Aug 6, 2025
The Little Foot Page
Artist: Eleanor Fortescue-Brickdale (British, 1872 – 1945)
Date: 1905 first exhibited
Medium: Oil on canvas
Collection: Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, England
Description
This painting illustrates lines from a traditional folk ballad variously called ‘Child Waters’ or ‘Burd Helen’ from Thomas Percy’s Reliques of Ancient English Poetry (1765). The ballad describes the loyalty of Ellen who is bearing the child of her heartless lover Child Waters. He insists Ellen serve him as a page. She is shown dressed in male clothing and just about to cut her long beautiful hair so she can pass as a boy. Her dress and wimple are discarded in the foreground.
#late pre raphaelite art#the little foot page#woods#trees#flowers#lush foliage#child waters#burd helen#thomas percy/s reliques of ancient poetry#female figure#hiding#male clothing#wimple#dress#stockings#pre raphaelite art#painting#oil on canvas#fine art#oil painting#artwork#british culture#british art#eleanor fortescue brickdale#british painter#european art#20th century painting#walker art gallery
