THE DUKE AND THE PICTURE

Manawatu Times, Volume XLIX, Issue 3308, 31 March 1926, Page 7

THE DUKE AND THE PICTURE

There are »nany diverting stories concerning the great Duke of Wellington, and all of them contain a re--1 minder that the victor of Waterloo was prone to use characteristic adjectival expressions. Sir David Wilkie, the famous painter, had produced for the Duke his histoi’ic picture, “Chelsea Pensioners Reading the Gazette of ’.he Battle of Waterloo,” and when it had been delivered at the ducal residence near Hyde Park the artist was • requested to call there. Wilkie found the gallant soldier in his study, a gloomy little room with a single window, on the ground floor, facing Piccadilly. Here the Duke began to count ■ out in banknotes the sum agreed upon for the painting—a thousand guineas. “‘Wouldn’t it save your Grace trouble,” i suggested Wilkie, “to give me a draft on your bankers for the amount?” The reply was terse; "Yes, but I don’t want my bankers to know that I have been such a d fool as to pay one thousand guineas for a pictu'e!”