Leader of My Angels: William Hayley and His Circle

Elizabeth Stieg taught English in Toronto.

Leader of My Angels was written to accompany the Edmonton Art Gallery’s exhibition William Hayley and His Circle, itself organized to complement the 1982 conference of the Canadian Society for Eighteenth Century Studies. Victor Chan’s book provides a useful introduction to the work and ideas of a group of artists associated with William Hayley.

Hayley is perhaps best known to the twentieth century for his patronage of William Blake, a context in which he does not appear to advantage, since Blake had many bitter things to say of him in that capacity. In his own time, however, Hayley was highly regarded as a poet, essayist, and biographer. His The Triumphs of Temper, a piece of poetic didacticism deservedly ignored in this century, was hugely successful in his own, and Chan argues that through his prose writings, both public and private, Hayley wielded considerable influence over contemporary taste in literature and painting. Hayley enjoyed the friendship and regard of such artists as John Flaxman (through whom he met Blake), Wright of Derby, and George Romney. The relationship with Romney was especially close, and Chan presents evidence which suggests that the artist was strongly influenced by Hayley in his choice of subject matter.

Hayley offered Flaxman assistance of a different nature. He both commissioned works for himself and assisted the sculptor in securing a number of commissions from others throughout his career. Chan also suggests that Hayley’s enthusiasm for Milton and Dante, coupled with his extensive library, may have influenced Blake’s approach to these literary figures.

In addition to providing encouragement and financial support to a number of artists, in Chan’s view Hayley was also instrumental in developing and disseminating a collection of ideas which contributed to the “shaping of the early Romantic sensibility.” An enthusiastic champion of history painting, Hayley saw this as a route to establishing a national school of art. In his recommendations of subjects drawn from Dante, Milton, and Shakespeare, he also contributed to the rise of what Chan calls “the Cult of Sublimity.”

Chan’s perception of Hayley as a significant influence on contemporary artists is not new, but his treatment of the cultural attitudes of the late eighteenth century is both useful and informative. He is at his best when discussing the John Howard drawings of Romney in the context of the artist’s personal struggle against despair.

In addition, the book contains a large number of plates allowing the reader to see clearly the similarities in subject matter and execution which exist in the work of a number of contemporary artists.