Lot 111: Edward Hughes , 1832-1908 sympathy oil on board

signed on the door: E HUGHES oil on board

measurements note 17 by 14.5 cm.; 6 ¾ by 5 ¾ in.

J. Haydock, his sale Christie's, 14 March 1969, lot 77 (bought 'Maas');
J. S. Maas & Co., London, where bought by Sir David Scott, 5 June 1969 for £231

Edward Hughes was the son of the landscape painter George Hughes. He exhibited genre and domestic subjects at the Royal Academy and the British Institution from 1847 onwards, before becoming a portrait painter.

Sympathy depicts a smartly-dressed young boy who has encountered an impoverished young flower-seller of approximately the same age, in a city street. It appears that he is returning home from attending a music lesson and has set aside his violin and bow on the doorstep of a house. She is dressed in a ragged shawl with a red scarf tightly wrapped around her neck, suggesting that it is winter. He has gently taken her cold hand in his to warm it against the cold. The plight of the urban poor was a popular subject in the mid-nineteenth century and Hughes treated a familiar subject with tender pathos.