Lot 118: Charles Rossiter (fl. 1852-1890)

The Song of the Shirt
oil on canvas
24 1/4 x 20 1/4 in. (61.5 x 51.4 cm.)

London, Royal Academy, 1854, no. 269.

Anonymous sale; Sotheby's, London, 5 June 1996, lot 79 (as 'Sad Memories').

Rossiter's painting is inspired by Thomas Hood's poem, The Song of the Shirt, published anonymously in Punch in 1843. It tells the story of a poor seamtress, 'a woman...in unwomanly rags', who sings of her plight as she works. Her monologue, with its rhythmic invocations: 'Work, work, work/....Stitch! stitch! stitch!' expresses in both style and content the relentless nature of her toil.

The poem had far-reaching effects: 'trebling the circulation of [Punch] and becoming one of the best known poems of the age', as Julian Treuherz comments in his catalogue to the exhibition Hard Times (Manchester City Art Gallery, 1987-8). He continues: 'Its immediate result, however, was to bring home to public attention, as no newspaper reports could do, sordid facts about the disgraceful working conditions, the long hours, poor pay, unhealthy lives and frequent deaths of clothing workers'.

Douglas Jerrold (1803-1857), the social and political commentator, recorded that it was 'inspired by an incident...A woman with a starving infant [who] was charged at the Lambeth Police-court with pawning her master's goods...Her husband had died in an accident, and left with her two children to support,...she obtained by her needle... a maintenance...for herself and her family [of] seven shillings as week'. Hood's poem focuses on a single woman, rather than a mother figure.

The Victorian tradition of using art to raise social awareness over welfare issues was garnering strength mid-century. Dickens's novel Hard Times, documenting the life of factory workers, was published in 1854, the same year that this painting was executed. Rossiter's picture is also contemporary with Anna Blunden's work: For only one short hour (1854; see Christie's, London, 5 March 1993, lot 113) - she portrays her subject with one elbow on the sill of her attic window, hands clasped in a gesture of prayer and entreaty.

However neither Rossiter's or Blunden's were the first depictions of the subject. Only a year after the poem's publication Richard Redgrave exhibited The Semptress in the Royal Academy (a replica was sold in the Forbes sale, Christie's, London, February 2003, lot 110). This most famous of images shows the pallid protagonist seated within an ascetic interior; a few meagre provisions: an ewer and pitcher, a plain wooden bed and wall clock, highlight the humility of her existence.

Rossiter's image is surprisingly hopeful by contrast. Light streams into the garret room. A loaf of bread and china teacup are painted with a fidelity that evokes the Dutch masters. A church spire can be seen against a blue sky - as opposed to the furnace-like glow being emitted from the building glimpsed through Redgrave's window.

The flowers on the window ledge and on the table would have had symbolic resonance for a contemporary audience. The primrose signified early youth; the violet and speedwell both represent faithfulness. The implication is that the seamstress is not only constant in her attempts to provide for herself, she is also young enough to hope for change. Pertinently the yellow geranium, seen on the windowsill, represents an unexpected meeting.

G.F. Watts also painted the subject (1850), and F.D.Hardy, Frank Holl and Edward Radford were to treat it two decades later - such was its hold on the public imagination.

An inscription on an old label on the reverse of the painting pays tribute to Rossiter's tenure as Art Master at Uppingham School.

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