The Strand Magazine/Volume 4/Issue 20/Portraits of Celebrities
Portraits of Celebrities at Different Times of their Lives.
PHILIP H CALDERON, R.A.
Born 1833.
 From a Daguerrotype. |
 From a Photo. by Watkins, Parliament-street, W. |
Age 58.
From a Photo. by Window & Grove.
R. PHILIP HERMOGENES CALDERON was born at Poitiers, his father being the Rev. Juan Calderon, and received his artistic education chiefly in the atélier of M. Picot, at Paris, where he was a student at the age at which he is represented in the first portrait of this series.
At the age of twenty he began to exhibit at the Royal Academy, his first picture being By Babylon's Waters. At thirty-one—which is the age at which the second of our portraits represents him—he was elected A.R.A., his promotion to the honour of R.A. following only three years later, in 1867, in which year he received at the Paris International Exhibition the first medal awarded to any English painter. In 1878 he was one of the English artists selected to exhibit an extra number of works at the Paris Exhibition of that year, and at the close of the Exhibition received again a first-class medal and was created a Knight of the Legion of Honour. Since that time he has always been fully represented at the annual exhibition of the Royal Academy, his works covering almost every department of painting, whether portrait, realistic, historical, or imaginative.
EDWARD J. POYNTER, R.A.
Born 1836.
 From a Drawing. |
 From a Photo. by the London School of Photography. |
 From a Drawing by himself. |
 From a Photo. by Bassano. |
Age 52.
From Portraits by himself in the Uffizi Gallery.
R. ED. JOHN POYNTER was born at Paris, his father being Mr. Ambrose Poynter, the architect. He was educated at Westminster School and at Ipswich Grammar School; he studied art in the Royal Academy schools until he was 20, and afterwards for three years under Gleyre at Paris. He then settled in London, and at 26 exhibited his first Academy picture. It was, however, in 1867 that he made his reputation by his picture "Israel in Egypt." Two years later he was elected A.R.A.; in 1876 he was made R.A. From 1871 to 1876 he was Slade Professor of Art at University College. He published in 1879 his well-known volume entitled "Ten Lectures on Art." Most of his finest pictures are based on classical subjects, such as "Atalanta's Race" and "A Visit to Esculapius;" the latter of which, purchased out of the Chantrey fund, is one of the most successful classical pictures of the present day.
HERMANN VEZIN.
Born 1829.
 From a Daguerrotype. |
 From a Photo. by Elliott & Fry. |
 From a Photograph. |
 From a Photo. by Barraud. |
R. HERMANN VEZIN was born at Philadelphia, where his father was a merchant, and was educated at the University of Pennsylvania, where he took his degree at eighteen, at which age our first portrait represents him. He was intended for the legal profession, but, desiring become an actor, he came to England, and made his first appearance in 1850 at the Theatre Royal, York. His advancement was so rapid that a year later he was playing leading parts in the provinces, and again a year later made his appearance on a London stage, under Charles Kean at the Princess's. Since that time his triumphs on the stage have been innumerable, the most conspicuous being, perhaps, James Harebell in the "Man o' Airlie," Percy Pendragon in "Married in Haste," Macbeth, Iago, Dan'l Druce, and Dr. Primrose. As a declaimer of English he has no superior, and his acting always appeals to the most cultured portion of his audiences.
SIGNOR FOLI.
 From a Photo. by Mora, New York. |
 From a Photo. by Chancellor, Dublin. |
 From a Photo. by Bergamasco, St. Petersburg. |
 From a Photo. by Van der Veyde. |
HIS celebrated bass singer first made his appearance in Italy in 1865, and, owing to his great success, was engaged by M. Bagier for the Italian Opera in Paris, and subsequently came to London. He was then engaged by Mr. Mapleson at Her Majesty's Theatre, after which he appeared at the Royal Italian Opera House, Covent-garden, being cast for all the leading bass parts in "Robert the Devil," "The Huguenots," "William Tell," and Verdi's "Aïda."
He also accompanied Adelina Patti on her tour through Russia in the early part of 1870, when both these eminent performers were received with a most enthusiastic welcome. In the Handel Festival at the Crystal Palace, and at Birmingham and other provincial festivals, he has appeared with great success. In fact, since 1866 he has constantly been before the British public, with whom his fine voice and splendid style de have rendered him a special favourite. Signor Foli has, indeed, with the exception, perhaps, of Edouard de Reszké, the finest bass voice of modern times.
MISS JULIA NEILSON (MRS. FRED TERRY.)
Present Day.
From a Photo. by Lafayette, Dublin.
ISS JULIA NEILSON is the daughter of Mr. Alexander R. Neilson, of Scotland, and was educated at Wiesbaden. She early displayed a striking gift for music, and, having carried off the Llewellyn Thomas medal, the Sainton Dolby prize, the Westmoreland scholarship, and other honours at the London Academy of Music, it was natural that she should have been at first intended to follow music as a profession. She displayed, however, so much promise as an actress on the amateur dramatic stage that in 1888, when at the age of nineteen, she made her appearance in "Pygmalion and Galatea," at the Lyceum. Thence she went to the St. James's, and finally to the Haymarket, where she has remained ever since.
SIR WILLIAM HARCOURT.
Born 1827.
HE RIGHT HON. SIR WILLIAM GEORGE GRANVILLE VENABLES VERNON HARCOURT, M.P., Q.C., is the second son of the Rev. William Vernon Harcourt and grandson of the late Archbishop of York. He was educated at Trinity, Cambridge, where he took high honours at the age of 24. He was called to the bar three years later, and wrote his well-known letters to The Times over the signature "Historicus." He was made Q.C. at 39. Two years later he was elected as Liberal member for Oxford. In 1873 he was appointed Solicitor-General and knighted. In 1886 he was made Chancellor of the Exchequer by Mr. Gladstone, of whose policy he is well known as one of the most powerful advocates.