The Bagpipe Lesson

The Bagpipe Lesson
The Bagpipe Lesson, a painting by Henry Ossawa Tanner. The image was begun in Brittany in 1892 and finished in the United States.
ArtistHenry Ossawa Tanner
Completion date1893
Mediumoil
MovementFrench Academic art
Subjectboy learning bagpipe with father
LocationHampton University Museum, Hampton, Virginia, USA

The Bagpipe Lesson is a painting by Henry Ossawa Tanner, completed in late 1893 and displayed at the World's Columbian Exposition (May — October 1893) and at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts 63rd annual exhibition, held from December 18, 1893 to February 24, 1894. The painting was begun by Tanner during his first summer in France, during a trip to Brittany. He finished the work in Philadelphia.

The picture shows a father teaching his son to play the bagpipe, and the intensity of the man with the "spasmodic efforts" of his son brings humor to the work. In parts of America, this was more widely popular in the 1890s than was The Banjo Lesson, due to sensitivity over racial relations.