Picture of the Month: July 2023

S&W Picture of the Month for July is this arresting, large portrait rendered with beautiful sensitivity by Octavius Oakley RWS (1800–1867). Oakley is known for his 'gypsy' subjects, which he exhibited at the Royal Watercolour Society—so much so, that he became known as 'Gypsy Oakley'.

During an era of Empire, gypsies held a fascination for the Victorian public, feeding a curiosity for exploration and newly 'discovered' cultures at once exotic and subversive to traditional English identity. By the mid-19th century, gypsies had become something of an obsession within Victorian culture, featuring widely in literature. The work of best-selling traveller-writer George Borrow did much to bring first-hand encounters with Romany culture to the reading public.

Whilst gypsy subjects were usually excessively romanticised, the present watercolour is painted with simplicity and realism, without the 'exotic' accoutrements often used to denote 'gypsy', affording the portrait an affecting universality.