them, and his art reflected on social issues of the day, particularly on the poverty experienced by children their struggle with adult problems - no over-sentimental rural or domestic scenes by him are known. He often depicted London street scenes with urchins and poor flower-sellers, such as 'A Day's Reckoning' and 'Sounds of Revelry', shown in 1886 at the Hanover Gallery, and 'A Flower Girl in a Red Shawl' and 'A Newspaper Boy Selling Papers' displayed at Walker's Gallery in Liverpool in 1887. A large-scale painting "Homeless by Night" was exhibited in 1892 at the Atkinson Art Gallery, Southport, and described as a large painful picture, shows a number of gutter children of both sexes, preparing to sleep under one of the Landseer's lions in Trafalgar Square." A special feature of his paintings is the inclusion of street posters in the background, the text of which creates additional social and political context for the depicted scene. In this sense, his artworks correspond with problems raised by social activists of the era. Charles Dickens novels also influenced Mulready's paintings, such as “Hard Times” (1877, private collection). He was even described as 'a sentimental social realist'. Mulready also occasionally experimented with landscape painting: In 1880, at Christie's, three of his small landscapes were sold - The Backward Course: A Sunny Day, A Rainy Afternoon and A Wintry AveLittle is known about Mulready's private life. According to the England and Wales marriage index, Mulready married Maria in 1874 - the couple had two children: Claude Augustus, born in 1875 and Eleanor Julia, born in 1877. References Further readingThe Cranbrook Colony. Exhibition at The Vestry Hall, Cranbrook. June 29-July 11, 1981 (catalogue). Cowling, Mary. Victorian figurative painting: domestic life and the contemporary social scene'' (Papadakis, 2000) p167. External links Paintings by Mulready (Art Renewal Center Museum) A London Street scene (1900 - oil on canvas) A Quiet read (1875 oil on canvas) 1886 deaths 19th-century English painters English male painters 20th-century English painters British genre painters People from Kensal Green 1844 births 19th-century English male artists 20th-century English male artists