LUKE CLENNELL 99 



of Bridgewater requested Clennell to paint a large 

 picture to commemorate the meeting of " The 

 Allied Sovereigns at the Guildhall Banquet ' 

 after Waterloo, a work which may fairly be 

 termed one of international interest. Clennell 

 experienced infinite difficulty in obtaining the 

 necessary sketches of the great personages who 

 attended that memorable banquet and who were 

 therefore to figure on his canvas, and the artistic 

 temperament suffered under the stress of worry 

 thus caused. With increasing fame, too, had 

 come increasing work. Clennell was literally the 

 victim of his own success, and a career which 

 gave every promise of leading to the greatest 

 heights of artistic fame came to a most painful 

 close. The Guildhall Banquet picture was never 

 painted, for Clennell's mind gave way under the 

 strain of overwork, and in his thirty-sixth year he 

 became hopelessly insane. To make matters worse 

 his wife was soon afterwards overtaken by the 

 same disorder, and their children were thus 

 deprived of both parents and left unprovided for. 

 For their benefit " The Decisive Charge of the 

 Life Guards at Waterloo " was engraved by 

 Bromley and published by subscription, the sum 

 so realised being invested for Clennell's family. 



Thus sadly ended the artistic career of a painter 

 and engraver who had done much, and must, under 



