A Critical Moment (A House of Cards)

Harry Brooker was a domestic genre painter in the tradition of artists such as Thomas Webster (see lots 45 & 46), F.D. Hardy (see lots 101 & 123) both members of the Cranbrook Colony. His paintings of interior scenes reveal the warmth and humour of Victorian domestic life, and he is particularly known for his senstive and charming depictions of children. He was from an artistic family and his uncle Charles Hunt is represented in this sale (lots 44 & 249). When first married, he lived in Southport, touring Wales as a private art tutor and exhibiting three works at the Royal Manchester Institution. He later moved back to London and exhibited at the Royal Academy and at the Royal Society of British Artists, Suffolk Street.