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Much has been written about Joan Eardley and the Samsons, a Townhead family of perhaps 12 kids, who drifted in and out of her studio and became the subject for which she is most celebrated. This interior depicts Andrew, the eldest and first of the siblings she painted. It is dated as early as 1949 by Eardley’s biographer Christopher Andreae, but relates closely to her portrait of Angus Neil (page 112 of Joan Eardley, Lund Humphries, 2013). Neil sits passive, eyes downcast, cigarette burning in his fingers, but the boy looks about, posed with elbow on the table, hand tucked into his bomber jacket; he won’t be there for much longer. On the reverse, is an unfinished painting of Townhead with a group of children in the foreground. The view is of the back of the close – an area directly behind the tenement buildings where the drying greens (for hanging washing) were situated; a playground of sorts. It was very common for artists to reverse a picture if they favoured another subject and didn’t want to waste the canvas. Seated Figure with Table is therefore a portrait with interior and exterior combined, which together reflects a period of post-war Britain.
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