The Embroideress
Edward John Cobbett RBA 1815-1899
Oil on canvas
Signed and dated 1864
124 x 20 inches
Exhibited: Royal Glasgow Institute, 1865, no. 433
"Cobbett painted idyllic rustic scenes, appealing to the public's disenchantment with industrialisation and urban life. He particularly excelled at painting children, portraying them with a quiet dignity despite their humble circumstances. A similar picture to ours showing a group of young girls embroidering in a cottage interior is in the York Museum. A critic for The Examiner in 1856 remarked that 'Pictures by Mr. EJ Cobbett... are especially full of that sense of beauty among cottages that cleverly stops short of being trifling....'" — Rupert Maas