THE DIRECTOR.

No. 7. SATURDAY, MARCH 7, 1807.

OSTENDENT TERRIS HUNC TANTUM FATA.

VIRG.

6 And in a PROCTOR's fate, a PHIDIAS mourns.'

SHEE'S RHYMES ON ART.

MR. THOMAS PROCTOR was born at Settle, in Yorkshire, in 1765, and received his education in the grammar school in that town. At the age of twenty he arrived in London, and was engaged as a clerk, in a mercantile house in the city, where he continued near three years. He had, at a very early period, shewn an inclination and talent for drawing; but, having never received any instruction or information respecting the art, his

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powers

remained dormant, until a trivial circumstance awakened them, and changed the course and colour of his life.

HE has often told his most intimate friends, that he should never have quitted his mercantile situation, but for the accidental sight of Mr. Barry's picture of Venus rising from the Sea;-a picture which produced an immediate effect on his mind, that determined him to relinquish the lucrative line of life * in which he had been placed, and to devote himself to the graphic art. He accordingly quitted the counting-house, and applied himself to the study of drawing; and soon after was admitted a student in the Royal Academy. Here, with the small pittance which had devolved to him from his father, who had kept an inn at Settle, he continued to attend the Academy

* The gentleman who went into the same counting-house, at the same time with Mr. Proctor, is now an opulent and respectable merchant in the city of London.

about three years. While he was pursuing his studies, he frequently attempted to eke out his scanty means by painting portraits; an occupation from which he derived very little profit, and no reputation. His genius was not adapted to that branch of art: he was a bad colourist, and incapable of giving the minute and faithful display of the features and character of his employer, which is essential in that line of the profession.

In the Academy, however, he was preeminent and successful. He received a me

dal for the drawing of a figure in chalk ; another for the best model of an academy figure in clay, and was presented with the gold medal for a picture in oil, the subject from Shakspeare's Tempest. During his attendance in the Academy, he not only obtained all the prize medals given by the Society of Arts for historical painting, but he produced those three transcendent and inimitable examples of sculpture-his IXION, DIOMEDES, and PERITHOUS; displaying in them such

astonishing mental power, and so correct anatomical knowledge, as have never been equalled in modern times.

WHEN the period arrived for his quitting the Academy, Proctor found himself in those circumstances, which have, in so many instances, thwarted and impeded the progress of British talent. Habituated to the sublime and intellectual branches of art, he possessed neither disposition nor talent for portrait painting; he could not sketch for the publisher, nor pencil for the manufacturer. Having quitted an advantageous situation, in order to devote himself to his favourite pursuits, he found himself, at the close of his academical studies, without any defect in prudential or moral conduct, absolutely in want of bread.

THE support which his talents were intitled to, he disdained to solicit. He sold his invaluable model of Irion; he borrowed a trifling, sum on his Perithous; and, as to the group of Diomedes devoured

by his horses, it is said that not being able to obtain any price for it, in a fit of despondency and vexation of mind, he destroyed that beautiful example of art. His prize medals, the reward and testimonial of his talents, he was also compelled to dispose of. At this time Mr. West (who had been elected President of the Royal Academy in 1791) having not seen Proctor for some time after his ceasing to attend the Academy, made many inquiries after him; and at length found that he was lodged in a miserable garret in Clare Market. The President applied to the Council of the Royal Academy, and obtained an order for relieving his distress, and sending him to study at Rome for three years, at the expense of the Academy. With his accustomed kindness, Mr. West invited him to dinner, and gradually communicated to him what had been done; endeavouring to compose and strengthen his mind by a detail of conversation with regard to his journey, and by written instructions, which he had prepared for him, as to his arrangements and conduct in Italy.