He had good taste, discrimination, and sound judgment. I have heard him say that when he commenced buying modern pictures (a time when the public taste ran in the direction of old masters) he was induced to do so by his two old friends, John Fawcett, the comedian, and Thomas Morton, the dramatic author, who both knew well the difficulties and lack of patronage under which the sister art pined.
One of Robert Vernon's aims was to found and endow a school of modern art; and, with this object, he naturally sought to possess the best works of the best known men. As a proof of his endeavour to promote their interest, whenever he heard an artist had painted a picture better than the one he possessed he would purchase it and dethrone his own.
He never, though, lost sight of young aspirants to fame, and when he met with rising artists— those who had developed capabilities-he would cheerfully help them to earn a name and reputation.
But those were days when modern artists sold few of their works, and their prices, as compared with those of the present times, were very