Hubert Herkomer was born in Bavaria in 1849. His beginnings were very modest, his father Lorenz being a woodcarver and his mother Josephine a piano teacher. Determined to give their son every advantage, in 1851 they left Germany in the hope of a better life in America.
Life in the United States
Their poverty meant that they had to make a slow Atlantic crossing by sail. For six weeks the staple diet was salt beef, clearly unsuitable for a small child but Lorenz saved the day by condensing milk and storing it in tins.
The hope of artistic work in America proved forlorn and Lorenz was employed in a railway paint shop. They settled in Cleveland Ohio, living in a tenement, unbearably hot in summer and freezing in winter. The family spoke no English and being German, were resented. Lorenz sacrificed his only cloak to make Hubert a suit. Josephine found work as a music teacher becoming the main breadwinner but the extremes of climate affected her health and in 1857 they left for England.
Southampton and Beyond
They settled in Southampton and initially life was equally hard. Josephine continued to teach piano. Lorenz gave up meat, beer and tobacco to make ends meet. Aged 14, Hubert joined the Southampton School of Art but Lorenz received a commission to carve some altar pieces in Bavaria and he and Hubert went to Munich travelling 4th class, being little better than in cattle trucks. Hubert started training in Munich then on return to England, enrolled at the South Kensington School of Art. Throughout this time his parents continued to support him, then came a breakthrough.
The Graphic
In 1867 Hubert took work as a book and magazine illustrator. Sending a drawing to the newly launched Graphic magazine, it was accepted although the subsequent engraving was poor. However, work started to come Hubert's way. He worked diligently with water colours and then in oils gradually establishing his reputation.
Investing in a woodblock, he completed a carving of old soldiers at Chelsea Hospital that he sold to the Graphic. It was entitled The Last Muster. Later he made a painting for which he was paid £1200. It also earned him a gold medal in France and his future was assured.
Hubert gained commissions to paint portraits and was able to buy a house for himself and his parents at Bushey in Hertfordshire where he opened his own art school. The reality of poverty never left him and he continued to paint pictures of every day hardhip. Later he was to become a pioneer of moving pictures and to build "the most beautiful house in Britain." Three times married and twice widowed, Hubert died in 1914 being spared the anguish of war with Germany. During his lifetime, he painted about 470 portraits and sold work for as much as £10,000.
Painting Queen Victoria
Queen Victoria died at Osborne House on the Isle of Wight on January 21st 1901 aged eighty-one. She was the longest reigning British monarch. The Graphic arranged that Hubert should produce an image of the dead Queen and the new sovereign, King Edward VII, gave permission.
Hubert travelled by train to Southampton, crossed the Solent and found Osborne House thronging with people, mostly royalty from across Europe. Emil Fuchs, an artist favoured by King Edward had arrived the day before to make preliminary sketches for a bust of the Queen.
Victoria was laid out in her bedroom, wearing her bridal veil and surrounded by spring flowers and lilies. Above her head hung a portrait of her husband Prince Albert also painted after death. Hubert was shown into the bedroom by the Queen's third daughter Princess Christian of Schelswig Holstein. He was so touched by the sight that he kept repeating "How wonderful. How wonderful."
He did not have long to work for the Queen's body was to be transported to London. After completing a hasty sketch, he and Fuchs were dismissed. Sir James Reid, the Queen's physician had a glimpse of Hubert's sketch and pronounced that it was an ethereal and altogether flattering portrait of his royal patient.
Clearly there was a certain competition between Herkomer and Fuchs. They travelled back together to London but did not speak. Fuchs blamed Hubert who, being a Royal Academician should have been the one to initiate a conversation.
Hubert's sketch was entitled Queen Victoria on her Deathbed, Osborne during the night of January 23rd 1901. He completed a water colour of the dead Queen which indeed has a dream-like quality. It was framed in ebony and is on display at Osborne House, outside the Queen's bedroom.
Sources:
Life and Letters of Sir Hubert Herkomer CVO, RA by J Saxon Mills MA. Published by Hutchinson, 1923.
With Pencil Brush and Chisel, by Emil Fuchs. Published by P G Putnams and Sons, 1925.
