'£1,000 Painting' Boy Is Broke

Perched on a make-shift shelf in a Bayswater bedsitter is a painting the artist believes is worth £1,000. But 16-year-old Anthony Christian-Howard, who painted it, says: "I am destitute."

The magnificent picture is the only copy of Phillip Wouwermans' "Cavalry Battle" which hangs in the National Gallery, Trafalgar Square. Anthony started painting it at the age of 10. Since he finished the work a few weeks ago, there have been many admirers - but no takers.

Anthony, who changed his name from Howard Clanford, says a well known art critic has put the £1,000 valuation on it. Experts at the National Gallery thought it was so good that they stamped the canvas "copy" to ensure that it was not passed off as the Dutch 17th-century painter's masterpiece. The picture, which measures 6ft. by 4ft. 6in., depicts cavalry men making a sortie from a fort on a hill.

He left home

Young Anthony scoured art shops throughout London to obtain the same pigments used by Wouwermans 300 years ago. The boy, who has wanted to be an artist since he can remember, left home two years ago and was at one time in the care of Middlesex County Council. When he is not painting in his room at Inverness Terrace, Bayswater, he does odd jobs to buy food and materials.

Says Anthony: "I honestly don't know where my next meal is coming from. "I have worked as a dishwasher and furniture remover; but I don't earn enough to pay my way. I desperately need a place to exhibit my work and I am sure I would be a success."

Portraits

Anthony, a towering six-footer, has never worked in a proper studio. He did some of his paintings in a disused coal-shed. "If I get the break I need, I would like to paint religious murals," he said. Anthony has painted several portraits including one of Mr. C.H. Gibbs-Smith, keeper of Museum Extension Services at the Victoria and Albert Museum, Kensington.

Anthony Christian's "The Battle Scene" was completed in 1961. It took him over six years to complete, during which time he had received offers up to £8000. It was his first major work and is currently on display in The ICHOR Gallery in Yorkshire.
For more information, call +44 (0) 113 281 1223 or email maura@ichorgallery.com to contact the artists.