"One more sitting I must have, sir, for the hair." by Sir Luke Fildes. Third illustration for Charles Lever's Lord Kilgobbin: A Tale of Ireland in Our Time, facing p. 38. Reprinted from the November 1870 number of the Cornhill Magazine, Vol. XXII, facing p. 513. 10.6 cm by 15.9 cm (4 ⅛ by 6 ¼ inches), framed. Second serial illustration, Part 2, Chapter V, "Home Life at the Castle." [Click on the illustration to enlarge it.]
Passage Illustrated: Introducing Cousin Nina Kostalergi at her easel
Right: The initial page for the second instalment in Volume XXII of the Cornhill Magazine (November, 1870).
"What is that?" cried he suddenly; "sure it’s not putting myself you are in the picture!"
"Of course I am, sir. Was not the O’Caharney your ancestor? Is it likely that an old race had not traits of feature and lineament that ages of descent could not efface? I’d swear that strong brow and frank look must be an heirloom."
"Faith, then, almost the only one!" said he, sighing. "Who’s making that noise out there?" said he, rising and going to the window. "Oh, it’s Kate with her dogs. I often tell her she’d keep a pair of ponies for less than those troublesome brutes cost her."
"They are great company to her, she says, and she lives so much in the open air."
"I know she does," said he, dropping his head and sitting like one whose thoughts had taken a brooding, despondent turn.
"One more sitting I must have, sir, for the hair. You had it beautifully yesterday: it fell over on one side with a most perfect light on a large lock here. Will you give me half an hour to-morrow, say?" [Chapter V, "Home Life at the Castle," 38]
Commentary
At the conclusion of the fifth chapter, Matthew Kearney and his nice are indeed in the parlour, discussing her illustration of the mediaeval stories associated with Kilgobbin Castle. However, Fildes has violated the authority of the letterpress by placing Kate, Matthew's daughter, in the scene — but, after all, strict textual realisation is not Fildes' objective. Rather, he is employing the second full-page wood engraving to introduce the three major characters at the Castle: the owner, his daughter, and Matthew's niece, Nina Kostalergi — just recently arrived from Italy, where her unscrupulous widower-father, the Greek "Prince" of Delos, has been attempting to sell his talented teenaged daughter to an opera company. Having none of that, the artistic nineteen-year-old writes to her uncle in Ireland, and flees west, arriving unannounced on his doorstep. Some time has passed, and she has now established herself not merely as one of the family, but Matthew's favourite; indeed, he is sitting for the protagonist in Nina's historical scene The Return of O'Caharney, one of Kearney's ancestors. Still, strictly speaking, Kate should not be present, for she is supposed to be outside the parlour window with her yapping dogs. Fildes does little to distinguish his heroines, making Kate a brunette.
Scanned image, colour correction, sizing, caption, and commentary by Philip V. Allingham. [You may use this image without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose, as long as you (1) credit the person who scanned the image, and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite the Victorian Web in a print one.]
Bibliography
Lever, Charles. Lord Kilgobbin. The Cornhill Magazine. With 18 full-page illustrations and 18 initial-letter vignettes by S. Luke Fildes. Volumes XXII-XXV. October 1870-March 1872.
Lever, Charles. Lord Kilgobbin: A Tale of Ireland in Our Own Time. Illustrated by Sir Luke Fildes, R. A. London: Smith, Elder, 1872; rpt., Chapman and Hall, 1873. 3 vols.
Lever, Charles. Lord Kilgobbin. Illustrated by Sir Luke Fildes. Novels and Romances of Charles Lever. Vols. I-III. In three volumes. London: Smith, Elder, 1872, Rpt. London: Chapman & Hall, 1873. Project Gutenberg. Last Updated: 19 August 2010.
Stevenson, Lionel. Chapter XVI, "Exile on the Adriatic, 1867-1872." Dr. Quicksilver: The Life of Charles Lever. New York: Russell and Russell, 1939; rpt. 1969. Pp. 277-296.
Sutherland, John A. "Lord Kilgobbin." The Stanford Companion to Victorian Fiction. Stanford, Cal.: Stanford U. P., 1989, rpt. 1990, 382.
Created 24 October 2007 Updated 5 June 2023