Battledore and Shuttlecock is one of Lady Laura Alma-Tadema's most important oils in terms of ambition and quality. In this interior scene of an English home, probably her own, she has skilfully presented an active scene of this popular game. While one figure leans forward to bat the falling shuttlecock, the younger sister, mother and baby watch, gripped by varied emotions.
The former owner of this canvas, E. H. Van Ingen, a wealthy woolen importer, criss-crossed the Atlantic 110 times. Van Ingen admired this painting, probably purchasing it from the New Gallery in 1890. He lent this oil and Lady Laura’s Fireside Fantasies to the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago of 1893, where he had business interests. Until today, the location of this painting has remained unknown since Ingen’s death in 1905.
[Sotheby’s, New York - Oil on canvas, 91.4 x 61 cm]