“SIMPSON AND HIS DONKEY”

Southland Times, Issue 23307, 17 September 1937, Page 7

“SIMPSON AND HIS DONKEY”

TWO COPIES PAINTED AT SAME TIME (United Press Association) AUCKLAND, September 16. Two copies of the famous picture “Simpson and his Donkey,” differing in size and in some ■ details, were painted at the same time by the late Mr Sapper H. Moore Jones, according to Mr A. A. Schmidt, an Auckland artist who was a close friend of Mr Moore Jones and saw him at work. “The painting possessed by the Auckland Commercial Travellers’ and Warehousemen’s Association and that which was sent to England were painted at the same time, but the one now in Auckland was finished first,” said Mr Schmidt. “I was frequently with Mr Moore Jones while he was doing these pictures. As far as I can remember the painting sent to England was much smaller than that now in the Commercial Travellers’ Club and it was because of its smaller size that it was sent for reproduction by the London Publishing Company. There were some slight differences in the two paintings, the wounded soldier’s head in one case resting further back on the shoulder of the soldier standing beside the donkey.” Referring to the photograph obtained in the south by Mr Sapper Moore Jones Mr Schmidt said it was a small snapshot, 2|in by 3Jin. It was used by the artist merely to get the likeness of Simpson, the driver of the ambulance donkey, who was known to the Peninsula soldiers as “Murphy.” “There is a lot of quibbling about these pictures,” Mr Schmidt continued. “They are both originals for they were worked upon at the same time. Anyhow it is the artist’s privilege to paint the same subject over and over again and I consider such pictures are all originals. Old masters did the same thing.”