Musidora Bathing
1848 – 1849
Accession number: 1935P39
Oil on canvas.
Width: 560 mm
Height: 815 mm
Information
This is one of Hughes' earliest works. The subject is taken from James Thomson's 'Seasons' (1730) and depicts the lines:'with timid eye aroundThe banks surveying, stript her beauteous limbs,To taste the lucid coolness of the flood'(quoted in the RA 1849 catalogue)The Pre-Raphaelite influence on the artist is highly apparent, if this early academic work is compared to one of his later paintings such as 'The Long Engagement' (1855). In this picture Hughes uses a more muted palette and there is little of the minute attention to detail which can be found in works from the 1850s.
- Presented by Mrs E Hughes, 1905.
- © Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery
Makers
| Association | Artist | Organisation |
|---|---|---|
| Artist | Arthur Hughes | - |
Inscriptions
| Type | Position(s) | Method | Date(s) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A Hughes 1849 | ||||
| Signature | bottom right | Painted | 1849 | |
Exhibitions
| Catalogue No. | Venue | Date(s) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| - | |||
| 571 | Royal Academy, London | 1849 - 1849 | |
Literature
| Author(s) | Date(s) | Publisher | Pages |
|---|---|---|---|
| 'Mr A Hughes: Last of the Pre-Raphaelites'-obituary | |||
| 23 December 1915 | The Times | p. 6 | |
| The Dictionary of National Biography | |||
| Malcolm Bell | 1927 | Oxford University Press, Oxford | p. 275 |
| Pre-Raphaelite Painters | |||
| John Gere, Robin Ironside | 1948 | Phaidon, London | p. 41 |
| 'Arthur Hughes at Cardiff and Leighton House' | |||
| Robin Gibson | December 1971 | Burlington Magazine | p. 758 |
| Forty-fourth Volume of the Walpole Scociety 1972-4 | |||
| 1974 | Glasgow University Press, Glasgow | p. 81 | |
| Paintings from Books: Art and Literature in Britain, 1760-1900 | |||
| Richard Altick | 1985 | Ohio State University Press, Columbus | p. 393; repr. p. 393 |
| Arthur Hughes: His Life and Works | |||
| Leonard Roberts | 1997 | Antique Collectors' Club, Woodbridge | Cat. 3, p. 121; repr. pl. 2 |
Provenance
| Hughes' estate; thence in 1921 to his son Arthur Foord Hughes; thence in 1934 to his sister Emily Hughes; gifted by her in 1935 to Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery. |
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