Sam Weller's Landlord in the Fleet

1. Curry: James McNeill Whistler at the Freer Gallery of Art, Pg. 166
Whistler sketched numerous illustrations of novels by Dickens, Dumas, and Hugo in the margins of his notebooks at West Point. This watercolor probably dates from that time or shortly thereafter. The Cobbler approximates a passage from The Pickwick Papers. Sam Weller, a lovable cockney souse, was one of Charles Dickens's most popular characters. Sam met a cobbler in "The Fleet," the London debtors' prison:

"His face was a queer, good-tempered, crooked featured piece of workmanship, ornamented with a couple of eyes that must have worn a very joyous expression at one time, for they sparkled yet. . . . He was a little man, and, being half-doubled up as he lay in bed, looked about as long as he ought to have been without his legs. He had a great red pipe in his mouth, and was smoking, and staring at the rush light, in a state of enviable placidity."

In general The Cobbler recalls eighteenth-century illustrations, but contemporary sources can also be found. Dickens's novels were profusely illustrated by Robert Seymour, Hablot K. Browne, R. W. Buss, and others. As is typical of Whistler's early work, the image conveys a strong sense of the anecdote illustrated:

"'Do you always smoke arter you goes to bed, old cock?' enquired Mr. Weller of his landlord, when they both retired for the night. 'Yes, I does, young Bantam,' replied the cobbler. 'Vill you allow me to en-quire vy you make up your bed under that 'ere deal table?' said Sam. 'Cause I was always used to a four-poster afore I came here, and I find the legs of the table answer just as well,' replied the cobbler. 'You're a character, sir,' said Sam."