Lot 125: R. W. Chapman , Active. 1855-1861 the first letter oil on canvas

signed and dated l.l.: R.W.Chapman/ 1857 ; inscribed l.r.: The First Letter oil on canvas

measurements note 60 by 45 cm.; 23 ½ by 17 ¾ in.

Graham Reynolds, Victorian Painting, 1966, London, illustrated p. 108;
John Hadfield, Every Picture Tells a Story: Images of Victorian Life, 1985, p. 36, illustrated p. 37;
Sotheby's, Pictures from the Collection of Sir David and Lady Scott, 2008, pp. 64-65.

David Lamond, until 1957;
Sotheby's, 31 July 1957, lot 109 as Catching the Post;
Mrs Charlotte Frank, London, where bought by Sir David Scott in December 1957.

'This is a gentle little Victorian scene and the subdued tones of the picture seem to me to suit the subject admirably. The postbox is in the wall of an artists materials shop and in the window pane on the right you can see the reflexion [sic] of the little girl herself and of a passing carriage and a policeman's helmet.' Sir David Scott

R. W. Chapman exhibited on two occasions at the Royal Academy, and also on occasions at the Society of British Artists in Suffolk Street, sending his works in from addresses in London. This painting does not appear among the lists of his exhibits, but is probably his only work known today. It identifies him as a painter who was closely observant of the contemporary scene and responsive to changes in the way people went about their daily lives in the mid-century. The 1850s saw a number of artists turn to subjects showing street life in London, William Powell Frith and George Elgar Hicks amongst them. Chapman appears to have been influenced by their works, and may have sought to exploit the popularity that seems to have come about in the period for modern-life subjects. As Lindsay Errington wrote in the catalogue Sunshine and Shadow in 1991, 'the writing, sending, delivery, receiving and reading of letters - a celebration of the postal system - had become part of the general iconography of Victorian painting'. The present painting, which has the inscribed title of The First Letter, shows a young girl posting a letter into a box which has been placed beside the door of the shop of an artist's colourman and print-seller. The painting's title would seem to indicate that this was the first occasion on which she had sent a letter by the public postal service, which had been instituted as the 'penny post' in 1840 under the control of Rowland Hill. The artist indicates the anxiety she feels before dropping the letter, which she holds in her hand, and as she attempts to look into the box to see what will happen to it when posted. In the early years of the postal service letter boxes were placed in commercial premises, as seen here, and were sometimes hard to locate. Only in the mid-1850s, a year or so before the present painting was done, were cast-iron columnar post boxes installed in the streets, the first being positioned in Fleet Street. Chapman cleverly captures the bustle of a mid-Victorian street by allowing the viewer to glimpse the reflection of pedestrians and vehicles in the plate-glass windows of the shop, while across the pavement are cast the shadows of passers-by. By this means he lends emphasis to the isolation of the child. The shop itself is carefully observed, with a palette and box of artist's materials, along with a wooden artist's model, displayed in the projecting bay-window, and what are likely to be prints placed against the glass above. Most printsellers and colourmen in the period were based in the area north of Oxford Street between Newman Street and the British Museum, which part of London is the likely setting of the present painting.