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| Title | The Quarrel | |
| Collection | Blackburn Museum and Art Gallery | |
| Artist | Attributed to Schuch, Hermine (German artist, active 1870s) | |
| Date Earliest | possibly about 1890 | |
| Date Latest | possibly about 1910 | |
| Signed | yes | |
| Description | The painting depicts the interior of a tavern, filled with people wearing sixteenth-century costume. The composition is dominated by the central figure of a man in striking red doublet and hose, who is being restrained by two guards, his sword lying on the ground by his feet. To the left is his victim, his head supported in the lap of an anguished young friend in purple, who looks up at the perpetrator and, with a clenched fist, swears eternal vengeance. Just to his left a girl in brown reaches towards the expired youth, and we may imagine that they are young lovers. Behind this group is an old burgher in black, wringing his hands in sorrow - contemplating the rashness of youth, or the cycle of vengeance. On the right side of the painting we see the stern inn-keeper, in an apron and holding a ceramic jug - perhaps calculating the cost of the breakages. The painting is full of picturesque still-life detail, including the spilled playing cards and dice we may imagine to be the cause of the quarrel. | |
| Current Accession Number | BLKMG:P366 | |
| Inscription | front lr 'H SCHUCH' | |
| Subject | everyday life; figure | |
| Measurements | 99 x 144.8 cm (estimate) | |
| Material | oil on canvas | |
| Acquisition Details | Given by Mrs Harold S. Isherwood 1939. | |
| Provenance | Harry Livesey; by descent to his daughter Mrs Harold Isherwood. | |
| Notes | A contemporary genre subject remarkably similar in composition and view point to this painting, by Hermine Schuch, born 1872, who thus may well be the artist of The Quarrel is featured on the auction database website Gabrius.com. Mrs Isherwood lived at Oakdale, Lowood Place, Blackburn. |
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| Rights Owner | © Blackburn Museum & Art Gallery | |
| Author | Malcolm Barclay | |