Page:The Strand Magazine (Volume 6).djvu/112

Val Prinsep, Paul, Geoffrey, and Dennis; and two little girls, of whom we have heard before. The two youngest boys and the girls are still at home, and lead a life of homely happiness. I like to weigh results from natural causes. Perhaps the helpful aid of wife and the pleasures of childhood, allowed a free and unfettered course, have something to do with the fact that Mr. Luke Fildes looks ten years younger than he really is!

The Garden.
From a Photo. by Elliott & Fry.

His home is that of the artist—everything has its own artistic place and corner; nothing fails to harmonize, nothing comes short of gaining the effect wanted. It is a cosy and compact hall you enter. The walls are encrusted with crimson and gold. Engravings after Sir Joshua Reynolds are in abundance—Penelope, Lavina, Simplicity, the Countess Spencer, and many more. A quaint old Venetian lantern finds a place amongst knick-knacks in blue china, and here it may be said that Mr. Fildes has an exquisite collection of blue china scattered throughout the house. He had a hobby for collecting it before he was married, and they range from the tiniest of vases to heavy and massive jars. Here hangs the only framed original "black and white" in the house—an illustration for Victor Hugo's "L'Homme Qui Rit."

Mrs. Fildes and Children.
From a Photo. by Elliott & Fry.

Passing beneath the crimson curtains, on either side of which are proofs after Marcus Stone, R.A., you reach the body of the house. Brass plates from Venice line the staircase in delightful negligence. They are all over the house, intermingled with blue china and other ware. Immediately facing you is a magnificent pear-wood cabinet of Italian workmanship. The Specimens of the work of the artist, whose children occupy this apartment, are not missing; and the drawing-room is right before you. It is a