Part 16
I had intended to prolong my route to the western corner of the Green (Kew), but in passing St. Anne’s Chapel, I found the pew-openers engaged in wiping the pews and washing the aisles. I knew that child of genius, Gainsborough, the painter, lay interred here, and, desirous of paying my homage to his grave, I inquired for the spot. As is usual in regard to this class of people, they could give me no information; yet one of them fancied she had heard such a name before. I was therefore obliged to wait while the sexton or clerk was fetched, and in the interim I walked into the chapel. I was in truth well repaid for the time it cost me; for I never saw anything prettier, except Lord le Despencer’s exquisite structure at West Wycombe. As the royal family usually attend here when they reside at Kew, it is superbly fitted up, and the architecture is in the best taste. Several marble monuments of singular beauty adorn the walls, but the record of a man of genius absorbed every attraction of ordinary rank and title. It was a marble slab to the memory of Meyer, the painter, with lines by the poet Hayley.
JEREMIAH MEYER, R.A., Painter in Miniature and Enamel to His Majesty George III., Died January 19th, 1789.
Meyer! in thy works the world will ever see How great the loss of Art in losing thee; But Love and Sorrow find the words too weak, Nature’s keen sufferings on thy death to speak; Through all her duties, what a heart was thine. In thy cold dust what spirit used to shine; Fancy, and truth, and gaiety, and zeal, What most we love in life, and, losing, feel, Age after age may not one artist yield Equal to thee, in Painting’s ample field: And ne’er shall sorrowing Earth to Heaven commend A fonder parent, or a firmer friend. WILLIAM HAYLEY, 1789.
From hence I strolled into the vestry, when the clerk or sexton’s assistant made his appearance; and on the south side of the churchyard he brought me to the tomb of Gainsborough. “Ah, friend!” said I, “this is a hallowed spot,--here lies one of Britain’s favoured sons, whose genius has assisted in exalting her among the nations of the earth.” “Perhaps it was so,” said the man; “but we know nothing about the people buried, except to keep up their monuments, if the family pay; and, perhaps, sir, you belong to this family; if so, I’ll tell you how much is due.” “Yes, truly, friend,” said I, “I am one of the great family bound to preserve the monument of Gainsborough; but if you take me for one of his relatives, you are mistaken,” “Perhaps, sir, you may be of the family, but were not included in the will, therefore are not obligated.” I could not now avoid looking with scorn at the fellow; but, as the spot claimed better feelings, I gave him a trifle for his trouble, and mildly told him I would not detain him. The monument being a plain one, and making no palpable appeal to vulgar admiration, was disregarded by these people. It did not fall in the way, of the untaught, on this otherwise polite spot, to know that they have among them the remains of the first painter of our national school in fancy-pictures, and one of the first in the classes of landscape and portraits; a man who recommended himself as much by his superiority, as by his genius; as much by the mode in which his genius was developed, as by the perfection of his works; and as much by his amiable private character, as by his eminence in the chief of Fancy’s Arts. The following are the words engraven on the stone:--
THOMAS GAINSBOROUGH, ESQ., died Aug. 2, 1788. Also the body of GAINSBOROUGH DUPONT, ESQ., who died Jan. 20, 1797, aged 42 years. Also, MRS. MARGARET GAINSBOROUGH, wife of the above THOMAS GAINSBOROUGH, Esq., who died Dec. 17, 1798, in the 72nd year of her age.
A little to the eastward lie the remains of another illustrious son of Art, the modest Zoffany, whose Florence Gallery, portraits of the Royal Family, and other pictures, will always raise him among the highest class of painters. He long resided on this Green, and like Michael Angelo, Titian, and our own West, produced masterpieces at four-score. The words on the monument are--
Sacred to the Memory of JOHN ZOFFANY, R.A., who died Nov. 11, 1810, aged 87 years.
_Abridged from Sir R. Phillips’s “London to Kew.”_
[Illustration]
FIELD & TUER, 50, LEADENHALL STREET, LONDON, E.C.
Transcriber's Notes:
Italics are shown thus: _sloping_.
Bold type like so: =strong=.
Variations in spelling and hyphenation are retained.
Perceived typographical errors have been changed.