Information

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) Notes
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

Provenance

Mr Wythes by April 1859, Dr Edwin Thomas Griffiths; gifted by his executors in 1902

Associated people

Name Type
Geoffrey Chaucer Associated with

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