Whistling

Returning to the great work of Rex Whistler (Hi 1919) here is the self portrait he put into the great mural in the dining room at Plas Newydd.

It is an extraordianry piece full of references to the Anglesey family and places associated with them. The tromp l'oile effects are stupendous, mountains which change their aspect as you walk down the room and footprints which seem to change their direction depending where one views them from. There are all sorts of places from London to Venice to Brighton in the painting, but not Haileybury I think.

Tromp l'oeil

Being the father of sons one tries to make history interesting and the anecdote of Lord Anglesey (Then still Lord Uxbridge) at Waterloo fits the bill. As the last shots of the battle were fired a stray shot smashed his leg. Turning to Wellington who was just next to him he commented with immense sang froid, "By God sir, I've lost my leg," to which the Iron Duke replied, 'By God sir, so you have." There is a story that he went on the anniversary of the battle to dine with his sons at the table on which the amputation was performed. 

He had the first fully articulate wooden leg made and would walk eight miles a day on it round his estate at Plas Newydd on Anglesy.

So on holiday we went to visit Lord Anglsey's wooden leg. The gracious House at Pals Newydd is in the care of the National Trust. One of its glories is the dining room, decorated with a superb and enormous tromp l'oeil mural by Rex Whistler (Hi 1919). In an adjoining room there is a small Whistler Museum featuring a number of his sketches, letters and designs for stage sets. There is a page of characatures similar to those he made of Haileybury beaks which you can see in Imogen Thomas's Haileybury 1806 - 1987.

Whistler's time at Prep school is mentioned and his training at the Slade, but not Haileybury.