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Boy Drawing on the Ground

Geikie, Walter, Etching
Boy Drawing on the Ground
Boy Drawing on the Ground
Boy Drawing on the Ground
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Category
Museums & Galleries Item
Item no
31581
Title
Boy Drawing on the Ground
Description
The image of a child drawing on the ground is a recurring motif in the history of Western art. It features in Rembrandt's etching Christ Preaching the Remission of Sins, also known as La Petite Tombe (c1652), and was later copied by the Scottish printmaker David Deuchar in his etching Connoisseurs of Painting.

In these examples the child's efforts always go unnoticed. However, in Geikie's etching he makes his child the focus of attention - two seated adults look on admiringly as the boy draws a figure on horseback.

The artist's impulse to adapt this well-established motif may have derived from personal experience. His brother later recalled that with Geikie "shut out from intercourse with boys of his own age, he found resources of his own, and getting chalk, began to draw figures on the floor, on doors, and any smooth surface within reach." When his father became aware of his budding talent, he gave him pencils and a sketchbook.
Artist / maker
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Location
City Art Centre