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HIS FIRST OFFENCE
By LADY STANLEY (DOROTHY TENNANT)

HIS FIRST OFFENCE
By LADY STANLEY (DOROTHY TENNANT)(1855-1926)
IN THE TATE GALLERY, LONDON

Lady Stanley has a double title to fame. Apart from her success in the world of art, she married Mr. H. M. Stanley, the explorer, in 1890, nine years before he was knighted. To this may be added the fact that she figures in a picture by Millais, entitled " No," while her portrait, holding a squirrel, was also painted by Waits. Her artistic life began very early, for she was drawing before she could read or write. Even in those days she showed a preference for the street arab types which are represented in this picture. Her training was of the best. She studied under Sir E. Poynter and M. Legros at the Slade School before becoming the pupil of Henner in Paris, where she spent three winters.

Her pictures of ragamuffins, and of nymphs and dryads, were a feature of various London exhibitions for a number of years, while her black-and-white work was also prominent in the magazines. "His First Offence" shows a small boy brought up before the magistrate. He faces the spectator, who cannot fail to be impressed by the skill with which the artist has caught the sharp, shifty expression of the little rascal. The picture, which was exhibited at the New Gallery in 1896, was admired by Sir Henry Tate, who bought it and asked the artist to paint him some more ragamuffins. He died, however, before she had done more than a sketch on canvas of a "Stowaway," which was to have been a sort of companion to "His First Offence."

Lady Stanley ascribes the success of the picture to the boy's face and to the title she gave it. He was a little North Lambeth boy, with pathetic eyes, and proved a very trying little sitter, always restless to be off selling papers, which was his normal occupation.

From the book "Famous Paintings" Volume 2 printed in 1913.

Large files of this public domain print are available at Stock Photos at Songs of Praise
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Online "Name the Painting"

Portrait of Dorothy Tennant
by Watts

Dorothy Tennant's husband
Sir Henry Morton Stanley who explored Africa with Livingston

Famous Paintings in this Series

James Archer My Great Grandmother	Bashkirtseff The Meeting	Bouguereau Charity	John Brett From the Dorsetshire Cliffs
Arnesby Brown The River Bank	Joseph Clark Mother's Darling	John Constable The Hay-Wain	Jean Baptiste Camille Corot The Fisherman's Hut
Jean Baptiste Camille Corot A Flood	Leonardo Da Vinci Monna Lisa	Edouard Detaille The Dream	Henri Fantin-Latour Flowers
Thomas Gainsborough Queen Charlotte	Thomas Gainsborough The Market Cart	Jean Baptiste Greuze The Head of a Girl	Jean Baptiste Greuze Fidelity
James Clark Hook Home With the Tide	Alfred William Hunt Windsor Castle	Josef Israels The Shipwrecked Mariner	B.W. Leader The Stream in Summer-time
Madame Vigee Le Brun Portrait of the Artist	Alphonse Legros A Canal With a Fisherman	Anton Mauve Watering Horses	J.L.E. Meissonier The Cavalier
Sir J.E. Millais Speak! Speak!	Sir J.E. Mallais My First Sermon	George Morland The Reckoning	George Morland The Inside of a Stable
Murillo The Immaculate Conception of the Virgin	Alfred Parsons When Nature Painted All Things Gay	Ralph Peacock The Sisters	Rembrandt Syndics of the Cloth Merchants' Guild
Guido Reni "Ecce Homo"	Sir Joshua Reynolds Portrait of Mrs. Richard Hoare With Her Infant Son	Briton Riviere The Temptation in the Wilderness	Dante Gabriel Rossetti Day Dreams
John Singer Sargent Miss Ellen Terry as Lady Macbeth	Lady Stanley (Dorothy Tennant) His First Offence	Jan Steen Grace Before Meat	Marcus Stone On the Road from Waterloo to Paris
Constant Troyon Watering Cattle	H.S. Tuke "All Hands to the Pumps"	Velazquez King Philip IV. of Spain	S.E. Waller Sweethearts and Wives
Thomas Webster The Smile	Index Famous Paintings Volume 1 Art Gallery	Index Famous Paintings Volume 2 Art Gallery	Index Art Appreciation Lessons