Page:Hutton, William Holden - Hampton Court (1897).djvu/287

Rh and human, prepares us for his greatest work, "The Death of General Wolfe" (No. 320). This is the highwater mark of his style. He had dared to paint military scenes without a cloak of classicalism. He dressed his soldiers as they lived. It was a veritable revolution, and it may be said to have founded a whole modern school of art. Though they have long ago cast off his stiffness, his classical poses, his methodical arrangement, our modern battle-painters may trace their origin to Benjamin West. And "The Death of General Wolfe" is really a triumph of its kind. Careful as is the grouping, it is not too obviously artificial; skilful as is the lighting of the picture, it is not unnatural. And the scene is told with sober sincerity, honesty, and with a genuine pathos.

What a furore it created we all know, from the popularity of the engravings of it, and the host of imitations which the next fifty years produced. For half a century there was not a prominent military death which was not painted in a composition more or less closely modelled on West's chef d'œuvre. From Copley, also an American, to the artists who painted Nelson's battles, the line continues. It is hardly even now extinct.

"The Death of Wolfe" is a picture easy enough to sneer at, but in historical interest, in sympathy, in composition, and in colour, it is a work which is worthy of a full and respectful attention. The "West Room" at Hampton Court is not the least interesting or characteristic in historic attractions of the Palace.