3-028-245 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

"The Page," by W. Fyfe, 1870. Engraving of a painting '...in the Great Room at Burlington House [ie Royal Academy of Arts]. Mr. Fyfe has formed a correct idea of the by no means menial, but rather honourable, office of page in the olden times...Our little page is assuredly of gentle extraction. He is, according to his capacity, performing fair suit and service in the castle or manorial hall of some noble or chief...And if he is not exactly a young noble himself, he is certainly dressed as one by his worshipful patron and protector. What a little "swell of the period" he is, in his point-lace collar and wristbands, in his black velvet jerkin and modified trunk-hose tied with scarlet ribbons, resembling the knickerbockers of the present day; and with his hair cut straight across the forehead - another fashion which we have lived to see revived! His duties are not usually of a very laborious or onerous description. To fetch and carry trifles is his ordinary occupation...A pleasant memory of olden manners and customs does the meeting this handsome, happy-looking little page on the back stairs recall!...the picture is painted with a soundness, vigour, and effectiveness which give to the figure an air of almost startling reality'. From "Illustrated London News", 1870.