Jimmy Whistler, Geographer.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 1, 5 January 1907, Page 49

Jimmy Whistler, Geographer.

New stories of the artist who, when someone said that he and Velasquez were the two greatest painters the world has ever seen, remarked sententiously, “Why drag in Velasquez?”— James Macneil Whistler, of the white tuft and the butterfly signature, are rare, but the following incident which Lord Archibald Campbell has been heard to repeat in private, has never hitherto appeared in print. He knew Whistler very well, having first met him in Liverpool. Subsequently, Lord Archibald came to London to enter Coutts’s bank, in which he is now one of the partners, and in the early eighties he took Coombe Hill Farm where he still lives. There

the Whistler influence may be seen in some of the decorations of the drawingroom and the dining-room, as well as even outsiae the house. On a certain day when Whistler was visiting* the farm, a French artist, Elie Maillard, who was carrying out some of the decorative work schemes, was nlso there. Tn the evening the two painters and Lord Archibald went for a walk in Coombe Wood, which lies on the top of a plateau. There, on the extreme summit, is a depression which is. as clearly as possible, the remains of an old road leading to what was probably an English camp long before the Roman invasion. That camp, indeed, is believed to date back to the Bronze age. ingots of copper being found there. Now it is a modern road to the gravel pits in the

neighbourhood. The talk drifted to the road, and there was some discussion as to what it had originally been. Whistler looked up, and with his eyeglass in his eye said, in his curiously rasping voice, “I know perfectly well what this used to be. Why, it’s a river bed.” Elie Maillard threw back his head and roared with laughter. “What an idea.” he exclaimed, “a river running up to the top of a mountain!” It was only then that Whistler realised that geographical facts and artistic supremacy do not necessarily go hand in hand.