334 CURSORY OBSBRVATIONS 



that the general and his army are British, and the tattooed Indian 

 warrior tells the country in which the battle was fought. If all 

 this be not information, then I may be allowed to add — take away 

 the American Indian, and the British uniforms ; strip off the cloth- 

 ing of the dying general and his officers, and exhibit all present in 

 the same attitudes, in a state of nudity, and the picture would be no 

 illustration ; it could not convey any information what battle it re- 

 ferred to, or of what nations the contending armies were composed. 

 Ridiculous as this supposition may appear, it was realized by Barry, 

 who, about the same time, in the pride of his anatomical science, 

 painted a battle of naked warriors, and exhibited it as a representa- 

 tion of the death of General Wolfe. This strange production was 

 looked on to be altogether so deficient in the information which 

 it ought to convey, that it was generally censured and treated with 

 public derision ; in consequence of which, the mortified painter 

 never after exhibited any of his works at the Royal Academy. 



Mr. Gait has stated that, when West was commencing his paint- 

 ing of the death of General Wolfe, Sir Joshua Reynolds urged him 

 to paint the actors " in the classic costume of antiquity," being that 

 of Greece or Rome, as most dignified. This reasoning was rather 

 singular from the first president, whose good sense, and fine taste, 

 were prominent features of his mind. But West justly considered, 

 if he were to adopt the advice, his picture would not convey any 

 information of " the time and people" to be represented, and, there- 

 fore, would be an untrue story. He said, ^' I consider myself as 

 undertaking to tell this great event to the eye of the world ; but if, 

 instead of the facts of the transaction, I represent classical fictions, 

 how shall I be understood by posterity ?" He, therefore, deeming 

 it his duty to convey correct information by his pencil, followed his 

 own views, and, after the painting was finished, received the appro- 

 bation of Reynolds. There is no question but the rejected advice 

 far exceeded any justifiable license allowed to painting; for an ad- 

 herence to propriety of costume, in historical representation, had 

 been long established, as a first principle, in the old schools. 



Northcote gave me a different version of this advice, which he 

 said he had received from Reynolds himself; it was that the latter 

 advised West not to undertake a subject which would require him 



