I
will endeavor to do in that matter whatsoever they require of me;
to the extent even of sitting two days for a Crayon Sketch such
as may be engraved,--though this new sacrifice of patience will
not be needed as matters are. It stands thus: there is no
Painter, of the numbers who have wasted my time and their own
with trying, that has indicated any capability of catching a true
Likeness, but one Samuel Lawrence; a young Painter of real
talent, not quite so young now, but still only struggling for
complete mastership in the management of colors. He does crayon
sketches in a way to please almost himself; but his oil
paintings, at least till within a year or two, have indicated
only a great faculty still crude in that particular. His oil
portrait of me, which you speak of, is almost terrible to behold!
It has the look of a Jotun, of a Scandinavian Demon, grim, sad,
as the angel of Death;--and the coloring is so _brick_ish, the
finishing so coarse, it reminds you withal of a flayed horse's
head! _"Dinna speak o't."_ But the preparatory crayon-sketch of
this, still in existence, is admired by some judges; poor John
Sterling bought it from the Painter, and it is now here in the
hands of his Brother, who will readily allow any authorized
person to take a drawing of it.
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