A Quiet Read, by George Winchester b. 1814 fl. to 1866

A Quiet Read

George Winchester (1814 fl. to 1866)

Oil on canvas

Signed and dated 1859

16 x 12 inches

Exhibited: British Institution, 1860, no. 546

[See commentary by Rupert Maas below]

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"Records tell us that in 1858 George Winchester lived at Northfleet on the Thames, but a wealth of detail in the picture gives us much more information about him: from the high boots under the table and the fishing net on the back of the door, we could have guessed he lived near water. A sketch of a boat spills from his portfolio, together with a sheet signed by the artist and dated 1859. A glance at the mantelpiece tells us that the artist smokes and writes letters. It is a small and modest room, doubling as his studio. The relatively opulent furnishings suggest that he is from a family of some means, but it is all rather masculine, a bachelor's room. Seated in the centre of the room is a pretty girl; we are not shown a wedding ring, and she has not tidied up the artist's things in a wifely way, but she is too well-dressed to be a model, and she has brought flowers."

"The clock and the daylight tell us it is twenty past eleven in the morning. The Evening Standard lying with the carelessly dropped hat and coat had only been published since the 11th of June that very year, in London. So, we may infer that having arrived back late the night before, he dumped his things on the floor, and has overslept this morning whilst the girl waits. The reason for his trip? He has had a painting rejected by the Royal Academy for the summer exhibition of 1859, the notice is under his palette — and has immediately gone up to town to submit this picture to the British Institution for their February show in the new year instead. Their notice is under his hat. The painting was exhibited there in 1860, for sale at 15 guineas."

"This story in a picture, so wittily told, evidently charmed the selection committee of the British Institution. But there is a romantic postscript: the census of 1861 lists the artist as married to Elizabeth Winchester and living at Addington Villa, Margate." — Rupert Maas

References

The Maas Gallery. Exhibition catalogue. London, 2008. Catalogue no. 75.

Last modified 6 July 2008