Seats for five persons

Painting, oil on canvas, artist unknown, with the caption "Seats for Five Persons", about 1850. Satirical depiction of a crowded compartment of a railway carriage, showing twelve passengers, including a stout woman, an elderly man, an amorous couple and a family with a crying baby. Framed and glazed.

This humorous painting by an unknown artist probably reflects the reality for many railway travellers in the mid-nineteenth century. It is ironically titled Seats for Five Persons.

There are actually twelve passengers squeezed on just one side of a third-class compartment. The woman at the centre refuses to budge, there is a crying baby, an amorous couple and other people’s unwanted music. It’s a journey that railway passengers to this day can probably relate to!