Figure 1.--Here we have a fascinating scene from a one-room rural school. There are two school mistrisses. We did not intially know who he artist was. We have sibe larned that the artrtist was Canadian-born Elixabeth Forbes who worked in England. It depicts a rural school and was painted in 1889.

Here we have a fascinating scene from a one-room rural school. There are two school mistrisses. It depicts a the end of the day at a rural school in England. It was painted in 1889. Many of the children were wearing tams, both boys and girls. A lot of the children also wear pinafores. We had thought that the school might be Welsh. A reader thinks it was English. He reports, I believe that the boys caps are more of a clue, they look like Scottish tams to me." The boys seem to be mostly wearing knee pants. We are not positive if the child by the window wearing a pinafore is a boy or girl. The boy at the left wears knee pants. We are not sure why he is so unhappy. Notice that boys and girls are being educated together. A British reader has identified the portrait. "I found that the painting is on exhibition in Penlee House, Penzance. The Curator writes, 'The painting is called'School is Out' (1889) by Elizabeth Forbes. This painting depicts the schoolroom in the small village of Paul, just outside Newlyn. Forbes and her husband opened an art school in Nrelyn. It was painted in 1889, shortly before Elizabeth's marriage to Stanhope Forbes. Elizabeth was extremely fond of children and portrayed them in a number of her works. In 1904 she exhibited works at the Leicester Gallery, in an exhibition entitled 'Children and Child Lore'. Iam not sure if the bonnets are 'Cornish' or just typical of the period nationwide." So we now know who the artist was and the date and location. What we do not know is how to describe the clothing, especially the bonnets and tams. It is interesting to see how these traditional fashions were being worn in the late-19th century, Elizabeth Forbes was known for her fishing scenes, child figures and populated landscapes near Newlyn, Cornwall. She aklso made prints. She was born in Canada (1859). She was raised in England. She attended the South Kensington School of Art in London. Shecestablished herself in London. She traveled to New York (1877). She enrolled at the Art Students League. Among the teachers was William Merritt Chase She also worked with him at Zandvoort, near Haarlem, Holland (summer 1884). The exhibited her work at the Royal Academy of London and the Royal Society of Painters/Etchers (1885). She gained entry as an elected an associate member of the Royal Watercolor Society.

Created: March 12, 2003
Last updated: 5:29 AM 6/25/2010