[Rarebooks] FS: 1846 South Carolina Artist Memoir

Sat Sep 2 18:59:16 EDT 2006

A MEMOIR OF JAMES DeVEAUX, ARTIST OF CHARLESTON.

Concord; Joslin Hall: 1991. Limited to 250 copies. A facsimile reprint of
the original, very scarce, 1846 edition. Hardcover. 6"x9", 258 pages,
portrait frontispiece, cloth binding, printed on acid-free paper.

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When I first picked up a copy of the 1846 edition of this book in a
bookstore I had no idea who James DeVeaux was.

He has been largely forgotten. He died before his artistic career was
really underway, although he did complete a number of portraits which
doubtless now hang in homes up and down the East coast of the United
States.

I remember first sitting down one evening to read this book and becoming
completely engrossed in it. It was published two years after DeVeaux's
death, and was made up of selections from his diary and letters he wrote
to friends. He was an expressive writer and keen observer, with a love of
life and his art which jumps off the page. He was also almost certainly a
manic depressive, and the pain and anguish he sometimes felt are vividly
described.

Before I was halfway through the book I knew I wanted to reprint it. It
was the memoir of an artist in America and Europe at a time when many
American artists were going to Europe but few were writing of their
experiences with this much skill and detail; it was also a moving story, a
joyful and ultimately tragic story...

I still read it from time to time. DeVeaux's enthusiasm is quite infectious.

James DeVeaux was a gifted artist from Charleston, South Carolina. He
began his career painting portraits up and down the East coast of the
United States, before traveling to Europe to study. After making many of
the stops in Europe which were obligatory for a young American artist, he
finally settled down in Italy, and spent several happy years painting and
observing the sights before dying tragically there in 1844. This memoir
quotes extensively from his letters and journals, and it affords a
revealing look at the life of a struggling young American artist in the
1830s and 40s. DeVeaux was a keen observer and a witty and skillful
writer, and his biography should find a welcome place in many art
libraries. Here are a few selected quotes from his diary which reveal the
tenor of his writings and observations, and also chronicle his life and
death.

May 21st, 1837. "Arrived in Antwerp. Cathedral. Citadel. St. Jacques.
Ruben's tomb, prepared by himself fifteen years before his death -a
picture placed over it by him two years before he died -pictures by Van
Dyke in the same place. Cathedral five hundred English feet in height,
went to the top, the most gorgeous steeple in the world, saw Ireland in
the distance."

Paris, November 15th, 1841. "Paris is just where it was, and is as much
loved as ever; it is the place for a Painter after all, and if, during my
stay abroad, I have an offer or proposals of any sort that will facilitate
my success, I will most assuredly remain here. There is a luxury in
associating with the young and talented enthusiasts of this country, that
makes one young again, and chimes more with my temperament than the cold
calculating grey looking spirits of our northern cities -and unfortunately
those are the only points in our country where a Painter can live."

Florence, December 24th, 1841. "The difficulties here are very great. In
Paris, as many as can get around a picture are permitted to copy, and one
permit serves for a year, besides which you may be engaged on fifty
pictures at the same time, but here, one at a time, unless you cheat
(which I am doing now, having two heads in progress) a separate permit for
each picture is needed. Only a certain number of painters is allowed in
each room, and often you are obliged to wait six months for your turn. The
Madonna and Fornarina of Raphael are engaged for at least two years.
Copies of them are made from copies, and so on to the fortieth generation,
and palmed off on very shrewed purchasers for copies of the originals."

Florence, July 10th, 1842. "Give me Paris with my pockets filled and
Horace Vernet for my master -but Florence as things are. Models for
pictures are the heaviest item of expense here, -since I have been engaged
on my angels, I have had models enough for inspection to people a small
village, -angels, Italian angels! From three years up to thirty; women and
children, male and female. I wish you could see me hauling up one little
fellow with a belly-band and rope and tackle, and when I get him in the
air and say "fly sir!", he curls all his limbs into a heap and falls to
crying!"

Florence, August 10th, 1842. "There are American painters and sculptors
here of all sorts. I find nothing in their society to please me, and so
keep to myself. Strange that so much venom should exist among professors
of a liberal art -but the truth is, that envy and jealousy are our
(painters) besetting sins, and the first thing I heard of here was a flare
up at Rome 'mongst the American artists, and now they are all in Florence
for the summer, so I keep housed. Except the religious sects, I think we
are the warmest and best haters, and the most malignant devils the sun
ever deigned to shine upon."

Rome, December 2nd, 1842. "Whilst looking down from the steeple of the
Campodoglio upon Rome, my companion warmed into a classic fit, and
bringing up from the bottom of his pockets notes and memoranda of history
gathered from Goldsmith and others, he would glance from one scene to
another, till I was deluged in declamation, -flinging his arms into the
air and stretching himself so far over the railing, as to induce me to
wrap the skirt of his coat around my hands to ensure his safety, -he
pointed to the spot where "Ceasar's body lay", -passed to Lucrezia the
chaste, and Virginia the innocent, -Camillus pausing to look back upon the
city, from whence he was issuing a banished man; and had got as far into
his story as to be busily engaged with the Goths and Vandals in sacking
Rome over again, when the old attendant cut short the oration by declaring
that the "Signore" had detained him too long, as his wife waited his
presence for dinner."

