HC Deb 28 April 1884 vol 287 cc737-8
MR. PULESTON

asked the First Commissioner of Works, Whether he is prepared to confirm the statement made in the Report of the Committee on the Wellington Statue, that the Duke did not sit to the sculptor, and that Copenhagen was dead before the statue was commenced; whether the order for a new statue has been given to Mr. Boehm; and, if so, whether such order will be countermanded; and, whether he will advise the reference of the whole matter to a Select Committee of this House? He might say, in explanation, that he had no intention in putting the Question of casting any reflection upon the distinguished character of Mr. Boehm as a sculptor.

SIR ROBERT PEEL

asked when it was proposed to take the Report of the Vote?

MR. SHAW LEFEVRE

I received on Saturday a letter from the present Duke of Wellington, to the effect that a letter had been laid before him by the Duke of Rutland, from his father to Mr. Wyatt, the sculptor, written in 1838, offering to show himself on horseback to that gentleman; and he adds that he thinks it probable that this took place. He says, however, that the head of the statue was taken by Wyatt from a bust of the Duke by Nollekens, who had modelled the Duke at the time of Waterloo; and he adds that in some important respects the statue does not represent the dress which the Duke wore at that battle. There is no doubt that the horse Copenhagen died three years before the statue was commenced, and that a well-known horse, called Recovery, was the model for the statue. In any case, the present Duke's opinion is not altered as to what should now be done; and he has renewed to me this approval of the scheme now before the House. No order has yet been given to Mr. Boehm for the statue. As all the facts are before the House I think there is no necessity for a Committee. The Report of the Vote will not be taken to-night.

MR. PULESTON

Does the Chief Commissioner confirm the statement in the Report that the Duke did not sit to Mr. Wyatt; and has the right hon. Gentleman's attention been called to the Report of the Committee of 1839 to this effect— His Grace has teen so kind as to comply with our wishes in sitting to the artist in the clothes he wore at Waterloo?

MR. SHAW LEFEVRE

I think there is no doubt that the Duke did sit, not for the statue, but for the sketch to Mr. Wyatt, in 1838 and 1839. But it is equally true that Mr. Wyatt found it more convenient to take the head from the bust that had been made by Nollekens.