RSA Scottish Art

The Rocking Chair

Small web image of The Rocking ChairArtist: John Lavery
Title: The Rocking Chair
Year: 1895
Medium: oil on canvas
Dimensions:
Suggested topic:
Source: RSA Diploma Collection
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© Courtesy of Felix Rosenstiel’s Widow & Son Limited, London 
Description: John Lavery's work ranged from early landscape paintings to fashionable portraiture.The Rocking Chair dates from shortly before Lavery's move to London and it marks the beginning of portraiture as his main interest. The way in which Lavery has adopted an almost monochrome colour scheme, sparse composition and use of an un-named sitter shows that he may have been influenced by the work of J M Whistler. Look at Portrait of the Artist's Mother, for example. The young woman is shown in a tasteful drawing room, sitting in a rocking chair. The fact that the title of the painting refers to the chair and not the woman indicates that Lavery is not solely interested in showing the likeness of that person. Why do you think he has focused on the chair? How would your opinion of the painting change if it was titled The Lace Veil, or The White Gloves, or even Figure in a Room? Lavery has carefully crafted a convincing realistic portrait. He has used a severely limited palette echoing early photographic techniques of the Victorian period in which sepia (brownish) tones were used to produce monochrome images. The darkly-clothed figure has been placed against an equally dark background, creating immediate focus on her pale face and hands. These strong dark tones, the woman's facial expression and her body language, create the mood of this painting. She looks tense, and possibly even defiant or defensive. Her veil acts like a barrier as though she doesn't want us to come any closer. Lavery seems to have exaggerated the size of her eyes, and her mouth is almost pursed. Although she is sitting in a rocking chair, neither her posture nor expression suggest that she is relaxed. Look how tightly her hands are gripping the edge of the chair.