WILLIAM POWELL FRITH (BRITISH 1819-1909) THE VICAR OF WAKEFIELD: "THE INTERVALS BETWEEN CONVERSATIONS WERE EMPLOYED IN TEACHING MY DAUGHTERS PIQUET; OR SOMETIMES IN SETTING MY TWO LITTLE ONES TO BOX, TO MAKE THEM SHARP, AS HE (THE SQUIRE) CALLED IT" Oil on canvas Signed and dated 1876 (lower left) 90 x 142cm (35¼ x 55¾ in.) Provenance: E. Stacy-Marks Ltd., Eastbourne Private Collection, UK Sale, Bonhams, London, 14 March 2018,19th Century European, Victorian and British Impressionist Art, lot 64 Exhibited: London, Royal Academy, 1876, no. 250. The Vicar of Wakefield, was a novel written by the Irish author Oliver Goldsmith. Published in 1766, it was one of the most popular 18th century novels of the Victorian age. Written as a 'fictitious memoir' with a riveting riches to rags and back again storyline, Frith had a particular liking for the novel and in addition to the present lot which was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1876, also painted two more scenes from the novel which were exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1841 and 1842. The second of these two works, Measuring Heights, is now in the collection of the Victoria and Albert museum, London. Both the lot offered here and Measuring Heights depict scenes from Chapter 16 of the novel. Frith often painted happy family scenes throughout his career, which was not reflective of his own personal life; during the course of his life Frith had two families, one with his first wife and twelve children, and one with his mistress, Mary Alford, and their seven children who lived a mile down the road. Described as the 'greatest British painter of the social scene since Hogarth' he often chose literary themes for his subjects including a number of works based of the works of Charles Dickens. He was elected to the Royal Academy in 1853 and by 1876, Frith was firmly established as the most successful painter of his generation. Just the year before he painted this scene his painting Before Dinner at Boswell's Lodgings, 1868, achieved the highest auction price to date for a living artist.