Shaftesbury, or Lost and Found

A shoe cleaner, known also as a 'shoeblack', is seen with his arm around a street urchin outside the shop of printseller Henry Graves at 6 Pall Mall. The elder boy wears the uniform of the London Shoeblack Brigade, co-founded by Lord Shaftesbury in 1851. He points at a portrait of Shaftesbury, a philanthropist responsible for improvements to housing and labour for the poor.

William Macduff's sentimental painting illustrates three topical themes during the nineteenth century: philanthropy, childhood and publishing in Victorian London. By focusing on both trade and philanthropy, the artist makes an interesting statement on the gulf between poverty and capitalism, but also - optimistically - on the efforts being made to bridge the gap.

Very little is known about Macduff's life, aside from the fact he was a genre painter who tended to focus on country scenes. This London scene, however, is his best known painting.