How you can use this image

 

This image is available to be shared and re-used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives licence (CC BY-NC-ND).

You can reproduce this image for non-commercial purposes and you are not able to change or modify it in any way.

Wherever you reproduce the image you must attribute the original creators (acknowledge the original artist(s) and the person/organisation that took the photograph of the work) and any other rights holders.

Review our guidance pages which explain how you can reuse images, how to credit an image and how to find more images in the public domain or with a Creative Commons licence available.

Download

Buy a print or image licence

You can purchase this reproduction

If you have any products in your basket we recommend that you complete your purchase from Art UK before you leave our site to avoid losing your purchases.

Notes

Add or edit a note on this artwork that only you can see. You can find notes again by going to the ‘Notes’ section of your account.

The picture belongs to a tradition of visual representations of the sin of sloth. Here an old woman has fallen asleep while reading the Bible. The threat such negligence poses is embodied by the cat who greedily eyes a plate of fish. Part of the picture’s appeal for the 4th Marquess of Hertford may have been that it had once been in the collection of Jeremiah Harman. After the Harman sale of 1844, the 4th Marquess of Hertford complained to his friend Colonel Gurwood: ‘How sorry I am that you did not let me know that Mr Harman’s pictures were to be sold at Christie’s – you are sure to have known it – they are magnificent beyond expression, and it would have delighted me to have bought a few’. Fortunately, he had to wait only another four years before the present picture appeared again on the market.

The Wallace Collection

London

Title

An Old Woman Asleep

Date

1657–c.1662

Medium

oil on canvas

Measurements

H 37.5 x W 33 cm

Accession number

P242

Acquisition method

acquired by Richard Seymour-Conway, 4th Marquess of Hertford, 1848; bequeathed to the nation by Lady Wallace, 1897

Work type

Painting

Tags

This artwork does not have any tags yet. You can help by tagging artworks on Tagger.

The Wallace Collection

Hertford House, Manchester Square, London, Greater London W1U 3BN England

This venue is open to the public. Not all artworks are on display. If you want to see a particular artwork, please contact the venue.
View venue