The Height of Ambition

Jacob Thompson (1806 - 1879)

Penrith and Eden Museum

1864

Genre scene depicting a group of children riding on a sledge laden with heather gathered for fuel. The children imagine that it is a grand carriage and one of the girls sits proudly atop the heather holding a burdock leaf as a parasol. The painting is the companion work to 'The Downfall of Pride', also at Penrith Museum, where the sledge has overturned and the children have tumbled out, completing the moral narrative.

• Medium: oil on canvas
• Dimensions: 69 x 102cm
• Art Fund Grant: £4500 ( Total: £18,000)
• ArtFunded in: 2006
• Vendor: Jeffery Reed

Provenance

James S Virtue, 1865; Private collection, 1879 (purchased at sale of Mr Virtue's pictures); Sotheby's, 1983; Private collection.

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