Joan Beaufort, Countess of Westmorland
Joan Beaufort, Countess of Westmorland, was the fourth of the four children of John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster, his mistress wife, Katherine Swynford. In her widowhood, she was a powerful landowner in the North of England. Joan Beaufort was the only known daughter of John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster, his mistress Katherine Swynford; the exact year and place of Joan's birth is unknown. She may have been born at the Swynford manor of Kettlethorpe at Pleshy in Essex; the usual date given for Joan's birth is 1379. Joan may have been named for Joan of Kent, at that time the Dowager Princess of Wales. In 1386, John of Gaunt arranged a marriage between his daughter Joan and Robert Ferrers, 5th Baron Boteler of Wem; the couple remained in the household of John Gaunt. They had two daughters before Robert died in about 1395. Constance of Castile, second wife of John of Gaunt, died on 24 March 1394. On 13 January 1396, John of Gaunt married Katherine Swynford. In September 1396, the children of John of Gaunt and Katherine Swynford were legitimized by papal bull.
In November 1396, Joan married the widowed Ralph Neville, 1st Earl of Westmorland. Ralph would go on to father fourteen children with Joan. After Joan and Ralph married, Joan's father settled an annuity of £206.13s.4d on the couple for life. The couple's primary residence was County Durham. In 1399, Joan was made a Member of the Order of the Garter by Richard II. Although Richard II had created Ralph as the first Earl of Westmorland, Ralph sided with Joan's half-brother Henry Bolingbroke when Bolingbroke deposed Richard in 1399 and assumed the throne as Henry IV. Joan and Ralph were granted numerous offices, lands and pensions under Henry IV. Joan was named in royal grants as "the King's sister."Ralph and Joan used their relationship with Henry IV to seek out the best marriages for their children purchasing the wardships of children orphaned by aristocratic rebellions. For example, in 1423, Ralph purchased the wardship of Richard of York, 3rd Duke of York who lived with the family at Raby Castle.
Richard would marry Ralph and Joan's daughter Cecily. J. R. Lander called these machinations "the most amazing series of child marriages in English history." By the time of her death, Joan was the mother of an earl, three barons, a countess, three duchesses, a bishop, a nun. Around 1413, Joan invited mystic Margery Kempe to the family home, it is that Joan helped to fund Margery's pilgrimage to Jerusalem. In 1422, Joan acquired an indult permitting her to stay with any order of nuns attended by "eight honest women." After Ralph's death in 1425, the title Earl of Westmorland passed to the son of Ralph's eldest son from his first marriage but much of the family's lands were transferred to Joan's eldest son Richard Neville, 5th Earl of Salisbury. This set off the Neville-Neville Feud. During her widowhood, Joan became a literary patron. Around 1430, Joan and her family were depicted by Pol de Limbourg in the Neville Book of Hours. In 1428, Joan undertook a religious pilgrimage and joined the sisterhood of the abbey of St. Alban's.
At some point during her widowhood, Joan swore a vow of chastity. Joan died on 13 November 1440 at Howden in Yorkshire, she was buried beside her mother in Lincoln Cathedral. Joan Beaufort was mother to Cecily, Duchess of York, thus grandmother of Edward IV of England and Richard III of England, the latter defeated in battle by Henry VII in order to take the throne for himself. Henry married Elizabeth of York, daughter of Edward IV, their son became Henry VIII of England. Henry VIII's sixth wife, Catherine Parr, was a descendant of Joan through Joan and Ralph's eldest son, Richard Neville, 5th Earl of Salisbury, thus Henry's third cousin; the Earl of Salisbury was father to Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick, "the Kingmaker". In 1391, Joan married Robert Ferrers, 5th Baron Boteler of Wem, at Anjou, they had 2 children: Elizabeth Ferrers, 6th Baroness Boteler of Wem. She is buried at York, she married John de Greystoke, 4th Baron Greystoke, on 28 October 1407 in Greystoke Castle, Greystoke and had issue.
