![John Lavery - Played!! [1885]](http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3848/14679882114_eaea001a7f_o.jpg)
It is difficult to imagine today the speed with which the craze for lawn tennis swept through the middle classes of Great Britain in the late nineteenth century. Major Clopton Wingfield, when he produced his boxed sets of racquets, nets and tennis balls in 1874 could not have predicted the popularity the game would achieve. Clubs sprang up in provincial cities and the game swiftly ousted croquet from the All England Club at Wimbledon. Advice was given in The Graphic on the most effective stokes and George Du Maurier, in his cartoons for Punch, lampooned the aesthetic youths who forsook their volumes of verse in favour of the game. It was adopted by everyone from the Prince of Wales down to those who had sufficient wealth to purchase one of the spacious villas in the new suburbs. Clubs sprang up and since young men and women could play together in a controlled environment, it was seen as an ideal way to bring marriageable couples together.
[Christie’s, London - Oil on panel, 35.5 x 30 cm]