The generally favourable opinion of MR. AUGUSTUS JOHN'S striking
portrait of MR. LLOYD GEORGE is not shared by everybody. The following
criticism of the picture has reached us, and as it represents a point of
view which, so far as we know, has not found sympathy in the Press
opinions which have already appeared, we print it for the edification of
the artist, the sitter and any others who may have a few moments to
devote to the subject.
I should like to say (writes our correspondent) on behalf of myself and
of many worthy members of my congregation that MR. AUGUSTUS JOHN has
missed a great opportunity in painting his portrait of our greatest
Welshman.
In the first place, surely it lacks dignity. In it Mr. LLOYD GEORGE, who
is pre-eminently a man capable of looking you straight in the eye, is
depicted as looking someone else obliquely in the eye. I would that his
strong features had been accompanied by a direct and thoughtful gaze,
instead of that petulant side-glance, which to all of us who know the
smiling candour of the MINISTER OF MUNITIONS is so foreign an
expression.
I cannot speak with authority about the sitter's raiment. At the same
time I must register my dislike of these clothes, which appear to have
the mud of the golf-links still fresh upon them. Surely the artist
should have persuaded Mr. LLOYD GEORGE to wear his black coat and vest
for the occasion.
Hanging from a cord is something in the nature of an aid to vision. I
cannot determine whether it is a pince-nez or a monocle. The uncertainty
is irritating. Is it possible that the MINISTER has taken to wearing a
single eye-glass? If so, why has not the artist put it in the sitter's
eye? And as to the hair--Heaven forbid that I should cast any reflection
upon any man of Mr. LLOYD GEORGE's age possessing abundant locks; on the
contrary, I congratulate him; but in all my experience I have never yet
known a portrait to be taken without the sitter being requested first of
all to brush his hair. Why has Mr. AUGUSTUS JOHN flown in the face of
all precedent by neglecting this simple yet desirable precaution?
I feel very strongly that nothing in the portrait indicates the sitter's
nationality, his profession, his love of home, his favourite recreation
or his religious convictions. These, I venture to say, are grave
omissions. The picture is sadly wanting in suitable accessories. If I
had been painting it I should have put a simple yellow daffodil in the
MINISTER'S buttonhole, and pictured through an open window a sunlit bed
of leeks, with perhaps a goat gambolling among them. I should have
represented the MINISTER OF MUNITIONS in his study practising putting
with a small bomb. And on the wall should have been a life-size portrait
of the Rev. Dr. CLIFFORD.
* * * * *
[Illustration: _Officer at Front_ (_reading letter from home_). "The
other day we went to see the ruins of a house which had been bombed by a
Zeppelin. You can't imagine what it was like!"]
* * * * *
"The elements so mixed" again.
"The air is the new element, and all the evidence suggests that
we are at sea in it." _Star._
* * * * *
Le Mouton Enragé.
"Sheep, and also other wild animals, have a trying time in
procuring their necessary food."
That's what makes them so wild.
* * * * *
A Hero at Zero.
"Fish for the Canadian troops. The supply has been organised by
Major Hughie Green, who is known as the 'Canadians'
Fishmonger-General,' and has travelled in a frozen condition
2,000 miles across the Dominion."--_Daily Mirror._
* * * * *
"A young farm hand who appealed to the Coalville Tribunal for
exemption yesterday, when asked whether an older brother could
not take his place on the farm, replied that his brother's feet
were too small for work on the land."--_Morning Paper._
We hope that his own are not too cold for work in the trenches.
* * * * *
"Mr. Mark Blow will be known henceforth as 'Mr.
Mark.'"--_Theatrical Paper._
The Blow may have fallen, but this British Mark shows no decline.
* * * * *