The Sisters Lloyd at the Old Bedford

Music halls were popular venues in the Victorian era and the Old Bedford, the location depicted in this work, was one of the largest and most famous. Sickert visited these venues regularly, and his inspiration for depicting these new forms of entertainment, stemmed partly from French artists, including Degas’ depictions of Parisian Café Concerts and theatres. Sickert, however, was one of the first artists to examine scenes of popular entertainment in a British art context outside of the graphic tradition of artists such as Charles Keene - whom he greatly admired. Sickert's focus in these works is not only the thrill of seeing performers onstage but also the incidental performativity of the audience, as well as the decorative theatricality of the architecture. As in the present work, Sickert often chose to focus on the audience from behind, inviting the viewer to feel at once a part of the spectacle and yet distant from the subjects.

The composition of the group who played as 'The Sisters Lloyd' changed over the years. The original two 'Sisters', probably the pair represented in this painting, were Rosie Lloyd and her cousin Bella Orchard. Their career, according to the music-hall gazettes, began in 1888. Bella Orchard was dropped from the group as soon as two more Lloyd sisters, Gracie and Alice, were old enough to go on stage (see W. Baron, 2006, loc. cit.).

We are very grateful to Dr Wendy Baron for her assistance in cataloguing this lot.