Lot Essay
The present picture, a key work of Wilkie's early activity, was probably begun in 1817 and certainly finished by early April 1818. Cunningham states that Wilkie painted it for Sir John Swinburne and records the price paid as ninety guineas but, while there is no reason to doubt the figure, there is no evidence that the picture was commissioned by Swinburne, and it seems quite possible that he bought this at the 1818 Academy exhibition.
The open door through the wall on the left and the house beyond were first described by Wilkie, in reverse, in A walled Garden behind a House (private collection), a small work almost certainly painted in the summer of 1816 while the artist was on a visit to Little Bealings, the house of a Mr. Edwards in Suffolk. The architectural elements reappear, with minor variations, in The China Menders which was exhibited at the British Institution in 1819 (untraced since 1921). It is also interesting to note that, of the figures, the head of the old woman bears a resemblance to one in Distraining for Rent (National Gallery of Scotland), exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1815, where she appears in the group behind the table. The buildings as a whole seem to reflect those in Adriaen van Ostade's Cottage Doorway (Washington, National Gallery of Art) - a picture once in Thomas Hope's collection which Wilkie is recorded as having visited in 1806 and 1808, and probably in 1809.
A drawing, described as The Well: first study for the Errand Boy, - chalk and pen and ink, was included as lot 6 in the Wilkie Trustees' sale in these rooms on 20 June 1860 (7s. to Craig); and a sketch, which may have been in oil or watercolour, was included in the Wilkie Memorial Exhibition at the British Institution in 1842, no. 86. The present whereabouts of both these works are unknown.
Sir Charles Tennant, 1st Bt. (1823-1906), the prominent Glasgow industrialist, formed a notable collection of British pictures with the help of W. Morland Agnew. This included ten works by Reynolds and major portraits by other artists, including Hoppner's Frankland Sisters (Washington, National Gallery of Art), as well as works by comtemporary painters such as Orchardson and Millais.
We are very grateful to Professor Hamish Miles, O.B.E., for his help in preparing this catalogue entry.
The open door through the wall on the left and the house beyond were first described by Wilkie, in reverse, in A walled Garden behind a House (private collection), a small work almost certainly painted in the summer of 1816 while the artist was on a visit to Little Bealings, the house of a Mr. Edwards in Suffolk. The architectural elements reappear, with minor variations, in The China Menders which was exhibited at the British Institution in 1819 (untraced since 1921). It is also interesting to note that, of the figures, the head of the old woman bears a resemblance to one in Distraining for Rent (National Gallery of Scotland), exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1815, where she appears in the group behind the table. The buildings as a whole seem to reflect those in Adriaen van Ostade's Cottage Doorway (Washington, National Gallery of Art) - a picture once in Thomas Hope's collection which Wilkie is recorded as having visited in 1806 and 1808, and probably in 1809.
A drawing, described as The Well: first study for the Errand Boy, - chalk and pen and ink, was included as lot 6 in the Wilkie Trustees' sale in these rooms on 20 June 1860 (7s. to Craig); and a sketch, which may have been in oil or watercolour, was included in the Wilkie Memorial Exhibition at the British Institution in 1842, no. 86. The present whereabouts of both these works are unknown.
Sir Charles Tennant, 1st Bt. (1823-1906), the prominent Glasgow industrialist, formed a notable collection of British pictures with the help of W. Morland Agnew. This included ten works by Reynolds and major portraits by other artists, including Hoppner's Frankland Sisters (Washington, National Gallery of Art), as well as works by comtemporary painters such as Orchardson and Millais.
We are very grateful to Professor Hamish Miles, O.B.E., for his help in preparing this catalogue entry.