Edith Hayllar

London, Royal Academy, 1897, no. 902

Unlined, 1/2 inch area of loss at lower right edge, loss along upper edge due to frame abrasion, and dots of loss at lower right corner; under UV: small dashes of inpainting in her bangs and dots of inpainting in her eye sockets, inpainting along lower right edge and near aforementioned 1/2 inch area of loss.
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Edith Hayllar and her sisters and fellow artists Jessica, Mary and Kate were instructed by their father James Hayllar (1829-1920) in a variety of techniques and mediums. The siblings' styles and subject matter were similarly inspired by life at their country estate, Castle Priory in Wallingford, Berkshire.  Edith particularly enjoyed painting the quiet moments of the rambling home, most often scenes of relaxation after Victorian sporting pursuits like boating, shooting, or tennis (Christopher Forbes, The Royal Academy (1837-1901) Revisited, exh. cat., New York, 1975, p. 60). In similar spirit, the present work depicts a young girl absorbed in a good book, settled onto a window bench by a conservatory filled with seedling and blooming geraniums. While a restful subject, with the present composition and all her best works, Hayllar employed a rigorous painting technique in which a high attention to detail and complex compositional planning allows a sense of realism and creates a specific mood. The sunlight filtered through green vines and warming the tiled floor, the rich weaving of the Oriental rug, the earthy glazes of the palm pot, and the reader's off-center placement, tucked behind a gauzy curtain all suggest the aptness of the work's Royal Academy exhibition title of  A Cozy Corner.