Morgan, John, John Morgan letter to Richard Redgrave, 1855 April 7
- Call Number:
- MSS 22
- Holdings:
- Accessible by appointment in the Study Room [Request]
- Creator:
- Morgan, John
- Title(s):
- John Morgan letter to Richard Redgrave
- Date:
- 1855 April 7
- Classification:
- Archives and Manuscripts
- Part of Collection:
- Box 2, folder 89
- Provenance:
- Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Fund
- Conditions Governing Access:
- The materials are open for research.
- Conditions Governing Use:
- Copyright UndeterminedThe collection is the physical property of the Yale Center for British Art. Literary rights, including copyright, belong to the authors or their legal heirs and assigns. For further information, consult the Archives Department.
- Scope and Content:
- My dear sir, I hope you will pardon me for trespassing upon your moments of leisure but it is a great gratification to me and I think it will be some to you to know the next chapter in “my whole cruise of life” since you aided not a little in launching me off in the current I am now upon – I am fairly aground here in Paris & feel as if I shall remain for some years; the mind becomes naturalized, and in many respects an artist certainly finds things more congenial to his taste, than in our commercial, driving, city of London, the facilities of attaining costumes are very great. For thirty francs a month you obtain any dresses you may require, the Musée d’artillerie contains a great variety of armour & implements of that class[?] – The Hotel Cluny[?] is a specimen always available of a medieval house with all its appointments of tapestry, China, tessellated pavements, & our prints and library are very rich, while the endless[?] source is beyond praise. – The air of Paris too is much lighter and inspiriting that our own heavy atmosphere, and the architecture & dress of the people present a coup d’oeil well calculated to impress the mind with pictorial effect. All these things counterbalance some of the evils which I unquestionably find. – One is the difficulty of finding sterling & intelligent society. – they are such eternal lovers of dancing & smoking and theatres & all such stuff that I get fatigued – The soirees of Delaroche are the only places I have yet found where intelligent men assemble. Another drawback is the entire absence of religion – One comes to consider how a whole people can consent to pass from the cradle to the grave with so little reflection – The religion of thought is really dead in France – it is humiliating to enter these beautiful temples and witness the performances, only worthy of a Hindoo mummery or a Pagan procession – and since the present regime the people have less liberty of conscience than under the republic or Louis Phillippe, sad , to say. Delaroche is very kind and gives me great assistance. I exhibited a picture “The Master […]” at the Brit. Inst. Last year which was brought by Mrs Bell of Langham Place and […] has since taken two political pictures, suggested by the occurrences of the day, ‘The Suicide of the Czar” and “Russian News [?]” two scenes in Paris the “Russian News” advertised a loan and was exhibited at a ministerial dinner at Mr Shaw Sevres’ [?] and curiously enough came true a few weeks after. The suicide of the Czar was not quite exact to the truth – I shall exhibit this year “The Return from the War” –some heroes from the Crimea relating their exploits – Delighted should I be to hear your impressions of them, many of your observations I treasure and have saved me a world of trouble. The French expect to carry off all the art prizes. They have received about 6000 pictures and accepted about 3000 – the jury sit like the ancient judges at the games the gardiens then bring a picture before them, three minutes are allowed to each work and “accepted” or “rejected” is chalked upon the back of it and many are the woeful faces to be found among the artists who exclaim against the “amateur” jury & &. They received orders to be very severe—a whole row of marble statues beautifully carved were refused on the ground that they were “fantastic.” I hope to learn much & shall go with my eyes well open.—I do not know if you propose to pay Paris a visit – if I cd. do you a service in the way of engaging apartments for you it would give me great pleasure. Let me now in conclusion say that I have many reasons for rejoicing that I have entered this delightful art, & we often talk over the early conversations I had with Mr Redgrave upon it. Most Respectfully, John Morgan. April 7, 1853. [Letter on very fragile tissue paper]
- Additional Notes:
- Rue Pigalle 45, Paris
- Physical Description:
- 1 sheet (4 pages) : autograph letter, signed ; 21 x 26 cm folded to 21 x 13 cm
- Genre:
- Correspondence
- Subject Terms:
- ArtistsEtchersPaintersPaintingWomen painters
- Associated Places:
- Great Britain
- Associated People/Groups:
- Boughton, George Henry, 1834-1905Chalon, Alfred Edward, 1780-1860Cockerell, C. R. (Charles Robert), 1788-1863Cooke, Edward William, 1811-1880Cope, Charles West, 1811-1890Eastlake, Charles Lock, Sir, 1793-1865Etching Club (London, England)Exposition universelle de Paris en 1855Faed, Thomas, 1825-1900Frith, William Powell, 1819-1909Gilbert, John, 1817-1897Goodall, Edward A.Haden, Francis Seymour, 1818-1910Hamerton, Philip Gilbert, 1834-1894Holl, Francis, 1815-1884Horsley, John Callcott, 1817-1903Hunt, William Holman, 1827-1910Inchbold, John William, 1830-1888Knight, John Prescott, 1803-1881Leighton of Stretton, Frederic Leighton, Baron, 1830-1896Lewis, Charles George, 1808-1880Linnell, WilliamMaclise, Daniel, 1806-1870Millais, John Everett, 1829-1896O'Neill, Henry, 1798-1880Poynter, Edward John, 1836-1919Redgrave, Richard, 1804-1888Richmond, George, 1809-1896Roberts, David, 1796-1864Royal Academy of Arts (Great Britain)Scott, William Bell, 1811-1890Smirke, Sydney, 1798-1877Stanfield, George ClarksonStreet, George Edmund, 1824-1881Tayler, Frederick, 1802-1889Waterhouse, Alfred, 1830-1905Westmacott, Richard, 1799-1872
- Finding Aid Title:
- Letters to Richard Redgrave
- Collection PDF:
- https://ead-pdfs.library.yale.edu/11762.pdf
- Archival Object:
- https://archives.yale.edu/repositories/3/archival_objects/3450124
- Metadata Cloud URL:
- https://metadata-api.library.yale.edu/metadatacloud/api/aspace/repositories/3/archival_objects/3450124?mediaType=json&include-notes=1&include-all-subjects=1