Dickens, Charles | Dickens writes to the future director of the National Gallery

Dickens, Charles

Autograph letter signed ("Charles Dickens") to William Boxall, 18 May 1858, regarding a dinner engagement 

1 page (to sight: 170 x 107 7 1/8 mm). Written from London, Tavistock House, and dated Tuesday 18th May, 1858; minor toning. Matted and framed with an etching of Dickens; not examined out of frame.

A letter from Dickens to William Boxall, artist and museum director

Dickens writes: "My Dear Boxall, You know that nothing but dire necessity would keep me away from your pleasant little dinner today. I could not possibly foresee the occasion of my absence, and I cannot possibly set it aside. If you knew how sorry I am, you would be half as sorry for me as I am for myself."

Dickens had written to Boxall a week before, suggesting "Monday or Tuesday of next week" for a dinner party: “All your artist friends are flourishing. I dined with a dozen of them last Tuesday, and they all smelt horribly of oil and varnish”. Boxall—a member of the Royal Academy, and future director of the National Gallery—had attempted to paint a portrait of Dickens, but it was ultimately abandoned. According to William Powell Frith, another member of the Royal Academy, Dickens said: "I sat a great deal, and the picture seemed to me to get worse and worse,—sometimes it was like Ben Caunt [a popular boxer of the day, who was widely regarded as remarkably unattractive], then a resemblance to Greenacre [a notorious murderer]. At last, by Jove, I found I was growing like it!— I thought it time to retire, and that picture will never be finished if it depends upon any more sittings from me."