EDWARD ATKINSON HORNEL (SCOTTISH 1864-1933)
EASTER EGG ROLLING
Signed and dated 1906, oil on canvas
76cm x 91cm (30in x 36in)
This charming early version of a favourite subject depicts two girls in Brighouse Bay, near Kirkcudbright, engrossed in an Easter game, presumably on Easter Sunday itself. Particular care is taken over the friends' companionable pose, as they clasp eggs in their hands and look out to check on the progress of their rolling. They are set within an idyllic Spring scene, into which the viewer is drawn from the brightly-coloured eggs of the foreground to the graceful curve of the bay in the distance.