Technique

The Little Nurse: Lyme Regis, Freer Gallery of Art

It is sombre and muted in colour, and very thinly painted. The window at left was painted first, and the paint having become more transparent, the window ledge shows through the children standing in front of it. The windows, and the interior seen through the door, were painted with a small brush, very carefully, and the children sketched in more freely, their features barely indicated. There are signs of some reworking: a black outline was added to clarify the the baby's outline at left. Furthermore, the curtain at right in the window at right, and the dark interior between the curtains in the window at left, were painted over the original glazing bars; these bars were partly re-inforced at right, but remain obscured at left.

Conservation History

There are signs of abrasion and paint loss at the edges.