Harold Harvey 1874-1941

London, Phillips, 13 November 1984, lot 60;
Penzance, W. H. Lane & Son, 12 October 1993, lot 100;
London, Sotheby's, 5 March 1997, lot 33;
Private collection

Kenneth McConkey, Peter Risdon, Pauline Sheppard, Harold Harvey - Painter of Cornwall, 2001, p. 140, cat. no. 115

STRUCTURE This picture is unlined and in excellent original condition. CATALOGUE COMPARISON The illustration is broadly representative. PAINT SURFACE The surface is sound with bright colours and rich impasto throughout. There are no signs of craquelure and the paint surface appears to be stable. The picture is clean and ready to hang. UNDER ULTRAVIOLET LIGHT There do not appear to be any apparent retouchings. FRAME This picture is contained in a gilt 'Watts-style' frame.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Boy Whittling a Stick embodies Harvey's early style in which the influence of the French painter of rustic subjects Jules Bastien Lepage, is clearly evident. A young boy ambles through a woodland in spring, with primroses at his feet and a scruffy little dog close at his heels. The day is drawing to a close and the birch trees are casting long shadows against the forest floor. Young idlers had been the subject of several paintings by Lepage including one of his most famous works Pas Mèche which was owned by the Scottish mining engineer George McCulloch. Harvey's friend Norman Garstin described the feeling felt by many of his contemporaries for the work of Lepage, who he described as; 'the greatest artist of our day - almost all his contemporaries have felt his power; many imitated him, no one surpassed him... his men and women breathe air, not linseed oil.' (Kenneth McConkey, Peter Risdon, Pauline Sheppard, Harold Harvey - Painter of Cornwall, 2001, p. 46)

A similar interest in harmonic peasant life is demonstrated in The Dinner Hour, Harvey's main picture of 1897 in which a group of ploughmen are resting in the sunshine and eating the food that has been brought to them by one of their wives or daughters. Although in other pictures a desire to depict the hardship of country life has been recognised, in The Dinner Hour and Boy Whittling a Stick there is no suggestion of drudgery or poverty.

The little boy depicted in the present work is probably the same one seen from behind wearing the same cloth hat, waistcoat and white shirt in Mousehole of 1908 (private collection). His interest in childhood leisure is shown in the painting of boys playing with crabs in Sport on the Shore of c. 1890 (Plymouth City Museum and Art Gallery) and Sailing in Newlyn Harbour of 1906. In 1909 Harvey also painted Gathering Gulls Eggs, Mevagissey (private collection) and Close of a Summer's Day of 1909 (private collection) in which the same model is depicted looking at the eggs collected by two friends on a cliff-top and riding a horse through a ford.