The Vagrants
|
The Vagrants
By Frederick Walker, A.R.A (1840-1875)
In the Tate Gallery, London
The inconsistencies of genius were never better shown than in Frederick Walker. Art was a passion with him, yet it is doubtful if he would have made any mark had he not been spurred to work by sheer necessity. From his early years he gave evidence of his skill yet when he was finally allowed to study seriously, he proved a most dilatory pupil. Only his great talent saved him from himself. He would sometimes sit for long periods in a state of acute nervousness before he could bring himself to attack his task. Then he would work with great rapidity, and with such mastery that the picture bore all the appearance of casual facility.
Three distinct stages mark his work. The first was devoted to line drawing, and he achieved fame by his illustrations of Thackeray's novels. Then came a time when he painted water-colours; and finally in 1867, he exhibited in the Royal Academy the first of his famous series of oil paintings.
Walker was original in everything that he undertook. He created a school of illustrating, just as in later years he inspired contemporary painters to copy his methods. "The Vagrants" was one of his favourite pictures, and may therefore be taken as representative of him. It shows his power of interpreting the beauty, as well as the realism, of rustic life, and also bears the mark of the influence of the British Museum in the classical grace of the gipsy girl. The scene of the picture is laid at Beddington, near Croydon, and the autumnal loveliness of the landscape, with its harmonies of warm colour, throws into bold relief the figures of the gipsies, grouped with an air of destitution around the fire.
From the book "Famous Paintings" printed in 1913.
Large files of this public domain print are available at Stock Photos at Songs of Praise
(Firefox users must click again on the large photo to see the very large image.)
Online "Name the Painting"
Frederick Walker
at the Tate Gallery
Frederick Walker
at the National Portrait Gallery
Famous Paintings in this Series
M. Bompard
A Prayer to the Madonna
Botticelli
The Madonna and Child
Sir Edward Coley
Burne-Jones
King Cophetua and the Beggar Maid
Sir Edward Coley
Burne-Jones
The Mill
Jean Charles Cazin
Ishmael
John Constable
Boat-Building Near
Flatford Mill
John Crome
On the Skirts of the Forest
Pascal Adolphe Jean
Dagnan-Bouveret
The Blessed Bread
Theophile Emanuel Duverger
Alone
C.W. Furse
Diana of the Uplands
W.H. Gore
"'Listed"
Peter Graham
A Rainy Day
Jean Baptiste Greuze
The Listening Girl
Sir James Guthrie
A Highland Funeral
Frans Hals
A Man With a Glove
In His Hand
Hans Holbein the Younger
The Ambassadors
Henry Holiday
Dante and Beatrice
Sir Edwin Landseer
Suspense
Sir Edwin Landseer
A Naughty Child
H.H. La Thangue
Mowing Bracken
Sir Thomas Lawrence
Caroline of Brunswick,
Queen of George IV.
G.D. Leslie
Sun and Moon Flowers
J. Seymour Lucas
Flirtation
Jean Louis Ernest
Meissonier
The Print Collector
Jean Francois Millet
The Angelus
Jean Francois Millet
Going to Work
Sir William Quiller
Orchardson
The Farmer's Daughter
Ralph Peacock
Ethel
Rembrandt
His Own Portrait
Sir Joshua Reynolds
The Infant Samuel
Sir Joshua Reynolds
The Strawberry Girl
George Romney
The Parson's Daughter
W. Dendy Sadler
A Good Story
W. Dendy Sadler
Friday
William Small
The Last Match
J.M. Swan
On the Alert,
Lioness and Cubs
J.M.W. Turner
Peace: Burial at Sea of the
Body of Sir David Wilkie
J.M.W. Turner
Rain Steam and Speed
The Great Western Railway
Velazquez
Portrait of a Spanish Lady
"La Femme a L'Eventail"
Frederick Walker
The Vagrants
George Frederick Watts
Hope
James McNeill Whistler
My Mother
Anders Zorn
A Fisherman
Index Page
Famous Paintings
