拍品專文
This previously lost piece of juvenilia was executed by the twenty-five year old artist whilst he was still developing both style and subject matter. The painting is mentioned in Leader's diary as one of four paintings (possibly the third, hence the inscription 'No. 3' on the label) that he sent to the Portland Gallery for the National Insititution Exhibition in 1857. Leader later added under this entry: 'I think these pictures were the first exhibited after changing my name; 29.1.1869'. Leader, born Benjamin Williams, added the surname Leader to distinguish himself from the Williams family of artists to whom he was not related. Although this sketch of 1856 is signed 'B. Leader', the artist later signed himself B. W. Leader, suggesting a degree of discomfort at the loss of his family name. The sketch was undoubtedly executed at one one of the many farms near Diglis House, Worcester, the Williams' family home for many years. In the careful deployment of red and white highights, and in the way in which the eye is drawn diagonally into the picture, Leader can be seen to be experimenting with motifs he was later to use to great effect.