Dogberry's charge to the Watch, by Henry Stacy Marks R.A., R.W.S., H.R.C.A. (1829-1898). 1859. Oil on canvas. 23 7/8 x 39 inches (73.5 x 99 cm). Private collection. Image courtesy of Roy Miles Fine Art. [Click on this image to enlarge it.]
The principal version of this painting was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1859, no. 427, accompanied in the catalogue by these lines from Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing, "You shall comprehend all vagrom men, etc." Henry's father was a devoted student of Shakespeare, which no doubt accounts for Henry choosing Shakespearean themes for many of his early paintings. Constable Dogberry was a humorous character with an exaggerated view of his own importance that Shakespeare introduces in Act III along with his deputy Verges. Dogberry served as head constable of Messina's citizen-police and in a bumbling incompetent way watches over the city of Messina in which the play is set.
In Marks's painting he portrays Dogberry's speech to the Watch, particularly Seacoal, from Act III, Scene 3: "You are thought here to be the most senseless and fit man for the constable of the watch; therefore bear you the lantern. This is your charge: you shall comprehend all vagrom men; you are to bid any man stand, in the Prince's name." When it was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1859 it was extensively reviewed, although it was early enough in Marks's career that the critics frequently got his name wrong! The Builder found the painting full of character: "427, Dogberry's Charge to the Watch, by H. J. Mark [sic] (Dogberry apparently studied from Mr. Robson), is full of character, and should not be passed over" (338). The model "Mr. Robson" was Frederick Robson (1821-64), an English actor and comedian, and a star of the Olympic Theatre in London. He was a small man with a large head and so a perfect model for the figure of Dogberry.
A critic for The Art Journal felt the painting portrayed well the lines from Shakespeare's text:
No. 427. Dogberry's Charge to the Watch, H. S. Marks. This mustering of the watch has a large share of the spirit of the text. The watch-house is full of movement, and on all sides there is serious preparation for duty. Dogberry, on the left, delivers his instructions; and the most grotesque figure is he who stands forward with the question, "How, if he will not stand?' The costume and equipment of the good citizens show that some inquiry has been instituted anent the petit-coats, the pylches, the hoods and hose of the beginning of the fifteenth century, with varieties of those pikes, halberds, and partisans, which, from the days of Hastings to a very recent date, have figured in our battles and our pageants. The composition is full of appropriate character." [168]
A reviewer for The Athenaeum felt this an excellent representation of Shakespeare's play:
Mr. Marks's Dogberry's Charge to the Watch (427) must not be overlooked as the best of all commentaries on the scene from the Great Inexhaustible. For our own part, we would rather see the picture in Elizabethan costume than in the hood and pig-tail liripipe of Henry the Fourth. The heads are full of character, and every humour of the group is given with balanced force. Dogberry, short, and fussy, is a masterpiece of the small official man. The deaf man with the horn, the senile Verges, the man having his hood adjusted, are all admirable. The painting still wants a little fuller blood and richness. [618]
The critic of The Spectator felt Marks's portrayal of Dogberry was a very original interpretation: "Mr. Mark [sic] has a very original rendering of Dogberry's Charge to the Watch: there is a wooden, obstinate, knowing, respectable look about Dogberry, which is thoroughly new; some such a gleam of pretentiousness have we seen light up Mr. Robson's face; and, indeed, the actor might have sat for the figure in Mr. Mark's picture" (545).
© Christie's, by kind permission. Right click disabled; not to be downloaded.
Another version of the painting, Dogberry's Charge to the Watch is in another private collection. Oil on canvas, measuring 19 1/2 x 26 3/8 inches (49.5 x 67 cm), it is shown here courtesy of Christie's. Wrongly identified as A Council of War, it was sold at Christie's, London, on 26 May 2005. The two versions are very similar in composition although Marks has significantly changed the colouration of the outfits the characters are wearing. Differences are also seen in the details of the room in which the charge to the Watch is made even though the architecture remains the same. Marks had previously exhibited his Dogberry Examining Conrade and Borachio at the Royal Academy in 1853, the first work he exhibited there. This later sold at Sotheby's, New York on November 10, 1998, lot 111.
Bibliography
British and Victorian Paintings. London: Christie's (26 May 2005): lot 200.
Christie's. https://www.christies.com/lot/lot-4494201.
"Fine Arts. Exhibition of the Royal Academy." The Spectator XXXII (May 21, 1859): 544-45.
"Fine Arts. Royal Academy." The Athenaeum No. 1645 (7 May 1859): 617-18.
"Royal Academy." The Builder XVII (21 May 1859): 338-39.
"The Royal Academy Exhibition." The Art Journal New Series V (1 June 1859): 161-72.
Created 23 October 2023