Size 27" x 25"
Format Oil on Canvas
Signature Lower Left (on side of shed)
Frame Not known
History of the painting
| Date | Auctioneer | Lot | Offer Price | Sale Price |
| 16 Mar 1995 | Bonham's | 86 | Not known | £12,500 |
| 11 Nov 1998 | Sotheby's London | 274 | £25,000-£30,000 | Not sold |
| 4 Nov 1999 | Christie's London | 69 | £15,000-£20,000 | £21,000 |
Other observations
Of the known Harry Brooker paintings, less than ten feature children playing
outside the house and very few of these are in real countryside. The majority
of his external play scenes are as in this painting of a scene in a back yard.
Edgar (11) is showing Charles (5) the inside of a hutch hung on a wall, whilst Ruth (8) carrying a wicker basket watches Oswald (10) and Edwin (7) feed two rabbits on the ground, some scraps of lettuce or cabbage.
The signature is very nicely added to the lowest most board on the wooden shed, next to the spade.
The auction history of this painting is quite interesting in that Sotheby's
clearly attempted to repeat their successful auctioning of "The Great Performance
1890" earlier in the summer of 1998 which raised £27,500, but did
not manage this. Christie's then stepped in a year later, scaling down the offer
price by a third and actually raised more than expected. It is not clear why
Christie's reduced the offer price by so much as in the intervening year Sotheby's
successfully raised £33,000 from the auction of "A Good Story 1902"
which remains the auction record at £33,000.