Margaret Ferrers. She married her stepbrother, Sir Ralph Neville, son of Ralph Neville, 1st Earl of Westmoreland, c. 1413 in Oversley and had issue Joan married Ralph Neville, 1st Earl of Westmorland in November 1396. They had 14 children: Joan Neville, became a nun of the Order of St. Clare. Richard Neville, 5th Earl of Salisbury, married suo jure 5th Countess of Salisbury. Had issue. Lady Katherine Neville, married first on 12 January 1411 John Mowbray, 2nd Duke of Norfolk. Henry Neville, died in infancy. Thomas Neville, died as a child. Cuthbert Neville, died in infancy. Lady Eleanor Neville, married first Richard le Despenser, 4th Baron Burghersh, married second Henry Percy, 2nd Earl of Northumberland. Robert Neville, Bishop of Durham. William Neville, 1st Earl of Kent, married Joan Fauconberg. Lady Anne Neville, married Humphrey Stafford, 1st Duke of Buckingham. John Neville, died in infancy. George Neville, 1st Baron Latimer (1
Edmund Oldhall
Edmund Oldhall was an English-born cleric and judge in fifteenth-century Ireland. He was Bishop of Meath and acting Lord Chancellor of Ireland, he was a brother of the leading Yorkist statesman Sir William Oldhall. He was the younger son of daughter of Geoffrey de Fransham; the Oldhalls were substantial landowners in Norfolk, holding the manors of East Dereham and Narford. Edmund entered the Carmelite order and became Bishop of Meath in 1450. In 1451 Richard, Duke of York, the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland made his son Edmund, Earl of Rutland, Lord Chancellor of Ireland. Since Edmund was only eight years old he was forced to act through a Deputy and the appointment was given to Bishop Oldhall, no doubt through the influence of his brother William, Speaker of the House of Commons and a key associate of the Duke of York. Edmund acted as deputy until 1454, he died on 9 August 1459 at his official residence of Ardbraccan and was buried in St. Mary's Church nearby. An impressive monument was erected to his memory, but was destroyed in the nineteenth century
John Clifford, 9th Baron Clifford
John Clifford, 9th Baron Clifford, 9th Lord of Skipton was a Lancastrian military leader during the Wars of the Roses in England. The Clifford family was one of the most prominent families among the northern English nobility of the fifteenth century, by the marriages of his sisters John Clifford had links to some important families of the time, including the earls of Devon, he was orphaned at twenty years of age when his father was slain by partisans of the House of York at the first battle of the Wars of the Roses, the Battle of St Albans in 1455. It was as a result of his father's death there that Clifford became one of the strongest supporters of Queen Margaret of Anjou, consort of King Henry VI, who ended up as effective leader of the Lancastrian faction. Clifford had achieved prominence in the north where, as an ally of the son of the earl of Northumberland, he took part in a feud against the Neville family, the Percy's natural rivals in Yorkshire; this consisted of a series of armed raids and skirmishes, included an ambush on one of the younger Nevilles' wedding party in 1453.
Historians have seen a direct connection between his involvement in the local feud in the north with the Nevilles, his involvement in the national struggle against the duke of York, whom the Nevilles were allied with in the late 1450s. Although this was a period of temporary peace between the factions and his allies appear to have made numerous attempts to ambush the Neville and Yorkist lords. Armed conflict erupted again in 1459, again Clifford was found on the side of the King and Queen. Clifford took part in the parliament that attainted the Yorkists – by now in exile – and he took a share of the profits from their lands, as well as being appointed to offices traditionally in their keeping; the Yorkist lords returned from exile in June 1460 and subsequently defeated a royal army at Northampton. As a result of the royalist defeat, Clifford was ordered to surrender such castles and offices as he had from the Nevilles back to them, although it is unlikely that he did so. In fact, he and his fellow northern Lancastrian lords commenced a campaign of destruction on Neville and Yorkist estates and tenantry, to such an extent that in December 1460, the duke of York and his close ally, the earl of Salisbury, raised an army and headed north to crush the Lancastrian rebellion.
