Robert Seymour (illustrator) - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Robert Seymour was a British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

illustrator. Seymour is known for his illustrations of the works of Charles Dickens

Charles Dickens

Charles John Huffam Dickens was an English novelist, generally considered the greatest of the Victorian period. Dickens enjoyed a wider popularity and fame than had any previous author during his lifetime, and he remains popular, having been responsible for some of English literature's most iconic...

and for his caricatures.

Early years

Seymour was born in Somerset

Somerset

The ceremonial and non-metropolitan county of Somerset in South West England borders Bristol and Gloucestershire to the north, Wiltshire to the east, Dorset to the south-east, and Devon to the south-west. It is partly bounded to the north and west by the Bristol Channel and the estuary of the...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

in 1798, the second son of Henry Seymour and Elizabeth Bishop. Soon after moving to London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

Henry Seymour died, leaving his wife, two sons and daughter impoverished. In 1827 his mother died, and Seymour married his cousin Jane Holmes, having two children, Robert and Jane. Robert Seymour died on 20 April 1836.

After his father died, Robert Seymour was apprenticed as a pattern-drawer to a Mr. Vaughan of Duke Street, Smithfield

Smithfield, London

Smithfield is an area of the City of London, in the ward of Farringdon Without. It is located in the north-west part of the City, and is mostly known for its centuries-old meat market, today the last surviving historical wholesale market in Central London...

, London

London

. Influenced by painter Joseph Severn

Joseph Severn

Joseph Severn was an English portrait and subject painter and a personal friend of the famous English poet John Keats...

Royal Academy

The Royal Academy of Arts is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly, London. The Royal Academy of Arts has a unique position in being an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects whose purpose is to promote the creation, enjoyment and...

, during frequent visits to his uncle Thomas Holmes of Hoxton, Robert’s ambition to be a professional painter was achieved at the age of 24 when, in 1822, his painting of a scene from Torquato Tasso

Torquato Tasso

Torquato Tasso was an Italian poet of the 16th century, best known for his poem La Gerusalemme liberata , in which he depicts a highly imaginative version of the combats between Christians and Muslims at the end of the First Crusade, during the siege of Jerusalem...

’s Jerusalem Delivered
Jerusalem Delivered
Jerusalem Delivered is an epic poem by the Italian poet Torquato Tasso first published in 1581, which tells a largely mythified version of the First Crusade in which Catholic knights, led by Godfrey of Bouillon, battle Muslims in order to take Jerusalem...

, with over 100 figures, was exhibited at the Royal Academy

Royal Academy

.

He was commissioned to illustrate the works of Shakespeare

William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...

; Milton

John Milton

John Milton was an English poet, polemicist, a scholarly man of letters, and a civil servant for the Commonwealth of England under Oliver Cromwell...

; Cervantes

Cervantes

-People:*Alfonso J. Cervantes , mayor of St. Louis, Missouri*Francisco Cervantes de Salazar, 16th-century man of letters*Ignacio Cervantes, Cuban composer*Jorge Cervantes, a world-renowned expert on indoor, outdoor, and greenhouse cannabis cultivation...

, and Wordsworth

William Wordsworth

William Wordsworth was a major English Romantic poet who, with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, helped to launch the Romantic Age in English literature with the 1798 joint publication Lyrical Ballads....

. He also produced innumerable portraits, miniatures, landscapes, etc., as can be seen in two Sketchbooks; Windsor; Eaton; Figure Studies; Portraits at the Victoria and Albert Museum

Victoria and Albert Museum

The Victoria and Albert Museum , set in the Brompton district of The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London, England, is the world's largest museum of decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 4.5 million objects...

. After the rejection of his second Royal Academy

Royal Academy

submission, he continued to paint in oils, mastered techniques of copper engraving, and began illustrating books for a living.

From 1822-27, Seymour produced designs for a wide range of subjects including: poetry; melodramas; children’s stories; and topographical and scientific works. A steady supply of such work enabled him to live comfortably and enjoy his library and fishing and shooting expeditions with his friends: Lacey the publisher, and the illustrator George Cruikshank

George Cruikshank

George Cruikshank was a British caricaturist and book illustrator, praised as the "modern Hogarth" during his life. His book illustrations for his friend Charles Dickens, and many other authors, reached an international audience.-Early life:Cruikshank was born in London...

. In 1827, the year of his mother’s death and his marriage, Robert Seymour’s publishers, Knight and Lacey, were made bankrupt, owing Seymour a considerable amount of money.

