Claudian fantasy

This 17 meter long mural on the dining room wall of Anglesey stately home Plas Newydd is the largest canvas painting in the UK, full of hidden details and references to both Rex Whistlers and the Paget family history, from their involvement in Waterloo to their picturesque views of snowdonia. Almost 3D looking crests and countless levels of details will leave you wanting to study it for hours, so it comes as no surprise that even Poseidon wanted to leave the painting to get a better look.

31 year old Rex Whistler was commissioned to paint the dinning room at Plas Newydd in 1936 by the 6th marquess of Anglesey Charles Paget, when the family moved into the Anglesey country home full time after selling their family home in Staffordshire. The main body of the work was sketched down in his studio in London before transferring it up to Anglesey to finish and glue up the painting, giving enough time for the Marquess to request a few paintings including getting rid of a few ships because he thought it was too busy and replaced it with a tower covered in scaffolding, when later asked why the building still had scaffolding on he told the Marquess it was in case he had to take the tower down again.

The mural is littered with references that pay homage to the family as well as the artist himself with their coat of arms blazoned in the stonework at the quayside, the family dogs lounging on some stone steps and even the lord of the house as a small boy stealing apples in the background. His details to the painting shows how much Rex Whistler loved the Paget family and one family member in particular, Caroline Paget, with images of Romeo beneath Juliet’s balcony and even a self portrait of Rex himself forever sweeping leaves to symbolise his unrequited love for the lords daughter. One of the most famous aspects of the painting to look out for are the watery footsteps leading into the dining room with a crown and trident leaning next to a nearby post, as if Poseidon himself had graced the family for breakfast.

This was unfortunately the last full piece that Rex Whistler ever painted as shortly after completing it he left to fight in World War II as a Lieutenant in the Welsh guards and he regrettably died in Normandy July 1944.