one needle in use, ten not

Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection. PD.

We all know what a sucker your friendly Curator is for a Victorian genre scene.  This is the kind I like best: simply observed, well and skillfully executed, and lacking the overkill of sentiment often seen in the 19th century.  A girl plies her needle with attention, while every good housewife's favorite appliance, the Domestic Cat, slumbers at her feet, all ten of her needles sheathed safely in her paws.  The Yale Center for British Art is the lucky owner of this undated gem by Robert Barnes (1840-97).