Full Record |
| Title |
An Old Lady Walking with a Boy and a Girl (Les Bâtons de Vieillesse) |
| Collection |
Bowes Museum, Barnard Castle |
| Artist |
Lanfant, François-Louis (French painter, 1814-1892) |
| Date Earliest |
possibly about 1843 |
| Date Latest |
1874 |
| Description |
This painting's French title (the walking sticks for the old age) give it a moral overtone. The patient, gentle children helping their grandmother to walk are a lesson in charity and kindness. The church spire in the background may be a reminder of the Christian aspect of their benevolent act. Lanfant (also called Lanfant de Metz) mostly painted genre scenes and children, so this picture is well within his remit. |
| Current Accession Number |
B.M.717 |
| Former Accession Number |
No. 98 |
| Inscription |
front ll 'Lanfant de Metz' |
| Subject |
landscape; figure |
| Measurements |
22 x 33 cm (estimate) |
| Material |
oil on panel |
| Acquisition Details |
Bequeathed by the founders John and Joséphine Bowes 1885. |
| Provenance |
Hotel Drouot sale, Paris, 11 April 1868, lot 37. |
| Notes |
This was no. 98 in the 1877 MSS List as Les batons de viellesse(sic). Joséphine Bowes gave the painting a value of 400 francs in her list of artists living in 1866 (no. 98, Les Bâtons de Vieillesse). The dates given take into account Lanfant's first appearance at the Salon (1843) and the year when John Bowes virtually stopped collecting (1874). |
| Rights Owner |
The Bowes Museum, Barnard Castle, Co. Durham |
| Author |
Dr Maylis Hopewell-Curie |
