An Incident in the Life of Saint Elizabeth of Hungary - Compositional Study
1850
Accession number: 1929P38
Pen and ink over traces of pencil within brown ink border, on paper.
Width: 546 mm
Height: 400 mm
Information
A study for the painting illustrating Charles Kingsley's play 'The Saint's Tragedy' of 1848 and now in the Johannesburg Art Gallery (1851). The incident, depicted while Mass is taking place, refers to an act of humility as St Elizabeth removes her crown before a crucifix.Collinson was a member of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood from 1848 until 1850, when he resigned after converting to Roman Catholicism. He then entered the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits) at Hodder Place near Stonyhurst in Lancashire, but left in 1854 to resume his career as a painter. This scene, as described by Colin Cruise, ' can be seen as an extreme version of the kind of Catholic imagery, that led to accusations of Pre-Raphaelitism as 'popish'.
- Purchased through the Christina Feeney Bequest Fund, 1929.
- © Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery
Makers
| Association | Artist | Organisation |
|---|---|---|
| Artist | James Collinson | - |
Inscriptions
| Type | Position(s) | Method | Date(s) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| J C 1850 (monogram with cross and anchor) / inscribed, verso, in pencil: St. Elizabeth of Hungary / by J. Collinson. | ||||
| Signature and date | bottom left | Handwritten | - | Ink |
Exhibitions
| Catalogue No. | Venue | Date(s) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood | |||
| 141 | City Museum and Art Gallery, Birmingham | 1947-06-07 - 1947-07-27 | |
| Centenary Exhibition of Works by the Pre-Raphaelites - Their Friends and Followers | |||
| 98 | Lady Lever Art Gallery, Port Sunlight | 1948-06-14 - 1948-08-29 | |
| Pre-Raphaelite Drawings and Watercolours | |||
| 14 | Cambridge Arts Council Gallery | 1953-05-16 - 1953-10-24 | |
| 14 | Norwich Assembly Rooms | - - - | |
| 14 | Hatton Gallery, Newcastle Upon Tyne | - - 1953-10-24 | |
| La peinture romantique anglaise et les pre-raphaelites | |||
| 44 | Petit Palais, Paris | 1972-01-21 - 1972-04-16 | |
| Two Hundred Years of English Painting, British Art and Europe 1680-1880 (Zwei Jahrundeerte Englische Malerei) | |||
| 321 | Haus der Kunst, Munich | 1979-11-21 - 1980-01-27 | |
| British Nineteenth Century Drawings and Watercolours (from the Birmingham Collection) | |||
| 17 | Art Museum of the Socialist Republic of Romania, Bucharest | 1982-12-08 - 1983-01-02 | |
| 17 | National Art Gallery and Alexander Soutzos Museum, Athens | 1983-01-12 - 1983-03-06 | |
| 17 | Hungarian National Gallery, Budapest | 1983-03-17 - 1983-05-08 | |
| The Pre-Raphaelites | |||
| 169 | Tate Gallery, London | 1984-03-07 - 1984-05-28 | |
| Visions of Love and Life: Pre-Raphaelite Art from the Birmingham Collection, England | |||
| 14 | Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, Washington | 1995-03-09 - 1995-05-07 | |
| 14 | Cleveland Museum of Art, Ohio | 1995-05-27 - 1995-07-16 | |
| 14 | Delaware Art Museum, Wilmington | 1995-08-11 - 1995-10-15 | |
| 14 | Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas | 1995-11-04 - 1996-01-02 | |
| 14 | High Museum of Art, Atlanta, Georgia | 1996-01-23 - 1996-04-10 | |
| 14 | Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery | 1996-05-25 - 1996-05-25 | |
| Love Revealed: Simeon Solomon and the Pre-Raphaelites | |||
| 26 | Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery | 2005-10-01 - 2006-01-15 | |
| 26 | Museum Villa Stuck, Munich | 2006-03-09 - 2006-06-18 | |
| 26 | Ben Uri Gallery, The London Jewish Museum of Art | 2006-09-11 - 2006-11-26 | |
Literature
| Author(s) | Date(s) | Publisher | Pages |
|---|---|---|---|
| City of Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery Catalogue (wtih Descriptive Notes and Illustrations) of the Permanent Collection of Paintings in Oil and Watercolours and a Special Loan Collection of Modern Pictures | |||
| Arthur B Chamberlain, Sir Whitworth Wallis | 1891 | Osborne and Son, Birmingham | p. 62. |
| Pre-Raphaelite Letters and Diaries | |||
| William Michael Rossetti | 1900 | Hurst and Blackett, London | - |
| City of Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery: Catalogue of the Permanent Collection of Drawings | |||
| A E Whitley | 1939 | Bemrose & Sons, Ltd., Derby | p. 154. |
| Pre-Raphaelite Drawings | |||
| 1947 | Roland, Browse & Delbanco, London | p. 14 | |
| Pre-Raphaelite Drawings and Watercolours | |||
| 1953 | Arts Council of Great Britain | p. 8 | |
| The Pre-Raphaelites and Their Circle | |||
| Richard Ormond | 1965 | Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, Birmingham | - |
| 'A Note on Illustrations to Charles Kingsley's 'The Saint's Tragedy' by Three Pre-Raphaelite Artists' | |||
| Alastair Grieve | 1969 | Burlington Magazine (vol III) | pp. 290-94. |
| Pre-Raphaelite Papers - 'Style and Content in Pre-Raphaelite Drawing 1848-50' | |||
| Alastair Grieve | 1984 | Allen Lane and Tate Gallery, London | - |
| Pre-Raphaelite Papers - 'James Collinson' | |||
| Ronald Parkinson | 1984 | Allen Lane and Tate Gallery, London | pp. 61-75. |
| 'Research Strategies at the Johannesburg Art Gallery' | |||
| Jillian Carman | 1989 | Southern African Museums Association Bulletin (SAMAB) no 18 | pp. 275-90. |
| Love Revealed: Simeon Solomon and the Pre-Raphaelites | |||
| Colin Cruise | 2005 | Merrell, London | p. 81. |
Provenance
| Acquired by Randall Davies; purchased for City of Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery in 1929. |
Associated people
| Name | Type |
|---|---|
| Charles Kingsley | Verse by |
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