Rome, December 21st, 1842. "After three weeks of vexatious disappointment,
I commenced work today in the Colonna Palace; two notes I have had the
Consul write, but nothing except money will open doors that servants are
masters of; if I had found out that secret sooner, I would have saved much
time. The master will send you a written permission, but leaves the rest
to his domestic, and he never has the place unoccupied, till he has felt
the weight of two or three dollars. The extreme modesty of these creatures
prevents their telling you this, and you may go back and forward, from
time to the end of time, unless you chance to learn from some other source
the existence of this hateful custom."

Rome, February 12th, 1843. "Mr. Crawford of N. York, a sculptor, who for
eight years has been drinking at the fountain of inspiration, and has
become bloated with habitual intemperance, -he is full of art and genius
and application, -his great fault is his impatience of finish, and this
renders the complaint generally made against the hands and feet of his
works just and true; -but for the poetic conception of his subjects and
ability to work out his imagining, he stands among the first in Rome, and
is the lion of American sculpture at home and abroad."

Rome, June 30th, 1843. "Arranged my passport, -six pauls to the police,
and two dollars to the American consul; -went to Borghese villa and saw
Canova's Pauline. This statue is very much draped, and I see nothing
surprising in a French woman having served as a model."

Venice, July 28th, 1843. "The church is opened for our accommodation at
six o'clock, and kept open until five, thus giving us eleven hours; these
Catholics are certainly very amiable towards us painters. The only
interruption to our labor is one minute during the daily service of mass,
when the bell tinkles in indication of the holy presence, -we withhold our
hand from the canvas, and bow our heads, -even this is not expected from
us, but we have adopted it as something that would please the
congregation."

Venice, August 20th, 1843. "Last night the Piazza St. Marco was for the
first time illuminated with gas, -it was a brilliant display, the whole
populace crowded to witness something new in this old world. The Arch Duke
Charles with a numerous cortege of gentlemen and ladies, promenaded for an
hour; -three bands of music kept the echos awake for three successive
hours. These Venetian girls seen by gas light outshine all creation."

Venice, August 25th, 1843. "A lady seated herself at my side, and began
drawing a small statue. I offered her some attentions, etc., in Italian,
but as she spoke French to her maid, I gave her a French dash, -after a
while she talked in English for practice, and I was regularly installed as
teacher of drawing and English, and have heard since that she is a Russian
princess."

Rome, November, 1843. "I left Parma for Bologna. Arrived within fifteen
miles of Bologna, my passport was carefully examined and found to be
wanting the signature of the Pope's representative at Venice. I was
suspected of being some wild Republican spirit, hastening to join the
revolutionists, and was not only not allowed to proceed, but was not
permitted to remain at the point I had already reached. I was then but one
day's journey from my destination, Florence; by this sad misfortune I was
obliged to take a one horse conveyance, and to avoid the Pope's
possessions, was forced to cross one of the worst ranges of the
Appennines, at this season a terrible undertaking, and for four days
amidst rain, wind, snow and hail I plied my way. It lost me many precious
days and the exposure has fixed a cold upon my lungs, which I fear will
cost me more."

Rome, February, 1844. "To-day is the sixty-fourth day of my confinement to
my chamber, -the weather has for one month been rainy and windy and cold,
and there are no signs of breaking. I am promised a ride the first fine
day, and shall rejoice to see St. Peter's Dome again."

Here Robert Gibbes takes over the story-

Rome, April 28th, 1844. "As the day was dawning he desired the woman to
open the blinds and admit more light; after asking for his friends he
became quiet, murmuring to himself from time to time. It was near
day-break when the silver cord was broken, and the early light was
stealing as a precursor of the sun. And with a murmuring prayer to the
Great Author of light his freed spirit sped its way from a frail perishing
tenement into the glory surrounding Jehovah's throne."

"It was on Monday, April the 29th, that his friends and all the Americans
at Rome assembled to pay last tribute of regard to all that this world
claimed of poor De Veaux. Towards the close of the afternoon the hearse,
followed by a line of carriages, took its mournful course through the
crowded streets to the Protestant burial ground. The genial temperature of
early spring was awakening in the trees, herbage and flowers a renewed
existence, and after the solemn service had been read over his remains we
consigned them to their narrow house, as the sun was sinking below the
Mediterranean horizon."

- - - - - - - -

Gibbes, Robert W. "A MEMOIR OF JAMES DeVEAUX, ARTIST OF CHARLESTON, SOUTH
CAROLINA 1812-1844. Concord; Joslin Hall: 1991. Limited to 250 copies. A
facsimile reprint of the original, very scarce, 1846 edition. Hardcover.
6"x9", 258 pages, portrait frontispiece, cloth binding, printed on
acid-free paper. $35.00

We offer a 40% trade discount on orders of 5 or more copies.

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