Girl with Jug of Ale and Pipes

This painting shows a young girl returning from a public house. She is carefully carrying a gallon jug of beer and three clay pipes up a steep hill. The background is possibly Liverpool but could be Kirkdale, where Campbell lived. There is a view on the left towards the hill-top parish church of Everton and on the right to the sun sinking over the Mersey and the Welsh coastline. Campbell regularly composed his pictures using a front-facing figure holding an object. The girl’s bonnet carries the suggestion of a halo. This might be Campbell’s commentary on the subject. This painting was once owned by the Liverpool-based Scottish merchant and prolific art collector, John Miller (about 1796 to 1876). He sold it in 1858.