This winter campaign culminated in the Battle of Wakefield in the last days of the year, was a decisive victory for the Lancastrian army, of which Clifford was by now an important commander. The battle resulted in the deaths of both York and Salisbury, but was most notorious for Clifford's slaying of Edmund, Earl of Rutland, York's seventeen-year old second son and the younger brother of the future King Edward IV; this may have resulted in Clifford's being nicknamed'Butcher Clifford', although historians disagree as to how used by contemporaries this term was. Clifford accompanied the royal army on its march south early the next year, although wounded, he played a leading part in the second Battle of St Albans, afterwards with the Queen to the north; the Yorkist army, now under the command of Edward of York and Richard, Earl of Warwick, pursued the Lancastrians to Yorkshire and defeated them at the Battle of Towton on 29 March 1461. Clifford though was not present. Following the coronation of the by-then victorious Edward IV, he was attainted and his lands confiscated by the Crown.
The Clifford family has been described as one of the greatest fifteenth-century families "never to receive an earldom." John Clifford was born and baptised at Conisborough Castle on 8 April 1435, the son of Thomas Clifford, 8th Baron Clifford by his wife Joan Dacre. She was the daughter of Thomas de Dacre, 6th Baron Dacre of Gilsland, Philippa de Neville, daughter of Ralph Neville, 1st Earl of Westmorland. One of his godparents was his great-aunt Maud Clifford, Countess of Cambridge, whose dower house Coningsburgh Castle was; when she died in 1446, she left him numerous silver plate in her will. She had been the widow of Richard of Conisburgh, 3rd Earl of Cambridge, executed on 5 August 1415 for his part in the Southampton Plot, she was said to have lived "in great estate" in the castle. Clifford had five sisters. Sir Roger Clifford, who married Joan Courtenay, the eldest daughter of Thomas de Courtenay, 5th Earl of Devon, by Margaret Beaufort, the daughter of John Beaufort, 1st Earl of Somerset.
She married secondly, Sir William Knyvet of Norfolk. Next was Sir Robert Clifford, who involved himself in the Perkin Warbeck plot against Henry VII. John Clifford's youngest brother was Sir Thomas Clifford, his nearest sister was Elizabeth, she married firstly, Sir William Plumpton, slain at the Battle of Towton in 1461, secondly, John Hamerton. Another sister was Maud, who married firstly Sir John Harrington, secondly, Sir Edmund Sutton. There was Anne Clifford, who married firstly, Sir William Tempest, secondly, William Conyers, esquire. John Clifford's youngest sisters were Margaret. In 1454, John Clifford married Margaret Bromflete, the daughter and heiress of Henry, Lord Vescy by his second wife Eleanor Fitz Hugh. With her, Clifford had a daughter. Elizabeth was wife of Sir Robert Aske of Aughton, Yorkshire. Margaret Clifford survived her husband
Battle of Northampton (1460)
The Battle of Northampton was fought on 10 July 1460 near the River Nene, Northamptonshire. It was a major battle of the Wars of the Roses; the opposing forces were an army led by nobles loyal to King Henry VI of the House of Lancaster, his Queen Margaret of Anjou and their seven-year-old son Edward, Prince of Wales on one side, the army of Edward, Earl of March and Warwick the Kingmaker on the other. The battle was the first. After the disintegration of the Yorkist army at Ludford Bridge in 1459, many of the Yorkist commanders went into self-imposed exile; the Duke of York and his second son Edmund, Earl of Rutland, retired to the relative safety of Dublin, Ireland. His principal supporters the Earl of Warwick and his father the Earl of Salisbury, York's son Edward, Earl of March reached Calais on 2 November 1459, where Warwick found his uncle Lord Fauconberg. In England, the Lancastrians were quick to exploit the Yorkist flight; the Earl of Wiltshire was appointed Lieutenant of Ireland and the Duke of Somerset became Captain of Calais.
