In the Picture Gallery

Category

Museums & Galleries Item

Item no

21123

Title

In the Picture Gallery

Description

In the foreground of this oil painting, a well dressed young lady looks at her reflection. The background shows the woman is standing in a room of an art galley surrounded by various paintings. The woman holds a wicker basket with one hand and is adjusting her hair with the other. The Woman's hat rests on a stool as she adjusts her hair.

Artist / maker

Orchardson, Sir William Quiller

Size

72.4 x 54.6cm

Type

Oil painting

Location

City Art Centre

Accession number

CAC274/1964

This work displays the artist's application of the contemporary genre of historical narrative painting, which he developed in a more realist style on moving to London in 1862. Although he worked on conventional subjects, the artist employed a meticulous almost Pre-Raphaelite, attention to detail and technique.
Orchardson was immensely popular during his lifetime, and although his subject matter was conventional, his technique was progressive in his use of colour and brushwork. In this painting, the gallery interior is the setting for his humorous comment on superficiality of the wealthy classes. The well dressed young lady in the painting is much more interested in her own appearance, than in the works on the gallery wall.

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Related subjects

Clothing and dress > Garments > Dresses

People > Adults > Women

Sport and leisure > Culture > Galleries