The Kitchen-lad, called 'Jack', with the Dudmaston Ale Glass
George Alsop (fl.1722 - 1730)
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
1719 (signed and dated)
Materials
Oil on canvas
Measurements
737 x 610 mm (29 x 24 in)
Order this imageCollection
Dudmaston, Shropshire
NT 814134
Caption
This red-haired boy is thought to have been a member of the household of Sir John Wolryche, 4th Bt (1691-1723) of Dudmaston. The enormous glass of ale on the table to his right, the so-called 'Fool's Glass' is similar to one still in the collection at Dudmaston. Such glasses may have been used as part of an initiation test for admission to a club, probably in this case, the Wolryche Hunt. It is also thought that the rough, pointed stick held by the boy might have been used in hunting to prod foxes in their earths.
Summary
Oil painting on canvas,The Kitchen-lad, called 'Jack', with the Dudmaston Ale Glass by George Alsop (fl.1722-1730), signed and dated, lower left: Geo:Alsop/pinx:1719. A three-quarter length portrait of boy in white shirt and brown coat, smoking a pipe with one hand, in the other a stick. To his left a table on which stand a massive goblet of wine, 'The Fool's Glass'. Against dark background.
Provenance
Dudmaston collection; transferred to the National Trust by Rachel Katherine Hamilton Russell, Lady Labouchere (1908 - 1996), April 1978
Credit line
Dudmaston, The Labouchere Collection (National Trust)
Marks and inscriptions
George Alsop 1719 (signed and dated)
Makers and roles
George Alsop (fl.1722 - 1730), artist