Londonners Gipsying

This is an early and particularly attractive example of the work of this Anglo-American artist who specialised in humorous genre scenes, often taken from popular literary sources. It is an interesting social document of a party spending the day in the woods, then a very common thing among the middle classes in summer. The group of figures appears to be from the East End, with a cart, presumably hired for the occasion, to transport themselves and their belongings. Other interesting features are the blue and white tea service (possibly Spode) and the cane- and rush-bottomed chairs, of a type which inspired chair designs by William Morris and E. W. Godwin some forty years later.