Battledore

Leonard Campbell Taylor 1874 - 1969

Summary

Domestic scene of three Edwardian ladies playing an indoor game of battledore and shuttlecock. Two young ladies in pale dress play against each other, one in bottom right corner, the other in top left, a shuttlecock in the air between them. A third lady, dressed in black, sits on a settee against the wall behind. Floor length curtains in the background to right, small mirror in ornate frame on wall to left.

Display Label

Battledore 1906 Leonard Campbell Taylor 1874 -1969 Oil on panel Battledore, a forerunner of badminton, is a game played with racquets and a shuttlecock. The bats are two-sided and covered with a skin, which makes an unusual sound when the game is played. The red headed girl in the painting is Jessie Morris, the daughter of a Surrey farmer. Although not a professional model, she appears in several other paintings by the artist. Oxford-born Taylor painted landscapes and portraits but was best known for interior scenes as he particularly liked the effect interior lighting offered. Balance of arrangement was crucial to him: he combined atmosphere, tone and colour with the decorative flatness of Oriental art. The women were deliberately dressed in 1860s crinolines to suggest this is a scene from the past. Mr James Thomas Blair bequest 1917.195