Walter Goodman - Travel

Travel

Beginning in 1860 Goodman undertook extensive travel to France, Belgium, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, and Spain. He spent almost three years in Florence, beginning in 1861, refining his skills by copying Old Master paintings at the Uffizi and Pitti palaces. There he met fellow artist, Joaquín Cuadras, whom he painted several times.

One of Goodman's favourite destinations was Spain — he was fluent in Spanish. He travelled with Cuadras to Barcelona in 1862, where he spent almost a year, before returning alone to England and, later, Scotland. In Edinburgh, he resided for a short time during 1864 with his journalist brother, Edward, then an assistant to Edinburgh Courant publisher, James Hannay, whom he painted (exhibited at the Royal Scottish Academy in 1864 ), as well as author David Smith. Another work, entitled Head was also exhibited at the Royal Scottish Academy the same year.

In 1864, now rejoined by Cuadras, Goodman travelled to Rome and then on to Saint-Nazaire in France where they set sail on a French steamer to the West Indies, arriving in Santiago, Cuba on May 9, 1864. Most of Goodman's time in the West Indies was spent in Santiago and Havana, Cuba, working as an artist and journalist and painting theatrical sets. He also appeared in at least one stage production, putting his fluency in Spanish to good use. Goodman and Cuadras were imprisoned for a short time in the Morro Castle in Santiago. During his time in Cuba, Goodman contributed articles and letters to the New York Herald, using the nom de plume el Caballero Inglese. In this capacity he travelled to Port Royal in Jamaica in August 1868 in connection with the laying of the undersea cable between Cuba and Jamaica. Eventually civil unrest forced him to flee to New York in January 1870 on board the American steamer Morro Castle.

He spent only a few months in the United States before returning to London in the first half of 1870 when he painted portraits of Sir Thomas Brassey MP, his wife, Lady Anna Brassey, their children, and Mr. Brassey senior. The Brassey portraits were hung at the Brassey estate at Normanhurst Court in Sussex. The same year he painted a Portrait of a Young Boy on a Horse, which found its way to a sale at Christies in London in July 1998.

In 1871 he exhibited a portrait of Evelyn, Daughter of G.J.Reid, Esq. of Tunbridge Wells at the Royal Academy and his portrait of his uncle, Serjeant Simon M.P. was displayed at the Royal Oak Hotel in Simon's constituency of Dewsbury, Yorkshire. Photographic evidence exists of three portraits from 1871–1872, entitled Master Nicholls, Mr N Birkenruth, and Mrs N Birkenruth.

In 1872 Goodman contributed a piece entitled A Cigarette Manufacturer At Havana to the London Society magazine and one called General Tacon's Judgmen to the Daily Pacific Tribune, a Washington newspaper. In 1873 he published an account of his years in Cuba, entitled The Pearl of the Antilles, or An Artist in Cuba, to favorable reviews (reprinted in Cuba in 1986). The book was based upon a series of humorous sketches first published in Charles Dickens' periodical All the Year Round. The same year he contributed some sketches of Santiago to The Graphic magazine.