Hector Chalmers RSA Spilt Milk

An original late 19th-century oil painting, Hector Chalmers RSA, Spilt Milk.

This wonderful rustic subject is by the Scottish artist Hector Chalmers (1849–1943). The sweet scene hints at a touching narrative: the sobbing child having dropped the milk she was presumably tasked with carrying. Bringing to mind the phrase, 'It's no use crying over spilt milk', the painting carries a resonant universal message that transcends its humble subject.

Hector Chalmers (1849–1943) studied at the Trustees' Academy in Edinburgh under William McTaggart (1835–1910) and also at the RSA Schools in Glasgow. Working in oils and watercolour, he lived in Edinburgh (at Hawthorn Villa off Ferry Road) and exhibited widely, including 176 works at the Royal Scottish Academy.

Illustrations by Chalmers were included in the book 'Edinburgh: Picturesque Notes' by Robert Louis Stevenson, published in 1878.

Chalmers painted rural subjects, both landscapes and rustic genre scenes, often including children. His style resembles that of the Glasgow Boys, who brought a fresh modernity to contemporary rural subjects, painted outdoors and with an interest in colour and surface. The Glasgow Boys admired the naturalistic scenes of everyday life by their counterparts in Europe, particularly the work of the Barbizon painters in France, and the Dutch Hague School. In particular they felt an affinity with the French realist painter Jules Bastien-Lepage, who also depicted child peasant subjects and whose work provided a bridge between naturalism and impressionistic style.

The present painting shares the earthy tones and loose handling of paint of the work of these contemporaries.

Oil on canvas on stretchers.

Presented in a later, gold painted wooden frame.

Image size: 34.5 x 24.5cm. Frame size: 41.5 x 31.5cm.