Mother and Child

Mother and Child

Date: c.1910
Dimensions:
762 x 635 mm
Medium: Oil on canvas
Object number: GA1313
DescriptionAn interior, domestic scene depicting a mother and child on a chaise longue in the bay of a large window. It is likely that the models are the artist's wife, Ethel, and their baby, Kathleen. Ethel was Wells' principal model and she also sat for the artist Henry Tonks who was also Wells' tutor at the Slade School of Fine Art.

Such private and serene scenes of female-focussed, Edwardian domesticity are not uncommon in Well's oil paintings. The scenes are perfectly composed and arranged with high levels of precision, although they might offer feelings of detachment or quiet reflection on behalf of the artist.