My Uncle Toby and the Widow Wadman
Charles Robert Leslie (1794-1859)
1831
Great Britain
Oil on canvas
81 x 56 cm
Museum no. FA.113
Given by John Sheepshanks 1857

This painting depicts an incident from Laurence Sterne's novel Tristram Shandy (1765). It shows the Widow Wadman trying to stir the affections of Captain Shandy. He peers into her face as she holds a handkerchief to her eye, pretending she has something in it. It was one of Leslie's most popular compositions.