Art UK has updated its cookies policy. By using this website you are agreeing to the use of cookies. To find out more read our updated Use of Cookies policy and our updated Privacy policy.

The Young Artists

Image credit: Government Art Collection

How you can use this image

This image can be used for non-commercial research or private study purposes, and other UK exceptions to copyright permitted to users based in the United Kingdom under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, as amended and revised. Any other type of use will need to be cleared with the rights holder(s).

Review the copyright credit lines that are located underneath the image, as these indicate who manages the copyright (©) within the artwork, and the photographic rights within the image.

The collection that owns the artwork may have more information on their own website about permitted uses and image licensing options.

Review our guidance pages which explain how you can reuse images, how to credit an image and how to find images in the public domain or with a Creative Commons licence available.

Notes

Add or edit a note on this artwork that only you can see. You can find notes again by going to the ‘Notes’ section of your account.

The three young artists in Mercier's painting are shown drawing from a fragment of antique sculpture, one of the core components of academic artistic training in the 18th century and among the first to be undertaken. The boys are engaged in an activity appropriate to their age, but a suggestion of their impending artistic maturity is implied in their studious expressions and the finished painting displayed in the background. Holding his drawings under his arm and admiring his fellow's work, the fair-haired boy also appear to embody the future connoisseur. Mercier's subject of young artists was a popular one in the 18th century and stands in the artistic genre of 'fancy pictures': the sentimental depiction of a broad range of individuals, from children to servants and beggars.

Government Art Collection

London

Title

The Young Artists

Date

c.1745

Medium

oil on canvas

Measurements

H 77.5 x W 65 cm

Accession number

17852

Acquisition method

purchased from Sotheby's, 2003

Work type

Painting

Tags

See a tag that’s incorrect or offensive? Challenge it and notify Art UK.

Help improve Art UK. Tag artworks and verify existing tags by joining the Tagger community.

Government Art Collection

Old Admiralty Building, Admiralty Place, London, Greater London SW1A 2BL England

This venue is closed to the public.
View venue