The present MarqUis (IC Montealm, a descendant of the gallant
Frenchman who was defeated by Wolfe at Quebec in .1750, the other day unveiled at Greenwich a statue of Wolfe by a Canadian sculptor, Dr. Tait McKenzie. It is of interest -to receive from a Canadian scholar, Dr. J. Clarence Webster, .a careful study of Wolfe and the Artists (Toronto: Ryerson
Press). It is fully illustrated and includes good coloured -reproductions of Schaab's well-known portrait in the Duke of Richmond's collection and of a less artistic but probably faithful portrait, by an unknown hand, which the author has discovered. Dr. Webster shows good sense in distinguishing the few portraits painted in Wolfe's lifetime from the many - executed after his death, whether from sketches or not The Manchester Aft Gallery, for example, possesses an alleged portrait of Wolfe, ascribed to Gainsborough. Dr. Webster justly observes that Gainsborough could not have seen Wolfe at Bath as he did not move from Ipswich to Bath till 1760, the year after Wolfe's death, and that the portrait is wholly unlike its supposed subject. Whether it is a " splendid ' example " of Gainsborough, as the author thinks, must be a matter of opinion.
Previous page
