3-053-847 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

"An Invalid", by E. F. Brewtnall, from a water-colour in the late Royal Academy exhibition, 1873. '...countless myriads...will visit the watering-places which literally fringe our sea-girt isle...not a few go in the hope...to recover the priceless boon of health. In this drawing the artist, with much taste and pathetic suggestiveness, represents...one such case. The scene is a garden overlooking some pretty bay of, say, our undulating southern coast...A sick and delicate girl, too infirm to walk, is wheeled in an invalid-chair to an opening amongst the fragrant shrubs and climbers and flowers, where she may drink refreshment from whatever air is wafted from the calm sea, and where her eye may repose on the placid waters, the softly-gliding boats, and the serene evening sky...A stalwart young fellow,...full of robust strength and health, has wheeled her there, and now stands aside not to disturb her enjoyment of the view, yet with an air of anxious solicitude. A sister, gentle and retiring, leans on the back of her chair; an elder female, her mother perhaps, sits behind, pensive yet watchful and alert; and all are hushed in silence. An invalid could have no better conditions for recovery; and should not such loving heedfulness be rewarded?' From "Illustrated London News", 1873.