Oil painting, Kneeling boy with a sash, attributed to Henry Walton, British school, late 18th century

Kneeling boy, in a white shirt, silk waistcoat and grey trousers, turning to his right. In his right hand he holds a blue sash. On the floor, foreground right, is a dark-grey bundle.

Bequeathed by Claude D. Rotch

Bequeathed by Claude D. Rotch in 1962

Mr. C. D. Rotch, of Wimbledon, London, was a collector with a particular interest in furniture. Like other furniture collectors of the early 20th century he was influenced by the furniture connoisseur and dealer R.W. Symonds. Following the prevailing taste of the time, his collection focused on early to mid-Georgian carved mahogany examples and was later bequeathed to the Victoria and Albert Museum on his death in 1962 (see R.W. Symonds, 'Mr. C.D. Rotch's Collection of Furniture', Country Life, 7 June 1924, pp.937-39). At the time, his bequest was described by the authorities as "The most remarkable single gift of English Furniture ever presented to the Museum". The bequest also included just over twenty 17th, 18th and early 19th century portraits and figure studies, in pastel and in oil, as well as a selection of still lives and animal pictures.

Kneeling boy with a sash is an oil painting on canvas attributed to Henry Walton, bequeathed to the museum by Claude Rotch (1878-1961) in 1962. Walton is best known for his single-figure subjects which show the influence of Jean-Siméon Chardin (1699-1779), a French painter renowned for his simple images of single figures engaged in everyday activities such as building a house of cards. Walton’s Kneeling boy shares the same low-key colour and focus on a single figure as works by Chardin and this no doubt explains its purchase by Rotch who had a taste for works influenced by the French artist.

The format of the painting also draws upon the British tradition of the single-figure ‘fancy picture’. This genre was essentially European in origin and emerged in Britain during the first half of the 18th century, promoted by the French émigré painter Philip Mercier (1689-1760). Single-figure fancy pictures were not portraits but focussed on a subject with the intensity of a portrait, usually showing the subject engaged in some activity, and were designed to please and, in some cases, titillate. Children were the most popular subject matter followed closely by a whole range of colourful characters including market women, servants and old beggars (for a discussion of the fancy picture see, Postle, Martin Angels and Urchins: The Fancy Picture in 18th-century British Art, London, 1998).

However, the unusual pose, composition and unfinished appearance of Kneeling boy indicate that it is more likely to be a sketch for a larger work. In spite of this, the donor of the painting, Claude Rotch, probably purchased it and enjoyed it as if it were a finished fancy picture.

Walton also painted genre scenes with a more serious, satirical edge, conversation pieces and portraits. He exhibited works during the 1770s at the British Society of Artists, where he was elected a fellow and later a director, and at the Royal Academy of Art where he was rejected for membership. He later established himself as a picture dealer and adviser to major private collectors, including Lord Lansdowne, Lord Fitzwilliam and Sir Thomas Beauchamp-Proctor.

Kneeling boy with a sash is an oil painting attributed to Henry Walton which draws upon the work of Jean-Siméon Chardin (1699-1779) and, possibly, the tradition of the single-figure ‘fancy picture’ which emerged in Britain during the first half of the eighteenth century. However, the unusual pose, composition and unfinished appearance of Kneeling boy indicate that it is more likely to be a sketch for a larger work. Walton also painted genre scenes with a more serious satirical edge, conversation pieces and portraits. He exhibited works during the 1770s at the British Society of Artists, where he was elected a fellow and later a director, and at the Royal Academy of Art where he was rejected for membership. He later established himself as a picture dealer and adviser to collectors.

P.37-1962