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The Letter
Oil on Wood, 48.8 x 40.3cm
Provenance: Christie’s London, 12 July 1990, Lot 243
The scene is set on an open loggia, with Doric columns and a stone balustrade overlooking a park with a temple in the distance. Two girls - perhaps sisters - sit close together on a bench. The older of the two wears a yellow dress and draws an embroidered blanket around her for warmth; she has pearls entwined in her hair, and a pearl bracelet on her wrist. Close beside her, and wearing a bright red dress, the younger girl is concentrating as she reads a letter aloud. Her older companion, her head in profile, seems lost in thought as she gazes out over the park. The contents of the letter are not specified, nor is there a clue given in the title of the painting, but the impression given is certainly not one of glad tidings. Neither however does the news appear to be tragic; the atmosphere created by Mulready is one akin to a reverie, where the concerns of everyday life have been put to one side as the younger girl reads. From the beginning of his career, Mulready specialised in paintings such as this, ones that combined landscape and figures, often children and adolescents, depicted in everyday settings. The theme of letters and correspondence features often in his work, and it is no surprise to learn that Mulready was commissioned to design the first pre-paid envelopes to be sent in the new postal system introduced into Britain in 1840.
Dr. Peter Murray
€ Enquire
The Letter
Oil on Wood, 48.8 x 40.3cm
Provenance: Christie’s London, 12 July 1990, Lot 243
The scene is set on an open loggia, with Doric columns and a stone balustrade overlooking a park with a temple in the distance. Two girls - perhaps sisters - sit close together on a bench. The older of the two wears a yellow dress and draws an embroidered blanket around her for warmth; she has pearls entwined in her hair, and a pearl bracelet on her wrist. Close beside her, and wearing a bright red dress, the younger girl is concentrating as she reads a letter aloud. Her older companion, her head in profile, seems lost in thought as she gazes out over the park. The contents of the letter are not specified, nor is there a clue given in the title of the painting, but the impression given is certainly not one of glad tidings. Neither however does the news appear to be tragic; the atmosphere created by Mulready is one akin to a reverie, where the concerns of everyday life have been put to one side as the younger girl reads. From the beginning of his career, Mulready specialised in paintings such as this, ones that combined landscape and figures, often children and adolescents, depicted in everyday settings. The theme of letters and correspondence features often in his work, and it is no surprise to learn that Mulready was commissioned to design the first pre-paid envelopes to be sent in the new postal system introduced into Britain in 1840.
Dr. Peter Murray