Image of Gallery in South Kensington
On display at V&A South Kensington
Paintings, Room 82, The Edwin and Susan Davies Galleries

The Toy Seller

Oil Painting
1835 (painted)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

This painting shows a black toyseller holding up a toy to a white child. Mulready (1786-1863) returned to this subject over 20 years later, when he painted a larger version of a similar scene. That painting is now in the National Gallery of Ireland in Dublin.


Object details

Categories
Object type
TitleThe Toy Seller (popular title)
Materials and techniques
oil on panel
Brief description
Oil painting entitled 'The Toy Seller' by William Mulready. Great Britain, 1835.
Physical description
Oil painting of a black man holding a toy bird up to a young white child who is turning away from him. The child is being held by a white woman.
Dimensions
  • Estimate height: 17cm
  • Estimate width: 22cm
Dimensions taken from Catalogue of British Oil Paintings 1820-1860, Ronald Parkinson, Victoria and Albert Museum, London: HMSO, 1990
Style
Marks and inscriptions
'WM 1835' (Signed and dated by the artist, lower right)
Credit line
Given by John Sheepshanks, 1857
Object history
Given by John Sheepshanks, 1857
Subjects depicted
Summary
This painting shows a black toyseller holding up a toy to a white child. Mulready (1786-1863) returned to this subject over 20 years later, when he painted a larger version of a similar scene. That painting is now in the National Gallery of Ireland in Dublin.
Bibliographic references
  • Catalogue of British Oil Paintings 1820-1860, Ronald Parkinson, Victoria and Albert Museum, London: HMSO, 1990, p. 207
  • Nead, Lynda (2014) "The Secret of England’s Greatness". Journal of Victorian Culture, 19 (2), pp. 161-182.
Collection
Accession number
FA.149[O]

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Record createdNovember 12, 2002
Record URL
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