SOURCE: "Pre-Raphaelitism in Charles Reade's Early Fiction" in PMLA, Vol. 60, December, 1945, pp. 1149-64.

In the following excerpt, Burns considers Reade's theories of art and the influence of those theories on his novel Christie Johnstone.

That Charles Reade was interested in art, along with Cremona violins, Scottish herring fisheries, and other such hobbies, has long been known. Coleman listed some of the paintings in Reade's private collection and declared him a connoisseur;¹ Elwin pointed out that he had a genuine taste in art and was the best sort of collector;² and Rives added still further information of much the same type.³ One of Rives' quotations is particularly interesting.

1. There is a woman stooping in rather an absurd attitude with her hand touching her foot. Insert at her foot a rose which I could do so that Etty could not tell it from Etty and put a curtain in her...