Show artists painted comments even great masters of the brush arc on record as employing their genius for the small purpose of plaguing enemies when it comes to getting your own back the paint brush may easily prove mightier than the pen lien our great artists nowadays seldom descend to personalities in their paintings but this was a common trick among aven even the first rank men not so long ago for instance that eccentric genius whistler never hesitated to use all ills P powers for getting his own back ile he was admittedly an adept in the gentle art of making enemies and his resentment at real or fancied insult took at times a fantastic form on one occasion lie quarreled with the gentleman for foe whom he had painted the famous peacock room and took ills his revenge by painting a life size portrait of him as af a devil complete with hoofs and horns Sini similar thir was as the unenviable table predicament of sir robert sheard a gentleman noted for tits his penurious habits who by incurring the resentment of hogarth found himself depicted in one of that artists pictures as a miser sitting in judgment on oil a dog for robbing ills his kitchen on this coming to the ears cars of She sheardy ards ds son the latter repaired to the painters house in his absence and destroyed desti oyed the canvas on another occasion a portrait of a nobleman which hogarth ho arth had painted was returned to the artist as being nothing better than a gross caricature and payment refused the rl next ext day the peer received this letter mr hogarth begs to inform his lordship that if he does not send for his picture within three days it will be disposed or of with tile addition of a tall and some other little appendages to mr ilare iare the famous wild beast man mr air 11 II having given that gentleman a conditional promise of it for an exhibition picture on his lord lordships ships refusal the money was promptly paid and tile the picture removed while engaged upon his picture tile the taking of souza horace ver I 1 net received a call from a mem member lier now deceased of the rothschild family who asked him what lie would charge to paint ills his portrait upon being informed that was fis tile the figure lie he cried angrily Non nonsense 1 I 1 wont pay such a ridiculous price very well t replied the artist some day I 1 will make a portrait of you for nothing and lie he was as good as his word for there und and then lie ho painted the great financiers face upon the body of a flying cit citizen in whose hands lie placed two moneybags money bags each marked 1500 A painting of himself in the act of holding ills his nose with one hand while with the other lie he pushed away a dish of fish was the covert coert throat threat of sli sit joshua reynolds to robertson ills his fishmonger on the pressing for payment of a longstanding long standing account the poor tradesman was horrified such a must be suppressed or all tile the world that knew him for sir joshuaa Jos huas fishmonger would credit tho the painters innuendo lie he therefore had to sacrifice ills his money and acquire tilt the sketch by cancelling the bill A case of the paint brush being mightier than the pen london answers |