These were all details from a coloured print based on this painting -
Edward Matthew Ward 'The South Sea Bubble, a Scene in ‘Change Alley' in 1720' -
exhibited 1847
The South Sea Bubble was 'a period of wild financial speculation, when virtually any scheme, which gullible investors thought could make money, was eagerly seized upon. It was followed by a collapse... In choosing this subject, Ward clearly had in mind the 'Railway Mania' of 1844-5, which, like the South Sea Bubble, collapsed with many fortunes lost.'
This is a self portrait by the artist, in which he is painting a portrait of his daughter.
Both the portrait and the 'The South Sea Bubble' paintings show innocence as viewed from experience. The naivety cannot last and so I think he wanted to keep it in his paintings.
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