Neither however succeeded in occupying their new posts as the Irish refused to dislodge York and the gates of Calais remained closed to their new'Captain'. The Lancastrians gave Somerset an army to storm Calais, but first they had to cross the Channel, so the construction of a fleet was started at Sandwich in Kent. In January and May 1460, Warwick stole the ships. In June 1460, the Lancastrian invasion was pre-empted by an attack on Sandwich, reinforced with several hundred Lancastrian troops commanded by Osbert Mundford; the Yorkist force under Lord Fauconberg, Sir John Wenlock and John Dynham seized the port, capturing troops and armaments. Mundford was taken to Rysbank tower and executed. Warwick left his uncle, Lord Fauconberg, in Sandwich with a small force of Yorkists to act as a bridgehead for his planned invasion of England. On 26 June 1460, Warwick and Edward landed at Sandwich with 2,000 men at arms. King Henry VI and his Queen, Margaret of Anjou, were at Coventry with their small army.
Warwick entered London on 2 July with an army of supporters numbering 10,000. The King's forces took up a defensive position at Northampton, in the grounds of Delapré Abbey, with their backs to the River Nene and a water-filled ditch in front of them, topped with stakes; the defending army was around 5,000 strong, consisting of men-at-arms. The Lancastrians had some field artillery. While approaching, Warwick sent a delegate to negotiate with the King on his behalf; the Lancastrian commander, the Duke of Buckingham, replied "The Earl of Warwick shall not come to the King's presence and if he comes he shall die." During Warwick's advance to Northampton he was twice more denied access to the King's person. Once in position, he sent a message that read "At 2 o'clock I will speak with the King or I will die". At two o'clock the Yorkists advanced; the men were in column. As they closed with the Lancastrians, Warwick was met by a fierce hail of arrows, but the rain had rendered the Lancastrian collection of cannon quite useless.
When Warwick reached the Lancastrian left flank, commanded by Lord Grey of Ruthin, treachery ensued. Grey had his men lay down their weapons and allow the Yorkists to have easy access into the camp beyond; this treachery was the result of a secret message from Lord Grey to March saying that he would change sides if the Yorkists would back him in a property dispute with Lord Fanhope. Warwick had ordered his men not to lay violent hands on ordinary soldiers – those wearing the black ragged staff of Lord Grey's men. There may have been inducements and promises of high office by Warwick. Grey became Treasurer of England in 1463. After this, the battle lasted a mere thirty minutes; the defenders were unable to manoeuvre inside the fortifications, fled the field as their line was rolled up by attacking Yorkists. The Duke of Buckingham, the Earl of Shrewsbury, Lord Egremont and Lord Beaumont all died trying to save Henry from the Yorkists closing on his tent. Three hundred other Lancastrians were slain in the battle.
King Henry VI was captured by Henry Mountfort. Henry was found in his tent by Warwick and Fauconberg. Showing him proper respect they escorted him to Delapre Abbey Northampton, London, where the tower garrison surrendered soon after. Goodman, Anthony; the Wars of the Roses: Military Activity and English society, 1452–97. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul. ISBN 9780710007285. Griffiths, Ralph A.. The Reign of King Henry VI: The Exercise of Royal Authority, 1422–1461. Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN 9780520043725. Hicks, Michael; the Wars of the Roses. New Haven: Yale University Press. ISBN 9780300114232. Wagner, John A. ed.. Encyclopedia of the Wars of the Roses. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO. ISBN 9781576075753. Haigh, Philip A.. Military Campaigns of the Wars of the Roses. Far Thrupp, Gloucestershire: A. Sutton. ISBN 9780750914307
Dynasty
A dynasty is a sequence of rulers from the same family in the context of a feudal or monarchical system, but sometimes appearing in elective republics. Alternative terms for "dynasty" may include "family" and "clan", among others; the longest-surviving dynasty in the world is the Imperial House of Japan, otherwise known as the Yamato dynasty, whose reign is traditionally dated to 660 BC. The dynastic family or lineage may be known as a "noble house", which may be styled as "royal", "princely", "ducal", "comital" etc. depending upon the chief or present title borne by its members. Historians periodize the histories of numerous nations and civilizations, such as Ancient Egypt and Imperial China, using a framework of successive dynasties; as such, the term "dynasty" may be used to delimit the era during which a family reigned, to describe events and artifacts of that period. The word "dynasty" itself is dropped from such adjectival references; until the 19th century, it was taken for granted that a legitimate function of a monarch was to aggrandize his dynasty: that is, to expand the wealth and power of his family members.
