The Playmates

The Playmates, by J. Hayllar, 1870. Engraving of a painting. 'Mr. Hayllar, the popular painter of this pleasant picture, in the Royal Academy Exhibition, has made the representation of child-life and character a specialty to a considerable extent. At all events, he is best known by pictures with subjects drawn from the source indicated...Good art is surely not ill-employed when, addressing itself to some of the best instincts of our common nature, it conveys the pleasure which such pictures afford. The picture we have engraved is the last of its class which the artist has produced. Like its predecessors, it has a freshness and vivacity of treatment precisely suited to the theme with which it deals. The subject itself requires no comment. "Playful as a kitten" is a comparison we often make in speaking of a child; and here child and kitten are appropriately associated and congenially employed. But, as the playfulness of both frequently borders on mischief, we are not sure that the sybarite amusement of these "Playmates" might not be objected to from the gardener's prosaic point of view, as littering the nicely-trimmed lawn and prematurely forcing the queenly standard rose-tree to abdicate its midsummer crown of fragrant beauty'. From "Illustrated London News", 1870. Creator: Robert Loudan. (Photo by The Print Collector/Heritage Images via Getty Images)