George Halse - Child Studies

Child Studies

Halse's many child studies take the form of busts of children laughing or crying, or statues of young girls playing with babies. Often the children are wreathed in flowers suggesting the ephemeral nature of childhood, both through the high infant mortality of the time but also the natural process of maturation. These figure groups were frequently reproduced as engravings in The Illustrated London News indicating their popularity. Older children were also subjects. For example, Young England, exhibited at the RA in 1870 is of a boy holding a cricket bat and reading a book. A review in The Illustrated London News comments on its 'muscularly inclined Christianity' linking it to Thomas Arnold's ideas on combining physical and moral education. Halse seemed to go along with these theories, as he set out his vision for youth in his poem The Legend of Sir Juvenis dedicated to the boys of St. Paul's school. The hero of the poem overcomes many trials with the help of knowledge, his aim being to gain the moral quality of true manliness. In the following year Halse made a companion sculpture of a girl holding a sketch pad, the title Young England's Sister makes clear its relationship to Young England but at the same time the title reverses Halse's laudable attempt at equality. Both statues were reproduced by W.T Copeland in Parian ware.

1866 was an important year for Halse because he was commissioned to design part of Copeland's dessert service for the Prince and Princess of Wales. He modelled four female figures supporting fruit dishes (or compotes) and representing the four elements 'Earth, Air, Fire and Water'. The service is in the Royal Collection at Sandringham House but at present Halse's contributions are not on public display because they are damaged. The figures are amongst his most successful showing a gentle lyricism and a light touch. His Trysting Tree Boy and the companion girl also made for Copeland share the charm and lightness of the elemental figures.