Laura May Elton (1811-1848) and Julia Elizabeth Elton (1807-1881)
Thomas Barker (Pontypool 1769 - Bath 1847)
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
1823 (signed and dated)
Materials
Oil on canvas
Measurements
406 x 356 mm (16 x 14 in)
Place of origin
Bath
Order this imageCollection
Clevedon Court, North Somerset
NT 624167
Summary
Oil painting on canvas, Laura May Elton (1811-1848) and Julia Elizabeth Elton (1807-1881) by Thomas Barker of Bath (1769-1847), signed and dated 1823. Portraits of two young girls, two daughters, the eldest and the youngest, of Sir Charles Abraham Elton 6th Bt (1778-1853) and Sarah Smith (1782-1830), three-quarter-lengths, the younger on the left facing, head slightly inclined, the other on the right, turned to the left, head facing, both gazing at the spectator. The younger, whose right hand rests on a stone ledge on the left, has pale brown hair and wears a straw bonnet with white silk ribbons. She has on a high-waisted, Empire-line dress with a blue silk top and white skirt, her sister on the right has short curled brown hair, also wears an Empire-line dress in white, with a dark red shawl draped on her right shoulder and looped over the left arm. Her straw bonnet lies on a tree-stump on the right. The tree behind it forms part of an arch with dark foliage on the right, with a distant view of grey sky.
Provenance
Purchased from Lady Margaret Ann Elton (1915 – 1995), 1981 with the help of grants from the V&A Purchase Fund and the NHMF
Makers and roles
Thomas Barker (Pontypool 1769 - Bath 1847), artist
References
Clevedon Court [The National Trust] revised 1972, 1974, 1977, 1979, p.28: "The State Room...Grouped round 'The Travellers' Breakfast', the Elton children and their mother re-appear in a series of elegant paintings executed by Thomas Barker, of Bath, in 1823. To the right, Julia Elizabeth has her arm protectively round Laura Mary."