Harry Furniss presents his compliments to the Trustees of the
National Gallery and begs to congratulate them upon the munificent
gifts lately made to them, particularly Mr. Henry Tate's, which
provides the nation with an excellent sample of current art. At the
same time Mr. Harry Furniss feels that having it in his power to
provide a more complete collection of our modern English school, he
is inspired by the generous offers of others to humbly imitate this
good example, and will therefore willingly give his 'Royal Academy'
(parodies on modern painters), better known as 'The Artistic Joke,'
which caused such a sensation in 1887, to the National Gallery if
the Trustees will honour him by accepting the collection."

Yet it was not believed, at least not in Aberdeen, for the leading paper
of the Granite City published the following:

"Someone has played a joke on Mr. Harry Furniss. An announcement
appears this morning to the effect that 'animated by the generosity
of Mr. Henry Tate and other benefactors of the National Gallery,
Mr. Harry Furniss has offered to the Trustees his collection of
illustrations of the work of modern artists recently on view in
Bond Street,' and that he 'has received a communication to the
effect that his offer is under consideration.' I believe no one was
more surprised by this communication than Mr. Furniss. He never
made the offer except possibly in jest to some Member of
Parliament, and naturally he was much surprised to learn that his
offer was 'under consideration.' The illustrations in question
could scarcely be dispensed with by Mr. Furniss, as they are to him
a sort of stock-in-trade."

Not only in Aberdeen but I found generally my seriousness was doubted,
so I reproduce on the opposite page in facsimile the graceful reply of
the authorities of our National Gallery:

The "Artistic Joke" was never intended as an attack on the Royal Academy
at all, as a clear-headed critic wrote:

"It would be more just to regard it as an attempt on Mr. Furniss's
part to show the Academicians the possibilities of real beauty, and
wonder, and pleasure that lie hidden in their work.... On the
whole, the Royal Academicians have never appeared under more
favourable conditions than in this pleasant gallery. Mr. Furniss
has shown that the one thing lacking in them i