ACTIVITIES BASED ON FIVE PAINTINGS

Contrary Winds

Because of its location, this activity should be carried out by a maximum of 3-5 students at one time.

• Who are the people in the painting? Do you think they are all from the same family?
• If this was meant to be a portrait of the whole family, who would be missing from the painting?
• Do these people look rich or poor? How do you know?
• How is this home different from the types of homes we live in nowadays? How is it similar?
• What is the old lady doing? What about the children?
• Can you see any toys or games anywhere?
• What do you think childhood was like for Victorian children? Did they have televisions, computers or video games? Would they have had to work?
• The boy at the front is quite smartly dressed. Could he be in uniform? What for? How old do you think he is?
• The word 'contrary' means opposite. Why do you think this painting is called Contrary Winds? (Clue: It has to do with what the children are doing.) If you could change the title, what would you call it?

Webster specialised in pictures showing children at play, as well as scenes of school and village life. His paintings were very popular and he also made engravings (prints) of them, so lots of cheaper copies were available.

This is an idealised image of rustic domesticity and cottage life. The cottage interior is over-stylised, indicating that Webster probably painted it from a studio set and from studies of cottage interiors he had made in the past, rather than from life. Since the image has probably been patched together from various sources, it is not a true representation of a cottage interior at this time.  

The boy at the front is possibly wearing school uniform. The hat on the floor could belong to him, but seems rather large. Alternatively, it could have been left by the man of the house, who is out at work.

The old lady is possibly a grandmother, though whether all of the children in the painting are her grandchildren is not certain. On the table beside her are what look like a glasses case and balls of wool, as well as a spinning wheel in the far corner. There is a book, probably a Bible, on the table, and more books or pamphlets on the right of the mantelpiece. Books were expensive and not every family could have afforded them. This leads us to believe that the family here was not the poorest of the poor. Also, the children also seem healthy and content. The artist has added homely details (the tablecloth, the arrangement of objects on the mantelpiece and the bottle of flowers on the windowsill) to make the scene less bare than a rural home might have been. This would make the picture more appealing to the art-buying public.

On the floor in front of the tub, a knife and some whittled wood indicate that the children have made their own toy boat using a kitchen utensil. The shuttlecock on the floor also suggests that the children have been playing.

The title of a genre painting usually provided a key to its narrative. However, at the time the title of this painting caused some dismay with at least one critic. He considered it neither descriptive nor illuminating.