William Maw Egley

Sold by the artist to Arthur Tooth, 25 January 1878

Purchased from Tooth by George H. Shepherd, of King Street, St James and Nottingham

Colin Stogell Fine Art, Torquay

Private collection

Manuscript 'Catalogue of Pictures, Drawings and Designs by W. Maw Egley', vol. II, from 1868 to 1887, p. 152, no. 758

This picture was formerly thought to be the work of William Powell Frith but an entry in the record of works by William Maw Egley proves that it is his; ‘Great Expectations – oil. Three-quarter length, standing figure of a girl watching from a window. She wears a pale blue, brocaded silk dress. On the right is a table with tea equipage; and by it a white Maltese terrier waiting for biscuits. – Modern costume. – Interior. Size 27 x 20, in.’ (Egley’s hand-written record of work, National Art Library, Victoria & Albert Museum) Egley even records that he began the picture on 17 December 1877 and completed it on 25 January 1878; ‘Time in 1877: 3 days.- In 1878: 15 Days.- Total 18 days’

The blue-silk gown, buttoned at the front and trimmed in white lace, is reminiscent of the fashions worn by the women in James Tissot’s paintings from the 1870s. The young woman in Great Expectations is standing at the window casement of an elegant drawing room decorated in the prevailing taste of the Queen Anne revival. Prominent in the interior are the Japanese blue-and-white tea service and a print of Reynold's 1789 portrait of Theophila Gwatkin. The young woman is nervously looking for the approach of her guests who have been invited to take tea with her – a social ritual fraught with rules of etiquette and perhaps her tentative apprehension is meant to suggest that she is newly married or new to the area and this is her first event as hostess. Just as the girl has great expectations for her social debut, the lap-dog is expectant of a biscuit treat. 

We are grateful to Mark Bills for his help with the attribution of this lot