Prior to the 20th century, dynasties throughout the world have traditionally been reckoned patrilineally, such as under the Frankish Salic law. In nations where it was permitted, succession through a daughter established a new dynasty in her husband's ruling house; this has changed in some places in Europe, where succession law and convention have maintained dynasties de jure through a female. For instance, the House of Windsor will be maintained through the children of Queen Elizabeth II, as it did with the monarchy of the Netherlands, whose dynasty remained the House of Orange-Nassau through three successive queens regnant; the earliest such example among major European monarchies was in the Russian Empire in the 18th century, where the name of the House of Romanov was maintained through Grand Duchess Anna Petrovna. In Limpopo Province of South Africa, Balobedu determined descent matrilineally, while rulers have at other times adopted the name of their mother's dynasty when coming into her inheritance.
Less a monarchy has alternated or been rotated, in a multi-dynastic system – that is, the most senior living members of parallel dynasties, at any point in time, constitute the line of succession. Not all feudal states or monarchies were/are ruled by dynasties. Throughout history, there were monarchs. Dynasties ruling subnational monarchies do not possess sovereign rights; the word "dynasty" is sometimes used informally for people who are not rulers but are, for example, members of a family with influence and power in other areas, such as a series of successive owners of a major company. It is extended to unrelated people, such as major poets of the same school or various rosters of a single sports team; the word "dynasty" derives from Latin dynastia, which comes from Greek dynastéia, where it referred to "power", "dominion", "rule" itself. It was the abstract noun of dynástēs, the agent noun of dynamis, "power" or "ability", from dýnamai, "to be able". A ruler from a dynasty is sometimes referred to as a "dynast", but this term is used to describe any member of a reigning family who retains a right to succeed to a throne.
For example, King Edward VIII ceased to be a dynast of the House of Windsor following his abdication. In historical and monarchist references to reigning families, a "dynast" is a family member who would have had succession rights, were the monarchy's rules still in force. For example, after the 1914 assassinations of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and his morganatic wife Duchess Sophie von Hohenberg, their son Duke Maximilian was bypassed for the Austro-Hungarian throne because he was not a Habsburg dynast. Since the abolition of the Austrian monarchy, Duke Maximilian and his descendants have not been considered the rightful pretenders by Austrian monarchists, nor have they claimed that position; the term "dynast" is sometimes used only to refer to agnatic descendants of a realm's monarchs, sometimes to include those who hold succession rights through cognatic royal descent. The term can therefore describe distinct sets of people. For example, David Armstrong-Jones, 2nd Earl of Snowdon, a nephew of Queen Elizabeth II through her sister Princess Margaret, is in the line of succession to the British crown.
On the other hand, the German aristocrat Prince Ernst August of Hanover, a male-line descendant of King George III of the United Kingdom, possesses no legal British name, titles or styles. He was born in the line of succession to the British throne and was bound by Britain's Royal Marriages Act 1772 until it was repealed when the Succession to the Crown Act 2013 took effect on 26 March 2015. Thus, he requested and obtained formal permission from Queen Elizabeth II to marry the Roman Catholic Princess Caroline of Monaco in 1999. Yet, a clause of the English Act of Settlement 1701 remained in effect at that time, stipulating that dynasts who
Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts
The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts is a museum and art school in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is the first and oldest art museum and art school in the United States; the academy's museum is internationally known for its collections of 19th- and 20th-century American paintings and works on paper. Its archives house important materials for the study of American art history and art training; the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts was founded in 1805 by painter and scientist Charles Willson Peale, sculptor William Rush, other artists and business leaders. The growth of the Academy of Fine Arts was slow. For many years it held its exhibitions in an 1806 building, designed by John Dorsey with pillars of the Ionic order, it stood on the site of the American Theater at Chestnut and 10th streets. The academy opened as a museum in 1807 and held its first exhibition in 1811, where more than 500 paintings and statues were displayed; the first school classes held in the building were with the Society of Artists in 1810.
