Watercolor, graphite, gouache, gum arabic, and scraping out on moderately thick, slightly textured, cream wove paper
Dimensions:
Sheet: 29 1/2 × 20 7/8 inches (74.9 × 53 cm)
Credit Line:
Yale Center for British Art, Friends of British Art Fund
Copyright Status:
Public Domain
Accession Number:
B2003.14
Gallery Label:
George Elgar Hicks presents an idealized version of an English working-class family. With a look of steadfast determination, a heroic navvy sets out for his day of manual labor, his shovel hung from the pickax resting on his shoulder. His adoring wife sees him off before attending to the neat cottage behind them, complete with a willowpattern dinner service on the shelves. At the navvy’s feet is his son, still too young to wear trousers, whose toy shovel implies he will follow in his father’s footsteps. Gallery label for Connections (Yale Center for British Art, 2011-05-26 - 2011-09-11)