The elusive Mr Mercier

A recent post on the Chetham Society Facebook was about a portrait of our friend Francis Raines. The painting was described as by 'an unknown artist'. The artist was almost certainly Charles Mercier (1834-1901), who has cropped up in my researches as having painted Crossley, and Canons Parkinson and Raines of the Chetham Society.  Mercier was a London-born portraitist who lived and worked in Manchester from the 1850s to around 1877, when he is thought to have died. He exhibited at the Royal Academy1863, and numbered among his more distinguished sitters Disraeli, Lord Napier and the king of Belgium. However the majority of his patrons were army officers (hence his use of the title 'Major') and worthy citizens of Manchester and Liverpool, including Chetham Society notables such as James Crossley and Canons Richard Parkinson and Francis Raines, in addition to a dramatic picture of the prison philanthropist Thomas Wright ministering to a convict, entitled 'The Condemned Cell' (see Transactions of the Lancashire and Cheshire Antiquarian Society, vol. 109, 2016).

My problem with Mr (also known as 'Major') Mercier concerns his portrait of James Crossley. Here's my account of this, from James Crossley: A Manchester Man of Letters (pp.193-5)

A portrait of Crossley was commissioned which, it was hoped, would hang in the Free Library, chosen as the most appropriate place in view of Crossley’s contribution to its formation. As treasurer of the subscription fund, Peel approached the Free Library Committee offering to present the portrait to that institution. The chosen artist was Charles Mercier, a London-born portraitist who lived and worked in Manchester, from the 1850s to around 1877, when he is thought to have died. He exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1863, and numbered among his more distinguished sitters Disraeli, Lord Napier and the king of Belgium.  However, the majority of his patrons were army officers (he is sometimes titled Major Charles Mercier) and worthy citizens of Manchester and Liverpool, including two of Crossley’s closest friends and members of the Chetham Society council. After Crossley’s portrait was painted, Parkinson expressed an interest, and in June 1857, Raines reported that Mercier was to visit St. Bee’s to preserve the reverend gentleman’s image in oils. Exactly two years later, Raines was himself approached by the artist, with Crossley’s approval, as he wrote to Raines: ‘I hope you have acceded to Mr. Mercier’s request. He seems so happy in his likenesses.’ The Raines portrait is now stored at Chetham’s Library, and that of Parkinson can be found at St. Bee’s College, Cumbria.

Mercier’s representation of Crossley received universal approbation, and was described in detail by the local press:

The portrait, which is of the proportions technically called “to the knees” represents Mr.Crossley standing by a table, on which are piles of books. His left hand rests on a book, the right is slightly raised, and he looks as if speaking. The portrait is an admirable and characteristic likeness, not only in features, but in expression; while the accessories are few, and the tone of the picture quiet. It is a very satisfactory work, and reflects great credit to the artist. 

The Free Library Committee immediately accepted Peel’s gift of the painting, and the Town Clerk, Joseph Heron, conveyed their gratification and thanks to the subscribers, promising to place the portrait in a prominent position in the Camp Field Library. Before its removal to the Free Library, the painting was placed on view at the Town Hall, where, at the next meeting of the Manchester Council, John Potter added his own words of approval and his acknowledgements of Crossley’s achievements. Moving the adoption of the Free Library Committee’s proposals, he is reported to have added that: ‘everyone connected with the Free Library felt deeply indebted to Mr.Crossley for his labours in favour of what was, and he [Potter] hoped ever would be, a useful and benevolent institution.’ The portrait was eventually hung over the main entrance to the Free Library, where it remained until the Camp Field site was vacated. Its subsequent whereabouts have not been fully documented, but there is evidence that the work was removed to the Central Library where it appeared on a 1941 inventory of the library’s possessions.

Since then, not a trace has been found of the portrait. There is a picture listed in the Manchester Central Library archive as Sir James Crossley (artist: Mercier). Here it is:

Apart from the obvious fact that this does not look like the Crossley we know and love from photographs and the Walker portrait, which hangs in Chetham's Library, this portrait does not seem to be in Mercier's style. Furthermore, it doesn't correspond with the description above, nor with the report of the Manchester Courier on 10 April 1858:

The pleasant expression of Mr. Crossley has been happily caught, and fixed on the canvas, and the accessories of books and writing materials on the table, by the side of which Mr. Crossley is represented as standing, are well introduced.

Books and writing materials? Standing? To the knees? Left hand resting on a book? Looks as if speaking? etc., etc., I don't think so. So the search goes on. My dream is that the portrait is in storage, or in one of the many 'committee rooms' in the Central Library, and that one day I will get to see it.