Physical description
This painting also originally bore a literary quotation with its title: 'the cheerfulness of innocence serves to mitigate distress' taken from Wordsworth. The sickness and death of children was common throughout the social classes in nineteenth-century England, and was a constant theme in art and literature from the 1830s. A special impetus was given by Dickens, whose death of young Paul in Dombey and Son (1847-8) and of Little Nell in The Old Curiosity Shop (1841) reached the hearts and minds of most of the reading public. Webster appeals to our emotions by contrasting the two children dancing to the music of the itinerant organ-grinder with the sick girl and her sympathetically morose brother. The picture was much admired by contemporary critics, not only for its sweetness of sentiment but for its careful handling of paint.
Place of Origin
England, Great Britain (painted)
Date
1843 (painted)
Artist/maker
Webster, Thomas (RA), born 1800 - died 1886 (artist)
Materials and Techniques
oil on panel
Marks and inscriptions
'T. Webster./1843'
Dimensions
Height: 50.7 cm estimate, Width: 81 cm estimate, Height: 65 cm framed, Width: 98 cm framed
Object history note
Given by John Sheepshanks, 1857
Descriptive line
Oil painting entitled 'Sickness and Health' by Thomas Webster. Great Britain, 1843.
Bibliographic References (Citation, Note/Abstract, NAL no)
Catalogue of British Oil Paintings 1820-1860, Ronald Parkinson, Victoria and Albert Museum, London: HMSO, 1990, p. 297
The following is the full text of the entry:
"WEBSTER, Thomas, RA (1800-1886)
Born Pimlico, London, 20 March 1800, son of a member of staff of the Royal Household. Chorister in Chapel Royal, entered RA Schools 1821, winning gold medal 1824. In a long and successful career, exhibited 83 works at the RA between 1823 and 1879, 39 at the BI 1824-44, and eight at the SBA 1825-34. Early pictures were portraits and historical subjects, but following success of 'Rebels Shooting a Prisoner' (showing children at play) 1827, specialised in similar scenes, and of school and village life, comparable to those of Wilkie and Mulready. Influential and much admired, they became popular through engravings. Elected ARA 1840, RA 1846, and Honorary Retired RA 1876.
Contributed illustrations to the Etching Club's 'Deserted Village', 'Songs of Shakespeare' and 'Etch'd Thoughts' (1841-4). Moved to Cranbrook, Kent, 1856; senior member of the Cranbrook Colony of painters. Died Cranbrook 23 September 1886; his studio sale was at Christie's 21 May 1887.
LIT: Art Journal 1855, pp293-6, 1862, p138, 1866, pp40, 330, 1886
pp351-2 (obit); Athenaeum 2 October 1886, p439 (obit); The Times 24 September 1886 (obit); DNB
Sickness and Health
FA219 Neg GD2814
Panel, 50.7 X 81 cm (20 X 32 ins) Signed and dated 'T. Webster./1843' br
Sheepshanks Gift 1857
Painted for John Sheepshanks and exhibited at the RA in 1843 with the quotation 'The cheerfulness of innocence serves to mitigate distress' from Wordsworth appended to the title in the catalogue.
The Athenaeum critic thought it 'a simple subject, treated with infinite grace and pathos, and also carefully painted', while the Art Union described the subject at greater length, concluding that 'the children are most successfully pictured, and the organ-boy is a perfect specimen of his class. Altogether, it is one of the most effective and interesting pictures in the collection, fully sustaining, if indeed it does not increase, the high reputation of this excellent artist'. Waagen, in 1854, found 'the execution in some parts is wanting in vigour'.
A 'sketch of Sickness and Health' was sold at Christie's 4 June 1850 (104), bought Birt £50 8s; perhaps the same work was sold as the original study by Sam Mendel at Christie's 24 April 1875 (398, 15.2 X 25.4 cm/6 X 10 ins), bought the dealer Agnew £241 10s; sold by Charles Skipper at Christie's 24 May 1884 (102, 16.5 X 26.7 cm/6 ¼ X 10 ½ ins), bought Rendel £53 11s. A picture catalogued as 'English School- A Village Merrymaking', signed and dated 1851, was sold at Willis's Rooms 25 January 1923, and is recorded on the Departmental files as a copy of the present work. Another copy was sold at Christie's 5 June 1987 (114, 55.8 X 86.3 (22 X 34 ins), catalogued as 'The hurdy-gurdy man' and 'English School, 19th century'.
EXH: RA 1843 (128)
ENGR: W Finden (impr in V&A collections, 1885)
LIT: Athenaeum 27 May 1843, p512; Art Union 1843, p164; G Waagen Treasures of Art in Great Britain 1854 II, p300
Ronald Parkinson"
Materials
Oil paint; Panel
Techniques
Oil painting
Subjects depicted
Children; Chair; Health; Illness; Musical instrument
Categories
Children & Childhood; Paintings; Health
Collection code
PDP
