Jessie Willcox Smith (1863-1935)
Lot 21 Property from a Private Collection, New York

Jessie Willcox Smith (1863-1935)

"When Daddy Was a Little Boy"

Closed19 May 2016

Price Realised

USD 149,000

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Jessie Willcox Smith (1863-1935)
"When Daddy Was a Little Boy"
signed 'Jessie Willcox Smith.' (lower left)
mixed media on paperboard
18 ½ x 16 7/8 in. (47 x 42.9 cm.)
Executed circa 1903.

Private collection.
American Illustrators Gallery, New York.
Acquired by the present owner from the above.

Specialist note

The present work was published as an illustration for Betty Sage's Rhymes of Real Children, printed by Duffield & Co. in 1903.


"The illustrations in Rhymes of Real Children, painted in watercolor over charcoal, are among her most decorative, full of sensitivity and warmth." (E. Nudelman, Jessie Willcox Smith, American Illustrator, Gretna, Louisiana, 1990, p. 30) This painting brings to life the rhyme:
"When Daddy was a little boy,
All little boys were good,
And did just what their nurses,
And their parents said they should."