LESLIE, CHARLES ROBERT (1794-1859). An English genre painter, of American descent, He was born in London. October 19. 1794, of Ameri can parentage. His father, a watchmaker of Philadelphia, died in 1503, upon his return to that city, leaving his family destitute. Charles Robert was apprenticed to a bookseller, but evinced great aptitude for drawing, and at the age of seventeen lie drew a portrait of the actor George Frederic Cooke, which was esteemed so excellent that a subscription was raised to enable him to study abroad for two years. In 1811 he went to London, and was hospitably received by Benjamin West, president of the Royal Academy. De became one of a group of Americans, among whom were the painters Aleston and King, Wash ington Irving, and John Constable.
His first picture exhibited at the Academy was a melodramatic production. entitled "Nurder" (1313). Not until after his visit to Paris, in 1817, did he exhibit his special talent, the paint ing of humorous historical genre, in his "Sir Roger de Coverley Going to Church." During this period he designed illustrations for Irving's Knickerbocker History of Sew York and Sketch Book, also painting his portrait. In 1822 h)lay day Revels in the Time of Queen Elizabeth" secured his election as an associate of the Academy. In company with Sir Edmund Land seer he visited Sir Walter Scott at Abbotsford in 1824, and painted his portrait. In 1825 he mar ried Miss Stone', a celebrated beauty, and in 1826 he became an Academician. Elected professor of drawing at West Point in 1833. he returned to London after a trial of a few months. In 183S be was summoned to 'Windsor to paint the "Queen Receiving the Sacrament After the Coronation," now in Buckingham Palace. He was professor
of painting at the Royal Academy from 1848 to 1832, and published his admirable lectures to the students as a Hard/book for Young Painters (1853). Other works are: The Memoirs of Constable (1865), whose merits he was among the first to recognize; an incomplete Life of Reynolds (1865) ; and his own Autobiographical Recollections (1860), the two last edited by Tom Taylor. Leslie died at Saint John's Wood, Lon don, May 5, 1839.
Leslie is chiefly famous as an illustrator of humorous incidents taken from the great authors. His humor is refined and delightful, and no one has entered more into the spirit of the author. Ile is a good draughtsman and a skillful com poser, but his coloring, especially in his later works, is harsh. The shadows are too black, and there are no middle tones to• harmonize them with the light portions. The best known of his pictures is "Uncle Toby and the Widow Wad man" (1831). in the National Gallery. The South Kensington Museum contains, besides rep licas. three subjects from Moliere, "The Dinner at Mr. Page's Howe" (1838), and others. In the collection of Lord Leconfield at Petworth, in Sussex, arc the originals of the "Taming of the Shrew" (1832, replica at South Kensington), "Sancho Panza in the Apartments of the Duchess" (182S), and three others. Two of the Sir Roger de Coverley series are at Bowood, in the collection of the Marquis of Lansdowne. In the Philadelphia Academy are a number of rep licas and the original of the "Murder of Rut land." Consult Leslie's Autobiographical Recol lections (London, 1860).