Nature and Art, May 1, 1867. ] 
SIGN-PAINTERS AND SIGNBOARDS. 
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men of what seems the tendency of Oriental rhyme ; 
the words are “ Taza ba taza, non ba nou,” which 
means, “ Fresh and fresh, new and new.” The 
peculiarity is the repetition of the same sound, 
producing as it were, a rhyme within a rhyme; 
reminding one of that richness of effect which they 
produce by a repetition in their wonderful orna- 
ment, not only in architecture, but in shawls and 
all their gold and silver work. There is an oft- 
repeated verse from Hafiz, which will still further 
show this feature of Oriental rhyme. It is, — 
“ Hum jins, ba hum jins, purwhz ; 
Kubootro ba kubootre, baz ba baz.” 
By this repetition, every syllable seems to rhyme, 
and the style must be well adapted for lyric 
poetiy. These lines may be translated as, 
Kindred souls together walk : 
Dove with dove, and hawk with hawk ; 
or, in the words of the old proverb, “ Birds of a 
feather flock together.” 
SIGN-PAINTERS AND SIGNBOARDS.* 
A LTHOUGH signboards, in these modern days, are very 
unimportant objects, time was (and that at no very 
distant date) when they were far otherwise. When streets 
were unnamed and houses unnumbered, when the majority 
of passers-by in even the busiest thoroughfares were unable 
to read, and when particular trades were grouped in colonies 
in particular localities, it was necessarily a desideratum to 
give every shop a name or token by which it could be dis- 
tinguished and customers referred to it. Reading, as we 
have just remarked, being a scarce accomplishment, to write 
up the owner’s name would have been of little use. Some, 
indeed, whose names offered the chance, advertised them by 
a rebus, such as the hare and bottle for Harbottle, and two 
cocks for Cox ; a custom not uncommon in the days of the 
Romans, not only on signboards which were then in common 
use, but on the votive tablets of the dead. Others, whose 
names no rebus could represent, adopted the tools of their 
calling, or pictorial objects ; and as the talents and ima- 
ginative powers of the artists were, it may be presumed, 
rather limited, colours were often introduced, in heraldic 
parlance, for a “ difference.” Size, quaintness of design, 
and costliness, were also eagerly sought after for the sake 
of distinction. 
Of the sign-painters of the middle ages, we have little 
information ; but about two centuries back, Harp Alley, 
Shoe Lane, and similar localities, appear to have been the 
head-quarters of these artists. Here Barlow, Craddock, 
and others, whose names are now forgotten like their works, 
had their studios, and produced some good signs, both 
carved and painted. A few signs, however (according to 
the Spectator), were produced by artists of a superior class. 
The latter were often coach-painters, who united both 
branches of art. The panels of the unwieldy coaches of our 
ancestors in these days, as well as of the sedan-chairs then 
so much in use, were often a mass of costly blazonry ; and 
when these herald-painters turned their attention to sign- 
painting, they generally produced something good. 
Such was Clarkson, to whom Mr. J. T. Smith, the anti- 
quary, assigns the beautiful sign of Shakspeare, which 
formerly hung in Little Russell Street, Drury Lane, and for 
which .£500 were paid, — certainly a handsome price, when 
we remember the beggarly remuneration too often given for 
both artistic and literary work in those days. Such also 
was Catton ( obiit 1788), who painted several good signs, 
particularly one of a lion, for his friend Wright, a famous 
coach-builder of Long Acre. This picture, after weathering 
many a storm, was still visible in J. T. Smith’s time. A 
“ Turk’s Head,” also by Catton, was long admired as a 
mercer’s sign in Covent Garden. J. Baker (ob. 1771), who 
studied under the same master as Catton, and who was 
* “History of Signboards.” By J. Larwood and J. C. 
Hotten. London : Hotten, Piccadilly. 1866. 
made a member of the Royal Academy at its foundation, 
J. Baptiste Cipriani, a Florentine coach-painter (nb. 1785), 
who also became a Royal Academician of London, S. Wale, 
R.A. (ob. 1786), who painted the celebrated Falstaff * and 
other signs, the principal one being a full-length of Shak- 
speare, about five feet high, which was executed for the 
door of a public-house in Little Russell Street. It did not 
hang long before it was taken down, in consequence of the 
act for removing signs and other obstructions from the 
London streets, and such was the change in public 1 appre- 
ciation consequent on the new regulations, that the sign 
was sold for a trifle to Mason, the broker, in Lower Gros- 
venor Street, where it stood at his door for several years, 
until destroyed by the weather and rough usage. Lamb 
was another sign-painter of note, so also was Gwynne, 
originally a coach-painter, who acquired some reputation for 
his marine pieces. R. Dalton, Keeper of the Pictures of 
King George the Third, had been apprenticed to a sign and 
coach-painter, so also had Kirby, afterwards drawing- 
master to George the Fourth when Prince of Wales. Wright, 
the marine painter, Smirke, R.A., and many others might 
be also named. 
Besides these, we have the “ great professors,” as Edwards 
calls them in his “Anecdotes of Painters,” at the head of 
whom stands Hogarth, whose “ Man loaded with Mischief ” 
(a drunken wife, a monkey, and a magpie) may still be seen 
at 414, Oxford Street, where it has been for many years 
included among the fixtures in the lease of the premises. 
R. Wilson, R.A., painted the “ Three Loggerheads ” for an 
ale-house in North Wales, which gave its name to the village 
of Loggerhead, near Mold. George Morland, Ibbetson, and 
David Cox, executed a few works of this kind. Harlow is 
said to have painted a front and back view of Queen 
Charlotte for the New Inn, Epsom, to settle a score he had 
run up. The portrait was in Sir Thomas Lawrence’s most 
courtly style, and signed in the corner T. L., Greek Street, 
Soho. When Lawrence heard this, he is said to have flown 
into a rage, and declared that if Hai'low were not a scoundrel, 
he would have kicked him from one street’s end to another, 
whereupon Harlow coolly remarked he trusted that, when 
Sir Thomas should have quite made up his mind about the 
matter, he would choose a short street. Herring is reported 
to have painted some signs — the “ Flying Dutchman,” 
Cottage Green, Camberwell, and the “White Horse,” at 
Doncaster. Among others, Millais is said to have painted a 
“St. George and Dragon” for Vidler’s Inn, Hayes, Kent; 
Horace Yernet, also, has the name of having produced more 
than one in his younger days. 
So, also, in former times, eminent artists occasionally 
'* Near the West Gate, Canterbury. The reader may 
remember the display of popular feeling caused by the 
removal of this relic a couple of years back. 
