The Köninck Portrait of Dr W.G. Grace
There are still certain points which need clearing up on the subject of the disputed portrait of The Great Doctor.
The dust of controversy has settled, by now. Yet it is amusing to recall that fifty years ago the Köninck portrait of Grace was always reproduced as a proof that the famous beard was false.
Grace certainly used his beard like a good gamesman, and no doubt this fact, and the obvious advantages of a large black beard, gave rise to the rumour. It was said that the join of the beard to the neck (N on the picture) was faked. Mr Samuel Courtauld first came into prominence as an investigator of pictures by stepping forward to point out that at the mouth (M on the picture) the join was obviously natural.
The extraordinary success of Grace as a gamesman has led to an astounding crop of stories associated with his name. Half the cricket theorists in England have vied with each other in the invention of the unlikeliest tales.
The Gladstonian Theory
Ridiculous theories were particularly rife in 1888 as to the 'real identity' of The Great Doctor. The Köninck portrait usually figures largely in these discussions.
If the cap in the portrait is supposed to show the colours of the Wanderers, why the monogram? And if the monogram shown is that of the Gloucester Colts, why the button on the top of the head? Microscopic examination has shown, too, that the shirt, instead of buttoning left over right, folds right over left. Was Grace a woman?
The theory that Grace was really Gladstone became, of course, the sporting sensation of the century. The doctrine is based on the 'concealed meaning' of two words, the most important words spoken by Gladstone in the whole of his career, or at any rate, the words which he seemed to wish the world to believe the most important. This was his as-severation, when he first assumed the office of Prime Minister, that pacify Ireland was to be his mission. The theory is, of course, that when Gladstone spoke of Ireland, he was referring not to the famous country but to J. H.Ireland, the Australian fast bowler.
The one man who knew the answer to the secret - R. G. S. (Flicker') Wilson - kept his mouth - now closed for ever - firmly shut during his lifetime. It is certainly true that Gladstone, if he had in fact been Grace, would have had more reason to fear the Ireland of the cricketing world, and indeed Gladstone's suddenly assumed interest in Ireland is difficult to explain. Gladstonians have gone to fantastic lengths to read double meanings into the wordings of Gladstone's Home Rule Bills.
They prove, to their own conviction at any rate, that it was Home Rule for England which was Gladstone's main concern, foreseeing as he undoubtedly did the menace of Australian Test Match cricket. But the whole theory breaks down, surely, on the question of dates.
Is it true that Grace was never seen batting at Lords during the Midlothian campaign?
What is the value of the evidence of D. Bell that his grandfather once thought he heard Grace laughing in the Long Room' during this period?
Again, J. H. Ireland was only twenty-six when Gladstone assumed office. His play had been reported in The Times, but only three members of the M.C.C. had seen him bowl, including Price. And it is I suppose just conceivably possible that Gladstone did frequently refer to 'Price's Message', if by a simple transliteration references to Lord Rosebery can be shown to be references to Price.
But Grace or Gladstone, who cares? As any sportsman will say, here was some magnificent cricket played by a magnificent cricketer, who gave pleasure to the world, be his name what it may.
Holdengräber says that their mutual friend, eccentric German filmmaker Werner Herzog, urged him to ask Tyson why he’s so fascinated by Clovis, the founder of the Merovingian Frankish Dynasty, and Pepin the Short, the first Carolingian king of the Franks.
Tyson’s Answer, however halting, makes him Come Alive :
“I don’t know — it all comes from my insecurity from being poor, and not having enough — to be insecure, and being — yeah, that’s what it is : obscure.
I never wanted to be obscure.
I was born in obscurity and I never wanted to deal with that again, never wanted to be that.
And they came from obscurity.”
