Painting of the Day: “A Garden Scene,” Charles Robert Leslie, 1840

A Garden Scene
Charles Robert Leslie, 1840
The Victoria & Albert Museum

Though of American birth, painter Charles Robert Leslie studied in England and made it his home. There, he quickly gained a reputation as being a painter of immense skill and sensitivity. Leslie excelled at historical scenes, but also had a knack for sentimental subjects of daily life.


An excellent example of the latter is this painting of Leslie’s son, George Donlop Leslie, still in baby clothes, at play in the family garden at their home located at 12 Pine Apple Place, Edgware Road, London. Leslie has painted his boy with his favorite companion, a toy horse and cart. George would, one day, follow in his father’s steps and become a celebrated painter and writer as well.