In 1827, Seymour then found steady employment when his etchings and engravings were accepted by the publisher Thomas McLean. Learning to etch on the newly fashionable steel-plates, Seymour then first began to specialize in caricatures and other humorous subjects. In 1830, having mastered the art of etching, Seymour then lithographed separate prints and book illustrations; he was then invited by McLean to produce the 1830 caricature magazine called the “Looking Glass”, as etched throughout by William Heath

William Heath (artist)

William Heath was a British artist. He was best known for his published engravings which included caricatures, political cartoons, and commentary on contemporary life....

, for which Seymour produced four large lithographed sheets of illustrations, usually drawn several to a page, every month for the following six years, until his death in 1836.

Conflicts with Figaro

In 1831, Seymour began work for a new magazine called Figaro in London
Figaro in London
Figaro In London was an English comic paper of the early nineteenth century. It was founded as a weekly in 1831 and ran for almost eight years. It is chiefly remembered nowadays as a forerunner to Punch. Its original editor was Gilbert Abbott à Beckett and it was mostly written by him and by Henry...

(pre-Punch
Punch (magazine)
Punch, or the London Charivari was a British weekly magazine of humour and satire established in 1841 by Henry Mayhew and engraver Ebenezer Landells. Historically, it was most influential in the 1840s and 50s, when it helped to coin the term "cartoon" in its modern sense as a humorous illustration...

), producing 300 humorous drawings and political caricatures to accompany the mundane, political topics of the day and the texts of Gilbert à Beckett

Gilbert Abbott à Beckett

Gilbert Abbott à Beckett was an English humorist.He was born in London, the son of a lawyer, and belonged to a family claiming descent from Thomas Becket...

(1811–56). This cheap weekly reflected the clever but abusive character of the owner and editor, a’Beckett, a friend of Charles Dickens

Charles Dickens

and the publisher of George Cruikshank

George Cruikshank

, who, in 1827, argued against Seymour’s parody of his work and nom-de-plume of 'Shortshanks'. Gilbert à Beckett later in 1834 insulted Seymour by replacing him with Cruikshank’s brother. This partnership lasted until 1834, when à Beckett suffered a heavy financial loss and refused to pay Seymour. A’Beckett then launched a public media campaign cruelly libelling Seymour, who resigned, only returning when Henry Mayhew

Henry Mayhew

Henry Mayhew was an English social researcher, journalist, playwright and advocate of reform. He was one of the two founders of the satirical and humorous magazine Punch, and the magazine's joint-editor, with Mark Lemon, in its early days...

replaced à Beckett as the Figaro
Figaro in London
Figaro In London was an English comic paper of the early nineteenth century. It was founded as a weekly in 1831 and ran for almost eight years. It is chiefly remembered nowadays as a forerunner to Punch. Its original editor was Gilbert Abbott à Beckett and it was mostly written by him and by Henry...

editor. This humiliating public smear was attributed as a cause for the coroner’s suicide verdict.

Nevertheless, Seymour was now established as pre-eminent an illustrator as George Cruikshank

George Cruikshank

, and as one of the greatest artists since the days of Hogarth

William Hogarth

William Hogarth was an English painter, printmaker, pictorial satirist, social critic and editorial cartoonist who has been credited with pioneering western sequential art. His work ranged from realistic portraiture to comic strip-like series of pictures called "modern moral subjects"...

, predicted by Sir Richard Phillips

Sir Richard Phillips

Sir Richard Phillips was an English schoolteacher, author and publisher.Phillips was born in London. Following some political difficulties in Leicester where he was a schoolteacher and bookseller, he returned to London, established premises in Paternoster Row, St. Paul's Churchyard, and founded...

, that if he lived, he would become President of the Royal Academy. In 1834, at the height of his prosperity, independently, Seymour launched a new series of lithographs; Sketches by Seymour (1834–36), all depicting expeditions of over-equipped and under-trained Cockneys pursuing cats, birds and stray pigs on foot and on horseback, as experienced in his 1827 fishing and shooting expeditions with his friend Cruickshank.

The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club

Seymour's characters were popular, but all were lighthearted sporting or political in theme. The thin and large characters he developed were continued into the early life of the Pickwick Papers. There is however considerable controversy about who is intellectually responsible for the creation of the Pickwick Papers. It is agreed by Seymour's widow, the publisher Chapman and Hall Chapman and Hall

Chapman and Hall

Chapman & Hall was a British publishing house in London, founded in the first half of the 19th century by Edward Chapman and William Hall. Upon Hall's death in 1847, Chapman's cousin Frederic Chapman became partner in the company, of which he became sole manager upon the retirement of Edward...

