10 



A number of bis works in oil, which he brought to Washington, were 

 oul}^ copies from the productions of his masters or other p inters, and 

 shoukl not be taken as standards of his ability. 



His water color paintings of flowers and insects and a few natural 

 history objects, are most exquisite examples of artistic illustration, and 

 are drawn to the life, showing the expenditure of a vast amount of labor 

 and patience, and giving assurance in the artist of a fair eye for color. 

 As a rule they are painted with little attention to modeling, the color 

 being laid on heavily, stippled and frequently lacking in transparency, 

 and without attempt at composition in the sense of making pictures of 

 them. But they are very realistic and sometimes quite decorative. 

 Many of his early drawings of the Florida insects are as exquisitely fin 

 ished, though with his later originals he took less pains. When Mar- 

 garet Fuller first saw some of the flower paintings she would hardly be- 

 lieve that they had not been done under the microscope, so delicate was 

 the work. Whether or not his extreme shortsightedness made it difiti- 

 cult for him to paint in any other manner, it is impossible to say, how- 

 ever well adapted to the labors of his after life this special kind of work 

 may have been. He could not have painted broadly had he desired to 

 do so, for his almost microscopic vision saw everything in the minutest 

 detail. This explains, too, why his after engravings of insects, par. 

 ticularly of larrce., lack in action. 



After finishing his journeyings in Europe and having turned liis back 

 upon Munich, the study of art was still an absorbing interest with him. 

 On his return to England he took up his abode at Leeds for a short time, 

 and, in a room set apart for the purpose of a studio, and surrounded by 

 pets of every conceivable description, he continued to paint with assi- 

 duity. And it is pleasant to learn that his love of natural history shared 

 equally with his love of art. Many delightful reminiscences of the young 

 painter-naturalist (who was now about twenty-three years old), are re- 

 called by those who knew him at this time, all indicating the manner of 

 life which he afterwards followed. Mr. Gates thus writes of him in a 

 memorial sent to Professor liiley : 



He would sit before his easel with a favorite lizard uestled iu his breast, his coat 

 pockets tenanted by snakes, and a l)lackbird perched upon his shoulder, whilst hang- 

 ing on the walls of his apartment might be seen some tiny gauze cages, daintily con- 

 structed for the reception of tarao spiders, which were periodically sup])lied with flies. 

 There were also in the room a variety of other bii'ds and such quadrupeds as mice, 

 rats, and guineapigs, all pets in a greater or less degree. Gfover's early school friend, 

 previously referred to, still living at Whitby in Yorkshire, particularly recollects vis- 

 iting him in this apartment on one occasion when he was painting a bunch of grapes, 

 his blackbird as usual upon his shoulder. Glover had just completed the painting of 

 the grapes, when the fancy seized him to add a fly, as though it had alighted on the 

 fruit. This he did, and had scarcely withdrawn his hand from the work, when the 

 blackbird darted from its master's shoulder and pecked lustily at tbe phantom fly. 

 About this time Glover had begun to give some attention to copper-plate engraving, 

 and also carved in wood. He sustained a great sorrow iu the death of a little girl, the 

 child of a first cousin, who was devotedly attached to him and for whose amusement he 



