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Lot Essay
This work dates from around 1898 and features the artist's second wife Mary and their two children; the boy Courtenay (b. June 1894) and the little girl Dorothea (b. April 1896). The model for the other girl is unknown. It was painted during the happiest period of Morgan's life. He had married the love of his life in 1890 and they now had two lovely children. His happiness is very much reflected in Mary and Courtenay's smiling faces, and the bright colours of the spring blossoms around them. This sylvan setting follows in the tradition of Morgan's painting May sold in these rooms on 7 June 2007, lot 74, for £216,000.
Children often sing a rhyme to accompany the game:
Seesaw Margery Daw
Johnny shall have a new master
He shall earn but a penny a day
Because he can't work any faster.
Another version of the painting, painted in 1906, includes an additional fox terrier in the foreground bottom right, and the fulcrum of the see-saw is clearly defined as a tree stump.
This timeless children's pastime features in numerous paintings throughout the centuries. One of the most popular depictions of a see-saw was painted in 1848 by Thomas Webster, R.A. (1800-1886). The young John Morgan (1823-1885), Fred's father and mentor, made a copy of Webster's work when he was a student, but it was over half a century later that Fred painted his two versions of the scene. Arthur Elsley (1860-1952) while the junior partner in Morgan's studio in St. John's Wood, North London painted Happy Days: The See-Saw, 1891. It shows a reluctant terrier puppy on the raised end and a delighted girl controlling the game on the lower.
We are grateful to Terry Parker for his assistance in preparing this catalogue entry.
Children often sing a rhyme to accompany the game:
Seesaw Margery Daw
Johnny shall have a new master
He shall earn but a penny a day
Because he can't work any faster.
Another version of the painting, painted in 1906, includes an additional fox terrier in the foreground bottom right, and the fulcrum of the see-saw is clearly defined as a tree stump.
This timeless children's pastime features in numerous paintings throughout the centuries. One of the most popular depictions of a see-saw was painted in 1848 by Thomas Webster, R.A. (1800-1886). The young John Morgan (1823-1885), Fred's father and mentor, made a copy of Webster's work when he was a student, but it was over half a century later that Fred painted his two versions of the scene. Arthur Elsley (1860-1952) while the junior partner in Morgan's studio in St. John's Wood, North London painted Happy Days: The See-Saw, 1891. It shows a reluctant terrier puppy on the raised end and a delighted girl controlling the game on the lower.
We are grateful to Terry Parker for his assistance in preparing this catalogue entry.