The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of March 25, 2024

Covent Garden Flower Women

Covent Garden Flower Women

1877
(Scottish, 1837–1921)
Image: 11 x 7.9 cm (4 5/16 x 3 1/8 in.); Paper: 11 x 7.9 cm (4 5/16 x 3 1/8 in.); Mounted: 27.1 x 20.8 cm (10 11/16 x 8 3/16 in.)
Location: not on view

Did You Know?

These are the real-life counterparts of Eliza Doolittle in the musical My Fair Lady, who started out selling flowers in Covent Garden.

Description

Thomson’s collaborator, reporter Adolphe Smith said that “The familiar sight of a poor woman holding a pale child in her arms and offering modest violets to the pedestrian, is pregnant with a poetry which rags, and dirt fail to obliterate.” The jobs, which were passed down between generations, required worked long hours and yielded a meager income.
  • (Antiquariat Dr. Jens Mattow, Berlin, Germany)
    March 4, 2019
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • {{cite web|title=Covent Garden Flower Women|url=false|author=John Thomson|year=1877|access-date=25 March 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2019.49