Arthur John Elsley

Terry Parker, Golden Hours, The Paintings of Arthur J. Elsley 1860-1952, Somerset, England, 1998, p. 35

Arthur J. Elsley’s Safe Quarters captures an endearing moment between a young girl and her beloved family pets, as she protectively cradles a tiny white kitten peaking out from a fur muff while an inquisitive fox terrier looks on.  Painted circa 1895, Safe Quarters reveals Elsley’s exceptional skill for rendering animals, as well his instinct for creating images that appealed to a public eager for scenes promoting the childhood innocence and domestic bliss.  The model for the present work might possibly have been the child of one of his siblings, or perhaps, one of Emm’s, his wife’s, sisters. 

 

Elsley’s talent for depicting animals was widely-known during his career and is evident in his life-like portrayal of the fox terrier and the kitten.  In 1889, he shared a studio with the artist Fred Morgan, who notoriously struggled with his depictions of domestic creatures.  Elsley assisted the senior artist by painting the animals in his work.  The artist went on to achieve commercial and critical success through his images of childhood revelry; in the Crystal Palace Exhibition of 1891 he won a silver medal for a painting entitled The Bailiff’s Daughter of Islington, and his print I’se Biggest, a playful depiction of a small girl measuring herself against a St. Bernard, was so popular following its creation that it had to be re-engraved.