Joanna Mary Wells

Portrait of Sidney Wells

1859

Image released under Creative Commons CC-BY-NC-ND (3.0 Unported)

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Not on display
Artist
Joanna Mary Wells 1831–1861
Medium
Oil paint on canvas
Dimensions
Unconfirmed: 276 x 251 mm
frame: 437 x 413 x 62 mm
Collection
Tate
Acquisition
Presented by Anne Christopherson 1996 to celebrate the Tate Gallery Centenary 1997
Reference
T07058

Display caption

Joanna Mary Wells painted this portrait of her second child, Sidney, while he was still less than a year old. Such a young baby must have been impossible to keep still, which probably explains the difficulty she experienced in seizing a likeness.This has been interpreted as a highly personal work, possibly because of its small icon-like format. It also became a very poignant image after the early deaths of both Sidney and Joanna Mary Wells.

Gallery label, July 2007

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Pre-Raphaelite

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