A Select Committee, by Henry Stacy Marks R.A., R.W.S., H.R.C.A. (1829-1898). 1891. Oil on canvas. H 111.7 x W 86.7 cm. Collection: Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, accession no. WAG 2827. Purchased, 1891. Image reproduced from Art UK on the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial licence (CC BY-NC) licence. [Click on the image to enlarge it.]
This is such a charming group portrait of these knowing and characterful cockatoos and parrots. As George Dunlop Leslie says in his tribute to Marks in the Magazine of Arr, he "never dishonours his Creator by giving human eyes and human expressions to the birds that he portrays in order to gain a cheap popularity for humour; he seeks to raise feelings of kinship in our hearts towards the creatures, but never at the expense of their true bird nature and aspect" (238). Leslie goes on to talk at some length about his particular skill in presenting birds, the breeds that most appealed to him, and his pleasure in drawing them from life in the Zoological Gardens:
Marks did not possess much feeling for ideal beauty, nor, indeed, did he succeed in his representations of women or children, and in his bird-paintings he is far more at home with birds of quaint and grotesque form, such as the pelicans, storks, parrots, penguins, and kingfishers, than he is with the nightingale, the swallow, the robin, or the thrush, to grasp the slender and dainty beauty of which seemed beyond his power. I do not think we should find fault with him for this; an artist is not to be blamed for the fewness of his talents so long as he makes the best possible use of those which he possesses. Marco had a very strong and keen natural perception for the charms of age and quaintness of form and character; by means of this he interests us in that with which he sympathises and feels an interest himself.
Marco made good use of the Zoological Gardens; his kindly, sympathetic nature gained him the friendship of all connected in any way with the collection there. He was always a good picker-up of information, and possessed the art of extracting it from people of all sorts. I even fancy the birds themselves must have liked him, for these creatures have a wonderful faculty for recognising a friendly eye and voice, and are known to take strong likings or dislikings to persons at first sight. [239-40]
Accompanying his friend on one of his trips to the Zoo, Leslie saw at first hand how Marks enjoyed making these studies from the life; he mentions that John Ruskin had also visited the Zoo with Marks, and imagines how he must have enjoyed the experience too. Interestingly, he suggests that when Marks needed to choose a title for a bird painting, in order to identify it for an exhibition, something may have been lost: "When not thus troubled, as in his water-colour studies or in his decorative panels, the individuality of the birds is, perhaps, better preserved" (240). This is a moot point, for, despite the humorous title, and the possible joke on human bureaucracy, the scene above is so entirely natural. Still Leslie seems to prefer Marks's water-colour studies, finding them "astonishingly beautiful in colour and execution, and full of the very essence of bird character," and recommending their representation in "our National collection" (240).
Links to Related Material
Bibliography
Leslie, George D. "In Memoriam: The Late H. Stacey Marks, R.A." The Magazine of Art XXII (1898): 237-42.
A Select Committee. Art UK. Web. 25 November 2023.
Created 24 October 2023