The London Bootblack
Jules Bastien-Lepage (1848-1884)
1882
Oil on canvas
H: 132.5 cm (52.17 in.), Width: 89.5 cm (35.24 in.)
Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris
Source: The Athenaeum (website)
Looking distinctly bored against the jumble of busy horse-drawn traffic, the boy wears a badge proclaiming him to be a member of the Shoe Blacks' Brigade (actually, it says "Shoe Black's Home, Marylebone"). Lionel Lambourne gives good context on the painting, explaining that the boy's employment was Lord Ashley's initiative, and recording the difficulty Bastien Lepage had with his rather recalcitrant model. Lambourne finds the finished painting to be "one of the most striking of all child studies made in Victorian London" (332).
Image download, text and formatting by Jacqueline Banerjee.