Boy with Arrow
- Object:
- Place of origin:
- Date:
- Artist/Maker:
- Materials and Techniques:
- Credit Line:
Bequeathed by Rupert Gunnis
- Museum number:
- Gallery location:
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Dummy boards are life-size, flat, wooden figures painted and shaped in outline to resemble figures of servants, soldiers, children, and animals. The taste for using illusionistic painted figures as a form of house decoration probably originated in the trompe l’oeil, or life-like interior scenes painted by Dutch artists in the early 17th century. Dummy boards continued to be produced into the 19th century. They were placed in corners and on stairways to surprise visitors, or in front of empty fireplaces in the summer. Most were made by professional sign-painters, who also produced the hanging street signs prevalent until the late 18th century.
This example has the proportions of a child and probably shows a boy, to judge by his boyish face, close-cropped hair and the feather in his right hand which might be an arrow. He also holds something in his left hand, possibly a bow. His clothes indicate a date of 1610 to 1625, when aristocratic boys frequently wore dresses beyond infancy.
Physical description
Cut-out painted figure on board, child-size, wearing a dress and holding a feather, possibly an arrow, in the right hand, and holding something in the left, possibly a bow. Short hair, lace collar and cuffs.
Place of Origin
Great Britain, UK (made)
Date
1610-1625 (made)
Artist/maker
Unknown (production)
Materials and Techniques
Oil on wood
Dimensions
Height: 98 cm, Width: 58 cm, Depth: 2.5 cm board, Depth: 19 cm stand
Object history note
Bequeathed by Rupert Gunnis along with a large collection of paintings and sculpture. No further information provided about the board, which was described as a 'fire-screen'.
Historical context note
Clare Graham identified the figure as a boy in her Shire publication, 1988, and this was confirmed by Susan North in 2007 comparing it to contemporary portraits. Aristocratic boys were dressed in skirts beyond infancy in the early 17th century. Once they started wearing breeches they passed from their mother's exclusive care. Boys in portraits were usually given male attributes such as bows and arrows. This boy holds a feather in his right hand, possibly an arrow, and an indistinguishable object in his left, possibly a bow. His hair is short and his face boyish. Girls in portraits, in contrast, had more elaborate hairstyles, often wore jewellery and held female attributes such as flowers or birds.
Descriptive line
Dummy board, oil on wood panel, boy holding an arrow, British, 1610-1625
Bibliographic References (Citation, Note/Abstract, NAL no)
Graham, Clare. Dummy Boards and Chimney Boards. Shire Album 214, Aylesbury: Shire Publications Ltd, 1988. 32 p., ill. ISBN 085263921X.
Materials
Wood
Techniques
Painting
Subjects depicted
Boy; Childhood
Categories
Children & Childhood; Paintings; Children's clothes
Collection code
FWK
