Figure 1.--At first I thought this was a badly painted British boy wearing a school uniform sweater. The more I looked at it, however, it seem to me that the boy is not all that badly painted, only painted in a modern style. It also seems to me that it could not possibly be a sweater that he is wearing. The only thing is that notice it is not a V-neck sweater. The bottom of the V is truncated. And it is nit a crew neck. It seems to me that a smock is the most lilely garment, although readers do not agree..

We have note some smock images that we find difficult to identify in any meaninful way. Hopefully HBC readers will be able to provide some guidance. Here we will include both paintings and photographs.

Figure 1

Abstract paintings are of course especially difficult to make out. I am not sure where the boy was painted. Interestingly, the portrait was being sold in Vienna, Austria. The artist is unknown, but the portrait was signed with initials "W.B.". The auction house only described the portrait was, "Unknown painter. Portrait of an young boy, 1st half of the 20th century, expressive style, good quality painting". At first we thought this was a badly painted British boy wearing a school uniform sweater. The more I looked at it, however, it seem to me that the boy is not all that badly painted, only painted in a modern style. It also seems to me that it could not possibly be a sweater that he is wearing. The only thing is that notice it is not a V-neck sweater. The bottom of the V is truncated. And it is nit a crew neck. It seems to us that a smock is the most lilely garment. A HBC reader is not so sure. He reports, "I'm somewhat reluctant to recognise a smock, more likely a sweater. A smock would cover more of the tie. Generally speaking it seems also that we have kind of a knitting, look at shoulders-arms." Another reader writes, "I agree that the boy is wearing a sleeveless knitted pullover sweater. I think that he is doing an activity which needs an apron. Which I think he is wearing. It fitted over his head and was tied at the back. I don't think it is a smock. An older British word for apron is "Brat" this was made of courser material."

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Created: October 31, 2002
Last updated: 1:29 PM 5/2/2017