Neapolitan mother and child
© National Portrait Gallery, London
Neapolitan mother and child
possibly by Sir Charles Lock Eastlake
brown wash, 1825
9 3/8 in. x 7 1/4 in. (240 mm x 185 mm)
Purchased, 1955
Primary Collection
NPG 3944(25)
Artistback to top
- Sir Charles Lock Eastlake (1793-1865), Painter; President of the Royal Academy and Director of the National Gallery; Trustee of the National Portrait Gallery. Artist or producer associated with 2 portraits, Sitter in 15 portraits.
This portraitback to top
As expatriate British artists visiting and living in Italy travelled through the Italian peninsular, they encountered local characters. Indeed Italian peasants (contadini) are to be found frequently in the artist John Partridge's sketchbook that he kept during his Italian tour between 1823 and 1827. They appear either as characters in landscapes, scenes of everyday life or as individual figure studies. Cradling her baby, the young woman here wears the traditional Neapolitan dress that is frequently worn by the contadinas in Eastlake's paintings of the 1820s and 1830s. A tender image, this figure study is no doubt influenced by Renaissance representations of the Madonna and Child.
Linked displays and exhibitionsback to top
- British Artists in Rome: The John Partridge Sketchbook, 1823 - 27 (21 August 2010 - 27 March 2011)
Subjects & Themesback to top
Events of 1825back to top
Current affairs
Strikes, contract breaking and worker intimidation prompt the passing of a new Anti-Trade Union Combination Act to the dismay of economist John McCulloch, MP Joseph Hume and radical Francis Place who had worked for the repeal of the previous year.Catholic Relief Bill is rejected by the House of Lords.
Art and science
Construction of Thames Tunnel begins under the direction of Marc Isambard Brunel.Stockton to Darlington Railway, the world's first passenger system, opens.
William Hazlitt publishes The Spirit of the Age; twenty-five pen-portraits of his contemporaries in the world of literature, philosophy and politics.
International
Beethoven's Ninth Symphony premieres in London.John Quincy Adams is elected President of the United States.
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