Almost two years ago I posted William Michael’s Rossetti’s reminiscences of Edward Lear. Neither Rossetti nor Hunt, in his memories on Edward Lear in Pre-Raphaelitism and the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood (London: Macmillan & Co., 1905, vol 1, pp. 328ff) mention that Lear was also a member of the Hogarth Club, though only for a short time. He appears in the list of “artistic” members for 1859,
Ruskin: Rossetti: Preraphaelitism. Papers 1854 to 1862. Arranged and edited by W.M. Rossetti. London: George Allen, 1899. 216-217.
but, as he wrote in his diary for 1 July 1859, he “gave up the Hogarth Club” (also see 28 May and 28 June 1859).
Deborah Cherry (“The Hogarth Club: 1858-1861.” The Burlington Magazine 122.925 (1980): 237-44) writes:
The Hogarth Club, an exhibiting society and social club, was founded in April 1858 and dissolved in December 1861. Its members — divided into two classes of ‘artistic’ and ‘non-artistic’ — included painters, sculptors, architects, writers, collectors, professional men and their friends. Those who lived in London were termed ‘resident’.
Lear, not being resident, must have found it difficult to take advantage of the exhibitions organised in its premises, and the venture does not appear to have been particularly successful as few members actually submitted paintings for display.
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