The sewing Class

The village schoolroom was a recurring subject in Victorian painting. It offered the opportunity to combine an affectionate portrayal of the activities of young children - whether they be engaged in obedient play or endearing mischief - with a message of virtue being at its best in humble surroundings. The cause of social improvement, moreover, was a very pressing contemporary theme with the first grant of public money for educational purposes having been made in 1833. It was not, however, until Forster's Education Act of 1870 that education was recognised as a public service and increased grants were made to existing Church schools, as well as the establishment of local boards empowered to set up new schools, and only in 1880 was attendance at school made compulsory.

John Morgan, the father of Fred (see lots 151 & 170), specialised in tender depictions of children and often used a schoolroom as his setting. The interior in the present work, most likely the village school at Leighton Buzzard, would appear to be the same as that used for his Royal Academy submission of 1870, A Village School in Bedfordshire, 1869. A further classroom interior by John Morgan is in the collection of the Mappin Art Gallery, Sheffield.

We are grateful to Terry Parker for his assistance in preparing this catalogue entry.