Reference has already been made to the early age at which artists have seriously taken up art as the work of their life. In many cases this date alone sufficiently attests the presence of childish gifts. Two great Italian painters, Perugino and Tiziano, are said to have studied painting at nine. Correggio is known to have begun his studies before thirteen. Van Dyck was taken in hand by his father at eleven. Rubens, to the distress of his mother, who was ambitious for what she deemed a higher career for her son, was sent to learn painting at thirteen.
Following the same method as that pursued in the case of musicians, we may now seek to give numerical precision to our investigation. I have taken fifty-eight artists, consisting of painters, sculptors, and architects, of whose early years I have been able to obtain any information. Of these I find that forty-two, that is to say, about three out of every four, are credited with having shown a decided skill before the age of fifteen. Or, if we take the age of twenty as our limit, we have forty-seven, or about four out of five, instances of precocity. To this it must be added that in eight cases, not included here, we are told that the artist showed talent, or attained distinction, early in life. And we may perhaps safely include one half of these under the head of manifestations of talent before twenty. By so doing we should raise our proportion to 5158, or about eight out of nine.
With respect to the date of the first completed work, I have been able to collect a fair number of facts. Thus, out of forty-two cases inspected, nine produced work before fifteen, sixteen between fifteen and twenty, fifteen between twenty and twenty-five, one between twenty-five and thirty, and one after thirty.
If now we inquire into the age at which real distinction was attained, and the first fruits of a permanent reputation reaped, we find, in general, that this date accords with the very early indication of taste and skill. In the case of more recent artists, we have, among the data which point to early eminence, the winning of academical prizes, and admissions to the walls of exhibitions. Instances of early prize-winners are Thorwaldsen, Ingres, and Wilkie. Reference has already been made to the early age at which Ary Scheffer, Morland, Turner, and Landseer, succeeded in getting their works exhibited.
In many instances we know that the artist made his mark in youth, or very early manhood. Mantegna painted pictures of exceptional excellence at seventeen. Fra Angelico was a skilled artist at twenty. Another early Italian artist, Orcagna, had fully established his reputation about the age of twenty-two. Ghiberti attained notoriety by his successful design for the bronze doors about twenty-one or twenty-two. Coming to later workers, we find it recorded that Leonardo painted finished pictures at twenty. Michael Angelo produced great works by nineteen. Raphael painted fine pictures at twenty-one. Titian became a distinguished painter at about twenty. Correggio
