A STRIKING PICTURE.

Stratford Evening Post, Issue 64, 13 October 1930, Page 7

A STRIKING PICTURE.

THE STORY BEHIND IT. SYDNEY, October 3. One of the mo ;t striking exhibits on show with the exhibition now beiiio; held in Melbourne by twenty painte:s is one by the famous portrait artist, Sir John Longstaff, and railed "The Waif." Sir John has painted most of the famous Australians of the present generation, and lor each subject he has been well, but not extravagantly, paid. To ''The Waif belongs the honour of having received ;: fee for posing.

One day a youth knocked at the door of Sir John Longstaff. He asked for help. He did not give his name, he did not say where he came from, and, artist-like, Sir John did not seek any of those particulars. "Perhaps I forgot to ask him his name," said the artist. "We talked about all sorts of things while I was painting the picture. He told me he had walked from a farm, somewhere to Ballarat looking for work, mid then he got to Melbourne somehow or other. I think he said when he left me tha;t he was going to walk to Geclong. I painted his head. What else could a painter do in the waj of giving him a job? 1 thought he iooked an interesting head." And it was an interesting head, judging by the interest the portrait nas aroused. The original has been found living in a cheap boardinghouse in Melbourne, still seeking a steady job He refused to reveal his identity, foi ,'ie did not want his parents to know that he was a "waif in a big city like Melbourne." He said that his parents kept a small farm in Victoria, but it was not large enough to support him and his parents as well, so he left his pa;ents. Still, being a "waif' was a hungry and depressing business, and he was not ready interested in t-?le fame that bad come his way through the picture. What he wanted most of all was a steady job. He. praised the generosity of Sir John Longstaff, and added «iat posing for a picture was

"easy money." "When 1 get a regular job," said the waif the other day, "the first tiling I will da is to write home and tell mother about it. She must'neve* know that I have been a waif in a city."