The Life of a Painter. By Sir John Lavery. (Cassell.
x8s.)
ONE of the best stories in Sir John Lavery's autobiography records how Lady Oxford, at a dinner party, said that she wanted him to come and see her Lavery—and promptly showed him a picture by de Laszlo. There is not much simi- larity between the pictures of the two, but their lives have a certain resemblance. Both were born poor, both served an apprenticeship as photographers' assistants, both were lucky in their first commissions, and both in time won through to fame and fortune, largely through their personal charm. As authors, there is no resemblance between them ; such auto- biography as de Laszlo wrote was unreadable, Sir John's memoirs are a continuous delight. He writes of his life with perfect candour, and his pages are packed with good stories. His pages on Irish politicians are not without a certain importance, for he knew some of the Irish leaders at the time of the Treaty intimately, and what he writes about their activities in London just before the Treaty was signed differs in a few small but interesting details from the commonly accepted version of events.
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