Window mode follows your eyes with your camera, in this browser only: no picture or position leaves your device.
Street Singer and Child
John Opie (British, 1761–1807)
1700s
- Medium
- oil on canvas
- Classification
- Painting
- Dimensions
- Framed: 100 x 87.5 x 11 cm (39 3/8 x 34 7/16 x 4 5/16 in.); Unframed: 76.5 x 64.3 cm (30 1/8 x 25 5/16 in.)
- Culture
- England, 18th century
- Museum
- Cleveland Museum of Art, European Painting and Sculpture
- Credit line
- Gift of Mr. and Mrs. J. H. Wade
- Rights
- Public domain (CC0), as the museum states it.
- Who can see it
- Tweens profiles and older: its subjects are known and suit older children. How works are placed
View at the Cleveland Museum of Art
About this work
John Opie's working-class roots made him sympathetic to the plight of the laborer. This painting demonstrates his interest in an honest portrayal of British street life, a sympathy rarely seen in the work of other British artists of his generation, who often presented lower classes more coldly. Much of Britain's population at this time was poor, but beggars and street vendors had a particularly low status. Street singers were often sellers of goods. By focusing the composition tightly on the woman and not including any wares, Opie makes the viewer recognize her humanity; moreover, he emphasizes the connection between mother and child. The singer is working to feed her baby, evoking sympathy from the viewer.
