Thomas Benjamin Kennington (1856–1916) was a prominent British painter of the Victorian and Edwardian eras, celebrated for his dual mastery of Social Realism and elegant genre scenes. Trained at the Liverpool School of Art and the Académie Julian in Paris under the legendary William-Adolphe Bouguereau, Kennington combined academic precision with a deep sense of social conscience. He was a founding member and the first Secretary of the New English Art Club, a group that challenged the rigid standards of the Royal Academy. His career was marked by significant patronage, including a commission to paint a portrait of Queen Victoria in 1898. Kennington is best known for his "gritty" yet beautifully rendered social realist works like The Pinch of Poverty and Orphans, as well as his luminously soft depictions of domestic life and graceful women. For a stitcher, Kennington’s work offers a rich emotional landscape; his ability to balance somber, muted tones with moments of luminous, warm light creates a counted cross-stitch design that is both a technical masterpiece and a poignant narrative for any home gallery.