James M. Walmsley as a Boy

Daniels's portrait of James M. Walmsley as a Boy, painted in the 1840s, continues the artist's documentation of the Walmsley family of Liverpool. Child portraiture was an important part of provincial portrait practice, as families commissioned likenesses to record their children at different stages of growth. Daniels's child portraits capture the young members of Liverpool's merchant class with the same straightforward dignity he brought to adult subjects.

Daniels's oil-on-canvas technique renders the boy's features with careful attention to the delicacy of youthful complexion. The conventional but competent handling demonstrates the provincial portrait standard of the 1840s, with warm tones and a simple compositional format.