| A Girl Buying a Ballad | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Artist | Henry Walton |
| Year | 1778 |
| Type | Oil on canvas, genre painting |
| Dimensions | 92.1 cm× 71.7 cm(36.3 in× 28.2 in) |
| Location | Tate Britain, London |
A Girl Buying a Ballad is a 1778 genre painting by the English artist Henry Walton. [1] [2] It features a young woman purchasing the sheet music for a ballad from a street seller. It was a popular image and became the subject of several popular, cheaply-produced prints. [3] The portrait of a general visible was that of Sir William Howe, a British commander in the American War of Independence. [4]
The Norwich-born Walton moved to London in 1770 and became known for his genre works such as Plucking the Turkey . The painting is in the collection of the Tate Britain in Pimlico, having been acquired by the British government in 2000 through acceptance in lieu and allocated to the gallery. [5]
