The Scholar is an 1831 painting by English genre painter Henry Liverseege which depicts a scholar studying a book.
Henry Liverseege (1802-32), who produced a large number of mostly genre paintings depicting literary and folklore subjects during his short life.
Here in The Scholar from 1831 we are shown a seated man dressed in a crimson robe and a hat reading at his table with a strong light source coming from the outside left of the picture frame. This light could be seen as a symbol itself of the enlightenment of learning. A dark helmet is also on the table and could refer to the scholar’s reading matter – perhaps a historical epic.
A globe is swarmed with the cloth of the table. Generally, the tone of the painting is dark with a dark green background which lends an air of the sober meditative act of reading.
This work is in a private collection, last sold by Christie’s in 2004.