The Academy had to be reconstructed after the fire of 1845. Some 23 years leaders of the academy raised funds to construct a building more worthy of its treasures, they commissioned the current Furness-Hewitt building, constructed from 1871. It opened as part of the 1876 Philadelphia Exposition. In 1876, former Academy student and artist Thomas Eakins returned to teach as a volunteer. Fairman Rogers, chairman of the Committee on Instruction from 1878 to 1883, made him a faculty member in 1878, promoted him to director in 1882. Eakins revamped the certificate curriculum to. Students in the certificate program learned fundamentals of drawing, painting and printmaking for two years. For the next two years, they had conducted independent study, guided by frequent critiques from faculty and visiting artists. From 1811 to 1969, the Academy organized important annual art exhibitions, from which the museum made significant acquisitions. Harrison S. Morris, Managing Director from 1892 to 1905, collected contemporary American art for the institution.
Among the many masterpieces acquired during his tenure were works by Cecilia Beaux, William Merritt Chase, Frank Duveneck, Thomas Eakins, Winslow Homer, Childe Hassam, Edmund Tarbell. Work by The Eight, which included former Academy students Robert Henri and John Sloan, is well represented in the collection, it provides a transition between 19th- and 20th- century art movements. From 1890 to 1906, Edward Hornor Coates served as the tenth president of the Academy. In 1915, Coates was awarded the Academy's gold medal. Painter John McLure Hamilton, who began his art education at the Academy under Thomas Eakins, in 1921 described the contributions Coates made during his tenure: The reign of Mr. Coates at the Academy marked the period of its greatest prosperity. Rich endowments were made to the schools, a gallery of national portraiture was formed, some of the best examples of Gilbert Stuart's work acquired; the annual exhibitions attained a brilliancy and éclat hitherto unknown... Mr. Coates wisely established the schools upon a conservative basis, building unconsciously the dykes high against the oncoming flow of insane novelties in art patterns...
In this last struggle against modernism the President was ably supported by Eakins, Grafly, Thouron and Chase... His unfailing courtesy, his disinterested thoughtfulness, his tactfulness, his modesty endeared him to scholars and masters alike. No sacrifice of time or of means was too great, if he thought he could accomplish the end he always had in view—the honour and the glory of the Academy, it was under Mr. Coates' enlightened direction, fulfilled the expressed wish of Benjamin West, the first honorary Academician, that "Philadelphia may be as much celebrated for her galleries of paintings by the native genius of the country, as she is distinguished by the virtues of her people. During World War I, Academy students were involved in war work. "About sixty percent of the young men enlisted or entered Government service, all of the young women and all the rest of the young men were directly or indirectly engaged in war work." A war service club was formed by students and a monthly publication, The Academy Fling, was sent to service members.
George Harding, a former PAFA student, was commissioned captain during the war and created official combat sketches for the American Expeditionary Forces. The 1844 Board of Directors' declaration that women artists "would have exclusive use of the statue gallery for professional purposes" and study time in the museum on Monday and Friday mornings signified a significant advance towards formal training in art for women. Prior to the founding of the Academy, there were limited opportunities for women to receive professional art training in the United States; this period between the mid-19th and early 20th centuries shows a remarkable growth of formally trained women artists. Sarah Miriam Peale was an American portrait painter, considered the first American woman to succeed as a professional artist. Sarah Miriam Peale was accepted to the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in 1824 along with her sister Anna Claypoole Peale, the first women to achieve this distinction. Peale exhibited her first full-size portrait at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in 1818.
