HOW I PAINTED THE QUEEN'S PICTURE.

Bush Advocate, Volume V, Issue 354, 16 August 1890, Page 11

HOW I PAINTED THE QUEEN'S PICTURE.

A CHAT WITH MR. W\ E. LOCKHART, R.S.A. (pall mall gazette.) One of the sipphte of the season is the Jubilee picture which hangs jn Mr. Doig's j new gallery at Waterloe-house. . TJie dusty rooms of the old dry goods emporium are now Bwept clean and gaily- upholstered, and all London drops in day by day to see the Queen's picture of the famous ceremony in Westminster Abbey. It was a remarkable ceremony, and this is a remarkable ' picture, for the canvas ' is crowded with admirable portraits of the thousand and one oelebrities who were present on that memorable scene. The other day, writes a representative, I had a chat with Mr. Lockhart about the work which has occupied the whole of bis time since June, 1887. Mr. Lockhart was sitting in his studio, a lofty apartment, hung with tapestry and embellished with tabards, cardinals' hats, cabinets, and the brio-a-brao which artista incline to. He heaved a sigh of pleasure when I congratulated him upon the accomplishment of his work, and spoke to me as follow^* — "I received my commission about a week before the Jubilee celebration, and I have worked hard ever since. I had. a telegram from London asking me to be at St. James's . Place the next morning* I > caught the night mail from Edinburgh, aooepted the commission, and walked straight to the Abbey .to take my bearings. On. the day/of the ceremony I was allowed to make a sort of studio in one of t&e doorways I which open on to the altar. A window was made for me at the top of tile door, through which I obtained a splendid view of the Abbey, and yet I remained unseen. I had an ample stock of note-books, and colours. These will enable yoa to understand how the preliminary study for the. picture was made. I was at my station a long time, before, tHe arrival of the Queen, and used, that time in making these . splashes showing me the scarlet floor Jußfc below tie altar rails, the places oooupled by the •rowned heads and chief notabilitiea. "Here, again, is the study to? the old" stone coronation chair upon which the Qneen sat, all draped in rich red. A» the crowd took their -places I made hasty records of the masses of colour, as Von will 638 by these splashes. In foot, I made .hundreds of shorthand?- notes, not attempting for a moment to secure portraits, whioh : would} have been impossible, but getting positions and groupings. Here, yon see, are dozens of attitudes ; Bean Bradley reading, the Archbishop of •Canterbury, a bit of the Queen, scraps of Indian Princes, a few uniforms, medals, swords, costumes, and so on," placing in my hand a great sheet of pencil jottings, evidently dashod eff at lightning speed, *' And during the whole of the ceremony I was hard at work making mere impressions of the •010/nre, without attempting anything more definite. So much for the first step. My next duty was to make a study for the picture, which had to be submitted to the Queen* I obtained a ground plan of the Abbey, and the plans issued by the Lord Chamberlain indioatang the positions which had been allotted to those who took part in the ceremony. These enabled me to locate every one. Haviag steeped myself in the subject, I went to work with such material as I oould secure, and in three weeks was able to submit this oil study representing the scheme of the picture, to the Queen, who expressed her entire satisfaction, and bade me fall to. And now I begaa to discover what a, huge task I hod undertaken. The negotiations that were necessary to obtain portraits would fill volumes. My cabinet there contains about a thousand letters from the persons concerned. The Queen herself gayST me a sitting for a hour and a half. A better sitter, and a more kind and considerate, no painter ever hod. I hod nb trouble whatever. Before I began, I mode a slight sketch showing how I wished her to pose. She at once took the attitude, and never moved till my task was done. It was a delightful task, I can assure you. At Windsor I was able to make a sketch of the Emperor Frederick and tho Empress, the present Emperor, and other Royalties. At Marlborough-house, too, all facilities were given to me ; and at Buckingham Palace I caught many of the distinguished people who were the country's guests at tho time. But tho number of details were enormous. Look at the picture, and imagine tho countless colours of the costumes and the uniforms. It was quite staggering- MrGladstone I sketched as he was writing an article. The Speaker kindly gave me a place for a few weeks below tho strangers' gallery in the House of Commons, and thus enabled mo to secure most of the members of Parliament who wero present. The ladies' costumes, again, were very difficult to get, as when I applied for them, many of them had been altered or disposed of. But iv such cases I received the details and did the best I could, and in many others I had tho actual dresses sent down here to my studio. Greater difficulties cropped up as I came to deal with tho foreigners who were present, but they were slowly overcome. The sketch of tho Prinoe of Walea's ineduls" — pointing oufc a very careful water-colour of a dozen medals worn by tho Prince on Jubilee Day — "will give you some idea of the Jabour that was necessary." Then Mr. Lookhart showed me a huge pencildrawing, tho exact size of the finished picture, with most accurate" architectural elaboration. This was liia work ing plan, which alone took him months to prepare, for every portrait was carefully done in pencil. Mr. Lockhart knew that if this waa finished carefully the back of his task was broken. From this he worked. It was most interesting to turn over the hundreds of studies which have accumulated in Mr. Lockhart'a studio, from the little oil study of a head to tho jotting for a bit of gold lace or a sword, and these are mementoes of his work which tho painter will keep amongst his most saored treasures. When the picture was done th Queen wan greatly pleased with it. She presented the painter with the copyright, and the right of exhibiting it for a year, both very valuable gifts, of course. Before it was placed iv Mr. Doig's hands, Mr. Lockhart took it over to Berlin, and submitted it to the German Emperor, of whose kindness Mr. Lockhart gives a delightful account.