Provenance
Private collection, England; (sale, Tennant's, Leyburn, 21 March 2020, no. 89); (Karen Taylor, London); purchased 2020 by NGA.
Accession Number
2020.123.1
Medium
watercolor over traces of graphite with gum arabic and white gouache on wove paper
Dimensions
sheet: 50.8 × 36.83 cm (20 × 14 1/2 in.)
Classification
Drawing
Credit Line
William B. O'Neal Fund
Tags
Drawing Impressionist & Modern (1851–1900) Watercolor Graphite & Pencil Gouache Paper British
Background & Context
Background Story
Emily Farmer (1826-1891) was a British watercolorist known for the genre scenes of domestic life that make her one of the most accomplished women watercolorists of the Victorian period. Gentle Critics (The Portfolio) from 1872 depicts figures examining a portfolio of artworks in the precise, charming watercolor manner that distinguishes Farmer's best genre scenes from the more dramatic watercolor painting of her contemporaries. The 1872 date places this in Farmer's most productive period, when she was exhibiting watercolor genre scenes at the Royal Academy and the Old Water-Colour Society, and the subject of gentle critics examining art reflects the Victorian taste for genre scenes of domestic life.
Cultural Impact
Gentle Critics (The Portfolio) is important in the history of Victorian watercolor painting because it demonstrates the charming, domestic genre manner that Farmer brought to watercolor genre scenes as one of the most accomplished women watercolorists of the Victorian period. Farmer's genre scenes of domestic life—combining the precise detail of Victorian watercolor with the charming subject of domestic genre—represent an important tradition in Victorian painting that was particularly accomplished in the hands of women watercolorists.
Why It Matters
Gentle Critics (The Portfolio) is Farmer's charming Victorian watercolor genre: figures examining a portfolio of artworks rendered in the precise, domestic manner of one of the most accomplished women watercolorists of the Victorian period. The 1872 painting shows the Victorian taste for charming genre scenes of domestic life executed in the precise watercolor medium.
