Physical description
Oil on panel entitled 'The Stray Kitten' depicting a group of children and a woman attempting to coax a kitten towards a large bowl of milk.
Place of Origin
Great Britain, UK (painted)
Date
1835 (painted)
Artist/maker
William Collins, born 1788 - died 1847 (artist)
Materials and Techniques
oil on panel
Marks and inscriptions
'W Collins 1835'
Dimensions
Height: 45.7 cm estimate, Width: 61 cm estimate
Object history note
Given by John Sheepshanks, 1857
Descriptive line
Oil painting entitled 'The Stray Kitten' by William Collins. Great Britain, 1835.
Bibliographic References (Citation, Note/Abstract, NAL no)
Parkinson, R., Victoria and Albert Museum, Catalogue of British Oil Paintings 1820-1860, London: HMSO, 1990, p. 37
The following is the full text of the entry:
"COLLINS, William, RA (1788-1847)
Born London 8 September 1788, the son of the Irish writer William Collins, author of a memoir of George Morland RA, who encouraged the boy's interest in painting. In 1807 he entered the RA schools, and exhibited his first painting there. Made his name with 'The Disposal of a Favourite Lamb' in 1813; elected ARA 1814, RA 1820. Achieved great popularity with his landscapes and, particularly, rustic genre scenes in the 1820s; Ruskin highly praised his works in the 1840s. Married in 1822 the sister of the portrait painter Margaret Carpenter. Travelled extensively in Britain and abroad, especially in Italy 1836-38; these visits are reflected in the subjects he painted. Exhibited 124 works at the RA between 1807 and 1846, and 45 at the BI 1808-43. Librarian at the RA 1840-2. Died London 17 February 1847. His studio sale was at Christie's 31 May-5 June 1847. His two sons were the novelist William Wilkie Collins and the painter Charles Allston Collins. There are watercolours and a sketchbook in the V&A collections.
LIT: William Collins 'List of Pictures and Patrons', two MS volumes 1808-27 and 1827-46, National Art Library, V&A (referred to below as Lists); Athenaeum 20 February 1847, p200 (obit); Art Journal 1847, p137 (obit); W Wilkie Collins Memoirs of the Life of William Collins, Esq, RA 2 vols, 1848 (referred to below as Memoirs); Art Journal 1855, p 141 W. Clarke The Secret Life of Wilkie Collins 1988
The Stray Kitten
FA29 Neg V1933
Panel, 45.7 x 61 cm (18 x 24 ins)
Signed and dated 'W Collins 1835' br
Sheepshanks Gift 1857
A replica of the picture exhibited at the RA in 1833 (133); according to the Lists, painted for Sheepshanks between April 1834 and April 1835 for £157 10s. The original was painted for Mr Holden for £180 two years before; the Lists also note another replica in August 1833, 'done to be engraved', for £84. According to the Memoirs, the latter was bought by Sir Francis Shuckburgh Bt, and the print was 'widely circulated'.
The Athenaeum critic (11 May 1833, p298) thought the RA painting 'in his best manner; it is a picture that many will covet, for it cannot but be felt by all'.
EXH: Victorian Narrative Paintings V &A circulating exhibition 1961
ENGR: H.C. Shenton; Jane A Hunt, coloured lithograph
LIT: Lists; Memoirs II, pp26-7"
Materials
Oil paint; Panel
Techniques
Oil painting
Subjects depicted
Figures; Children; Cats; Kitten
Categories
Children & Childhood; Paintings
Collection code
PDP
