Birmingham Museums & Art Gallery Pre-Raphaelite Online Resource : The Collection

Hughes exhibited this painting in 1859 with a quotation from Chaucer's 'Troilus and Criseyde':For how myght ever sweetnesse hav be knownTo hym that never tastyd bitternesse?This work evolved out of an unfinished attempt at the Shakespearean subject of 'Orlando in the Forest of Arden' but the figures were later painted out. Birmingham holds a number of important sketches which chart the transformation of the work from the original literary subject to a scene from contemporary life.

As a poorly paid cleric, he is perhaps too poor to marry or become engaged, as the young woman's hand displays no engagement ring. The length of their courtship is indicated by the ivy having grown over her name, Amy, which was cut long ago into the tree.

Presented by the Executors of Dr Edwin T Griffiths, 1902.
© Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery

Makers

Association	Artist	Organisation
Artist	Arthur Hughes	-

Inscriptions

Type	Position(s)	Method	Date(s)
A Hughes 1859
Signature and date	bottom right	Painted	1859

Exhibitions

Catalogue No.	Venue	Date(s)
-
524	Royal Academy of Arts	1859 - 1859

British Art Fifty Years Ago
306	Whitechapel Art Gallery, London	1905 - 1905

Loan Exhibition of Works by Ford Madox Brown and the Pre-Raphaelites
248	Manchester City Art Gallery	1911-09-14 - 1911-10

Loan Collection of Works by English Pre-Raphaelite Painters lent by the Art Committee of the Birmingham Corporation
21	National Gallery of British Art (now Tate Gallery, London)	1911-12 - 1912-03

Exposition retrospective de peinture anglaise (XV111e-XIXe)
90	Musée Moderne, Brussels	1929-10-12 - 1929-12-01

Autumn Exhibition
57	Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool	1933-10-04 - 1933-12-13

Exhibition of British Art c.1000 - 1860
563	Royal Academy of Arts, London	1934-01-06 - 1934-03-10

Victorian Life Centenary
104	Leicester Galleries, London	1937-06 - 1937-07

The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood
27	City Museum and Art Gallery, Birmingham	1947-06-07 - 1947-07-27

The Pre-Raphaelites
31	Whitechapel Art Gallery, London	1948-04-08 - 1948-05-12

The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood 1848-1948: A Centenary Exhibition
8	Tate Gallery, London	1948-09 - 1949-09

The First Hundred Years of the Royal Academy 1769 - 1868
285	Royal Academy of Arts	1951-12-08 - 1952-03-09

Peintures et Aquarelles Anglaises, 1700-1900, du Musée de Birmingham
67	Musée des Beaux Arts, Lyon	1966-10-23 - 1966-11-20

Death, Heaven and the Victorians
16	Brighton Museum & Art Gallery	1970-05-06 - 1970-08-03

Arthur Hughes: The Pre-Raphaelite Painter
7	National Museum of Wales, Cardiff	1971-10-05 - 1971-10-24
7	Leighton House, London	1971-12-03 - 1971-12-23

Präraffaeliten
82	Staatliche Kunsthalle, Baden Baden, Germany	1973-11-23 - 1974-02-24
82	Frankfurt am Main, Germany	1973 - 1974

Love and Marriage: Aspects of Popular Culture in Europe
17	Antwerp	1975 - 1975

La Peinture Britannique de Gainsborough à Bacon
113	Galerie des Beaux Art, Bordeaux	1977-05-09 - 1977-09-01

The Substance or the Shadow: Images of Victorian Womanhood
45	Yale Center for British Art, New Haven	1982-04-14 - 1982-06-13

The Pre-Raphaelites
95	Tate Gallery	1984-03-07 - 1984-05-28

Pre-Raphaelite Art from the Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery
24	Hong Kong Museum of Art	1984-10-20 - 1984-12-02

Arthur Hughes: The Lady with the Lilacs
5	Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto	1988 - 1988

