View full screen - View 1 of Lot 169. Waifs.
169

Thomas Benjamin Kennington

Waifs

VAT reduced rateUK: Greenford Park Warehouse

Estimate:

10,000

to
- 15,000 GBP

Property from a Private Collection, Norway

168

169

170

Thomas Benjamin Kennington

Thomas Benjamin Kennington

Waifs

Waifs

VAT reduced rateUK: Greenford Park Warehouse

Estimate:

10,000

to
- 15,000 GBP

Property from a Private Collection, Norway

Thomas Benjamin Kennington

British

1856 - 1916

Waifs


signed T.B.KENNINGTON lower right

oil on canvas

Unframed: 152 by 110cm., 60 by 43in.

Framed: 175 by 133cm., 69 by 52in.

This picture is unlined and the original canvas is providing a stable structural support. There is a fine craquelure pattern but this is only visible upon close inspection. The paint surface is a little dirty and the varnish has discoloured - the picture should benefit from a light clean. UNDER ULTRAVIOLET LIGHT The varnish appears opaque but there are no obvious retouchings.


The lot is sold in the condition it is in at the time of sale. The condition report is provided to assist you with assessing the condition of the lot and is for guidance only. Any reference to condition in the condition report for the lot does not amount to a full description of condition. The images of the lot form part of the condition report for the lot. Certain images of the lot provided online may not accurately reflect the actual condition of the lot. In particular, the online images may represent colors and shades which are different to the lot's actual color and shades. The condition report for the lot may make reference to particular imperfections of the lot but you should note that the lot may have other faults not expressly referred to in the condition report for the lot or shown in the online images of the lot. The condition report may not refer to all faults, restoration, alteration or adaptation. The condition report is a statement of opinion only. For that reason, the condition report is not an alternative to taking your own professional advice regarding the condition of the lot. NOTWITHSTANDING THIS ONLINE CONDITION REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE/BUSINESS APPLICABLE TO THE RESPECTIVE SALE.

A/S Wangs Kunst- og Antikvitetshandel, 3 April 1937, where purchased by Director Mjaaland and thence by descent to his wife in 1993 and by further descent to the present owner
London, Royal Academy, 1884, no.261
Kennington was born in Grimsby in Lincolnshire and trained at the Liverpool School of Art and the Royal College of Art in London. However his style was influenced by his time at the Académie Julian in Paris in the atelier of William Bouguereau. After moving permanently to London, he exhibited at the Royal Academy from 1880. His exhibits included portraits and occasionally Classical subjects but he was most celebrated when he painted contemporary scenes of strife and poverty which he would have seen on an almost daily basis on the streets of Chelsea and Kensington, close to his studio at Redcliffe Gardens. Waifs is in the same vein as Kennington’s Orphans painted a year later (Tate) and The Pinch of Poverty painted four years later and exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1889 (Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide) which also depicted a girl selling daffodils. The weary young girl in Waifs has sold very few of her golden blooms and now the rain has driven away her customers who are sheltering under umbrellas and awnings in the background. She is sheltering under an archway with a matchbox-seller who is barefoot and has nothing to play with but a few nutshells and neither have much hope of buying the ‘Dinner’ that is advertised on an advertisement pasted to the wall above them.