A letter from G. A. Sala to Linley Sambourne, dated 21 March 1884. Mounted and framed with accompanying sketches. Image by kind permission of the RBKC (Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea), provided by Shirley Nicholson. [Click on the images to enlarge them.]
Sala and Sambourne were friends, and the tone of the letter is warm and intimate. Sala thanks Sambourne for a ‘sketch of himself’ with which he is ‘simply delighted’ and reflects that he wishes he could draw as well as his associate (‘If I could only draw a quarter as well as you do!’). In mitigation, he explains that his eyesight is now very poor, and his hand stiff. It is possible that the two artists regularly swapped drawings to amuse each other, and the small works mounted in conjunction with the letter may be examples of Sala’s contribution to the exchange.
Closer view of the top row of sketches.
Interestingly, these vignettes are quite unlike Sala’s comedic designs: technically accomplished, their subjects are unknown, but they could be representations of actors and theatrical costumes of the sort the illustrator drew in the early part of his career. The date is hard to read, but seems to be 1853, in which case they would link back to his experiences in the 1840s. Indeed, in a note at the end he explains that the unfinished sketch of the child in the wide-brimmed hand comes ‘from a French fashion plate of 1820’. In the body of the letter, he concludes by hoping that Sambourne will come to visit him: ‘I will show you some political caricatures which I etched in 1848’.
Created 5 October 2023