A BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY OF
first work was, 'Boys with a Bird's Nest.' In 1812
he lost his father, who died leaving- his family in a
state of destitution, and wholly dependent on the
young artist for means of subsistence. Collins,
however, met with generous assistance from his
friends. Among his early patrons were Sir Thomas
Heathcote, Sir John Leicester, Sir George Beaumont,
Sir Robert Peel, and the Earl of Liverpool. In
this year he painted one of his principal pic-
tures of rustic life, 'The Sale of the Pet Lamb.'
'The Burial-place of a Favourite Bird,' exhibited
at the same time, and possessing the same qualities
of tender pathos and unaffected sentiment, so far
advanced Colhns in the opinion of his brother artists
that in 1814 he was elected an Associate of the
Royal Academy.
In 1815 he thought he would try fresh subjects, and accordingly went to Cromer to study the sea and the habits of fishermen. At the Gillott sale in 1872 his large picture of 'Cromer Sands' brought 3600 guineas.
After visiting Norfolk he went to Hastings, and there painted many pictures of coast scenery, enlivened by groups of fisher-boys, boats, &c. In 1818 one of these, a ' Scene on the coast of Norfolk,' was purchased by the Prince Regent, and now hangs in Windsor Castle. This patronage by royalty led to many other commissions, so that the artist rapidly rose to fame and overcame all his pecuniary difficulties.
He had previously been compelled to resort to portrait painting as the only sure means of profit : but now he was able to abandon it entirely, and naving in his particular branch of landscape art, as his intimate friend Wilkie told him, the ball at his feet, he had but to paint as he had begun to widen his popularity. In 1820 he became a Royal Academician, giving as a diploma picture ' The Young Anglers,' and for the next sixteen years he was a constant contributor to the exhibitions, sending occasionally five and never less than three pictures. In 1822, whilst on a visit to Scotland, he married Miss Geddes, the sister of Mrs. Carpenter, the portrait painter.
Collins continued to paint numerous pictures of rustic life with great success ; amongst which ' Rustic Civility ' and ' As Happy as a King ' are perhaps the most popular. A replica of the latter now hangs in the National Gallery. Wilkie Collins (the well-known novelist, and author of a Life of his father, piiblislied in 1848), says that the subject of this painting was suggested to his father by the story of the country boy whose ideal of happiness was swinging upon a gate all day long and eating fat bacon.
In 1836 Collins visited Italy, having been repeatedly urged by his friend Wilkie to see the beauties of that country. He remained two years abroad, and on liis return the pictures which he exhibited surprised liis former admirers; but it is doubtful whether the Italian journey was at all beneficial to his reputation.
It is said that his unwise practice of painting at all times of the day while at Sorrento, though he was warned of its folly by his friends, sowed the seeds of the disease by which he was vanquished at last. A rheumatic attack left behind it disease of the heart, and although he lived for eleven years afterwards, he was never the same man again. It was under great suffering that he painted, in 1846, his beautiful picture of ' Early Morning.' He died in London in 1847.
In 1817 he had visited Paris ; in 1828 Holland and Belgium ; in 1840 Germany ; and in 1842 the Shetland Isles.
His pictures were at first landscapes with figures and simple incidents introduced— then subjects on the sea coast; occasionally portraits ; and latteriy, after his Italian journey, sacred subjects.
His works are very numerous: there are no less than twelve in the Sheepshanks and Townshend Collections in the South Kensington Museum. The following are some of the principal, and are typical of the rest. Several have been engraved.
1811. A Country Kitchen Hn the Sheepshanks Collection at South KensinqtoTi), 1813. The Sale of the Pet Lamb. 1814. Bird Catchers— Morning (one of the best of ha early worts, the property of the Marquis of Lansdowne). 1816. Shrimp boys at Cromer. 1817. Fishermen coming ashore before sunrise. 1818. Coast of Norfolk. 1819. Morning — Fishermen on the look-out. 1822. Scene near Chichester. 1823. Scene in Borrowdale. ,, Walmer Castle. 1824. The Cherry Seller. 1825. Fishermen getting out their nets. 1827. A Frost Scene. 182S. Scene in Freshwater Bay, Isle of Wight. 1829. Scene in a Kentish Hop Ga deu. 1830. Waiting for the Arrival of Fishing Boats, Coast of France. 1831. The Prawn Catchers (tn the Xtitimul Galltry) 1833. Kustic Civility (ut South Kemiiiuton). 1834. Cottage Hospitality. 1836 Sunday Morning. ,, Leaving Home. „ As Happy as a King (a replica is in the y^tiond Gallery). ,, Bayham Abbey {at South Kensington). 1839. A Scene near Subiaco, Eoman States. 1840. Our Saviour with the Doctors in the Temple (the property of the Marquis of Lansdowne). ,, Ave Blaria, Naples. 1841. The Two Disciples at Emmaus. ,, Ischia, Bay of Naples. 1842. Welsh Guides, Llanberris. 1643. The Caves of Ulysses at Sorrento (South Kensinaton). " „ The World or the Cloister. 1S44. Morning. Boulogne. ,, Seaford, Sussex {at South Kensington). 1846. Early Morning. ,, Meadfoot Bay, Torquay. „ Hall Sands, Devonshire {at South. Kensiiu/ton), Collins engraved, in a nn'xed manner of etching and mezzotint, some of his own paintings of coast scenes.
COLLINSON, James, who studied in the schools of the Royal Academv, first exhibited at its Exhibitions in 1847, 'The Charity Boy's Debut.' In 1848-49 he became one of the seven original members of the Pre-Raphaelite Brethren, of whom five were painters: and in 1851 appeared his be^t work done under the influence of that teaching — ' An Incident in the Life of St. Elizabeth of Hungary.' in illustration of Charles Kingsley's ' Saint's Tragedy.' Collinson soon after left this Fraternity, became a Roman Catbohc, and spent the years 1852-1854 in a convent. He was subsequently a frequent exhibitor at the Royal Academy, and he also sent works to the British Institution and the Society of British Artists, of which he was a member from 1861 till 1870, in which year his active art life seems to have closed. He
died in 1881. Among the best of his early works were:
316
