Size Large probably 28" x 36" but not confirmed
Format Oil on Canvas
Signature Lower Left
Frame Wooden - Simple Moulding

History of the painting

There are no auction records for this painting.

The current owner inherited it from his parents who had the painting in their house since the current owner was a child.

Other observations

This is one of Harry's many paintings with all of his and Edmee's five children. Edgar (now 10) and Oswald (now 9) as the two old boys are wearing straw boaters. It is obviously difficult to surmise which is which between these two, but my guess is that it is Oswald that is kneeling down with the marbles on the ground, whilst Edgar (slightly superior and a year older) observes. Ruth is the only girl (now 7) and is keenly watching Oswald at play with the marbles. Edwin (now 6) and Charles (now 4) are also both kneeling down.

It is not clear to me, how the painting became known as "Waylaid" marbles, because all the children are focussed on the marbles that are on the ground, and not looking around for lost ones.

Harry did not paint many of his scenes of Victorian childhood away from the house and garden and this is a nice example of the few that he did so paint. The high fencing and wide paths lead me to believe that the scene is not at the "bottom of the garden" and rather near some open land nearby to where they lived. A distinctpossiblity is that the painting may be set on Wimbeldon Common or Putney Heath as it is clearly a wide space of countryside beyind the gap in the fences and those were the largest such spaces near where Harry's family lived..