Arthur John Elsley

Sale: Christie's, London, April 22, 1932, lot 86
Prestige Art, Inc.
Acquired in Chicago in the 1950s

Terry Parker, Golden Hours, The Paintings of Arthur J. Elsley 1860-1952, Shepton Beauchamp, Somerset, 1998, p. 112, illustrated

The following condition report was kindly provided by Simon Parkes Art Conservation, Inc.: This work has been recently restored. The canvas is unlined and the stretcher is original. There is one thin diagonal break in the canvas in the upper right, immediately next to the vase of flowers on the mantel. At present, although there is a small reinforcement on the reverse, this break is slightly visible. There are otherwise no retouches or damages to the picture as a whole. One may want to consider lining the canvas in order to provide a proper surface and eliminate the raised break in the upper right.
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

Baby’s Bath Time offers a glimpse into an idyllic home in Edwardian England. Here, Elsley captures a moment in which the family is brought together by an everyday domestic activity, but the way in which he depicts each figure highlights the endearing quality of the scene. Each rosy-cheeked child smiles ear to ear, even the baby, while their puppy playfully leaps away from the tub to avoid being splashed. The birth of Elsley’s only daughter Marjorie, in 1903, “saw the start of a golden period of highly successful paintings featuring his daughter in a variety of situations and settings” (Parker, p. 11). In the present work, she is featured at the left of the bathtub with her hand lifted in front of her face as a shield from the water.  The mother and the baby are the same models as in Mother’s Treasure, painted the same year.

Bath time was a recurring theme in Elsley’s work. His prints were widely used for commercial purposes, often for soap advertisements. Companies such as Pears Soap, Sunlight Soap, and Ivy Soap advertised their products with prints of Elsley’s compositions, and while Baby’s Bath Time was not specifically used for such advertising purposes he still includes a sudsy bar as a prominent feature in it. While soap companies were using Elsley’s highly popular imagery to sell their product, the artist's sentimental narratives promoted the importance of a close family and the joy and innocence of childhood.