The Butt: Shooting a Cherry
About the painting
Object Type
Oil paintings with sentimental scenes of children in the countryside became popular with collectors such as John Sheepshanks and the Reverend Chauncy Hare Townshend, as well as with the Victorian public in general.
Subjects Depicted
Mulready had started this scene of a crude childhood game as early as 1822 but he had abandoned it unfinished. He was persuaded by John Linnell to resume work, and it was finally exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1848. Although the technique was much admired, some reviewers thought the subject unworthy of such painterly skill in colour and effect. Mulready's subject matter was frequently criticised as being too low-life or even violent, the disturbing and realistic scenes of children bullying others were too contrary to the current idyllic view of childhood innocence.
People
Read on
William Mulready (1786-1863) had four sons of whom he had custody after a bitter separation from his wife, Elizabeth Varley. She was the sister of John Varley, Mulready's first teacher, who remained a lifelong friend in spite of this misfortune. It is evident he used scenes from their childhood and his own as subject matter for some of his paintings.
Victoria and Albert Museum
