Thomas Sword Good

A Man Reading

exhibited 1827

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Not on display

Artist
Thomas Sword Good 1789–1872
Medium
Oil paint on mahogany
Dimensions
Support: 241 × 190 mm
Collection
Tate
Acquisition
Presented by Robert Vernon 1847
Reference
N00378

Display caption

Good was born in Berwick-upon-Tweed. He lived there for almost his entire career and first exhibited in London in 1824. He specialized in small highly finished oil paintings which usually showed one or two figures, often seated, in interiors. Like many genre painters, Good portrayed friends or professional models but introduced studio props and contrived incidents as a means of creating narrative interest. Rather as Wilkie had done in his 'Newsmongers' of 1821, shown nearby, Good was attracted to the theme of people reading a newspaper. During the early nineteenth century, especially during the Napoleonic Wars, the market for newspapers grew rapidly as public interest in current affairs developed.

Gallery label, September 2004

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