John Francis Bentley by William Christian Symons.jpg(now the Royal Society of Painters in Watercolours), with which he afterwards identified himself almost exclusively. To their first exhibition in 1805 he sent forty-two subjects, nearly all Welsh, and contributed 344 drawings from 1805 to 1813 inclusive, or an average of over thirty-eight.
He was now recognised as a fine and original landscape-painter, and had earned, or was earning, an unrivalled position among art teachers. In 1800, according to his brother Cornelius, he was living with him in Charles Street, Covent Garden, but in the 'Academy Catalogue' of that year his address is given as Craven Street, Hoxton. From 1801 to 1804 he lived at 2 Harris Place, near the Pantheon, in Oxford Street, and thence moved to 15 Broad Street, Golden Square. In 1800 and 1801 some topographical plates ('Valle Crucis Abbey,' 'Stilton,' 'Monmouth,' &c.) were engraved by J. Walker, and another of 'Chepstowe' appeared in 'Beauties of England and Wales.' In the latter year he, with his brother Cornelius, went to Gillingham, and gave lessons to Mrs. Bacon-Schutz and her daughters, and about this time also to the Earl of Essex's seat, Hampton Court, in Herefordshire.
With his pupils (who lived with him) and his growing family he had a large household. He also made a large income, for he found a ready sale for his drawings, and his production was extraodinary, he received premiums with his articled pupils (that paid by Finch was 200l.), and he charged a guinea for a lesson to others. He earned in his most prosperous time 3,000l. a year. He had a very large circle of friends and acquaintances. He was genial and amiable, his views were large and liberal, and his conversation striking and original. His house became 'the resort of wits and men of talent and education in every branch of art and the professions, and he attracted and delighted all alike by the kindliness of his heart and the extent and variety of his knowledge.' One of his greatest attractions was his devoted study and practice of astrology. He kept his own horoscope up day by day, and he was always ready to draw those of others. When introduced to a stranger his first question was generally as to the day of his birth. Though he did not charge for his astrological services, he was conscious that many of his fashionable pupils were attracted to him rather by curiosity about their future than the love art. Among his predictions which are said to have been verified were a fatal accident to Paul Mulready, the death of Collins the artist, the injury by fire of William Vokins's daughter, and the burning of his own house. He taught astrology to Sir Richard Burton the traveller and to the first Lord Lytton. With his pupils he was very popular, helping them in all ways, and seeking their advancement, even to his own prejudice. But he was a stern disciplinarian, and if he heard a noise in their room he would rush in and thrash them all round without any discrimination. He had a cottage at Twickenham where they used to spend part of their time and draw, according to his precept, 'everything in nature and every mood.' Among the most celebrated of these were William Mulready, his brother-in-law, W. H. Hunt, John Linnell, F. O. Finch, William Turner of Oxford, and Samuel Palmer. Three others of the greatest of English landscape-painters, Copley Fielding, Peter De Wint. and David Cox, were greatly assisted by him in the formation of their styles, so that his training was the very backbone of the English school of watercolour. No one, except Tumor and Girtin, did so much for its development, and he was surpassed by none in his knowledge of its technique and the science of composition.
His industry was extraordinary. For forty years (he said) he worked fourteen hours a day, but he loved play too, especially boxing, and would often leave off work to have a bout with the gloves with one or other of his pupils. He was very strong, and weighed seventeen stone, so that he was more than a match for most of them except Mulready. Sometimes, it is said, when tired of boxing, he and his pupils would toss Mrs. Varley from one to the other across the table.
But, though outwardly prosperous, Varley was always in diificulties from his carelessness in money matters. Abstemious and spending little on himself, he was the constant prey of his impecunious friends.
In 1812 the first Watercolour Society came to an end, but the meeting which resuscitated it as the Society of Painters in Oil and Watercolours was held at Varley's house in Broad Street. In 1813 he moved from 15 to 5 Broad Street, and in 1814 or 1815 to 44 Conduit Street, and in 1817 to 10 (afterwards 10½) Great Titchfield Street, where he built a gallery to show his pictures, and during this time contributed regularly, but not so profusely, to the exhibitions of the society. In 1819 Varley was introduced by John Linnell to William Blake (1757–1827) [q. v.], and became his constant companion till the poet-painter's death in 1827. It was for Varley that Blake in 1819–20 executed those strange drawings of visionary heads (see Gilchrist, Life of Blake, pp.
