Young Mariner and Dog

Elizabeth Emma Soyer (née Jones), 1813–1842

1833

Oil on canvas

Yale Center for British Art

A young boy in a hooded jacket and a dog with black and white markings are depicted in a portrait. The boy holds a wooden stick and looks directly at the viewer. The boy wears the raincoat and hat of a working sailor, suggesting a life of hard labor. The stick in his hand implies that he was playing with his trusty canine companion before his job interrupted their fun. The painting was exhibited the year that the Factory Act of 1833 was passed, which prohibited factories from employing children under the age of nine and limited the hours that older children could work. Soyer herself was only twelve when she began her professional training with the Belgian portrait painter François Simonau. Despite achieving success during her short life, she has since been largely overlooked and the location