{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O38493"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O38493/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006AT5378/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006AT5378/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2006AT5378","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O38493/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O38493","accessionNumber":"B.102-1995","objectType":"Oil painting","titles":[{"title":"Minding Baby","type":"generic title"}],"summaryDescription":"The painting depicts what some Victorians called ‘the respectable poor’, who were seen to be hard-working and thrifty, making the best of their opportunities. The cottage and its contents are plain but in sound condition. The book is probably a copy of the Bible. The young woman’s knitting is not a hobby but a chance to save or earn money. The mothers of even the youngest children in such communities usually had to work to make sure that the family could afford food, so a relative or neighbour would look after (‘mind’) the baby for a while.","physicalDescription":"Painting, of portrait proportions & in oil on canvas, of a cottage interior where a young woman is watching over a sleeping baby.  The woman, who is barefooted, and whose clothes show signs of wear and mending, is dressed in a blue jacket over a drab-coloured bodice and short full red skirt.  She is standing knitting, her ball of yarn pegged on a three-legged rustic stool, near the baby's cradle, which is of the traditional tapering European shape with rockers, a partly boxed-in head and knob finials.  The cottage walls are of bare stone, and there are few other items in the room: a large book (probably a family Bible) and a ceramic jar on the window ledge; items stored on the wall (a string of onions, a pot lid, a pair of boots, a cooking pot and a lantern); and a tub, a kettle, and a pair of shoes on the floor. Up a low flight of steps (upon the bottom of which the young woman is partly standing) a kitchen grate with a lighted fire is visible through an open door.\nThe frame is a modern reproduction one (see Condition).","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Provis, Alfred","id":"A3760"},"association":{"text":"painter (artist)","id":"AAT25136"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"canvas","id":"AAT14078"},{"text":"oil paint","id":"AAT15050"}],"techniques":[{"text":"painting","id":"x30598"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Oil on canvas","categories":[{"text":"Children & Childhood","id":"THES48980"},{"text":"Paintings","id":"THES48917"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"YVA","id":"THES48593"},"images":["2006AT5378"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"A","id":"THES304248"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"oil paintings","id":"AAT33799"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"United Kingdom","id":"x29336"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1857","earliest":"1857-01-01","latest":"1857-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"34.3","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"canvas","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"30.2","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"canvas","note":""},{"dimension":"Height","value":"48.5","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"frame","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"43.6","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"frame","note":""},{"dimension":"Depth","value":"4.1","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"frame","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"A Provis 1857","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"oil paint","method":"writing","position":"Lower left corner","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"Signature; date","note":"Signature; date; Lower left corner; writing; oil paint"},{"content":"A. Provis","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"metal","method":"stamping","position":"lower edge of frame","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"Maker's identification","note":"Maker's identification; lower edge of frame; stamping; metal"}],"objectHistory":"Bought at Phillips' Sale of Early British and Victorian Paintings, 20/06/1995 (Lot 125)","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Painting by Alfred Provis of a woman minding a baby painted in the UK in 1857","bibliographicReferences":[],"production":"Alfred Provis (fl 1843-86)","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[{"text":"childcare","id":"x30247"},{"text":"infants","id":"AAT189561"},{"text":"women","id":"AAT25943"}],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["B.102-1995"],"accessionNumberNum":"102","accessionNumberPrefix":"B","accessionYear":1995,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2026-03-14","recordCreationDate":"2000-04-19","availableToBook":true}}