68/2014

Collection

Paintings, Prints and Drawings

Brief description

Domestic interior with a sleeping soldier, oil on canvas, 1860-1869, by Henry Nelson O'Neil (1817-1880).

Title

Domestic interior with a sleeping soldier

Object name

painting
oil painting

Object number

68/2014

Production person

O'Neil, Henry Nelson (artist)

Production date

1860-1869 (painted)

Production place

London (painted)

Period

Victorian (1837-1901)

Material

oil paint
canvas

Technique

painted

Physical description

Painting, oil on canvas, glazed and framed in a gilded wood frame.

Content description

The painting depicts two figures in a bedroom. At the centre of the image a young man is shown asleep in bed. A woman dressed in black, standing to the right of the image, looks towards him with her hands clasped together. The white bed clothes are depicted in considerable detail and stand out against the brown patterned wallpaper, carpets and curtains. There are two travelling trunks to the left of the foreground. The lid of one is open and a military uniform can be seen neatly folded inside. A sword is shown resting against it. The second trunk is closed and has some lettering on the lid, cut off by the edge of the picture, which reads, ‘…VI/[Be]ngal’. In the background a mirror and an open box are shown on a chest of drawers in front of a window with partially drawn curtains. At the right hand edge of the painting a cricket bat and other games equipment can be seen on a shelf or rack attached to the wall. The painting is indistinctly signed and dated ‘186[?]’ at the bottom right corner.

Content object

wallpaper
curtain
carpet
bed
blanket
sheet
pillow
bolster
trunk
mirror
box

Dimensions

Height: 88cm
Width: 70cm
Height: 121cm
Width: 104cm

Website keywords

floor treatments
bedroom furniture
mirrors
textiles
wall treatments
window treatments
images of bedrooms

Label

Label text for the digital interactive located in the Reading Room (September 2015- June 2017):

Domestic interior with a sleeping soldier

By Henry Nelson O’Neil
Oil on canvas, 1860s

The young man at the centre of this painting sleeps peacefully; watched over by his anxious mother. The cricket bat on the wall signifies childhood play and is in contrast with the neatly packed military trunk and sword which represent his future. The inscription on the lid of the closed trunk suggests that he is leaving to join the British military fighting in India.

This is one of a series of paintings by Henry Nelson O’Neil about the First Indian War of Independence (or the Indian Mutiny as it was known in England at the time), of 1857-8 and the impact of that conflict on the homes and families of British soldiers.