The Battle Scene
Outside the National Gallery, London 1955aged 10 yrs
"A manner of studying Art, used by the greatest artists from time immemorial, is copying from generations gone before. As a very young child I copied from books on the Old Masters, but when I discovered one could actually paint sitting in front of the originals, well, the idea was too much to resist, and although I discovered that the rules disallowed anyone from doing this under the age of eighteen, a combination of my precocious gift, an extremely determined character, and the open mind of Sir Philip Hendys, managed to break the rules and I copied in the National Gallery from the age of ten."
"Like most very young boys, I loved battles, and so was soon struck by the "Cavalry Battle" of Phillip Wouwermans, a seventeenth century Dutch painter, a minor Master known for always putting a horse in the middle of his compositions. He painted small works, one or two of which are in most museums the world over, but they are so unremarkable few people note this artist's name. However, he did one large work, his chez d'oeuvre which was this one in the National Gallery, which I immediately coveted, so decided to paint. Over six years, I made three attempts to copy this masterpiece, each one lasting about two years. The final copy, pretty much the same size as the original, took two years to complete. It is six feet by four foot six inches. As I was so young, I was also relatively small, and had to stand on a wooden box to reach the top of the canvas. I was given priceless information - my total education in fact - by sympathetic fellow copyists, restorers, and a brilliant and extremely knowledgeable attendant in the Gallery. It was thanks to them, particularly the attendant, that I did finally complete a reasonable copy. Although I gave it to my first wife as a parting gift in 1970, in a marvellously magnanimous gesture, she returned it to me nineteen years later, and I must say I enjoy its presence to this day. My extreme youth attracted the Press while I was at the National Gallery, and a barrage of publicity continued for about three years, then started up again when I completed the work."
"So many stories spring from my having spent those six years at the National Gallery from the age of ten, and I have found so many people who are fascinated by it all, I have written down the whole story in every detail, including the very funny ones." All of this will be revealed in Anthony Christian's biography.
