| The Parish Beadle | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Artist | David Wilkie |
| Year | 1823 |
| Type | Oil on canvas, genre painting |
| Dimensions | 89.5 cm× 55.7 cm(35.2 in× 21.9 in) |
| Location | Tate Britain, London |
The Parish Beadle is an 1823 genre painting by the Scottish artist David Wilkie. [1] It is held in the Tate Britain, in London. [2]
It depicts a comically overzealous parish beadle taking a troupe of travelling Savoyard entertainers into custody for vagrancy. [3] They have evidently been performing at the fair seen in the distance which has some echoes of William Hogarth's Southwark Fair . [4]
It was commissioned by the art collector Lord Colbourne. Wilkie was known for his genre scenes of ordinary life such as The Penny Wedding . Wilkie took great care to make sure that the various figures and costumes were correct. [5] It was exhibited at the Royal Academy's Summer Exhibition in 1823. [6] A later portrait of Colbourne by John Partridge features Wilkie's painting in the background.
The work parodied the often archaic and draconian penalties still in force in the Regency era and the chaotic means of law enforcement before the creation of a professional police force in 1829. The Tory politician Robert Peel, a reforming home secretary and future prime minister, was impressed by the painting but was unable to acquire it. He instead commissioned a different work from the artist that was shown at the Royal Academy in 1824. [7]
The painting was donated to the National Gallery by Colbourne in 1854. It is now held at the collection of Tate Britain. [8]
Sir David Wilkie was a Scottish painter, especially known for his genre scenes. He painted successfully in a wide variety of genres, including historical scenes, portraits, including formal royal ones, and scenes from his travels to Europe and the Middle East. His main base was in London, but he died and was buried at sea, off Gibraltar, returning from his first trip to the Middle East. He was sometimes known as the "people's painter".
John Frederick Lewis (1804–1876) was an English Orientalist painter. He specialized in Oriental and Mediterranean scenes in detailed watercolour or oils, very often repeating the same composition in a version in each medium. He lived for several years in a traditional mansion in Cairo, and after his return to England in 1851 he specialized in highly detailed works showing both realistic genre scenes of Middle Eastern life and more idealized scenes in upper-class Egyptian interiors with little apparent Western influence.
Edward Bird was an English genre painter who spent most of his working life in Bristol, where the Bristol School of artists formed around him. He enjoyed a few years of popularity in London, where he challenged the dominance of Sir David Wilkie in the genre painting field, before moving on to history painting, specialising in battle scenes.
Alexander George Fraser (1786–1865) was a Scottish genre and domestic painter who exhibited his paintings at the Royal Academy in London for many years. His son, Alexander Fraser (1827-1899), was also a prominent artist with whom he is sometimes confused.
Scottish art in the nineteenth century is the body of visual art made in Scotland, by Scots, or about Scottish subjects. This period saw the increasing professionalisation and organisation of art in Scotland. Major institutions founded in this period included the Institution for the Encouragement of the Fine Arts in Scotland, the Royal Scottish Academy of Art, the National Gallery of Scotland, the Scottish National Portrait Gallery and the Glasgow Institute. Art education in Edinburgh focused on the Trustees Drawing Academy of Edinburgh. Glasgow School of Art was founded in 1845 and Grays School of Art in Aberdeen in 1885.
Scottish genre art is the depiction of everyday life in Scotland, or by Scottish artists, emulating the genre art of Netherlands painters of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Common themes included markets, domestic settings, interiors, parties, inn scenes, and street scenes.
Punch or May Day is an 1829 genre painting by the British artist Benjamin Robert Haydon. It depicts a street scene on the May Day holiday in the Marylebone district of London during the final year of the reign of George IV at the end of the Regency era.
The Defence of Saragossa is an 1828 history painting by the British artist David Wilkie. It depicts a scene during the 1808 Siege of Zaragoza at the time of the Peninsular War.
Sir David Baird Discovering the Body of Sultan Tipoo Sahib is an 1839 history painting by the Scottish artist David Wilkie. It is held at the Scottish National Gallery, in Edinburgh.
Newsmongers is an 1821 genre painting by the Scottish artist David Wilkie. It portrays a group gathered around a man and woman holding up a newspaper. The group includes a baker carrying a pie and roast joint. The news being read is not specified, but its been speculated that might be news of the Napoleonic Wars or the more recent Trial of Queen Caroline.
The Penny Wedding is an 1818 genre painting by the British artist David Wilkie. It depicts a traditional penny wedding in which the guests each paid a penny towards the cost.
Washington Irving in the Archives of Seville is a painting of 1828 by the British artist David Wilkie. It depicts a visit by the American writer Washington Irving to a library in Seville.
Blind-Man's Buff is an 1812 genre painting by the Scottish artist David Wilkie. It shows a game of Blind man's buff. While depictions of the game had appeared in art before, Willkie chose to portray a humbler settling than earlier versions generally set in drawing rooms.
Pitlessie Fair is an 1804 genre painting by the Scottish artist David Wilkie. It depicts the annual mayfair being held in his native village of Pitlessie, in Fife. It is in the collection of the Scottish National Gallery, in Edinburgh, having been purchased in 1921.
Portrait of William IV is an 1832 portrait painting by the Scottish artist David Wilkie. It is a depiction of the reigning British monarch William IV, who had come to the throne two years earlier. Wilkie was Principal Painter in Ordinary to the king and produced this full-length work showing William in his garter robes with St Edward's Crown beside him. Wilkie was a great admirer of Old Masters and the presentation of the king echoes that of Hans Holbein's Portrait of Henry VIII.
Christopher Columbus Explaining His Intended Voyage is an 1834 history painting by the British artist David Wilkie. It is held in the collection of the North Carolina Museum of Art in Raleigh.
Josephine and the Fortune-Teller is an 1837 history painting by the British artist David Wilkie. It depicts a story about the young Joséphine de Beauharnais visiting a fortune teller on her native island of Martinique, who predicts her future in France as the wife of Emperor Napoleon.
The Village Recruit is an 1805 genre painting by the Scottish artist David Wilkie. Painted at the time of the Napoleonic Wars it shows a recruiting party of the British Army in a country tavern where one young man has just enlisted and prepares to spend his King's shilling on further alcohol. It was painted when Wilkie was around twenty, the year he moved to London to study at the Royal Academy. It was one of three paintings that were spin-offs from his 1804 work Pitlessie Fair, which had featured a recruiting party. Influenced like much of Wilkie's work by the old masters of the seventeenth century, it has strong similarities to his better-known work The Village Politicians. It was initially known by the alternative title Bounty Money.
The Guerilla's Return is an 1830 history painting by the British artist David Wilkie. It is part of the Royal Collection of the United Kingdom.
The Garreteer's Petition is an 1809 genre painting by the British artist J. M. W. Turner. It depicts a struggling young poet in his garret at night. On the wall is an image of Mount Parnassus, the mythological home of the Muses. The work is a parody of the popular image of a struggling young artistic type.