Ralph Hedley R.B.A.
Home lessons
1887
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
oil on canvas
382 x 282 mm
SIGNED b.l.c. R. Hedley 87
EXHIBITED
Loan Exhibition of Works by Ralph Hedley R.B.A.
Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle upon Tyne, 1938 (4)
Ralph Hedley: Tyneside Painter,
Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle, 1990-91
PUBLIC COLLECTION
Laing Art Gallery,
Newcastle upon Tyne, England
Reference TWCMS : G4776
Given by Mrs Marion Ross, 1944
Ralph Hedley Archive reference
1887_w010
Home lessons
In 1938 a loan exhibition of works by Ralph Hedley was held at the Laing Art Gallery in Newcastle, later transferring across the river Tyne to the Shipley Art Gallery in Gateshead. The catalogue shows that two pictures were shown with the title Home lessons, one (4) by Mrs. M. Ross who gave this picture to the Laing in 1944 and the other (74) by Summers Hunter, Esq., C.B.E.
One of these owners described the picture as “depicts a ragged boy sitting in window seat doing sums on a broken slate”
A picture called Home lessons was shown at the Royal Academy, London in 1894 (477) but there is no evidence so far that it was this picture or another untraced version.
![]() |
This charcoal sketch (1887_w010) from a model helps to show Hedley's natural ability for drawing |