“Oh, bless its little heart!”, by Robert Collinson (1832-1898), in the exhibition of the Manchester Academy of Fine Arts, 5 January 1861. The image at left and the accompanying review, below, have been downloaded and formatted for this website by Jacqueline Banerjee. Note that the engraving was reproduced in the Illustrated London Almanack of 1862.
The provincial art schools and institutions are doing their part bravely in developing and maturing the rising talent of the day, and are every now and then sending up to the metropolis candidates for fame, not in the shape of tyros seeking admission as students to the Academy, but of finished artists. It is an important consideration to bear in mind in reference to these local establishments that they are thoroughly self-constituted and entirely independent in their action; and, judging from results already achieved, they bid fair to offer a serious rivalry to the Royal monopoly in Trafalgar-square, besides exercising a marked influence upon the future of art in England.
The exhibition of the Manchester Academy of Fine Arts, about closing in a few days, comprises nearly nine hundred works of art — works of fine art, not including miniatures, architectural drawings, &c., with which the Trafalgar-square catalogue is swelled — and these are contributed not only by native artists, but by those of France, Germany, Belgium, &c., the latter being classed by themselves in their several schools. Of the works of the English schools, a very considerable number are the productions of local artists — men born and educated on the spot, and who seem destined to establish a Manchester school of painting, as distinct from that of London and England generally.
Amongst the rising talent thus distinguishing itself we recognise remarkable individuality and promise in Mr. R. Collinson, formerly a pupil in the Manchester School of Art. This gentleman has, during some few years past, exhibited studies of character, chiefly hard-featured veterans, with considerable success. This year he makes his first attempt at a composition of importance on a subject of domestic life, under the title of “Oh, bless its little heart!” which exhibits so much talent that we have great pleasure in engraving it. It represents a pleasing domestic group, such as may often be seen at the corner of any public thoroughfare in the outskirts of a great town — an old fruit-woman, with merry face, dispensing her succulent store to a chubby little urchin seated on the lap of a young girl, probably his sister, whilst the mother reads with evident satisfaction a letter just received from her husband. It is truly a happy family, for we are almost inclined to think and wish that the elderly dame may claim relationship to the rest in the capacity of "granny"; and the gradations and various character of joy indicted in the several faces display great discrimination on the part of the artist — granny, all-benevolent, admiring smiles, engrossed in the child; the mother and wife gladdened with pleasant news afar; master baby smiling innocently in perfect enjoyment, thinking we know not what; and even the young lassie, though her face is almost concealed from us, grinning through the very back of her head. Full of character and truth, and broadly treated, as a whole, the highest and most satisfactory finish has been bestowed upon all those portions of the work requiring it — such as the faces, hands, the fruit on the stall, and other matters of detail.
Mr. Collinson, we believe, has recently come up to the metropolis, and we shall look forward with interest to his future performances.
Bibliography
“Oh, bless its little heart!”. Illustrated London News. Vol. 38. 5 January 1861. . Web. 13 March 2024.
Created 13 March 2024