Mad Margery, a young woman driven mad and living in the fields. Oil painting attributed to J.J. Hill, 18--.

Mad Margery, wearing patched clothes, holding flowers, with straw in her hair and dirt on her face, her eyes watery with tears, her right shoulder exposed. In the background, a ruined abbey

The song "Poor Mad Margery" was printed in A garland of new songs, Newcastle upon Tyne: printed by J. Marshall, ca. 1790/1800

[between 1800 and 1899]

1 painting : oil on millboard ; millboard 30.5 x 22.5 cm

Hill fe 18.. sketch Label on verso with handwritten text: five lines from song "Mad Margery"

Attributed to James John Hill, who was born in Birmingham in 1811, came to London in 1839, and exhibited at the Royal Academy from 1845 to 1868, specializing in pictures of rustic female figures, often Irish or Welsh. No picture by him of this subject is mentioned in the published lists of London exhibitions by A. Graves, suggesting that, if by Hill, it might not have been developed beyond a sketch

Wellcome Collection 603136i