Images of Women
40	Leeds City Art Gallery	1989-10-04 - 1990-01-07

Visions of Love and Life: Pre-Raphaelite Art from the Birmingham Collection, England
48	Seattle Art Museum, Seattle	1995-03-09 - 1995-05-07
48	Cleveland Museum of Art, Ohio	1995-05-27 - 1995-07-16
48	Delaware Art Museum, Wilmington, Delaware	1995-08-11 - 1995-10-15
48	Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas	1995-11-04 - 1996-01-02
48	High Museum of Art, Atlanta, Georgia	1996-01-23 - 1996-04-10
48	Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery	1996-05-25 - 1996-09-29

Inventing New Britain: The Victorian Vision
119	Victoria and Albert Museum	2001-04-05 - 2001-07-29

Fabric of Vision: Dress and Drapery in Painting
47	National Gallery, London	2002-06-19 - 2002-09-08

Holman Hunt and the Pre-Raphaelite Vision
no cat.no	Manchester City Art Galleries	2008-10-11 - 2009-01-11
no cat.no	Minneapolis Institute of Arts	2009-02-14 - 2009-05-10
no cat.no	Art Gallery of Ontario	2009-06-13 - 2009-09-06

Literature

Author(s)	Date(s)	Publisher	Pages
Letters to WIlliam Allingham
E B Williams, Helen Allingham	1911	Longmans & Co., London	pp. 51, 53

Loan Exhibition of Works by Ford Madox Brown and the Pre-Raphaelites
	1911	Manchester City Art Gallery	p. 70; repr. facing p.70

Loan Collection of Works by English Pre-Raphaelite Painters lent by the Art Committee of the Birmingham Corporation
	1911	National Gallery of British Art, London	p. 9; repr. facing p. 9

Old Watercolours Society Club
	1941	-	Vol. 19, p.20

Pre-Raphaelite Painters
John Gere, Robin Ironside	1948	Phaidon, London	p.43; repr. pl.67

Peintures et Aquarelles Anglaises, 1700-1900, du Musée de Birmingham
	1966	Musée des Beaux Arts, Lyon	repr. pl. 20

Apollo
Richard Ormond	April 1968	-	p.246

Präraffaeliten
	1973	Staatliche Kunsthalle, Baden Baden	p.145; repr. pl.82

Love and Marriage: Aspects of Popular Culture in Europe
W Van Nespen	1975	Ministerie van Nederlandse Cultuur, Antwerp	p.185

La Peinture Britannique de Gainsborough à Bacon
	1977	Galerie des Beaux Art, Bordeaux	p.120; repr. pl.113

The Substance or the Shadow: Images of Victorian Womanhood
	1982	Yale Center for British Art, New Haven	pp.79-80; repr. pl.18

The Pre-Raphaelites
Leslie Parris	1984	Tate Gallery, London	p.170; repr. pl.95

Pre-Raphaelite Art from the Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery
Mr Richard Lockett	1984	Urban Council, Hong Kong	p. 66; repr. p. 67

Images of Victorian Womanhood in English Art
Susan P Casteras	1987	Associated University Presses, London	p.98

Arthur Hughes: The Lady with the Lilacs
	1988	Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto	p.5

Images of Women
	1989	Leeds City Art Gallery	p. 40

Nineteenth Century Studies
	1989	South Carolina University (English Department)	Volume 3, p.86

Visions of Love and Life: Pre-Raphaelite Art from the Birmingham Collection, England
Stephen Wildman	1995	Art Services International, Alexandria, Virginia	p.176, repr. pl.48

Eyes of Love: The Gaze in English and French Paintings and Novels, 1840-1900
Stephen Kern	1996	Reaktion Books, Ltd., London	pp.228-9; repr. fig.126

Arthur Hughes: His Life and Works
Leonard Roberts	1997	Antique Collectors' Club	cat. 15, pp. 126-9; repr. pl. 10

Inventing New Britain: The Victorian Vision
John Mackenzie	2001	Victoria & Albert Museum, London	p.127; repr. pl.119

Fabric of Vision: Dress and Drapery in Painting
Anne Hollander	2002	National Gallery Publishing Limited, London	pp.139-140, 202; repr. fig.103

Holman Hunt and the Pre-Raphaelite Vision
Carol Jacobi, Katherine Lochnan	2008	Art Gallery of Ontario	pl. 10, p. 44