, and Charles Dickens

Charles Dickens

(1812–70) that the original idea prompting Dickens' writing commission came from Seymour who spoke to his existing publisher (Chapman and Hall) to create a magazine series of sporting illustrations with short written sketches linking them together in some way. The usual method was anecdotal stories. Further he developed the idea of a 'Nimrod Club' of sporting people having adventures as the framework for the sketches and illustrations. This is very much in the line of his already published Seymour's Sketches. For the interested reader it is worth viewing this book on the Gutenberg Press if possible to get a feel for the popular style involved and to understand Seymour's viewpoint. The quality of the 'hack' writing (as such writing was known) in this volume is also valuable to provide contrast to Dickens' work. Edward Chapman agreed that the work should be issued in monthly parts, with descriptive text by Dickens. This was a very popular method at the time. However Charles Dickens, then only 22, was not the first choice as writer. From this point differences of opinion are rife. Seymour's widow claims the credit of choosing Dickens as the hack because his 'poverty' would ensure that he would write the sketch links for the illustrations. However a more reliable view is that the senior editor in the publishing house did not have time to complete the work so recommended Dickens on the basis of his recently published and successful 'Sketches by Boz

Sketches by Boz

Sketches by "Boz," Illustrative of Every-day Life and Every-day People is a collection of short pieces published by Charles Dickens in 1836 accompanied by illustrations by George Cruikshank. The 56 sketches concern London scenes and people and are divided into four sections: "Our Parish",...

', also in a monthly periodical format.

When Dickens was commissioned he made it clear that he was not a sporting person and therefore could not write this kind of sketch. But he liked the idea of a club and would write something the illustrations could be created from. In other words he reversed the order of the creative process. His story would have illustrations. It would not be a series of illustrations with a bit of story linking them together. Mr Winkle, the only main character really interested in sports would be created to showcase Seymour but let Dickens write characters he wanted to. This was done to appease Seymour.

It seems probable that Seymour had a set of preliminary drawings for the Nimrod Club. He may have used them when discussing his idea with the publishers. His ideas for the Nimrod Club seem to go back to 1834 but due to his workload it doesn't seem to have been a project pursued until late 1835 or very early 1836 (the latter date is more probable). Reports suggest that Dickens was not commissioned until 10 February 1836 with a publication date of 31 March 1836 as the deadline. This is a very short timescale considering that there were serious disagreements about how the project would be developed after Dickens was appointed. Seymour may have used his previous illustrations to describe his original idea for the Nimrod Club but the creation of Mr Pickwick's character's design would imply that there was a prototype for him made by Seymour. This design seems to have been a thin man and was rejected by both the publisher and Dickens. The credit for the rotund final version was given by Dickens to Edward Chapman, as it was based on his acquaintance. However Seymour certainly had some characters similar to the round Mr Pickwick in his work before this time, although they are quite general in their detail and they appear similar in a number of his sketches. They appear to be more simple caricature observations whereas Mr Pickwick appears to be drawn more sharply into a strong visual image. Dickens had also written the first two chapters for Seymour to work from. From the facts that are known it seems logical then that Mr Pickwick was envisioned as a thin man, rejected and then redrawn on their suggestion of someone they knew and on Dickens writing. It also seems reasonable that Seymour used his previous work to help create the character and Dickens is reported as saying that he had "made him a reality". Mr Pickwick seems to be an amalgamation of ideas from all these sources and is therefore not solely Seymour's creation. All the characteristics of the persona and the name etc. would appear to belong to Dickens.

The next part of the controversy is how much of the Pickwick Papers did Seymour create. Seymour committed suicide before the second part of the Pickwick Papers was completed and published. He shot himself with a shotgun (fowling piece) in his summer-house behind his home in Liverpool Road

Liverpool Road

Liverpool Road is located in the London Borough of Islington of inner north London. Liverpool Road runs parallel to Upper Street and is largely made up of Georgian architecture. It starts at Upper Street and joins Holloway Road....

, Islington

Islington

Islington is a neighbourhood in Greater London, England and forms the central district of the London Borough of Islington. It is a district of Inner London, spanning from Islington High Street to Highbury Fields, encompassing the area around the busy Upper Street...

, on 20 April 1836. It is clear that Seymour was not in control of the process of creating the Pickwick Papers and was in fact commissioned on quite meager monetary terms for 4 illustrations per magazine edition. (This figure does not include the frontage piece which could be reused.) He seems to have received no payment for his idea and his copyright for his illustrations seems to have been questionable. The frontage illustration that was issued on the first magazine edition reads "The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club - containing a faithful record of the perambulations, perils, travels, adventures and Sporting Transactions of the corresponding members". Edited by 'Boz'. With Illustrations. Clearly Seymour isn't even mentioned as a named contributor. The frontage piece includes all sorts of fishing and shooting references and would fit well with the Nimrod Club idea but fits less well with the Pickwick Club. What sporting ideas may have been held as an original notion by Seymour were not realized in the magazine series and after Seymour's death the focus of the stories become much clearer with more emphasis on ideas preferable to Dickens.

