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A very famous and most interesting advertising image for Pears' Soap dating likely from the late 19th century. I unfortunately do not recall where I found it. The image itself was reproduced in the millions and is available many places on the web but not with the memorable handwriting of this particular item (see below). I learn that the image is of a painting by Sir. John Everett Millais (1829/1896) and I think dates from 1886. The image was entitled "Bubbles" and the little boy is the artist's grandson Willie. I had to reduce the size of the image so it would fit on your screen and removed the text which was distracting when it reflected (but I left the text on the bar of Pears' transparent soap! ~ to be honest about it I would not know how to remove it anyway!). The original image as I saw it, is below. Does anyone know exactly in which year the original would have been published, where the original painting is today and who posted it somewhere on the web? We thank you, whoever you are!
This page seems to say that the work does date from 1886 and the original is with A.&P. Pears Ltd. in London, England.
In October 2003, on e-Bay, a copy of the 1906 Pears Christmas Annual was sold. With these
descriptive words.
'Painted by John Everett Millais,
the model for 'Bubbles' was the artist's grandson, Willie (later Admiral Sir
William) James, and the curlyheaded little boy made his first appearance at the
Grosvenor Gallery in London in 1886; the picture was originally titled 'A
Child's World'. The picture was bought by Sir William Ingram of the Illustrated
London News for reproduction as a presentation plate in that magazine, and after
use it was sold to Pears for 2200 pounds.
London A. & F. Pears
Ltd., 1906. Staple bound, Folio 24pp., plus numerous pages [xxiv] of interesting
advertisements, some full page. Wonderful classic full colour front cover of
Millais's 'Bubbles', [see partial scan, the magazine is too big for my
scanner].
Stories by Geo. R. Sims and Max Pemberton, illustrated by Hugh
Thompson and Frank Dadd respectively.' The item sold for GBP 13.00, U.S. $21.63 at the time.
