ng gown, not for a fine glossy surface, but
for such qualities as would wear well." The picture thus affords
a good instance of the dependence on literature of the painters of
Mulready's school. Its title alone would suffice, so well and simply
is the story told; but, apparently, with the British public, and in
the painter's mind, it gained an added grace by diverting the visual
impression of the observer to the realm of literature. The picture is
here reproduced from a copyrighted photograph by Frederick Hollyer,
Kensington.]

William Mulready was of Irish birth, having come into the world at
Ennis, in the County Clare, April 1, 1786. In 1809, after a period
in the schools of the Royal Academy, he exhibited there a picture
entitled "Fair Time," which gave him almost instant success; and until
his death, July 7, 1863, though producing fewer pictures than Wilkie,
he worked on very much the same class of subjects. His color is less
agreeable than that of the Scot, and his execution very much more
labored. His life was uneventful, occupied exclusively with his work,
which he loved; so much so that two days before his death, an old
man of seventy-seven, he sat drawing in the evening life class at the
Royal Academy. He had been a member of the Academy since 1816. The
picture here reproduced is (even without the quotation from the "Vicar
of Wakefield" which accompanies it in the catalogue of the South
Kensington Museum) a simple story simply told. It is free from the
mannerisms which mar much of Mulready's work, especially in the
portrayal of children, and in the original is more agreeable in color
than are many of his pictures.

[Illustration: CONTRARY WINDS. FROM A PAINTING BY THOMAS WEBSTER. The
happily chosen title explains sufficiently this pleasant scene. The
picture, painted in 1843, is now in the South Kensington Museum.]

Thomas Webster, born March 20, 1800, in London, and dying at Cranbrook
in Kent, September, 1886, was another painter whose work had enjoyed
the full meed of popularity, from 1825 to the time of his retirement
from the Royal Academy in 1877. Pictures like the one here reproduced
(from the original in the South Kensington Museum, painted in 1843,
and entitled "Contrary Winds"), pictures depicting homely rustic
life, were his specialty. His work had gained him the title of Royal
Academician in 1846.

Through all this time, and in the work of many painters unnoticed
here, the qualities are evident