By 1890, Hornel, often in collaboration with Henry, had become drawn to the symbolism of religious and Celtic motifs. His technique, influenced by the maverick French painter, Adolphe Monticelli (now largely forgotten), favoured thick ‘impasto’ paint and rich colour that emphasised pattern and texture. Children at Play, depicting madcap children revelling in the joys of nature, epitomises this new approach.

Edward Atkinson Hornel, 1864-1933

Hornel was born in Australia, but as an infant returned with his family to Kirkcudbright, from where they earlier emigrated. He studied art in Edinburgh, and in Antwerp under Charles Verlat. During the late 1880s and early 1890s he rented a studio in Glasgow and formed a friendship with a fellow Glasgow Boy, George Henry. Together they developed a new decorative style that superseded the early realism of the Glasgow Boys. Hornel's work of this period concentrated on colour and pattern and became very popular, but this very popularity led him, after about 1919, to adopt a formulaic and sterile approach to painting.