Information
The subject comes from Dante's 'Inferno'(V, 122-3). Francesca, engaged to be married against her will, falls in love with her fiance's younger brother Paola. When this is discovered, they are murdered. The sculpture shows the moment when, reading of the love of Lancelot for Guinevere, they are drawn to their first kiss.The plaster model for this sculpture was shown in the 1851 Great Exhibition (Sculpture Court no41). This marble version was commissioned by William Gladstone (1809-98), later Prime Minster. Munro gave a plaster cast of this work to Dante Gabriel Rossett. The subject relates to a series of drawings done by Rossetti that year. A plaster version is in the collection of Wallington House, Northumberland.
- Purchased, 1960.
- © Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery
Makers
Association |
Artist |
Organisation |
Sculptor |
Alexander Munro |
- |
Inscriptions
Type |
Position(s) |
Method |
Date(s) |
Notes |
Alex. Munro/ Sc. 1852/ Quel giorno piu non vi leggemmo avante [That day we read no more] |
- |
base |
- |
- |
|
|
Exhibitions
Catalogue No. |
Venue |
Date(s) |
- |
1340 |
Royal Academy of Arts |
1852 - 1852 |
|
Art Treasures of the United Kingdom |
54 |
Manchester |
1857-05-05 - 1857-10-17 |
|
Royal Academy of Arts Bicentenary Exhibition 1768-1968 |
406 |
Royal Academy, London |
1968-12-14 - 1969-03-02 |
|
The Pre-Raphaelites |
44 |
Tate Gallery, London |
1984-03-07 - 1984-05-28 |
|
Pre-Raphaelite Sculpture, Nature and Imagination in British Sculpture 1848-1914 |
21 |
Mattieson Gallery, London |
1991-10-31 - 1991-12-12 |
21 |
Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery |
1992 - 1992 |
|
Art Treasures in Manchester, 150 Years On |
no cat. no |
Manchester Art Gallery |
2007-10-06 - 2008-01-27 |
|
Literature
Author(s) |
Date(s) |
Publisher |
Pages |
London Illustrated News |
|
1851 |
- |
plaster illus. |
|
- |
|
1852 |
Spectator |
p. 593 |
|
Burlington Magazine, Victorian Art. Painting, Furniture, Sculpture, 'Alexander Munro's Paolo and Franceca |
J Gere |
Nov.1963 |
The Burlington Magazine Publications, Ltd. |
Vol. 105, No. 728, pp. 509-510 |
|
Sculpture, 19th & 20th Centuries, A History of Western Sculpture |
|
1967 |
Greenwich, New York Graphic Society |
pl.68 |
|
Sculpture in Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery - a summary catalogue |
|
1987 |
Sculpture in Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery - a summary catalogue Birmingham, Birmingham Museums |
no.214, cover ill. |
|
Medievalism: the Middle Ages in Modern England |
Michael Alexander |
2007 |
New Haven; London, Yale University Press |
p.146 |
Provenance
Hon William Gladstone, 1852 |
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