Wiseman's recommendation, he was appointed Commissioner for the Papal States to the 1862 International Exhibition in London. In 1869 he became Director of the National Gallery of Ireland in Dublin and he subsequently established a strong Irish dimension to its collection and a National Portrait Collection. Henry was appointed a Knight of the Order of Pius IX in 1862 and made a Companion of the Bath in 1880. After his death, it was said that: by his tact, his good nature and his easy and pleasant manners, he made friends wherever he went and was well known and popular in London society [ . . . ] He was a man who had the knack of getting on in the world.7 [End Page 66] The Collection at Carbondale8 The Henry Doyle collection at Carbondale comprises pen-and-ink portraits on 11 sheets of paper of irregular size, some of which have been used on both sides. Most of the sheets contain multiple portraits, and several of the subjects are represented more than once. The portraits are mainly of heads, usually in full- or half-profile. A few full-figure drawings are also present. Most of the drawings are rudimentary sketches; a few are more developed. Some of the drawings are accompanied by a name or comment apparently written by the artist. These labels, together with, in some cases, a comparison of individual sketches with authenticated portraits of their supposed subjects, enable most of the people in Henry's drawings to be identified. Many of the sketches depict members of the Irish Catholic community prominent in Dublin in the mid-nineteenth century. Those identified are John Ball, Frederick William Burton, William Nicholas Keogh, James Joseph McCarthy, Daniel McGettigan, William Monsell, Daniel Murray, George Petrie, James Quinn, John Reynolds, James Henthorn Todd and Henry William Wilberforce.9 Additional sketches are of two expatriates present in England for a time...