Alice in Wonderland. 1879. Oil on canvas. 31 5/8 x 44 inches (81.4 x 111.8 cm). Collection of Brighton & Have Museums, accession no. FA0000381. Image via Art UK, used for non-commercial research. [Click on the images to enlarge them.]
Leslie exhibited this painting at the Royal Academy in 1879, no. 72. It features a mother sitting on a sofa and reading Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland to her young daughter, who is snuggled close to her enthralled by the story. Carroll's novel was first published in 1865 and proved to be immensely popular. The model for the child is definitely Leslie's elder daughter Alice, who was born in 1872, making her seven years old at the time. The figure for the mother was probably Leslie's wife Lydia Fenwick. Alice wears a light blue dress covered by a white pinafore. Her mother wears a tan day dress buttoned up the front with a bustle on the back. This is in keeping with Victorian fashion of the day and far different from the simple "Aesthetic dress" favoured by the wives of many of the Pre-Raphaelite painters like Georgiana Burne-Jones or Jane Morris. Alice has a small bouquet of buttercups on her lap. In the Victorian language of flowers buttercups were mainly associated with youthfulness and the innocence of childhood. Leslie has introduced a sinister note into the composition, however, with the addition of the child's doll on the sofa's cushion, which is used to reflect the morals of the day. The doll is dressed in black and lying horizontally signifying the death of innocence while her missing shoe indicates loose morals. Perhaps Leslie added this to reflect the dangers the book's heroine Alice faced while in Wonderland. The sofa's particular pattern is one that dates back to the time of the Italian Renaissance. The shape of the sofa adds depth into the composition which otherwise would not exist therefore making it less two-dimensional. The background is a simple painted grey wall so as not to distract from the interaction between mother and child.
When this work was exhibited at the Royal Academy it was generally admired by the critics but not extensively discussed. F. G. Stephens in The Athenaeum was an exception:
Another picture by Mr. Leslie is called Alice in Wonderland (72), and it represents a little girl seated at her mother's side on a couch, listening to the reading by the latter of the well-known legend, and exhibiting that half-happy, half-puzzled air which characterizes children who are not accustomed to concentrate their thoughts on a progressive story. A doll and yellow flowers lie neglected. By far the finest part of this picture is the child's face, with the 'crumpled' forehead, bent eyebrows, set eyes, and indrawn lips. The execution of this face is equal to its expression; solid, careful, bright and clear as it is, we take this part of the work to be Mr. Leslie's masterpiece in the class to which it belongs: but the picture is needlessly hard. [574]
Closer view of the mother and child.
The Spectator merely stated: "Alice in Wonderland, by Mr. G. D. Leslie, R.A, is a fresh picture, the subject of which is a girl reading aloud to her younger sister, and the most prominent object a striped blue and white chintz-covered sofa" (757). The reviewer for The Illustrated London News liked Leslie's portrayal of the child: "Mr. G. D. Leslie's principal picture represents a little girl nestling in the lap of her mother, who, seated on a sofa covered with quaint blue-patterned chintz and bending fondly over her little one, is reading Alice in Wonderland (72) to dispel a disposition to fretfulness that came when the child was tired of her doll and her flowers, and is still visible in her face, though passing as her attention becomes engaged by the fairytale" (415). The Portfolio found this work a departure from Leslie's general treatment of children: "In Alice in Wonderland Mr. Leslie has departed from his usual custom of painting such children only as they are almost too lovely for this world, and the present picture depends a good deal on the expression of puzzled wonder on the face of the child who listens to the reading of the delightful story" (106). Henry Blackburn in his Academy Notes concisely reported: "Alice in Wonderland. G. D. Leslie R.A. Delicate tints; pale brown dress and blue of chintz. The face of the child and the texture of the chintz are admirably painted. This is Mr. Leslie's principal picture" (13).
Bibliography
"Art Chronicle. The Royal Academy." The Portfolio X (1879): 105-06.
"Art. The Royal Academy." The Spectator LII (June 14, 1879): 756-58.
Blackburn, Henry. Academy Notes. London: Chatto and Windus, Issue V, 1879, 13.
"The Royal Academy Exhibition." The Illustrated London News LXXIV (May 3, 18979): 414-15.
Stephens, Frederic George. "The Royal Academy." The Athenaeum No. 2688 (May 3, 1879(: 571-76.
Created 10 August 2023