SHIELDS (Frederic James, 1833-1911, Painter & Decorative Artist)

Autograph Letter Signed to Mrs GILCHRIST (Ann, née Burrows, Writer, best known for her connection to Walt Whitman and her Life of Blake) offering to “search my studio - which is closed till then - for the missing umbrella - and shall be very glad if it happens to be in my power to return it... Your P. Card was forwarded to me only yesterday to this place where we are staying as the guests of that good lady Mount-Temple whom you met - and who sent us the invitation to avail ourselves of this otherwise tenantless mansion during our brief holiday. What manner of persons Lord & Lady Mount-Temple are you may divine by the picture which hangs over their dining room Mantel piece - which represents themselves, & an aged lady - presumably the mother of Lady M-T, entertaining at their board the maimed, the poor, the lame & blind - while through an open window, the Master whose command they are obeying looks in upon the holy feast, and blesses them in their obedience. An altogether unique subject for rich people to select to have themselves portrayed in as actors - so far as my experience goes. My dear friend Rossetti used always to say of them - ‘they are angels’. The place itself is beautiful, alike the house without & within, and coast & inland hill & vale & my wife is already better for the change - no small joy to me - we write in very kindest regards to Miss Gilchrist & to Herbert. His portrait of his Mother has all the inspiration of affection which marks the portraits that good sons are moved to paint of loved Mothers - and it is an admirable work...”, 4 sides 8vo., Babbacombe Cliff, Torquay headed paper, 26th May

Mrs Gilchrist is best known for developing a deep attachment to Walt Whitman when she read Leaves of Grass in 1869, and for writing the first great criticism of that work, A Woman's Estimate of Walt Whitman; their correspondence was initiated through William Michael Rossetti. When she eventually travelled to Philadelphia, in 1876, she met Whitman and they formed a lasting friendship. Her son Herbert Gilchrist (1857-1914) was an artist.
William Francis Cowper-Temple acquired the Cliff from Gerald Agnew in 1877 and in its place he built The Babbacombe Cliff. The house was designed by John Ruskin and decorated mainly by Burne-Jones and William Morris. In 1880 he was raised to the peerage as Baron Mount Temple. Previously, following the death of his first wife, he had married Georgina daughter Admiral John Delap Tollemanche in 1848. The Cowper-Temple’s main home was at Broadlands in Hampshire whilst the Babbacombe Cliff was viewed as a holiday retreat, until, following the death of her husband in 1894, Georgina, Baroness Mount-Temple moved permanently to Babbacombe. Whilst living there she was well known as a local philanthropist whose social gatherings and entertaining were second to none. Her guests included William Wilberforce and Oscar Wilde who worked on ‘A Woman of No Importance’ during his stay.

Item Date:  1882

Stock No:  42600      £275

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