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Going to School

Artist (Lorraine, France, 1848 - 1884)
Date1882
Mediumoil on canvas
ClassificationsPaintings And Drawings
DimensionsOverall (Height x Width): 809 × 598mm
Frame Size (Height x Width): 1083 × 864mm
Weight: 20.5kg
AcquisitionPurchased in 1927.
CopyrightOut of copyright - CC0
LocationOn Display - Gallery 10
Object numberABDAG002288
About MeFollowing in the footsteps of Gustave Courbet, Jules Bastien-Lepage became the champion of the French Realist school. Scottish collectors particularly admired his work and he exerted a formative influence on the young generation of Scottish Realist painters.

Although there seems to be no obvious social comment in this painting of a girl on her way to school on a cold morning, it was painted in the wake of extensive reforms in education. The schoolgirl wearing a makeshift head-dress, constructed from a hessian sack, can be read as an 'after' image, illustrating the social benefits of education.

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More About Me
The artist portrays the girl in typically natural way, capturing her questioning look as she passes by on her way to school.
Exhibitions
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Falling Leaves
James Cowie
1934
Study of Drapery for Two Schoolgirls by James Cowie
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1934 - 1935
Two Girls by James Cowie
James Cowie
c. 1920
The Nosegay
Philip Connard
c.1913
Runswick Bay, Yorkshire
Arthur Friedenson
1906
Chapelle et Chaumière
Jean Frélaut
1931
Girl Reading
Henry Lamb
1939
The Errand
Jozef Israels
1871
Saying Grace
Alexander Hohenlohe Burr
1875-1899
The Mother's Kiss
William Strang
1900-1921
On the Coast near Bervie
Sir George Reid
1862
Butterflies by Edward Hornel
Edward Atkinson Hornel
1908
The Arrochar Gleaner by Robert Herdman
Robert Herdman
1862
The Pet of the Common
John Callcott Horsley
1853
Idling On The Sands, Forvie by Alexander Mann
Alexander Mann
1882
Aitchie by George Paul Chalmers
George Paul Chalmers
1874
Kathleen
Robert Brough
1898