Young Child Sleeping, the Artist's Son, by Sickert's Woman Student Antique Watercolour on Paper

A touching depiction of a young boy, sleeping, dating from circa 1930. If the artist's affection for the child can be felt in this tender watercolour, it is for good reason: the subject is her son, James. She annotated “God giveth his beloved sleep". Never previously offered for sale, the elegant, etherial artwork remained in the artist's family for almost 90 years.

Artist Wendela Boreel was born in France in 1886 to an American mother and a Dutch diplomat father. She came to live in England when her father was posted to London. The family had a home on Tite Street, just up the road from Oscar Wilde’s house. Wendela became friends with her neighbour Frank Schuster, and moved in the circles of John Singer Sargent, James Abbott McNeill Whistler, Edward Elgar, W.B. Yeates, Thomas Hardy and Roger Fry. Wendela studied at the Slade School of Art, and attended Walter Sickert’s evening classes. As her outstanding talent manifested itself, she soon became Sickert's protegé and assistant. Boreel's first solo exhibition was in 1919 at Walker's Gallery, and she would subsequently exhibit at the New English Art Club, the Allied Artist’s Association, and the London Group. She married Lesly 'Anzy' Wylde, a cavalry officer and friend of Siegfried Sassoon's, who had lost a leg during the Gallipoli Campaign. Widowed at the age of only 39, Wedela and her and Anzy's son, James, left London to return to France.

Unsigned, our watercolour of James came from her French estate. Measuring 27 x 36 cm at sight. Elegantly framed, the overall size of the painting is 50 x 59 cm.

Works by Wendela Boreel are held in the Government Art Collection, the V&A Museum as well as in the British Museum in the UK. The Museum of Modern Art MOMA in New York also possesses a work by her. For further information on the artist, please request our Skippings Fine Art Summer newsletter, which is dedicated to Wendela Boreel and her work.

Nous parlons français, und wir sprechen auch Deutsch! Paintings may be viewed in Norwich and in Paris, as well as in London and Cambridge by appointment. Please contact us if you would like further details and images of an artwork.