Sports and activities at the Retreat: oil painting by George Isaac Sidebottom, patient

item

Galleries and Reading Room

Café

Shop

Library

Our galleries are quietest on weekdays and weekend mornings. At busy times, particularly on Saturdays, you may need to queue for our temporary exhibitions.

We’re undertaking some research with website visitors to learn more about how people find access-related information provided by museums. This survey shouldn't take longer than 10 minutes to complete. Thank you for your time!

Help us organize our website content.

This painting shows people in the Retreat grounds, occupied in a variety of activities and sports, such as golf, cricket, tennis, croquet and football. Some figures in the background are riding bicycles. There are four dogs in the picture, and a cat in the tree (and a mouse underneath). Under the tree is a patient, lying in a bed. The artist was George Isaac Sidebottom, who was a patient at the Retreat 1894-1912. He was a merchant by occupation, a nonconformist, and was from the north west of England.  He suffered from moral and religious delusions, and had been ill, and in care, for some years before his admission. A letter from the transferring doctor in 1894 called him “a very good fellow indeed it would be hard to find a more agreeable man. He can paint watercolours very decently, sings a little… and can accompany himself fairly well”. The case notes regularly mention that he occupied himself in painting, reading, walking (including walking into town), and music (he sang and played the piano, and correspondence shows that he was allowed to acquire a piano for his room). He had a keen interest in games at the Retreat, and played cards, billiards, chess, croquet, cricket, hockey and tennis; he also skated during January 1895. He regularly attended the Retreat ‘entertainments’ and ‘amusements’ and had holidays at the Retreat’s branch house in Scarborough. This particular painting is not mentioned specifically, but in January 1896 it was noted in the case notes that that he “painted a scene for the Lady’s party at the beginning of the month”, and in October that year it was stated that “He occupies himself with painting in oils and gives great attention to his work”. In December 1900 he was ‘busy on a scene for the Xmas party’. Towards the end of his life, he was said to be painting ‘peculiar’ caricature portraits, which gave him much satisfaction. He continued to paint virtually up to his death at the Retreat in early 1912.

Wellcome uses cookies.

Sports and activities at the Retreat: oil painting by George Isaac Sidebottom, patient

Licence and re-use