Artwork
Boys Playing at Peg-top
Boys Playing at Peg-top is a paint painting by the Romanticist artist Richard Morton Paye. It dates from 1800 and is held in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum. Tops were traditionally one of the most popular playthings in the UK, sometimes giving rise to crazes as to exact type or appearance.
About this work
This painting shows boys playing with tops in a school cloister around 1800. Richard Morton Paye painted it during the Romanticism era.
Tops were cheap and easy to make, but tricky to balance right. Boys loved them for play and competition. The cloister gave them a smooth stone floor to spin tops on.
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Overview
In the center, a fair-haired boy in a white shirt and waistcoat with brown knee breeches releases a spinning top across the paved floor.
The painting depicts a group of children in the cloisters of Westminster School. In the center, a fair-haired boy in a white shirt and waistcoat with brown knee breeches releases a spinning top across the paved floor. To his right, another boy crouches with a larger top while conversing with a boy in a red coat leaning over him, while two additional boys stand by the wall, one in a teal suit and the other in brown. In the background, two seated girls in white dresses are visible, with the taller one wearing a blue-trimmed hat pinned up at one side.
Artist & collection
Artist
Richard Morton Paye (1750–1820) was an important painter of the early English School and a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London.
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