The next area of controversy is how much was discussed in advance with Seymour before he died. Dickens himself created controversy by saying that only 24 pages had been written for the second edition when Seymour committed suicide. It was pointed out by Joseph Grego in the 1899 book 'Pictorial Pickwickian' that in fact Seymour had created the draft image of "The Pickwickians in Mr. Wardle's Kitchen". The discrepancy is in the idea that the last illustration was for the story was to go on page '50'. There were only meant to be 48 written pages complete or in draft stage. But the Pickwickians do end up in Mr Wardle's kitchen by the end of the second magazine issue regardless of what page this data was meant to have been published on. This small point has encouraged belief that Seymour was privy to ideas when there is no robust evidence to suggest that this is true. No images have been found which belong to ideas written later in the series but only ideas which were published in line with commissioned work for the second magazine. The page count may not include illustrated pages (hardcopy reference required) which would increase the count to a total of 56 sides plus index and frontage pages etc. across the first two editions of the magazine.

The magazine was to be distributed at the end of each month. The second edition was finished with just three Seymour illustrations. Dickens changed the format for the 3rd edition of the magazine increasing the text to 32 pages and reducing the illustrations to just two per issue.

Seymour's widow argued that the Pickwick Club would have existed without Dickens and this is not the case. It is clear that the Nimrod Club was Seymour's idea and was in effect a more story driven version of the highly popular Seymour's sketches but it is not the Pickwick Papers as we are familiar with today. It is clear however that it would have been much better for Seymour to pursue his idea for his magazine with another publisher or with a writer less interested in being the dominant partner. It is highly unlikely that Dickens would have created a platform like the Pickwick Club without Seymour's prompting idea but it is clear that the Pickwick Club is Dickens' creative process in terms of content. Seymour's widow received no royalties and clearly the success of the project created a sense of injustice. The Pickwick Papers wouldn't have existed without Seymour but the book and style that was popular and made the large fortune it did, wouldn't have existed if Seymour had had creative control and the format had been similar to Seymour's Sketches.

Seymour's suicide came after his struggle with mental ill health and his breakdown in 1830. It is thought that Dickens had advertised for a new illustrator for the Pickwick Papers and it is clear that Seymour was struggling to design images in line with Dickens' requirements. "The Dying Clown" is harsh and emotional, a huge way from the funny and lighthearted illustrations which Seymour had envisioned for the series. Until English law changed in 1870 suicide could produce a verdict of felo de se (felon to self). This meant the person did not receive a religious burial and his family were denied any of his estate which would go to the Crown by default. Therefore no attributed royalties could go to his widow Jane Seymour from his work per se. The commission then passed to Robert William Buss

Robert William Buss

Robert William Buss was a Victorian artist, etcher and illustrator perhaps best known for his painting Dickens' Dream.-Early career:...

, but, these being judged unsatisfactory, were then passed to Hablot Knight Browne

Hablot Knight Browne

Hablot Knight Browne was an English artist, famous as Phiz, illustrator of books by Charles Dickens, Charles Lever and Harrison Ainsworth.-Biography:...

known as Phiz from issue four of the magazine until its completion in 1837. Phiz also completed illustrations for the book version as well.

Jane Seymour and her anger at Charles Dickens

The incidents leading up to Seymour’s death showed that 24 hours earlier, Seymour had called at Dickens

Charles Dickens

's family home where they discussed the artwork for the chapter on the dying clown story. They had a few drinks (grog

Grog

The word grog refers to a variety of alcoholic beverages. The word originally referred to a drink made with water or "small beer" and rum, which British Vice Admiral Edward Vernon introduced into the Royal Navy on 21 August 1740. Vernon wore a coat of grogram cloth and was nicknamed Old Grogram or...

) then argued, after which Seymour left. On the day of his death, Chapman had returned "The Dying Clown" (pictured at right) artwork and arranged to meet Seymour later that evening. Dickens and Edward Chapman's statements of the incident, (albeit without explanation of how they knew) state that Seymour worked on the new plates well into that night and was found shot the next day. Dickens' statement, among others, mentions that he read about the incident in the morning papers.

