"Some Fine Art Books, " Graphic, 1885

The Graphic, issue 788, Jan. 3, 1885. 19th Century British Library Newspapers: Part II.

Part VI. of “Artists at Home” (S. Low and Co.), contains the portraits of five very opposite characters—E. J. Poynter, R.A., T. O. Barlow, R.A., Macbeth and Storey, A.R.A.’s, and Mr. Gladstone. The volume fully sustains the promise of the earlier numbers, the photo engravings are excellent, and the letterpress brief and to the point. The Premier as an artist would be a novelty for which few would be prepared. Luckily, however, the notice appended to his portrait explains that besides being a considerable collector of bric-à-brac, Mr. Gladstone has for some nine years been Professor of Ancient History in the Royal Academy, and that it is as such that his portrait is here introduced. The office is one without duties and without salary, a condition to which Oliver Goldsmith, upon whom the honour was first conferred, humorously referred when he wrote to acquaint his brother of his new dignity. The notes in connection with the office from then to now are as interesting as anything in the volume.