Edwin Henry LandseerBritish, 1802–1873A Naughty Child
Can I see it?
Yes, on view now
Where is “A Naughty Child” now? Victoria and Albert Museum, British Galleries, Room 122, London. Yes, on view now. Checked September 25, 2026.
Closed· opens at 10:00 AM
On public display.
- Checked
- In this state since
- Source
- The museum
About the painting
Object Type
Oil paintings with scenes of children became popular with collectors such as John Sheepshanks and the Rev. Chauncy Hare Townshend, as well as appealing to the sentimental tastes of a very wide section of the Victorian public.
Subjects Depicted
The success of this painting was remarkable and led to a number of commissions for child portraits. It was thought that the subject of this painting was a boy who was brought to the studio but refused to remain where he was put. His mother, exasperated, sent him to stand `in the corner' and Landseer decided to paint him as he stood. An alternative possibility is that it is a portrait of Landseer's own daughter, the second child of a liaison with Georgiana, Duchess of Bedford. It is hard to tell because of the custom of dressing young children of both sexes alike, until the boys were old enough to wear breeches.
People
Read on
Edwin Henry Landseer (1802-1873) was a child prodigy, exhibiting some drawings at the Royal Academy when he was only 13. Queen Victoria collected his paintings as did John Sheepshanks. The two biggest collections of his work are in the Royal Collection and here in the Victoria and Albert Museum.
Victoria and Albert Museum
Details
- Accession number
- FA.98[O]
What it shows
In the catalog
Sources
- Victoria and Albert Museum
- Image: Victoria and Albert Museum — © Victoria and Albert Museum, London