When Chapman re-issued the, by now best seller, 'The Pickwick Papers' in book form, he included a disclaimer statement from Dickens stating; "Mr. Seymour never originated or suggested an incident, a phrase, or a word to be found in this book. Mr. Seymour died when only twenty-four pages of this book were published, and when assuredly not forty-eight were written;" that “All of the input from the artist was in response to the words that had already been written;” and, in continuation of the a’Beckett smears, “that he took his own life through jealousy, as it was well known that Seymour’s sanity had been questioned.”

Pickwick illustrations

Frontispiece. (note image of frontispiece to the right is from Phiz and not Seymour - both sides. This is to be corrected).
Mr Pickwick addresses the Club. - Chapter 1, Issue 1 (31 March 1836)
The Pugnacious Cabman. Chapter 2, Issue 1 (31 March 1836)
The Sagacious Dog. Chapter 2, Issue 1 (31 March 1836)
Dr Slammers's Defiance of Jingle. Chapter 2, Issue 1 (31 March 1836)
The Dying Clown. Chapter 3, Issue 2 (31 March 1836)
Mr Pickwick in Chase of his Hat. Chapter 4, Issue 2, (30 April 1836)
Mr Winkle Soothes the Refractory Steed. Chapter 5, Issue 2 (30 April 1836)
The Pickwickians in Wardle’s Kitchen. For Chapter 5, Issue 2 (30 April 1836)(Unpublished but a copy included in the Pictorial Pickwickiana, Ed Joseph Grego, 1899) See Additional Notes on this.

Artworks and book illustrations

Tasso’s Jerusalem Delivered. (Royal Academy; 1821):
Figaro in London. (300 illustrations):
Bells Life in London:
Hoods Comic Almanacs:
The Looking Glass. (1830–36):
The History of Enfield. (2 vols; 1823):
Public Characters of all Nations. (3 vols; 1823):. (1824):
My Uncle Timothy. (1825):
Snatches from Oblivion:
The March of Intellect. (1829):
W.A.R: a Masque.
Vagaries in the Quest of the Wild and Wonderful:
The Heiress:
The Omnibus:
Seymour’s Sporting Sketches:
The Book of Christmas.(36 designs):
New Readings. (1830–35):
Journal of a Landsman from Portsmouth to Lisbon. (1831):
Maxims and Hints for an Angler. (1833):
The Comic Album. (The Bloomsbury Christening; Dickens) (1834):
The Squib Annual of Poetry, Politics, and Personalities. (1835–36):
Humorous Sketches. (1834–36):
Sketches by Seymour. (1834–36):
Library of Fiction:
The Nimrod Club. (1835–36):
The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club. (1836):

Royal Academy

Tasso's Jerusalem Delivered. Royal Academy (1822). by Robert Seymour.

"The Christians deterred by the terrors of enchantment,

from felling timber to construct their machines of annoyance.

And three succeeding days the boldest warriors, urged by thirst of praise,

Assayed the dreary wood, but struck with dread,

Each knight by turns the threat’ning terror fled."

[Jerusalem Delivered, Book 13th.]

Jane Seymour to Charles Dickens

"His conduct calls to mind the lines put into Satan's mind by Milton".

"Get Riches first, get Wealth, and Treasure heap,

Not difficult, if thou hearken to me:

Riches are mine, Fortune is in my hand;

They whom I favour thrive in Wealth amain,

While Virtue, Valour, Wisdom sit in want."

Obituary notices

“The success of the Pickwick Papers was due more to the artists pencil than the author’s pen; it is not generally known that the poor Seymour conceived the characters of Sam Weller and Pickwick before a line of the work was written". [The Sun. 1836].

“Seymour first furnished the idea of Pickwick Papers. Mr. Dickens wrote the first numbers to his plates. / Seymour was one of the greatest artists since the days of Hogarth" (1697–1764). [Franklins Miscellany. 1836].

"The head of the production of two clever artists…the one, a long established favourite; the other, Mr. Seymour, a gentleman of far superior talent. Mr. Seymour will have the management of all future volumes, so far as the engravings are concerned". [Odd Volume. 1836].

The "lost" tombstone

Seymour was buried in 1836 at St Mary Magdalene Church

St Mary Magdalene Church, Holloway Road

St Mary Magdalene Church is an Anglican church on Holloway Road in north London. It is located in St Mary Magdalene Gardens opposite Islington Central Library and is the parish church of the Parish of St Mary Magdalene and St David...

in Islington. Alterations to the church grounds led to Seymour's tombstone being removed from the grave site and considered "lost" until 2006 when it was discovered in the church's crypt by Seymour biographer Stephen Jarvis. The tombstone has since been acquired by the Charles Dickens Museum at 48 Doughty Street, London where it went on permanent public display from 27 July 2010.

External links

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