I was, like Becquerel,
unable to fix the coloured image without destroying the colours;
though the plates would keep a long while in the dark, and could
be examined in a subdued, though not in a strong light. The
coloured image was faint, but the colours came out with great
truth and delicacy.
"I began to attend the School of Art at Darlington on the 6th of
March, 1872. I found, on attempting to draw, that I had
naturally a correct eye and hand; and I made such progress, that
when the students' drawings were examined, previously to sending
them up to South Kensington, all my work was approved. I was
then set to draw from the cast in chalk, although I had only been
at the school for a month. I tried for all the four subjects at
the May examination, and was fortunate enough to pass three of
them, and obtained as a prize Packett's 'Sciography.' I worked
hard during the next year, and sent up seventeen works; for one
of these, the 'Venus de Milo,' I gained a studentship.
"I then commenced the study of human anatomy, and began
water-colour painting, reading all the works upon art on which I
could lay my hand. At the May examination of 1873, I completed
my second-grade certificate, and at the end of the year of my
studentship, I accepted the office of teacher in the School of
Art. This art-training created in me a sort of disgust for
photography, as I saw that the science of photography had really
very little genuine art in it, and was more allied to a
mechanical pursuit than to an artistic one.
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