A Daydream

Walton's skilful brushwork has created a remarkable sense of immediacy and realism in this depiction of the two children resting on a leafy river bank. The picture was Walton's first large scale painting and his first treatment of an outdoor theme in which figures dominate the composition. It reflects the influence of the French painters Millet and Bastien-Lepage in its subject and restrained tones. He began painting the work outside at Cockburnspath, Berwickshire and completed it in Helensburgh in 1885. It was exhibited at the Glasgow Institute in 1887 and favourably reviewed.