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Passage Illustrated: Kate sits for a Miniaturist

On the second morning after the departure of Nicholas for Yorkshire, Kate Nickleby sat in a very faded chair raised upon a very dusty throne in Miss La Creevy’s room, giving that lady a sitting for the portrait upon which she was engaged; and towards the full perfection of which, Miss La Creevy had had the street-door case brought upstairs, in order that she might be the better able to infuse into the counterfeit countenance of Miss Nickleby, a bright salmon flesh-tint which she had originally hit upon while executing the miniature of a young officer therein contained, and which bright salmon flesh-tint was considered, by Miss La Creevy’s chief friends and patrons, to be quite a novelty in art: as indeed it was.

"I think I have caught it now," said Miss La Creevy. "The very shade! This will be the sweetest portrait I have ever done, certainly."

‘It will be your genius that makes it so, then, I am sure," replied Kate, smiling.

‘No, no, I won’t allow that, my dear," rejoined Miss La Creevy. "It’s a very nice subject — a very nice subject, indeed — though, of course, something depends upon the mode of treatment."

"And not a little," observed Kate.

"Why, my dear, you are right there," said Miss La Creevy, "in the main you are right there; though I don’t allow that it is of such very great importance in the present case. Ah! The difficulties of Art, my dear, are great."

"They must be, I have no doubt," said Kate, humouring her good-natured little friend.

"They are beyond anything you can form the faintest conception of," replied Miss La Creevy. "What with bringing out eyes with all one’s power, and keeping down noses with all one’s force, and adding to heads, and taking away teeth altogether, you have no idea of the trouble one little miniature is."

"The remuneration can scarcely repay you," said Kate.

"Why, it does not, and that’s the truth," answered Miss La Creevy; ‘and then people are so dissatisfied and unreasonable, that, nine times out of ten, there’s no pleasure in painting them. Sometimes they say, "Oh, how very serious you have made me look, Miss La Creevy!" and at others, "La, Miss La Creevy, how very smirking!" when the very essence of a good portrait is, that it must be either serious or smirking, or it’s no portrait at all." [Chapter X, "How Mr. Ralph Nickleby provided for his Niece and Sister-in-Law," 115-116]

Other​ Artists' Renderrings of Same Character: 1838, 1867, and 1875

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Left: In the original serial Phiz introduces the landlady, Miss La Creevy, as Kate's confidant: Kate Nickleby Sitting to Miss La Creevy (June 1838). Centre: In the Diamond Edition, Sol Eytinge, Jr., introduces the miniaturist at work: Miss La Creevy (1867).Right: Fred Barnard's British Household Edition illustration for Chapter 5 introduces the Nicklebys' artistic landlady: "Snubs and Romans are plentiful enough, and there are flats of all sorts and sizes when there's a meeting at Exeter Hall." (1875). [Click on the images to enlarge them.]

Related material, including front matter and sketches, by other illustrators

• Nicholas Nickleby (homepage)
• Phiz's 38 monthly illustrations for the novel, April 1838-October 1839.
• Cover for monthly parts
• Charles Dickens by Daniel Maclise, engraved by Finden
• "Hush!" said Nicholas, laying his hand upon his shoulder. (Vol. 1, 1861)
• The Rehearsal (Vol. 2, 1861)
• "My son, sir, little Wackford. What do you think of him, sir?" (Vol. 3, 1861)
• Newman had caught up by the nozzle an old pair of bellows . . . (Vol. 4, 1861).
• Sol Eytinge, Jr.'s 16 illustrations for The Diamond Edition (1867)
• C. S. Reinhart's 52 Illustrations for the American Household Edution (1875)
• Fred Barnard's 59 Illustrations for the Household Edution (1877)
• Kyd's four Player's Cigarette Cards (1910).

Scanned images and text by Philip V. Allingham. [You may use these images without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the photographer and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite the Victorian Web in a print one.]

Bibliography

Barnard, J. "Fred" (illustrator). Charles Dickens's Nicholas Nickleby, with fifty-eight illustrations. The Works of Charles Dickens: The Household Edition. 22 vols. London: Chapman and Hall, 1875. Volume 15. Rpt. 1890.

Bentley, Nicolas, Michael Slater, and Nina Burgis. The Dickens Index. Oxford and New York: Oxford U. P., 1988.

Davis, Paul. Charles Dickens A to Z: The Essential Reference to His Life and Work. New York: Facts On File, 1998.

Dickens, Charles. Nicholas Nickleby. With 39 illustrations by Hablot K. Browne ("Phiz"). London: Chapman & Hall, 1839.

_______. The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby. Illustrated by Sol Eytinge, Jr., and engraved by A. V. S. Anthony. Boston: James R. Osgood & Co., Late Ticknor and Fields, and Fields, Osgood, & Co., 1875 [re-print of 1867 Diamond Edition, Vol. IV].

_______. The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby. With fifty-two illustrations by C. S. Reinhart. The Household Edition. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1875. I.

_______. The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby. With fifty-nine illustrations by Fred Barnard. The Household Edition. London: Chapman and Hall, 1875. IV.

__________. Nicholas Nickleby. Illustrated by Harry Furniss. The Charles Dickens Library Edition. 18 vols. London: Educational Book, 1910. IV.

__________. "Nicholas Nickleby." Scenes and Characters from the Works of Charles Dickens, being eight hundred and sixty-six drawings by Fred Barnard et al.. Household Edition. London: Chapman and Hall, 1908.

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Created 20 April 2021