BOTH ORIGINALS

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 207, 17 September 1937, Page 4

BOTH ORIGINALS

— Press Association.)

Paintings of "Simpson and His Donkey" ONLY DIFFERENCE IS SIZE

tBy 'felegraph-

AUCKLAND, Last Night. Two copies of the famous picture, "Simpson and His Donkey," differing in size and in some Of the details, were painted at the same time by the late Sapper H. Moore-Jones, according to Mr A. A. Sckmidt, the Auckland artist, who was a close friend of Mr Moore-Jones and saw him at work. "The painting possessed by the Auckland Commercial Travellers ' and Warehousemen's Association and that which was sent to England were painted at the same time, but the oue now in Auckland was linished first," said Mr Schmidt. "I was frequently with Mr Moore-Jones while he was doing theso pictures. As far as I can remember, the painting sent to England was much smaller than that now in the Commercial Travellers' Club, and it was because of its smaller size that it was sent for reproduetion by the London Publishing Company. There were some slight difllerences in the two paintings. the wounded soldier's head in one case resting further back on the shoulder of^ the soldier standing beside tho donkey.'' Referring to the photograplx obtained by Mr Moore-Jones, Mr Schmidt said that it was a small snapshot, 24in. by 3Mn. It was used by the artist merely to get a likeness of Simpson, the driver of tho ambulance donkey who was known to Peninsula soldiers as ! ' Murphy. ' ' "There is a lot of quibbling about these pictures," Mr Schmidt continued, "They are both original, for they were worked upon at the same time. Anyhow, it is an artist 's privilege to paint tlie same subject over and over again, and I consider that such pictures are all originais, The Old Masters did the same thiug. "