After Frederick Walker (1840–1875) - 19th Century Embroidery, The Vagrants

Description

Taken from Frederick Walkers' 1868 painting 'The Vagrants'.

Walker painted this after seeing a gypsy family on Clapham Common, south London. Initially he tried to use the gypsies as models but found that they had moved on, instead he used his sister Polly. The background landscape was painted in the open air at Croydon. 'The Vagrants' was originally an illustration in the magazine 'Once a Week', however Walker continued to work on it, transforming it into an oil painting to show at the Royal Academy.

Paint on silk with embroidery details to the figures and foreground. Well presented in a gilt effect frame.

Unsigned.

Condition

The condition is typical for a picture of this age including some discolouration. Minor wear to the frame, small losses to the lower right edge and corners. Otherwise in fine condition.

Size

33.4 x 47.4cm (13.1" x 18.7")
Framed Size: 53 x 67cm (20.9" x 26.4")

Artist Biography

Frederick Walker ARA RWS (1840 -1875) was a British social realist painter and illustrator, described by Sir John Everett Millais as "the greatest artist of the century". The younger of eight children, Walker was born into an artistic family; his grandfather William Walker had been an artist of some merit, who had exhibited regularly at the Royal Academy. After showing great promise as a young child Walker became a student at the Royal Academy in 1858. Walker produced his first important watercolour, Strange face in 1862, and in the following year won a medal at the Paris Exhibition of 1867. Walker exhibited at the Royal Watercolour Society from 1864 until the end of his life. In 1863 Walker exhibited his first oil painting, The Lost Path at the Royal Academy of Arts, and thereafter showed The Vagrants (1868). In 1871 he was elected an Associate Royal Academician (ARA).