Size 18" x 14"
Format Oil on Canvas
Signature Lower Right
Frame Not known

History of the painting

Other observations

Although the boy with the saw could be any of the three older boys, I tend to conclude that it is Edwin (now aged 14) who is helping to make something for Elsie (now aged 3).

Elsie's hair is very similar to that in "The Young Artists 1896" but quite different to "Teatime 1897" and "The Young Kitemakers 1897" which I can't explain for why would such lovely curls have been cut off? Perhaps those other two paintings are not Elsie?

Behind Edwin is something very similar to the pigeon coop on the wall in "The Crucial Moment 1895" and "The Tea Party 1895"

A posy of flowers is lying on the chair and a discarded doll lies on the floor.

This painting represents the first change in size and format for many years. The previous one painted in a portrait format was "Interior with two small girls 1883", 14 years earlier! However this painting was not alone in that it is the same size and format as "Tea Time 1897".

This is one of only three of Harry Brooker's paintings that it has been regularly possible to purchase prints for. The other two are "Tea Time 1897" and "The Recital 1903". They were all auctioned by Sotheby's so perhaps Sotheby's sold the rights for prints to some organisation. Another possibility is that they might all have been owned by the same person at one time.