The Letters of Richard Ford, 1797-1858

Sixty years ago, few men were more widely known in the world of art, letters, and society than Richard Ford, the author of the Handbook for Spain. A connoisseur of engravings, an admirable judge of painting, the interpreter to this country of the genius of Velazquez, he had no rival as an amateur artist. From his sketches Roberts made many of his best drawings; some were reproduced by Telbin, others appeared in the Illustrated London News and the Landscape Annuals of the day, or supplied illustrations to such books as Byron’s Childe Harold and Lockhart’s Spanish Ballads. One of the first critics who appreciated the beauties of the ceramic products of Italy, he formed a fine collection of Gubbio and Majolica ware, and the works of Giorgio and the Della Robbias. The contents of his Spanish Library, to which many of the prizes of the Heber sale found their way, were as rich as they were rare and curious. His taste was no less varied than sound, and few art treasures in clay, metal, and marble, were beyond his ken. Nor was his knowledge of the mysteries of cookery less profound, and Amontillado sherry and Montanches hams were introduced by him into this country. Well and widely read, gifted with a wonderful memory and a keen sense of humour, possessed of an extraordinary faculty for happy, unexpected turns of expression, full of curious anecdotes and adventures, he was a delightful talker. Entirely without the jealousy of the professed wit, he was an equally admirable listener. No man was a more welcome guest in society, none had more friends or fewer enemies.

His father, Sir Richard Ford (born 1759, died 1806), a friend of William Pitt, M.P. for East Grinstead (1789), and for Appleby (1790), at one time Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department, became Chief Police Magistrate at Bow Street, and the creator of the mounted police force of London. His mother (born 1767, died 1849) was the daughter of Benjamin Booth, whose wife, Jane Salwey, was the only child and heiress of Richard Salwey of the Moor, near Ludlow, in Shropshire. To Lady Ford descended the whole of the Salwey property. Herself an excellent artist, she inherited from her father, not only his love of art, but a fine collection of paintings, including examples of the Dutch and Italian Schools, and of Sir Joshua Reynolds, and a number of the best works of Richard Wilson, the landscape painter.

Richard, the eldest son of Sir Richard and Lady Ford, was born at 129, Sloane Street, Chelsea, in 1796. Educated at Winchester, and Trinity College, Oxford, he was called to the Bar at Lincoln’s Inn in 1822. But he never practised. He had inherited from his grandfather and mother a love of the fine arts; his passion for travelling was strong; he had no need to pursue his profession. To a young man of his temperament and easy circumstances, the Continent, so long closed to English travellers by the Napoleonic wars, opened an alluring field. He travelled in France and Italy, where he laid the foundation of his own collection of books, paintings, and engravings. His additions to the pictures which he had inherited, chiefly belonged to the Spanish School. Among them were fine examples of Zurbaran, Ribalta, and Velazquez. Of the latter, the portrait of Mariana of Austria, second wife of Philip IV. of Spain, is reproduced in this volume. The picture was given by Ferdinand VII. to the Canon Cepero, in exchange for two Zurbarans in the Madrid Gallery.