Six years she and her sister Anna Claypoole Peale, a miniaturist, became the first two female members of the Academy, an enormously inf
Charles Robert Leslie
Charles Robert Leslie was an English genre painter. Leslie was born in London to American parents; when he was five years of age he returned with them to the United States, where they settled in Philadelphia. Leslie afterwards became apprenticed to a bookseller, he was, however interested in painting and drama, when George Frederick Cooke visited the city he executed a portrait of the actor from recollection of him on the stage, considered a work of such promise that a fund was raised to enable the young artist to study in Europe. He left for London in 1811, bearing introductions which procured for him the friendship of West, Allston and Washington Irving, being admitted as a student of the Royal Academy, where he carried off two silver medals. At first, influenced by West and Fuseli, he essayed high art, his earliest important subject depicted Saul and the Witch of Endor. In 1821, Leslie was elected an Associate of the Royal Academy, five years full Royal Academician. In 1827 he was elected into the National Academy of Design as an Honorary Academician.
In 1833, he left for America to become teacher of drawing in the military academy at West Point, but the post proved an irksome one, in some six months he returned to England. He died 5 May 1859. Leslie was the brother of American author Eliza Leslie and United States Army soldier Thomas Jefferson Leslie. In April 1825 he married Harriet Honor Stone with, their second son Sir Bradford Leslie was a noted bridge builder, their youngest son, George Dunlop Leslie RA a notable artist. He is buried in Kensal Green Cemetery. Individual paintings of note include: Sir Roger de Coverley going to Church; those works were on display in the Lenox Library, which upon demolition, were donated to the New York Public Library. Many of his more important subjects exist in varying replicas. Leslie possessed a sympathetic imagination, which enabled him to enter into the spirit of the author whom he illustrated, a delicate perception for female beauty, an unfailing eye for character and its outward manifestation in face and figure, a genial and sunny sense of humour, guided by an instinctive refinement which prevented it from overstepping the bounds of good taste.
In addition to his skill as an artist, Leslie was a pleasant writer. His Life of his friend Constable, the landscape painter, appeared in 1843 is regarded as one of the classics of artistic biography writing his Handbook for Young Painters, a volume embodying the substance of his lectures as professor of painting to the Royal Academy, in 1855. In 1860, Tom Taylor edited his Autobiography and Letters, which contain interesting reminiscences of his distinguished friends and contemporaries. Leslie's letters paint the man as affectionate, candid and eager for instruction and improvement, always seeking the society of the best and most eminent of persons to whom he could gain access without intrusion or forwardness. Taylor finished Leslie's Life and Times of Sir Joshua Reynolds, published in 1865; the painting May-day in the Time of Queen Elizabeth is examined in Letitia Elizabeth Landon's poem On May Day, as part of her Poetical Catalogue of Paintings in The Literary Gazette. Memoirs of the Life of John Constable ed C.
R. Leslie 1843, Chapman & Hall, London 1896 Life and Times of Sir Joshua Reynolds, with Notices of Some of his Contemporaries ed Tom Taylor, John Murray, London 1865 Handbook for Young Painters,Johyn Murray, London 1855 Autobiographical Recollections of C. R. Leslie with Selections from his correspondence Ed. Tom Taylor, Ticknor & Fields, Boston 1860 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed.. "Leslie, Charles Robert". Encyclopædia Britannica. Cambridge University Press; this article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Wilson, J. G.. "Leslie, Eliza". Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography. New York: D. Appleton. 79 paintings by or after Charles Robert Leslie at the Art UK site King, Charles Robert. Autobiographical Recollections. Boston: Ticknor & Fields. CS1 maint: Extra text: authors list At Google Books. "Leslie, Charles Robert". New International Encyclopedia. 1905. Profile on Royal Academy of Arts Collections
